Don't Get Me Started

We talk to producer/director David Zwick about the 1924 Democratic National Convention! In what could have been a shoo-in for the Democratic party, infighting and factions led to taking almost 2 weeks to pick someone who turned out to be an incredibly weak candidate! We hear about how the party couldn't decide whether or not to condemn the KKK, and how being Catholic meant you were a political liability! Hoo boy. Plus Will discusses the idea of "competency porn" especially related to the book "The Martian" and Anthony talks about the book "Hatching Twitter" by Nick Bilton.

Comedian Dominique Johnson comes on to talk about LISTENING TO NEW MUSIC. Through Facebook, the hosts realized that Dom had an interesting set of opinions on music: he's both very opinionated but also very open. Meaning: he'll listen to new music, even music that's very outside of his tastes. Yet he doesn't blindly accept artists just because they are widely viewed as good. It turns out there's a reason Dom is so open to music. We get into his childhood, moving from town to town -- black neighborhoods to white ones, places where his friends liked nu metal to places where they liked jazz. And we play a lot of stuff Dom likes, including perhaps most surprisingly John Mayer. Will talks about the George Saunders novel Lincoln in the Bardo and Anthony updates us on his increasingly problematic dependence on the iPhone game Clash Royale.

Comedian/musician/phenomenon Jim Santangeli talks to us about The NFL Draft. "What is it?" asks Will, and Jim answers. We also get into: college football, Connecticut pride, old podcast ideas, forgotten web series and love! Hey and there's more: Will likes Twin Peaks, and Anthony is fascinated by the story of Billy Joel backup singer Mike DelGuidice.

Returning guest Jen Krueger (from the "Notebooks/Day Planners") episode talks to us about her obsession with British Panel Shows. From the perhaps most well-known "QI" to the less-well-known-but-more-fun-named "8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown," she tells us why she likes these shows, which are her favorite guests, why she thinks these types of shows haven't made it in the US and about a reddit user who is a hero for uploading all these shows to YouTube. Plus Will talks about his processes for getting rid of books (unfortunately named the fascist-sounding "book purging") and Anthony raves about the new play "The Antipodes."

Comedy mastermind Ben Rodgers talks to us about audio books. Great books, great narrators, great settings for listening to them. Why are Stephen King books so great? What should a good audiobook reader's IMDB profile be like? And much more! Will talks about watching movies on planes and Anthony discusses the website "Burbankia."

We break our rule (talking to people not about what they do) to talk to UCB co-founder MATT WALSH about IMPROV. We also get into sketch, and live comedy, and old school UCB shows like Robot TV and Killgore, and his time at the Annoyance Theater and improvOlympic, and Will implies that Matt has never done a Harold, which is unfair and untrue. No minor obsessions this week. ALL IMPROV. If you like this, make sure to check out Matt's podcast "UCB Sports and Leisure" which features lotsa UCB stars, including WILL HINES.

Comedian/musician Ariana Lenarsky talks to us about TAROT. Cards, the image, the history, tips of doing a reading, how she got into it, history of the classic cards that you are thinking of, and MORE! Plus Anthony is into the XM radio app and their station "70s on 7." And Will is really into hotels.

We talk to comedian Dru Johnston about EVOLUTION. How did he get interested in it? How much of it is getting mad at creationists? Why DO people get passionate about creationism? What happened to the neanderthals? What books are good to read about this stuff? AND MORE! Plus Anthony talks about the Fijian dish Kokoda, and Will abhors the process of condemning tropes in TV/movies just because they have a cool label.

John Purcell talks about the rock group U2. Why does he love them? Why was he ashamed of that at first? What are some deeper cuts people don't appreciate? Why did he see 4 shows in one week one year when their set list doesn't really change that much? Plus Will talks about both the audio book "The Kid Stays in the Picture" and podcast playing speeds; while Anthony discusses flower gardening. NOT VEGETABLE GARDENING.

Film and television creator Sarah-Violet Bliss talks about sociopaths! What makes one a sociopath, how should you deal with them and what's the difference between them and narcissists? Plus Will discusses the tropes of business self-help books and Anthony talks about a great video for the song "Wyclef Jean" by Young Thug.