The JV Club with Janet Varney

We’re elated to welcome the dynamic actor Alisha Wainwright, who tells of her Jamaican & Haitian roots, her teen years in the Sunshine State, wrapping our heads around dark matter, and her new podcast, the very cool  When Science Finds a Way ! 

Quick! Get yourself to the best bathroom graffiti you can find and celebrate it with Caitlin Cook, who takes us from the streets of mid-city LA and some classically catty high school girls (not Caitlin!) to an off-Broadway theatre for her amazing one-woman musical. Plus! A healthy M.A.S.H. scoop of lion love!

Celebrate living in the moment– which in this case includes “moments” devoted to excessive cheek blush, dead teeth, and the raw sexual power of Night Court and Three’s Company–  from one of the creators and stars of NBC’s Best Friends Forever , Jessica St. Clair. This episode also requires audience participation, via several non-rhetorical questions for the listener!

Heads-up! This is a very special episode of The JV Club! In which we welcome Max Fun’s own Tom Lum ( Let’s Learn Everything!) , who may or may not have listened to The JV Club as a teen himself and is now a guest on it talking about his teen years. Which may or may not move JV to tears. We bet you can guess on that one. So dig into your Eggs Benedict and let’s go!

It’s been a rough summer for the planet, friends! So take this opportunity to smile at delightful Boy of Summer Matt Apodaca ( Get Played  pod) and his SoCal class clownery. So get those double jumps and hot wings queued up for a summery good time! This show was edited with help from Daniel Schroeder

Hop into your time machine to hit the message boards in small-town Maine with this week’s divine Boy of Summer, Alex Steed ( You Are Good  podcast)! Journey with Alex for rides to the mall… and stay with him for the ecosystem of friendships therein!

This week brings you terrific Boy of Summer Eric Silver of  Multitude , who brings tales of teen life in Jersey, including a couple of years of not-so-great football (and the coaches who really do seem hatched right out of an 80’s comedy), a couple of years of much-better Drama, and what it means when your mom dresses you and your twin alike... to prove how UN-identical you are! 

We’re taking a week off of Boys of Summer to bring you producer, musician and creative maven  Carolyn Kendrick!  So grab your fiddle and a bowl o’ noodles for this chat about podcasting (You’re Wrong About and more!), how to sweet-talk yourself into any band, and more!  

Can’t say enough good things about this week’s Boy of Summer, Carl Tart ( Gossip Kings )! Sit in on this conversation about becoming a 12 year-old Caddy driver, the discovery of where “home” is and how that evolves, and for gods’ sake don’t forget your Bluebell Banana Pudding ice cream!!

Hope everybody’s having a fun-- if sizzling— summer! We’re delighted to have our pal Doug Benson ( Doug Loves Movies ) regale us with teen stories coming out of sunny San Diego. Plus! riding in elevators at The Oscars... in both real and M.A.S.H. life!     

It’s JV’s delightful Truth & Justice co-host, Zaq Weaver! Bundle up and head to the edge of the lake for this chat about doodling, shooting hoops, tattooing, and any other words with two o’s that we’re not thinking of at the moment. Plus! Could Zaq’s M.A.S.H. be predicting a real-life resolution to a decades-old true crime case?

It’s the simply fantastic Max Mittleman as our latest Boy of Summer! If you’re an anime fan or a gamer, you will know his delightful tones as he and JV mosey through his teen years in the Los Angeles Valley, dodging bullies (heavy sigh) and crushing on a certain fantastic actress… whom he may or may not end up with in his M.A.S.H. future!

Get your art on, friends! Whatever form it takes! And while you’re at it, feast your ears on this episode with Boy of Summer  Video Dave   who talks crafting, family histories, music and way more, of course! So grab that mac and cheese and puppet up!

Grab your overnight bag, because we’re all sleeping at Shai’s! Join this week’s guest Shai Korman ( Friday Night Movie ) takes us from the streets of Montreal to a family house by the lake, along with some summer camp joy for good measure. Plus: a trip into the… Couplesretreataverse?

We’re gleaming the cube with comedian and delight  Kyle Kinane , who talks Chicago teenagerness featuring wry remarks and maybe not-so-great punk band experiences (experiences great = band itself, maybe not so great?). Grab a gyro, and surf’s up!

It’s Julia Schifini from the Spirits podcast, upon which JV made a recent appearance ! Find out about Julia’s high school passions, including some more JV Club Ellen Ripley and Wolverine love, musicals and dream roles, and a certain shark-adjacent island. Extra points for Julia’s teen pic actually BEING in a classroom!a

Spend this episode of The JV Club with the terrific graphic novelist and illustrator Melissa Capriglione ( Basil and Oregano ), whose journey from self-publishing to finding a wonderful partner in Dark Horse also parallels finding… other right kinds of partners, both in real life and in the M.A.S.H.verse (wink)! 

What better way to celebrate a MaxFun Crossover than with one of the Maxiest, Funniest, Crossoveriest(?) people around, Mr. John Hodgman? It’s a smorgasbord of topics and delight in this special episode. This episode was originally published in 2021.

This week we’re elated to welcome the brilliant author and producer Kendra James ( Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School ) for a venture into the elite world of a world-famous college prep high school and all of the speed bumps and landmines that come along with it. So throw on your ice skates and get ready to ice-dance with an icon!

Time to leave that military base for the new digs of Prattville, Alabama! Hang out with the teen version of the marvelous Gennifer Hutchison (“Better Call Saul,” “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”) and follow her to the hills of San Francisco. Fall in love with writing! Mangez des crêpes! Sing in the rain!

Break that old cd in half and make yourself some killer homespun earrings with the fantastic Jeffrey Elizabeth Copeland (Quarandream!), who talks Georgia, The Big Apple, treasuring-but-maybe-also-questioning that daring teenage style phase some of us had, and much more! Including giant steampunk spiders!

Get up early, throw on your crew visor and hit the water with comedian, writer, and awesome human Alison Leiby (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), who talks fashion, cat rooms and much more, including what it’s been like to tour a one-person show about abortion in our zany world of today!

This week’s ep brings you longtime listener and friend of the show, teaching artist and activist Cait Mullan (they/them)! A San Francisco native, Cait shares their empathy, humor, and first-hand experiences of growing up in a famously liberal city… but nestled in a surprisingly non-liberal enclave... and all the hijinx which inevitably ensue! We love, love, love this ep and know you will, too!

It’s the other half of the fantastic Coming Out  pod, Nicole Pacent! Nicole brings tales of Gomez and Mortitia’s love affair, Queen Ani DeFranco, and stretching wings in more narrow-minded places until you find your communities. Note this ep does include specifics about mental health and losing people we love (and hope it’s helpful for some of you processing your own losses). This episode was edit...

Spend a little time with creator and CEO of  Multitude , podcaster and writer Amanda McLoughlin, who talks artistic community, world-building, and great pottery throw-downs with JV in this delightful romp that might even take you all the way back to Cleopatra’s parade!