On today's episode I talk to writer and actor Mara Wilson . Mara started off in showbiz as a child actor in such films as Mrs. Doubtfire , Miracle on 34th Street and Matilda . After her mother passed away when she was 8 though, she lost some of her passion for acting, and eventually left that side of the business. While she infrequently acts now, appearing on shows like Broad City or BoJack Horseman , Mara is much more of a writer and storyteller. Her first book, Where Am I Now? , was just publi...
Mar 02, 2017•1 hr 4 min
Every so often I do these "bonus episodes" where I talk to a showbiz professional about the actual nuts and bolts of different topics in the Entertainment Industry in an attempt to demystify these things. And on today's episode, I have a wide-ranging and frank talk about comedy journalism with Vulture.com Senior Editor and host of the new Good One Podcast Jesse David Fox . The conversation starts out with how his new podcast is really about the phenomenology of stand-up, and from there we get in...
Feb 23, 2017•1 hr 55 min
On today's episode I talk to musician Tim Kinsella . Originally from Chicago, Tim has been part of some of the best indie rock bands of the last quarter-century. In 1989, he formed Cap'n Jazz along with his brother Mike, who would go on to become a frequent collaborator with Tim and a well-know artist in his own right in bands like American Football and Owen. Even though Cap'n Jazz only put out one album - and later an anthology on Jade Tree Records - they became a cult band and helped define a ...
Feb 16, 2017•1 hr 10 min
On today's episode I talk to violist Nadia Sirota . Based in New York, Nadia is a Juilliard-trained violist best known for her singular sound and expressive execution and she's worked with a number of amazing contemporary composers like Nico Muhly, Judd Greenstein, and Missy Mazzoli. Her debut album First Things First was released in 2009 on New Amsterdam Records and was cited as a record of the year by The New York Times. In addition to her work as a soloist, Nadia is a member of yMusic, ACME (...
Feb 09, 2017•1 hr 20 min
On today's episode I talk to rapper and academic Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo AKA Sammus . Originally from upstate New York, Enongo currently lives in Ithaca where she is attending Cornell to pursue her PhD in Science and Technology Studies. Parallel to her academic work, Enongo is a rising star in the indie hip hop scene. She released her first EP Fly Nerd in 2010, and since then has released numerous albums and EPs, some on her own, some through the NuBlack Music Group and her latest Pieces in Space...
Feb 02, 2017•1 hr 44 min
On today's episode I talk to writer Chris Claremont . Born in London, Chris' family moved to the States when he was a child, and though he originally studied acting and political theory, he eventually started writing comics after taking a job as a gofer/editorial assistant at Marvel while in college. Chris was originally given the low-selling series X-Men to write, which he did for the next 16 years, turning it into both a groundbreaking and best-selling series and revolutionizing the ways stori...
Jan 26, 2017•1 hr 43 min
On today's episode I talk to stand-up and writer Joel Kim Booster . Originally from South Korea, Joel was adopted at a young age and moved to the southwest suburbs of Chicago. He's written for Billy on the Street and Moshe Kasher's new Comedy Central show, and was one of the New Faces at the Just for Laughs Festival last year. He's also performed on C omedy Knockout , The Meltdown , and Conan , and recently sold a show to Fox based on his life called Birthright ! This is the website for Beginnin...
Jan 19, 2017•1 hr 25 min
On today's episode I talk to musician Matt Pond . Originally from New Hampshire, Matt began writing and releasing music in 1998 as Matt Pond PA. Debuting with the album Deer Apartments , the band quickly gained momentum after claiming top honors in an unsigned bands competition sponsored by CDNOW. Since then, Matt - along with a rotating cast of musical collaborators - has released almost two dozen albums and EPs on labels like Polyvinyl and BMG. His latest, Winter Lives , was just released late...
Jan 12, 2017•1 hr 22 min
On today's episode I talk to writer and performer Amber Ruffin . Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Amber began her comedy career studying at iO in Chicago. From there she moved to Amsterdam, where she performed with Boom Chicago all over Europe, eventually ending up at the Second City Mainstage back in the States. In 2014, she became a writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers - the first black, female writer in late night history - and she often performs on the show, most notably in the recurring se...
Jan 05, 2017•1 hr 23 min
On today's episode I talk to comedian Josie Long . Josie's originally from Sidcup, but grew up in Orpington, London. She began stand-up when she was 14, and since then has created or been part of an innumerable amount of cool projects. This includes numerous performances at the Edinburgh Fringe - where she was nominated for "Best Show" scads of times and won "Best Newcomer" in 2006 - as well as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Just for Laughs and more. Josie wrote for the awesome Cha...
Dec 29, 2016•1 hr 31 min
On today's episode I talk to comedian Roy Wood Jr . A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Roy began his comedy career in 1998 at the age of 19 while attending Florida A&M University. In 2006, he was named one of the New Faces at the Just for Laughs Festival and made his television debut that year on The Late Show with David Letterman . Roy's also performed on Conan , Def Comedy Jam , Craig Ferguson , and he finished third in the 2010 season of Last Comic Standing . Even with all this success, 201...
Dec 22, 2016•1 hr 27 min
On today's episode I talk to actor and comedian Baron Vaughn . As a stand-up, Baron’s performed on Conan (twice), Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson , Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , and he has his own Comedy Central Half Hour . As well, AST Records released his album Blaxistential Crisis earlier this year. As an actor, he's been featured in movies like Black Dynamite and Cloverfield , and is currently a series regular on the Netflix show Grace and Frankie . Baron will also be part of the Mystery...
Dec 15, 2016•1 hr 33 min
On today's episode I talk to musician Mitski Miyawaki . Originally from Japan, Mitski grew up all over the world, eventually settling in New York. While studying at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, Mitski self-released her first and second albums, Lush and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business . Her third album Bury Me at Makeout Creek was released by Double Double Whammy in 2014, and it caught the eye of everyone from Pitchfork to Rolling Stone to The New York Times . Mitski's latest...
Dec 08, 2016•1 hr 20 min
On today's episode I talk to writer and actor Azie Dungey . Azie grew up in Philly and the DC area. After graduating as a drama major from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, she performed the role of a slave as part of an ongoing historical reenactment of life at George Washington's Mount Vernon plantation in Virginia. This was the basis for her acclaimed webseries Ask a Slave . In 2015, Azie was hired as a writer on the Tina Fey Netflix show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt . Stay tuned for future e...
Dec 01, 2016•1 hr 42 min
Hey y'all! Happy Thanksgiving! With everything going on in the news lately (ahem, neo-nazis, ahem), I thought I'd take the chance to re-post a conversation I had with Andrew Ti of the Yo, Is This Racist? podcast. This was part of an episode I had to take down from a couple years ago, and it seems like an apt time to repost the Andrew Ti part of that episode because we talk a lot about irony and privilege - and since the alt-right nazi shitbags are so into irony, I thought it was a timely discuss...
Nov 24, 2016•50 min
On today's episode I talk to free jazz pianist Matthew Shipp . Originally from Delaware, Matt moved to New York in 1984 and quickly became one of the leading lights in the New York jazz scene. He was a sideman in the David S. Ware quartet and also for Roscoe Mitchell's Note Factory before making the decision to concentrate on his own music. Since then, dozens of his albums have been released, mostly on the labels Hatology and Thirsty Ear. His latest album Cactus , recorded with drummer Bobby Kap...
Nov 17, 2016•1 hr 15 min
Well. If you're anything like me and my almost-wife Naomi Ekperigin (Broad City, 2 Dope Queens, Comedy Central Half Hour), you spent Tuesday the 8th into the 9th depressed, nauseous, crying, in a fitful and restless sleep, and generally trying to come to terms with the phrase "President Trump" and with the nightmare that was just unleashed. I was not in the mood to return to business as usual, so I thought maybe Naomi and I could - in the spirit of beginnings - record a bonus episode talking abo...
Nov 10, 2016•54 min
On today's episode I talk to writer and director Chioke Nassor . Chioke's previous work includes writing and directing short films for NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers , the feature film How to Follow Strangers , the TV on the Radio documentary Minor/Major , and his web series Storytime . Most recently, Chioke wrote and directed episodes of the MTV show Loosely Exactly Nicole starring Nicole Byer, and currently, he is producing a pilot for Comedy Central. This is the website for Beginnings , su...
Nov 03, 2016•1 hr 27 min
On today's episode I talk to Peabody-award winning writer and animator Tom Snyder . Tom is a writer and director well known in the world of animation for creating the animation technique known as Squigglevision. His first Squigglevision success came with the Emmy winning show, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist , which aired on Comedy Central. Tom later founded Soup 2 Nuts, an award-winning animation studio that produced a series of critically acclaimed shows, including Home Movies and Science Cou...
Oct 27, 2016•1 hr 14 min
On today's episode I talk to author Affinity Konar . Affinity studied writing at SFSU and received her MFA from Columbia, and is the author of two books, The Illustrated Version of Things , which was published by Fiction Collective 2 in 2009, and her latest Mischling , which was published by the Hachette imprint Lee Boudreaux Books earlier this year. Mischling is the story of twins, Dr. Mengele, and the ravages of WWII and has been lauded by everyone from Buzzfeed to the Wall Street Journal. Thi...
Oct 20, 2016•1 hr 12 min
On today's episode I talk to comedian and actor Anthony Atamanuik . Over the last year, Tony has received a great deal of deserved acclaim for his accurately debauched Donald Trump impression, travelling the world with James Adomian in the Trump vs. Bernie Debate Tour. The two appeared on a special @Midnight episode and had two specials on Fusion. But before that, Tony was a house performer at UCB on the legendary improv team Death by Roo Roo and as a co-host of the theatre's flagship show ASSSS...
Oct 13, 2016•1 hr 18 min
On today's episode I talk to actor and comedian Sasheer Zamata . Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, Sasheer moved to New York after college and began taking classes at UCB, eventually becoming a house sketch actor and improviser at the theatre. She was a cast-member of the short-lived MTV sketch show Hey Girl, and she created the webseries Pursuit of Sexiness with Nicole Byer. In 2014, Sasheer joined Saturday Night Live as a featured player, and two years later was promoted to repertory cast...
Oct 06, 2016•1 hr 19 min
On today's episode I talk to musician Paul Hammer. Paul is main singer/songwriter of the indie pop band Savoir Adore . Originally a duo with Deidre Muro - who left the band in 2014 - Savoir Adore began playing sometime in the mid-2000s. They released their first EP T he Adventures of Mr. Pumpernickel and the Girl with Animals in her Throat in 2008, and since then have released three other albums: In the Wooded Forest , Our Nature , and their latest, which was released by Nettwerk Music Group ear...
Sep 29, 2016•1 hr 39 min
On today's episode I talk to comedy writer Jen Spyra . Originally from Pittsburgh, Jen was a senior writer for The Onion for many years. There she also headed the editorial video department as a writer, director and producer. Beyond The Onion , her humor writing has appeared in numerous places including The New Yorker and McSweeney’s , and currently, she is a staff writer on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert . This is the website for Beginnings , subscribe on iTunes , follow me on Twitter ....
Sep 22, 2016•1 hr 18 min
On today's episode I talk to writer and performer Sarah Pappalardo . Based in New York City, Sarah is an improviser, playwright, and documentation whose short Reverence will be featured during IFC's DOC NYC Festival later this year. She's also one of the founders and editors of the satirical women's magazine Reductress . In the three short years since its inception, Reductress has become it's own cottage industry. Besides the online magazine, it's also spawned a wonderful podcast called Mouth Ti...
Sep 15, 2016•1 hr 34 min
On today's episode I talk to writer Beth Newell . Originally from Lynnfield, MA, Beth has been writing, performing and teaching sketch at The Magnet Theater for many years. She's also one of the founders and editors of the satirical women's magazine Reductress . In the three short years since its inception, Reductress has become it's own cottage industry. Besides the online magazine, it's also spawned a wonderful podcast called Mouth Time , and on October 25th, their first book, How to Win at Fe...
Sep 08, 2016•1 hr 28 min
On today's episode I talk to the founder of Jacobin Magazine Bhaskar Sunkara . Bhaskar is the son of immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago, and has written for a number of publications including Vice magazine, the Washington Post and The Nation. However, he is most well-known for being the founder, editor and publisher of Jacobin Magazine , which in its six short years of existence has become one of the leading publications of the left, drawing praise from everyone from Noam Chomsky to Chris Hayes...
Sep 01, 2016•1 hr 17 min
On today's episode I talk to writer, stand-up and union organizer Nato Green . Nato lives and was raised in San Francisco, and the city's progressive atmosphere pervades everything he does. Nato wrote for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell on FX and toured nationally with Kamau & Janine Brito as "Laughter Against the Machine". He's the creator of Iron Comic , the Iron Chef -spoofing comedy game show, and was named San Francisco's Best Comedian by the SF Weekly , Huffington Post , and CBS. He ...
Aug 25, 2016•1 hr 19 min
On today's episode I talk to musician Elaiza Santos . Originally from Queens, Elaiza is the lead singer of the amazing chiptunes pop band Crying , who have two EPs out on Run For Cover Records, both of which are very much worth your time. Elaiza also records music on her own - originally under the name Whatever, Dad - and currently as 100% , which is wonderful bedroom pop in the K records tradition. This is the website for Beginnings , subscribe on iTunes , follow me on Twitter ....
Aug 18, 2016•1 hr 36 min
On today's episode I talk to playwright and TV writer Sofia Alvarez . Originally from Baltimore, Sofia graduated from Juilliard for playwriting. She is a member of the Ars Nova Playgroup and Primary Stages Dorothy Streslin New American Writer’s Group, and her work has been seen everywhere from Primary Stages to Ars Nova to The Rattlestick. As a TV writer, Sofia has written for USA's Sirens, and currently, she writes for the FX comedy Man Seeking Woman . This is the website for Beginnings , subsc...
Aug 11, 2016•1 hr 13 min
