This Is Your Afterlife

I discuss specific New Year's resolutions and the concept of resolutions with previous guests Ariel Elias and Daniel Strauss in the first ever This Is Your Afterlife New Year's Special.

We talk about the best approach to making resolutions, how to break big goals down into smaller ones, and if it's worth it to make them at all! Ariel and Daniel also talk a lot about Rosh Hashanah and try to frame me as anti-Semitic in the process, which is honestly fucked up. Actually, this is a really bad episode. Don't listen to this one.

To hear extended episodes, every installment of the debrief podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and more experiments like this one, please join the show's Patreon at patreon.com/davemaher. You're making possible my dream of making this show my living.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me"

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Follow Ariel: @ariel_comedy on TikTok and Twitter, and find tickets to her shows January 6-8 at Comix Roadhouse in Connecticut on her website, arieleliascomedy.com.

Follow Daniel: @danielstrauss on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to my alt-weekly-style newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com for essays, music recs, and interesting links every Friday.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock the Artist or Personal Story Workshops? Email [email protected].

I guess it's not back to regular programming this week. Instead, you get a Christmas special!

My aftershow co-host Meaghan Strickland and her partner, Tim Lamphier, listen to me try to explain my love for "Alt jeg ønsker meg," a 2015 Christmas song by then-13-year-old Norwegian twin Justin Biebers Marcus & Martinus.

Join us on this ride. Meaghan and Tim take stabs at translating Norwegian, Tim give lightning-round answers to the usual This Is Your Afterlife questions, and they name me the Magellan of music. There are no lessons to learn, just an introduction to a whipped cream dollop of a song I desperately hope you like.

To hear extended episodes, every installment of the debrief podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and more experiments like this one, please join the show's Patreon at patreon.com/davemaher. You're making possible my dream of making this show my living.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Music = Marcus & Martinus

Watch the video for "Alt jeg ønsker meg": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SImOMpDk4Rg

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Follow Tim on Twitch and watch him stream at twitch.tv/totallytimlol! Find him on Instagram: @totallytimlol, or on Twitter: @timlamphier.

Follow Meaghan on Twitter: @MeaghanStrick and Instagram: @stricklygram, and go to her website: meaghanstrickland.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email [email protected].

I share quarantine "coma moments" (like embracing my identity as a metaphorically ambient comedian), the process of developing my one-man show Literally the Afterlife, and a live standup recording of my newest bit, "Bud Light Coma Guy," in the first solo episode of This Is Your Afterlife!

Back to our regular programming next week.

To hear extended episodes, every installment of the debrief podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and more experiments like this one, please join the show's Patreon at patreon.com/davemaher. You're making possible my dream of making this show my living

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email [email protected].

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

G.O.A.T. episode here. What starts as a usual This Is Your Aftershow—with Claire Favret & Meaghan Strickland joining me to unpack Oscar Sanchez's episode of This Is Your Afterlife—becomes something entirely new to the "This Is Your" Universe when Oscar surprises Meaghan & Claire halfway through by JOINING US.

With and without Oscar, we touch on topics such as:

• how misguided, confusing, and ridiculous this show is
• the necessity of hope
• birthday cake smashing
• band-aid solutions to systemic problems
• race jokes (Oscar and I make them)
• anxiety attacks
• the possibility of clout organizers being secretly useful actors

Plus, Oscar reads a couple of his poems!

This is the longest single episode of either show ("Afterlife" or "Aftershow") I've ever published on the main feed, with the longest intro I've ever done, and it's the episode I'm proudest of producing in a year and a half of making this show. I hope everyone who would like what this is listens to the whole episode. I feel like this show is becoming something different, something even more special: a world.

If you can, please join the show's Patreon at patreon.com/davemaher to make possible my dream of making this show my living. You'll get all episodes of This Is Your Aftershow, the extended episodes of This Is Your Afterlife, and more!

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow Meaghan on Twitter: @MeaghanStrick and Instagram: @stricklygram, and go to her website: meaghanstrickland.com.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow Oscar: @oso_campeon on Twitter and Instagram, and follow CHI Hunger Strike: @CHIhungerstrike on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email [email protected].

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Oscar Sanchez (Southeast Chicago community activist, CHI Hunger Striker to #StopGeneralIron, and poet) calls my first question about death "wholesome." Then he gets fiery about the fight for hope, joy, and liberation. He lays out his funeral spread, including carne asada and choco flan. He chooses to relive a memory he doesn't have except in a photobook. And he challenges the entire premise of asking "What's your coma?" A TIYA for the ages.

Get Oscar's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and enjoy fun bonuses while supporting me and the show!

Follow Oscar: @oso_campeon on Twitter and Instagram

Follow these groups Oscar recommends you check out:

CHI Hunger Strike: @CHIhungerstrike on Twitter and Instagram

Southeast Youth Alliance: @seyouthalliance (Twitter) and @southeastyouthalliance (IG)

Chicago Environmental Justice Network: @CEJNetwork on Twitter and Instagram

Southeast Environmental Task Force: setaskforce.org

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email [email protected].

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Nicholas Ward talks to me about the deep friendships that have shaped his life, including in difficulty and tragedy. We also talk about his plan to get an urn shaped like Prince's symbol and engineering car rides to catch the sunset.

Nick's book, All Who Belong May Enter, is a reflective AND FUN tramp through Midwestern restaurants, neighborhoods, and suburbs, all the while examining the privilege that so many in his (and my) position never question. Listen to this episode, and then check it out!

Get Nick's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and enjoy fun bonuses while supporting me and the show!

Buy All Who Belong May Enter from Autumn House Press: autumnhouse.org

Follow Nick!

His website: nicholascward.com

Twitter: @NicholasCWard

Instagram: @nicholascward

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email [email protected].

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Claire Favret and Meaghan Strickland join me to unpack Rob Auton's episode of This Is Your Afterlife, including such topics as:

• needing subtitles for British accents
• The Agreement Zone
• hard work + talent + luck in creative/entertainment careers

Get all episodes of This Is Your Aftershow and the extended episodes of This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow Meaghan on Twitter: @MeaghanStrick and Instagram: @stricklygram, and go to her website: meaghanstrickland.com.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Claire Favret (comedian, friend, fan) professes her newfound love for pretty much everything about Ariel Elias in our debrief of Ariel's This Is Your Afterlife episode.

Get all episodes of This Is Your Aftershow and the extended episodes of This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Rob Auton (HBO's Miracle Workers, Edinburgh Fringe whiz) is a writer, performer, comedian, and poet of extraordinary wonder. While this episode is split into many of the usual segments about Rob's personal hell, his views of the afterlife, funeral planning, and his "coma," this conversation flows together as one long meditation on the meaning and magic of life and finding your purpose.

Check out Rob's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and make it so I can continue to produce This Is Your Afterlife ad-free!

Buy Rob's new book, "I Strongly Believe in Incredible Things," on Bookshop or Amazon.

Follow Rob: @RobertAuton on Twitter, @robauton on Instagram

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email [email protected].

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Ariel Elias (Just for Laughs New Faces) is a fantastic standup comic, my friend, and my co-host on our upcoming SURVIVOR PODCAST together. Here, she talks about the comfort she gets from outer space, enjoying seizures while she's in them, a simple and beautiful memory of her late dog, and not one but two "coma" moments, one from childhood and one from adulthood. It's a cozy and charming portrait of Ariel and of our still-budding friendship!

Check out Ariel's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and make it so I can continue to produce This Is Your Afterlife ad-free!

Follow Ariel: @ariel_comedy on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok

Visit her website: www.arieleliascomedy.com

Listen and subscribe to our Survivor podcast, It's a Fucking Stick, when it comes out!

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email [email protected].

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"