Wyn Evans is more present, happy, and aware than he has probably ever been in his life, and he came on MBSing to share some of his relatively-newfound peace and understanding with me. Wyn found this "persistent nonsymbolic experience" through spirituality, meditation, and other exercises in The Finders Course on human well being, but the biggest takeaway here is loving yourself and knowing you deserve love and happiness. We discuss the fine lines between awareness and meditation that can fill yo...
Jun 24, 2015•1 hr 34 min
We came to the studio to talk about her love of pizza, but Blair Beeken likes to tell it like it is. She confessed she considered talking about being honest, so we changed gears. Whether it's friends, improv teammates, family, dentists, or people who need to be told what everyone is thinking about what they post on Facebook, she prefers honesty to sugar coating. And after this conversation, I'm thinking it really is the best policy. Even though it can lead to some anxiety, Blair feels (and I agr...
Jun 17, 2015•1 hr
The ladies of The Perm (Amy Haeussler and Atra Asdou) love lil cuddly creatures almost as much as they love writing and performing excellent sketch shows. We cover pets, vets, zoos, and who's whos of their favorite animals and why they find themselves returning to their love of them as they produce comedy. The idea that animals are inspiring and interesting because they only ever operate from a place of clear intention comes up at the end as well as their naturally hilarious nature. There's prob...
Jun 10, 2015•1 hr 33 min
In West Chicago, born and raised, in front of a TV is where Mykele spent most of his days. He still finds plenty of time to devour television in between Chicago theatre and podcast appearances, though his focus has shifted from Pokemon, Good Times, and Blossom to shows like Game of Thrones, Mad Men, and The Following, and the medium itself has shifted from tuning in to Nick at Nite and watching whatever was airing to being able to have pretty much whatever show he wants available to him at prett...
Jun 03, 2015•1 hr 34 min
Jo and I love food and chatting, so I think that makes us a regular ol' pair of Gilmore Girls. As far as I can gleen, anyway. I have never seen Gilmore Girls. But Jo has seen it all dozens of times and enjoys exploring its strengths and weaknesses (there's no way every person in Stars Hollow, CT, has that deep of a reference chamber in conversation, but it sure is fun to witness the writing anyway) as well as appreciating some of its biggest themes in her own life. Enjoying food, company, family...
May 27, 2015•1 hr 5 min
The Shit Hole is a renegade comedy space all about going hard until you get better and supporting one another along the way. Its creators/producers/heart (Zach Bartz, Kevin Gerrity, and Dan Wilcop) can't find the end of the list that compares these ideals to those of skateboarding. They've each had their own journey with the way of the board (Zach had trouble finding friends to skate with when he moved to a hotel Kansas, Kevin didn't skate much through most of his teens, and Dan kept with it the...
May 20, 2015•1 hr 16 min
I had never heard the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox referred to as The Idiots until right before recording with Sean, but after the chat, I can certainly say the name is fitting. A term of endearment for a bunch of lovable weirdos who somehow managed a series of miraculous occurrences after 80+ years of the Curse of the Bambino, the Idiots are surely worth chatting about as they were probably the most unlikely candidates to break the curse that had been in place since the Sox traded ...
May 13, 2015•1 hr 42 min
Oh Trin, you beautiful tropical fish. You’re smart as a whip, and you’re cool under pressure. You cunning, pliable, chestnut-haired sunfish. You poetic, noble land-mermaid. Thank you for joining [read: enabling] me to talk about Parks and Recreation in front of an audience of friends, past guests, and fellow contributors to this incredible live celebration of the first 100 episodes of MBSing. Before a backdrop of an early edition of the Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness graciously provided by Sar...
May 06, 2015•1 hr 52 min
The appropriately named Rachel Farmer lights up and chats with me on the porch about life below the Mason-Dixon Line. After spending most of her life in LA (Lower Alabama) and the past nine years in Chicago, she's recently relocated back to Mobile. We talk about all the ways family, Chik-fil-a, church, and life in general have gotten more complicated since our simpler Southern days and how all of those complications have been invaluable in our lives in Chicago and our friendship. It was a joy. P...
Apr 29, 2015•1 hr 30 min
Grab your Necronomicon and find a well-lit area because it's about to get allllll Lovecraftian on MBSing! Logan is a huge HPL aficionado to the extent that he's written an entire biographical play about him and descended into madness during the process (much like a Lovecraft protagonist!). If that doesn't get you onboard the 'craft, I don't know what will. We chat a ton about his enormous influences in spite of his short life and limited, scattered works mostly made up of short stories written f...
Apr 22, 2015•1 hr 18 min
Trevor Martin is not a prankster. He's too afraid of the consequences. Nor is he someone who messes with strangers on the regular. He's too much of a "prissy boy" afraid of the retribution. But he does love creating small, devious misunderstandings among his friends and family. The kind of things you'd see kicking off a web of hijinks on a sitcom episode. From bounding into sleeping roommates' rooms to announcing he was a father on Facebook as a "Mother's Daypril Fool's Day" prank, Trevor lands ...
Apr 15, 2015•1 hr 33 min
Julie Marchiano is a hoot and a half, and we had a doggone good time talking 'dogs, 'za, and passions in this ep dedicated to Julie's love of encased meats. Julie has an interesting and hilarious relationship with hot dogs where comedy, her personality, and her own health are concerned, but we share that we've learned it's best to just embrace who and what you are, who and what you love, and let everything else fall into place. This episode is so much fun, but I'd venture to guess you'll want a ...
Apr 08, 2015•1 hr 23 min
Jay Sukow came by to drop some firsthand knowledge on the use of improvisation in film. Jay and his production company, Group Mind Films, have made multiple features using [mostly] written scripts in conjunction with excellent improvisers to lead into and out of scenes, find unique, hilarious moments in scenes, and even at times improvise entire exchanges. Major themes include all of the creative and business prep involved in independent filmmaking, knowing when to strike out on your own away fr...
Apr 01, 2015•1 hr 40 min
Even though he's a transplant from the ATL, Charley fell in love with Chicago history somewhere between watching PBS and reading Devil in the White City in the mid aughts. He's been on countless architectural boat tours, taken architectural courses around and about the city for funsies, and was supposed to be a tour guide at some point, but got hired by some Kennedys... so... yeah he worked for Kennedys instead. Thanks to Base Camp for sponsoring this episode and Chicago Podcast Cooperative for ...
Mar 25, 2015•1 hr 32 min
2 friends. 1 mic. An hour and a half in a kitchen to cover all the fun ground of reality competition shows. Chris and I were up to the challenge, and I think we survived this amazing race. Listen to find out how Chris feels he has truly been shaped by reality shows since he started watching them at 13, which show he'd love to be on if he could choose any one with any set of circumstances (and which one I'd throw my name in the hat for), and how we both think we'd respond to the pressure and stra...
Mar 11, 2015•1 hr 36 min
Oh hi Jude! Thanks for coming to do the show about your fascination with Tommy Wiseau's 2003 disaster The Room. This episode is a total blast and explores everything from what makes The Room so awful, how Wiseau may just be living his dream of Hollywood fame, and how much Jude has garnered joy, jokes, and absurdity from going to countless viewings of the film. Thanks to Field Notes for sponsoring this episode and Chicago Podcast Cooperative for facilitating sponsors.
Mar 04, 2015•1 hr 30 min
Josiah Jenkins is a FOR REAL lawyer while simultaneously being an improviser! And he came to talk some for real law talk with me. It makes me anxious to think about having to take such a definitive stance on things that don't have clear sides, so that coupled with the amount of time cases can take make me not envy the position Josiah enjoys and thrives in. Josiah specifically works in employment law (discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, etc.), and it's totally fascinating to hear ab...
Feb 25, 2015•1 hr 25 min
Shawn Boyle is a proud father of a two-year-old son, and this encapsulates pretty well his experience thus far. From coming around to wanting to have children at all to being with his wife during childbirth to watching his son experience eating a cookie for the first time, Shawn has a lot to share from his firsthand love of parenting. He's also a film lover and filmmaker, so we have a good time talking about how that has factored in thus far, too. Check him out @shawnpboyle, and check out the po...
Feb 18, 2015•1 hr 43 min
At its heart, this is a podcast about love. So at some point this was bound to happen. Eric Braband is both my significant other and a huge fan of a little Maine-based band called Rustic Overtones. I got to learn about a band he loves and the larger effect that discovery had on his search for the things he loves in music, movies, and other aspects of culture, and I suppose you all will get a window into our relationship. FUNNNNN. We do a lot of bits from other podcasts we like, I share the birth...
Feb 11, 2015•1 hr 38 min
The host with the most coasts as MBS hosts and boasts! Kate tells me all about some of her favorite aspects of hosting people at her place. She can cook. She secretly cleans. She can kind of bake. She doesn't need a fucking Pinterest for creative ideas. From her Kentucky roots of watching as her grandmother expertly fried chicken for family and friends to her Chicago days of serving a Thanksgiving meal to 32 people, Kate knows how to navigate all the aspects of having people over as guests. She ...
Feb 04, 2015•1 hr 23 min
Grab a stool and get ready to slap your knee: Tyler Langford is in the house (with his own banjo!) to weave some tales and tunes about his love of bluegrass, banjo, ragtime, etc. Mountain music! Man this is fun. Tyler tells me about his first band (he's a founding member of UCB!), demonstrates a few different ways to play the banjo (clawhammer being his method of choice), and has lots and lots of favorite artists to share insight on. It's easy to see how Tyler's love of the music and culture sur...
Jan 28, 2015•1 hr 22 min
Paul could probably start a country music career of his own inspired by tales of various and sundry "rooms" and roommates from his five years spent in Eugene, Oregon, before landing back in his home state of Illinois. He prefers telling the stories through the lens of Garth Brooks songs, and we have a wonderful time singing the megastar's classic lyrics in between Paul's memories of living with bandmates, rats, and the cougar-esque manager of the coffee shop he worked at (look into the song That...
Jan 21, 2015•1 hr 32 min
Dear friend and bibliophile Chris Crotwell sat down with me to chat freely and at any volume we chose about his home away from home, libraries. Chris happens to be a librarian with a Master's of Library Science, so he's not just a card-carrying member. He has a ton of first-hand library experience from the other side of the circ desk, and he is even a part of a new teen program being instated at public libraries all over Chicago. We focus a lot on Chris's belief that library workers must functio...
Jan 14, 2015•1 hr 36 min
Have some relaxing #chilltime with Mike and I as he tells me all about his deep love of the enigma that chillin' can be. It can't always be planned. It doesn't always have to be alone. It's best done with one wall of the room being replaced by a giant aquarium. Mike loves chillin' to find creative inspiration and also to unwind after a long day at work. Mike and I have chilled before and even chill during the whole podcast after experiencing two #chilltime miracles before recording. This is a ve...
Jan 07, 2015•1 hr 18 min
Becca Slack settled on chatting with me about the 'burbs after she realized the nexus of a lot of her interests (going to the mall, chain restaurants, etc) was living most of her life in towns just outside NYC and Denver. She loves the big city life of Chicago, but she also fondly and nostalgically looks back on simpler, suburb living. We chat about trying to fit in and be cool, sincerely vs. ironically enjoying seemingly crappy suburb perks, the cyclical nature of parents and their kids, the Gr...
Dec 31, 2014•1 hr 34 min
Twas the night before Christmas/ And all through the ‘net, MBS posts a podcast: She didn’t forget. Kyle Talley came over/ With his luscious beard hairs. His love of St. Nicholas/ Soon will be shared. When your family is nestled/ All snug in their beds, Tune into this episode/ With earbuds in your head. While Kyle’s a believer/ And I’m a skeptic, We both laughed and cried/ As he spoke of St. Nick. From foreign traditions/ To movie portrayals, Kyle’s wealth of Santa knowledge/ Has zero betrayals. ...
Dec 24, 2014•1 hr 44 min
Two roads diverged in a wood, and Steve Nelson chose the one that led to us having an awesome conversation about his love of reading, listening to, and writing poetry. We discuss the way his love of the art form kind of snuck up on him in the sense that he was intrigued by his early experiences of poems popping up in unexpected places and enjoyed writing poems for school assignments, but it took starting a blog a few years ago and challenging himself to write and read more poetry to fully develo...
Dec 18, 2014•1 hr 48 min
Danny Groh is about to PowerSlam his journey from being a misbegotten salesman in Wisconsin to leaving the Chicago improv community behind for the creative allures of The Big Apple RIGHT into your earholes. He's warm, enthusiastic, and an absolute powerhouse on stage and as an MBSing guest, and I'm excited to share this man's experience in the community I'm a part of with the listeners. Danny achieved an MBSing first of telling MULTIPLE stories that made me openly cry. The man can tell a story, ...
Dec 10, 2014•2 hr 5 min
Mike Lara was hard-hitting as we discussed his days as a high school football player and his continued fandom of the Denver Broncos. We cover the highs and lows of making it to things like Super Bowls and state championships only to have the posibility of your hopes being crushed even if you worked hard to get there. Mike is warm and "dopey" and had to learn how to be mean on the field. It's not the mean stuff he took away from being a football player, though. It was the work ethic, and I love t...
Dec 03, 2014•1 hr 42 min
Mantas! You want the moon, Mantas? I can't give you the moon, Mantas, but I can give you the opportunity to chat with me about your favorite actor, James "Jimmy" Stewart. Everyman. Classic talent. Inspiration!Mantas can remember wanting to be like JImmy Stewart from when he was a young boy watching It's a Wonderful Life, and his interest in him as an actor has only grown since then. From Hitchcock to Harvey, Mantas loves his earnest and ability to make the even craziest characters seem believabl...
Nov 26, 2014•2 hr
