The Conner & Smith Show

Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, Matt and Stephen continue our American Summer series with Episode 204: The Fourth and 5th of July—a celebration of two back-to-back holidays that have always felt like one big weekend in Stephen’s life: America’s birthday on July 4th and his own birthday on July 5th. In this episode, Ryan, Matt, and Stephen explore the unique connection between I...

Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, Matt and Stephen continue our American Summer series with Episode 203: All’s Fair in the Summer — a celebration of county fairs, state fairs, world’s fairs, midway games, Ferris wheels, funnel cakes, corn dogs, elephant ears, prize booths, and all the sights, sounds, smells, and memories that make fair season one of the most magical parts of summ...

Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, Matt, Ryan, and Stephen kick off an all-new summer-long series: American Summer — a celebration of Americana in honor of America’s 250th anniversary year. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring everything that makes summer in America unique: blockbuster movies, summer foods, state fairs, road trips, songs of the summer, American history, pop c...

Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, Ryan Dean Halbrook and Stephen conclude their James Dean trilogy series with George Stevens’ epic 1956 masterpiece Giant — the final film James Dean completed before his tragic death. Widely considered one of the great American epics, Giant explores wealth, power, racism, class, family legacy, and the changing identity of Texas across generations...

Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, Ryan Dean Halbrook and Stephen continue their James Dean trilogy series with Nicholas Ray’s groundbreaking 1955 classic Rebel Without a Cause. Often considered James Dean’s most powerful and iconic performance, Rebel Without a Cause captured teenage alienation, vulnerability, anger, and longing in a way audiences had never seen before — and its i...

Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, Ryan Dean Halbrook and Stephen begin a brand-new three-part series exploring the complete film career of one of our favorite actors of all time — James Dean. We start where it all began with East of Eden, Elia Kazan’s emotionally explosive 1955 adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel that introduced James Dean to the world and instantly changed mo...

Episode 198 — Pre-Emily Check-In (On Our Way to the Arts Club) Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, we’re dropping in with a quick, real-time check-in — because tonight is a big one. After recently workshopping The House of Booth, we’re now just hours away from presenting the very first material from our brand-new Emily Dickinson project, tentatively titled Emily. You can hear the e...

Episode 197 — Popeye (A Very Strange Movie We Love Anyway) Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, we dive into one of the strangest big-budget films ever made — Popeye — a movie that somehow shouldn’t work… and yet, for us, absolutely does. Equal parts baffling, brilliant, and bizarre, this episode is a full-on exploration of a true cinematic oddity that has quietly become a guilty pl...

Episode 196 — Science Talk Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, we boldly go where we are wildly unqualified to go… science. In Science Talk, two people with absolutely no scientific credentials attempt to unpack some of the biggest (and weirdest) things in the universe right now — including the return of Artemis II, dinosaurs on Netflix, and yes… Melania Trump’s truly baffling pres...

Episode 195 — Easter Week Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, we celebrate Easter Week — looking at the holiday through both a personal and historical lens. From childhood memories to deeper traditions, we explore what Easter has meant to us over time and how it continues to evolve today. In this episode, we talk about: • 🐣 Our favorite Easter memories — past and present • ✝️ The...

Episode 194 — Exploring Emily Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week, we step inside the world of Emily Dickinson as we begin shaping our newest theatrical project — and prepare for our upcoming presentation at the Arts Club of Washington. Exploring Emily is our first public glimpse into a piece that has been quietly evolving behind the scenes, and in this episode, we pull back the cur...

Episode 193 — Revisiting Sondheim: Merrily We Roll Along Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week we return to our ongoing Stephen Sondheim deep dive series with a long-overdue update — inspired by the extraordinary filmed stage version of Merrily We Roll Along. For years, Merrily has been known as the fascinating “problem child” of the Sondheim canon — a brilliant score paired with a no...

Episode 192 — March Madness (Spring Fever with Matt & Stephen) Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week we’re embracing a different kind of March Madness — the joyful, slightly unhinged excitement that comes with the beginning of spring. We’re talking about all the things we look forward to this time of year: longer days, open windows, fresh air, the re-emergence of the color green, and...

Episode 191 — New Loves (Pop Culture Discoveries with Matt & Stephen) Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week we’re falling in love all over again — but not with people. Instead, we’re sharing our new loves: the pop culture discoveries, creative obsessions, and unexpected finds that have recently captured our attention. From films and documentaries to music, podcasts, books, and delight...

Episode 190 — Valentine’s Day with Matt & Stephen Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week we’re celebrating all things Valentine’s Day. From the strange and surprising history behind the holiday to the ways love shows up in our own lives, we explore romance, friendship, partnership, and the traditions that make February 14th feel a little magical (and occasionally a little ridiculous)....

Episode 189 — Things We Love: Stephen Schwartz Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! This week we’re diving into one of the writers who shaped us — Stephen Schwartz. From the shows that formed us as young theatre artists to the songs that continue to guide our work as creators, we unpack the craft, the heart, and the theatrical DNA that keeps pulling us back to his music. We talk about inspirat...

Episode 188 — Cabin Fever with Matt & Stephen Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! We’re coming to you from the snowbound depths of Winter Storm Fern, where cabin fever has fully set in. In this episode, Matthew and Stephen unpack everything that’s happened since the last time we recorded: from processing the death of Catherine O’Hara to trying to make sense of the bizarre and violent occupati...

Episode 187 — Latinidad in Musical Theatre Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show, where history, artistry, and storytelling collide. In this episode, we sit down with author Stefan Sittig to discuss his upcoming book Latinidad in Musical Theatre, a vital and illuminating exploration of Latinx contributions to the American musical theatre canon. We trace a vibrant lineage of artists and influence...

Episode 186 — 2025 Culture Wrap-Up Happy New Year and welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show! We’re ringing in 2026 the only way we know how — by looking back at the art, entertainment, and pop culture that got us through 2025. In this episode, we break down our favorite movies, songs, books, and TV shows of the year — the ones that thrilled us, surprised us, obsessed us, comforted us, and comple...

Episode 185 — O Christmas Tree Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show, where one simple holiday symbol turns into a full-blown festive deep dive. In this episode, we’re talking Christmas trees past, present, and fabulously over-the-top — from the surprising origins of the Christmas tree tradition to the many forms it’s taken over the years. We unpack the glory of silver aluminum trees, the undeni...

Episode 184 – Cozy Couch, Christmas Cabaret & Chit Chat Welcome back to The Conner & Smith Show — and buckle up, because this episode is pure holiday chaos in the best possible way. Today we’re talking Thanksgiving, we’re talking my upcoming Christmas cabaret, and we’re DEFINITELY talking about our brand-new couch, which — in true Conner & Smith fashion — gets delivered in the middle of the episod...

It’s a luminous day on The Conner & Smith Show as we welcome Susan Derry and Howard Breitbart to talk about their upcoming holiday cabaret, Derry & Bright, premiering at Creative Cauldron as part of Susan’s season-long role as Cabaret Artist in Residence. In this conversation, we dive into the creative spark behind the show, the musical surprises they’re crafting, the joy (and mischief) of holiday...

Episode 182 – My Favorite Things Welcome to a very special holiday edition of The Conner & Smith Show! On today’s episode, Matt turns the tables and interviews me about all of my very favorite holiday things — the memories, the music, the traditions, and the inspirations that shaped my upcoming holiday cabaret, My Favorite Things, happening Tuesday, December 9th at Creative Cauldron. We dive into...

Day 31 – Episode 181: Clown in a Cornfield (2025) Happy Halloween! On Day 31 of The Conner & Smith Show’s 31 Days of Halloween, Matt and Ryan take over the podcast to discuss Clown in a Cornfield — a movie Matt has never seen! While I was busy entertaining friends, the boys decided to close out our spooky season with chaos, laughter, and some truly wild takes. The results are absolutely hilarious....

Day 30 – Episode 180: Together (2025) On Day 30 of The Conner & Smith Show’s 31 Days of Halloween, I’m flying solo to talk about Together (2025) — starring real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie. I really wanted to like this one, especially with its promising setup and the duo’s natural chemistry, but what starts as a tense psychological thriller quickly veers into something closer to a sati...