The JV Club with Janet Varney

From the recent live show at LA Podfest, Janet is joined by a couple of great beards and the wonderful men sporting them: Charles “Chuck” Bryant ( Stuff You Should Know ) and Timothy Omundson ( Galavant, Psych ), and one spectacular woman who happens to ALSO look great with a beard: Natalie Morales ( Parks and Rec ). Settle in and nibble on your candy necklace for an hour of stories and songs!

What happens when a Brooklynite gets uprooted to the Texas suburbs with her mom and her mom's female partner and spends her teenage years academically overachieving and keeping secrets that make her sick? Why, she grows up to be an amazing comedian and author of her very own novel (Vow of Celibacy), of course. Erin Judge discusses all this and more this week on the podcast!

It’s a classic JV Club train of thought that leaves the station at about 60 miles per hour, thanks to the bright light that is the mind and heart of one Kristen Bell ( The Good Place ), otherwise known as one of the world’s preeminent dog petting scientists. KB and JV cheerily talk failure, murder, and the incredible power of a good Sondheim refrain.

Let’s jam this in before the end of September, anyway! Janet and her onscreen husband Todd Anderson ( You’re the Worst ) put together the most Frankensteined JV Club episode to date- ranging multiple locations and dates. But no need to fear- there’s still plenty of M.A.S.H., tales of high school horror and movie chat, just maybe not in the order you’d expect!

Nova Scotia native (and fantastic comic artist/writer/awesome person) Kate Leth patiently sits through Janet freaking out about Anne of Green Gables, moving on to other topics such as utterly cool moms and tattoos, the power of black lipstick and the suspension of time aboard a lengthy flight.

This week it’s a story of stuff (life stuff! Not clutter stuff!) with Annie Leonard (The Story of Stuff, Greenpeace), who talks about how experiences in the margins of high school can be liberating, the joy of optimism (and worms!), and the satisfaction of a really great opera cake.  

Get ready for an “exciting" exploration into the Polar Caves and so much more (including, perhaps, destinations slightly less disappointing when viewed in person) with the delightful  Mary Roach  (author of bestsellers  Grunt, Packing for Mars,  and a bunch more! ) , whose humor, curiosity and general awesomeness are an inspiration to fellow geeks everywhere.

It’s time to make that excruciating decision: which sax do I play - alto or tenor - while I listen to Episode 212 with the brilliant Craig Cackowski ( Drunk History, Spontaneanation )? Once you’ve decided, get into your Lincoln Continental and cruise around to the tales of an overnight baritone with a penchant for movie lists.

Tell your mom to keep the motor running while you stop in for a chat with Bar Mitzvah superstar and Boy of Summer Samm Levine ( Inglorious Basterds, Freaks and Geeks ), whose 15 year-old standup comedy set will make you blush (well, at least the first joke). But don’t worry- it made him blush, too.

It’s time to dig out that sleeveless Def Leppard concert tee and grow your hair out to “regularly-mistaken-for-a-girl” length for Boy of Summer Henry Phillips (so much stuff to list, just visit henryphillips.com!), whose cred even includes running into a Brady Bunch Brady on a train. THAT IS A BIG DEAL, EVERYBODY!

Episode 209 welcomes the immensely talented Justin Kirk ( Weeds ), who forgoes his usual Los Angeles walkabout to sip his gas station coffee on JV’s sofa, handling her barrage of invasively personal questions with aplomb. And the photo is from a Children’s Miracle Network fundraiser, not a video dating ad, as JV had hoped.

Move over, Phil Collins and Don Henley! Boy of Summer Andrew Burlinson ( Just Add  Magic)  will give you a run for your drumming-while-singing money. Plus, this new dad is ready to armor up and do some knight-type stuff— I’m looking at you, Jamie Lannister.

Imagine this is a song that Boy of Summer Mark Gagliardi (Workjuice Player, We Got This podcast) wrote just for you. And for you, and you, and also for you. You’re one of a kind, after all! Plus, you’ll get to hear about sexy Catholic retreats (well, kind of sexy?) and drama club hedonism. Isn’t Gags just the best?

The nearly All-Wisconsinite Boys of Summer trend shockingly continues! This time it’s the just wonderful Nate Mooney, JV’s co-star on the Dana Gould-created IFC series  Stan Against Evil,  coming to you this fall! Until then, whet your appetite with stories of aerospace engineering, Top Gunnery, and surely the first Boy of Summer to go deep on miniatures!

Take off your shoes and put on your best white suit because it’s time for Mr. Chris Tallman (Spontaneanation, The Thundermans) to school you in the ways of improv, tuba, and how "Fantasy Island" and Victorian England deserve one another, as Boys of Summer continues its mighty roar!

GUYS, MARK MCCONVILLE (Superego, Pistol Shrimps) WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO SIT ON JANET’S NEW COUCH. That’s a big deal! But sure, yes, lots of other things happen on episode 202 as Boys of Summer motors along, including talk of Mark’s parents finished basement (hello ladies!), his “meh” hockey career, and of course, his gorgeous mullet.  

Boys of Summer 2016 hums along with considerably more relaxed ease than you’d feel if you had to drive a double-decker, British-steering-wheel-on-the-right-side bus through Savannah with Clint Eastwood counting on you. Luckily if you’re Gary Anthony Williams (Boondocks, Rick & Morty), you navigate everything with grace, humor, and killer improv chops.

It’s time to get the band back together. Or find yourself in a new band every week, if you’re Boys of Summer guest comedian, author, and This American Life contributor Dave Hill (new book! Dave Hill Doesn’t Live Here Anymore). Celebrate hearty loves of multi-genre guitar shreds, the class act that is Dick Cavett, and making the stuff YOU like instead of trying to conform.

(Pretentious Trumpets Blaring) It’s the 200th episode of The JV Club, starring YOU! To celebrate, this episode features recordings by listeners as well as some listener emails read by JV. And it also features a M.A.S.H. game with questions from listeners, as conducted and answered jointly by April Richardson and Janet! Hear JV stumble through M.A.S.H. less gracefully than any past guests. #Spoiler...

Get ready to hurl that pristine-white toilet paper roll over a nearby tree, because it’s wonderful Boy of Summer Matt Gourley’s (Superego) time to shine in all his most-of-high-school 5-foot glory. Hear about Matt’s command of Spanish curse words, love of cookies, and the house that haunts him to this day… every time he gets a haircut.

It's a re-release of Maria Bamford!  The JV Club  defies you to find another podcast that covers ALL of these conversation essentials: stationery hewn from elephant poo; a fear of what we'll call "Plastic Man arms;" and using blood to secure a first class airplane ticket. These popular topics and much more -- with the wonderful Maria Bamford, no less!

Condition your softball glove and make sure to stretch before this conversation with comedian and author Amber Tozer (Sober Stick Figure), whose Pueblo, Colorado roots are showing… in a great way. Oh, and good luck out-lettering her varsity status!

Hip-Hop, math, musicals, tiny unicorns, and Playgirl magazine: a crib sheet guide to this episode with the extremely cool Eliza Skinner ( Totally Biased, Late Late Show ), whose various and sundry, all-around-awesome talents make up their own comedy multiverse.

It’s a Boys of Summer Preview with Hutch Harris! Celebrate the release of the new album  We Disappear  by The Thermals with this special almost-summer-but-not-quite episode with Hutch, which includes a song from the new album at the end of the podcast!

Saddle up! It’s the marvelous Tawny Newsome (Bajillion Dollar Properties), an amazing improviser and actor who might be just as at home in a rodeo competition or in a Pixies lip-synching contest. Oh, and Mandy Patinkin… LOOK OUT!