Tricia takes a break from cohosting her own inordinately entertaining podcast Nerdette to talk long form about a topic that gets inevitably philosophical. She has adored the idea of exploring time travel since she noticed it popping up in her favorite things to consume (Doctor Who, Harry Potter, etc). We talk some of her new favorite examples (she knows other people are watching Travelers) and spend a lot of time discussing why we as creators and consumers have become even more interested in exp...
Mar 15, 2017•1 hr 4 min
In. Out. Repeat. while listening to this great conversation with Nico Carter, the host encourages you to center yourself, breathe, and soft focus on what's around you. Nico starts by elaborating on the lung issues that befell him to make him more aware of his own breath in the first place, then takes MBS on a journey through the awareness that breath has given him in improv (musically, comedically, and where acting and writing are concerned) and day to day life. From Eckhart Tolle to Thích Nhất ...
Mar 08, 2017•1 hr 2 min
John and Asher are close friends who write and perform together a lot, so they naturally have to make a lot of decisions together. We unpack the possible topics they both brought to the table and discover a lot of them are related to the subject (the Mandela Effect, heuristics), we dig into the way our personalities (as determined by ourselves and some personality tests we discuss) and thought processes affect the decisions we make, and we get into how an obsession with decision-making can make ...
Mar 01, 2017•1 hr 45 min
Luis put in his years as a Universal Studios tour guide so that you, the listener, could be regaled with tales ranging from giving a VIP tour to a certain CA Governator to the ridiculous costume his union rep was wearing when he was let go from the job (dude had to go back to Duloc after the meeting). From Courthouse Square (downtown Hill Valley in Back to the Future) to Colonial Street (Wisteria Lane in Desperate Housewives), Luis knows the ins and outs of the lot so well it often distracts him...
Feb 22, 2017•1 hr 29 min
Musical comedy duo The Doubleclicks remote in to chat with MBS about their favorite duos - from Fozzie and Kermit to R2-D2 and C-3PO, the ladies covered tons of kid-focused partners and compared and contrasted themselves along the way. As sisters Angela and Aubrey have a built-in partnership and reference base, and as artists they enjoy having music to explore their relationship to the world around them. Aubrey brings the heat with lots of love for Steven Universe and all of its pairs and partne...
Feb 15, 2017•1 hr 20 min
The tables turn in a special ep featuring past guest (and significant other) Eric "EMB" Braband interviewing MBS about her love of wolves. That's what wuves means. The interest mostly stems from reading and pet choices made as a kid, was cultivated via gifts and articles from family members over the years, and was reinvigorated thanks to an amazingly thoughtful gift from the guest host last year. MBS compares herself to wuves as a fellow feast or famine eater, Eric says she's loyal, and they bot...
Feb 08, 2017•1 hr 24 min
After growing up in the area as a fan of Pryor & Cosby, Bill Bullock has now spent many years in the Chicago comedy community and thinks a ton about finding one's way through it. From being asked if he wanted to go up for the first time at Cole's open mic by then-host Cameron Esposito because he'd been showing up week after week without actually going on stage to booking an agent after a recent appearance at the Laugh Factory, Bill has had many ups and downs while usually balancing a job or ...
Feb 01, 2017•1 hr 35 min
Aisha knows what she likes, and what she likes is a good crime show. She wants there to be a self-contained story arc of whodunit, who found em, and what their fate is, and she'll check out pretty much anything your auntie watches on TV as a result. Law and Order (Original Recipe), Criminal Minds, NCIS, and even the new Elementary (which she marks as a better actual procedural than Sherlock in spite of her deep love of Benedict Cumberbatch) all make her watch list, and it's a blast to hear her b...
Jan 25, 2017•1 hr 42 min
Laura-Ann Jacobs knows her way around an AYCE joint better than anyone I've ever met. She not a monster, she just appreciates a challenge. If she's not eating double to triple the value of the cost of the buffet, then why did she pay for it? We mostly cover the art of the Chinese buffet, but there are also thoughts on AYCE sushi restaurants, a nice Indian buffet, and maximizing your sample eating at Costco. Laugh, take notes, and PLEASE send recommendations for your favorite AYCE joints all over...
Jan 18, 2017•1 hr 19 min
Being born in Canada and moving to the San Jose area around when the Sharks franchise was started there solidified Fin Coe's interest in hockey. All it took was a former high school sweetheart to bring him back to NHL fandom in college and some intrepid hockey-playing beginners in Chicago to keep his passion alive and spread it into actually playing recreationally himself. There's talk of some of his favorite players (like Arturs Irbe.... hockey has all the best names), how the league is shiftin...
Jan 11, 2017•1 hr 20 min
Alison Banowsky loves a nice, soft pretzel with some nasty fake cheese more than most things in the world, and she doesn't care if you think that's gross because that's who she is. We get into how this started (being a mall rat) and how it continues (the frozen food section at Walgreens) and the nice, fancy beer cheeses that Alison ignores in favor of the kind of cheese you'd inject into a pretzel. Stick around for a fun romp into dream interpretation wherein Alison reads an actual dream descrip...
Jan 04, 2017•1 hr 15 min
If you thought the recent conversation MBS had with Abraham Lincoln about his love of Weezer was too good to be true, wait until you get a load of past presidents William Howard Taft and Andrew No-Middle-Name Jackson chatting about the beloved teen party romp, Can't Hardly Wait. AJ counts down his top 5 baseball movies, Taft pines for Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Abe crashes the party before past guest of the show Tim Dunn shows up pretty upset that MBS "stole" his guests again. Boy do these prezes...
Dec 28, 2016•34 min
Ho ho ho? Uh, try no no no! Nerdologues co-founder Kevin Reader finally came on the show to chat about his favorite athlete. From being a nerdy kid in jr high who got into basketball because it's what his friends were into (and because he grew up in IL in the 90s) to playing pickup basketball with Deron Williams in college, Kevman found an idol in Mutombo when he got his story and stats in a physical, chapter-a-month encyclopedia mailing. Can't deny a guy who didn't start playing basketball unti...
Dec 21, 2016•1 hr 14 min
Lifelong fan of the classics and passionate supporter of the continued seasons, Chris Rathjen is a Whovian of epic proportions. From watching black and white episodes on Iowa public television every Friday night ad infinitum to appreciating newfound BBC production quality and emotional nuance, Chris loves the humanity behind the otherworldliness of the show and has never missed an episode (to the point of enjoying ones that have recently been reconstructed from found audio and newly-produced ani...
Dec 14, 2016•1 hr 41 min
Filmspotting cohost Adam Kempenaar takes a break from film reviews to chime in on the hit musical Hamilton and why he feels it has moved him so much since he saw it on Broadway in February (and subsequently in Chicago in October). While there is plenty of time spent on how Lin-Manuel Miranda's artistic feat shines from Burr's opening number to Eliza's closer, there's also exploration of the magic and singular nature of live theatre that has been reinvigorated for Adam this year. In his mind, Ham...
Dec 07, 2016•1 hr 28 min
From Puttin' on the Ritz to a shitload of dimes, Will Biby has loved all things Mell Brooks since he caught Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles as a young man thanks to the gentle prodding of his father. Since then, Will has dug into the deeper cuts of Mel's career and went so far as to host a staged reading of Mel's first film and one of his personal favorites, The Producers, to celebrate his own 30th birthday. Will and MBS attempt to discuss some modern comedy that has Brooks's influence al...
Nov 30, 2016•1 hr 39 min
[Recorded live as part of the first annual Chicago Podcast Festival] Noted actor-improviser David Pasquesi fell deeply in love with living in Italy when he spent a year "studying" there as a college student (by slowly convincing his parents he was considering joining the priesthood so they'd let him stay). From the general demeanor of its residents to its remarkable food to its storied, centuries-long history, Dave cannot separate himself from the nation of his ancestors. The country and his tim...
Nov 23, 2016•32 min
Nnamdi is a man after MBS's own heart: he's a movie crier. He unpacks the highbrow and lowbrow films that have inspired and moved him throughout his life. From Forrest Gump to Creed, Nnamdi has always emotionally responded to incredible storytelling via filmmaking, acting, and character work and strives to do the same in his own life as a performer. Herein lies Oscar talk, actor-director pairings, and Masters of the Universe for some reason. Also, from the bottom of both of our cinephilic hearts...
Nov 16, 2016•1 hr 22 min
Regular listeners may remember Bill's first MBSing appearance right after Election Day 2014. At the time he worked with United Way and Get Covered Illinois. He returns to unpack Election Day 2016 as a first year law student driven by the desire to affect policy. This conversation was recorded about six hours after the presidential race was called. It is raw, biased, and comes from a place of privilege. Thanks to Field Notes Brand for supporting this show and giving me a place to write down my ho...
Nov 09, 2016•1 hr 52 min
Volunteering has been so integral for Emily's life that she didn't realize it was the perfect topic for her to chat about. From the Appalachia Service Project to The Ronald McDonald House, Emily has found causes she can contribute her time and energy to that make people's lives tangibly better. The real story here is about her time with REALITY Theatre, a local group that used the actual experiences of young people to reach school audiences on topic like substance use and bullying. Starting as a...
Nov 02, 2016•1 hr 51 min
WOW what an exciting episode! Past guest of the show Timothy Dunn recently took a trip to Springfield, IL, and Abraham Lincoln appeared before him and said he’s returned to earth to guide the American people through this election. Tim convinced him to do a podcast for 15 minutes every week to discuss current events. President Lincoln reached out to MBS personally (!!!) to take a break from discussing the 2016 election to talk about his new favorite band, Weezer, on MBSing. But don't worry, for s...
Oct 26, 2016•27 min
Jack Felker has been a fan of Kanye before Kanye was Kanye thanks to her brother playing Through the Wire for her before College Dropout dropped and became a became a musical phenomenon. Through thick and thin (except maybe his defending Cosby), Jack has stood by his musical brilliance, his resulting ego, and his marriage ("I felt an overwhelming sense of calm when I found out they were together"). She believes that to be a true fan of his, one has to accept everything that is his persona. To Ja...
Oct 19, 2016•1 hr 27 min
While we focus mainly on the politics of the time (and of ours), this conversation with Cody certainly reveals in him a broad, deep-seeded love of this time in our nation's history and a ton of insight on how it got us where we are as a nation. Cody just got back from some touring through the colonial states, so be prepared for more delightful Marquis de Lafayette stories than you can shake a musket at. There's also plenty of chatting about how we would fix the current political landscape (becau...
Oct 12, 2016•1 hr 48 min
Mike Jimerson is set on how much he loves the drums. From the driving forces of bands like Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and The Jimmy Hendrix Experience to Jazz drummers like Jack DeJohnette, Tony Williams, and Buddy Rich, Mike loves what different drum sounds and skills bring to the music as a whole. He plays a bit and can even elaborate on the five-way independence training it takes to be really good, but mostly he fixates on watching and appreciating the best of the best. Get tickets for my upc...
Oct 05, 2016•1 hr 40 min
From Toy Story to Finding Dory and everything in between, Nick Mestad has been a die hard Pixar fun since he was eight. He can rattle off the films, their directors, and other fun facts no problem, but the real joy of this conversation is how invested Nick has been as a fan and an aspiring creator all along. Pixar's fascination with effective storytelling has been a huge driving force in Nick's personal life and creative endeavors. Join us as we celebrate how Pixar has perfected making unique, b...
Sep 28, 2016•1 hr 49 min
Grab a hose and take some sweet sips of the shisha my friends because Chrissi is here to school us all on what goes into a good hookah session. From coals to bowls to holes in the aluminum foil, there's a TON of ways to affect the taste and quality of smoking a hookah that Chrissi navigates every day as a server at a hookah bar. We also get some insight into the culture surrounding hookah (www.reddit.com/r/hookah), the art of mixing tobacco flavors, and a general commentary on how the average cu...
Sep 21, 2016•1 hr 26 min
Ever since he realized how small cars made the world, Bill Stern has been obsessed with these sweet methods of transpo. Whether it was cautiously attending street races back in Texas or working on a project car that met a tragic end, Bill explores the world of automobiles with an interest that isn't always met by his peers. By the end we're comparing cars to everything from dating to Beanie Babies and exploring how the Fast and the Furious franchise took the car world by storm (kind of). Thanks ...
Sep 14, 2016•1 hr 53 min
Casey has always been a strong woman and a passionate performer, but a series of unfortunate events last year including one night of multiple break-ins and a long legal journey that resulted have made her rethink her own feminism. Hence: Feminism: REBORN. She's now turbo-charged and "feminist as fuck," and she has been writing, directing, and performing pieces and projects with women's issues at the forefront ever since. She even got a student note after her recent entry into teaching a writing ...
Sep 07, 2016•1 hr 15 min
Kate Nash, Adele, Robyn, Tori Kelly, Hayley Williams... if you're a white lady with solid pipes and a story to tell, Shantira is probably going to invite you in to help her feel. As a woman whose "heart is like the ocean" and performances must have an array of experiences to reflect on, Shantira loves to be in touch with a wide range of emotions even though she's never had her ocean of a heart broken. Having a good cry to some powerful lady lyrics is one of her favorite ways to feel. After all, ...
Aug 31, 2016•1 hr 34 min
From tap dancing to the My Little Pony Theme Song to biking from Zipcar lot to Zipcar lot all over Chicago, Hannah has always enjoyed being an active person. She had a carefree journey through youth sports and became a dang triathlete while she was in college. For her, it's about mind-clearing and feeling good, which she carries into her life as a performer (with a dream goal of having a gym/comedy venue all in one). What a great convo to throw on during a jog, riiiiight?! Fitness Blender Hannah...
Aug 24, 2016•1 hr 21 min
