Amuzed: A Podcast for Geniuses

Max Temkin is a game designer and incredibly busy person whose creations include Cards Against Humanity, Secret Hitler, and now the Chicago Board Game Cafe. He sits down with Michael and Pat to talk about entering the restaurant industry for the first time and all the terrible lessons he’s learned from the experience.

This podcast was brought to you by the best PR team in the business, Melissa Harris and Jane Hirt.

Show notes:

• Michael Muser on Instagram
• Chicago Board Game Cafe
• Max Temkin on Twitter

Shad Kunkle has hustled through over a decade in comedy, and has an inside look at what "making it" in entertainment really means. The actor and Second City performer brings in some real talk about money in comedy, as well as stories of Muser's own acting past.

This podcast was brought to you by the best PR team in the business, Melissa Harris and Jane Hirt.

Show notes:

• Michael Muser on Instagram
• Shad Kunkle's Website
• Shad Kunkle on Twitter

Joey Cranford has lived many lives: as the founder of the Chicago Magic Lounge, a film actor, a comedian… and a parole officer? Muser and Pat talk to Joey about the twist and turns of his life, and learn how Muser partially inspired the Chicago Magic Lounge.

This podcast was brought to you by the best PR team in the business, Melissa Harris and Jane Hirt.

Show notes:

• Michael Muser on Instagram
• The Chicago Magic Lounge
• The Chicago Magic Lounge on Instagram

Carrie and Michael Nahabedian ran the Michelin-starred restaurant NAHA for 18 years before closing the original location in 2018. Now busy with their new restaurant Kostali, they stop by to swap stories about the ups and downs of the restaurant business and celebrity patrons.

This podcast was brought to you by the best PR team in the business, Melissa Harris and Jane Hirt.

Show notes:

• Michael Muser on Instagram
• Kostali by NAHA

Lucian Bogdan lives every day with kindness, thoughtfulness, and empathy. He's a vegan and can carry more plates at once than you think is humanly possible.

From growing up in communist Romania, to leaving for the United States at 23, to overcoming intense negative habits, Lucian has worked tirelessly every day to build the best life for himself and the people around him. Muser and Pat talk to him about his life's journey so far and the lessons they've learned from adventuring around the world together on motorcycles.

This podcast was brought to you by the best PR team in the business, Melissa Harris and Jane Hirt.

Show notes:

• Michael Muser on Instagram

Chef Thai Dang celebrates his home country of Vietnam with the brilliant food at HaiSous, the Chicago restaurant he runs with his wife, Danielle. 

But before HaiSous, there was a lifetime of starting over and over again. From immigrating to the United States as a child to being kicked out of his own restaurant, he's learned how to roll with his world being turned upside down... and seen some people who tried to knock him down face the consequences.

This podcast was brought to you by the best PR team in the business, Melissa Harris and Jane Hirt.

Show notes:

• HaiSous
• Thai Dang on Instagram
• Michael Muser on Instagram

Phillip Foss is the chef and owner of EL Ideas in Chicago’s Douglas Park neighborhood. EL Ideas received its first Michelin-star in 2013 and received three stars from the Chicago Tribune.

Foss may be living the chef's dream with his own restaurant, but he experienced his fair share of screw-ups along the way. From crashing & burning as a teenager to getting fired as an adult from a social media post, Foss has been through it all and then literally wrote the book on it.

Muser and Pat dive into his wild path to success and what drove Foss to not only become the owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant, but the author of a graphic novel memoir.

This podcast was brought to you by the best PR team in the business, Melissa Harris and Jane Hirt.

Show notes:

• EL Ideas
• Life in EL
• Phillip Foss on Twitter
• Michael Muser on Instagram