Sleeping with Celebrities

You might have seen Oscar Montoya as one of the stars of the acclaimed TV series Minx or heard him as one of the hosts of the acclaimed Maximum Fun podcast Eurovangelists . Or maybe, just maybe, you’ve noticed him in the rice aisle at the supermarket, carefully examining the selection and putting a surprising amount of thought into rice, as he does so often in life and as he does in this week’s ep...

Technically, Stefanie Wilder-Taylor and Cecily Knobler are not and have never been part of the lineup of the band Barenaked Ladies. But in their own way they feel like the band is at least part of them. These best friends host the podcasts Rose Pricks and Bored A.F. and Stefanie is the author of a remarkable number of books, dealing with, among other topics, parenting and sobriety. They love Baren...

Dessa is many things but mostly she’s a cake decorator. For our purposes for this episode, at least. Oh sure, you may know her has a brilliant musician, rapper, poet, and occasional guest host on public radio. You may have heard her work on  Welcome to Night Vale  or heard her in action as part of the Doomtree collective or on The Hamilton Mix Tape . But we think her real passion is doing up those...

John-Luke Roberts is a comedian, actor, and podcast maker and he's from England so you know his voice is going to be pleasant to hear. John-Luke created and hosts Sound Heap, a very funny podcast about a podcast network taking on the daunting task of making too many podcasts. Sound Heap is joining the Maximum Fun family this month and to celebrate this fact, John-Luke stops by our show to talk at...

Laurie Kilmartin is a veteran comic, a best-selling author, and an Emmy-nominated writer for Conan. She is also a newly minted anime fan, coming to it initially as a pandemic bonding activity with her 17-year-old son. He tricked her into enjoying animated violence, sexy wizards, and the occasional bit of cannibalism. Laurie also asks the big pop culture questions: How did Daryl from The Walking De...

Sandeep Parikh is well known to anyone who followed the web series The Guild, where he played Zaboo. Sandeep is a writer, producer, director, and comedian in Hollywood, where he also, very importantly, serves as president of his local homeowner's association. It is this role that he explores in meticulous depth in a soothing interview that gently tackles the legal dispute between Sandeep's souther...

Jason Pargin has taken care of writing seven novels, including John Dies at the End and the new Zoey Is Too Drunk For This Apocalypse. But he's only taken care of one pet bunny rabbit and his name was Rico. Rico the rabbit. Jason explains to us, at sleep-inducing length and snoozable levels of detail, some of the myths and facts about bunny husbandry, including that you shouldn't feed them carrots...

In this very special episode of Sleeping with Celebrities, the celebrity is the host. John Moe is the host of Depresh Mode, author of The Hilarious World of Depression , and, in fact, host of this very podcast as well. He talks to himself and to you as he travels across North Dakota from Bismarck all the way to New Salem just to see an enormous fake cow. Yep, you'll doze off to a luxurious sleep a...

Rob Harvilla is the host of the hit podcast 60 Songs That Explain the 90s and author of a book of the exact same name. But before he was regaling his listeners with his thoughts on music of that era, Rob was living in that era and making music of his own. Or rather, making music of somebody else's. You see, Sleepyheads, Mr. Harvilla was an open mic musical performer in his college days, in the 90'...

Linda Holmes is a best-selling author and one of the hosts of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. But you know what an hour is that wasn't always happy? Melrose Place. Oh, it's true. Melrose Place was a nighttime soap opera in the 1990s and it told the stories of the residents of a fictitious apartment complex in Los Angeles where everyone's lives were complicated. The people were complicated, the relat...

Benjamin Partridge is the host of Beef and Dairy Network podcast, which is a very funny comedy program described as "The number one podcast for those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds." It is a program here on the Maximum Fun network. Mr. Partridge is also a Welshman and would very much like for you to join him as he takes us on a tour of the smaller and...

The Holy Roman Empire is a huge topic, spanning at least one continent and nearly a thousand years. Fortunately, we’re here to cover the entire thing in about an hour while you doze off to a good night’s sleep with thoughts of complex treaty agreements dancing in your head. We’re guided on this journey by comedian, actor, and writer Guy Branum who knows more about the political and military intric...

Do you remember all the plays you were a part of in school? Chances are Gianmarco Soresi remembers more plays than you do because he was in just so many, all of which he will recount for you as you drift off to sleep. Learn how Gianmarco acted and acted and acted through everything from Twelfth Night to something called Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Learn also how he ultimately forsook the theatrical st...

Any biography of Stephen Tobolowsky must mention, and possibly right at the beginning, his performance as Ned Ryerson, the annoying insurance salesman in Groundhog Day. But that's far from the only big credit in Stephen's IMDb page, which also includes films like Memento and Thelma & Louise. Long before he was the hugely successful actor he is today, Stephen was just another guy trying to get by i...

Maybe the old method of counting sheep works for you as a sleep aid. But maybe you need your animals to be a little more varied. That’s where comedy writers Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold come in with an exhaustive rundown of the various non-humans who have inhabited the White House. And we’re not just talking about dogs. Not by a longshot. We mean alligators and goats and possums.  Ben and Rebec...

You know what might make you all tuckered out and ready for sleep? A walking tour of Paris. And who better to provide you with a friendly and funny walkabout than Negin Farsad, the comedian/director/writer and former resident of the City of Light? Negin pays particular attention to all the outdoor options of Paris, everything from the touristy hotspots to the lesser-known local haunts, so your imp...

Ordinarily, you wouldn’t want to visit a whole bunch of hipster coffee shops across the U.S. before bedtime. It would be time-consuming and expensive plus all that coffee would make you all jittery. But if you’re being softly guided through these places by the gentle voice of the hilarious Aparna Nancherla, it makes for a perfect bedtime journey. Aparna has a new book, Unreliable Narrator: Me, Mys...

You might know Phoebe Judge as the host of the podcast Criminal, now celebrating its tenth year. Depending on where you live, you might also know her for her clamshell driveway because she has one of those. It’s an indication of how very much she loves clams and how much she loves clamming, which is the term for going out to the ocean and digging up clams. Phoebe talks us through the different kin...

If you have access to what’s called the internet, you probably have experienced the work of Felicia Day. She is the creator and star of the web series The Guild, the author and star of the new audiobook Third Eye, and she’s been featured in about one billion web videos. Rarely has her work featured frank discussions of her own gut health and personal biome. Until today, that is. With her signature...

Cameron Esposito is a very popular and very funny comedian and the host of the Queery podcast right here on the Maximum Fun network. She has also been to a lot of concerts and while concerts can be noisy, talking about them doesn’t have to be. In this soothing episode, Cameron fills us in on five memorable shows and her five memorable dates for those shows. Is Neil Diamond on the list? Yes. Taylor...

You may know Steven Page from his solo musical work or his tenure as one of the founders and leaders of the band Barenaked Ladies. Of course, if you were around the Toronto suburbs some years ago and you knew Steven, it’s also possible you know him from his Bar Mitzvah. It was a lovely event and young (yet a man) Steven received many thoughtful gifts, which he is happy to enumerate for you, the dr...

Julie and Brandy are best friends, comedy partners, and co-hosts of the podcast Dumb Gay Politics , which, according to Wikipedia, “recaps politics and reality TV.” They also hosted the Bravo TV program The People’s Couch. In between their busy schedules, they find plenty of time to eat just so very many vitamins. Brandy eats more than Julie but it’s hard to eat more vitamins than Brandy does. Hea...

You might recall Zak Orth as “J.J.” from the very funny film Wet Hot American Summer or perhaps you might recall him as “Aaron” from the drama series Revolution. If you haven’t seen those, well, don’t worry because he has an IMDb list of credits as long as your arm, even if you have a very long arm. On our program, Zak shares his rather extensive thoughts on laundry: how it should be sorted, wheth...

You may know the very funny Frank Conniff from his run as “TV’s Frank” on the legendary comedy program Mystery Science Theater 3000. But before he became a star there, Frank kept a more modest profile as an employee at Arby’s in Minneapolis. The job, which came about after his application at White Castle was rejected, helped Frank get his life together and helped keep him on the straight and narro...

The life of a touring rock n’ roll musician can be very exciting. Fortunately, we leave the exciting parts out in our conversation with the deeply hilarious Kristin Hersh, from the bands Throwing Muses and 50-Foot Wave and a prolific solo career. Kristin, who has a brand new album out on Friday called Clear Pond Blue, takes us through the rock star life but focusing on sedate topics like trying to...