Who’s the psychological mastermind behind the restaurant menu boxes and columns? The one who’s taken the glory of Gutenburg and turned the typeface menu into a madcap marketing tool? Today's guest Michelle Benesch is the third-generation owner of Menu Men Inc. -- a menu design company that’s worked with every type of restaurant you can imagine over the last 53 years. Support the show by grabbing some merch at: weird.work And remember – Weird Work loves you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...
Jun 26, 2025•27 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY! Time to fuel those carbureted dreams of crushing cars and breaking hearts because today we have Monster Jam's Entertainer of the Year, the driver for team Megalodon, Bernard Lyght. Bernard tells us how he became the man behind the machine. The cowboy to these mechanical stallions (and how you can too, honestly). And he answers the biggest question of all: How real are these races? Support the show by grabbing some merch at: weird.work And remember – Weird Work loves you. ...
Aug 20, 2023•33 min•Season 3Ep. 6
You may know him as Thorsten A. Integrity. Around here, we know his true identity, Shayne Bushfield. And after leaving behind his secure life at Microsoft, Shayne pursued his passion to create one of the biggest invite-only trivia competitions -- Learned League. Learn what it takes to not only be a trivia master but the league's commissioner. And if you take a page out of Shayne's methodical approach to transitioning from corporate world to trivia mastermind, you may just find a path towards pur...
Mar 16, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 5
If you own a castle on a secluded island, can you really expect to dress yourself? When you're cruising the Mediterranean on a super yacht, can you really be expected to make your own shrimp cocktails? The world needs butlers. Paul Huizinga lost his job in the financial collapse of 2008 . Left wondering what to do with his life in his mid-fifties, Paul decided to pursue his lifelong passion: becoming a professional butler. And today? Paul is the head recruiter at the Internal Butler Academy in t...
Feb 07, 2023•33 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Martha talks to animals. Martha Malone – pet psychic, pet communicator - surfs the astral plane to telepathically connect with animals living or deceased. She communicates between animal and human to help vocalize everything from behavior issues to closure after passing on. Martha talks about how she communicates with animals, animal spirit personalities, and what happens when you have two spirits in the same body. If you want to support the show check our our merch at weird.work Hosted on Acast...
Aug 09, 2022•27 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Whether your kink is karma or carnage, there’s always something out there for you. And our guest sure found her sweet spot - financial domination. We're talking with the manipulatrix, the vocal priestess, the hypno crypto queen herself – Theodora. Theodora dabbles in “traditional” dominatrix work, but her clients – or, pay pigs as they’re affectionately known – are most interested in her controlling their finances. That can mean controlling their bank accounts. It can also mean setting up her su...
Jun 17, 2022•42 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Lori Balton has been a location scout with over IMDB credits to her name. She’s scouted locations for every type of film. From big budget action movies like Heat, Armageddon, The Dark Rises, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters to Nic Cage classics – Face Off and City of Angels. Not to mention, recent gold man award noms, like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, There Will be Blood, Top Gun Maverick (prediction), and the upcoming, star-studded contender Babylon. For her contributions to the profession ...
Jun 02, 2022•30 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Brian Kelly has been known to the world as The Points Guy since launching his blog in 2011, but he started slinging credit card reward points long before then. And today, the man with 25 credit cards is the guru of all things travel. Brian talks about the credit card he can’t leave home without, dispels the worst myth about credit cards, and helps you find your way to first-class air travel in no time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 04, 2019•30 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Chi-Tien Lui is known the world over as one of the last people who can repair and preserve TV art. Because the video art by the likes of Andy Warhol and Nam June Paik were made with now antiquated televisions. Inevitably, those break. And finding the right replacement parts is almost as difficult as finding someone who knows how to actually fix these things. But the only other alternative is letting those works of art be lost forever. And that can’t happen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...
Nov 20, 2019•25 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Summer camp usually brings to mind outdoor sports and campfire songs. But the idea of camp that so many people have come to know has evolved into something they might never have imagined. Alexander Rossi is the creator of YouTube STAR Camp, a summer program that helps kids learn the skills they need to become the next great YouTube stars. And while it might not sound like it at first, this camp has something every kid will want… and need. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...
Nov 06, 2019•27 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Colleen Wilson was a top private mortgage banker in New York City. She was also the youngest. No small feat. But after rescuing a deaf pooch named Charlie, it completely changed the way she saw the banking industry. So she left it all behind. Not long after, Colleen founded Pets on Q, an animal influencer agency. She talks about what makes an animal a true influencer and what it’s really like to manage famous pets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 23, 2019•27 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Jane Teresa Anderson knows how to get inside someone’s head. And her work as a dream analyst has helped countless people better understand their waking lives. That way, the subconscious becomes reality. She even reaches into Sam’s psyche to break down a dream he’s long struggled to understand. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 09, 2019•28 min•Season 2Ep. 6
David J. Peterson is a creator of languages -- otherwise known as a conlanger. And he’s behind some of the most iconic languages ever heard on television and films. Maybe his most well-known conlang is Dothraki and High Valyrian for a little show on HBO called Game of Thrones. David talks about what it takes to create a language, how he landed the coveted Game of Thrones conlang gig, and he spills the secret to speaking Dothraki like Jason Momoa. Sign up for Classhook with promo code: WeirdWork ...
Sep 25, 2019•24 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Ma'ayan Plaut is the podcast librarian at RadioPublic. But she’s not like the typical master of the Dewey Decimal System you know from your local public library. And she just so happens to be the only podcast librarian on the planet. In her three years at the company, Ma’ayan’s role has evolved from recommending individual podcasts to solving the larger discoverability issues with podcasting. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 11, 2019•25 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Ricochet is a champion surf dog, who’s ridden giants with the likes of Rob Machado, and starred in films like Superpower Dogs. But it’s her surf and therapy work that makes this pooch a real surf legend.Judy Fridono, Ricochet’s owner and certified dog trainer, tells Sam how this surf-ice dog helps those with PTSD and those on the Autism spectrum.Sign up for Giftogram with the code: weirdworkAdditional research: National Autism Association--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/weird-work/...
Aug 28, 2019•25 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Brendan Paul grew up as a young punk living in LA. But after one fateful haircut and a handful of paying impersonation gigs around town, he found himself ditching the Sunset Strip for the Vegas Strip. Today, Brendan is Sin City’s premier Elvis impersonator and wedding official at Graceland Wedding Chapel. Sign up for Giftogram with the code: weirdwork--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/weird-work/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/weird-work/support Hosted on Acast. See ac...
Aug 07, 2019•29 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Anthony Falco is the reigning pizza czar of New York. And he’s taken his expertise around the world to help others realize their own dreams of opening up a pizza shop. We crawl the streets of New York in search of the best pizza and find out why pizza is so internationally beloved. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/weird-work/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/weird-work/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jul 31, 2019•38 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Weird Work returns on July 31 with all new episodes every Wednesday. See you soon, you beautiful unicorn star children. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 24, 2019•2 min
You’ve been listening all season long to how people turned their passions into professions. And want to make the jump, too. But what if you don’t know what your passion is? How do you pursue your dream if you don’t know what your dream is? Well, there’s a ramen shop in Boston called Yume Wo Katare, and it’s got just the bowl for you. We talk with owner Tsuyoshi Nishioka about the concept behind his restaurant, and how he made helping others find their dreams his personal mission. Hosted on Acast...
May 24, 2018•28 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Mark Morales has probably worked on all of your favorite comic book characters. But the job of comic book inker is not only one of the most ambiguous in the industry, it’s an increasingly rare position. Mark takes Sam through the comic book production process, and explains how even outside the traditional 9 to 5, the almighty deadline still wields its own kind of superpower. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 17, 2018•27 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Tommy Honton has a familiar story. Aspiring screenwriter who sets out to make it big in Hollywood. But eight years later, he found himself disillusioned and unhappy with his job. Rather than let the fear of complacency settle in, Tommy pursued another form of storytelling. This week, Sam talks with Tommy about designing immersive and experiential spaces like The Museum of Selfies and an unconventional escape room. Plus, he offers some advice for how to break out of the 9 to 5. Hosted on Acast. S...
May 10, 2018•28 min
Melissa Arleth always loved rats. But she was also fond of her feline pets, too. So she took them both onstage with her and created Cirque Du Sewer, the world’s only cat and rat circus. Sam talks with this acrobat about working with acro-rats… and one confused cat. And he finds out that nature’s mortal enemies can not only get along, but put on a damn good show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 03, 2018•28 min
You can spot Ashly Covington out in public or on the subway pretty easily. She’s the one wearing long black gloves, a sunproof hoodie, and playing an invisible horn. Such is the life of a professional hand model. In today’s episode, Sam and Ashly talk about the dedication it takes to cut it as a hand model, how Ashly broke into the business, and why the industry term for hand model work is perhaps the most unprofessional name out there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information...
Apr 26, 2018•31 min
You’re stranded on a desert island. What do you do? If you’re Timm Woods, you find the nearest rock and start carving away at your latest Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Timm is a dungeon master, the game wizard who meticulously crafts each game. He tells Sam how he turned his lifelong passion into a profession, and why he still can’t accurately describe the game to his own parents. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 19, 2018•28 min
Nina Keneally is the founder of NeedaMomNYC, where for $40 an hour she’ll give you the full mom experience. Nina offers sage advice, helps you battle your landlord over security deposits, and weighs-in on big life decisions. But how do other moms feel when a stranger gives their child advice? Sam calls his own mom to get a second opinion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 12, 2018•30 min
Ann Wroe writes obituaries for The Economist. And she knows what you’re thinking: Writing about death must be terribly depressing, right? Maybe, but not for Ann. Sam gets Ann’s take on how she deals with death, and Ann shares her unique approach to writing about those who live on in the pages of the magazine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 05, 2018•30 min
Pamela Paquin may have grown up on a farm, but she never thought her life would forever be linked with animals. She was living in Denmark with a high-paying job when her life was completely upended. That’s when Pamela began to notice inefficiencies in the fur industry. And after seeing the amount of fur going to waste on the side of the road, she grabbed a knife and got to work. She now creates high fashion from accidental fur for her company Peace Fur. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...
Mar 29, 2018•25 min
Peter “PPD” Dager is one of the winningest professional gamers in history. But we’re not just talking about trophies. Peter has made millions (and millions) of dollars as a professional gamer.Sam talks with Peter about his journey from being on top of the gaming world with Evil Geniuses, to becoming the team’s CEO, only to return once more to the lights, camera, controller with his new team, OpTic Gaming.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/weird-work/messageSupport this podcast: https...
Mar 22, 2018•30 min
Katelyn Hempstead is a comedian and the host of Lizard People: Comedy & Conspiracy Theories, a podcast where her brilliant friends try to convince her to believe different conspiracy theories. You can even find Sam on there talking about the rogue artificial intelligence that created Bitcoin. Today, Sam and Katelyn peel back the podcast curtain to reveal how anyone (even the Illuminati) can get into the podcast game and grow an audience. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/weird-w...
Mar 15, 2018•33 min
Thomas Edwards is a real life Hitch. And after nearly a decade of work, he’s helped over 150 people find love and get married. But this self-proclaimed hopeless romantic wasn’t always the ideal wingman.Thomas’ journey starts with Gary Vaynerchuck, hits a potential detour courtesy of Mark Cuban, and ends with the founding of a global wingman empire.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/weird-work/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/weird-work/support Hosted on Acast. See acast...
Mar 08, 2018•30 min
