Dead Pilots Society

Episode 209: Michael Colton and John Aboud Interview

As we continue to celebrate ten years of Dead Pilots Society, we bring you this month’s after show with Michael Colton and John Aboud, writers of Weekly World News, which was featured on last week’s episode.

The two longtime collaborators take a look back at their path from journalism to founding the early-internet comedy magazine Modern Humorist, becoming VH1 talking heads on Best Week Ever and I Love the ’80s, and eventually building a career writing for television and film.

Colton and Aboud talk about their work on Penguins of Madagascar, their time working in animation, Home Economics, and the many pilots and projects that never made it to the screen. They also discuss the mysterious death of National Lampoon creator Doug Kenney, and how it became the inspiration for A Futile and Stupid Gesture, a film the two co-wrote and produced, starring Will Forte and directed by David Wain

The conversation digs into what drew them to the bizarre world of Weekly World News, how they approached turning the tabloid into a TV workplace comedy, and the advantages of combining familiar genres in unexpected ways.

Dead Pilots Society Comes to Brooklyn!

Tickets are now on sale for the first-ever Dead Pilots Society live show in New York City! The show takes place Sunday, October 25th at The Bell House in Brooklyn, featuring two brand new dead pilots from two incredible writers: Allison Silverman (Russian Doll, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Colbert Report, Portlandia) and Chris Kelly (Saturday Night Live, The Other Two).

A star-studded cast will be announced soon. Andrew Reich and Ben Blacker will both be there, so New Yorkers and fans throughout the tri-state area can finally experience Dead Pilots Society live. Follow Dead Pilots Society on social media for cast announcements.

Click this link for tickets! https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/3000651E456BB0C6

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots

Episode 208: Weekly World News by Michael Colton and John Aboud

Dead Pilots Society celebrates 10 years with Weekly World News, a comedy pilot from Michael Colton and John Aboud  based on the popular newspaper tabloid, Weekly World News is about the reporters who bring us the amazing but true stories of ghosts, aliens, and mutant freaks.

Colton and Aboud created and ran ABC’s Home Economics for three seasons, were showrunners on HBO Max’s animated series Close Enough, and have written for Acapulco, Leverage, and Children’s Hospital. They also wrote and produced the Netflix feature A Futile and Stupid Gesture, directed by David Wain and starring Will Forte, and wrote Penguins of Madagascar for DreamWorks Animation. Before moving into television and film, the duo worked as journalists, launched the online comedy magazine Modern Humorist, and became familiar faces as VH1 talking heads on shows including Best Week Ever and I Love the ’80s.

Andrew was especially excited to bring this one to Dead Pilots Society, having been a fan of Weekly World News as a kid.

The pilot features an incredible cast, Rich Sommer (Mad Men), Fred Melamed (Barry, Gail Doughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass), Jackie Tohn (Nobody Wants This), Courtney Pauroso (Ruthie Joins a Death Cult, Jackass Forever), Jessica Lowe (Minx), Alex Moffat (SNL, Bad monkey), Zac Oyama (Dimension 20), James Adomian (Comedian), and Stage direction by Andrew Reich.

MaxFun members can watch the full table read, along with all of the Dead Pilots Society video and bonus content from the past decade, for as little as $5 a month at maximumfun.org/join.

Dead Pilots Society Comes to Brooklyn!

Tickets are now on sale for the first-ever Dead Pilots Society live show in New York City! The show takes place Sunday, October 25th at The Bell House in Brooklyn, featuring two brand new dead pilots from two incredible writers: Allison Silverman (Russian Doll, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Colbert Report, Portlandia) and Chris Kelly (Saturday Night Live, The Other Two).

A star-studded cast will be announced soon. Andrew Reich and Ben Blacker will both be there, so New Yorkers and fans throughout the tri-state area can finally experience Dead Pilots Society live. Follow Dead Pilots Society on social media for cast announcements. 

Click this link for tickets! https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/3000651E456BB0C6

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots

Episode 207: Claudia Lonow Interview

Here is the after show for Fan Girl, featuring Andrew's interview with Claudia Lonow. Claudia has created four television shows: Rude Awakening, Good Girls Don't, Accidentally on Purpose, and How to Live With Your Parents (For The Rest of Your Life). She's also an actor and director, most recently directing and acting in the indie movie D(e)ad.

They also talk about her lifelong love of science fiction, where the idea for Fan Girl came from, and why loving the thing you're parodying makes all the difference.

It's a conversation about an unconventional route through Hollywood, a pretty incredible first writing job, and some very good Claudia Lonow stories.

The next Dead Pilots Society live show is at the Elysian Theater in Los Angeles on  Sunday, September 13th, featuring pilots from  Alex Herschlag ( Will and Grace, Modern Family, Arrested Development), and  Katie Greenway (Welcome to Flatch). Go to https://www.elysiantheater.com/ to get your tickets.

The show will feature two brand new dead pilots from two incredible writers: Allison Silverman (Russian Doll, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Colbert Report, Portlandia) and Chris Kelly (Saturday Night Live, The Other Two).

Tickets will be available soon, so keep an eye on Dead Pilots Society's social media for details. And if you're in Los Angeles, don't forget about the upcoming show at the Elysian Theater on September 13th!

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots

Episode 206: Fan Girl by Claudia Lonow

This month, Dead Pilots Society presents Fan Girl by Claudia Lonow, a returning guest who previously appeared on the podcast with her pilot Assisted Loving, featured in Episode 13. Claudia has had a long and impressive career as a writer and producer. She has created four television series including How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life), Accidentally On Purpose, Rude Awakening, and Good Girls Don’t.

Logline:  Bad ass, sexy freedom fighter, MORRIGAN CHASE, escapes from certain death into a worm hole that lands her in the closet of her biggest FAN GIRL -- edibles-loving, Beth -- who’s watching similar-but-different events unfold on her favorite sci fi series, DOMINION, which seems to be based on Morrigan’s galaxy! Each week, Beth and Morrigan battle Talarus’s assassins and make alien allies as they struggle to get Morrigan home, the unlikely friendship causing each woman to grow.

The pilot features a cast packed with familiar faces from Dimension 20 on Dropout, making this live reading especially fun for fans of the show. Fan Girl is a wild, funny, and wonderfully strange pilot featuring some of the most entertaining stage directions in Dead Pilots Society history.

The cast is Isabella Roland (Sex Lives of College Girls, Dimension 20), Rekha Shankar (Dimension 20 Star Trek Starfleet Academy), James Adomian (Krapopolis, Jimmy Kimmel), Zac Oyama (Dimension 20), Jackie Tohn (Nobody Wants This), Brennan Lee Mulligan (Dimension 20; Critical Role), Caroline Kingsley (Love on Tap), Alex Moffat (SNL, Bad Monkey), and Andrew Reich with stage directions.

The next Dead Pilots Society live show is at the Elysian Theater in Los Angeles on  Sunday, September 13th, featuring pilots from  Alex Herschlag ( Will and Grace, Modern Family, Arrested Development), and  Katie Greenway (Welcome to Flatch). Go to https://www.elysiantheater.com/ to get your tickets.

Video of the live table read is available exclusively to Maximum Fun members. Become a member for as little as $5 a month at maximumfun.org/join.

And don’t forget to check out Andrew’s documentary Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story at  https://www.reddkrossfilm.com/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots

Episode 205: Kathryn Borel Jr Interview

This month's aftershow features a conversation with writer Kathryn Borel Jr., whose ambitious adaptation of On the Road was featured in last week's episode. Kathryn has written for Rush, American Dad!, Anne with an E, and Kung Fu, and is currently working on Damon Lindelof's upcoming limited series The Chain.

Kathryn talks about her remarkably unconventional childhood, her winding path to television writing which included an acclaimed career in Canadian radio and the experiences that led her to write Corked, her memoir about a drunken, father-daughter road trip through France's wine country.

The conversation also dives into the unique challenge of adapting Jack Kerouac's On the Road into a half-hour television series with two female leads. Kathryn explains how she reimagined the novel, what drew her to the project, and where the series was headed if it had made it beyond the pilot.

It's a funny, thoughtful, and fascinating conversation with a writer who isn't afraid to take on impossible adaptations and make them feel entirely her own.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots

Episode 204: On The Road by Kathryn Borel Jr

Kathryn's credits include Rush, American Dad!, Anne with an E, and Kung Fu, and she's currently working on Damon Lindelof's upcoming limited series The Chain. She's also the author of the memoir Corked.

The cast features Kelly Marie Tran (The Last Jedi, Raya and the Last Dragon), Zosia Mamet (Girls, Laid), Rebecca Pidgeon (Euphoria, State and Main), and Brian McElhaney of BriTANicK (Pizza Movie).

Video of the live table read is available exclusively to Maximum Fun members. Become a member for as little as $5 a month at maximumfun.org/join.

And don’t forget to check out Andrew’s documentary Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story at  https://www.reddkrossfilm.com/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots

Episode 203: Joel Kim Booster Interview

This is the aftershow for Here, After, featuring a conversation with writer, actor, and comedian Joel Kim Booster. Joel is known for writing and starring in Fire Island and for his work on The Other Two and Big Mouth. As an actor, he's appeared in Loot, Search Party, Shrill, and more.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Joel talks about his early days as a playwright, the television shows and performers that inspired him to pursue comedy and TV writing, and the long, unusual journey that brought Fire Island from concept to hit feature film.He also shares the ambitious plans he had for Here After, revealing storylines and character arcs that make the loss of this pilot feel especially painful.

The next Dead Pilots Society live show is at the Elysian Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, July 12th. The show will feature readings of Weekly World News by Michael Colton and John Aboud, and Fan Girl by Claudia Lonow. Go to https://www.elysiantheater.com/ to get your tickets.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots

Episode 202: Here, After by Joel Kim Booster

This month, Dead Pilots Society welcomes back writer, actor, and comedian Joel Kim Booster, whose pilot Birthright was previously featured on Episode 34. Joel wrote and starred in the hit Hulu movie Fire Island. He was a writer on The Other Two and Big Mouth, and as an actor, you've seen him on Shrill and Search Party.

Joel's pilot Here, After, never actually sold, despite being developed with the companies of Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg, and Aidy Bryant. But when Andrew read it, he knew it deserved a place on the podcast.

 It is about the unlikely friendship between Ezra, a Gen Z woman trying to make a difference in the world and find her place in it, and Charlie, a caustic, self-absorbed, gay millennial ghost.

Funny, frank, surprisingly moving, and packed with killer jokes, Here, After is a pilot about friendship, purpose, and what happens when a ghost refuses to move on.

The cast for this pilot includes Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island, The Other Two), MItra Jouhari (Digman!, Bigmouth, The Bear), Poppy Liu (Hacks, I Love Boosters!), Charlie Barnett (The Acolyte, Russian Doll), Katherine Bourne Taylor (Bellingham Bay), Lisa Gilroy (Shrinking)

Video of the live table read is available exclusively to Maximum Fun members. Become a member for as little as $5 a month at maximumfun.org/join.

The next Dead Pilots Society live show is at the Elysian Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, July 12th. The show will feature readings of Weekly World News by Michael Colton and John Aboud, and Fan Girl by Claudia Lonow. Go to https://www.elysiantheater.com/ to get your tickets.

And don’t forget to check out Andrew’s documentary Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story at  https://www.reddkrossfilm.com/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots

Episode 201: Christian Duguay Interview

This is the After Show for Valley Heat, featuring Andrew’s interview with creator Christian Duguay.

A longtime admirer of Valley Heat, Andrew finally gets the chance to sit down with Christian for a conversation about the unusual path that led to the creation of the podcast. Unlike many guests on the show, Christian didn’t come up through traditional TV comedy writing. Rather than climbing through sitcom writers’ rooms, his background includes music, improv at The Groundlings, and years working in reality television before eventually creating the suburban world of Valley Heat.

Save the date for the next live Dead Pilots Society show at the Elysian Theater on July 12. We will have more info and a link for tickets soon.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots

Episode 200: Valley Heat by Christian Duguay

This month marks the 200th episode of Dead Pilots Society, which feels like a real milestone for a show that requires considerably more coordination than a couple of people just turning on microphones and talking. Every pilot episode means finding a pilot, assembling a cast, and putting together a live reading, so reaching 200 episodes feels genuinely significant.

While this is the show’s 200th episode, it’s also the 118th dead pilot the podcast has brought to life so far. For the occasion, we wanted something special, and this month’s pilot more than fits the bill: Valley Heat, written by Christian Duguay.

Andrew has previously called Valley Heat (another Maximum Fun show) one of the greatest achievements in podcasting, and after connecting with Christian last year, learned that a pilot version of the podcast existed. After much persistence, Dead Pilots Society finally got the chance to stage it live at the Elysian Theater.

For anyone discovering Valley Heat for the first time, this episode may be the perfect introduction.

The live reading also features many of the recognizable voices from the original podcast appearing onstage in person, making for a uniquely surreal experience.

The cast includes: Christian Duguay (Plantman & Blondie, The Dress Up Gang), Kevin CamIa (Fallout), Mike O'Connell (DTF St Louis, Patriot), Merrill Davis (Comics Unleashed, Time Out Comics to Watch), Emily Maya Mills (Key and Peele, Orange is the new Black), Matt Braunger (stand up), Chris Garcia (WTF, This American Life, Scattered), Beth Stelling (Netflix, HBO Max comedy), DeMorge Brown (Destroy All Neighbors)

Video of the live table read is available exclusively to Maximum Fun members. Become a member for as little as $5 a month at maximumfun.org/join.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindeadpilots