Today Patrick sits down with actor Drew Talbert to build the playlist of his life.

After college Drew Talbert moved from Nashville, Tennessee to LA to make it in the movies. Like so many other aspiring writers and actors he worked as a server to pay the bills while he pursued his dreams. He eventually joined the legendary Groundlings theater company and was a teacher there for years. But he wasn’t finding the kind of success he had hoped for when he moved.

That was until COVID hit and Drew found himself stuck at home, not able to perform anywhere. So he took his Groundlings training and his years of server experience and started making videos on TikTok about a fictional restaurant called Bistro Huddy. (He writes the sketches with his wife Andrea Kelley and he plays all the parts himself). Soon his videos blew up and Drew now has nearly 10 million followers on social media with every new Bistro Huddy episode getting millions of views.

Drew and I talk about growing up in Nashville while not liking country music, what music sounds like after you get sober, and the amazing road trip music draft he has with his friends.

Listen to Drew’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.

Today Patrick sits down with musician and author Doug Robertson to build the playlist of his life.

Doug spent a lot of his life as an elementary school teacher and turned that experience into several acclaimed books, including He’s The Weird Teacher and A Classroom of One. But in his 30s he had a revelation that he was constantly asking his students to challenge themselves and to do things they’d never done before, but he couldn’t remember the last time he had challenged himself. So he decided to pick up an instrument and start learning to play. Now he’s got his own heavy metal band Red Hoof and they’re releasing their debut album this month.

Doug and I talk about getting into heavy metal for the first time, the time he decided to drop everything and move to Hawaii, and the amazing story of how he went from thinking he wasn’t musically inclined to mastering prog songs.

Listen to Doug’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

Today Patrick sits down with content creator Mike “Source” Smith to build the playlist of his life.

Source was one of my earliest mutuals on TikTok; he has such a deep love and knowledge of music that it was only natural to get him on the Guest List to talk about some of the songs that shaped his life. On TikTok and Instagram he is the go to expert on all things hip hop. He asks thought provoking questions, creates interesting conversations and is always on Live playing great tunes.

In this episode we talk about how he first fell in love with hip hop and started rapping himself, his top 5 MCs, his family and much more.

Listen to Source’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

Today Patrick sits down with vintage fashion content creator Gabi Jones to build the playlist of her life.

Gabi didn’t expect to make a career out of posting about vintage fashion online. But like a lot of creative people when COVID hit- she was an actress who was in college studying theater- she turned to social media as an outlet for performing. She had inherited a large clothing collection from her grandmother and started making videos about the history of the pieces. Her Tiktok channel started blowing up and soon she had grown to over a million followers across social media. She has also just released a book How to Dress Vintage which is out today.

We talk about how she got started making videos, the connection between music and fashion, and what music she listens to while she gets dressed.

Listen to Gabi’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

Today Patrick sits down with comedian Margaret Cho to build the playlist of her life.

Margaret Cho is one of the greatest stand up comedians of all time, but she also makes some awesome music (her latest album Lucky Gift came out this year). Having grown up in the San Francisco punk and new wave scenes, Margaret brought that alternative edge into comedy and became an icon in the 90s. She’s also an actress, an activist, a director, a podcaster, and so much more.

Margaret and I talk about the role comedy plays in the current political world, how music and comedy compare, and what song she thinks captures the spirit of her new tour Choligarchy.

Listen to Margaret’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

Today Patrick sits down with journalist Miki Hellerbach to build the playlist of his life.

Miki is a writer whose work has appeared in Complex, Okayplayer, Men’s Health, NPR, and more. He also has a Substack called Inside the Credits which focuses on music producers. And his current project is a show called The Spot where he visits the hometown of a musician and goes with them to their favorite spot to eat. The Spot is currently crowdfunding to do a full season so if you want to contribute check out their Seed and Spark page.

Miki and I find we have a lot in common as we talk about our respective music interview shows with a twist, the genius of Kendrick Lamar, and how much we both love the show Lost.

Listen to Miki’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

Note - next week The Guest List will go to once a week instead of two episodes per week.

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

Today Patrick sits down with content creator Coco Mocoe to build the playlist of her life.

Coco is an expert on all things trends, marketing, content strategy, and pop culture. She makes videos for her over 1 million followers on TikTok, writes a newsletter on Substack, and has her own show The Middle Row with Coco Mocoe where she sits in a movie theater with different musicians and watches their music video with them. I also have met her in person a couple times at different events and she is one of the genuinely nicest people you’ll ever meet.

We talk about growing up in the underdog city of Long Beach, how she became a full time content creator, and of course what artists she thinks will blow up next.

Listen to Coco’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

Today Patrick sits down with journalist Melissa Locker to build the playlist of her life.

Melissa is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose work has appeared in Time, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, and many more publications on a wide variety of topics. But I wanted to have her on because she has just written a fascinating book about the history of Oasis fans. It’s called And After All: A Fan History of Oasis and it tells the story not of the band, but of the people who love them.

We talk about growing up in Portland, Oregon in a religious household, her podcast that got stolen by Amazon, where she wrote her Oasis book, and much much more.

Listen to Melissa’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.

Today Patrick sits down with music content creator Jacob Givens to build the playlist of his life.

Do you remember the first time you heard the Smashing Pumpkins? What about Rage Against the Machine or Tori Amos or Radiohead? Jacob Givens does. And he has made an art of capturing the feeling of hearing iconic artists like those in short, often funny, videos on social media. His videos have been viewed by millions and millions of people, including many of the musicians he has paid tribute to. He is also a musician himself playing in the alternative band Temple of the Dads and the host of the podcast Waterproof Records.

In this episode we talk about Jacob’s journey to music obsession, how he has introduced his passion for music to his kids, and what band he would love to find a way to make a video about.

Listen to Jacob’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.

Today Patrick sits down with machine learning engineer and content creator Shane Morris to build the playlist of his life.

Shane is normally on podcasts discussing topics like “Data Engineering in the Federal Sector” since his day job is working as a senior executive advisor in the world of defense and national security. But before all that he was also in the music business, working for MySpace Music in it’s heyday, running a music website called Ear Milk, and managing huge stars like rapper Travis Scott (who Shane called the worst person he ever worked with).

Patrick and Shane talk about the best music to code to, getting music recommendations from famous DJs, and what song best represents Shane’s weird love of the condiment Heinz Buffaranch.

Listen to Shane’s playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal.

The video version of The Guest List with Patrick Hicks is available on Substack and YouTube.

You can subscribe to the audio only podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get podcasts.

Please rate and review if you enjoyed the episode!

The Guest List with Patrick Hicks was created by Patrick Hicks and Ellie Stathopoulos.