The JV Club with Janet Varney

Come for the science, stay for the theatre! This week’s guest, author, actor, and game designer Kate Welch blows JV away with news about her BOARDING public high school and all of the delightful mischief those mostly-unsupervised teens got up to. Plus plenty of love for sci-fi, brewskis, and a VERY close look inside one of their mutual buddies.

Okay pals! Grab your megaphone, throw on your camo, and head to the nearest fast food drive-through for nerdy hijinx with the truly wonderful writer, performer and caregiver Beth Lisick (NYT bestselling author of the book Everybody Into the Pool ; host of "The Electronic Lover"  podcast). This ep brings you laughter and goofiness coupled by heartfelt conversation about JV’s mom and other dear folk...

What’s happening in this episode of The JV Club? Oh, just a couple of Korras hanging out together, talking about letting go of “the cool kids” and finding your RPG and “Pride and Prejudice” crew! It’s Jacqueline Grace Lopez (Korra in Nick All Star Brawl 2; General Hospital), and she’s kicking ass on and offscreen (with a little time to play in the Pony-verse thrown in for good measure).   

It’s the other half of the fabulous Reading Glasses pod! Mallory and JV extol the virtues of hobbitry, sublime Providence, and the evergreen perfection of the werewolf-as-puberty motif. So howl your way with us from Massachusetts to (via Brooklyn & LA) the sleepy sweet town of Idyllwild… which might only be improved upon with a werewolf sighting or two.

Today's movie takes on the guise of a weird '80s teen comedy, then adds in some supernatural phenomena and some axes. So we consult THE JV CLUB's Janet Varney on the peculiarities of Lisa's high school experience, and then make up some Monster Mash-up movies of our own. What’s Good Alonso - RO-TEL Dip Janet - Mochi Muffins from Third Culture Bakery Drea - Chocolate-dipped Twinkies ITIDIC The Oscar...

Julian Burrell- producer and editor of the JV Club- has a quick update regarding this weeks' episode.

Max Fun Crossover Alert! It's the amazing Brea Grant from the Reading Glasses podcast! JV and Brea get deep into movies, books, punk and emo, with yes, a healthy helping of Fox Robin Hood to boot. So shave your head and grab your drumsticks... and let's goooooooo!

This week with the always wonderful Paul F. Tompkins: build a snow tunnel, sing a few piano tunes, or recite Edgar Allen Poe in the place where his macabre work truly shines, a brightly lit classroom. Boys of Summer continues!

Kerri Kenney-Silver ( Wanderlust, The State ) hunkers down on Janet’s floor to charm and delight with the classics: poorly-received cheerleader tryouts, inevitable class clownism, and accidentally forming a band that ended up touring with Neil Young.

Episode 21 of The JV Club finds Janet and guest Alison Brie ( Community, Mad Men ) spontaneously writing a movie pitch, discussing the bathroom-centric challenges of leotards, and even catching a few cooties with a fan-made cootie catcher. If you don’t know what that is, it’s not what it sounds like.

Finally, a conversation that covers two of the most seminal influences on contemporary culture: playwright George Bernard Shaw and the oft-overlooked screen gem Mannequin Two: On the Move.  All this and more with Gillian Jacobs, who turned heads as a child with an impressive array of homemade Halloween costumes long before she graced  Community’s collegiate hallways.

Ring in the New Year with a JV Club - Journos Crossover! This week, JV has a funny, informative and mind-boggling conversation with Brandon and Stephen about theories of what it means to be a conscious being. Seriously! We even asked scientists! 

When should parents start letting their children pour their own cereal? Could an addiction to My Little Ponies be Kentucky Derby-related? Can anyone really BELONG to thunder? Another hard-hitting episode of The JV Club explores the the mind and memories of this week’s guest, the marvelous Maggie Lawson (Psych).

Seasons Greetings from JV and her Boy of Winter, Josh Hallmark ( Studio Both/And )! With some real life-overlap between these two fairly newly-minted friends, get ready for a healthy dose of teen angst, LDS chitchat, secret hideout places, and yes, true crime quandaries. 

It’s December, so cast your mind back into the aughts for the glorious era of Brad Pitt & his unbuttoned white shirt on the December cover of Vanity Fair magazine... as your gateway into this entertaining chat with Liza Treyger (the other half of the great  That’s Messed Up  pod). From the tough love of the high school theater teacher to a fabulous M.A.S.H. future, inspiration runs high!

Join JV and this week’s guest, Adrien Behn ( Strangers Abroad  pod) for a spirited convo covering glorious travel - both Adrien’s and the historic & competitive 1889 journeys of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland around the world! Plus! Musicals, tacos, and a Gouda awakening! 

This one goes out to all you Mr. Darcy lovers out there! But all, of course, are welcome to this delightful chat with comedian Jessica Sele (whose  Weird Vibes  album you should totally check out now) who also talks lighthouses, musical enthusiasm, and JV’s new favorite “Disneyland ride turns real” answers!

This episode was originally published in 2016 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.

Settle in this week for gem of a human being, comedian, actor and writer Leah Rudick (check out her special  Spiraling !), who brings stories of growing up in Cincinnati, where— and we can’t be any more clear on this— there is a perfectly average insect population. Plus! beheadings, tone deafness, and beaaaautiful beaded gowns.

This one goes out to all the really tall gals with big, beautiful feet! Get ready for a lively chat with comedy legend Judy Gold this week on The JV Club, where parents muddle their way through their kids’ sexuality, coffee ice cream reigns supreme (with augmentation!), and we can’t get enough of Barbara Eden in a certain iconic tv costume.

Grab your ballpark hot dog and gather up all your unnecessarily detailed historical baseball stats for this delightful chat with Sarah D. Bunting ( Best Evidence ), in which we head to New Jersey, jam to Top 40, dig into Mom’s meatloaf, and heaps more. In fact, JV and SDB gabbed so much, they didn’t even talk about this  book Sarah co-wrote to guide you through every episode of “Beverly Hills, 902...

From a shared mutual love of the “Miss Chevious” detective novels to the perennial -- if scary -- appeal of an old diving suit, JV and this week’s Boy of Summer Jordan Morris (Jordan Jesse, Go!) cover a lot of ground in both the real and thoroughly made-up worlds of Earth, Earth 2, veiny comic book characters, and maybe the best name ever for a turn-of-the-century baseball team. (This episode was...

This week we bring you the delightful Olivia Flood-Wylie (check out her comedy special Half & Half here!) and tales of Amsterdam, Los Angeles, the mean girls high school experience, and maybe the most some of us have ever talked or heard about the Tinkerbell movies!

It’s almost time to start assembling your facial tissue Christmas tree! Not sure what that means or where to begin? You’re in luck! This week’s amazing guest, Vicki Peterson of the LEGENDARY band The Bangles, is a seasoned expert. Plus! Find out what it takes to put together great music and great people from the tender teenage years all the way into adulthood-- with this brilliant artist!

Get ready to balance your high school budget with this week’s guest, Treasurer extraordinaire Kara Klenk, who also now happens to co-host the Law & Order: SVU podcast That’s Messed Up. This is the kind of rad project you could only hope for from someone whose entire family gets on board for a good crime docu-binge!