Chris Garcia finds solace and comedy in new WNYC project “Death Sex and Money”

WNYC Studios is prepping a new project hosted by comedian Chris Grace called Death Sex & Money, and they’d love your input on it. “This project is a work in progress—but we’re sharing it with you now because WNYC Studios wants  your feedback as we explore new shows and new ideas. So after you listen, […]

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Episode #219: Zainab Johnson

Zainab Johnson had other plans for her life, perhaps professional basketball or teaching, before a tragic accident changed her life and her worldview. Johnson tells me how she absorbed the lessons of the comedians she hung out with before jumping into comedy herself. So far, so good. After being named a New Face at Montreal’s […]

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Episode #218: Rafinha Bastos

In 2011, Rafinha Bastos was named the most influential person on Twitter. Not then-President Barack Obama. Not the Pope. Brazilian comedian and TV personality Rafinha Bastos. Bastos has upward of 12 million Twitter followers now. He sat down with me during Montreal’s Just For Laughs festival to talk about how his dreams shifted from journalism […]

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Episode #217: Paul Mecurio

Paul Mecurio is seen every night by audiences of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, as he warms them up before the CBS cameras turn on for taping. Mecurio graduated from law school and started out on Wall Street, though, before ever discovering his passions for comedy and getting a big break by selling a joke to Jay Leno. Mecurio has […]

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Getting the facts from Go Fact Yourself host J. Keith Van Straaten

J. Keith Van Straaten, host of the live game show and podcast for Maximum Fun, Go Fact Yourself, met up with me earlier this summer while scouting locations for taking his game show on the road to New York City. Live shows of Go Fact Yourself are happening this weekend (July 21-22) at Caveat, with […]

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Getting the facts from Go Fact Yourself host J. Keith Van Straaten

J. Keith Van Straaten, host of the live game show and podcast for Maximum Fun, Go Fact Yourself, met up with me earlier this summer while scouting locations for taking his game show on the road to New York City. Live shows of Go Fact Yourself are happening this weekend (July 21-22) at Caveat, with […]

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“Hi Bob!” Bob Newhart releases new podcast exclusively on Audible

Bob Newhart won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1961 for his stand-up comedy, which featured Newhart’s hilarious one-sided phone conversations. Now, 57 years later, Newhart has a new audio series of conversations, this time with his famous funny friends. HI BOB! has launched exclusively on Audible at Audible.com/HiBob. Listeners will hear one-on-one conversations with Sarah Silverman, Will […]

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Episode #215: Clusterfest 2018 with Jeff Ross, Matt Broussard and the art of roasting

This is a special edition of Last Things First, recorded live during Clusterfest 2018 in San Francisco. Comedy Central was kind enough to ask me to host a series of Clusterfest panels for the media that they called fireside chats. In this session, I welcomed the Roastmaster himself, Jeff Ross, and two-time Roast Battle runner-up […]

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Episode #214: Sam Grittner

Sam Grittner is one of the best comedians on Twitter. Don’t take my word for it? OK, then how about Rolling Stone, The Huffington Post and famous comedians such as “Weird” Al Yankovic, who are among the tens of thousands who follow him and have put him on best of lists in four of the […]

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Episode #213: Paula Poundstone

Paula Poundstone started her comedy career in Boston in the late 1970s before taking her act and her life on the road to San Francisco. Poundstone broke through in a big way in 1984 when Robin Williams asked her to perform stand-up on the episode he guest hosted of Saturday Night Live. She would go […]

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