Don't Get Me Started

In honor of episode 50 and our anniversary, the topic of this podcast is the podcast itself. Hosts Anthony and Will bring on former guest and devoted listener Jon Gabrus to discuss their favorite episodes, podcasts in general, the craziness of their friends, what other minor obsessions they might do, whether they should do a spin-off podcast, which of their previous guests' topics have become part of their lives, what they think of their crazy Billy Joel episode and other things!

Comedian Beth Appel talks about the equally fascinating and disturbing world of FACE TRANSPLANTS (capitalized for how much we are fascinated by it). We get into the most famous cases of it, the science of it, how much better it is than you think, and how strange is it and lotsa stuff. Also Will talks about how long a window people's nostalgia is, or something like that and Anthony discusses the book The Things We Carried.

Writer/comedian Eric Scott talks to us about his lifetime obsession with trains and railroading. It goes deep and we get into it: what are the best train rides? Types of engines? How does he feel about model trains? Also Will finds out that an indie team from the early 2000s that he used to read about on message boards was a fictional team that Eric had made up. Also, Anthony talks about climate change (specifically how LA could conceivably become a tropic zone) and Will talks about Norman Borlaug (father of GMOs, which he used to fight world hunger).

Comedian Haley Hepworth talks to us about true crime and cults! We get into the Zodiac killer, the Green River killer, the Source Family, Elizabeth Smart, Jeffrey Dahmer, as well as quick digressions into many truly disturbing real stories that have happened and obsess/ruin our minds! Also, Will talks about the times Bob Dylan makes fun of other singers in ways that almost no one notices, and Anthony muses on the lack of people who specialize in a task -- a subject inspired by watching people on film sets whose job is just to set the focus of a camera.

Comedian Jess McKenna talks about her passion for time in high school doing "mock trial." MT FOR LIFE. We talk about how intense practice trials can be, the passion and investment of her great teachers, the drama of her junior year super team making it to the finals and winning. We talk about how some things feel like sports that are not sports, and how mock trial can weirdly hit the same part of your brain as doing improv comedy. Also, Will talks about SUPER COOL EXPERIMENTAL HTML SITE (not cool) jodi.org and Anthony discusses the cool mixes of songs available at Since 78.

Comedian Erin Whitehead comes on the show to talk about her passion for Harry Potter! We talk about the power of the books including how well it handles dark and intense emotions, how the movies fall short (and what they do well), what's so special about the characters, and Erin's explanation of why you need Slytherin at all in Hogwarts! Also, Will talks about longtime Los Angeles institution Thomas Guides maps, and Anthony talks about his recent obsession with making cocktails with gin. And then Will and Erin really get on Anthony about his pronounciation of the word "gin."

Writer, actor and hilarious all around human Dan Klein comes on the show to talk about his obsession with the Kurt Vonnegut novel The Sirens of Titan. We talk about the appeal of Vonnegut in general, and this book in particular, and the possibility that this is the first book Dan has read? Past guest Connor Ratliff shows up at one point and we invite him on and it turns out he knows a bunch about Vonnegut too. Also, Will talks about 17th century Paris opera star/fencer/heartbreaker Julie d'Aubigny, whose name he can't pronounce. Anthony is obsessed with the comic book Fun Home, inspiration for the Broadway musical.

Actor and writer Hillary Matthews talks to us about her obsession with Martha Stewart's Living magazine, and also about the world of lifestyle blogs, and how the latters often do not measure up! We get into Martha's calendar, how she is a bad ass, and what is lacking on blogs that Hillary REFUSES TO NAME. Also, Anthony and Will's minor obsessions were coincidentally both about video games! Will is playing some text-only nonsense called "The Ensign" and Anthony is playing the latest episode in the awesome series of Batman video games, "Arkham Knight."

Actor and writer Drew Spears joins us to talk about his love of Southern Gothic Fiction. What is it? What is it not? Who gets defensive about that label? Co-host Anthony King joins Drew in a brief discussion of what they think of the title "Southern" since they are in fact from the south! We read some great excerpts from Flannery O'Connor, Barry Hannah and Charlie Smith! Also Will talks about the problematic nature of comics writer Alan Moore, and Anthony discusses the joy of the audiobook version of Rob Lowe's memoir "Stories I Only Tell My Friends!"

We talk to Charlie Todd, the founder of Improv Everywhere and longtime UCB improviser, about his obsession with craft beers. We get into how Charlie discovered his love for them, how an iPhone app game-ified his obsessed and cranked it into new levels of documentating his tastes, about how many beers have silly puns on the name "hops." Also, Will talks about the international seed warehouse which is designed to protect over 400,000 varieties of seed from an apocolyptic event and Anthony discusses the frozen-in-time world of current AM radio.