Rachael Yamagata is an accomplished musician and singer who has recorded several acclaimed albums, including Starlit Alchemy just a few months ago, and performed and recorded with the likes of Rhett Miller, Jason Mraz, and Bright Eyes. When she’s not making beautiful music, she’s watching her back yard like a hawk. Like a hawk that takes on several ambitious backyard projects. Relax in Rachel’s sonic virtual yard and drift off while she tells you about the persistent squirrels, whether you can e...
Jan 14, 2026•44 min•Ep. 153
Instagram can be a minefield of powerful influencers making you feel terrible about not having millions of dollars and a glamorous lifestyle, or, OR, it could be filled with odd things like banjo players plucking away in National Parks. Writer, comedian, filmmaker, and podcaster Akilah Hughes has published a memoir, Obviously: Stories From my Timeline , written for Steven Soderbergh’s Command Z television series, and hosted shows on the Crooked Media network. Most importantly for us, she knows h...
Jan 07, 2026•44 min•Ep. 152
We love all of our guests on this podcast and are delighted that they helped amuse you to sleep. There are some among those guests who seem to have an extra-special ability to get what we’re asking for, to grasp the mission, to understand the assignment. They speak in extra hushed tones, they choose astoundingly benign subject matter, they delight and bring forth some nice laughs, they drone, they lull, and they conk you right the heck out. On this, our 150th episode, we bring you some all-stars...
Dec 31, 2025•55 min•Ep. 151
This episode originally ran April 23, 2025. *** Roxane Gay is one of the greatest writers in the world today. Everyone knows this. We’re so thrilled that she agreed to be on our show. Roxane is the author of books like Bad Feminist and Hunger , writes for the New York Times , is a respected social critic and noted professor. All this means that she travels a lot and she joins us, using a very soothing voice, to share her opinions on air travel. Hear about her favorite airports, such as Indianapo...
Dec 24, 2025•37 min•Ep. 150
You might know Jon Lovett as the host of the podcast Lovett or Leave It or as one of the hosts of the influential Pod Save America show. On those shows, Jon and others talk about big events in politics and try to make sense of it all. Which is hard. But it turns out that America itself, the very Constitution of this nation, may have a fatal flaw it in it, a loophole that could be activated and instantly make it a totalitarian country (or, depending on how you see things, even more so). It’s a lo...
Dec 17, 2025•41 min•Ep. 149
We understand that for many people, Jodie Sweetin is forever linked to Stephanie Tanner, the character she played for eight years on Full House and four more years on Fuller House . But we doubt Stephanie was nearly as much into Lego building sets as the real Jodie is. In fact, we seriously doubt anyone is as much into Legos as Jodie. She joins us to talk about some of her favorite sets that she’s put together and how the little interlocking bricks play a major role in establishing peace of mind...
Dec 10, 2025•45 min•Ep. 148
Actor and writer Bridger Winegar has appeared in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , Jimmy Kimmel Live , and as the host of his own delightful podcast I Said No Gifts , where his guests insist on bringing gifts, despite the title and he acts upset but really loves it. Bridger has had his iPhone for a long time, it gets used a lot, and, frankly, it’s pretty worn out. So he needs a new one. But rather than simply buy the latest edition, Bridger is going to take a more considered approach, verbally examini...
Dec 03, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 147
The comedian Myq Kaplan has appeared on The Tonight Show , Conan , Late Night with David Letterman , and many other television programs. He also hosts two podcasts, has released comedy albums, and has a new comedy special, Rini , which is also the name of his girlfriend. That’s an unusual name but then so is Myq. He used to be Mike but changed it at summer camp one year and it stuck. You can change your name whenever you want to. Myq loves advice columns. Your Dear Abby s, your Ann Landerses, ev...
Nov 26, 2025•57 min•Ep. 146
We were so excited (though we kept it subdued) to meet the hilarious Wendi McLendon-Covey from Reno 911! , St Denis Medical , Bridesmaids , and Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar . Wendi enjoys going to concerts and says it gives her the same satisfaction as travel but it’s shorter and cheaper. You’ll find that listening to Wendi talk about concerts is like traveling or going to a concert yourself but with the added benefit of not leaving your comfy bed and knocking out a GNS yourself. GNS stan...
Nov 19, 2025•50 min•Ep. 145
You might know Eddie Pepitone from standup stages around the country, as “The Heckling New Yorker” on Late Night with Conan O’Brien , as an actor on Reno 911! or Bob’s Burgers , from his brand new comedy special The Collapse , or from his podcast Apocalypse Soon . Or if you’re a close follower of people who get worked up about purchasing binoculars and then never really use the binoculars, you might know him from that because that’s also who Eddie is. He fills us in on his constant search for ju...
Nov 12, 2025•42 min•Ep. 144
Allison Raskin has a pretty diverse array of interests. She’s a former Buzzfeed video creator, co-host of the podcast Just Between Us , and the author of numerous best-selling books, including Please Send Help , Overthinking About You , and the new Save the Date . How does she unwind from this busy life? By being obsessed with Inspector Gamache, the Quebecois crime solver found in novels by Louise Penny and on television, played by Alfred Molina. Join us for a meandering conversation about Gamac...
Nov 05, 2025•39 min•Ep. 143
Look, it’s okay. You’ll be able to sleep just fine. Sure, witches can be scary but keep two things in mind: witches are pretend so they can’t hurt you and some list-making analytical thinking is a great way to doze off to some shuteye that is guaranteed toad, broomstick, and cackle-free. SwC returning guest Lindy West teams up with Meagan Hatcher-Mays to do the honors. The two of them host the podcast Text Me Back Podcast . Find out if the witches at the beginning of Macbeth outrank Dianne Wiest...
Oct 29, 2025•52 min•Ep. 142
Can you improvise a musical? Sure, you can. But isn’t it hard to do? Absolutely. That’s why hardly anyone does it. I mean, who wants to do hard things? Well, Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino do. They’re the hosts and creators of Off Book , a podcast where they improvise a whole new musical with each episode. They’ve also appeared on shows like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Goldbergs, and Comedy Bang! Bang! (forgive our use of exclamation points, Sleepyheads). Jessica and Zach travel a lot and they sure...
Oct 22, 2025•44 min•Ep. 141
Fans of the long-running animated comedy Archer already know Amber Nash as Pam Poovey, the former H.R. director at ISIS. She has superhuman strength and a dolphin hand puppet. Pam does, not Amber. Amber has human strength and we don’t know about the puppets. Amber is the host of the brand new Rephrasing: An Archer Rewatch Podcast here on Maximum Fun. She’s also a devotee of the Vermont Country Store Catalog, a compendium of folksy and sometimes odd items that shows up as a kind of print portal t...
Oct 15, 2025•47 min•Ep. 140
Steve Agee is a beloved actor, writer, comedian, and all-around funny person, seen most recently as John Economos in the John Cena DC Comics series Peacemaker on HBO. You may have caught his work in films like The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 2. You didn’t see him in Meatballs , the 1979 Bill Murray summer camp comedy, because Steve was just a wee boy back then. Steve has seen Meatballs , though. Oh has he ever. He loves the film, loves summer camp in general, although in his ...
Oct 08, 2025•48 min•Ep. 139
We grant you that listening to actual D.C. hardcore music will probably not put you into the best state for sleep. The dulcet tones of Roman Mars, however, discussing said scene? Yeah, that ought to do it. Roman is the creator and host of the beloved and hugely popular podcast 99% Invisible and a public radio veteran so, yes, his voice is as smooth as butter spread on top of more butter. He shares with us the deep caring and mutual love within hardcore, the camaraderie that lies beneath the musi...
Oct 01, 2025•50 min•Ep. 138
Host John Moe leads off this episode by extolling the virtues of foster dog caretaking and he enumerates the many dogs his family as tended to in the last year: Cowboy, Bug, Beans, Ducky, Pork Chop, Radar, and Car Wash. All these dogs were, and all dogs are, eccentric. Then we welcome cartoonist Nathan Pyle, the man who brings you those Strange Planet cartoons where aliens attempt to understand the eccentric ways of human beings. We are a fascinating and bizarre species as Nathan illustrates in ...
Sep 24, 2025•55 min•Ep. 137
J. Kenji López-Alt knows more about food than you or I put together. He has won James Beard Awards, contributed to New York Times Cooking and Serious Eats , and his books include The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science , The Wok: Recipes and Techniques , and a children’s book titled Every Night is Pizza Night . But he’s no snobby foody. He pays careful attention to how to stack ingredients in the humble hardshell taco so that you maximize flavor and minimize structural collapse. He als...
Sep 10, 2025•46 min•Ep. 135
Actor and comedian Baron Vaughn is familiar to audiences for his work on Grace & Frankie , Mystery Science Theater 3000 , and The New Negroes with friend of the show Open Mike Eagle. He’s familiar to his family for watching a whole lot of those multi-episode, sepia photograph-intensive, history rich documentaries by Ken Burns on subjects like baseball, the Civil War, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Doritos, although we made that last one up. Baron tells us all about his favorite Burns works and why...
Sep 03, 2025•43 min•Ep. 134
You have definitely seen actor, writer, and director Ravi V. Patel on a screen before. He’s one of those guys that seems to be in everything. Perhaps most recently as a team mentor on the new season of LEGO Masters Jr. or maybe co-starring on Animal Control with Joel McHale or acting in Ghosts or being put through some grueling paces on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test . All the while, he has a family with young children. It’s a very busy life for Ravi and he’s able to accomplish all this, ...
Aug 27, 2025•42 min•Ep. 133
When you have two guests on one show, you’re going to get a variety of topics, especially when they have such diverse interests as tennis great Patrick McEnroe and Broadway icon Melissa Errico. The two, married 26 years, take us on a very friendly and relaxing jaunt through a very old-timey English castle (that somehow has a sauna and Pilates room), various off-the-beaten-path tourist spots in Italy, plus Frankfurt, Copenhagen, and Capri, home of those pants. And we get in plenty of discussion o...
Aug 20, 2025•51 min•Ep. 132
As hosts of the Happy Wife Happy Life podcast, comedians/writers/actors Kendahl Landreth and Jordan Myrick help their listeners navigate everything related to relationships. Here on our show, in this episode, they bring that gift of harmony to society’s views of chihuahuas, especially their own rescue dog, Angel. As you drift off to sleep, you’ll hear about Angel’s peculiarities, why these dogs are not necessarily annoying but possibly misunderstood, and you’ll hear the surprising information th...
Aug 13, 2025•47 min•Ep. 131
The versatile Ana Marie Cox is a podcast host ( Space the Nation , Past Due ), a veteran journalist (MTV News, The New York Times Magazine), the founding editor of Wonkette , a writing instructor, and a political pundit and analyst, frequently featured on various cable news programs. But not to worry. Ana stays out of the political fray in this interview. I mean, nothing better to keep you stressed out and awake than the current political climate. Instead, Ana takes us on a tour of all the place...
Aug 06, 2025•47 min•Ep. 130
Here’s how we figure it: if you appear on our show (the most popular podcast in the world) (look that up) (don’t), you automatically become a celebrity. We have listeners all over this planet at least. That makes hardware store assistant manager Winter Burnett a celebrity. During our last Max Fun Drive, we set a stretch goal for new members and said if we hit that goal, one of you Sleepyheads could be the guest celebrity on the show. We hit it and received several excellent pitches. Winter’s con...
Jul 30, 2025•38 min•Ep. 129
The multi-talented Demi Adejuyigbe is a podcast host ( The Gilmore Guys ) writer ( The Good Place, The Late Late Show with James Corden ), and social media celebrity (those wonderful homemade videos for the song “September”). Those are all very exciting things that Demi does and we’re concerned they would keep you up. So instead, we’re focusing on his interest in film photography: the cameras he uses, the film he acquires, the development process that has consumed an entire bathroom at his home....
Jul 23, 2025•50 min•Ep. 128
You know Janet Varney from her starring roles in You’re the Worst and The Legend of Korra and from hosting two Maximum Fun podcasts, The JV Club and E Pluribus Motto , which she co-hosts with John Hodgman and which just launched its second season. But to the critters of the night, Janet is simply a friend, a liaison between themselves and all the diurnal humans. She talks about many nocturnal animals she encounters or nearly encounters around her Los Angeles home, including coyotes, possums, rac...
Jul 16, 2025•46 min•Ep. 127
Kathy Valentine is the bassist for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Go-Go’s. Emerging from the L.A. punk scene, ruling the charts, and still playing shows 47 years later, any member of the band must have a million thrilling stories about life as real live rock stars. But we’re a show that tries to put you to sleep so on our program Kathy talks about all the cats she has owned over the course of her life: Organic, Simon, Clorox, Protozoa, Greymalkin, Coconut, Elvis, Dart, Howard Hug...
Jul 09, 2025•47 min•Ep. 126
You may know Paget Brewster as FBI Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss on the television series Criminal Minds or as Joey’s girlfriend Kathy on multiple episodes of Friends . If you’re a particularly discerning entertainment consumer, you also know her from Andy Richter Controls the Universe or as Sadie Doyle on the podcast and stage series The Thrilling Adventure Hour . We’re not going to talk about any of that here, however, because we are going to spend a long time talking about bone bro...
Jul 02, 2025•55 min•Ep. 125
This episode originally ran August 14th, 2024. *** Is this a feat that the beloved author, actor, and host of Maximum Fun’s Judge John Hodgman can actually pull off? Well, no, probably not. There are over 4,600 such islands and he’s only one mortal human. Come on. But will he make a pretty game attempt for a little while and invite you to join his efforts as you drift off to sleep? Oh yes. Oh absolutely yes. And together, we’ll learn about geodesic domes along the way and that will be neat. List...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 12 min
The very funny and charming Julie Klausner is known for her starring role in the acclaimed Hulu dark comedy series Difficult People and she has appeared in Big Mouth , What We Do in the Shadows , At Home with Amy Sedaris , and many other beloved and hilarious programs. It’s stressful work, we think, because Julie has had a lot of massages over the years and she’s here to tell you all about them. We hope you’ll find our conversation as relaxing and sleep-inducing as a real massage but we assure y...
Jun 18, 2025•45 min•Ep. 124
