Into The Mud Podcast

This week, Drew and Alex get messy with a topic stirring up muddy waters all across the art world: AI-generated art. Their guest, Turkish-American artist Sarp Kerem Yavuz, helps unpack the fear, fascination, and controversy surrounding this new medium. The hosts come in skeptical—concerned about creativity, ethics, and artistic integrity—but Sarp brings some wildly compelling analogies that start to shift their perspective. Is AI art a threat, or just another tool in the artist’s ever-evolving toolkit?

Bio: The works of Sarp Kerem Yavuz reclaim Orientalist imagery and bring the visual legacy of the Middle East into the present. Through photography, sculpture, and digital art, he creates visually provocative works of art in pursuit of peaceful coexistence.

Born in Paris in 1991 and raised in Istanbul, his works explore gender, politics, religion, and violence. In 2013, he became the youngest artist to exhibit and be included in the permanent collection of the Istanbul Modern Museum. His artworks are published in Turkey: Istanbul CODEX, and the Boys! book benefitting the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

His works are also included in The Luciano Benetton Collection as part of Imago Mundi, the permanent collections of the CICA Museum in South Korea, the Norton Museum in Florida, the Allen Memorial Art Museum and the Transformer Station in Ohio, the Polaroid (Impossible Project) Collection in Berlin, the Leslie Lohman Museum of Art in New York, and the Soho House Collection. He lives and works in New York.

Sarp’s Social Media: @SarpKeremYavuz and www.Sarp.info

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Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com

There’s a moment in every go-getter’s life when the spark dims, the path forward feels foggy, and everything feels stale. As Steven Pressfield says, “Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate… it will assume any form.” But, try not to give in!

This week on Into the Mud, Alex sits in the thick of her career plateau—frustrated, questioning, but still searching. What does it look like to stay open when everything feels stagnant? And how do you keep going when you’re not sure what “going” even means?

Bio: Alex is a New York based comedian by way of Chicago and Boston whose bold and whip smart standup delights crowds across the US. Credits: The Comedy Cellar, New York Comedy Club, NBC’s "That Clip Show: Holiday Edition”, 2021 season of Comedy Central Standup Featuring.

Bio: Originally from Massachusetts, Drew is a Broadway dancer, actor and writer living in New York City. Credits: Broadway’s “Tootsie” and “On the 20th Century”, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, Ryan Murphy’s “Feud: Capote VS The Swans”, The Tony Awards, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Saturday Night Live, and the 2021 Met Gala.

Follow along at @IntoTheMudPodcast on all platforms!
For the visual version, follow along on YouTube!

Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com

The heels are high and the stakes are higher. On this week of Into the Mud, we're joined by drag queen and activist Cacophony Daniels (also known as Broadway performer, Courter Simmons) to talk about drag bans, rising anti-LGBTQ legislation, and the fight to stay visible and vocal in a shifting political climate. From challenging toxic masculinity to pushing back against the new wave of Trump-era censorship, Cacophony gets loud, proud, and unapologetically muddy.

Bio: Cacophony Daniels (aka Courter Simmons) performs internationally as an actor, singer, and drag queen. Broadway credits include Jersey Boys (Bob Crewe, Frankie Valli Standby Final Company)). Off-Broadway credits include Jersey Boys (Frankie Valli). Television credits include Last Week Tonight and Mysteries of Laura, and film credits include The Producers. His live-singing drag alter-ego, Cacophony Daniels, has been seen in Provincetown, Fire Island, New York, and all over the world with Atlantis Cruises. Drag is not a crime! 

Cacophony’s Social Media: @cacophonydaniels

Courter’s Social Media: @courtersimmons, www.CourterSimmons.com.

Follow along at @IntoTheMudPodcast on all platforms!
For the visual version, follow along on YouTube!

Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com

What happens when you reach the top of the corporate ladder, only to realize it’s leaning against the wrong wall? Mike Lemire — Drew’s childhood friend who crushed it in the corporate tech world — realized that success at the top wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Mike walked away from the corporate hustle at the height of his career and now runs his own consulting firm, Harmonic Leadership, hoping to redefine success on his own terms. It’s a deep dive into the messy, scary, and ultimately liberating process of letting go when the big fancy gigs stop serving your soul.

Bio: Mike Lemire is the founder of Harmonic Leadership, with over 15 years of experience in leadership roles within tech and SaaS companies. He specializes in helping leaders improve their executive presence, decision-making, and team dynamics.

Mike started his career in the music industry. After studying music at Berklee College of Music, he began working with the marketing team at Blue Note Records. From there, he worked with an impressive slate of entertainment industry clients, ranging from EMI Classics to Focus Features and the Florida Panthers. He then went on to run Account Management programs for Yahoo!, overseeing the launch of Yahoo India in Bangalore and developing policy around political advertising during the 2008 election.

HubSpot is truly where Mike grew up professionally. While there, he launched the Professional Services team, working with executives from small businesses to Fortune 100 enterprises. After HubSpot's IPO, Mike went on to launch the Customer Success, Support, and Onboarding teams at Notarize.

In 2018, Mike joined the leadership team at Toast, tasked with creating a more scalable customer success team. He focused on data, operational excellence, and culture to help Toast scale from 10,000 customers to over 100,000. After Toast's IPO, he explored the world of AI in the healthcare space by joining Overjet as their VP of Customer Success. While there, he found his passion and skill for coaching and launched Harmonic Leadership in 2024.

Mike’s Social Media: www.HarmonicLeadership.co, @BiggestMike.

Follow along at @IntoTheMudPodcast on all platforms!
For the visual version, follow along on YouTube!

Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com

How do you learn to trust yourself — especially when your brain won’t sit still? This week on Into the Mud, comedian Emma Willmann gets muddy about learning to trust yourself — and maybe starting an underground peptide ring? Emma’s hysterical tangents take Drew and Alex on a wild ride, but between the black-market schemes and nonstop laughs, there’s some real wisdom about listening to your gut and trusting your intuition. 

Bio: Emma Willmann is one of New York City’s top comedians, and perhaps one of the only dyslexic-gender-wiggly-comics-with-ADHD from Blue Hill, Maine. Emma gets to tell jokes nightly at The Comedy Cellar, on Netflix’s: The Comedy Line Up, Comedy Central, and is one of the few comics ever to have multiple appearances onThe Late Show with Stephan Colbert. All of which has earned Emma a spot on Caroline’s 10 Funniest Comics, Just For Laughs: New Faces, and TimeOut’s 10 Funniest Women in NYC. Emma’s mom is “really proud of all of this but doesn’t like comedy.”

Emma’s Social Media: @EmmaWillmann, www.IAmEmmaWillmann.com

Follow along at @IntoTheMudPodcast on all platforms!
For the visual version, follow along on YouTube!

Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com

Time to get muddy with another “Drew and Alex” episode—no guests, no distractions, just two people avoiding conflict by… talking about conflict avoidance.

Do you ghost instead of confront? Apologize when you’re not sorry? Pretend everything’s fine while your eye twitches? Same, same. This week, Drew and Alex are diving into why we do this, how it messes us up, and maybe—just maybe—how to do better. Or at least how to fake it more convincingly.

Bio: Alex is a New York based comedian by way of Chicago and Boston whose bold and whip smart standup delights crowds across the US. Credits: The Comedy Cellar, New York Comedy Club, NBC’s "That Clip Show: Holiday Edition”, 2021 season of Comedy Central Standup Featuring.
 
Bio: Originally from Massachusetts, Drew is a Broadway dancer, actor and writer living in New York City. Credits: Broadway’s “Tootsie” and “On the 20th Century”, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, Ryan Murphy’s “Feud: Capote VS The Swans”, The Tony Awards, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and the 2021 Met Gala.

Follow along at @IntoTheMudPodcast on all platforms!
For the visual version, follow along on YouTube!

Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com

What happens when you call off a long-term engagement, abandon your comforts and have to start all over again? That's right; this week we're getting muddy about breakups with stand-up comedian, Caitlin Peluffo. Join us as we talk about the messy, uncomfortable, and oddly invigorating experience of embracing singlehood post-partnership. 

Bio: Originally hailing from San Francisco, Caitlin Peluffo is a stand up comedian living in New York City. This lovable loose cannon made her network television debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, was featured on the Late Late Show with James Corden, and has been seen on CBS's After Midnight, as well as Comedy Central's 'Featuring' series.' She was named a 2022 Just for Laughs New Face and appeared on the JFL Network. She opens regularly for Matteo Lane and Fortune Feimster and is a regular in the NYC comedy scene performing in clubs like The Comedy Cellar, New York Comedy Club, and Gotham Comedy Clubs. Her debut album, Dirty Bird, hit number one on the Comedy charts 3 days in a row and can be heard on Spotify, and Sirius XM.

Caitlin’s Social Media: @CaitlinPeluffo, www.CaitlinPeluffo.com

Follow along at @IntoTheMudPodcast on all platforms!
For the visual version, follow along on YouTube!

Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com

Dating in your 30s and 40s: a battleground where red flags wave like carnival banners, self-love battles with self-sabotage, and the phrase ‘I know what I want’ gets tested daily. Now, imagine navigating all of that while grieving the loss of your mother. This week, we’re diving into the wild, heartfelt, and sometimes deeply chaotic world of love, loss, and gooning (yes, we go there) with comedian Gus Constantellis. He’s a first-gen Greek-American figuring out what he wants while holding space for both laughter and grief. So buckle up, grab your emotional support tzatziki, and get ready to wade Into the Mud.

Bio: Gus Constantellis (he/they) is a gay, first generation Greek-American stand up comedian and writer. His material deals heavily with his large immigrant family, his Greek heritage, raunchy yet relatable dating stories, and his unique perspective on growing up in Brooklyn. He regularly tours across the country and internationally and recently released a Comedy Central featuring set. He's written for several children's shows on Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Netflix, including THE LION GUARD, RAINBOW RANGERS, ABBY HATCHER and GABBY'S DOLLHOUSE.

Gus’ Social Media: @ConstantlyGus

Follow along at @IntoTheMudPodcast on all platforms!
For the visual version, follow along on YouTube!

Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com

This week, comedian Casey Balsham wades into the existential muck of morality, asking the age-old question: Am I a good person? Spoiler alert: the answer is as messy, hilarious, and debatable as you'd expect.

Bio: Casey Balsham is a stand-up comedian living and breathing in New York City.

You’ve seen her at various clubs all over the country and as a regular at New York Comedy Club and Gotham. You've heard her as the host of the Shady Shit Podcast on Dear Media. Casey has also been featured on Gotham Comedy Live, Lifetime, Tidal's No Small Talk Series and in a Monistat commercial you can only find online. Her debut album "Son of a Barb" hit number one on the iTunes charts and can be streamed on Spotify and Pandora.

Casey’s Social Media: @CaseFaceB, www.CaseyBalsham.com

Casey’s Podcasts: Never Not Tired, It's Broadway, Bitch

Follow along at @IntoTheMudPodcast on all platforms!
For the visual version, follow along on YouTube!

Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com

This week on Into the Mud, we dive into the messy intersection of creativity and commercial art with accomplished Broadway performer, Khori Michelle Petinaud. While questioning the industry’s grip on her artistry and creativity, Khori finds a way to beautifully navigate the tension between financial stability and genuine creative fulfillment. We are thrilled to have this conversation with Khori as she actively redefines what “success” in a brutal industry means on her own terms. Join us for an honest, thought-provoking conversation about art, ambition, and staying true to what moves you.

Bio: Khori Petinaud is a NYC based performer, educator, wife, mama and lover of all things dance! Credits include Aladdin the Musical (OBC), Moulin Rouge the Musical (OBC), Chicago the Musical, Lempicka (OBC) and her principal debut in the company of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ where she landed a Chita Rivera Award nomination (Outstanding Dancer in a Broadway show) as well as a win (Outstanding Ensemble in a Bway show)! 

Some other credits include Black Swan, In the Heights (Kennedy Center), The Color Purple (Nat. Tour), King Kong, American Dance Machine, and Freddie Falls in Love ( Signature Theater: Al Blackstone). Tv credits include: Up Here (Hulu), Rent: Live (FOX) , The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon) ,Vinyl (HBO), The Knick (Cinemax), and Z:The Beginning of Everything (Amazon). 

Khori’s Social Media: @Kmr8787 (Insta) and @Khori_Petinaud (TikTok)

Follow along at @IntoTheMudPodcast on all platforms!
For the visual version, follow along on YouTube!

Your Hosts: Alex Kumin (@Alex.Kumin) and Drew King (@DrewKingNYC). 

Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

www.IntoTheMudPodcast.com