In this very special episode of Sleeping with Celebrities, the celebrity is the host. John Moe is the host of Depresh Mode, author of The Hilarious World of Depression , and, in fact, host of this very podcast as well. He talks to himself and to you as he travels across North Dakota from Bismarck all the way to New Salem just to see an enormous fake cow. Yep, you'll doze off to a luxurious sleep and you may even do so before reaching Salem Sue, the 12,000 pound holstein perched high on a hill, g...
Jan 10, 2024•42 min•Ep. 49
Rob Harvilla is the host of the hit podcast 60 Songs That Explain the 90s and author of a book of the exact same name. But before he was regaling his listeners with his thoughts on music of that era, Rob was living in that era and making music of his own. Or rather, making music of somebody else's. You see, Sleepyheads, Mr. Harvilla was an open mic musical performer in his college days, in the 90's, in Ohio. And he's going to take you on a music-free tour of the thinking behind his performances ...
Jan 03, 2024•53 min•Ep. 48
Linda Holmes is a best-selling author and one of the hosts of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. But you know what an hour is that wasn't always happy? Melrose Place. Oh, it's true. Melrose Place was a nighttime soap opera in the 1990s and it told the stories of the residents of a fictitious apartment complex in Los Angeles where everyone's lives were complicated. The people were complicated, the relationships were complicated, even the maintenance plans for motorcycles were surprisingly complicated....
Dec 27, 2023•59 min•Ep. 47
Benjamin Partridge is the host of Beef and Dairy Network podcast, which is a very funny comedy program described as "The number one podcast for those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds." It is a program here on the Maximum Fun network. Mr. Partridge is also a Welshman and would very much like for you to join him as he takes us on a tour of the smaller and larger cities of the southern Wales coastline. Learn about the seaside recreation area where all th...
Dec 13, 2023•51 min•Ep. 45
The Holy Roman Empire is a huge topic, spanning at least one continent and nearly a thousand years. Fortunately, we’re here to cover the entire thing in about an hour while you doze off to a good night’s sleep with thoughts of complex treaty agreements dancing in your head. We’re guided on this journey by comedian, actor, and writer Guy Branum who knows more about the political and military intricacies of the Holy Roman Empire than we thought possible. Perhaps Guy is preparing to mass an army an...
Dec 06, 2023•44 min•Ep. 44
Do you remember all the plays you were a part of in school? Chances are Gianmarco Soresi remembers more plays than you do because he was in just so many, all of which he will recount for you as you drift off to sleep. Learn how Gianmarco acted and acted and acted through everything from Twelfth Night to something called Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Learn also how he ultimately forsook the theatrical stage for the smaller, more dank stage of standup comedy. Gianmarco Soresi’s appearance on Netflix’s V...
Nov 29, 2023•52 min•Ep. 43
Any biography of Stephen Tobolowsky must mention, and possibly right at the beginning, his performance as Ned Ryerson, the annoying insurance salesman in Groundhog Day. But that's far from the only big credit in Stephen's IMDb page, which also includes films like Memento and Thelma & Louise. Long before he was the hugely successful actor he is today, Stephen was just another guy trying to get by in New York and that's where he met The Most Boring Man in the World, working the afternoon shift at ...
Nov 22, 2023•52 min•Ep. 42
Maybe the old method of counting sheep works for you as a sleep aid. But maybe you need your animals to be a little more varied. That’s where comedy writers Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold come in with an exhaustive rundown of the various non-humans who have inhabited the White House. And we’re not just talking about dogs. Not by a longshot. We mean alligators and goats and possums. Ben and Rebecca are the authors of Naked in the Rideshare , a new book of humorous essays and they just recently b...
Nov 15, 2023•45 min•Ep. 41
You know what might make you all tuckered out and ready for sleep? A walking tour of Paris. And who better to provide you with a friendly and funny walkabout than Negin Farsad, the comedian/director/writer and former resident of the City of Light? Negin pays particular attention to all the outdoor options of Paris, everything from the touristy hotspots to the lesser-known local haunts, so your impending doze can be taken with lungs full of fresh (and French) air. Links: Negin Farsad Book: How to...
Nov 08, 2023•46 min•Ep. 40
Ordinarily, you wouldn’t want to visit a whole bunch of hipster coffee shops across the U.S. before bedtime. It would be time-consuming and expensive plus all that coffee would make you all jittery. But if you’re being softly guided through these places by the gentle voice of the hilarious Aparna Nancherla, it makes for a perfect bedtime journey. Aparna has a new book, Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome. And she really knows her hipster coffee joints. Links Aparna Nancherla w...
Nov 01, 2023•45 min•Ep. 39
You might know Phoebe Judge as the host of the podcast Criminal, now celebrating its tenth year. Depending on where you live, you might also know her for her clamshell driveway because she has one of those. It’s an indication of how very much she loves clams and how much she loves clamming, which is the term for going out to the ocean and digging up clams. Phoebe talks us through the different kinds of clams she encounters from her Cape Cod adventures. More like Cape CLAM, I should say. No, I sh...
Oct 25, 2023•47 min•Ep. 38
If you have access to what’s called the internet, you probably have experienced the work of Felicia Day. She is the creator and star of the web series The Guild, the author and star of the new audiobook Third Eye, and she’s been featured in about one billion web videos. Rarely has her work featured frank discussions of her own gut health and personal biome. Until today, that is. With her signature charisma, humor, and grace, she takes you deep inside her intestines so that you might calmly drift...
Oct 18, 2023•55 min•Ep. 37
Cameron Esposito is a very popular and very funny comedian and the host of the Queery podcast right here on the Maximum Fun network. She has also been to a lot of concerts and while concerts can be noisy, talking about them doesn’t have to be. In this soothing episode, Cameron fills us in on five memorable shows and her five memorable dates for those shows. Is Neil Diamond on the list? Yes. Taylor Swift? Well, it’s mandatory in modern media to talk about T-Swizzle so yes. And who else? Tune in t...
Oct 11, 2023•53 min•Ep. 36
You may know Steven Page from his solo musical work or his tenure as one of the founders and leaders of the band Barenaked Ladies. Of course, if you were around the Toronto suburbs some years ago and you knew Steven, it’s also possible you know him from his Bar Mitzvah. It was a lovely event and young (yet a man) Steven received many thoughtful gifts, which he is happy to enumerate for you, the drowsy listening audience. What 13-year-old wouldn’t love handsome coffee table books or coveted ticke...
Oct 04, 2023•57 min•Ep. 35
Julie and Brandy are best friends, comedy partners, and co-hosts of the podcast Dumb Gay Politics , which, according to Wikipedia, “recaps politics and reality TV.” They also hosted the Bravo TV program The People’s Couch. In between their busy schedules, they find plenty of time to eat just so very many vitamins. Brandy eats more than Julie but it’s hard to eat more vitamins than Brandy does. Hear about their regimen, how it overlaps with Brandy’s drinking schedule, and why Julie can’t seem to ...
Sep 27, 2023•49 min•Ep. 34
You might recall Zak Orth as “J.J.” from the very funny film Wet Hot American Summer or perhaps you might recall him as “Aaron” from the drama series Revolution. If you haven’t seen those, well, don’t worry because he has an IMDb list of credits as long as your arm, even if you have a very long arm. On our program, Zak shares his rather extensive thoughts on laundry: how it should be sorted, whether hot water should be used, and what is the proper way to store one’s T-shirts. Zak also recalls th...
Sep 20, 2023•47 min•Ep. 33
You may know the very funny Frank Conniff from his run as “TV’s Frank” on the legendary comedy program Mystery Science Theater 3000. But before he became a star there, Frank kept a more modest profile as an employee at Arby’s in Minneapolis. The job, which came about after his application at White Castle was rejected, helped Frank get his life together and helped keep him on the straight and narrow. In this interview, Frank tells you all you would ever care to know about life at Arby’s and why h...
Sep 13, 2023•50 min•Ep. 32
The life of a touring rock n’ roll musician can be very exciting. Fortunately, we leave the exciting parts out in our conversation with the deeply hilarious Kristin Hersh, from the bands Throwing Muses and 50-Foot Wave and a prolific solo career. Kristin, who has a brand new album out on Friday called Clear Pond Blue, takes us through the rock star life but focusing on sedate topics like trying to check in to hotel rooms a little bit early and the methodical nature of venue sound checks. Think o...
Sep 06, 2023•51 min•Ep. 31
We wouldn’t advise you to have candy before bedtime. That’s certainly not going to be helpful for your sleep efforts. But having the hilarious and delightful Jo Firestone run down her ten favorite candies of all time? Why that’s just the thing to send you off to dreamland. You might know Jo from the Dr. Gameshow podcast or television programs like Joe Pera Talks With You, What We Do in the Shadows, and Shrill and if so, you probably like her already. So sit back and listen to some sweet candy se...
Aug 30, 2023•55 min•Ep. 30
On the HBO show Barry, for which comedian Emily Heller is a writer, there is a great deal of suspense, gunfire, and overall tension, which would make it hard for those characters to ever get any sleep. And come to think of it, we never see them do so. Fortunately, in real life, Emily has interests that are much more pastoral. She enrolled in a program by which she replaced her lawn with a variety of plants that are much better for water usage in Los Angeles and then the city reimbursed her for t...
Aug 23, 2023•53 min•Ep. 29
Dave Hill is many things. He’s a musician, an actor, a podcast host, and an author. So four things. But it’s five things if you count his role as hockey sweater collector. Dave has a lifelong obsession with the hockey sweater, or jersey as one might call it in the States, and he recounts many of his favorites in this dreamily unfocused conversation that also includes discussions of Norway, Pantera, ice hockey legend Len Frig, duvets, and how to start a bar with the government’s assistance after ...
Aug 16, 2023•54 min•Ep. 28
Jack Reacher, lead character in the Reacher series, is tall, imposing, and a noticeable presence in every town he rolls into. But just about anybody would be noticeable rolling into the town where Andrew Child, one of the writers of the series, lives. That’s because there’s almost no one in Tie Siding, Wyoming, a town listed as “uninhabited” by the U.S. Census Bureau. Still, according to Andrew, there’s a lot going on in Tie Siding, what with the moose, the bugling elk, the rabbits, the incompre...
Aug 09, 2023•46 min•Ep. 27
Halle Kiefer and Alison Leiby are obsessed with crows, and not simply because they both host the horror podcast Ruined. Horror buff Halle knows that crows feature prominently in the genre–and our nightmares–for a reason: they’re crazy smart and are known to hold grudges. In fact, all birds in the Corvus family, like ravens and magpies, are intelligent. They even hold funerals when a fellow bird flies into the next realm. Enjoy drifting off to sleep learning about these cunning creatures. Hey Sle...
Aug 02, 2023•52 min•Ep. 26
John Ross Bowie, who pronounces his last name like Maui and not like David Bowie, is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Kripke on The Big Bang Theory. That show is, of course, a high-energy comedic romp with jokes dropping every few seconds. And that show is not this show. John Ross Bowie, without his funny voice from BBT, joins Sleeping with Celebrities to walk us all through the step-by-step process of baking baguettes. Three of them to be precise. He discusses his use of honey, the ...
Jul 26, 2023•57 min•Ep. 25
The actor, writer, comedian, and bon vivant Michael Ian Black is an enthusiast of the word game Scrabble and, in particular, the very short two-letter words that can make all the difference in a competitive game. Sure, lots of players want to use long words of seven or even more letters but a well-placed QI or a sly ZA can rack up more points than one might have ever thought possible, and Michael shares, in a lulling monotone, many more two-letterers that the uncareful player might have never co...
Jul 19, 2023•52 min•Ep. 24
THIS IS THE SLEEP SAFE VERSION OF THIS EPISODE. THERE IS NO JARRING INTERRUPTION IN THIS VERSION. Beloved actors, comedy people, and podcast bon vivants Janie Haddad Tompkins and Paul F. Tompkins once took a vacation to the beautiful nation of Iceland and they took a lot of photos. So many photos. And they would like to share them with you in this episode. But wait, you say, isn’t this an AUDIO podcast? Why yes. It is. We believe that without the distraction of having to pry open your eyes to lo...
Jul 12, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 23
THIS IS THE SUDDEN, JARRING NOISE VERSION OF THIS EPISODE. DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS VERSION IF YOU ARE TRYING TO SLEEP Get ready for thrills, you not-so-sleepyheads. Because entertainment superstars Paul F. Tompkins and Janie Haddad Tompkins are here to blow your minds with audio descriptions of photographs of their 2016 trip to Iceland! And as if that isn’t enough to distract you into relaxation or sleep, this episode features - get this - an old-timey interruption from a bygone era. You might not...
Jul 12, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 22
Chris Gethard is an actor, writer, comedian, and podcast host. He was the host of the aptly name Chris Gethard Show on various forms of cable television for many years and hosts the also aptly named podcast, Beautiful Anonymous, which is a beautiful show where Chris interviews anonymous people. Like a shaken-up bottle of soda, Chris Gethard is ready to explode with knowledge about the various small batch soft drinks he loves from around the country. But his talk won’t give you a sugar rush or a ...
Jul 05, 2023•59 min•Ep. 21
Andy Kindler is a veteran stand-up comedian and actor, known for his work as Mort the mortician on Bob’s Burgers and as Andy on Everybody Loves Raymond. And Andy loves coffee. Like, really, really loves coffee. And he joins us to talk about all the particulars involved in making the perfect cup of coffee: what kind or roast to look for, how to grind your beans and with what, what brewing equipment you should have, and the precise right ratio of water to grounds. Should you have coffee before bed...
Jun 28, 2023•59 min•Ep. 20
Susan Orlean is one of the coolest and best writers we have going in the whole world. This is simply a fact. Why, she wrote The Orchid Thief and The Library Book and Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. Meryl Streep played Susan, or a version of Susan, in the movie Adaptation, which is certainly not a thing that happens to most of us. With all her credits, you might think Susan Orlean would have someone to organize her life FOR her. Not so. She is, herself, a passionate organizer and she can - ...
Jun 22, 2023•58 min•Ep. 19
