This Is Your Afterlife

Alex Stone (comedian, co-creator of The Movie Show on SYFY) is a pin-point precise standup who graduated from my high school (Sycamore) a few years after me. He surprised himself with his openness and vulnerability in this conversation, sharing a memory of a dogpile while watching soccer with a now-departed friend. He also talked about a disappointing rabbi, an embarrassingly touching Kenny Chesne...

Nate Varrone (Second City, Tooning Out the News) and I BRO DOWN about the idiosyncrasies of speaking in tongues. We also share the desire for an afterlife that is Something rather than Nothing. He tells me about the weeklong outdoor camp where he felt like he'd arrived and how hell is basically every office. Nate's one of the funniest comedians there is, and you're gonna love getting to know him....

Ramon Rivas II (Comedy Central's The Half Hour, Netflix's Cooking on High, HBO's Crashing) describes a deja vu-like afterlife and the memory he'd choose to relive, a whirlwind of food and family prior to filming his Comedy Central special. His hell is full of drunk white people, and his "coma" is a pair of experiences that made him commit to his comedy and his life. Ramon is a DIY role model, and...

Claire Favret (Cigarette Sandwich) is a warm, super-talented comedian and such a fan of the show that she becomes my first co-host of the intro and outro. She shares her habit of added to her will while sick that dates back to childhood, plus the coma moment that redefined her relationship to food and eating, and the hell of endless notes after a terrible improv show. Check out Claire's extended e...

I post these readings from Kim Krans' Wild Unknown Animal Spirit deck every week at patreon.com/davemaher . Donate monthly to my Patreon to help me keep making This Is Your Afterlife and join a community of people who love comedy about death and existence and all the biggest/corniest questions in life. You can get an extended episode and bonus clips every week, plus playlists, behind-the-scenes bl...

Catlyn Savado is a 14-year-old abolitionist organizer in Chicago. Here, she clowns on Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot. She revisits a perfect day of protesting. She describes learning to let go of toxic and straight-up racist friends. She's fun and sincere and curious. Enjoy this time with her. Check out Catlyn's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher . Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscr...

Language is a box. Dogma is a box. Comedian Cameron Gillette makes a strong case against the latter, but unfortunately, we had to use language to do this episode. Cameron and I bond over our memories of Christian weightlifting performers, then he tells me about the mortifying moment that sparked his first depression and a spiritual experience at a waterfall. Check out the extended episode at patre...

Ireland-born, Chicago-forged, world touring Michael Rice is one of the best comedians I know. He talks to me about maybe becoming a tree when he dies, how meditation makes you annoying at parties, and the under-16 hurling championship that was the greatest moment of his life so far. Check out the extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher with bonus intro banter about Mike's past year plus his "Pai...

Jamison Webb (What We Do in the Shadows, Space Force) had a dream in middle school and got to live it performing on the Second City Mainstage. Along the way, he shook off the bullying of early high school by barraging his classmates with comedy until they booed him senior year. Listen to this journey and his thoughts on what comes after everything. Check out the extended episode at patreon.com/dav...

Calvero—aka my former roommate Gabe Liebowitz—is a singer, pop songwriter, producer, and lover of therapy. We talk about the damages capitalism, hustle culture, and young success narratives have done to those of us looking for long and sustainable creative careers. He also shares a memory of working together with his late producer and friend Max Perenchio on a formative Calvero song. Check out the...

Mary Williamson's (The Fly Honey Show) mom said, "Nature is our church," and Mary echoes that sentiment when talking about offering up her skull as worm food. She also tells me about a dreamy childhood vacation spot she would freeze in time and the arrest that shifted her perspective on privilege. Check out the extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher , which includes more in-depth talk about the...

Air Credits (Clinton Sandifer aka ShowYouSuck & Steve Reidell aka half of The Hood Internet) contemplate artistic legacies, tell me about one of the best shows of their career, and I act out their hell as a host introducing them at a show. We also talk about the nature of epiphanies as Clinton discusses the fog of his entire school career and Steve relates the three moments women gave him advi...

One man's cancer is another man's coma. Kurt Chiang (The Neo-Futurists) talks to me about the weird corners of feeling that come with surviving cancer and wanting to control that attention by making theater. He describes a particularly theatrical heaven, and I think we accidentally proved the existence of God dissecting Kurt's experience of eating Peruvian rotisserie chicken. Check out Kurt's exte...

Kennedy Bartley (Legislative Director, United Working Families) went from thinking about her movement work in terms of "I'll die for this" to "I want to live for this." We talk about building the personal and professional infrastructure to support abolition and liberation in the long-term, what qualifies someone as a "comrade," and which slang I can get away with incorporating into my post-quarant...

Drennen Quinn (IFC, America's Greatest Rock Band podcast) is my best friend since we started improv classes together in 2008. We catch up and talk about the single question that shook his unexamined childhood faith, his unique ability to wring entertainment out of obnoxious strangers, and GROWING UP. Check out Drennen's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher , which includes an extended intro a...

Vicko Alvarez (Chief of Staff for Chicago Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez) joins me for a different kind of This Is Your Afterlife. As usual, we cover her personal dreams and post-death hopes, but more importantly, we talk about the recent police killings of Adam Toledo, Travon Chadwell, and Anthony Alvarez. Our conversation touches on community grief, what gets overlooked when narratives for...

Niccole Thurman (Superstore, Shrill, The Opposition with Jordan Klepper) is kind of modest, so death... is embarrassing! She explains in detail. She also tells me a deep-but-fleeting memory of "making it" and how she's a different person since quitting drinking. Check out Niccole's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for an extended intro, plus her "Paint Your Hell" and "Kill 1 Thing" segmen...

Maureen SanDiego (Drag Queen of the Year Pageant) would love hell, but I push her to contemplate the afterlife in general. She paints the horror of having consciousness but no senses and contrasts two musical theater experiences, one affirming and the other utterly devastating. Also, selectively abolish body odor! Check out Maureen's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for her extended "Pain...

Edgar Blackmon (Alone Together, Arrested Development, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) contemplates the possibility of getting reincarnated on yet another remedial-ass planet, life lessons from "Defending Your Life," and a Beyonce/Jay-Z concert at Soldier Field he'll remember forever. Check out Edgar's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for more pop culture discursions (Drake! "Married a...

Meaghan Strickland is one of the funniest comedians in the world. I ask if I can tell my favorite joke of hers at her funeral, she tells me her foolproof method to ensure she's not buried alive, and we talk about the kind of friends you just automatically connect with and who make you funnier before realizing we are those friends for each other. It's a real romp! Check out Strickland's extended ep...

Sarah Welch-Larson just published Becoming Alien —her book about the concept of evil in the Alien films—and she comes to This Is Your Afterlife to talk about having a low-key funeral, her infinitely relivable memory on the White Cliffs of Dover, and the tragedy that rearranged her life without her realizing it. Content warning: There's a reference to a school shooting in this episode. Check out Sa...

Daniel Strauss (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Second City) believes in combining Journey and Bon Jovi into one band. We talk about God as a loving creator, sitting shiva, and the ten minutes he got to spend with his wife in a room full of food right after they got married and before their reception. If you want more Daniel, check out his full episode at patreon.com/davemaher . It includes more rapid-fire...

Udbhav Gupta makes beautiful, mysterious, danceable music with Mr Twin Sister. He talks to me about recognizing cycles of depression, trying to outsmart the religion of your childhood, and a surreal and revelatory walk he took in a pitch-black Olympic National Park. If you want more Udbhav, check out his full episode at patreon.com/davemaher . It includes a hugely expanded intro (we've known each...

Sobriety doesn't stop standup and comic book artist Whitney Wasson (Sober Rabbit) from wanting heaven to be a cool house party with performances from Elliott Smith whenever HE feels comfortable. Whitney is a sensitive, funny, deep-thinking artist, and this conversation is full of gems about addiction, relationships, art, expectations, mental illness, and more and more and more. If you want more Wh...

Arish Singh (The Onion) performs standup with serious political bite, which makes his introspective and vulnerable turn here surprising and sweet. We talk a lot about depression, the need to hold separate funerals for your friends vs. family, and finally throwing off the shackles of societal and familial expectation to live the life you want. If you want more Arish, check out his full episode at p...