Erin talks with Laurie Woolever, the author of the new memoir Care & Feeding, out this week from Ecco/HarperCollins. Laurie was Anthony Bourdain's assistant from 2009 until his death by suicide in 2018. She coauthored the cookbook Appetites and World Travel with him, and is the New York Times bestselling author of Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography. Care & Feeding is an extremely honest portrayal of Laurie's personal and professional coming of age as a high-functioning addict (to alcohol and excess) in the anything goes era of the food gods of NYC; her first job in the industry was as the assistant to the maniacal Mario Batali for a few years in the early 2000s. Laurie also talks about her actual father, John, whose lifelong caregiving of her mother amidst chronic illness taught Laurie a thing or two about how the care and feeding of others can and must extend to the self. 

It’s our annual TMAYF Academy Awards special, in which we examine the ten Best Picture nominees through the lens of literal and symbolic fatherhood. Joining us, as always, is the founding cousin of the TV recap, Vanity Fair’s chief critic, and co-host of the Little Gold Men podcast, Richard Lawson. Together, Matt, Erin, Elizabeth, and Richard chat about dadly silver screen topics, including tyrannical father figures who loom large even in their absence, the seemingly shifting depiction of male mentorship, and, of course, the enduring influence of totalitarian dads, be they popes, oligarchs, or wizards. We also get into the Anora of it all, whether it's time for Timothee to put away childish things, and hear Richard's winner predictions. Hit play!

On this episode, Erin & Elizabeth talk to animal intuitive Phoebe Hoffman, one of the stars of the new documentary about NYC psychics, Look Into My Eyes (currently on Max). The film hints at Phoebe's colorful life growing up with her divorced father Stanley, who Phoebe lived with in a studio apartment in Manhattan throughout her teenage years, when she dropped out of LaGuardia High School of Music and Art in 9th grade. Stanley, an English teacher who nonetheless played fast and loose with the concept of mentoring, was compared to Philip Roth in 1974 when his debut novel was published, but his literary dreams ended with a gig writing forScrew magazine. As Phoebe chain-smoked the Marlboros her dad procured for her, she skipped school to watch John Waters movies on repeat, all while longing for boundaries, apologies, and parenting. A botched stint in therapy with Stanley led to Phoebe finding a way to lovingly detach from her dad, and led to an unlikely new purpose in life: pet psychic. Phoebe tells us about an otherworldly experience with a horse changed everything, what's up with animals as the conduits of our dead loved ones, and whether our pets love us as much as we love them. 

It's the end of 2024 and the time has come for TMAYF's 788th Daddy Awards, which recap the year in masculinity and spotlight the actions of notable fathers and daddies who made our listeners ask themselves, how did we get here, and when will it end. Our shortest ep of the year features all new categories like the Holding Space Award, that recognizes people who have inspired us to wait longingly, sometimes desperately for them, not unlike a father who works late because he hates coming home. And who will win Most Divorced Dad of 2024? (Hint: it's Ben Affleck), which follows the I Can Fix Him award that honors a hot man under 40 right on the cusp of potential and disaster. There's also gongs for the most Dylan-y of Bob Dylan's tweets, Canadian animals dads, and RFK Jr.'s brain worm. See you next year, next month, promise (unless we die)!

This Thanksgiving holiday, Erin pays tribute in the form of a eulogy for her late friend, mentor and stepfather, Terry Orvis, who died in August after a long illness. It's a collaborative approach, as Erin includes conversations she and Terry recorded in 2020 after he was diagnosed with dementia, and tells the story of a complicated, brilliant artist, architect, misanthrope, sports fan, Dylan-head, sailor, poet, cook, friend, husband and father of children lost and found. Erin and Terry met when she was in high school when she was invited to her best friend's divorced dad's Thanksgiving day, where they began a conversation that would go on to last 35 years, especially once Terry met Erin's mom, Paige. If you need a break from the bullshit, listen to this, tell the people you love why you love them, ask them why they love you, press record. 

Peyton Dix, writer, social media strategist, and hilarious co-host of the eminently watchable new pop-culture podcast Lemme Say This, has been on Elizabeth's Tell Me About Your Father guest shortlist for a while, and the day has finally come! Peyton joins her to discuss her comedian dad, their occasionally complicated relationship, and the ways in which their dynamic, as she puts it, has helped her learn to speak two languages: "problematic Black father and English." We also discuss some of her favorite pop culture dads, from the too-hot-to-be-cringe Ethan Hawke to the steadfastly supportive Dwyane Wade—and even America's brother by way of Malibu, Chet Hanks.

Welcome to our first ever presidential election ep not about Biden, wherein we break down the (daddy) issues of the core 4 candidates in the way only TMAYF can or will. Some fun facts about our candidates' formative lives: Kamala's father - named Donald - did not congratulate her on being named VP in 2020, and did not attend the inauguration. According to Donald Trump's psychologist niece Mary, his father Fred was a sociopath, who, "short-circuited Donald's ability to develop and experience the entire spectrum of human emotion." JD's father - also named Donald - never claimed him, and Tim Waltz's dad was a humble HS teacher who died when Tim was just 19. Plus, we parse Michelle Obama's punk AF speech the other night in Kalamazoo. Please vote. Love ya.

In this episode, Erin talks to Cleveland writer Indira Samuels about her Jamaican immigrant dad, Lionel, and their unique bond, cemented by watching television together up until the day Lionel died in 2014. Like so many dads we talk about on this show, Lionel was a man of few words himself, especially when it came to the big stuff like his daughter's teenage pregnancy, her acceptance to a prestigious university, her robbery and assault, or his illness. But what he could share with his youngest daughter before his death in 2014, was a love of storytelling through the syndicated sitcoms and game shows of the 80s. A favorite of them both: The Golden Girls (Lionel saw himself as a Sofia, but Indira thinks her dad was very much a Blanche) and Jeopardy, the show that taught her the most about her father by his trivia answers. We also talk about testing the taste of men through tv, the messiness of Bob Eubanks, Jerry Springer's on-brand game show called Baggage, and processing grief through mourning Alex Trebek.

Emmy nominated writer, comedian, producer and podcaster, Erin Gibson talks with Matt about growing up in Texas with a father who was, deep down, an actor and writer, but who was put through a military academy, fought in Vietnam, and who became an engineer and never saw his natural talents come to fruition. She recalls, three years after his death, what it was like to be by his side for his final month as he fought a losing battle with cancer, and how his death taught her not to be afraid of death and to take more chances. 

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Matt Phillp talks with Komail Aijazuddin, author of new memoir Manboobs about what it was like to grow up Muslim, fat, and queer in Pakistan - with no ability to hide any of those characteristics. He talks about the process of extricating himself from the oppressive silence of his family and from Lahore and what it was like to discover that the America he’d seen through pop culture was nothing like the real thing. 

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