On this week's episode, comedian, author and actor Jim Gaffigan plays the moon from Goodnight Moon, rap artist Busdriver tells us about the first time he met LL Cool J, and we hear a Pop Song Correspondence from Simon and Garfunkel's put-upon friends Alan and Doug.
On this week’s show, comedian, actor, and author John Hodgman talks about growing up as an only child and embodying every subgenre of nerd at the same time. Also, rapper, writer, and director Jean Grae tells us what it’s like to punch a superhero, and Britney Spears is finally sued for medical malpractice.
On this week's episode, comedian and movie director Bobcat Goldthwait talks Bigfoot, singer/songwriter Matt Nathanson explains his love for KISS, and the feud between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd takes an unexpected turn in Pop Song Correspondences.
This week's show was recorded in Los Angeles as part of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Festival After Dark. Hear comedian and actor Paul F. Tompkins read one-star reviews from Amazon.com and comedian and actor Margaret Cho talk about how her experience All American Girl has shaped her career. We also have music from punk rockers Superchunk and Will Sheff of Okkervil River. Plus, the game McConaughey or Confucius wherein guests listen to a quote and guess who said it.
On this week's show, comedian and actor Kristen Schaal is a mom with a powerful fanny pack, and we finally find out the name of America's horse in the desert. Plus, music from the Portland-based band Typhoon and the story of the magic shark who named them.
This week's show features comedian, actor, author, TV host and podcaster Aisha Tyler and Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright III. Plus, an alien slumber party, Tom Waits meditation tapes and a Pop Song Correspondence from Radiohead's therapist.
On this week's episode of Wits, comedian Paul F. Tompkins performs one-star reviews of classic literature from Amazon.com and competes against rock band Yo La Tengo in the Wits Game Show. Plus, a cruise ship where anything goes. Anything.
On this week's show, NFL punter/author Chris Kluwe and comedian/author Dave Hill join the Cop Squadron, and Sara Watkins sings songs from her latest album, Sun Midnight Sun. Plus, we hear a Pop Song Correspondence from the Rocknrollsburg civil engineering department to Mayor Grace Slick, and we get a peek at Dr. Valverde's Insect Spa ... not a spa for insects, but a spa filled with insects.
On this week's Wits, actor and comedian David Koechner becomes Dutch, who, with his brother Small Eric, try to help the town they live in with their repair businesses. Plus, a Pop Song Correspondence to Lady Gaga from Lord Gaga of Gaga Manor, and Charlie Brown and Snoopy finally have a heart-to-heart. And, Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw of Metric perform a stunning stripped-down set of songs, including a pair of Lou Reed covers.
On this week’s Wits, Comedy Bang! Bang!’s Scott Aukerman is Glenn Frey of The Eagles, comedian Eugene Mirman from Bob’s Burgers is an astronaut looking for space babes, and singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards plays music that rocks your soul and breaks your heart.
This week’s episode comes to you from San Francisco’s Sketchfest comedy festival. Hear comedian Paul F. Tompkins as Ice-T in an episode of Cop Squadron: Spoiler Alert Unit and actor Paget Brewster on Eleanor Roosevelt's exercise cassettes. Plus, comedian Eugene Mirman shows us how wreck a party, Loudon Wainwright III fantasizes about Bill and Hillary Clinton making out to one of his songs, and songstress Nellie McKay performs music that is both timely and timeless.
You built this week's show. You told us your favorite sketches, songs and segments from the archives of Wits, and we whomped up this episode, featuring Brandi Carlile and Maria Bamford squaring off in the Wits Game Show, a seriously demented hamster, a Pop Song Correspondence to Carly Rae Jepsen, a scene from the slightly off-kilter world of Don Draper, and songs from Jason Isbell and Aimee Mann. Thank you for loving this show!
It's the first show of our fall season with comedian Dave Foley, much beloved for his work on the sketch comedy favorite The Kids in the Hall and his starring role in the long-running NBC comedy series NewsRadio, and musical guest Mike Doughty: Singer. Songwriter. Guitar player. Poet. Author. Playwright. Photographer. Most Improved Camper, West Point Youth Camp, 1982.
In this week's episode of Wits, actor Colin Hanks becomes Doug Bagelson, a man offering his services as a professional friend. Also, Jason Isbell plays songs from his latest album "Southeastern" and performs one of the most stunning covers of "Pancho and Lefty" ever. Plus, a resignation letter from a member of the band Lynryd Skynyrd in this week's Pop Song Correspondences.
On this week's show, our Pop Song Correspondences features a customer befuddled by the process of buying a Little Red Corvette from a used car salesman named Prince. Plus, comedian Rob Delaney as a customer service representative from Kleiner Appliance who knows the truth about angels lodged inside household appliances, and Neko Case and Kelly Hogan prove they're more than amazing singer/songwriters – they've got strong comedic chops, too.
On this week's episode, W. Kamau Bell talks with host John Moe about comedy and race, songwriter Brendan Benson, of The Raconteurs, does his best Prince impression, and Charlie Brown's world gets rocked from a conversation with Franklin.
Folks, this show has it all. Listen up, and you will laugh. Hard. You will cry -- unless your heart is a blackened lump of coal, in which case you will at minimum have strong emotional stirrings. Snoopy might die. Or not. Martha Wainwright sings, Julia Sweeney tells stories. So sit back and enjoy this week's episode of Wits.
This week's show features Bobcat Goldthwait, just named Esquire Magazine's Director of the Year for his movie God Bless America, a movie he discussed with host John Moe. We also hear Bobcat make his pitch to become public radio's morning shock jock, and we hear from an exasperated contractor working on Robert Plant's stairway to heaven. Plus, music from singer/songwriter Steven Page, formerly of the award-winning Barenaked Ladies and Dave Pirner of local mainstay Soul Asylum.
This week's show features comedy icon Fred Willard from Best in Show and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy with Grammy-award winning songwriter and producer Dan Wilson, and a Commercial Showdown Throwdown game show with an unforgettable jingle for gravy missiles.
In this episode of Wits, top touring comedian Maria Bamford transforms into a mermaid obsessed with the Showtime series Homeland, host John Moe becomes a guy at the bottom of the well, dying from Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," and Brandi Carlile blows us all away with the sheer power of her voice and her solid comedic chops.
In this week's show, comedian and actor Patton Oswalt and host John Moe are John Oates and Daryl Hall: Animal Control Officers in our "Maneater" Pop Song Correspondence. Singer-songwriter Ben Lee squares off with Patton in our Wits Game Show, and we've got another Charlie Brown story; in this latest installment, featuring John Moe, Patton Oswalt and actress Ione Skye, Linus quits his blanket cold turkey and has a spiritual epiphany.
This week, comedian, actor and author Michael Ian Black joins Cop Squadron, indie-pop powerhouse singer/songwriter A.C. Newman writes a very catchy theme song for the canceled show "Mr. Nebulous," and we hear where babies really come from. Really.
On this week's episode, comedian Tig Notaro goes up against singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards in our Wits game show, Bruce Springsteen warns about what happens when you blow up the Chickenman's house, and we get updates from our favorite publications, like Older Brother Magazine and Tiger Beat for Seniors.
As a regular panelist on Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me!, comedian Paula Poundstone is perfectly positioned to compete on this week’s Wits Game Show: The Game Show Game Show. Paula explains the rules of fictitious games while one of the godfathers of alternative rock, Robyn Hitchcock, creates the pretend game show’s theme songs. Robyn also plays songs from his latest album, Love from London, and we hear an urgent plea from the big coat in the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hit, "Thrift Shop."
In this episode of Wits, punk rock icon Henry Rollins tells us why he wants to be in a constant state of agitation, Lissie bewitches us all with her songs, and the two compete in our Wits game show.
On this week's Wits, a look inside the brains of some of our favorite funny authors. We join writers Patton Oswalt, John Hodgman, Neil Gaiman and Julia Sweeney for discussions of grandmothers, Beatles, wine, sex, and Dungeons and Dragons. Plus, music from singer-songwriter-authors (yep, double hyphenates) Josh Ritter and John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.
This week on Wits, we visit with comedian, actor and longtime comedy partner of Conan O'Brien, Andy Richter, as well as internationally renowned vocalist/beatboxer/comic Reggie Watts. Check out the next big hit TV show Mummytown, hear letters from the Civil War soldiers long forgotten - the animal regiments, and learn why Elton John gets fired by NASA in our Pop Song Correspondence.
This week, Tim Meadows, one of the longest-running cast members in Saturday Night Live history goes up against singer/songwriter and Old 97's front man Rhett Miller in our Wits game show, Funnier and Poignanter. Who will win? It's a nail-biter. You'll also be able to hear Rhett's powerful hip-swivel on all the rocky-roll songs he plays, and you'll get a letter from Axl Rose's editor in this week's Pop Song Correspondences.
This week's show features best-selling author and actor Amy Sedaris along with Grammy award-winning They Might Be Giants. We hear what went on behind the scenes when the founding fathers were writing the Declaration of Independence, we hear from the schoolmaster at the school referenced in Pink Floyd's The Wall, and we get a little insight about what would happen if Winnie the Pooh took an office job.
A special studio version of Wits this time around, an intimate setting, a show NOT available to radio listeners. We visit with comedian James Adomian about his eclectic choice of impressions, particularly former pro wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura. Also, a chat with Grant Lee Phillips, a Wits alumnus, about the new music he's been making.
