This time, I'm letting Pepe Serna talk.

Pepe is a character actor who’s been appearing onscreen since the start of the ‘70s, bouncing between film, stage, and television, and although he’s still acting whenever the opportunity presents itself, he spends a good chunk of his time these days as an artist and an acting teacher.

Pepe’s first film was a Roger Corman cult classic called The Student Nurses, and having gotten his foot in the door, he never looked back, quickly finding himself working for Dalton Trumbo in Johnny Got His Gun, sharing the screen with Gregory Peck in Shoot Out, and guest-starring ono a plethora of classic ‘70s series, including Mannix, Kung Fu, Adam-12, The Rookies, Cannon, Medical Center, and The Rockford Files. But it was film where he really got the chance to shine, including roles in Car Wash, The Jerk, Scarface – spoiler alert: he’s the one who meets his demise at the end of a chainsaw – and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. He also forged a longstanding friendship with Edward James Olmos that found the two actors sharing the screen in a number of projects, including Miami Vice, American Me, and The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.

Pepe has lived a fascinating life that’s still going strong, but you can learn more about him by watching the very interesting documentary that’s been made about his life: “Pepe Serna: Life is Art.” Not coincidentally, he also has a book by the same name, with the subtitle “A Chicano’s Groundbreaking Life in Film.” Both of these are accessible via his website, PepeSerna.net.

We had a great chat, but I’ll warn you that as you listen, you’ll get the impression that he’s doing some physical bits to go along with some of the acting information he’s imparting during the conversation, and you’re right. If you haven’t already upgraded to either a paid subscription to my Substack newsletter or contributed to my Patreon campaign for the podcast, then this is a good excuse, because that way you’ll be able to check out the video footage of the interview as well.

And with that plug having been delivered, it’s time to let Pepe talk.

This time, I'm letting Julie Klausner talk.

I’d never interviewed Julie before, but we found ourselves following each other on Bluesky as a result of my AV Club Set List interview with They Might Be Giants. It turns out that she's a huge They Might Be Giants fan, which is something I didn’t realize, but I clearly should’ve, since – as a realized during a rewatch of her Hulu series Difficult People – there’s an episode where her costar, Billy Eichner, is hanging out in Julie’s childhood bedroom, and there’s a very prominent They Might Be Giants poster on the wall.

Yes, we talked about Difficult People during the course of our conversation, as well as how she found herself collaborating with Billy Eichner in the first place. We also chatted about the small part she played in a classic SNL "TV Funhouse" segment, her work on John Mulaney’s short-lived sitcom, the thrill of getting to write for the recent revival of Kids in the Hall, and the fun of working on the Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon!

Oh, yes, and she also has a Sabrina Carpenter connection in her back catalog, which we talked about that as well, and we talked about Juiie’s own music, specifically an amazing Kate Bush homage that you should check out as soon as you’re done listening to the podcast.

Okay, that’s enough of an intro. It’s time to let Julie Klausner talk.

This time, I'm letting Billy Campbell talk.

Billy is someone whose career arc has taken him from Dynasty to Dracula to Star Trek: The Next Generation, if not necessarily in that order. He’s starred in a plethora of period pieces that have found him in the midst of the Civil War, Los Angeles in the late 1930s, and Chicago in the early 1960s.

But, of course, it’s important to keep in mind that Billy basically hasn’t stopped working since kicking off his acting career in the ‘80s, and when you’re working more or less constantly, it puts you in a position where you find yourself working in all sorts of projects and with all sorts of people. For instance, once again, we have another guest who once worked with former podcast guest Paget Brewster, who referred to Billy as “dreamy,” to which he replied, “She’s pretty dreamy herself." 

Of course, we talk about that project - a TV movie called Max Q - during the course of our conversation, and we hit on a pretty huge collection of other works from his back catalog, including the aforementioned projects, plus the ones I casually referenced by their location and era, like Crime Story, The Rocketeer, and the one-two punch of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. Probably my favorite story is his remembrances of working on the various Tales of the City miniseries, although when I later asked him to tell me his definitive “Hollywood” story, he told me one that went in a direction that was different from the way most people answer the question, and that’s even knowing the reputation of the actor who features in the story. Suffice it to say that the reputation in question is definitively cemented by story's end. 

Even though he’s originally from Virginia, he now lives in Norway, although he maintains a residence in Canada as well, thanks to working there on such projects as The Killing and Cardinal. But, of course, he still works in the US pretty regularly, including on an upcoming film called A Better Place, which he filmed in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and he’ll be back in Gettysburg next year for a special event that will provide him with the opportunity that’ll give him the chance to do another performance as - you guessed it - Abraham Lincoln. 

Oh, and did I mention that I made him cry? I just wanted to talk about how awesome Alan Arkin is, I swear! 

Anyway, that’s probably enough to secure your listenership for the remainder of the proceedings. It's time to let Billy Campbell talk.

This week, I'm letting Mike Carlin talk. 

You may recognize Mike's name if you’re a comic book fan, since not only has he written and edited for both Marvel and DC Comics, but he’s even been a comic book character on occasion, famously hiring one particular superhero as an artist with Marvel Comics…while in his secret identity, of course.

The funny thing about this interview, however, is that it didn’t come about because of comics. It came about because Mike and I are Facebook friends, and it caught my eye when he offered up an R.I.P. post for Gilson Lavis, the drummer for Squeeze, and said that he’d seen Gilson live more than any other drummer. I immediately thought, “Okay, here’s a conversation I want to have: Mike Carlin on Squeeze.”

And we did indeed talk about Squeeze. We also talked about some of his other favorite music, and we talked a whole lot about his favorite comedy, including how he was such an SNL nerd that he spend a good chunk of the show’s first five seasons standing in the stand-by line in order to attend tapings of the show. As a result, he saw a few of the most iconic musical performances in the history of the show…but I’ll let him tell you about those.

But, of course, we also talked about comics, and how Mike’s sense of humor influenced his writing. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that over the course of his career he’s managed to write for the humor magazine trifecta: Crazy, Cracked, and Mad Magazine. He’s also worked with some of the most legendary artists of all time – perhaps you’re familiar with a gentleman by the name of Steve Ditko? – and he was even part of a cable access sketch comedy show with a couple of other guys from Marvel Comics, including the late, great Mark Gruenwald. Oh, and if you remember the Superboy TV series that was in syndication in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s… Well, I think Mike would be surprised, but even if you didn’t, he’s got some great stories about working on that, too.

Okay, that’s enough of an intro. It’s time to let Mike talk.

This week, I'm letting Vincent Martella talk.

I’ve been a fan of Vincent’s work since he was a series regular on the UPN – later CW – sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, where he played Chris’s very white friend, Greg. It’s one of those sitcoms that not enough people watched when it was originally on the air, but its fanbase has continued to grow over the years as a result of the show’s streaming presence. In fact, it even spawned an animated sequel last year called – what else? – Everybody Still Hates Chris.

The original run of Everybody Hates Chris was from 2005 to 2009, but before it had even come to a conclusion, Vincent had already begun work on a new series, one that continues to keep him gainfully employed even now: Phineas and Ferb. Yes, that’s right: he’s the voice of Phineas. Mind you, just because he’s pulling a steady paycheck from voice acting doesn’t mean that he doesn’t still find himself in front of the camera on occasion as well, as fans of The Walking Dead well know. But having said that, as of this recording, Phineas and Ferb is still going strong, possibly even stronger than ever.

During the course of our conversation, we talk about all of these projects in great detail, as well as a few others from throughout his filmography. We also talk about how he found his way into acting in the first place, and I even found an excuse to ask him about the time he was nominated for a Teen Choice Award, and…let’s just say that, in retrospect, he still can’t believe who won the award over him that year.

But that’s enough of an intro. It’s time to let Vincent Martella talk.

This week, I'm letting Murray Attaway talk.

I first became a fan of Murray’s work when he was fronting the Georgia-based band Guadalcanal Diary, who – along with Rhett Crowe, John Poe, and the late, great Jeff Walls – brought us such classic college rock tracks as “Watusi Rodeo,” “Trail of Tears,” “Spirit Train,” “Cattle Prod,” “Litany (Life Goes On),” “Get Over It,” “Always Saturday,” and “Pretty Is as Pretty Does.” After releasing their fourth studio album, 1989’s Flip Flop, the band made a collective decision to go their separate ways, but Murray soldiered onward, signing a solo deal with Geffen Records and releasing his solo debut, 1993’s In Thrall. I, for one, loved it, but let’s just say that it didn’t exactly go platinum, and it was pretty soon thereafter that Murray and Geffen parted ways.

Since then, Murray certainly hasn’t been completely absent from the world of music – for one thing, Guadalcanal Diary reunited for a performance in the late ‘90s that resulted in a live album entitled At Your Birthday Party – but those who were waiting for him to release anything new under his own name were left wanting…until this year, that is, when he finally released a sophomore solo LP entitled Tense Music Plays.

Naturally, you'll want to head over to Murray's website and order yourself a copy of Tense Music Plays. But that's after you listen this episode, of course...

This week, I'm letting Kevin M. Kruse talk. 

Also this week: the debut of what I hope will be a recurring episode premise called “Political Pundits on Pop Culture.” Then again, maybe it’ll be a one-off. But given how much fun I had talking to Kevin, I certainly hope it isn’t.

Kevin is a history professor at Princeton, a respected author, and one of my favorite follows on Bluesky, but as it turns out, we also have more than a few similar pop culture touchstones, from SNL and Police Squad! to Edgar Wright and R.E.M. In the long run, it’s basically a conversation between two guys who are geeking out on their pop culture faves, but – spoiler alert – this is not the first time a podcast has descended into such a conversation, and it damned well won’t be the last.

Listen, enjoy, and if you haven't already, please subscribe! 

This week, I'm letting Paget Brewster talk.

I have a long and thoroughly non-sordid history of interviewing Paget for various outlets. It started with her Random Roles for the AV Club, continued with an interview for Decider, and I know I’ve interviewed her twice for That Thing They Did, and…I think this is therefore our fifth time talking, maybe? Unless you count the time when I met up with her at a CBS party during the 2016 summer Television Critics Association press tour, but if I did an interview with her there, I don’t think it was a full interview, and if any portion of it ran anywhere, I can’t produce it.

Anyway, my point is that we've talked about a lot of stuff over the years, and this time we talked about a lot of stuff, too, including - but not limited to - Criminal Minds, Friends, Two and a Half Men, Grandfathered, Drunk History, DuckTales, and The Thrilling Adventure Hour. We also talked about some of her failed pilots, including the inevitable Ghost Cop. (He’s a ghost, she’s a cop… You get it. But I still have to recite the line anyway.) Oh, and we also talked about the time she created botulism for a comedy sketch.

Yeah, we really covered the gamut. You'll love it. She's delightful.

This week, I'm letting Mitch Easter talk. He's a producer (R.E.M., the Connells, Suzanne Vega, Marshall Crenshaw), and he's also a singer, musician, and songwriter in his own right, though you likely know him best on that front from the years he spent in the band Let's Active. He's made a lot of music over the years, and as a result, he's got a lot of stories to tell. Also, when it comes to Smash Mouth's cover of "Every Word Means No," he has...thoughts. But you'll have to listen to find out what they are.

This week, I'm letting Robbie Rist talk. For my first guest, I wanted someone I actually know but who I've never interviewed before, and although I've interviewed Robbie once many years ago, it wasn't a full look back at his career, so this seemed like a good time to do that. We discuss Big John, Little John, Battlestar Galactica, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Kidd Video, and much more, including his music career. Fair warning, though: we barely touch on his time on The Brady Bunch at all.