We have another live show coming up soon. It’s on Sunday March 16th at 2:00 and at the Elysian Theater in Los Angeles, and we will be reading not one but two episodes of a hilarious dead pilot or I guess a dead show, written by and starring the incredible Riki Lindhome and Natasha Leggero. Riki and Natasha co-created and starred in the Comedy Central show Another Period. But you know them from so many other things as well. Riki is one half of Garfunkel and Oates and you’ve seen her in everything...
Feb 27, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 167
John also wrote on Veronica Mars, iZombie, and Benched. This pilot has that unique Enbom touch. Rich Dan, Poor Dan was recorded live in front of an audience at the Elysian Theatre in Los Angeles. Our cast was Ryan Hansen (Party Down) as Danny, Martin Starr (Party Down, Silicon Valley) as Daniel, Zoe Chao (Party Down) as Marnie, Olivia Liang (Kung Fu) as Sasha, Comedian Patrick McDonald as Stuart, Janet Varney (Stan Vs. Evil, JV Club) as Bernice/Maywell, Ellie Reed (Girlboss) as Louise, Comedian ...
Feb 20, 2025•46 min•Ep. 166
In this interview we talk about Joe and Joe’s first show business jobs, including the insane, no-longer existent job of Night PA, delivering scripts in the wee hours of the night. They talk about how far having a great attitude can take you in this business, the lessons they’ve learned through their long careers and what they look for in people when they’re staffing shows. And we have an update on Eternally Yours! CBS ordered up a ten week development room for them to hire a few writers and writ...
Jan 30, 2025•50 min•Ep. 165
Things have been a little tough in Los Angeles this month, so we are bringing you our first ever Dead Pilots Society Rerun. This is one of our all-time favorite episodes. From way back in 2020, it's Eternally Yours from Joe Port & Joe Wiseman (Ghosts, The Office, New Girl), about a family of normal looking but emotionally closed off, stuck-together-for-eternity vampires. If you think there's no fresh spins left in the vampire genre, you need to listen to this one. Eternally Yours was recorded li...
Jan 23, 2025•45 min•Ep. 164
A happy holidays to you! Hopefully you're wearing that Dead Pilots Society shirt you bought for yourself as a gift while listening to this episode! This is our interview with Amy and Brendan. In it you'll hear an honest take about how hard it is to sell things and make a living in Hollywood these days. We get into Amy & Brendan's writing dynamic, navigating writing with a partner versus writing solo, and the shows Amy and Brendan go back to for inspiration. Thanks for listening—we know you’re go...
Dec 25, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 164
It's the end of the year and we have a very special dead pilot for you! This is The 14th Floor written by Amy Reed (The Diary of a Future President) & Brendan Scannell (Bonding). It centers around an ambitious young executive at multinational McKenna Corp who gets hip-checked by her threatened CEO, and is then banished to the depths of the 14th floor, where a staff of castoffs collect checks doing absolutely nothing. It was setup at HBO and this episode was recorded live at The Elysian Theater i...
Dec 20, 2024•39 min•Ep. 163
Happy Thanksgiving! In this episode, Andrew interviews Bill Callahan about his pilot Massholes . Bill has an impressive résumé, having worked on Spin City , 8 Simple Rules , Scrubs , Psych , American Housewife , and The Goldbergs . A former college athlete turned comedy writer, Bill shares his journey from football to comedy, starting in an agency mailroom and learning from legends like Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence. He discusses the differences between multi-camera and single-camera com...
Nov 29, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 162
This month's pilot is Massholes . It was set up at ABC and written by Bill Callahan ( Scrubs , Spin City ). Bill is a veteran comedy writer who's worked on so many shows you know and love. This is a Friends -style ensemble pilot inspired by Bill's group of friends from Massachusetts. To keep things authentic, we assembled an all-star cast of actors from the Boston area. Massholes stars Rob Corddry ( Ballers , Hot Tub Time Machine ), Nicholas D'Agosto ( Trial & Error , Criminal Minds ), Misha Col...
Nov 21, 2024•43 min•Ep. 161
Welcome to the after-show for Mr. Macho ! Andrew and Al recount their unusual first meeting during a casting session for a show that came together under extraordinary circumstances. They discuss how close Al has come to getting his story on air as a half-hour comedy, as well as the ongoing challenges of Latino representation in TV comedy. Chris also shares his wisdom on guiding and helping sell this pilot as its supervisor. This is a great interview packed with so much insight, and we know you'r...
Oct 31, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 160
Our featured dead pilot this month is Mr. Macho , written by Al Madrigal. You might know Al from his stand-up, his time on The Daily Show , or his many TV and film appearances over the years. His autobiographical, focuses on a man struggling with his cultural identity and his place in a newly gentrifying neighborhood. The project was supervised by Chris Harris ( How I Met Your Mother ) and was set up at CBS with CBS Studios attached to produce. It's an incredibly funny pilot that we know you're ...
Oct 24, 2024•52 min•Ep. 159
This is the after-show for Honey Do List , featuring our interview with Julie Bean and Brian Donovan. Julie and Brian share incredible stories about breaking into the industry and how they worked their way up to becoming showrunners. Brian also discusses his time on the legendary Georgetown improv troupe alongside Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia, and Jacqueline Novak, to name a few. There's great practical and honest insight into showrunning in this episode. Plus, you'll find out why ev...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 158
This month's pilot is Honey Do List , written by Julie Bean (showrunner of Grown-ish ) and Brian Donovan ( American Housewife ). It's based on the real-life story of a mom who extricates herself from a controlling marriage, moves in with her lesbian daughter, Summer, and begins to rediscover joy by checking items off her bucket list, one at a time. This fantastic pilot was written during the pandemic, and we know you're going to love it! Enjoy! The cast for this one includes Katy Mixon (American...
Sep 19, 2024•53 min•Ep. 157
This is a very special episode of Dead Pilots Society . It's our interview with Damir and Dario Konjicija, and in it, you'll hear perhaps the most interesting Hollywood origin story we've ever encountered. Damir and Dario discuss their journey from being Bosnian refugees to arriving in America in 1997 and falling in love with American television. They talk about starting school in America as Bosnian immigrants, how they quickly found their artistic passion, and the pact they made to move to Los ...
Aug 30, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 156
Our dead pilots this month is I Hate Myself by Dario & Dami Konjicija (Home Economics, Young Sheldon). This is a fun multi-camera buddy comedy with a time traveling twist. It was developed for CBS Studios and we know you're going to love it. The cast for this one includes Vinny Thomas (Platonic), Josh Banday (Upload), Paige Collins (Good Girls), Leah Lewis (Matlock), Nabeel Muscatwalla (Better Days), Punam Patel (Ghosts) and Andrew Reich with stage directions. For more Dead Pilots Society episod...
Aug 22, 2024•44 min•Ep. 155
We sat down with Jordan Roter to discuss her pilot Common Enemy. If you haven't listen to it yet, what are you waiting for? Jordan is an experienced writer who's sold her work in the literary, feature and television space. She talks about the process of pitching a low concept character driven show, pushing the envelope in the family space and development stories about various projects she's had over the years. We loved getting to sit down with Jordan and you're going to love listening to her too...
Jul 25, 2024•53 min•Ep. 154
You're listening to the table read of Common Enemy written by Jordan Roter (Girl in Development author, American Housewife, The Watchful Eye). Common Enemy is a multi-generational family comedy about three generations of the same family going through their own version of puberty at the same time. The title comes from a joke Jordan's dad loves to tell. You'll have to listen to the table read to hear it. Common Enemy was developed for ABC Signature. This is a great network family show that totally...
Jul 19, 2024•51 min•Ep. 153
Welcome to the after show, folks! Andrew sat down with the writer of last week's pilot Codependent, Mark Gross. Mark spoke to us about all things sitcom writing. We talked about how he got his start in comedy and his early days as a touring stand up comedian. How fellow comic Rodney Carrington helped him break into tv writing and what he learned working with the great Chuck Lorre. He also told us about the key word he has on a post-it by his computer when he's writing. No spoilers though! Mark o...
Jun 27, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 152
We have a great pilot for you this month! It's written by the hilarious and well respected, Mark Gross (How We Roll, Mike & Molly). His pilot is called Codependent and it centers around a relationship between Nate, an aimless substitute teacher and Ed, the grandfather who raised him and how that relationship is challenged when Nate meets a women who could be the one. This pilot was written and sold to CBS twice before we were able to get our hands on it. Codependent stars Billy Gardell (Bob Hear...
Jun 20, 2024•43 min•Ep. 151
You're listening to our after show interview with Michael Jonathan Smith (Twisted Metal). In it you'll hear Michael tell the arduous journey he went on to getting this pilot rejected. We talk about his bumpy journey, how he got to where he is now as the creator and showrunner of Twisted Metal on Peacock. For the Cobra Kai heads out there, there's some good discussion of the evolution of that show which he worked on all the way through from season one. We talked about what drew him to write this ...
May 30, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 150
We have a hilarious pilot for you this month! It's called Faking A Murderer written by Michael Jonathan Smith (creator of Twisted Metal, Cobra Kai). This pilot is about the members of a small town police department who invent a serial killer to save their town's budget. Trigger warning! There's a lot of death, sick gross stuff, and the mistreatment of corpses in this one but it somehow manages to be insanely hilarious. Faking A Murderer was written by Michael Jonathan Smith and developed by Chri...
May 23, 2024•55 min•Ep. 149
This is our after show interview with Michael Lisbe & Nate Reger (Acapulco, The Cool Kids). In it you'll hear them talk about their show business breaks, how they generate ideas for pilots, a real dilemma they faced early on in their career, their favorite staffing jobs and the parts of their pilot Frenemies, that are based on facts. This one is a great conversation with old friends! Enjoy it! For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the pod...
Apr 26, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 148
Thank you to everyone who upgraded their max fun membership this year. We had more upgrades than last year and we're so grateful for all of you. You're support allows us to keep bringing you dead pilots. Our dead pilot this month is called Frenemies: The Journey Of Lewis & Clark written by Michael Lisbe & Nate Reger (Just Shoot Meet, Cougar Town, 2 Broke Girls). Their dead pilot is a comedic take on Lewis & Clark's epic journey of discovery through the American west. This pilot is hard funny and...
Apr 20, 2024•47 min•Ep. 147
This is an episode dedicated to unscripted television. J. Keith van Straaten, Jordan Morris, and John Moe talk about their dead unscripted projects that were sold to networks and streams but never produced. This conversation went to a ton of unexpected places and that's definitely a part of it's charm. Enjoy it! There's still time to help support our podcast by becoming a maximum fun member for as little as $5 a month. Help us support what we do by going to maximumfun.org/join ....
Mar 28, 2024•52 min•Ep. 146
Another #maxfundrive bonus episode for you! Thank you to everyone who has boosted or become a #maxfundrive member, it's because of you that we can put out episodes like this. We sat down with comedy writer Andy Bobrow about his sitcom writing rules. Andy is a writer who's script Greatest American Heroes (ep link here ) was last year's MaxFunDrive episode. We had an incredible cast for that one including Will Forte, Stephen Root, Rachel Harris, Sam Richardson and more. Andy has written on Malcolm...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 145
This is our after show interview with Open Mike Eagle (The New Negroes) & Mike Benner (Bob's Burger) about their pilot Principle. Mike and Mike developed Principle for Comedy Central wanting to explore the differences between a rapper's public and private persona. In this interview, you'll hear them talk about their comedy and hip hop influences, Open Mike's move from rapper to comedy writer/rapper and the process of pitching and developing a rap show for Comedy Central. If you'd like to support...
Mar 23, 2024•54 min•Ep. 144
We have a hilarious MAX FUN DRIVE episode for you! It's the table read for Principle written by Open Mike Eagle (The New Negroes) & Mike Benner (Bob's Burgers) recorded LIVE at THE ELYSIAN THEATER! Principle was sold to Comedy Central. It's about a rapper trying to change his life and image but keeps being pulled back into the gangster character that made him famous. This show should be on the list along with Atlanta and Dave of the great television hip hop comedy of the last decade but alas it ...
Mar 20, 2024•49 min•Ep. 143
This special network wide event is a celebration of The MaxFunDrive! If you’d like to support podcasts you love for just $5 a month and get bonus gifts in the process, go to maximumfun.org/join . We’re kicking off the most exciting time of the year for the MaxFun Network with a trivia game show featuring hosts from tons of great podcasts. J. Keith van Straaten and Helen Hong from “ Go Fact Yourself ” are joined by: Austin Taylor & Brenda Snell -“ Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ” Manolo Moren...
Mar 18, 2024•18 min•Ep. 141
This is a special episode in honor of The MaxFunDrive where Andrew and Ben answer a variety questions sent to us from listeners. We had J. Keith van Straaten from Go Fact Yourself drop by to moderate. It was a lot of fun and we know you're going to love it. Thank you for supporting our show! This special network wide event is a celebration of The MaxFunDrive! If you’d like to support podcasts you love for just $5 a month and get bonus gifts in the process, go to maximumfun.org/join ....
Mar 18, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 142
This is our after show interview with Tommy Johnagin (That 90s Show, Man With A Plan) about his pilot You're Only Young Twice. Tommy tells us about starting his stand up career at the age of 19, inspired by David Letterman. How he went from being a touring comedian to writing on a television show. Andrew shares some good insight from his time on Friends and they both spend time figuring out a better second act complication for Tommy's pilot. This is a great one! Enjoy it! For more Dead Pilots So...
Mar 02, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 140
This is the table read for You're Only Young Twice written by Tommy Johnagin (That 90s Show, Man With A Plan). This pilot was a CBS network multi-camera sitcom. Logline: A young couple discover the upside to getting pregnant at your junior prom is that your kid goes to college when you’re 35, and you become empty nesters who get to start life all over again while you're still young enough to enjoy it. The downside is finding out your spouse has different plans for their second chance. You're Onl...
Feb 23, 2024•36 min•Ep. 139
