Hello there! Grab your bag (for the last grab-baggin' time?) and join Algis for a heavin' helpin' of PodGis! She kicks off the episode talking about vocal feminization training, then recalls her favourite 3 second YouTube clip that always stands out in her head. She then excitedly shares some reflections on being in a band and performing alongside profoundly skilled musicians. She talks about her insecure impulses, about her love for blues-inspired music, some songs that annoy her and make her d...
Mar 21, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Uh Oh! SPOILER ALERT! This episode is so fun so sorry if you weren't sure whether or not this PodGis would be fun! I SPOILED IT. SPOILER ALERT Algis (AKA Al Val) starts out in a weird little mood but never addresses it until the very end SPOILER ALERT but instead rips right into an exciting musing about SPOILER ALERT PodGis eventually moving to video format! And then SPOILER ALERT she talks about doing the Just For Laughs Festival and also showcasing (auditioning) for them, but SPOILER ALERT she...
Mar 16, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Hello hello get your bag and away we gooooo Val AKA ALGIS Kicks off the podcast in a dirty dirty way, commenting on her waterless predicament and how difficult a time she's been having lately combobulating her life together. She then proceeds to talk about commercial auditions and doing them over Zoom, being accused of doing "womanface", and spends a while on a few clankers of the week, including dogpilers, a stranger who defensively shared an insulting video, and an abusive "trans ally" on TikT...
Mar 07, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Ahoy there! It's time for Algis to get really BUSINESSGIS and give you the business! Because she's a BUSINESS GIRL! Val kicks off this episode by ripping into a meandering riff about why old movies and old things in general suck and that things are all better now; Val's inability to keep her mouth shut during movies; buying her a coffee on Ko-fi; socialism; two absolute Clankers involving the Z-cup-sized trans impostor and a host that disrupted Val's set; a recent improv riff onstage; vocal femi...
Mar 01, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Hello there and welcome welcome to another bangin' episode of PodGis! Featuring Al Val AKA ALGIS (cue cool DJ scratches)... In this episode, Algis wastes no time gathering your bags and getting going, promoting her iconic role in "Drag Heals" (streaming on OutTV/Apple TV every Friday at 8:30pm EST, and available to stream anytime after episodes air!); she then discusses being a trans spokesperson for the entertainment industry, does another segment of "Clanker of the Week" (pitting "Clanker in t...
Feb 20, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 82
Hey you! Grab your bags and get in the car because we're going on a journey through an absolute HONK HONK silly billy time! Val opens right out the gate with an excitable intro to match her excitement that PodGis will be expanding to a video platform! So stay TUNED! After that, Val kicks off a new weekly segment called "Clanker of the Week" in which she highlights a particularly clankacious person who deserves to put a pot on their head and give it a good clankaround. After that, Val discusses g...
Feb 15, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 81
In this icy cold week in the barren Canadian winterscape, Val cozies up with all kinds of subject matter, including: Watching a comedy show that she is not booked on; the difficulty of posing for photos; the clueless but well-intentioned TikTok commenter; her new accidental funhouse mirror that makes everything SO wide; the time her friend got in trouble for yelling something really innocuous at a teacher; her new Instagram scammer/impersonator; and naming your kids ridiculously mockable names. ...
Feb 06, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Algis comes in fresh from a viewing of "The Last of Us" and comments on her emotional reaction from the third episode (don't worry, no spoilers!). Despite her emotionally charged state, she has a blast of a bees knees time discussing her recent doctor's appointment that made her misrepresent herself as a 'troubled person'; "Invisible Briefcases"; some more lamentations on online dating and how difficult it is to navigate "sex talk" with strangers; an Uber ride that involved a race against time, ...
Jan 31, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 79
Welcome to a VERY special episode of PodGis, indeed! For just the second time in the history of PodGis, Val invites a special guest to join her in the "studio" to hang out, chit-chat and have the silliest time! This episode's guest is Val's dear friend (and oft-mentioned PodGis character) Noah, who is a very talented actor in Toronto. Noah and Algis get into it right away, discussing houses designed to make you uncomfortable, yet focused; Noah defends their palate and the two have a taste test o...
Jan 24, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 78
This episode has everything! SILLIES: Val comes hot out the gate with funny bits about rappers. OBSERVATIONS: About the growing trend of neurodivergent self-diagnosis, and the kids in class who had ADHD growing up. MORE SILLIES: Funny takes on Val's friend's drink preferences, and how stupid it is to like 'bitter' things. INSIGHT: A new take on smelling like pizza and the virtues of bathing in piping hot pizza air. HEART: A reflection upon how far she's come, and how powerful time and experience...
Jan 19, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Welcome to F*#k Town, population ALGIS! In this episode, Val talks a lot about Batman inside jokes and goes on a classic tangent, inventing a new Batman villain on the spot called "The Ostrich". She then talks about the prospects of PodGis and the exciting new future ahead, and closes it out with some observations on the recent "discourse" and "controversy" around the streamer known as F1nnster. Enjoy, and remember to always keep a keen eye on the skies for the threat of Batman's justice....
Jan 05, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 76
In this shorter episode, Val discusses being in the midst of a dog-sitting adventure and how challenging and revealing it has been for her. She also discusses "The Mole" on Netflix and how she completely buffoonerously spoiled it for herself, and then calls it a night to go cuddle with a pooch! This one's a softie! More later! Have a good week!
Dec 22, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Let's get LUMPY! What a lumpy lumpy start, as Algis acknowledges her egregious blunder of forgetting to edit in the theme song in the previous episode! It won't happen again? It won't happen again! She then talks about being a third wheel, her upcoming dogsitting stint that she's really looking forward to, being the only one in a big family without a partner, a story about the last time she rode on a horse, livin' a "Lumpy Life", a short update on "Porn Guy", funny things to do during sex and ho...
Dec 15, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 74
What a week Val (AKA Algis) has had! She spends most of this episode dissecting and discussing her experience with going viral on Instagram for a silly dance: the influx of hate and pettiness, the addictive feelings of watching the numbers and tracking the likes, the lack of thought that went into the video in the first place, the universality and relatability of the clip, and much much more. She really does a deep dive on what it's like to go viral for the first time, in case you happen to be c...
Dec 06, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Welcome back! AGAIN! And again and again and again welcome back, because Val can't seem to nail down a regular weekly schedule! BUT she packs another episode with quality (with an extra 15 minutes of oomphy quantity!), covering such topics as: remembering the word for "gingham" and her family's inside jokes involving the word "Tannenbaum"; Arnold Schwarzenegger soundboard prank phone calls; profound thoughts on how our brains are like computers, and how memory might work; the zen advice she tend...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 72
What a special one this one is! Algis comes hot out of the gate, Ellen-style singing and dancing in the snow! She goes on a tangent about song lyrics that only make sense to the writer. Then after burning her tongue on her tea she gets distracted from her point about earworms and instead explores the most American thing she could think of; goes into a lengthy philosophical dissection of the absurdity of regret (very brainy! Wow! SO brain!); applies that perspective on regret to her own transitio...
Nov 15, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Hello hi hello! Welcome to PodGis! Al Val's unofficially official podcast! In this hairy scary episode, Val braves the growing fog outside her window and discusses the string of shows she'd recently had and the simple things that can make a set suddenly interesting and inventive; online dating and her cynicism towards the dating landscape; people who have an "INNUENDO ONLY" sense of humour; a funny memory involving Val's friend's Jamaican parents; tolerating boredom; being superficial on dating ...
Nov 02, 2022•45 min•Ep. 70
Let's start out by saying this first: in this episode of "PodGis", Val gets a ton of mileage out of a silly sounding stutter he accidentally exclaims. Otherwise, in this episode Val discusses voting and democracy; she discusses her hairline surgery - the grotesqueries, the discomforts and the triumphs of it all; Chance the Rapper's recent trans-related controversy, and the broader implications regarding male insecurity and sexuality; a tale about a man who got handsy during a horrifying moment i...
Oct 24, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 69
On the eve before her hairline surgery Val is brimming with exuberance, dancing lithely from topic to topic, streaming a thread of consciousness through a wide myriad of topics off the top: obsessing over a single song, being an obsessive person, pitching TV shows and the deadly secrecy around it, the lone hair on the box, what "street smarts" really means, and how Canadians say "aBOOT". Val then calms down, puts her hands on her butt for calm, and then talks about her dog whispering abilities, ...
Oct 12, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Time for a real "Open Concept" podcast! In this episode of PodGis, Val excitedly shares her new housing arrangement; debriefs about her experience writing for "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" and how it all started with her feet somehow; the mental anguish or trying to look sexy and the 22 Minute afterparty; an awkward and baffling encounter at a public bathroom that Val CANNOT get out of her head; minimizing your life; her current struggling of "turning off the funny" in sexy situations; and finally,...
Oct 08, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 67
CONFIDENCE!!! We're talking confidence today!!! In this PodGis episode, Val may be tired but she PULLS THROUGH for a nice little chitchat about writing political satire versus standup, a little crash comedy lesson, the time she was compared to Woody Harrelson in bed, being told to 'be more confident', a segment called "PeeveGis" about a specific confidence-related pet peeve, and lastly she discusses religious thought-shaming, having a penile tumescence, and the importance of second thought. Alwa...
Sep 19, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Uh oh oh boy! It's time for another "PodGis Excluuu"! Val kicks this one off being hella annoying (just trying to get those followers down, baby!), then discusses the origins of 'EXCLU'; the rise and fall of the generation-defining Cheese Factory rap group; and explores when things are wheat versus when they are chaff. Val then issues a definitely not apology for her emotional outburst in the previous episode; tells an "Am I the Asshole" segment; marvels at "chasers"; then ends on some inward ob...
Aug 31, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Val records this podcast the day after attending a wedding as a plus one, and tells some silly anecdotes, reflects on the wonderful time she had, and then digs into some intimate details on what she sees (or rather, doesn't see) in her love life's future; she then closes on a reading of some of Dr. Seuss' finest quotes and what they mean to her. Warning: Val gets pretty emotional in this one. It's got funny up front, and then a whole bunch of sappy thereafter. If you love vulnerability then this...
Aug 23, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Val got sick with Covid! Oh nooo!!! But the worst of it is behind her, and so our plucky podcast heroine forges onward providing insights and giggles. In this especially enthusiastic episode, Val digs in and gets to the bottom of a number of topics, including: having hair extensions and YOLO'ing the extension experience; when people suggest movies and TV Shows; a brief thought exercise involving "Go Fund Me" campaign honesty; AIDS jokes; weddings and silly unspoken dress code rules; "Cutco" kniv...
Aug 17, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Sorry for the delay! Val is back and very excited to regale you with tales of her experience performing at the Jo Koy Gala in Montreal for the prestigious Just For Laughs festival! She walks you through the good and the bad - from the beginning of her trip, managing a massive wave of hatred from a silly impression, to SLAYING the Gala and feeling like she's really and truly arrived.
Aug 05, 2022•47 min
In this silly, upbeat episode, Val introduces a new sponsor: Krogus! She also discusses how she thinks she would fare in prison, and her desire to 'get hard'; about her experience seeing "Rage Against the Machine and walking around town looking like a head-turning rocker chick; the ways that people stare at her on the street; getting harassed; her explanation for being 'the hardest working comedian in Toronto'; and Imperial Pub's mouse/rat problem. See you next week, when Val has some tales of J...
Jul 26, 2022•48 min
Algis sets the record straight about the previous episode's misinformation regarding coffee, before she covers a variety of topics at a distracted clip, contemplating whether she has ADD or if she's just a distractable millenial with bad habits; discussing a video that she had to watch in order to feel like a nice person and more broadly, the things that people send her without context; the symbolism around communion wafers in the Catholic church; dealing with strangers online who get uppity and...
Jul 21, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Algis comes right out of the gate fully honest about the case of the 'Sads' that she's got going on today, but she turns the GODDAMN BUS AROUND and has a lovely time! In this episode she talks about supporting her podcast through natural disasters, suddenly loving a new colour, seeing morbid content on Reddit by accident, her incredibly delicious guacamole, her favourite instagram account (@francis_bourgeois43), the time she yelled "it's fine!" at a racoon, a terrifying little tale about a centi...
Jul 12, 2022•55 min
In this fine-as-wine episode, Algis kicks off the episode by describing her new 'studio setup', then exercising her 'expertise' by speaking absolute nonsense about Bitcoin. After that she talks about the pain of facial laser hair removal, the irrelevance of Freudian Psychology and sitting on a carrot when you're four years old, having sex to odd music, overplucking her nose, and a story about tracking down a bottle of leave-in conditioner.
Jul 06, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Happy 57th episode to people whose favourite number is 57! This one is JUST FOR YOU! In this episode of "PodGis", Val discusses (at great length) the number 57, her upcoming headlining week of shows at JFL Toronto (tickets available online Friday June 17!), then talks about her charming brother and the ways in which he laughs at her; she then tells a story about an unconfident magician, about magicians in general, and about invoice quality and how she's trying to step her game up. HAPPY FIFTY SE...
Jun 14, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 57
