WGN - The Download with Justin Kaufmann Podcast

Stand-up comedian, writer and actor Dana Gould joins Justin to talk about his career, the memories he has of performing in Chicago, his relationship with Chicago legend Svengoolie, his latest comedy album, “Mr. Funny Man,” how he develops material to put on a record,  the comedians who have influenced his act, making a transition from stand-up comedy to writing for television shows like “The Simpsons” and “Parks and Recreation,” the upcoming second season of his hit IFC show, “Stan Against […]

The Carry Out is the nightly segment where Justin reads the news so you don’t have to. Tonight’s top stories include the veto session getting underway in Springfield, Cook County commissioners beginning to plug the budget after the soda tax repeal, Sears announcing they are cutting ties with Whirlpool, actor John Stamos getting engaged, the Blackhawks taking on the Golden Knights in Las Vegas, the Bears preparing for their game against the Saints in New Orleans, the Bulls playing the […]

The Carry Out is the nightly segment where Justin reads the news so you don’t have to. Tonight’s top stories include Governor Rauner announcing his bid for re-election, Amazon announcing they received 238 proposals for its second headquarters, a new report saying Facebook is testing the idea of dividing its News Feed in two, the Chicago Bears winning back-to-back games for the first time since 2015, the Blackhawks heading to Vegas tomorrow to take on the Golden Knights, the Bulls […]

Photographer Kevin Nance and friend of the show Tony Fitzpatrick join Dave Hoekstra for a conversation on The Way We Live Now, and ongoing show featuring Nance’s street photography at AdventureLand Gallery (1513 N. Western).

Emmy Award winning actor, playwright and musician Jeff Daniels joins Dave Hoekstra for a conversation on music and life in the Midwest ahead of his upcoming gig at City Winery on October 26.  He talks about balancing his film work and his passion for music, and his approach to writing song vs plays, staying true to his Michigan roots and the ‘feel’ of artists from the Midwest, his thoughts on Bruce Springsteen heading to Broadway, and more. Video by Jon […]

We have a great show for you tonight! Justin welcomes The Daily Line’s Mike Fourcher for a special Tuesday night visit to break down tonight’s gubernatorial forum and give us an update on CTU President Karen Lewis’ health, the hilarious comedian, actress and cabaret singer Bridget Everett talks about her career and upcoming show at the Park West, Northwestern professor and author Wendy Pearlman discusses her book, “We Crossed a Bridge and it Trembled: Voices from Syria” and since it’s Tuesday, […]

The terrific Chicago-based trio Sunshine Boys join Justin in Studio 435 to talk about how the band came together, how their individual styles meld well together, the interesting way they came up with their band name, the collaborative nature of the Chicago music scene, using crowdsourcing to fund their music, their eagerly anticipated debut record, “Blue Music,” and their upcoming show at Martyrs’. The trio also perform a few songs including “Billy Boy,” “Schoolyard Bully” and “Tripping Through Time.”       […]

We have a marvelous show to start the week! On tonight’s episode of The Download, the great writer Dave Eggers chats about his wonderful career and about receiving the 2017 Carl Sandburg Literary Award, Bears Insider Adam Hoge breaks down the Bears thrilling victory over the Baltimore Ravens, Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori talks about her career and the current production of “Fun Home,” playing at the Victory Gardens Theater and we end the show in Studio 435 with some terrific music […]

Tony Award-winning composer and Broadway star Jeanine Tesori joins Justin to talk about her amazing career, what drew her to musicals, how she first came to work on the musical “Fun Home,” the process of taking someone else’s words and putting them into music, the amount of time it takes to get a production to an Off-Broadway stage, how “Fun Home” pushed the boundaries of musicals, consistently being amazed at the power of music, what it is like to work on […]

It’s a special Friday night edition of “The Download on Chicago Business” sponsored by Signature Bank. Tonight, Justin speaks with GrowthPlay co-founder and managing director Amy Dordek about how GrowthPlay came to be, the importance of finding the right people for a specific job, the variety of ways to drive growth, rethinking the way we approach sales, why you need to make sure the sales department is aligned with the executives and how to best deal with sales frustration. Follow Justin […]