The Dana Gould Hour

We are nearing THAT time of year. Halloween season is almost upon us, so we'll be an accelerated production of the show this month and it's my hope to have the Halloween episode out in all it's glory by October 15th, we've got some big, excellent guests lined up for that show, and they're going to have to be 'cause this show has a murderer's row. Valerie Tosi, held over from last month to make room for big dead Jerry Lewis is here, Valerie is an incredibly funny comedian and an LA transplant from Boston, so yeah, we had more than a little to talk about. The Bitter Buddha is back, Eddie Pepitone is here, 'nuff said, and lastly, a guy I've wanted to have on the show from the episode one. A very funny and talented comedian and actor who is one of those guys who, when it comes to comedy at least, seems to quite literally know everyone and seems to have been every place. He's also the only person I know who has played himself on The X-Files. Mr. Wayne Federman.

October 5th I'll be joining John C McGinley, and Janet Varney at the Javitts Center in New York for the Stan Against Evil Panel at New York Comic Con.

October 6th it's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE LIVE at the Littlefield Theater in New York, with myself, Gilbert Gottfried, Janet Varney, John Hodgman Michale Ian Black, Jean Grea, Scott Adsit, Adam Savage, Ron Lynch and Mark Gagliardi, and Ennis Esmer

October 6th will also see the release of my new album, if that's what they're called, Mr. Funny Man. On Kill Rock Stars records, cassettes and 8 track tapes.

October 12, 13 and 14 I will be back in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the ACME Comedy Club.

A funny thing happened on the way to this podcast. I had recorded the first interview, with podcaster and LA comedy gadfly Mike Carano. I then recorded interview #2, with comedian Valerie Tosi. Valerie and I both grew up in Massachusetts and we started talking about, among other things the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, which always signaled to end of summer vacation.

After we recorded the interview, I thought, you know, I should write the middle piece about Jerry Lewis. He's a pretty interesting dude. And then, I went to bed, and woke up in the morning and learned that Jerry Lewis had died.

Oy. Hope it wasn't me. In any event, although I have never met Jerry, I did see him in what must have been one of his last public appearances here in LA. But, I know people who know Jerry, so I made a couple phone calls and got them over here. So with apologies to Valerie Tosi, who will be appearing next month, my guests today are...

The brilliant and hilarious Mike Carano. If you are a fan of comedy, you may not know him, but every comedian you know knows him. Also, director Steve Kessler, who directed Vegas Vacation, The Independent and Paul Williams Still Alive. And writer director Rob Cohen. I squatted in Rob's office at The Ben Stiller Show in 1992 and we've been friends ever since. Rob has directed SPEECHLESS, MARON, and half of season 2 of STAN AGAINST EVIL. Also, actor, writer artist and Jerry Lewis expert, Ken Daly is here.

As far as I'm concerned, come see me. Live appearance info is at http://DanaGould.com/events

Hot town, summer in the city. The Lovin' Spoonful sang it. But we're gonna keep you cool with a bunch of interesting junk. How's that? Four amazing guests on this episode. April Richardson is here with her pal and mine Karen Kilgariff. You can find April online at @apey, and Karen is one half of the podcast My Favorite Murder, and if you don't know about that by now, I can't help you. Bobcat Goldthwait is here, with his pal comedian Caitlyn Gill. Bob has a new show coming out on Tru called Misfits and Monsters that is going to be amazing. As for me? Lots a stuff coming up. On August 17th 18th and 19th I will be in Cleveland Ohio at Hilarities, I'll try my best to live up to its name, and on September 9th, I will be in Boise Idaho at The Egyptian Theater as part of the 208 Comedy Festival. All live info is at http://www.danagould.com/events/ October will see the release of my new album "Mr. Funny Man" on Kill Rock Stars and season two of Stan Against Evil premiers on IFC on November 1st, so lots and lots and lots of stuff. http://DanaGould.com

Welcome to another episode of The Dana Gould Hour, recorded partially in Los Angeles at Falcon's Lair Studios, and partially in beautiful Atlanta, Georgia, where I am for the summer filming season two of Stan Against Evil. We have three slam-bang smash-pow guests today, in a lighthearted romp for your summer enjoyment. Stand up comedian Joe DeRosa is with us today. You've seen Joe on Better Call Saul as well as on his own comedy special You Let Me Down. He also has a terrific podcast of his own called We'll See You In Hell. Speaking of terrific podcasts, Monster Party's Matt Weinhold is here today. Matt is one of my oldest and dearest pals and an all around excellent human being. And into that box you also have to put the hilarious April Richardson, whose Mom thinks Steve Harvey is funnier than she is. So, give a listen, if only to appreciate how incredibly wrong April's mother is. Me? By the time you here this I will have just wrapped shooting season two of Stan Against Evil, which will be premiering in October on IFC. This fall will also see the release of my new comedy album, Mr. Funny Man on Kill Rock Stars. And if you're going to Comi-Con later this month you'll have two opportunities to see me. One, at the Stan Against Evil Panel, and two, I'll be performing live that weekend at the American Comedy Company, Friday, July 21st and Saturday, July 22nd. For details on all of these and other events and baloney, please check out http://DanaGould.com

Welcome to another episode of the Dana Gould Hour, recorded partially in Los Angeles at Falcon's Lair Studios and partially in beautiful Atlanta, Georgia, where I am for the summer filming season two of Stan Against Evil. And unlike like last year, we will NOT miss an episode of the podcast. We are locked, cocked and ready to rock. We have two amazing and hilarious guests. Brandt Tobler, a comedian and author whose new book, Free Roll, is available now. He has a story that, dare I say it, rivals anyone's. And an old friend of the show, one of the funniest people I know, the hilarious Matt Braunger. http://DanaGould.com

Spring has sprung here at the Dana Gould hour podcast, with a brimming bushel of bright and bouncy banter. Ken Reid is here today, of the superlative podcast TV Guidance Counselor. And our old buddy, the Bitter Buddha himself, Eddie Pepitone is here. As for me, things are heating up far beyond their normal frenzied pace. On May 2nd I'll be at the Lyric Hyperion Theater in Silverlake, CA. This is different from most LA shows as I'm doing a full hour, which clocks in at about an hour. And on May 3rd I'll be in beautiful Seattle, Washington at the Columbia City Theater for two shows, and that, God willing, will be new album, coming out later this year on Kill Rock Stars. I'm thinking of calling it Mighty Mouth, Or Motor Mouth or something like that…. WHATEVER. And then, I'm a-headed back to Atlanta GA to start production on season 2 of IFC's Stan Against Evil, which will be premiering in October. http://DanaGould.com

This is a very special episode of the Dana Gould hour podcast, not the least of which because it came out on schedule. I'm happy to welcome back to the show actor and author Stephen Tobolowsky. Stephen is a man after my own heart. He's an actor, an author, a musician. He is the epitome of those people who's name rings a bell and then you see them and say, "Oh THAT guy!"

He played Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, he was the other amnesiac in Memento, he was Commissioner Jarry on Deadwood, the list goes on and on and on and on. He has a much beloved show on public radio, which is also a podcast, called the Tobolowsky Files and now he has new book entitled My Adventures With God. It's not so much a religious book, thank God, but it is the story of his ups and down in life, catastrophes, successes, and his struggle to obtain some sort of connection with a power greater than himself. As he writes so eloquently, "It's hard to believe in nothing. Even cats believe in suppertime. As much as we love certainty, we are often shaped by the invisible, the unexplainable--something we call faith. We are inclined to acknowledge the holy. Even if it is only a paper heart we find in an old suitcase." Stephen is the best storyteller I know, and that's saying a lot and I'm honored he's here. Joining Stephen is author Maggie Rowe. Maggie has been a good friend of mine for a long, long time. If you had asked me "Of all your friends, who would you say was the most, you now, 'normal'? Maggie would have been high on the list. And then, one day, while a-shootin' at some food, she casually mentioned that she had spent time in a psychiatric hospital and I went, "Oh realllllllly?" Her story is utterly fascinating and is the subject of her new book Sin Bravely. Maggie grew up in a moderately religious household but at a very young age, became obsessed with the fear that she was going to Hell. She struggled with this throughout her adolescence. Have you ever had a beautiful young girl walk up to you in a shopping mall and tell you you were going to Hell? If so, it might have been Maggie. Eventually, realizing she was heading down a road where she might end up, shall we say, something-something for Cocoa Puffs, Maggie checked herself into a Christian psychiatric hospital. I know, to many of you that might sound like a contradiction in terns, but you have to hear the story. It includes a former biker and meth-head struggling with anger management issues, a set of identical twins tormented by erotic fantasies. I'm honored to have both Maggie and Stephen on this episode. http://DanaGould.com

It's 2017 and EVERYTHING'S GREAT! At least as far as fans of this podcast are concerned because this episode is great. If you're a fan of The Walking Dead, or Evil Dead 2 or Day Of The Dead or Kill Bill or Django Unchained or any of the seven million movies and television shows this gentleman has worked on, Greg Nicotero is here today. Greg has gone from being one of the leading special effects make-up wizards in in Hollywood to one of the hottest directors in television. Also joining us, Kevin Fitzgerald, a man I can only describe as a real life Forrest Gump. Kevin Fitzgerald. Kevin is a very funny and talented comedian, based in Denver, who I've known for, probably, twenty-five years. Kevin is also, a very brilliant veterinary surgeon, and is the star of Animal Planets' Emergency Vets. So, I was recently in Denver, and I was talking to Kevin, and I happened to ask how he got into being a veterinarian and he said, "Keith Richard's made me do it." And I said, as you would have said, "Keith Richards, Keith Richards?" and he said, "Yeah." And what I learned was, from this guy I've known forever, that starting in 1969, Kevin was a bodyguard for the Rolling Stones, among many other bands. Kevin has worked with the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, the list goes on and on and on and he's here today to tell us all about it. Me? I've been busier than a one-armed traffic cop with a skin rash. We're currently in pre-production on season 2 of Stan Against Evil, which means we're breaking stories for the season and writing scripts, the special effects shop is already designing a new season's worth of demons and creatures, I'm back at work on this little baby, and, as you may guess, that takes a little time, and I'm still touring. Live dates are at http://www.danagould.com/events/

It's the most wonderful time of the year of course, by wonderful, I mean living in the state of total, unending, frantic chaos and constantly forgetting that you have to buy stamps and your out of Scotch tape. BUT we have an amazing show providing two very interesting looks inside the beautiful business that we call show to wrap up the 2016 year. Pete Aronson is here. Pete is the head of programming and development at the Independent Film Channel, not only is the executive who shepherded my show Stan Against Evil through development and production, he is also is an old friend of mine, who I met first as a writer, and I thought, as we wrap up the year, who better to give you an executive's perspective on the TV business, but in the way regular people can understand and relate to. Pete is smart, funny and a profoundly decent human being, but he's managed to stay working in show business despite that. Also, Kliph Nesteroff and Drew Friedman are here. Kliph wrote one of my favorite books of 2016, The Comedians, a history of stand up comedy in America, now in paperback, and Drew Friedman, Drew is something of a legend. He is an cartoonist and caricature artist. You've seen his work on the cover of The New Yorker, the New York Observer, the late, great, SPY Magazine, but his notoriety goes all the way back to the underground comics of the early '80's like Weirdo and Screw. His book Any Resemblance To Persons Living Or Dead Is Purely Coincidental is one of the single funniest things I have ever read, and his new book, More Heroes Of The Comics, is out right now.

http://DanaGould.com

Today, I'm going to give you both sides of the political spectrum. Neither side an advocate of Donald Trump (I don't think I could get through that) but certainly an advocate for the right and an advocate for the left. There are too many people in this country talking past each other. The internet, which was supposed to unite us, has divided us further, and I am of the belief that the election of a election of someone like Donald trump is in part a direct result of an electorate too far ensconced in their own idealogical redoubts to communitate even the simplest disagreements constructively, and that must stop. Also, since the election, a lot of people, including myself, are full of fear, loathing and anxiety, and maybe that's something we can work on as well. To that end, we have the hilarious and excellent Eddie Pepitone. Eddie was for Bernie when I was for Hillary, and, in retrospect, I think Eddie supported Bernie for the right reasons, he believed in his message, and I voted for Hillary for the wrong ones. I mistakenly felt she had the best chance of beating Trump. Point, Pepitone. Also, from NBC's Meet The Press and his own podcast, Radio Free GOP, Mike Murphy is here. Mike, is no Trump enthusiast, to be sure, but he is not in a free-fall lather either, so thought it wise to seek his counsel.

http://DanaGould.com