Show for Feb 6, 2010: Comedian and Storyteller Kumail Nanjiani
Kumail Nanjiani’s stand-up performances and his one-man show (“Unpronounceable”) have earned him great reviews and a widening fan base. His success is especially impressive given his relatively recent plunge into comedy. He wasn’t exposed to US-style stand-up before he moved here from Pakistan at the age of 18, and he didn’t try it himself until a few years later. We talked about life and laughs in Pakistan and the US, learning American English from the movies, pushing back against South Asian stereotypes, his creative work ethic (he tries to write new material every day) and more.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
Show for Jan 30, 2011: Comedian and Podcaster Marc Maron
Marc Maron was at a low point in his life in late 2009 when he took up a new sideline: interviewing fellow comedians in a podcast he calls What the Fuck. Marc’s funny, raw and often revelatory heart-to-hearts with the likes of Louie C.K., Judd Apatow, Carlos Mencia, Robin Williams, Janeane Garofalo, Sarah Silverman and many others have made WTF one of the most listened-to podcasts on the web—and won him glowing write-ups in Rolling Stone and the NY Times. Marc and I talked about the impact of WTF on his life, his sometimes uneasy relationships with other comics, his on-mic persona and the differences between conventional radio (Marc was a host on Air America) and the freer world of podcasting.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
Show for Jan 2, 2011. Comedy from the Inside: Paul Provenza
Comedian and humor maven Paul Provenza returns to the 7th Ave Project. We discuss the recent history of comedy and Paul’s Showtime series The Green Room, in which he and fellow comics engage in freewheeling conversation, riff off of each other and occasionally argue (in a very entertaining way). The Green Room enters its second season in 2011. Here’s the website. And here’s a link to our previous show with Paul and photographer Dan Dion, discussing their book Satiristas.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
Show for Dec 19, 2010: Crafting with Amy Sedaris
We first had Amy on the show a couple of years ago, when she was touring with her book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. She recently paid us a return visit with her latest book of demented domesticity: Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. Also, a brief excerpt from our Christmas 2005 interview with John Waters.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen, or download the MP3 here.
Amy Sedaris On Today’s Show
We had the enchanting Amy Sedaris on today, talkin’ up her latest book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. We also chatted about her career, her family and other fun stuff. We’ll post the audio soon. In the meantime here’s the Dolly Parton video Amy mentioned, with Amy as a carnival barker:
And here’s a clip from the short-lived mid-’90s sketch comedy show Exit 57 featuring Amy, Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert, just before the three of them went on to create Strangers with Candy. Apparently, Amy’s thing for squirrels goes way back:
Oct 3, 2010: Firesign Forever
Beginning in the late ’60s, the four members of the Firesign Theatre produced a string of brilliant comedy albums that tapped into the zeitgeist, and helped define it. Surreal, subversive, psychedelic, postmodern: all the usual terms used to describe their sonic tableaus are accurate, up to a point. But I prefer Whitmanesque, or maybe Whitmaniacal, which suggests the sweep of their American census-taking. So what if the Firesigners heard hokum where Walt heard democracy singing? Their clamoring BS artists, barkers and bozos are at least as true to our time as Whitman’s doughty blacksmiths and ploughmen were to his.
As the fab four ready themselves for a reunion tour, I talked to two of them—Phil Austin and Phil Proctor—about their upcoming performances, their classic recordings, their methods and madness.
We featured parts of this interview on our Oct. 3 pledge drive show, but here it is in its entirety. Click the “play” arrow above to listen, or download the MP3 here.
Show for May 30, 2010. Satiristas and the Art of Comedy: Interview with Dan Dion and Paul Provenza
Photographer Dan Dion and comic/actor Paul Provenza (director of The Aristocrats) take a searching look at the craft of contemporary comedy in their new book Satiristas. It features photos of and interviews with many of the leading satirists today—including comics, comedy writers and songwriters. Judd Apatow, George Carlin, Stephen Colbert, Randy Newman, Mike Nichols, Bob Odenkirk, Trey Parker and many, many more…
Click the arrow above to listen. If you don’t have Flash player or have other playback problems, click this link for the MP3.
