Guest Jimmy Pardo. Jimmy Pardo is a nationally headlining comedian and the former host of "National Lampoon's Funny Money" and AMC's "Movies At Our House." His long-running stage talk show "Running Your Trap" is a fixture in Los Angeles. He also recently began podcasting.
After a long summer hiatus, Gene, Jordan and Jesse return with a vengeance. The first ever appearance of "Hang It Up" (before "Keep It Up" was even a glimmer in Jesse's eye). The XXXTreme Weatherman. Traffic from the Foppish Dandy. Also: a quiz bowl between Dan and the head of the UCSC Cheer Squad.
On this Sound of Young America: The College Years, we celebrate America's Greatest City: New York, New York. Sorry for feed troubles earlier this week, this should be fixed. This includes taking travel tips from listeners, and calling various offices in the New York tourism department, trying to get them to reccomend a phone booth that we can use for a simulcast. As it turns out, there is a phone booth in the ground floor of the Empire State Building, but there is not one on top. I'm gonna be...
Brian "Back In Business" Lane covering for Jordan Morris in this installment of TSOYA. With guest Patton Oswalt and the comedy stylings of Jesse's little brother: Brendan Thorn.
The College Years is back with a vengeance! Our hosts, Jesse, Jordan, and Brian interview famous comedian Doug Benson on the Marijuana-Logues and The Oscars. Also in this show, NY correspondent "Big Time" Gene O'Neill and a joke about The Sound of Young America getting broadcast nationally.
In this lonely episode of The College Years, Jordan and Jesse are joined by author of Masters of Doom, David Kushner. Also, comedy from and interview with a Emily Plum of Anne Francisco & Her Cable Car Casualties. Also, Jim Real's Would You Rather and Running The Numbers.
Guest Davy Rothbart of Found Magazine. Jesse, Jordan and Gene listen to some found audio with Davy and Sasquatch, who only has fake audio.
Today's Theme: Pathetic! Tales of a woe and failure. Featured guest is The Onion's Maria Schneider: She's the creator of the comic strip Pathetic Geek Stories.
Jesse and Jordan interview Teddy from The Gaskets and hold a contest for Willl Durst tickets. Good times and Capri Suns.
Boy oh boy do we have a show for you. Famous actor-turned-musician Steve Burns, of Blues Clues fame is interviewed by Jesse and Jordan. Much more in this program including fan-favorite Jesse's Little Brother Brendan Tells a Joke, an interview with foreign correspondent, Giant Talking Bear, and advice for Jesse's brother, John.
Guests Chris Hardwick and Patton Oswalt. We take a trip back in time for a classic episode of The Sound. Patton Oswalt isn't just a co-star on The King of Queens. He's also one of America's best comics. Chris Hardwick is no slouch in that department, either -- though you may know him as the host of MTV's "Singled Out."
Guests Matmos and Dan Levitin. Matmos are avante-garde electronic music artists, who create music from non-musical sound. Dan Levitin is a neuroscientist, and the author of "This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession."
Guests Merrill Markoe and Caleb Crain. Merrill Markoe is the author of the novel "Walking in Circles Before Lying Down," and was co-creator of "Late Night with David Letterman." Caleb Crain writes for the New Yorker; we speak with him about the Mass Observation movement of the 1930s and 40s.
Guest Trav S.D. This week we put on a show! Trav S.D. is the author of "No Applause: Just Throw Money," about the history of Vaudeville in America. We also hear from Hard n Phirm, Aziz Ansari, Dragon Boy Suede, Skillz, and more.
Guests John Vanderslice, Xeni Jardin and Mark Frauenfelder. Mark Frauenfelder and Xeni Jardin are among the co-authors of BoingBoing.net, the weblog visited by 1.75 million people every day. John Vanderslice is a recording artist, producer, and recording studio owner who has worked with MK Ultra, Spoon and The Mountain Goats. His Tiny Telephone Recordings is the country's premier all-analog recording studio.
Guests John Waters, Christopher Moore, Davy Rothbart, and more. It's our annual Holiday Special, which we made last year and plan to play annually. Merry Christmas!
Guests Dan Clowes and Annabelle Hurwitch. Dan Clowes is the screenwriter of the film "Art School Confidential," which is based on a short comic story from his anthology series Eightball. Eightball was also the birthplace of "Ghost World." Annabelle Hurwitch is the former host of TBS' "Dinner and a Movie," and the author of "Fired," a collection of firing stories from "entertaining people," including David Cross, Felicity Huffman, and Robert...
Guests Maz Jobrani, Lisa Jervis & Andi Zeisler. Maz Jobrani is an actor and standup comedian who's the star of the upcoming sitcom The Knights of Prosperity. Lisa Jervis & Andi Zeisler are the founding editors of Bitch Magazine, "A Feminist Response to Popular Culture."
Guests Maira Kalman and George Pelecanos. This week, two looks at style. Maira Kalman created lyrical illustrations of the classic writing handbook The Elements of Style. George Pelecanos is a noted crime author, and a writer/producer for HBO's The Wire.
Guests Patton Oswalt and Masta Ace. Patton Oswalt is a standup- comic, the creator of "The Comedians of Comedy," and the co-star of CBS' The King of Queens; he is also star of the upcoming Pixar film "Ratatouille." Masta Ace is a hip-hop legend and original member of the Juice Crew.
Guests Eugene Mirman, Kyle MacDonald, and Brandon Bird. Eugene Mirman is one of New York's top alternative comics. He not long ago released his first CD, "The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman." Brandon Bird is a painter, whose work has been celebrated across the country. It often features fringe celebrities and historical figures engaged in fantastical activities. Kyle MacDonald write the blog "One Red Paperclip." He's been trying to trade up, little by little, from...
Guest Tim Hornyak is the author of Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots.
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are the creators of two Cartoon Network [adult swim] shows -- Tom Goes to the Mayor and Tim and Eric, Awesome Show, Great Job!
Comedy sketch from LA's Oh You and Your Bone Spurs.
The Human Giant are a comedy group formed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Their eponymous series premiers this week on MTV.
Comedian Paul F. Tompkins is a regular on VH1 talking head series, was a castmember of HBO's Mr. Show and Real Time with Bill Maher, and is really really funny.
Zach Galifianakis is a standup comedian who has been seen on Comedy Central's The Comedians of Comedy, and in his own VH1 series, "Late World with Zach."
Rock band They Might Be Giants are in their 25th year. Their newest record is "The Else."
Guest Dan Harmon is the Executive Producer of Acceptable TV, and was the co-creator of Channel 101 and the cult TV pilot Heat Vision and Jack.
An audio adaptation of a piece from George Saunders' most recent book, The Braindead Megaphone. Features Dan Klein of Kasper Hauser, Andy Daly (The Office, Mad TV), John Hodgman, Xeni Jardin, Jonathan Katz and more.
Comedy from Los Angeles sketch group Ten West.
Chris Onstad is the artist behind the web comic Achewood. There's a new collection of the strip, called "The Great Outdoor Fight."
Benjamin Nugent is the author of "American Nerd: The Story of My People," a combination of memoir, sociology and reportage on the nerd in American life.
Graham Linehan is an Irish comedy writer, who co-created the sitcom Father Ted, and created the series The IT Crowd. He also worked on shows like Big Train, Brasseye, and The Day Today.
Joel Hodgson was the original host of Mystery Science Theater 3000. He and his cohorts J. Elvis Weinstein and Frank Conniff discuss their new venture, Cinematic Titanic, which is, format-wise, a followup to MST3K.
Music from Bumbershoot, with Jonathan Coulton, PWRFL Power and Rhett Miller of the Old 97s.
Scott Schuman is the proprietor of the street photography blog The Sartorialist. His new book is a collection of the best of his photos.
Nick Hornby is the author of numerous novels; his most recent is called Juliet, Naked. He also wrote the film An Education.
Jeffrey Tambor is a veteran actor best known for his roles as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show and the patriarch of the Bluth family on Arrested Development.
Merlin Mann talks about the process of doing creative work.
David Malki ! is the creator of the webcomic Wondermark. It's a surreal gag strip, with pictures lifted from 19th century magazine illustrations.
Marc Maron is a veteran standup comic whose new CD is entitled Final Engagement. He hosts the Air America web show Break Room Live.
Oliver Wang and Jay Smooth join Jesse to consider the life and music of Michael Jackson.
Bucky Sinister is the author of Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos
Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh are founding members of the art-rock band Devo. They had remarkable chart success in the early 1980s, including the hit Whip It. Their philosophy of devolution, compelling videos and bold aesthetic presentation were as big a part of the band as their danceable rock music. Their latest record, Something For Everybody, is their first since 1990.
Flying Lotus is a Los Angeles-based musician. His critically-acclaimed music blends electronica with progressive hip-hop.
Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner are the creator and director of Drunk History, a series of shorts in which comedians get very, very drunk, then re-tell their favorite stories from history. The stories are re-enacted, with drunken narration and dialogue, by actors like Don Cheadle and Jack Black. It won the short film prize at Sundance.
He's best known for his role as "The Fonz" on Happy Days, but Henry Winkler's added a number of other acting, producing, and directing credits to his name over the years. He's also co-written a series of children's books. You can catch him right now as Dr. Sy Mittleman on Childrens' Hospital on Cartoon Network's [adult swim].
Trevor Groth is the director of programming at the Sundance Film Festival. He started at the festival as a teenaged volunteer, and has been charged with reinvigorating its rebellious spirit.
Bill Burr is a standup comic. His ferocious style is leavened by the fact that he often trains the ferociousness on himself. His latest special, now on DVD, is called Let It Go.
Keith Phipps and Nathan Rabin of The AV Club stop by to sift through pop culture and present their picks, which include a box set from Apple Records, a new cut of the classic film Metropolis, a book from The Onion columnist Jean Teasdale, and the documentary Best Worst Movie.
Editor in Chief Josh Modell and Film Editor Scott Tobias of The AV Club join Jesse to proffer some gems in the world of arts and entertainment.
Rod Baedeker from Kasper Hauser drops by The Sound of Young America to share with us his ground-breaking lecture he gave at Cal Tech.
Comedy from Baron Vaughn and Kasper Hauser plus interviews with Bobcat Goldthwait and Steve Dildarian and music from John Vanderslice from our live show at the San Francisco Sketchfest comedy festival.
Weird Al Yankovic is the undisputed king of parody music and the all-time bestselling accordionist. His new children's book is When I Grow Up. His new album is due this summer.
Today's guests from the AV Club are TV Editor Todd VanDerWerff and Assistant Editor Erik Adams. They drop by to discuss their TV picks for the Fall season from Showtimes 'Homeland' to NBCs 'Up All Night' running through the hits and misses with Host Jesse Thorn.
When we last spoke to Weird Al, he was working on his top-secret new album. Now he's returned to talk about "Alpocalypse" and the process of parodying other artists.
Heartlines, the late night call-in request show -- "turn on your heartlight and send out a heartline."
John Darnielle began making music as the frontman of folk rock band The Mountain Goats in 1991. The band subsequently has gained a cult following and Darnielle has been hailed as one of rock's best lyricists. The Mountain Goats' newest release is All Eternals Deck.
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First, "Ragtag", a sketch from LA-based comedy group Cream; then a monthly wrap-up of what's up and what's down with Jordan Morris for "Jordan Ranks America".
Danny Pudi is an actor and comedian, best known for his role as the pop culture-obsessed Abed Nadir on the NBC show Community. He talks to us about working on a show that's as much fun to shoot as it is to watch and working improv comedy into a scripted show.
Mavis Staples is a legendary R&B and gospel singer. She began singing as part of a family gospel group formed by her father called The Staple Singers. Her newest album, produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, is called You Are Not Alone.
John Hodgman guest hosts an interview with the fantasy, science fiction and horror author George R. R. Martin. Martin is the author of the very popular series known as "A Song of Ice and Fire", which has recently been adapted for the HBO show "Game of Thrones". He joins us to talk about creating a fantasy universe, (very) involved fans, and more.
A little message with some info on how you can use your status as a Sound of Young America listener to win a copy of the new Onion compilation, a DVD of "Martin & Orloff," or even a DVD set of Arrested Development season two.
David A. Price is the author of The Pixar Touch: The Making Of A Company. The book traces the history of Pixar from technology company to entertainment behemoth.
Guest Mike Nelson. Jesse, Jordan and Gene talk to the former head writer and host of Mystery Science Theater 3000 about his books and "Choo Choo!".
Inside comedy writing with Mike Sacks and his new book about comedy writers And Here's The Kicker: Conversations With 21 Top Humor Writers About Their Craft.
Co-hosted by Jamis MacNiven, W. Kamau Bell, and Al Madrigal, this week's show has filmmaker Tyler MacNiven, author Steve Almond, artist Marc Horowitz, and musicians Tony Goldmark and Jacob Slichter.
A short video directed by Adam Lisagor for maximumfun.org.
The Long Winters' frontman, John Roderick, talks to us about the song that changed his life: ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin'.
Guests Chuck Klosterman and Dave Foley. Klosterman is the author of "Killing Yourself to Live" and other pop-culture commentary. Foley is a member of The Kids in the Hall, and was the star of the sitcom Newsradio and the Pixar film A Bug's Life.
Patrick Borelli and Douglas Gorenstein are the authors of Holy Headshot, a book of bizarre and amazing head shots from actors and performers across the country. Note that this podcast is in .m4a (enhanced podcast) format, and should play in iTunes, on iPods and on Zunes. An MP3 of this show can be found at our website.
Jesse, Jordan and Gene pick official things of The Sound of Young America.
The guys talk animation, including an interview with animator Liz Holtzman and botching contests with Spike Decker of Spike & Mike' Film Festival.
Guest David Wain of Stella and The State. Jesse, Jordan and Gene talk to the new state bird of California and the old one; later, David Wain talks to the guys about why The State was so good and not currently on the air.
This week, we look into the sleeping minds of The Sound of Young America. Lots of crazy dream stories from Jesse, Gene, Jordan, Dan and others.
Jesse performs a scene with superstar Jimmy Rogers, while Jordan and Gene have a tag-team date, all with the backdrop of love.
Some amazing tales this week. Jordan talks about getting put in Disneyland jail for using a bubble pipe. Gene talks about trying to convince an authority figure that he was holding something other than what was quite obviously a beer. Jesse talks about the time his mother got arrested for robbing a bank. Plus Vanessa sits in, and we hear from the Evil Computer Bent on World Destruction.
Theremin player Joseph Minicello joings Jesse and Jordan for this week's action-packed show. In this show: Jordan's little sister calls seeking advice, "Mace Detective, Private Detective" episode "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone," Running The Numbers, Myths and facts about homosexuals, and "Would You Rather?"
Guest Todd Barry. We talk with comedian Todd Barry and are visited by the Evil Computer Bent on World Domination.
A star-studded episode of The College Years, hosted by Jesse and Jordan, featuring Patton Oswalt and Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, a rock and roll band. Bold statements and double-decker tacos--just two of the many things you'll hear in this blast from the past.
Holy guacamole it's been a while since the likes of The College Years has rolled around. This program, hosted by Jordan and Jesse this week, has Joshua Piven (author of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook and As Luck Would Have It) and referee Jingy of Kaiju Big Battel. Also in this episode: Jim Real's Would You Rather?, Hang It Up/Keep It Up, and the historic first mention of The New Sincerity. This one's a keeper, folks.
Del Close was the great genius of improv theatre -- he trained and directed generations of performers, including John Belushi, Mike Meyers, and the Upright Citizens Brigade. We talk about his legacy with Ian Roberts of the UCB, Anthony King of the UCB Theatre, and Jeff Griggs, author of a book on Close, "Guru."
Some of the strangest things that have ever happened on The Sound of Young America. Our guests Kasper Hauser, the briliant San Francisco sketch group, talk about scamming scammers, we talk with Robert Hamburger, webmaster of realultimatepower.net about ninjas, and when we try to interview a lady from Steve Harvey's Big Time, disaster ensues.
Jesse talks to New York writer, artist, and musician Paul D. Miller, AKA DJ Spooky. Then writer Sharon Waxman talks about her book Rebels on the Backlot, which discusses the indie film explosion of the mid 1990's.
In this episode of The College Years, Jesse Thorn welcomes a few notable men. To start things off, Jesse welcomes Chuck D, of Public Enemy fame. For the second half, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, also known as Tim & Eric, visit the show to talk about Tom Goes to the Mayor.
Guests Henry Rollins and John Hodgman. Henry Rollins' 25 years on the road with Black Flag and The Rollins Band have left him really, really awesome. Also, John Hodgman, This American Life and McSweeney's contributor, talks about his new book, The Areas of My Expertise, and about hobos.
Guests Eddie Argos of Art Brut and Paul Malmont. Paul Malmont is the author of "The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril." Eddie Argos is the frontman of the acclaimed rock band Art Brut.
Guest Peter Guralnick on Sam Cooke. Sam Cooke is perhaps the most important figure in 20th century American pop music who isn't a household name. Cooke has been described as the man who invented soul. Peter Guralnick is his biographer, as well as the author of the definitive, two-volume biography of Elvis Presley among other texts.
Guests Chris Hardwick and Patton Oswalt. A classic from the vaults of The Sound of Young America featuring two of our best comedian pals... Chris Hardwick is half of Hard N Phirm, and the former host of Singled Out on MTV. Patton Oswalt is a co-star of CBS' The King of Queens, and the creator of The Comedians of Comedy. Both talk about their comedy, Chris talks about how he ended up hosting "Shipmates," and Patton talks about his passion for deep-fried Mac & Cheese.
Guests Paul F. Tompkins, Tim & Eric and Will Franken. Tim & Eric are the creators of the Cartoon Network [adult swim] series Tom Goes to the Mayor. Paul F. Tompkins is a standup, and has been a regular on series including The Daily Show, Best Week Ever, Mr. Show and Real Time with Bill Maher. Will Franken was recently chosen "Best Comedian" in San Francisco by the SF Weekly.
Guest Chris Elliott. On this week's show, we sit down with Chris Elliott, the comedian who has retained his bizarre sensibility through a variety of media the past 25 years. Also, a vintage audio put-on by Coyle & Sharpe and Hang It Up / Keep It Up.
Guests Fred Armisen and Brent Hoff. Fred Armisen is a star on Saturday Night Live, and he's really, really nice (funny, too). Brent Hoff is the editor of McSweeney's new DVD magazine, Wholphin. Also, music from the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players and a comedy sketch from Kasper Hauser.
Former con-man Simon Lovell is the author of How to Cheat at Everything.
Vendela Vida is the author of "Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name" and the co-editor of The Believer magazine.
Jamie Hewlett is co-creator of The Gorillaz, as well as an award-winning designer and the creator of Tank Girl.
Brendan Canty is the creator of the film series Burn to Shine, and a member of the band Fugazi.
