Actor Doug Jones talks about how it feels to be the muse for our culture’s most influential monster maker, Guillermo del Toro.

Music in this week’s episode:

The Cemetery by Sinqlogue provided via a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license.

Worky Worky by Andy G. Cohen provided via a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution license.

Tennessee Hayride by Jason Shaw provided via a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license.

Doug Jones envisioned an acting career playing the wacky neighbor in sitcoms, but his career had other plans. In this episode Doug shares war stories from his life as a creature performer, including an incident where he accidently maimed fellow actor Randy Quaid. 

Music for this episode:

Workdaze by Nctmm provided via a Creative Commons 4.0license.

Piscoid by Andy G. Cohen provided via a Creative Commons license.

Jenny’s Theme by Jason Shaw provided via a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Snappy by Jason Shaw provided via a Creative Commons 3.0 license. h

Anson and Branan share their own near-death stories.

Ethan was afraid to live his life until he almost lost it.

The first of four Star Trek episodes, Ethan Peck shares with us the story of auditioning for one of the most iconic characters in film and television history, and how he overcame his own misgivings. When the shoes look way too big, we think only of feet.

Anson and Branan each share a story about an awkward brush with fame.

What would you think if someone told you that you were about to meet your idol? How would you prepare? What would you wear? What would you say? Illeana shares a hilarious and heartwarming story about finding herself in exactly this situation when, one day, she realized she would be meeting Marlon Brando. And Branan shares a story about his own (rather embarrassing) brush with fame.

Illeana Douglas wasn’t always a movie star, but her life has always been strangely intertwined with the American cinema. In fact, long before she knew she wanted to act, her life was forever changed when her parents saw the 1969’s indie “Easy Rider” and decided it was time to become hippies. Join us as we hear Illeana explain how her conservative, Connecticut childhood was ruined, how her father drove goats around town in a station wagon, and how her life was set on a course of creativity that will leave you astounded, perhaps asking yourself if there really is a design to our lives.

Mac knew he wanted to be a children’s book author. But how does one go about that? Join us to find out how Mac carved his way through a conventional education in an unconventional way, studied life and art with literary giant David Foster Wallace, and managed to land his first book deal.

As a child, Mac desperately wanted to believe that there was a magical world in which anything was possible. Later, when he began working with children, he began to realize that world was real, and that he could help to shape it. Join us as we venture deep into the heart of The Chocolate Factory.