Episode #275: Jim and Jeannie Gaffigan

Jim and Jeannie Gaffigan have survived and thrived in ways they couldn’t have imagined when they pulled the plug on their TV Land series in the summer of 2016. Within months, Jeannie was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor, and the couple, wh…

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Episode #274: Evan Shapiro

Evan Shapiro had run cable TV stations IFC, Sundance Channel, and Pivot before he launched Seeso, a streaming comedy service owned by Comcast and NBCUniversal in 2016. Shapiro went independent for a couple of years after that, but in May 2019, he took …

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National Lampoon Radio Hour relaunching as podcast led by Cole Escola, Jo Firestone

The National Lampoon Radio Hour, whose initial run in 1973-74 included writing and performances from the likes of John Belushi, Christopher Guest, Anne Beatts, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and more, is coming back as a podcast. …

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Episode #273: Quinta Brunson

Quinta Brunson took classes at The Second City in Chicago and Los Angeles and was performing with iOWest when she first found success not onstage but online, thanks to a 2013 Tumblr video, followed by a series of shorts she made for Instagram known as …

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Wild oversharing comic Phoebe Robinson: ‘I do dumb things. That’s who I am!’

Is the fringe ready for the brash standup who used to get paid in nachos and chicken wings? We meet one half of 2 Dope Queens as she fills her shoes with sweatWhat does Phoebe Robinson want to see when she arrives at the Edinburgh fringe? “Just tons of…

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Episode #272: Julio Torres

Julio Torres described himself as a Space Prince before casting himself as a Chocolate Prince in the surreal bilingual TV series, Los Espookys, which he co-created, co-wrote and co-stars in for HBO. Originally from El Salvador, Torres first moved to Ne…

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Episode #271: Jacqueline Novak

After performing a half-hour stand-up special on Comedy Central and writing a book on depression (How to Weep in Public: Feeble Offerings on Depression from One Who Knows), what came next for comedian Jacqueline Novak would bring her to her knees. So t…

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Episode #270: Brent Weinbach

Brent Weinbach is an innovative and weird stand-up comedian, befitting of someone who won the Andy Kaufman Award in 2007. Since then, he has masterminded hit YouTube videos such as “Gangster Party Line,” “Man Gives Birth” and “Ultimate Drumming Techniq…

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Episode #269: Marina Franklin

Marina Franklin is a Chicago native who has called Harlem home long enough to see her New York City neighborhood gentrify around her. She also has traveled the world as a comedian, performing in festivals from Melbourne to Montreal, from Kilkenny to Bo…

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Episode #268: Catherine Cohen

With degrees in English and Theater, Catherine Cohen not only graduated from Princeton University but also delivered a humorous speech at her own graduation. Five years later, Cohen became one of New York City’s newest It Girls, bringing the cabaret co…

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