Kurt Vonnegut Radio with Gabe Hudson

Alex Dobrenko is a writer, comedian, and actor. He writes humorous and vulnerable personal essays on his hugely popular Substack, Both Are True. Alex writes about his life as a new father and being a sorta hopeful Millennial in a dying empire. His work is hilarious, but it’s also shot through with real grace and vulnerability. He’s like a millennial David Sedaris, or Larry David. Gabe talks to Alex about how he uses techniques from improv, stand-up comedy, and acting to write his beloved Substack.

Subscribe to Alex Dobrenko`’s Substack Both Are True

Read Alex’s i think my son hates me

Read Alex’s Beautiful Disasters

Read Alex’s First to die

Follow Alex on Twitter and Instagram

Rate/review Kurt Vonnegut Radio on podcast app of yr choice (this is huge help, ty)

Enjoy more Kurt Vonnegut Radio episodes:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Dobrenko is a writer, comedian, and actor. He writes humorous and vulnerable personal essays on his hugely popular Substack, Both Are True. Alex writes about his life as a new father and being a sorta hopeful Millennial in a dying empire. His work is hilarious, but it’s also shot through with real grace and vulnerability. He’s like a millennial David Sedaris, or Larry David. Gabe talks to Alex about how he uses techniques from improv, stand-up comedy, and acting to write his beloved Substack.

Subscribe to Alex Dobrenko`’s Substack Both Are True

Read Alex’s i think my son hates me

Read Alex’s Beautiful Disasters

Read Alex’s First to die

Follow Alex on Twitter and Instagram

Rate/review Kurt Vonnegut Radio on podcast app of yr choice (this is huge help, ty)

Enjoy more Kurt Vonnegut Radio episodes:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Dobrenko is a writer, comedian, and actor. He writes humorous and vulnerable personal essays on his hugely popular Substack, Both Are True. Alex writes about his life as a new father and being a sorta hopeful Millennial in a dying empire. His work is hilarious, but it’s also shot through with real grace and vulnerability. He’s like a millennial David Sedaris, or Larry David. Gabe talks to Alex about how he uses techniques from improv, stand-up comedy, and acting to write his beloved Substack.

Subscribe to Alex Dobrenko`’s Substack Both Are True

Read Alex’s i think my son hates me

Read Alex’s Beautiful Disasters

Read Alex’s First to die

Follow Alex on Twitter and Instagram

Rate/review Kurt Vonnegut Radio on podcast app of yr choice (this is huge help, ty)

Enjoy more Kurt Vonnegut Radio episodes:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gabe Hudson talks about how as someone whose official job title in Marine Corps was "rifleman," he believes we should ban AR-15's now. He explains how if it's harder to get ahold of an assault rifle in Marine Corps than in regular society, then America has lost its mind. He talks about the white supremacist who killed 3 Black people this weekend. And how the myth of the "lone wolf" is a complete lie. And how all the white supremacists are in conversation with each other, in their online screeds "manifestos" and with their AR-15's. Also includes commentary on wanna-be-fascist Ron DeSantis and this is all part of his plan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gabe reads one of George Saunders' early stories out loud and explains some of George's ingenious writing techniques. For anyone who writers stories, or who is in the storytelling trade, what you learn on thisd podcast episode might turn out to be the most important thing you know in your life. It will probably change your life. Because it completely changed Gabe's life. Gabe also explains how by using the technique that George Saunders taught him a couple decades ago, a writer can set their characters free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gabe Hudson talks about what Sinead O'Connor's truth-telling remains contagious. He talks about the recent documentary about her life, Nothing Compares to You.

Referred to in episode:

Sinead singing This is to Mother You

Sinead O'Connor documentary

Find Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Rate/Review Kurt Vonnegut Radio

Subscribe to Kurt Vonnegut Radio's Substack

Other episodes for you to enjoy:

1st Sinead O'Connor episode

Kurt Vonnegut

Sam Lipsyte

George Saunders

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Akhil Sharma is the author of Family Life and A Life of Adventure and Delight. He’s a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and has won a bunch of awards including the PEN/Hemingway Award, Guggenheim, and International Dublin Literary Award. He’s also a professor at Duke University.

More episodes of KVR:

Sinead O’Connor

Sari Botton

Sam Lipsyte

Andrew Leland

George Saunders

Kurt Vonnegut

Jude Brewer was executive producer and editor for this episode

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sari Botton is the author of memoir, And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen X Weirdo. Sari is the editor-in-chief of the beloved publication, Oldster Magazine, which publishes such luminaries as Cheryl Strayed, Deesha Philyaw, Maggie Smith, and Lauri Stone.

Sari and Gabe compare Gen X notes about growing up as feral children in the 70’s. They discuss the challenges Sari overcame in writing her memoir. They chat about Sari’s lifelong sense of being a misfit and how through writing and telling the truth she found her people. They discuss her fascination with aging and and why she feels that who she is today is the realest version of herself. They also discuss her editorial vision and what the word “oldster” means to her.

Follow Sari Botton on Twitter and Instagram

Buy Sari’s memoir

Read Sari’s magazines Oldster and Memoir Land and Adventures in Journalism

Read an excerpt from Sari’s memoir in LitHub

Read Sari’s Hurricane Tim story that we discuss in this episode

Take Sari’s Skillshare class on writing memoir

Visit Sari’s website

Jude Brewer was executive producer and editor for this episode

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Lipsyte is the author of many beloved books, a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and faculty member at Columbia University’s MFA program. Gabe and Sam dig into his recent non-fiction piece in The New Yorker which is, in part, about the classes he took from the legendary editor Gordon Lish.* They also discuss Sam’s recent novel, No One Left To Come Looking for You, which is a Gen X masterpiece. Gabe and Sam also talk about Public Enemy, his father’s relationship with Muhammad Ali, and Sam's love of the word Antwerp.

*Gordon Lish, as editor, is responsible for helping launch many of your favorite writers, including: Amy Hempel, Barry Hannah, Diane Williams, Ben Marcus, Garielle Lutz, Raymond Carver, Christine Schutt, Will Eno, and Brian Evenson.

Jude Brewer was executive producer and editor for this episode

Buy Sam Lipsyte’s recent novel No One Left to Come Looking For You

Buy Sam’s recent novella Friend of the Pod

Read Sam’s recent nf piece in The New Yorker, “A Lesson for the Sub”

Listen to Sam’s noise-punk band Dungbeetle from early 90’s

Read Sam's By the Book interview in NYT

Read Sam’s essay about his father, the legendary sportswriter

Rate/review Kurt Vonnegut Radio (this is how you help our show live)

Find Gabe on Twitter and Instagram and email

More episodes:

Sinead O’Connor

George Saunders

Kurt Vonnegut

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gabe Hudson talks about what Sinead O'Connor's songs and activism meant to him. And how she changed Generation X. He talks about her ripping up the Pope's picture on Saturday Night Live. Her performance at the Bob Dylan Benefit concert at Madison Square Garden. And why she sang covers of Bob Marley's song War. Gabe also talks about what he is doing with his grief about Sinead's passing.

Youtube clips referred to in episode:

Sinead on SNL

Sinead at Bob Dylan Benefit concert

Find Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Rate/Review Kurt Vonnegut Radio

Subscribe to Kurt Vonnegut Radio's Substack

Other episodes for you to enjoy:

Kurt Vonnegut

George Saunders

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices