Beginnings

On today's episode I talk to TV writer and performer Eliot Glazer. Originally from Long Island, Eliot is now based in LA and has written for or contributed to shows like Billy on the Street, Difficult People, Best Week Ever, Younger, Broad City, New Girl, and currently Teachers. He also recently developed a show for Comedy Central produced by Will Arnett. As a performer, you've seen him on plenty of shows, such as playing Ilana's brother on Broad City, or at his wonderful live show Haunting Renditions, where Eliot takes some of pop music's most infamous songs and turns them into highbrow, sweeping ballads. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Angelo de Augustine. Angelo writes and records music in Thousand Oaks, California -- a suburb north of Los Angeles, where he grew up.  His self-released debut album, Spirals of Silence, and 3-song EP follow-up, How Past Begins, earned praise from The FADER, Stereogum, Vogue, My Old Kentucky Blog, and more, and his music has been compared to Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Vashti Bunyan and Judee Sill. His latest album, Swim Inside the Moon, was released by Asthmatic Kitty in August. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Inara George. The daughter of Lowell George, who was a member of Frank Zappa's band and the founder of rock group Little Feat, Inara grew up in Topanga Canyon, in the outskirts of Los Angeles. Since the 1990s, she has been a member of a number of bands herself including Lode, Merrick, and starting in the early 2000s, the indie pop duo The Bird and The Bee with Greg Kurstin. The duo have released a number of amazing albums and EPs, including an self-titled record, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future, and their latest, Recreational Love, which was released in 2015. Inara has also recorded a number of albums under her own name: All Rise in 2005, An Invitation in 2008, which she recorded with Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks, Accidental Experimental in 2009, and her latest Dearest Everybody, which will come out early next year. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to TV writer Annie Mebane. Originally from Florida, Annie came up in comedy at iOWest and UCBLA, performing on house improv teams at both theaters. As a writer, she's worked on a number of awesome shows including Happy Endings, Breaking In, Community, The Michael J. Fox Show, The Goldbergs, and currently the new Heathers series. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to TV writer Cord Jefferson. Originally from Tucson, Cord began his career as a print journalist, first as senior editor at GOOD magazine and then as the west coast editor at Gawker. His reporting and writing have appeared in numerous places including National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine,  The Root, TheNation.com, Jezebel, The American Prospect, and many others. As a TV writer, he started off on The Nightly Show, moved to Master of None, and currently writes on the wonderful NBC show The Good Place.  This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Cory Hanson. Originally from Los Angeles, Cory began playing music professionally with Mikal Cronin and the bands, together PANGEA and Meatbodies. In 2014 he formed Wand with his former art school classmates Lee Landey and Evan Burrows, and they've gone on to record four albums: Ganglion Reef, Golem, 1000 Days, and their latest Plum (the last two were released on the wonderful label Drag City!). Last year, Drag City also released Cory's solo album The Unborn Capitalist from Limbo. All of these terrific! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer and podcaster Andrew Ti. Originally from Michigan, Andrew is the creator and host of the Yo, Is This Racist blog and podcast, which has been part of Earwolf for many years. In both forms, Andrew takes fan-submitted questions about whether certain cultural phenomena are racist or not. Besides Yo, Is This Racist, Andrew's also a writer, and has worked on a number of projects including Problematic with Moshe Kasher. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to cartoonist Eli Valley. Eli's work has been featured in The Nation, The New Republic, The Village Voice, The Nib, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Gawker among other places, and from 2011 to 2013, he was the Artist in Residence at The Forward, a progressive Jewish newspaper based in New York. His critically-acclaimed anthology Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel is available now from OR Books. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to rapper Latasha Alcindor AKA LA. Originally from Flatbush, Brooklyn, Latasha made her way into hip hop in a unique way: through performance art. In only six short years, she's put out a number of great albums including The Presentation and The LA Riots in 2011, Spark in 2014, Loosies and Blunts a year later, and two this year B(LA)K and Teen Nite at Empire. All are worth your time! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer Jill Eisenstadt. Jill is the author of the novels From Rockaway, Kiss Out and Swell and with her sister, director Debra Eisenstadt, the co- writer and co-producer of the feature film, The Limbo Room. In the 1980s, she was part of the 'Literary Brat Pack' whose members included Bret Easton Ellis, Jay McInerney, and Tama Janowitz. Other work of Jill's has appeared in such publications as The New York Times, New York Magazine, Vogue, Elle, The Boston Review, as well as many others. Jill is also the recipient of a Columbia University Writing Fellowship, a National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Teacher Award and a National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Grant. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to Emmy-award winning writer and performer Zhubin Parang. Before coming to comedy, Zhubin graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and was a practicing lawyer in New York City. During this time, he studied at and eventually became a performer at UCB. In 2011, he joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a writer, and eventually Zhubin became the head writer when the show transitioned to Trevor Noah. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to Peabody Award–winning writer-director-producer Miles Kahn. Miles got his start in entertainment as a writer and director, and in 2008 joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He worked his way up to Senior Producer, and during his time there, also produced a number of specials for stand-ups like Wyatt Cenac and D.L. Hughley.  In 2015, Miles left the Daily Show to serve as executive producer for Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, where he's been since. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to Queens-based cartoonist and illustrator Mattie Lubchansky. Mattie is the Associate Editor of the Nib, a daily political comics site under the First Look Media umbrella, which also houses the brilliant left-wing news site The Intercept. Mattie's work has appeared in VICE, Eater, Mad Magazine, Gothamist, The Toast, The Hairpin, Brooklyn Magazine, as well as their long-running webcomic Please Listen to Me. Additionally, they are the co-author with their wife of the book Dad Magazine, which was published by Quirk last year. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to screenwriter and activist Jeremy Pikser. Originally on his way to be a teacher, Jeremy instead became a screenwriter after a series of events led him to be a "special consultant" and uncredited writer on the film Reds, which was nominated for an Academy Award for screenplay. He's written a number of other films as well, including The Lemon Sisters with Diane Keaton and Elliott Gould, War, Inc. with John Cusack and Bulworth with Warren Beatty. The screenplay for Bulworth was nominated for many awards including the Academy, Golden Globe, and WGA awards and was the winner of the LA Film Critics Best Screenplay award. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to policy analyst and data scientist Sam Sinyangwe. Sam grew up in Orlando, FL, and has been involved in organizing and advocacy since he was in high school. He's worked at PolicyLink helping to support a national network of 61 "Promise Neighborhoods" with the goal of building cradle-to-career systems of support for low-income families. He created the "Mapping Police Violence" project, which collects and uses data as a tool for fighting police violence. And most recently, he founded Campaign Zero with DeRay Mckesson and Brittany Packnett. Campaign Zero is a comprehensive organization dedicated to ending police violence by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability. He's also the co-founder of two other activist organizations StayWoke and OurStates, the latter which is dedicated to connecting communities in order to combat the Trump/GOP agenda.  This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to award-winning playwright, author, and performer Isaac Oliver. His debut collection of essays, Intimacy Idiot, was named one of NPR's Best Books of 2015. His plays include Electra in a One-Piece, and the ten-minute plays “3, 2, 1,” “Film Forum,” and “Come Here”, which won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Short Script. Additionally, he's written for The New York Times, W Magazine, Time Out New York, Out, and HBO's High Maintenance. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to Jade Payne and Mars Ganito of the indie rock band Aye Nako. Formed in 2010, Aye Nako is a New York-based queer punk band who make dissonant and melodic punk music. In 2013, they self-released their first album Unleash Yourself, and in 2015, Don Giovanni Records released their EP THe Blackest Eye. The album saw the band explore personal themes such as abuse and racism, and it garnered a great deal of critical acclaim, ending up on several "best of" lists including both the New York Times and NPR. They were even voted "Best Garage Band in New York" in the Village Voice that year. Their latest album Silver Haze was also released on Don Giovanni earlier this year. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

I'm moving to LA this week, so I wanted to take a break from producing an episode to settle into the new digs and recover from having to take two cats on a cross-country flight. And while I was getting ready for the move, I was cleaning up my hard drive and found some of the music from when Beginnings was a monthly live show at UCB East (every month we'd have a musical guest perform and then be interviewed). These performances are really fantastic, and I don't know how many people have heard them, so this week, I thought I'd put out a mixtape of Beginnings live show performances (and a couple of in-studio ones too). Enjoy! Hayden - Rainy Saturday A.C. Newman - I'm Not Talking Xenia Rubinos Swearin' - What a Dump ARMS - Comfort Dan Friel - Ulysses Savoir Adore - Loveliest Creature Islands - Christmas Tree Dump - New York City Tonight Brother JT - Warm's the New Cool Mike Pace and the Child Actors - McKinley Xenia Rubinos A.C. Newman - Drink to Me Babe Then Swearin' - Crashing Dan Friel - Thumper Brother JT - G

On today's episode I talk to musician Jen Goma. Based in New York City, Jen writes and produces music, comedy and videos. She is a member of the bands A Sunny Day in Glasgow and Roman à Clef and has collaborated with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Jherek Bischoff. Her first solo album Smiley Face, recorded under the name Showtime Goma was just released, and it's great! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer Joseph Kertes. Joe was born in Hungary but escaped with his family to Canada after the revolution of 1956. He studied English at York University and the University of Toronto and founded Humber College's distinguished creative writing and comedy programs. As an author, he's written a number of books including Winter Tulips and Boardwalk. His third book Gratitude won the Canadian National Jewish Book Award and the U.S. National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, and his latest book The Afterlife of Stars, based on his childhood in Hungary, is a New York Times Editor's Choice. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.