Tim Harrington and Paul Wright, better known as Boston-based folk duo Tall Heights, are taking a little time to breathe to start off 2017. Last year, they released Neptune, their second full-length album and their first for major label Sony Masterworks. Neptune added some electronic wrinkles to the sound they had established on their first EP and album - two-part harmonies, cello, and acoustic guitar. It also took them around the US and Europe on tour, and landed them on NPR's World Cafe and Mountain Stage.

In honor of the second season of Baskets kicking off tonight on FX, I thought I'd share a bit of my conversation with comedian, author, and actor Louie Anderson. I spoke with Anderson last July about Baskets and his long career in stand-up. In this 20-minute minicast, we talk about how the 80s might have been more fun, but how Anderson feels a bit more like himself now onstage. Anderson won an EMMY last year for his portrayal of Christine Baskets, mother of the title character Chip Baskets.

Nick Kroll and John Mulaney are about to finish off their run on Broadway with Oh, Hello, on January 22. Since there are just a few weeks left, I wanted to give you a glimpse into what went into creating Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland, the Upper West Side bachelor theatre-lovers who are, along with a tuna fish sandwich puppet, at the center of the production. I spoke with them in January 2016 when they brought a touring version of the show here, before they had definite plans for Broadway.

One hundred years ago today, horror and humor writer Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco, California. To celebrate this centennial, I spoke with her grandson, Miles Hyman, about her work and her legacy. Hyman is an accomplished artist in his own right, and just released a graphic novel adaptation of what is perhaps Jackson’s most famous work, her short story “The Lottery.” Plus new music from Wild Feathers.

Sam Phillips fans have reason to celebrate this fall. She has a new mini-album out, called Human Contact Is Never Easy, which includes four songs that may wind up on a new album, called World On Sticks, she expects to release in 2017. You can read my review of the mini-album in the New Release Roundup from November 25, but it’s an impressive collection of songs. It includes a live rendition of “Reflecting Light,” which deserves to be called a classic song, and that’s included at the end of the podca

When I interviewed Alejandro Escovedo for this episode, we were sitting in the green room upstairs at the Brighton Music Hall in Boston. You can hear the band soundchecking in the background. There is no better setting to talk to a man who has spent nearly forty years traveling the world, playing guitar and singing for audiences of all shapes and size. He was gracious and thoughtful, as his songwriting implies, talking about the stories behind the songs on his latest album, Burn Something Beautiful.

Colin Quinn has just released two new one-man shows -- Unconstitutional on CD, and The New York Story on Netflix. We could use a dose of him right now. I've interviewed him a few times for the Boston Globe and always found him a reasonable observer of unreasonable times. He's bemused by politics and what it does to people. When he came to Boston in 2013 with Unconstitutional, we talked about the show, and about how partisan America is and probably always has been. This is an excerpt from that conversation.

Anyone who has Reggie Watts spin beats and jokes onstage will tell you he is a comic, musical genius. With a microphone and a couple of effects and loopers, he can build a sonic wall of melody and funny unlike anything you've heard. In 2012, I interviewed Watts about comedy and music for American Songwriter Magazine, In this excerpt, he talks about early influences, from Victor Borge to Sesame Street. Watts is a fantastic improvisor, and I enjoy the way he describes that process here.

Gould spoke to the origins of the show, and how Stan is based in large part on his father, who would probably be deeply annoyed if an ancient curse arose to interrupt the Celtics game. I've always loved a good horror comedy, and we talked a bit about the mechanics that make those two elements work so well together. Since is the Department of Tangents, we did stray from Stan a bit to talk about The X-Files and Ghostbusters reboots, and the wonderful promotional items IFC sends out to the press.

My guest for this Minicast is Peter Simeti, founder and publisher of Alterna Comics and author of the gra,phic novel The Chair, which was recently made into a film starring, in his final feature film role, Mr. Kick Ass and Chew Bubblegum, Roddy Piper. The Chair made its regional debut in a theater just outside of Boston last, and I was able to sit down with Simeti after the screening to talk about adapting the graphic novel for the big screen, and Simeti's plans for Alterna.