Don’t Go Down the Clown Rabbit Hole with Susan Orlean

Coming soon: Sleeping with Celebrities: No startling revelations, no dramatic screaming confrontations, but plenty of low-key dialogue, intricately laced deadpan comedy, and a ticket to dreamland. Coming on February 22! by Sleeping with Celebrities

1 min listen

Neil Gaiman Will Not Name His Sourdough Starter: Neil Gaiman is perhaps least-known for his interest in SCOBY-s (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), but that will no doubt change now that this episode has aired. Gaiman is a bestselling author whose books (American Gods, Coraline, Good Omens) often turn into movies or TV series. When the world was in lockdown at the start of the pandemic, Neil was alone on the Isle of Skye mastering the art of making sourdough bread and bagels. Fellow SCOBY enthusiasts that listen will learn the optimum amount of time one should boil bagels, as well as how to destroy and resuscitate living cultures. He’ll also caution against taking your bee colony with you if you move from Wisconsin to New York. by Sleeping with Celebrities

57 min listen

An Audio Slide Show of Janie and Paul’s Icelandic Vacation: **THIS IS THE SUDDEN, JARRING NOISE VERSION OF THIS EPISODE. DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS VERSION IF YOU ARE TRYING TO SLEEP** Get ready for thrills, you not-so-sleepyheads. Because entertainment superstars Paul F. Tompkins and Janie Haddad Tompkins are here to blow your minds with audio descriptions of photographs of their 2016 trip to Iceland! And as if that isn’t enough to distract you into relaxation or sleep, this episode features - get this - an old-timey interruption from a bygone era. You might not fall asleep during this version of the episode, but you will get distracted from your various concerns and worries. by Sleeping with Celebrities

62 min listen

Randy and Jason Sklar Explain Sports Portals: You might know the Sklar Brothers from your television. They hosted the ESPN Classic program Cheap Seats, acted in Better Call Saul and What We Do in the Shadows, and served as reporters on the series Battlebots, wherein robots fight one another. So Randy and Jason have some exciting credits. But they’re not on our show to be exciting. They’re here to talk about various rule changes in college athletics, including, notably, the transfer portal. Don’t worry, it’s not a magical doorway, it’s merely an intricate system wherein students choose other schools to attend. With two guests on our show, you’re likely to end up asleep twice as fast. Or sleep twice as soundly. We’re not sure. Also, we talk about centaurs a bit. by Sleeping with Celebrities

60 min listen

One on None Basketball in Harlem w/ Gary Gulman: Gary Gulman is a deeply funny and quite tall comedian who has appeared on HBO specials and every late night comedy talk show you can possibly think of and probably a few you’ve never imagined. In this episode, he takes us on a casual stroll around his neighborhood of Harlem, New York. We see the sights, virtually pop in to area restaurants, and, most notably, hear all about Gary’s unique sport of one-on-none basketball. It’s a sport with intricate rules and a high degree of intensity but only one athlete, which is, of course, Gary. You will be nice and sleepy by the time Gary has taken you around his world and up and down the court. by Sleeping with Celebrities

49 min listen

Maria Bamford Has a Parking Problem and Is Making Amends: Maria Bamford is one of the greatest comedians of our time. You may have seen her in a whole bunch of standup comedy specials or her Netflix series, Lady Dynamite, or her current web series Noooo-CD. You might have heard her comedy albums or caught her doing voiceover work on a million different animated series. She may be the funniest human who has ever walked the planet. by Sleeping with Celebrities

54 min listen

Andy Daly Tends His Own Lawn: He has some olive trees but they are tricky Andy Daly is a comedian, actor, and podcaster. He starred on the Comedy Central series “Review” and was a supporting actor on HBO’s “Eastbound and Down” as well as a cast member on “MadTV.” Like many people, Andy has a yard at his home and is thus charged with the task of taking care of it. To do this, he sets aside about half a day per week, although that day varies because Andy’s weekly schedule is somewhat erratic. by Sleeping with Celebrities

47 min listen

Linda Holmes and the Malcontents of Melrose Place: Linda Holmes is a best-selling author and one of the hosts of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. But you know what an hour is that wasn't always happy? Melrose Place. Oh, it's true. Melrose Place was a nighttime soap opera in the 1990s and it told the stories of the residents of a fictitious apartment complex in Los Angeles where everyone's lives were complicated. The people were complicated, the relationships were complicated, even the maintenance plans for motorcycles were surprisingly complicated. Linda paid attention, though, and joins us to unravel - and sometimes re-ravel - the intricacies of the first season of Melrose Place. We could have gone on to subsequent seasons but honestly, you won't stay awake through even this update about the first season. Let some heated melodrama send you off to dreamland, Sleepyheads. by Sleeping with Celebrities

58 min listen

RadioLab’s Lulu Miller Says You Don’t Know What It’s Like to Be a Bat: Hello, Sleepyheads. Lulu Miller is joining us for a good night’s sleep. Perhaps you already know her as one of the hosts of the public radio broadcast program RadioLab. She also has a new podcast called Terrestrials and that one is all about nature. Speaking of nature, Lulu is here to tell us about a philosophical treatise she read. by Sleeping with Celebrities

50 min listen

How to Build a Home Studio w/ Open Mike Eagle: Open Mike Eagle is a rap artist with albums such as Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, Anime Trauma & Divorce, and his latest, A Tape Called Component System with the Auto Reverse. He is from Chicago but now lives in Los Angeles, where he has a studio built into his home, and another room that looks an awful lot like a studio where we talked to him from. Mike tells us about how to soundproof a room and hook up a condenser and interface and microphone. It is also a good idea to own a surge protector to protect yourself against all the surges even though Mike hasn’t had any of those. Open Mike Eagle used to be an elementary school teacher and he thinks Post Malone would make a better elementary school teacher than Drake would. Also, he tells us how to bother Guitar Center guys. by Sleeping with Celebrities

51 min listen

Broti Gupta Knows a Lot About Cincinnati’s Kenwood Mall: If you’ve been watching The Simpsons lately, you are familiar with the work of Broti Gupta. She plays Bart. No, not really. Broti is a writer for the long-running series as well as being the co-host of the Lecture Hall podcast. On our program, here, this week, Broti sends you off to dreamland with a rundown of the Kenwood Mall, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. At least the mall as it existed ten or so years ago when Broti hung out there as an adolescent. She shares all you need to know about the mall and much of what you don’t really need to know as well. Better hope there’s a pillow store because you are conking out, my friend. by Sleeping with Celebrities

44 min listen

Bayonne: Gateway to the Past with James Urbaniak: Here are some things you might have done. First, you might have heard James Urbaniak as the voice of Dr. Venture in the hit animated series, The Venture Bros. Secondly, you might have seen James acting in The Fabelmans, Difficult People, Henry Fool, and American Splendor. Thirdly, and most importantly for our program, you may have wished to know a lot more about what it’s like to spend one’s early childhood in Bayonne, New Jersey. Fortunately, James is with us to fill you in and extensively on that third point. As you listen to James’s mellifluous voice and prepare to drift off to sleep, you will gain knowledge of what it’s like to be dispatched to the deli to retrieve a pound of bologna. by Sleeping with Celebrities

59 min listen

Jonathan Katz, Amateur Table Tennis Hustler and Champion: There was a brief period in the late 60s and early 70s when Jonathan Katz could walk into any table tennis club in the country and know which players, if any, could beat him. There weren’t many, because Katz was an elite player. Before becoming television’s Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, he was the New York State Champion of table tennis. And if had been born in Stockholm, instead of New York, he probably would have been known as a professional table tennis player. Instead, he and his buddy David Mamet used to make extra cash by hustling unsuspecting marks in Chicago. by Sleeping with Celebrities

41 min listen

Baratunde Thurston’s Quest to Make Perfect, Clear Ice: You may know Baratunde Thurston as the host of the PBS program America Outdoors or as the author of the best-selling book, How to Be Black. Or you may know Baratunde as the guy behind the loud noises coming from his house as he uses a variety of tools to carve up ice. A bread knife, for instance. Baratunde is on a lifelong odyssey to make ice that is as clear as possible, free of the little frost marks you might see in your standard tray in your regular freezer. And he has a lot of thoughts, long and complicated and verbose thoughts, on how to achieve an ice that is an ideal companion to any beverage. Honestly, he knows so much about ice. He thinks about ice more than you thought possible. You won’t even hear all he knows about ice because you will fall asleep. by Sleeping with Celebrities

52 min listen

Scott Thompson Is a Proud Porridge Man: You might know Scott Thompson as 20% of the legendary sketch comedy group, The Kids in the Hall. You might not know about his strong feelings regarding porridge. Scott shares hot cereal lore from Chilliwack to Toronto to the kitchen pantries of his KitH troupemates. Is porridge fascinating? No. Is it just interesting enough to distract you from your swirling thoughts such that you can sleep? Oh yes. by Sleeping with Celebrities

50 min listen

How to Plan a Disney World Vacation with Justin McElroy: Justin McElroy hosts the hit podcast My Brother, My Brother, and Me along with his brothers Travis and Griffin. It’s a great show but definitely has more of a stay awake vibe than what he presents for us in his appearance on Sleeping with Celebrities. On our show, Justin takes a more low key approach as he discusses all the small yet very important details one must remember in order to have a good family trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. He covers things like making meal reservations, which airport to fly into, and how best to procure ponchos in case of rain, which is a very common occurrence. by Sleeping with Celebrities

60 min listen

Molly Wood Lets Her Actuary Flag Fly: You might have caught Molly Wood’s work in the New York Times or the public radio program Marketplace or her new podcast, Everybody in the Pool, which is all about Climate Solutions. Or maybe you didn’t catch those. Look, who are we to judge? Regardless, Molly is a professional smart person with a lot of sharp insight as well as voluminous knowledge about certain areas that might put you to sleep, notably: insurance and batteries. She knows so much about insurance and batteries. And she explains those worlds in the context of climate change in a way that might make you feel good and not at all panicky about the world of the future. So plug in, learn up, and doze off. by Sleeping with Celebrities

50 min listen

Don’t Go Down the Clown Rabbit Hole with Susan Orlean: Susan Orlean is one of the coolest and best writers we have going in the whole world. This is simply a fact. Why, she wrote The Orchid Thief and The Library Book and Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. Meryl Streep played Susan, or a version of Susan, in the movie Adaptation, which is certainly not a thing that happens to most of us. With all her credits, you might think Susan Orlean would have someone to organize her life FOR her. Not so. She is, herself, a passionate organizer and she can - and does here - talk about it for great long stretches. Listen in (and drift off) as she advises against falling down the infamous clown toy rabbit hole. Don’t worry, you’ll only fall down the go-to-sleep sleepy hole. by Sleeping with Celebrities

58 min listen

Andy Kindler Makes One Cup of Coffee: Andy Kindler is a veteran stand-up comedian and actor, known for his work as Mort the mortician on Bob’s Burgers and as Andy on Everybody Loves Raymond. And Andy loves coffee. Like, really, really loves coffee. And he joins us to talk about all the particulars involved in making the perfect cup of coffee: what kind or roast to look for, how to grind your beans and with what, what brewing equipment you should have, and the precise right ratio of water to grounds. Should you have coffee before bed? No. Please don’t. But you can drift off to sleep as Andy tells you how to make the perfect cup and then wake up tomorrow ready to for a hot cup of joe. by Sleeping with Celebrities

59 min listen

One Thousand Sodas with Chris Gethard: Chris Gethard is an actor, writer, comedian, and podcast host. He was the host of the aptly name Chris Gethard Show on various forms of cable television for many years and hosts the also aptly named podcast, Beautiful Anonymous, which is a beautiful show where Chris interviews anonymous people. Like a shaken-up bottle of soda, Chris Gethard is ready to explode with knowledge about the various small batch soft drinks he loves from around the country. But his talk won’t give you a sugar rush or a caffeine jolt, it will ease you into a very detailed dream as sleep pours forth like Dublin Dr. Pepper. by Sleeping with Celebrities

59 min listen

Bonus Content Preview: A Snowy Spring Nature Walk: Hey Sleepyheads, Surprise! Look at this Bonus Content teaser in your podcatcher! I took a lovely nature walk near my home in Minnesota and brought you along with me. You can listen to a small leg of this snowy spring walk right now, and if you want the full episode, you can do that too…by becoming a Maximum Fun Member. by Sleeping with Celebrities

7 min listen

Jean Grae Loves a Good Silk Market: Jean Grae is a self-described “gender transcendent entity made of fine silks. Multipotentialite autodidact. Genius.” As a 70s kid who lived in NYC’s Chelsea Hotel growing up, she’s seen some things. If you ask Jean what her top five fabrics are, she can give you an answer without having to think too long about it. She can probably out-haggle you at a silk market, and has spent a lot of time researching things like the perfect mattress, and how to organize one’s shelves. Hint: it involves the rule of three. If you want to be inspired to step up your aesthetic game before you fall asleep, you couldn’t be in better hands. by Sleeping with Celebrities

58 min listen

Andrew Child Writes Where the Deer & Antelope Play: Jack Reacher, lead character in the Reacher series, is tall, imposing, and a noticeable presence in every town he rolls into. But just about anybody would be noticeable rolling into the town where Andrew Child, one of the writers of the series, lives. That’s because there’s almost no one in Tie Siding, Wyoming, a town listed as “uninhabited” by the U.S. Census Bureau. Still, according to Andrew, there’s a lot going on in Tie Siding, what with the moose, the bugling elk, the rabbits, the incomprehensible isolation, and the mischievous chipmunks. by Sleeping with Celebrities

46 min listen

A Sleep-Safe Audio Slide Show of Janie and Paul’s Icelandic Vacation: THIS IS THE SLEEP SAFE VERSION OF THIS EPISODE. THERE IS NO JARRING INTERRUPTION IN THIS VERSION. Beloved actors, comedy people, and podcast bon vivants Janie Haddad Tompkins and Paul F. Tompkins once took a vacation to the beautiful nation of Iceland and they took a lot of photos. So many photos. And they would like to share them with you in this episode. But wait, you say, isn’t this an AUDIO podcast? Why yes. It is. We believe that without the distraction of having to pry open your eyes to look at the actual photos, relying instead on the Tompkins’s sonorific voices describing the photos, you will be ready to doze off. by Sleeping with Celebrities

61 min listen

John Ross Bowie Makes Three Baguettes: John Ross Bowie, who pronounces his last name like Maui and not like David Bowie, is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Kripke on The Big Bang Theory. That show is, of course, a high-energy comedic romp with jokes dropping every few seconds. And that show is not this show. John Ross Bowie, without his funny voice from BBT, joins Sleeping with Celebrities to walk us all through the step-by-step process of baking baguettes. Three of them to be precise. He discusses his use of honey, the formation of “butter gutters”, and whether the end product is useful for sandwiches. You’ll be filled with a warm gluten glow that should send you right off to dreamland. by Sleeping with Celebrities

57 min listen

Sara Schaefer Says Size Matters: “Sara Schaefer is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and author,” says the website Wikipedia. And who are we to disagree with such a characterization? Our only quibble with this description is that it fails to list her notable status as a miniaturist. That’s right, Sleepyheads, Sara builds tiny, tiny versions of things that are, in real life, quite a bit larger. We think you’ll enjoy this journey into miniaturization and perhaps Sara’s art will make your stresses and worries seem smaller and more manageable as well. Or maybe she’ll just distract you for a while. Sara was born on the same date as our host, John, but ten years later. Other people born on this date include Marcel Proust, Arthur Ashe, and Sofia Vergara. by Sleeping with Celebrities

55 min listen

Steven Page & All His 1983 Bar Mitzvah Gifts: You may know Steven Page from his solo musical work or his tenure as one of the founders and leaders of the band Barenaked Ladies. Of course, if you were around the Toronto suburbs some years ago and you knew Steven, it’s also possible you know him from his Bar Mitzvah. It was a lovely event and young (yet a man) Steven received many thoughtful gifts, which he is happy to enumerate for you, the drowsy listening audience. What 13-year-old wouldn’t love handsome coffee table books or coveted tickets to a production of Shakespeare’s Richard II? by Sleeping with Celebrities

57 min listen

Dave Hill’s Favorite Jerseys Are Sweaters: Dave Hill is many things. He’s a musician, an actor, a podcast host, and an author. So four things. But it’s five things if you count his role as hockey sweater collector. Dave has a lifelong obsession with the hockey sweater, or jersey as one might call it in the States, and he recounts many of his favorites in this dreamily unfocused conversation that also includes discussions of Norway, Pantera, ice hockey legend Len Frig, duvets, and how to start a bar with the government’s assistance after being stabbed. by Sleeping with Celebrities

54 min listen

Aparna Nancherla Is the Indie Coffee Shop of Comedy: Ordinarily, you wouldn’t want to visit a whole bunch of hipster coffee shops across the U.S. before bedtime. It would be time-consuming and expensive plus all that coffee would make you all jittery. But if you’re being softly guided through these places by the gentle voice of the hilarious Aparna Nancherla, it makes for a perfect bedtime journey. Aparna has a new book, Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome. And she really knows her hipster coffee joints. by Sleeping with Celebrities

45 min listen

Kristin Hersh Woke Up in a Field and Didn’t Know Where Her Bandmates Were: The life of a touring rock n’ roll musician can be very exciting. Fortunately, we leave the exciting parts out in our conversation with the deeply hilarious Kristin Hersh, from the bands Throwing Muses and 50-Foot Wave and a prolific solo career. Kristin, who has a brand new album out on Friday called Clear Pond Blue, takes us through the rock star life but focusing on sedate topics like trying to check in to hotel rooms a little bit early and the methodical nature of venue sound checks. Think of this episode as the opposite of a mosh pit. Or as a verbal lullaby. by Sleeping with Celebrities

51 min listen

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Don’t Go Down the Clown Rabbit Hole with Susan Orlean

Don’t Go Down the Clown Rabbit Hole with Susan Orlean

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