In Defense: A Podcast

LA improviser and LA lady Erin Byrne (@esbyrne) swings by the garage to talk about her love of artificial sweetener water enhancers. What a mouthful! Erin has many opinions on foods and spices and the culinary arts, and we go through all of them! Along the way, we also discuss shark facts, Trader Joes secrets, olives and pickles, “wet tickles,” and we talk through the specifics of Erin’s business cards!

Fan favorite Bill Parker (@hiimbillparker on Instagram, Billy on the Street) returns to the show to talk about a sport he feels passionately about, yet does not get the respect it deserves: Bowling! Bill goes into his time as a high school varsity bowler and into the nitty gritty that makes it more competitive than the layman would believe. We also discuss musician biographies, bar trivia, Robin Williams, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid multiverse, gambling, and Bill participates in a rapid fire round of mini-defenses!

Professional comedian Justin Sherman (@shermancomedy) swings by the studio to discuss his daily ritual of watching old Howard Stern clips on YouTube, which I find fascinating. However, we mostly giggle and shoot the breeze about random topics, such as toasting, drinking games, indecisiveness, crab rangoon, 311, and the comedy scene. Justin is quite possibly the funniest person I know, and he proves it well here!

Excellent comedian Eli Yudin (@eliyudin) talks about his love of extreme sports-based energy drink Monster and how it has a bad reputation based on its look and general vibe. However, he attempts to distract and go on tangents, so we also discuss meeting in college, grammar, Mountain Dew, grade school required reading, conjoined twin operations, piercings, and if you listen carefully, you can hear us get genuinely scared at one point!

Returning Champion Carolyn Klarecki gets a shot at her ultimate defense: the much-maligned Episode II, which some consider the true blemish of the Star Wars franchise. We discuss the good and the bad that come with this movie between coughing fits, and we rank the Star Wars franchise! We also really get into Schoolhouse Rock!

During the release week of another huge installment of the series, Joey revs his engine of love on the great action franchise that sometimes gets a bad rap! Also, Girlfriend of the Show Sam Colon makes a quick appearance to back up Joey’s theory!

Kemoslabies and music heads! Listen up as the stars of This is Mythical’s Ten Feet Tall, Alex Punch (@punchale) and Mike Criscimagna (@MikeCriscimagna, @TinyTigerBoys on Instagram), talk Say Anything, the wonderful emo alternative band that time forgot. We NERD OUT on their discography, and we talk about band after band like a bunch of total music nerds. On the way, we talk fast food, Hot Dog Man, high school shows, the bands that defined our tastes, their crazy friendship with Post Malone, and Mike plays the song Max Bemis wrote for him and his friends! Check out their new YouTube series here: https://youtu.be/jVejErcTH8k

Girlfriend of the show Sam Colon (@samjcolon on Instagram) makes her triumphant return to the show to talk all about her beloved Real Housewives of Various American Cities. She talks about her history with the show and why she’s so invested in it, even though I take a pretty hard opposing stance! We also talk Dante’s Peak, different pronunciations of last names, Dogs with Jobs, Shark Tank, and we discuss human centipedes! #BreakupNo

Ah, the ancient art of note taking: lists, ideas, to-do’s. We’ve all had a notebook or two for such tasks. But “dear” friend Ryan Middledorf (@ryanmiddledorf, host of Cheers, Stomps and Whistles and The Parrothead Podcast) has a heavy loyalty and a paid subscription to the Field Notes brand. Listen as we talk about his storied history with the brand and how his massive collection of little notebooks have saved his life. We also talk high school movies, our mutual love of Best Buy, movie billboards, WTF impressions, and we compare Ryan’s amazing notebook collection to Joey’s awful one!

Comedian and podcaster Katelyn Hempstead (host of the Lizard People podcast) shares her profound love for the 90s sci-fi space show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine! She knows a crazy amount about this show that isn’t Star Wars, and she shows just how much it means to her! We also talk about the downsides of bathrooms, what we were like as children, Stephen King, passive aggression, and our preferences on how to say no to things!

After dropping little podcast recommendations the past few episodes, Joey sits down and lays out all the cards, giving you his favorite comedy podcasts and getting you to fall in love with all of them!

Old guest and new father John Paul Green (@johnpaulgreen) opens up for the first time about his secret plan to never open up by cutting himself off emotionally from everything and everyone (but it isn’t as negative as it sounds)! He talks about keeping his walls up and avoiding vulnerability, but not before we discuss the Disney Channel, Veggie Tales, camp movies, Ed Begley Jr, Xbox, and the entire Weezer discography!

Dear friend Dani Rosenberg (@GrownWomanChild) welcomes me with open arms to her obsession with the deep and ever-changing world of celebrity couples. She walks me through the great relationships, the bad ones, the weird ones, and the surprise ones that still don’t make sense! We also discuss aux cables, Ace of Base, tiny trains, playgrounds, and forgettable members of otherwise great bands!

Reigning champion John Totman (Cobbler improv) makes a triumphant return to the show to talk about his extreme love for The Best Show on WFMU. John shares the storied history of the cult radio show and his personal connections to it, as well as our interactions with the police, media we struggle to get into, podcasts we love, my favorite guitar solos, and the pizza place from the Louie intro!

Despite 2016 being the opposite of a banner year, it was one heck of a banner year for TUNES BABY. Joey spends the second minisode sharing his favorite albums of 2016 and why they should be your favorite albums of 2016 too!

Actor and comedian Nick Skardarasy (@nickskardarasy) returns to the program to convince me that alcohol is evil and mixed drinks are where it’s at! We’re all over the place on this one, and when we’re not discussing delicious cocktail creations or our post-college hangovers, we’re covering cool politicians, the complexities of the english language, Overwatch, hookah, chiptune music, and the trades we’d learn if we could do start our lives over!

Roller rinks are back, baby! Not really, but friend and documentary producer Eric Wojtanik (The Fan Connection) has a fairly new yet incredibly passionate love of roller skating that makes me want to love anything that much. He shares his experiences taking lessons with children and teaches the vast regulations and styles of skating, as well as sharing his celebrity roller skater sightings!

Best friend and funniest person I know Ben Clausen invites me along for a journey through his unconditional love of buddy movies, buddy cop films, and just about any variation of movies featuring friends hanging out! We talk about all of the categories/types of buddy movies, as well as posters, Aerosmith, Jumanji, and A Million Little Pieces. Listen close and he might even give you some hot recs!

Famous guest Zoe Klar (@zoeklar) returns to her roots, this podcast, to defend her love of the much-maligned selfie stick. We discuss the many advantages of the stick and even snap a few pics with it after it charges! We also discuss Trump impressions, Subway, chicken digglers, Mark Zuckerberg, Shark Tank, and we check out some Amazon reviews of the exact selfie stick in our possession!

Wonderfully funny stand-up and podcast host MJ Riggins (@mjriggins, co-host of the Barely Friending podcast) discusses the perks of living solo, how it affects her daily life and her eating/cleaning habits, and we swap bad roommate stories! We also talk vampires, naps, swimming, and coyotes!