On today's show, I talk to philosopher Simon Critchley . Raised north of London, Simon grew up in a working class atmosphere. He never thought he'd attend university, but then a chance accident sent him off on an academic path. In 1988, Simon received his PhD from the University of Essex, and since then, he's written 14 books, many of them friendly to a wider audience. This includes his most recent book Bowie , a philosophical look at the songs of David Bowie mixed with Simon's own recollections...
Dec 04, 2014•2 hr 17 min
On today's show, I talk to musician Weasel Walter . Weasel is a take-charge kind of guy, and an iconoclastic personality, and was a major contributor to the Chicago no-wave/noise/improvised music underground during the '90s and early 2000s, most notably with his band The Flying Luttenbachers , which he formed with jazz cult figure Hal Russell. Since then, Weasel has collaborated with people like Jim O'Rourke, Lydia Lunch and Glenn Branca - as well as many, many others - and currently (though not...
Nov 26, 2014•2 hr 14 min
On today's show I talk to comedian David Huntsberger . Originally from outside of Reno, Nevada, David grew up riding and shoeing horses, building fences, and all other manner of things a suburban kid like me would naively put under the rubric of "cowboy stuff". David started doing stand-up in San Diego many years ago, and since then, he's appeared on Premium Blend and Last Comic Standing , and has released three albums, which you can find on his site. He also hosts the monthly Junk Show and is t...
Nov 20, 2014•2 hr 17 min
On today's show, I talk to Emmy Award-winning comedian Brian McCann . Brian started off his career as a stand-up, and in 1995 became a sketch writer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien , where you might know him from his many characters, which include Preparation H. Raymond and The Guy with Bullet Proof Legs. Brian stayed with the show through its transformation to The Tonight Show and then Conan , but in 2012 wanted to return to New York and became the showrunner for Nikki and Sara Live and later ...
Nov 13, 2014•1 hr 54 min
On today's show I talk to musician Matt Sharp . While born in Bangkok, Matt grew up in US in a boring suburb of DC, and moved as soon as he could to the West Coast. In 1992, he formed the band Weezer with Rivers Cuomo, and was instrumental in the success of their first two albums. Two years later, Matt formed the moog-based power-pop band The Rentals. Their first album Return of the Rentals was released a year later, and since then, Matt has sporadically released music under that name. In fact, ...
Nov 06, 2014•1 hr 14 min
On today's show, I talk to singer, comedian and cabaret performer Bridget Everett . Born in Manhattan, Kansas, Bridget originally trained as a classical singer. Unhappy with that lifestyle though, she moved to New York where's she's found a great deal of success. Bridget starred in the musical At Least It’s Pink , which she co-wrote with director Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City), and has performed at Montreal’s Just for Laughs, the New York Comedy Festival, HBO’s Aspen Comedy Arts Festiva...
Oct 30, 2014•2 hr 4 min
On today's episode I talk to musician Sadie Dupuis . Originally from New York, Sadie grew up both in the city and also the wilds of Connecticut. Perhaps though, you might know Sadie from her amazing band Speedy Ortiz . Speedy Ortiz started as a solo project for Sadie while she was working at a summer camp, but after the first album The Death of Speedy Ortiz , it became a full band, and their first studio album Major Arcana was released last year on Carpark Records . And it is super!This is the w...
Oct 23, 2014•2 hr 5 min
On today's show, I talk to musician Leah Wellbaum . Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, Leah's been playing music for a long time. She started out playing with blues groups in college, but it's her most recent band Slothrust that's been getting a lot of attention lately, and deservedly so. Their debut album Of Course You Do is great (maybe you heard one of their songs under the credits of the awesome FX show You're the Worst ), and it's available now on Ba Da Bing Records .This is the webs...
Oct 21, 2014•1 hr 47 min
On today's show, I talk to Keith and Kenny Lucas AKA The Lucas Bros . Born in Newark and raised in North Carolina, Keith and Kenny were on the path to become lawyers before turning to comedy. And thankfully their choice has been validated by a great deal of success. A few years ago, they debuted their stand-up on Late Night , and since then have created Lucas Bros. Moving Co. for Fox's ADHD, they've appeared in the hit film 22 Jump Street , and they've written and performed on truTV's new sketch...
Oct 16, 2014•2 hr
On today's show, I talk to writer and director Gillian Robespierre . A New York native, Gillian grew up in Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan. Her father made films for many years, and that, as well as a number of other reasons, drew Gillian to become a filmmaker herself. In 2009, she made a short called Obvious Child , which she then expanded into a feature-length film starring Jenny Slate. This debuted earlier this year at Sundance, where it garnered the Red Crown Producer's Award, and since its wid...
Oct 09, 2014•2 hr 9 min
On today's show, I talk to improvisor Charlie Todd . Originally from Columbia, South Carolina, Charlie moved to New York after college and since 2001 has been performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. At UCB, Charlie created the comedy wrestling league UCBW and was also a part of the long-running house team Reuben Williams, which later morphed into The Curfew. They perform every Saturday night at the theatre. Charlie is also the founder of the famous prank collective Improv Everywhere ...
Oct 02, 2014•2 hr
On today's show I talk to artist Nate Hill . Originally from Florida, Nate moved to New York to perform art in a city that would be receptive to his works. And Nate's works are pretty amazing. Coming out of the same public performance tradition that gave birth to artists like Joey Skaggs and even some of the early Upright Citizens Brigade pranks, Nate's art is practiced outside the usual (suffocating?) boundaries of the fine art world. Performances like Death Bear , where Nate, dressed in a larg...
Sep 25, 2014•2 hr 18 min
Very glad to have this week's guest on the show, comics writer Ales Kot . Originally from Ostrava in the Czech Republic, Ales was born during The Cold War, and grew up after the Iron Curtain fell. After moving to the US, he pitched some comics ideas to Image at a convention, pitches which eventually became the series Wild Children and Change . From there, he's worked on DC's Suicide Squad , is writing an on-going series for Image called Zero , and is currently writing Secret Avengers and the for...
Sep 18, 2014•2 hr 2 min
On today's show I talk to writer Chris Kelly . Chris is one of the most driven guys I know. He started off writing on house sketch teams at UCB and working at The Onion, and from there he's worked as the head writer on Matt Besser's Comedy Central special This Show Will Get you High , he was a staff writer at Funny or Die, and he also wrote for The Onion News Network show. Currently, Chris is a writer for SNL during the school year and Broad City during the summer. This is the website for Beginn...
Sep 11, 2014•2 hr 9 min
On today's show, I talk to musician Will Cullen Hart . Will grew up all over the US, but it was living in Louisiana that truly made him who he is, because that's where he met Bill Doss, Jeff Mangum and Robert Schneider and formed the Elephant Six Recording Company, as well as The Olivia Tremor Control with Doss. It's not hyperbole to say that the bands that were part of Elephant Six: Neutral Milk Hotel, The Apples in Stereo, the aforementioned OTC, as well as other bands like Of Montreal, Beulah...
Sep 04, 2014•1 hr 50 min
On today's episode I talk to guitarist and composer Arto Lindsay . Born in America, Arto grew up in Brazil while the Tropicalia movement was in full swing, and moved back to the states to attend college. Eventually moving to New York, Arto formed the important no wave band DNA in the 1970s, and since then has been part of so many amazing bands and made so much great music that it's tough to discuss it all. Some highlights include being part of John Lurie's The Lounge Lizards, working with John Z...
Sep 02, 2014•2 hr 4 min
On today's show, I talk to the amazing Conner O'Malley . Conner is a comedian from Chicago who got his start training and performing at places like IO, Annoyance and Second City. After moving to New York a few years ago, he began performing at UCB, first on Harold Night and then as a member of the house team The Law Firm. In 2013, Conner was one of the Just for Laughs New Faces for his characters, and last year he became one of the writers on Late Night with Seth Myers .This is the website for B...
Aug 28, 2014•2 hr 16 min
Today I'm super-glad to welcome stand-up and comedy writer Frank Conniff back to the show. Originally from New York, Frank ended up in the midwest in the19 80s doing stand-up. During this time, he met the future creators of Mystery Science Theater 3000 , and was later brought aboard the show during the second season, both as a writer and appearing onscreen as TV's Frank. Since then, Frank's worked on a number of cool projects including Totally Biased , The Jimmy Dore Show , Invader ZIM , Cinemat...
Aug 21, 2014•2 hr 1 min
On today's show I talk to Katherine, Teeny and Lizzie Lieberson of the fantastic band TEEN . The Lieberson sister come from a long line of musicians and dancers, but originally, only Teeny had pursued music as a career, playing keyboards in the popular band Here We Go Magic. While she had some time off from the band, Teeny began to write and record songs on her own, and eventually recruited her sister and friends to form a band to play the songs. They've released a number of albums and EPs, and ...
Aug 14, 2014•2 hr 7 min
Couldn't have had a nicer time on this week's episode with Brian Huskey . Known as a comedic actor, Brian actually started as a musician, playing in the band Bicycle Face in the North Carolina scene that gave birth to bands like Superchunk and Archers of Loaf. After moving to New York, he started taking classes at UCB, where he formed the group Naked Babies with Rob Corddry, Seth Morris and John Ross Bowie, and became one of the founding members of the seminal house team The Stepfathers. Since m...
Aug 07, 2014•1 hr 55 min
Oh yeah! This week's episode was taped live on June 29th at the 16th annual Del Close Marathon , and what a blast it was. After sprinting a bunch of avenue blocks (because the trains were messed up) to get to UCB East on time, I was frazzled and dripping sweat, but my physical grossness did not stop Megan Neuringer and Phil Jackson from being awesome guests. By way of bios, Megan is a stand-up and house performer at UCB, who you've seen on shows like Best Week Ever and @Midnight , and Phil is a ...
Jul 31, 2014•1 hr 18 min
On today's show I talk to musician Peter Matthew Bauer . Partly raised on ashrams in India and the Catskills, Peter mostly grew up in Washington DC. It was there he met his future bandmates in The Walkmen, and he even had a high school band with lead singer Hamilton Leithauser. From 1996 to 1999, Peter and Hamilton played in The Recoys together, and in 2000, The Walkmen formed from the ashes of The Recoys and Jonathan Fire*Eater. After putting out seven albums, the band is currently on an "exten...
Jul 24, 2014•2 hr
On today's show, I talk to comedian Jason Nash . Jason is an actor and stand-up based in Los Angeles, and has appeared on everything from Last Comic Standing to House to Reno 911! . He co-hosted the long-running podcast Guys With Feelings , and has created webseries for GQ and Comedy Central. In fact, his latest project is a feature-length film through Comedy Central called Jason Nash Is Married , which is based on his popular webseries, and features pretty much every comedian you can name. It's...
Jul 17, 2014•2 hr 19 min
On today's show I talk to Emmy-nominated TV writer Anthony King . Originally from North Carolina, Anthony started out his professional career in New York at UCB, and within a few years of being at the theater, became the artistic director, a post he held for many years. While at UCB, he co-wrote Gutenberg! The Musical! , which ran there for a year and then off-Broadway. In 2011, Anthony moved to LA and since then has written for a number of shows including NBC's BFF and USA's Playing House . Mos...
Jul 10, 2014•2 hr 26 min
On today's show, I talk to husband and wife writers Harry Mathews and Marie Chaix. Harry Mathews is a writer and poet originally from New York. After a tour in the Navy in 1949, he eloped with a French artist and eventually moved to Europe. There he co-founded the influential literary journal Locus Solus and became the first American member of theFrench writing group OULIPO. Harry is the author of numerous novels including Tlooth , The Conversions and My Life in CIA , and he is also a translator...
Jul 03, 2014•2 hr 13 min
On today's show I talk to musician Leanne Macomber of Neon Indian and Ejecta . Growing up in football-loving Texas to parents who skewed more towards the athletic side of things, Leanne wanted to pursue art and music since she was a teenager. But she had to justify its practicality to her parents by being in things like the school jazz band. Since leaving the Lone Star State, she's been able to play music professionally and has toured all around the world in bands like Neon Indian and her duo Ej...
Jun 26, 2014•2 hr
On today's show, I talk to musician Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn . Originally from the outskirts of Philly, Mirah moved to Olympia, Washington to attend college, and while there, became part of the local music scene, where she worked with bands like The Microphones and Old Time Relijun. In the late 1990s, she started making music on her own, and her first album You Think It's Like This but Really It's Like This was released on K Records. Mirah's continued to work with them, and her latest album Changin...
Jun 19, 2014•2 hr 25 min
On today's show, I talk to Jeff Rosenstock and Chris Farren of the band Antarctigo Vespucci. Both Jeff and Chris have been part of popular punk and indie rock bands for years - Jeff playing in ASOB (Arrogant Sons of Bitches), Bomb the Music Industry! and even Mustard Plug for a bit, and Chris playing with the Naples, FL group Fake Problems - and between the two of them, they've put out north of twenty albums. Their first together as Antarctigo Vespucci is called Soulmate Stuff , and mixes Blue A...
Jun 12, 2014•2 hr 22 min
I hope you all are ready for a beautiful journey. Back in April, I hosted a live version of the show from my Harlem digs that we streamed out live on the internet. With the help of Cogo, a Kickstarter-like company for charities, I used it as a benefit for this great all-volunteer, no-kill cat shelter Kitty Kind . Joining me were Josh Gondelman from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver , YouTube star Franchesca Ramsey and musical guest Aly Spaltro AKA Lady Lamb the Beekeeper . We goofed around a lo...
Jun 05, 2014•2 hr 21 min
On today's show, I talk to writer Jen Statsky . Born in Boston, Jen moved to New York to attend NYU, and from there climbed the comedy writing ladder, first starting as an intern at The Onion and eventually working her way up to writing on Jimmy Fallon , Stephen Merchant's show Hello Ladies , Parks and Rec and most recently Broad City . Check out the website for Beginnings , subscribe on iTunes , and follow me on Twitter !...
May 29, 2014•1 hr 53 min
