Don't Get Me Started

Comedian Joel Spence is a multi-talented, well-educated man who knows about a lot of things. Despite that, he choose to talk to us about the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. "Why?" we thought. "Aren't they just a one-hit wonder band from the 80s?" Turns out that they are a several hit wonder band, as well as a group of truly talented musicians and also the creators of a fascinating and ambitious double album "Welcome to the Pleasuredome." We go through it. Plus Will discusses conversation starters he uses and Anthony goes over a twitter account that makes fun of this very podcast, @Parody_DGMS.

Comedy writer Nate Dern discusses author George Saunders! Absurdist! Heartbreaking! Sci-fi-ish? And more! Plus Anthony talks about the strange public domain movies in the Prelinger Archives and Will reminisces about NYC columnist Jimmy Breslin.

Comedy writer Dylan Snowden tells about his time working for FEMA and the world of responding to disasters! Plus Will talks about the song "Magic" by B.O.B. and Anthony discusses an innovate production from the theatre group Teatro Republica.

Comedian/writer/editor Sasha Feiler talks to us about DOG SPORTS. We get into how great her dog Spoon is at dog sports. We talk about "nose work." We talk about "dog agility." We talk about training. We talk about how dog owners in the world of dog sports can be, ironically, catty. We also touch very briefly on how Russia views WWII, as seen from Sasha's childhood in Siberia. But it's mostly dog sports. This is one of our favorite segments ever. Also Anthony discusses Planet Earth II and Will discusses Letters to Cleo's new song.

Comedian/writer/Broadway actor Michael Hartney returns to the podcast to discuss the internet phenomenon called "Unfavorable Semicircle." Basically, someone (or perhaps, some program) is uploading videos of seemingly incoherent video and audio noise, which is vaguely machine like in nature. But wait, is it incoherent? Theories abound in discussion groups which are tracking these videos: is there a message buried in these vids? And what does Steamboat Willie have to do with it? Plus, Will discusses the lovely NYTimes crossword puzzle site xwordinfo.com, and Anthony discusses... well, I guess he discusses how many people have to be in a group before they answer the question "how are you" with the sound "wooo!" rather than words. Yep.

We talk to artist Liz Rodriguez about her lifelong obsession with Studio Ghibli - the Japanese animation/production house behind My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away. Beautiful illustration! Female protagonists! A lack of formulaic storytelling! And just... it's good! Plus Will gives a poorly organized telling of the baseball mishaps of "Snodgrass' Muff and Merkel's Boner" and Anthony discusses APPLE SLICERS!

Comedian Todd Fasen talks to us about the music festival institution Coachella! Why is it good? How has it changed? What are the best ways to enjoy it? What's the deal with the camping? Plus Will discusses Vertigo comics editor Karen Berger and Anthony raves about a newfangled device he has - the Fidget Cube.

Vulture.com writer Jesse Fox talks to us about watching SNL as a sport. Good episode, bad episode, good season, bad season -- you keep watching at least partly because you want to see how the "team" does. We love this theory and talk forever about it. Also, Will talks about some computer programming thing (PHP framework called Laravel) and Anthony talks about the forgotten 1980 film "How To Beat The High Cost of Living."

Comedian Brandon Gardner talks about his interest in comedian/filmmaker Woody Allen. Heard of him? Genius comedy writer and stand-up comedian? Maker of brilliant films (both comedies, dramas and some that are in-between)? Oh yeah, and the guy who dated and then married the 19 year old daughter of his longtime girlfriend, and then later was publicly accused by his daughter of molesting her? Uh, yeah. Him. We get into it. The appeal of Allen's comedy and his movies, and the trouble of separating what you feel about someone's art versus what you feel about the artist. Also, Will discusses the Doomsday Clock and Anthony discusses the Bobby Kenny biography "The Last Campaign."

A very cool and interesting personal episode. We talk to comedian Luke Kelly-Clyne about Zoloft and how this anti-depressant ended up being the thing that helped him handle his clinical depression. We talk a lot about the stigmas of anti-depressants, and therapy and admitting that you're dealing with depression at all. We also get into some of the basics of medications. Please note that we are not doctors and thus much of what we say is almost definitely oversimplified and is not official advice, etc etc. We also talk about how Anthony has been watching season one of the TV show Newhart, and that Will wants LA residents to vote "NO" on Measure S come March.