‘funny,’ not funny

Kurt Uenala (aka null+void & Kap10Kurt) has produced, programmed, mixed, and remixed giants like Depeche Mode, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Kills, Dave Gahan, Soulsavers, Yelle, Erasure, The Ravonettes, The Kills, The Big Pink, and Moby. We talk about his gadgets (heavy nerd warning), touring with Jim, his recording process, alarms going off in the middle of the night, learning Icelandic, touring solo in Europe as an electronic artist, and many other things.References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S2~dot~09-Kurt-Uenala/

Bill is a professor of the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvard and the co-director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. Jim met him while on tour with Jim’s Big Ego in London. We talk about English Football, Thanksgiving from a UK perspective, Doctor Who, Billy Butcher, Frank Herbert, Zombie Math, and the World of Warcraft disease. You might recognize his voice from his interviews on NPR in which he as appeared as an expert in virology on the topic of the COVID pandemic. I promised him we would talk about anything but epidemiology, but it crept in anyway.References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S2~dot~08-Bill-Hanage/

We are joined by the amazing Vance Gilbert and talk about nostrils, voting in MA and TX, Vance’s Monday Acoustic Pajama Party, his incredible songs, the songwriting scene in the Boston of the 90s, our favorite songwriters from that time, especially David Goldfinger, being on tour with a comedian and more.References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S2~dot~07-Vance-Gilbert/All song clips included with permission from Vance Gilbert.

Jim starts by telling us about his favorite hot sauce. Then he talks about the extensive references page on the website, which is still in process, thanks to Johnny Gottadoo. Then they launch into a discussion of The Peripheral on Amazon Prime, and discuss the book Educated by Tara Westover, before finishing with some concerns about the inevitable demise of Affirmative Action by SCOTUS.References here: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S2~dot~06-Secret-Aardvark/

John Infantino is a writer and director, known for Regular Show, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, and Despicable Me, as well as his work on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Adventuretime, Chowder, and Camp Lazlo, to name a few. He is also Jim’s brother.John talks with us about creating cartoons, writing the stories we watch, adaptations & mutations, shows he’s watching, and the books he is reading, including:Neon Genesis EvangelionThe Book of Strange New ThingsA book his friend is writing about an Orc in MordorThe Flashman PapersRendezvous with RamaRiddley WalkerFinally, we reminisce about our trip to Italy together and end up with our admiration of Mark Hamill and Roz Ryan as voice-over actors.References / with links for this episode: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S2~dot~05-John-Infantino/This is correct imdb page.We look forward to having him back.

Jim and Lionel discuss streaming shows and books including the Rings of Power, the upcoming show based on William Gibson’s The Peripheral, Chef’s Table: Pizza, N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth Trilogy, Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza, and Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan.

Listen to The History Happy Hour Podcast with Mike Duncan: https://historyhappyhour.com/blog/the-marquis-de-lafeyette-revnov-/

References for this episode: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S2~dot~04-Nobody~rsquo~s-In-Control/

Jim starts by sharing his weight loss hack for getting on the scale in the morning, which leads into a discussion of The War of Jenkin’s Ear, which leads into a discussion of the role of money in the creation of multicultural cities, which leads to a talk about barter, goats on drones, the library of things, torx wrenches, rat tail files, super yachts & the economy, and tries to get back to Caribbean Piracy, but doesn't quite get there.Photo by Brenda Timmermans: https://www.pexels.com/photo/selective-photo-of-white-goat-58914/Actual historian Robert Gaudi on the War of Jenkin’s Ear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lga2xHDZvOsReferences for this episode: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S2~dot~03-Goats-On-Wings/

Dan Cantor, drummer, songwriter, producer of rock, folk, hip hop, and world music, visits the podcast to tell tales of recording overseas and in his studio, problems with travel and food, the power of rap music, and more.References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S2~dot~02-Dan-Cantor/All song clips included with permission from Dan Cantor.

Lionel and Jim discuss the end of summer, Mark Leyner, Kate Bush and the return of the 80s, New shows, old movies, Sherlock Holmes, Wars and our sense of humanity, The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, and how to save the world with either a new religion, compassion for future generations, or AI.References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S2~dot~01-The-Will-of-Landru/

Lionel and Jim talk about what makes a great character in a story. What works? What appeals? Why do some fall flat? Why do some capture us? They also speak a little about their upcoming discussion of The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S1~dot~27-Imperfect-people-being-uncomfortable/