Slice of Life

Welcome back to Slice of Life! My guest this week is the incredibly funny Celeste Elizabeth. Celeste is a local comedian, one fifth of the the improv troupe Holy Smokes, accordion enthusiast and all around entertainer. She sat down with me to discuss how into ghosts is too into ghosts, growing up and how without a constant ever-changing variety of hobbies life is kind of a bummer. Be on the lookou...

This week on Slice of Life we have Collin Strajack from Modern Day Overthinker podcast. Collin is a local standup comedian who has been focusing on using his platform to promote and market local businesses and artists. He's a very nice guy. So nice in fact that during our interview the lovely city of Davenport rewarded him and all his good deeds by towing his car. I can only pay him by exposur...

Two time Slice of Life MVP is back on the pod and back on these streets. You know him, you love him, you don't trust him to babysit your kids we're talking Mr. Austin Ingels. Austin was kind enough to sit down to discuss love, comedy and the literary works of Mark Twain with me. Lil Wayne once said "they say love is in the air so I hold my breath till my face turn purple" and fol...

On the triumphant return of Slice of Life I sit down with a man of many hats and three names, Bobby Ray Bunch. I do some of the best investigative journalism of the last two decades and get to the bottom of exactly what brunch food Bobby Ray Bunch would be. We share stories and finally, in a new segment, we get to answer some of you, the listeners, questions. Find Bobby Ray Bunch for all your live...

This week on Slice of Life I travelled to Des Moines, IA, the home of TeeHee's Comedy Club to sit down with co-owner of the club AJ Simmons. TeeHee's was the first place I ever performed stand-up comedy and a staple in one of the fastest growing and most competitive comedy scenes in Iowa. I was able to discuss the history of the club and AJ's growing role in why the club has became suc...

A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, wearing a name tag the reads: "I'm Donny Townsend". That is how I can best describe this weeks guest. Donny is a bonafide legend in the Quad Cities area. As a standup he's opened for some of the best to ever do the thing; comics such as Doug Stanhope, Mark Normand and Sam Tallent. As a man he's a drifter, a wanderer, possibly...

Joining the ensemble cast this week we have Slice of Life alum Ben Woodfield and all the way from Chicago we have Matt Banwart and Eric Emerson. If this episode of The Slice doesn't have something in it for you, then you are the problem. We covered the whole range of topics you guys could possibly be into all the way from working in a mill to being outbid at strip clubs. I don't know what else you...

Season 2?! Seemed like a good time to close one chapter and start another. We are kicking off the new season with the Cedar Rapids own Mitzi Shore, the face and the pink hair of The Lucky Cat, Haley Flenker! Haley took the time to sit down with me and discuss the joys of managing the personalities and expectations of dozens of comedians, the dangers of pirating movies from the internet, and much m...

Things got pretty heavy and weird there for awhile huh gang? Well don't you worry because this week I invited over my silliest friends for the most laugh-out-loud episode of The Slice to date. I'm joined by Slice of Life favorite Austin Ingels and Slice of Life newcomers Ben Woodfield of Ben's Fellas Podcast and Dan McCullough of Dubuque credit union fame. We laughed, mostly at the expense of Ben,...

Well folks, we told some jokes and we got into a bar fight. Comedy is dangerous. This week on the podcast my good buddy Matthew LaCour stops by to break down the chaos that ensued during our Veteran's Day comedy show in Evansdale this past weekend. We reacted exactly how Chris Rock wished he would have, which is great considering if it went any differently we'd have to quit comedy. This episode wa...

This week I have on Jerry Hamedi, editor-in-chief of The Comedy Gazelle, a Chicago-based stand-up comedy magazine on the podcast. Jerry took the time to speak to me about the culture of stand-up comedy in Chicago, tips for other Midwest comics looking to explore mics in the Chicago area, and the beginnings and the future of The Comedy Gazelle. I was so happy to have the chance to get him on the po...

On the road this week. I headed up to Dubuque, IA to meet with my friend and The Comedy Bar Dubuque's GM Tim Blanco. Tim sat down with me to discuss what it's like managing an adult daycare full of high-functioning alcoholics. We go into our love of comedy, our Top 5 favorite local comics, plus-sized men's clothing and the pitfalls of growing facial hair. Brooks Wheelan was in the building this we...

Happy Halloween! In this creepy episode of The Slice my guest this evening stops by straight from the mausoleum to discuss all things spooky season. She is Jenn Boisen, you may know her as Elizadeath from WQAD myTV 8-3's horror variety show Midnite Mausoleum, and in this episode we discuss our love for the eerie, unsettling and macabre. We go into our favorite horror movie tropes, the joys of Hall...

When I think of the things that I love about this podcast, I think professional logo and well-produced theme. Neither of those things have anything to do with me and everything to do with my friend Cullen Wookey, who is responsible for the coolest parts of The Slice. A true artist, a jack of all trades, Wookey swung by to discuss some of his upcoming projects as well as life, growing up and the th...

Straight from Champaign, Illinois, my favorite rap duo of all time, Trouble Chasin' is comprised of Sandman Slimm and Chase Baby, hoe. They sat down with me ahead of a massive week for them. Their third album, Aquarigo, dropped October 11th and on October 15th they're opening for Ludacris at the State Farm Center. They've both individually and as a group been a massive influence on me and being ab...

Incredibly talented tattoo artist, super cool dude, Josh Dohman just recently opened his own shop "Gold Tooth Gallery" in Burlington, IA and he has been slinging ink like crazy. The way an artist does, not the way a squid does. I spent an entire Saturday with him getting tattooed and recording this podcast. We had all the usual banter you folks have came to love but we also touched on developing c...

Top three favorite Hoovers' in ascending order: Herbert Hoover, Hoover vacuums, Ryan Hoover. I don't even think Herbie Hoover knew a thing about helicopters or night vision goggles. Ryan Hoover is a CH-47 Crew Chief employed by a company that specializes in aerial wildfire suppression. It sounds fancy because it is fancy. He's one of the most interesting guys I've had the pleasure to know and he t...

Aloe like the plant. Mean like your 10th grade Geometry teacher that told you you'd never amount to anything. Aloe Mean sits down with host Zach Vaughan while they talk about their comedic idols, having to explain your jokes, the importance of being present in the moment, falling in love with strippers and proper bathroom hygiene. It's a wild ride, buckle up. Follow this man on Instagram @aloemean...

Local comedian, philanthropist, scientist, philosopher and heartthrob Austin Ingles and Zach Vaughan enter your childhood and discuss using nostalgia to cope with stress, the grind of stand up comedy, whether health insurance is a measure of success and why you'll never again have to go through the emotional turmoil of a flat tire alone. Follow the kid on Instagram @aingels_onthegram and on Youtub...

Comedian, and host of Movies I Like, JD Spets and Zach Vaughan discuss being there for your friends, Michael Douglas being incredibly popular in the '70s, the problem with movie nerds and why it is in fact cool to try hard. Follow him on Instagram @jdspets and on Apple Podcast and Spotify at Movies I Like with JD Spets. 

Short, concise, condensed, convenient, confident, conventional... You asked, I answered. This season one Slice of Life trailer trims all the fat and gets right to the point. Enjoy. Love you.