You Are The Genre

Tim Barnes chats with comedy writer/animation director Grant Lindahl ( Comedy Central’s Tales From The Trip) about growing up in a military family and moving from an Appalachian farming town to the coasts of New York City and L.A. in pursuit of a life in comedy and animation. Along with developing animations for Comedy Central Grant has also written for the award winning comedy series “Mini Mocks,...

Tim Barnes chats with screenwriter Jordan VanDina ( The Binge , The Animaniacs,What Would Diplo Do? ) about growing up in Ronkonkoma Rhode Island, being inspired by Kevin Smith to pursue filmmaking, and writing his famous “ weekend scripts ” to carve a place for himself in Hollywood. Listen to episodes a week earlier than the rest by selecting a paid subscription to the newsletter ! Merch and more...

Tim Barnes chats with Kerry Coddett about forging her genre-defying career and how writing connects all of her creative pursuits. Kerry Coddett is a Caribbean-American writer, actress, and stand-up comedian from Brooklyn, who currently serves as the co-EP, showrunner, and head writer of the upcoming Untitled Yvonne Orji Stand-Up Special on HBO . Kerry was also a story editor on Showtime ’s Flatbus...

Tim Barnes chats with comedian Ian Abramson about discovering his voice as a comedian, and preparing for his debut standup special The Heist . Here’s Ian’s bio, as written on his website: Ian Abramson? I haven't heard that name in a long time... Well, not the way you pronounce it anyway. My name is Ian Abramson (I'm sorry, you're still reading that wrong. EE-IN ABE-RAM-SHGERT). I grew up in the In...

Tim Barnes chats with journalist and Juniper Media founder, Madeline Moitozo about navigating her career through the ups and downs of the news industry and finding her voice as a journalist. She has produced news segments for MSNBC during her time with Melissa Harris-Perry, and NBC’s Early Today, as well as short documentary episodes for VICE Media’s first daily digital show, Daily VICE. Her edito...

Tim Barnes chats with actor and improvisor Zach Cherry (Severance, The Great American Baking Show, Succession) about his lifelong love of comedy, navigating the nuances of his mixed race identity when auditioning, and how it feels to be in projects that across a wide spectrum of genres. Zach Cherry lives in Brooklyn. You can see him perform at the UCB Theater in Chelsea every Saturday night with G...

Tim Barnes chats with comedian, actor and writer Sonia Denis about how she navigates the choppy waters of entertainment and learned to balance her comedic pursuits with her day-to-day-life. Sonia Denis is a New York-based comedian set to appear in the upcoming MARVEL series Ironheart on Disney+. She was named one of Vulture's  Comics to Watch and is an Emmy-nominated writer whose work has been fea...

Tim Barnes chats with comedy writer and podcaster Molly McAleer about her journey from blogs, to television, to her own Solid Listen podcast network. Molly McAleer  is one of the three co-founders of the popular female friendly website  HelloGiggles  and a writer for CBS’s Two Broke Girls. She has worked in traditional and online media for over a decade and prides herself on her ability to spot ta...

Tim Barnes chats with musician/singer/songwriter Freddie Nunez about how his journey from ballads, to rock, to country intersected with his path toward sobriety. Freddie’s recent work includes Missin’ You , Trains of Faith , and Left Hand Path . He's loaned his voice to Laurence Made Me Cry for her album Diary of Me , provided the title music for the comedy podcast It's All True , with Tim Barnes,...

Tim Barnes chats with podcaster Rob Schulte about his journey from high school theater to producing podcasts at networks like Maximum Fun , Team Coco and Sonar + hosting his own Vanderpump Robs podcast about the Bravo series ‘Vanderpump Rules.’ Rob Schulte is a self-proclaimed influencer who uses his powers of editing and charisma to produce more podcasts than what most people would consider “huma...

Despite speaking to each other for hundreds of hours as co-hosts of Yub Nub (a Star Wars podcast), Tim chats with late night writer Greg Iwinski about his childhood love of sports radio and finding balance in an ever changing media landscape (a.k.a. The Force). Greg Iwinski is a comedy writer and performer living in New York City. A two-time Emmy winner, he' s worked at The Late Show with Stephen...

Tim Barnes chats with literary historian, paleographer, and activist Mary Rambaran-Olm about her love of 80s cartoons, yarn work , and revealing the diverse history of the medieval era. Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm is a public scholar who examines the many contributions of non-white people in early England, despite it often figuring in scholarship as a uniformly white period. Relying heavily on cultural...

Tim Barnes chats with actor, comedian, writer, and comic book creator James III about navigating the industry through multiple genres and mediums. And, in the process, learns how a childhood interest in cartoons led to a lifetime of avoiding labels — the same way Bugs Bunny avoids Elmer Fudd. James III is an American writer, producer and actor best known for Co-Creating and Co-Starring in the Netf...

Tim Barnes chats with comedian Milly Tamarez of the Go Touch Grass podcast about her journey from doing every possible extra curricular activity in Florida to being a comedic multi-hyphenate in New York. Milly most recently wrote for ABC's The Celebrity Dating Game, Jason Biggs’ Cash At Your Door on E!, WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown, NPR's weekly news quiz show, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me. Milly is...

Is Steven Castillo a standup comic, filmmaker, sketch performer, or sketch writer? Who cares?! He’s Steven FREAKIN’ Castillo! And he joins Tim Barnes in a conversation that charts his path from making home movies with his siblings to writing for Saturday Night Live . Listen to episodes a week earlier than the rest by selecting a paid subscription to the newsletter ! Merch and more are coming soon...

Tim welcomes the writer Mike Sacks to discuss how his love of Chris Elliot sketches and The Twilight Zone helped him find his voice during the emergence of internet humor writing. Mike hosts the Doin' It with Mike Sacks podcast that’s filled with comedy, interviews, gags, curiosities, laughs, bloopers, boners, cuddling sessions, medical oddities, and long stories ending with a funny pun. Listen to...

Tim welcomes comedian/TV writer and FORMER TV critic Ashley Ray of the tv i say w/ ashley ray podcast to chart her path from secretly watching Queer As Folk on TV as a kid to fully embracing queerness as the key to her comedic sensibility. In 2022, Ashley wrote on Adult Swim’s, ALABAMA JACKSON created by Donald Faison. Ashley was selected as one of HBO Max’s Queer Comics to Watch for 2021 and film...

For this inaugural episode of You Are The Genre , host Tim Barnes welcomes Eliza Cossio — who accidentally inspired Tim to create the podcast during a text interview in his Letters From African America newsletter. Together they chart her path from being a little girl questioning religion in California, to writing for The Daily Show in New York and later embracing her inner genre by moving back to...

Tim Barnes introduces listeners to the You Are The Genre podcast featuring clips from upcoming interviews with Eliza Cossio, Mike Sacks, Ashley Ray, Steven Castillo, Zach Cherry, Milly Tamarez, James III, Freddie Nunez, and Greg Iwinski. Tune in for new episodes every Monday! Or, become a paid subscriber to listen ahead each week. For instance, paid subscribers can listen to the first full episode...