May 2023 Minor Obsessions
Don't Get Me Started
We're back! For no reason! Well, maybe because there's a writer's strike and Anthony has time. And maybe because Will figured out that if he just sent Anthony a scheduled zoom link with no warning, Anthony would accept it! But whatever the reason is, your hosts are back with another "minor obsessions" only episode. We go over apps, books, games, other podcasts and waking up early. Please enjoy this "for no reason" bonus epsiode!
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Hosts Only Reunion Special
Don't Get Me Started
Anthony and Will resurrect the podcast for one episode because... well, just kinda because! No guests! They each describe three minor obsessions. Oddly, their first ones are almost identical. They get into: music, liquor, video games, statistics, social media, Broadway, the pandemic, 9-11 and wondering how they will let anyone know that this episode exists! Thanks to Connor Ratliff for encouraging us to do this!
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The End
Don't Get Me Started
Final episode! After almost three years, we are ending the podcast! "Why?" you ask, you DEMAND, to know? Well, we just wanted to. We've loved it every step of the way but now we can sense it becoming more of a chore than a labor of love so we're ending it before that happens. In this final episode, we talk about the reasons we started the podcast, the things we tried in our real lives, the nature of adult friendships, Seinfeld, Facebook algorithms, learning new music, Anthony's run of being artistic director of UCB, Will's method of remembering things from the media he absorbs and... that's...
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Hayes Davenport - City Planning
Don't Get Me Started
Hayes Davenport is a co-host of the very funny podcast Hollywood Handbook, as well as being a writer for many great television comedies. We don't talk to him about any of that. We get into his obsession with CITY PLANNING. Why are cities set up the way they are? What are the issues with making them better? What's going with Los Angeles? Who made NYC have all those bike lanes? We love this episode and so will you. Also, Will discusses the cat petting/hair-pulling tool The Furminator and Anthony talks about the online service BookBub.
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Neil Campbell - Sketch Comedy
Don't Get Me Started
We break our "not about what you do" rule yet AGAIN to talk to television writer/former UCB Artistic Director Neil Campbell about SKETCH COMEDY. We get nerdy early and often as we go back to Neil's days at the University of Iowa, his thoughts on the early days of the UCB sketch scene, how he adjusts strategies when writing for television and way more! No minor obsessions because why follow ANY RULES?
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Jackie Johnson - The Sims
Don't Get Me Started
We talk to Jackie Johnson, comedian actor and host of the hit podcast Natch Beaut, about her jaw-droopingly long obsessing with the SIMS. You know, the virtual family game where you set up a little community and they age and do stuff? Jackie has done this for like 15 years. Holy jeebs. Also, Will talks about the sketch comedy podcast from Austin called Victrola, and Anthony talks about Croation singing sensation Jacques Houdek.
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Beth Appel - Odyssey of the Mind
Don't Get Me Started
We talk to comedian Beth Appel about ODYSSEY OF THE MIND, the middle-and-high-school competition designed to encourage creative problem solving. What got Beth so obsessed? How is it not like a quiz bowl or a math team or other nerdy competitive things? What's with all the building things out of wood? We get into all that and MORE! Plus Will is into a teahouse he visited in Beijing and Anthony likes Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History.
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Will McLaughlin - The JFK Assassination
Don't Get Me Started
We talk to comedian Will McLaughlin (TBS' show "Wrecked") about the JFK ASSASSINATION. Seeing the Oliver Stone movie JFK set Will on a path of researching President Kennedy's murder to see what parts of the official story really DON'T hold up. Will has three main issues with the official story, and if you listen to the episode you will hear WHAT THOSE ARE. Also, Will (Hines) talks about the Alessi Brothers' song "Seabird" and Anthony, after trying water skiing for the first time in years, ponders about how certain learned skills remain available years after you last use them.
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David Zwick - The 1924 Democratic Convention
Don't Get Me Started
We talk to producer/director David Zwick about the 1924 Democratic National Convention! In what could have been a shoo-in for the Democratic party, infighting and factions led to taking almost 2 weeks to pick someone who turned out to be an incredibly weak candidate! We hear about how the party couldn't decide whether or not to condemn the KKK, and how being Catholic meant you were a political liability! Hoo boy. Plus Will discusses the idea of "competency porn" especially related to the book "The Martian" and Anthony talks about the book "Hatching Twitter" by Nick Bilton.
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Dominique Johnson - Listening to New Music
Don't Get Me Started
Comedian Dominique Johnson comes on to talk about LISTENING TO NEW MUSIC. Through Facebook, the hosts realized that Dom had an interesting set of opinions on music: he's both very opinionated but also very open. Meaning: he'll listen to new music, even music that's very outside of his tastes. Yet he doesn't blindly accept artists just because they are widely viewed as good. It turns out there's a reason Dom is so open to music. We get into his childhood, moving from town to town -- black neighborhoods to white ones, places where his friends liked nu metal to places where they liked jazz. And...
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