I'm Not Joking

By Dr. Peter McGraw

What's I'm Not Joking about?

Glimpse into the lives of comedians, improvisers, comedy writers, and other funny people from business, science, and the arts. Host Dr, Peter McGraw—a behavioral scientist, business school professor, and Director of the Humor Research Lab (aka HuRL)—sits down with funny people for a wide-ranging discussion of their habits, motivations, and secrets to success.

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I'm Not Joking episodes:

12.30.2020
Curtain Call
Welcome to the final episode of I'M NOT JOKING. Comedian JD Lopez returns from Episode 1 to debrief and reflect on Peter’s experience building a podcast and using it to seed his 2020 book, Shtick to Business: What the Master's of...
04.03.2020
Dropping Babies With Anthony Jeselnik
Anthony Jeselnik is a comedian, writer, actor, and producer. His most recent Netflix special is Fire in the Maternity Ward, and you can see him on his Comedy Central show, Good Talk with Anthony Jeselnik. Love the show? Subscribe, rate,...
04.02.2020
Answering Business Questions With Shane Mauss
Welcome to the second special dual taping of I’m Not Joking, and Here We Are, Shane Mauss’s science podcast. This episode coincides with the launch of Peter’s new book, Shtick To Business, which you can find out about at PeterMcGraw.org...
04.01.2020
Shtick to Business with Shane Mauss
Welcome to a special dual taping of I’m Not Joking and Here We Are, Shane Mauss’s science podcast. This episode coincides with the launch of Peter’s new book, Shtick to Business, which you can find out about on at PeterMcGraw.org...
03.31.2020
Creative Help From The Masters Of Comedy
Did you know that you can hire the world’s funniest people to help you with your company’s creative work? Meet the founders of a new company that helps you do just that. Peter McGraw chats with guests Stephanie Houng and Ben...
03.30.2020
All Your Single Friends With Daliya Karnofsky And Avra Friedma
Welcome to a special dual taping of my podcasts. Both episodes are coming out just before my book, Shtick to Business, which launches on April Fool’s Day. The first is...
03.29.2020
Man In Cargo Pants
Alex Berg is an LA-based comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Before coming to LA, he studied psychology at Vassar College. You may have seen him on Terriers, The Goldbergs, and Reno! 911. He is a team member of UCB mainstays...
03.28.2020
Man In Comedy Suit With Ryan Stout
Ryan Stout is a comedian who has appeared on CONAN, HBO’s Funny as Hell, Comedy Central’s @Midnight, and his own half-hour special: Comedy Central Presents… Ryan Stout. He was also a regular panelist on E!’s Chelsea Lately. He most recent...
03.27.2020
Developing A Character With Emily Pendergast
Emily Pendergast is a member of the prestigious Groundlings Main Company. She was most recently seen in the final season of the Emmy Award winning HBO series Veep as Jonah’s wife, Beth Ryan. She will next be seen as the...
03.26.2020
The Irishman With David Nihill
David Nihill is the author of the best-selling book Do You Talk Funny? and the Founder of FunnyBizz Conference. His work has been featured in Inc., Lifehacker, The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Forbes, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal....
03.25.2020
Unverified with Ari Shaffir
This episode was taped prior to Ari Shaffir’s controversial tweet about Kobe Bryant. Ari Shaffir is a stand-up comedian. He is producer and host of the Skeptic Tank podcast. He also co-hosts the podcast Punch Drunk Sports, and he...
03.18.2020
Curating Comedy With Jake Kroeger
Jake Kroeger is a comedian, producer, and writer. Nobody knows what’s going in comedy in Los Angeles better than Jake. He created and runs The Comedy Bureau, the central source of information of everything happening throughout Los Angeles comedy for...
03.04.2020
Thinking Scientifically with Shane Snow
Shane Snow is an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, and the author of three books—including the #1 business bestseller Dream Teams. He speaks about innovation and teamwork, has performed comedy on Broadway, and has been published in GQ, Fast Company, Wired, and...
02.19.2020
Looking for the Illogical with Merrill Markoe
Merrill Markoe is a comedian, comedy writer, author of ten books, and Emmy award Winning writer and producer of the Late Show with David Letterman. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here’s How »Join the Solo community today:petermcgraw.orgPeter...
02.05.2020
Things Are Gonna Get Easier with Jeff Kreisler
Jeff Kreisler is a lawyer turned comedian, author and champion for behavioral economics. His first book, Get Rich Cheating, was a satirical look at cheating. His second book, Dollars And Sense: How We Misthink Money and How To Spend Smarter...
01.22.2020
People Stories with Kristin Newman
Kristin Newman has been writing and producing television for over 20 years, on shows including “That ’70s Show,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Chuck,” “Galavant,” “The Muppets,” “The Neighbors,” “The Real O’Neals,” and “For the People.” She currently has an...
01.08.2020
Relationships And Other Things With Stephanie McHugh
Stephanie McHugh is a comedian, speaker, voice over artist, and humor coach. She has been part of the Denver Comedy scene for over 16 years. She was on Nick at Nite’s TV Show “America’s Funniest Mom” and The Steve and...
12.25.2019
Talking About Jokes with Jesse David Fox
Jesse David Fox is a writer who works at New York Magazine, first as a blogger and then a comedy columnist for New York Magazine’s pop culture site Vulture.com. In 2017, Jesse launched his podcast, Good One: A Podcast About...
12.11.2019
Thinking about Class with Madison Shepard
Madison Shepard is a stand-up, writer, and actor. She’s appeared on Comedy Central’s The New Negroes. She’s performed at The S.F. Sketch Fest, Broke LA, and Laugh Riot Grrrl Festival. She studied acting at Los Angeles County High School for...
11.27.2019
Cheap Transformations with Todd Glass
Todd Glass started comedy at age 16. He has performed stand-up on The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel, and Conan O’Brian. You can see his recent special “Act Happy” on Netflix. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here’s How...
11.13.2019
Experiential Science with Troy Campbell
Troy Campbell is a social scientist, marketing professor at the University of Oregon, professional designer, and researcher at Netflix Insights. He has worked at Disney Imagineering, Apple, and Comic-Con, as well as the change management organization On Your Feet and...
10.30.2019
Collaborating With Lisa Chanoux
Lisa Chanoux is an Arab-American writer and comedian. She has performed all over the U.S. including here in Los Angeles at the Improv, Comedy Store, Laugh Factory, Dynasty Typewriter, and Upright Citizens Brigade. She hosts and produces Chatterbox Comedy Night...
10.16.2019
Stunt Journalism with Joel Stein
I got to know Joel Stein when he was a staff writer for TIME magazine. He has been on the writing on staff for two television shows and has written six network pilots. His forthcoming book In Defense of Elitism:...
10.02.2019
Working (It) Out with Tony Horton
Tony Horton is the creator of P90X, the famous fitness series, and an array of follow-up workout programs. He is a professional speaker and the author of several books, including Bring It, Crush It, and The Big Picture Love the...
09.18.2019
Working Hard Enough with Solange Castro
Solange Castro is a stand-up comic and published playwright. She recently released a comedy album, “A Journey of Self Discovery,” under a new comedy label called Radland Records. She is currently writing her memoir about salsa dancing, “Salsa Chica: How...
09.11.2019
Animating South Park with Jack Shih
Jack Shih is an Emmy Award-winning animation director and producer known most notably for his work on South Park. He also has a side hustle as a voice-over artist. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here’s How...
09.04.2019
Raising Eyebrows with Steve Stoliar
Steve Stoliar is the author of Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho’s House, a bittersweet memoir of the last years in the life of Groucho Marx. He has also written material for Dick Cavett as well as penning episodes of...
08.28.2019
Working On Spec with Claire Downs
Claire Downs is a comedian, writer, and producer who lives in Los Angeles. A graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, she does a bit of everything, sold pilots, written scripts, and written for Cosmopolitan, The Daily Dot, and...
08.21.2019
Getting The Price Right with Danielle Perez
Danielle Perez is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actress best known as the woman in a wheelchair, with no feet, who won a treadmill on The Price Is Right. A 2018 StandUp NBC Semifinalist, she has performed at comedy clubs...
08.14.2019
Smiling All the Time with Mike Reiss
Mike Reiss has won four Emmys and a Peabody Award during his 28 years writing for The Simpsons. He ran the show in Season 4 which Entertainment Weekly called “the greatest season of the greatest show in history.” ...
08.07.2019
Making Friends with Nicole Blaine
Nicole Blaine is a stand-up comic. She has been seen on NBC’s Today Show, E’s That Morning Show, San Francisco Sketchfest, Laughing Skull Comedy Festival, among other festivals. She is the executive producer of the HBO comedy special, Burning the...
07.31.2019
Being Healthy with Will Hines
Will Hines has been a performer and teacher at Upright Citizens Brigade since 2000. He’s appeared on television shows such as Broad City, Inside Amy Schumer, Brooklyn 99, Community, and My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He’s written several books on improv, including...
07.24.2019
Ignoring The Pettiness with Esther Kustanowitz
Esther Kustanowitz is a writer, editor, and consultant. She is a contributing writer at the Los Angeles Jewish Journal and a columnist at J. The Jewish Weekly of Northern California. She was founding editor and contributor at GrokNation.com, has written...
07.17.2019
Fighting Boredom with Adam Barsky
Adam Barsky is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on how people use emotions to make ethical decisions and judgments and, more recently, what makes things funny. He is the co-founder and COO...
07.10.2019
Fearing Failure with Kym Terribile
Kym Terribile is a writer, Reiki practitioner, and a certified yoga teacher. She is a graduate of the University of Hawaii with a degree in English Literature. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her two dogs. Love the...
07.03.2019
Searching For Magnificent Obsessives with Joel Warner
Joel Warner is an award-winning former staff writer for Westword and International Business Times who’s been published in Esquire, WIRED, Newsweek, Men’s Journal, Men’s Health, Bloomberg Businessweek, Popular Science, and Slate. He’s co-author of The Humor Code: A Global Search...
06.26.2019
Being A Professional with Mark Masters
Mark Masters is a comedian based in Denver, Colorado. He specializes in clean material and has performed in showcases in New York City and Miami. He is just kicking off his career and recently published a book, Not Good Yet,...
06.19.2019
Moving Cheese with Chester See
Chester See has been nominated for 6 Streamy Awards with one win for Best Original Song. He has starred on Broadway as Rock Star Stacee Jaxx in Rock of Ages. He has sold over 2 million downloads of original music...
06.12.2019
Transformations with Gia Cognata
Gia Cognata is a makeup artist, stylist, photographer and writer from Los Angeles. She loves pickles and finding a balanced between the arts and analytics. Despite her passion being happy and correct she shells out terrible advice to horny teens...
06.05.2019
Roast Battles with Julie Seabaugh
Julie Seabaugh is the only full-time freelance comedy journalist in the United States. She has contributed to Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, GQ, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, The A.V. Club, The Village Voice, The Huffington Post, Spin, and Playboy. Julie has...
05.29.2019
Getting A Good Deal with Donnie Lichtenstein
Donnie Lichtenstein is one of Pete’s senior colleagues at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business. He attended the University of Alabama for his undergraduate degree in Marketing and received his PhD from the University of South Carolina. He...
05.22.2019
I’M NOT JOKING updates with Peter McGraw
Your host makes a few announcements and updates about the podcast. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here’s How »Join the Solo community today:petermcgraw.orgPeter McGraw TwitterPeter McGraw LinkedIn
05.15.2019
Writing Or Dying with Shane Mauss
Shane Mauss is a stand-up comedian. He has appeared on Conan and Jimmy Kimmel, has Netflix specials, and headlines on shows all over the world. More interestingly, Shane does comedy about science. He hosts the podcast, Here We Are, where...
05.08.2019
Having A Motor with Bob Mankoff
Bob Mankoff is the Cartoon and Humor Editor for Esquire and former New Yorker Cartoon Editor. A student of humor and creativity, Bob has devoted his life to discovering just what makes us laugh, and seeks every outlet to do...
05.01.2019
Twitter Friends with Luisa Diez and Jason Zinoman
Luisa Diez is an anthropologist, museum worker, and comedy booker in New York City. She splits her time between making exhibitions and producing and watching comedy shows. She currently books Too Many Cooks, a weekly show in Manhattan, as well...
04.24.2019
Going West with Kendall Carroll
Kendall Carroll started her career as a high school theater teacher in small town in West Texas. She made her way to the MBA program at the University of Colorado Boulder. While in the MBA program, Kendall has focused on...
04.17.2019
Live with Michael Smith from The Academy
Michael Smith is a musician, veteran, husband, and father. He graduated from Heidelberg College with a Bachelors in Music with a focus on clarinet. He also received a Masters in Musicology from the University of Rochester. He spent the majority...
04.10.2019
A Great Comedy Room with Wende Curtis
Wende Curtis started as a cocktail waitress at Comedy Works in Denver, moved on to general manager, and is now the owner and operator of comedy works in Downtown Denver and in South Denver. Wende expanded her business to include...
04.03.2019
Making Interesting Things with Dan Ariely
Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight. He is the best-selling author of Irrationally Yours, Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality,...
03.27.2019
Humble Bragging with Ovul Sezer
Ovul Sezer is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She teaches Negotiations and Decision Making, and she studies the unproductive ways that people try to influence...

What's I'm Not Joking about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

I'm Not Joking episodes:

Curtain Call

Dropping Babies With Anthony Jeselnik

Answering Business Questions With Shane Mauss

Shtick to Business with Shane Mauss

Creative Help From The Masters Of Comedy

All Your Single Friends With Daliya Karnofsky And Avra Friedma

Man In Cargo Pants

Man In Comedy Suit With Ryan Stout

Developing A Character With Emily Pendergast

The Irishman With David Nihill

Unverified with Ari Shaffir

Curating Comedy With Jake Kroeger

Thinking Scientifically with Shane Snow

Looking for the Illogical with Merrill Markoe

Things Are Gonna Get Easier with Jeff Kreisler

People Stories with Kristin Newman

Relationships And Other Things With Stephanie McHugh

Talking About Jokes with Jesse David Fox

Thinking about Class with Madison Shepard

Cheap Transformations with Todd Glass

Experiential Science with Troy Campbell

Collaborating With Lisa Chanoux

Stunt Journalism with Joel Stein

Working (It) Out with Tony Horton

Working Hard Enough with Solange Castro

Animating South Park with Jack Shih

Raising Eyebrows with Steve Stoliar

Working On Spec with Claire Downs

Getting The Price Right with Danielle Perez

Smiling All the Time with Mike Reiss

Making Friends with Nicole Blaine

Being Healthy with Will Hines

Ignoring The Pettiness with Esther Kustanowitz

Fighting Boredom with Adam Barsky

Fearing Failure with Kym Terribile

Searching For Magnificent Obsessives with Joel Warner

Being A Professional with Mark Masters

Moving Cheese with Chester See

Transformations with Gia Cognata

Roast Battles with Julie Seabaugh

Getting A Good Deal with Donnie Lichtenstein

I’M NOT JOKING updates with Peter McGraw

Writing Or Dying with Shane Mauss

Having A Motor with Bob Mankoff

Twitter Friends with Luisa Diez and Jason Zinoman

Going West with Kendall Carroll

Live with Michael Smith from The Academy

A Great Comedy Room with Wende Curtis

Making Interesting Things with Dan Ariely

Humble Bragging with Ovul Sezer