Sleeping with Celebrities

Maximum Fun, the network upon which you hear our program, was founded by one Jesse Thorn, who continues to host an improbable number of podcasts on the network. Three, in fact: Bullseye (an interview program with cultural figures, also on NPR), Jordan, Jesse, Go! (where he horses around with Jordan Morris), and Judge John Hodgman (where he is the bailiff to the titular judge. But Jesse’s interests expand yet further, all the way to men’s apparel, how it has evolved, and what you should, in fact, wear. Maybe a grey or blue suit is a better all-purpose option than black. Maybe a vintage t-shirt is okay once in a while. We even examine and judge by-gone fashions, including the dog-eared collar, which you can see in this episode’s tile and which will haunt our collective dreams forever. Maybe you’ll be asleep before you hear about that collar. We hope so.

Visit the Put This On Store at www.PutThisOnStore.com. Visit their Instagram @put.this.on.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

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Join | Maximum Fun

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

The universe is full of all sorts of alien creatures, we just know it. Problem is, they’re far away and, like us, possibly too stupid to invent really cool spaceships in order to visit. That’s why the book Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials was written and illustrated, earning a devoted following that includes Elliott Kalan. The book is a massive compendium of all sorts of aliens culled from sci-fi. Elliott is a former head writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Mystery Science 3000 and one of the hosts of Max Fun’s podcast The Flop House. Join Elliott as he enumerates many of his favorite aliens and offers analysis from his toddler son as to which aliens are mean, which ones are nice, and which aliens are so nice that he went to their birthday parties held in treehouses. You may fall asleep even before learning that some aliens are just green smears.

Order your copy of Elliott Kalan's book, Joke Farming: How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense, wherever books are sold.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

_________________________________________________________________________

Join | Maximum Fun

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

You are reading something that was written in paragraph format, with complete sentences, grammar, nouns, and verbs. That’s not how Ryan Miller of the beloved band Guster likes it. Ryan enjoys lists. Likes reading them, creating them, and relying on the whole idea of ordered verticality. He tells us about the extensive playlist of songs he always keeps handy for his kids, how this list has been around for many years, how it has seen some editing with certain artists losing favor and being dropped, and how there is no Guster on that list. Ryan also fills us in on which bands and artists are really nice people so you can listen to them with confidence. Ryan doesn’t tell us which bands and artists are real jerks (he says there are very few of them) because that might cause you to lose sleep. Take an ordered approach to dozing off with our Ryan Miller episode.

Listen to Ryan Miller's "Best of the Best - Nines and Dimes" on Spotify.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

_________________________________________________________________________

Join | Maximum Fun

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

You have to be a slight J.R.R. Tolkien nerd to watch the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings film series. They’re long, there’s three of them, and it helps to know your hobbits from your elves. You have to be even more of a fan to read the dense, lengthy Tolkien books. But then there’s Glen Weldon, co-host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, who has read everything Tolkien many times over including The Silmarillion. That’s the book Tolkien died while writing with extensive arcana of the world of Middle Earth. Here’s the part in the description where I would give you examples but it’s so deep, so thickly layered, such extreme Tolkienness that I kind of zoned out just listening to Glen take this deepest of dives. “The book is structured as a history, with sections on the creation of the world, the gods (Valar), the history of the Elves and Men, and the downfall of Númenor, all centered around the conflict with the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, and the rebellion of the Elf Fëanor,” says Wikipedia, and who am I to disagree? The detail, combined with Glen’s avuncular NPR voice ought to conk you out before you can say, “Celebrimbor.”

Listen to Glen Weldon on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour wherever fine pods are cast. Get your copy of Glen's books, Superman: The Unauthorized Biography and The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture, where books are sold.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

_________________________________________________________________________

Join | Maximum Fun

If you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you’re the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member.

Go to www.maximumfun.org/joinsleeping for our one-stop portal to becoming a member and supporter of Sleeping with Celebrities.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

When you’re a Norwegian musician, you get used to hearing a lot of the band A-ha, the biggest ever to come out of the Nordic country shaped like an arm from the elbow down. And that’s fine with Sondre Lerche, the most popular Norwegian solo musicians of all time. Sondre adored A-ha by rarely gets to share all his knowledge. Until this bedtime, that is. Sondre also reads the names of 15 fjords in their authentic pronunciations and also teaches our Norwegian-American host how to accurately pronounce his own middle name and the names of his parents, in both Bergen and Oslo dialects.

Listen to Sondre Lerche's new single, "Follow the River," on Sondre's YouTube channel or on the streaming service of your choice. Sondre's upcoming album, Acrobats, is out August 21st.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

_________________________________________________________________________

Join | Maximum Fun

If you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you’re the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member.

Go to www.maximumfun.org/joinsleeping for our one-stop portal to becoming a member and supporter of Sleeping with Celebrities.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

We have to imagine that the life of an NPR White House Correspondent does not consistently feel relaxed, homey, sentimental, and warm. But you know what does? Field of Dreams, the 1989 Kevin Costner movie about an Iowa farmer with a field overrun by baseball ghosts. Danielle Kurtzleben, a White House Correspondent for NPR, is from Titonka, Iowa (population 491) and has probably seen the movie eleventy squillion times. She can quote large portions of the dialogue and proved it in our interview by reciting James Earl Jones’ “They will come” monologue in her most sonorous NPR voice. You’ll be asleep soon. By the way, do baseball ghosts sleep? Are there bunk beds out in the corn fields? Am I overthinking this?

Subscribe to Danielle Kurtzleben's Substack, Very Professional Journalizing, by going to daniellekurtzleben.substack.com.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

_________________________________________________________________________

Join | Maximum Fun

If you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you’re the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member.

Go to www.maximumfun.org/joinsleeping for our one-stop portal to becoming a member and supporter of Sleeping with Celebrities.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

Dan Mintz is an actor, comedian, and writer with a new standup special, Well-Rounded Entertainer, premiering soon on YouTube. Dan is best known as Tina Belcher on the beloved animated TV comedy Bob’s Burgers, which has been on the air for 16 seasons. Where can you get burgers besides Bob’s? Trader Joe’s, that’s where. Dan likes to shop there for foods that will please his family and provide nutritious meals while not busting his budget. He enjoys bananas and other fruits, as he explains to you in a voice that is his, not Tina’s, but that carries enough of Tina’s endearing low-level neurosis that you’ll feel like you’re at the store with a beloved friend as you drift off to sleep. Also, Dan is mildly concerned that his dog is secretly a fugitive from a Mexican drug cartel but no need to lose any sleep over that.

Dan Mintz's new stand-up comedy special, Well-Rounded Entertainer, will be released on June 18th, 2026 on YouTube.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

_________________________________________________________________________

Join | Maximum Fun

If you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you’re the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member.

Go to www.maximumfun.org/joinsleeping for our one-stop portal to becoming a member and supporter of Sleeping with Celebrities.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

Dulcé Sloan has been in your American television many times, appearing as correspondent and guest host of The Daily Show, doing stand up on Conan, and voice acting on The Great North. But she doesn’t have much time to watch her own shows because she’s too busy getting chin deep in Korean dramas, studying their patterns, delighting in the long built-up kisses, and talking about them on her new podcast Chasing K-Dramas. She tells us a great deal about these television programs, why they’re inherently predictable, and why she loves them so much regardless. Plus, Dulcé plays a round of In The Cart Or On The Shelf and evaluates some classic silent movie melodramas of the Nineteen-Teens.

Listen to Chasing K-Dramas with Dulcé Sloan and Chrissy Choi wherever fine pods are cast.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

_________________________________________________________________________

Join | Maximum Fun

If you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you’re the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member.

Go to www.maximumfun.org/joinsleeping for our one-stop portal to becoming a member and supporter of Sleeping with Celebrities.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

You may have seen the very funny Anjelah Johnson-Reyes in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Ugly Betty, Superstore, or even on the sidelines as an Oakland Raiders cheerleader. Perhaps you’ve seen her comedy specials, including the brand new Ugly Baby, which is about her experiences becoming a mom and, fear not, she is the titular ugly baby here. Or maybe, just maybe, you’ve seen Anjelah in her garden, carefully tending to her plants and vegetables, including tomatoes that she loves so much that she just calls them ‘matoes. All that gardening was at her old house but she remembers it as a wonderful and productive time and she still wonders what those ‘matoes are up to these days. We think she should add them on Instagram, very casual-like.

Watch Anjelah Johnson-Reyes's new comedy special, Ugly Baby, on YouTube. Watch or listen to Anjelah's podcast, Funjelah, on the podcatcher of your choice.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

_________________________________________________________________________

Join | Maximum Fun

If you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you’re the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member.

Go to www.maximumfun.org/joinsleeping for our one-stop portal to becoming a member and supporter of Sleeping with Celebrities.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

In the Venn diagram of “heart” and “animation”, the overlap is Rebecca Sugar. Her series, Steven Universe, was more than just the adventures of an unusual boy’s search for identity in a spectacularly imaginative spiritual/paranormal world, it was mind-expanding and profoundly human and humane literature for legions of adoring fans. Rebecca’s non-animation interests are decidedly and literally much more down to earth. She is fascinated by how to build things, especially wee small houses out earthen building materials, the advantages and disadvantages of both the ingredients and of living your life outside the construct of building codes. She talks about the controversy of whether to use the terms “dirt” or “earth”, the presence of the white-throated wood rat, and what cob is when no corn is involved. Also, she plays a historical round of In The Cart Or On The Shelf.

Listen to and purchase Rebecca Sugar's new album, Lonely Magic, on their Bandcamp.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?

Email us at: [email protected].

Follow the Show on:

Instagram @sleepwcelebs

Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs

TikTok @SleepWithCelebs

John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe

John’s acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

_________________________________________________________________________

Join | Maximum Fun

If you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you’re the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member.

Go to www.maximumfun.org/joinsleeping for our one-stop portal to becoming a member and supporter of Sleeping with Celebrities.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping