This Is Your Afterlife

A Redo of THE FIRST DEAD EPISODE with Lucia Whalen

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:46:00 -0400

Chicago comedian and gem-of-a-person-to-talk-to Lucia Whalen returns to This Is Your Afterlife... for the first time? Lucia wanted a few things from episode 83 kept private, so I sent it to the great podcast beyond, and we took the opportunity to record a new conversation as episode 205. I honestly think we had even more fun than before! We're older, wiser, and Lucia is DEFINITELY prepared this time. Right, Lucia?

We talk about: having a one-page worldview, the 2020 Pixar movie Soul, disappearing into oneness vs. losing consciousness, being present for her dad's heart attack, the lonely life of a touring standup comic, if clips on social media have changed the feeling in the room for standup shows, winning the lottery with your friends and family, our opinions of each other.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Lucia:

https://www.instagram.com/luciawhalen/

https://www.instagram.com/whatawastepod/

See her quarterly variety show, Surprise! We Made a Comedy Show, at the Hideout in Chicago on July 15.

And check for her upcoming segments on the Buddy System podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/buddysystempod/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

PATREON PREVIEW — Work Sucks, I Know: The Casual Work Cruelty Exorcism

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 02:00:00 -0400

This is a preview of a bonus episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

Thanks to everyone who contributed voice messages to this first call-in episode of TIYA After Dark (at least of the new era)! It's an exorcism of all the casual cruelty we experience at work, from the mundane to the dramatic. I hope you dig it. It was very fun to do.

I talk about: work, bosses, how much I love work and bosses in case any of mine are listening, Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat, DOGE, money laundering schemes, drop me 60, tell whoever you need to tell, Karl Marx.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

Arm the Choir with Wretched Blessing

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 02:00:00 -0400

There's only one piece of music from 2026 so far that I've loved, but it's nearing the point of obsession: Wretched Blessing's "How Deep Is Your Love?," which features guitar work from previous TIYA guest Genital Shame! It's a cover of the Calvin Harris & Disciples song (not the Bee Gees), but there's an important note: Norwegian singer/songwriter Ina Wroldsen is uncredited on the original, despite singing the hook and co-writing the song. Wretched Blessing drummer and singer Rae Amitay emphasizes this in the liner notes on Bandcamp, and they brought it up on this episode.

Rae and Wretched Blessing are attuned to the overlooked, as their songs frequently face evils that are regular conversation topics on TIYA: fascism, Zionism, complacency. It was a pleasure to hear Rae and Kayhan Vaziri, the other half of Wretched Blessing (who are real-life engaged), talk about the intersections of politics and art. They're sweet and fun people who make heavy music full of righteous rage. You get all of that here.

We talk about: preaching to the choir; teaching kids music in School of Rock; high school exes; the mind-expanding benefits of travel; Crimethinc.; Zionist indoctrination; Gruyeres, Switzerland; HR Giger; and basically everyone on earth should be in a touring band maybe?

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Wretched Blessing:

https://wretchedblessing.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/wretchedblessing/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

PATREON PREVIEW: Does It Matter What We Tell Ourselves?

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 18:15:00 -0400

This is a preview of a bonus episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

A solo episode in which I'm trying to choose narratives for my life. Maybe you can relate?

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

How People Change with Leigh Claire La Berge

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:05:00 -0400

"How can this possibly be the way?!" is a question Leigh Claire La Berge asks constantly in Fake Work: How I Began to Suspect Capitalism Is a Joke. The book is Leigh Claire's reflection on her time prepping a Fortune 500 company for Y2K by essentially making a bunch of copies, double-checking spreadsheets, and traveling internationally to give frivolous PowerPoint presentations. It's very funny! And unfortunately hella resonant! Leigh Claire jumped right into the deep end with me on this episode, and the result is one of my favorites in a while.

We talk about: anxiety, Fake Work, fake work, marxism, really trying to understand how other people came to their beliefs, psychoanalysis, getting a PhD, making room for pleasure and humor in our politics.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Leigh Claire:

https://www.instagram.com/marxforcats/

https://twitter.com/marxforcats

And read her books!

Fake Work: How I Began to Suspect Capitalism Is a Joke — https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2534-fake-work

Marx for Cats: A Radical Bestiary — https://bookshop.org/p/books/marx-for-cats-a-radical-bestiary-leigh-claire-la-berge/5c87bc279b7a45a4

Wages Against Artwork: Decommodified Labor and the Claims of Socially Engaged Art — https://bookshop.org/p/books/wages-against-artwork-decommodified-labor-and-the-claims-of-socially-engaged-art-leigh-claire-la-berge/ad4130cecb721c22

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

PATREON PREVIEW: "Synecdoche, New York" Is a Way Homer with Daniel Strauss and Drennen Quinn

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:37:00 -0400

This is a preview of a bonus episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

Daniel Strauss and Drennen Quinn return to talk about Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. They're my closest comedy friends since right before this movie came out in 2008, and it was fun to sit down and goof off about a movie Daniel calls one of his favorites that he'll never see again.

We talk about: bedtime, a career in the arts, phone etiquette when recording a podcast, Theatre of Cruelty, aging, nontraditional horror, no longer being able to relate to characters you dislike, still relating to those same characters.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Daniel and Drennen:

https://www.instagram.com/danielstrauss/

https://www.instagram.com/drennenwon/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

Just Saying What You Mean with Christopher Jason Bell

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:41:00 -0400

I recently saw two movies that exemplified how I want to make political art: Neo Sora's "Happyend" and "Failed State" by Christopher Jason Bell and Mitch Blummer. Both films tell intimate stories that show rather than obscure the ways political systems influence their characters' lives. In this episode of This Is Your Afterlife, I'm grateful to talk to "Failed State" co-director Chris Bell about his approach to making political work and what makes him the artist and person he is. He's TIYA's first filmmaker guest!

We talk about: DIY filmmaking, reconnecting with childhood friends, panic attacks, meditation, the mundanity of skydiving.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Chris:

https://linktr.ee/christopherjasonbell

https://means.tv/ (use his code, CHRISBELL, for 10% off)

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

PATREON PREVIEW: "Emotional Man" Deep Dive with Lucas O'Neil

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:36:00 -0400

This is a preview of a premium episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

I love talking to Lucas O'Neil about the specifics of standup comedy craft, and since he just released his first special, Emotional Man, I use this bonus episode as an opportunity to dig deep with him into the process of conceiving, creating, and releasing it. It's the kind of creative exercise I've longed to do in podcast form, and I'm grateful to be able to do it with a previous guest of This Is Your Afterlife who also happens to be a very funny and thoughtful artist and friend.

We talk about: Edinburgh Fringe, breaking gender and genre boundaries, outfit anxiety.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Watch Emotional Man:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mYyGhtajM

Follow Lucas:

https://lucasoneil.com/

https://www.instagram.com/mr.lucasoneil/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

The Living Other with CRASHprez

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:20:00 -0400

Michael Penn II, aka CRASHprez, makes two rapper episodes in a row! Not since Mike Watt has there been a This Is Your Afterlife guest slinging this much of their own lingo (what is it about Mikes?), and I do my best not to pretend too hard like I understand it all. Fortunately, we take a detour into the topic of slang ("getting kirk" is simply unbelievable) on the way to Michael revealing one of his origin stories as an artist. It's a small, powerful moment, the kind I love featuring on TIYA, and I'm glad he didn't save it for his eventual Rolling Stone interview.

We talk about: gay shit, COVID shit, ally fatigue, underground rapper trade, social death theory, Lil Wayne's "The Carter" documentary, the relationship between actions and words.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow CRASHprez:

https://www.instagram.com/crashprez/

https://crashprez.bandcamp.com/

https://twitter.com/CRASHprez

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

PATREON PREVIEW: 4 Death Lessons + 1 Art Lesson = 200 Episodes

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 02:00:00 -0400

This is a preview of a premium episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

On the heels of last week's 200th episode, I talk about why it made me more emotional than I expected, and I offer a guide to the back catalog in the form of 5 episodes that changed my thinking, 4 about death and 1 about art.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

TIYA 200! What Is Experience If You Don't Have a Body? with Open Mike Eagle

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 02:00:00 -0400

Sometimes a guest breaks my brain, like when Open Mike Eagle asks the titular question of this episode. I'm still parsing the way the question reorients consciousness in the body rather than as an entity separate from it. Maybe it's a basic thought, but it hit me fresh this time. But let me back up. OPEN MIKE EAGLE IS ON EPISODE 200 OF THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE.

The rapper, podcaster, streamer, TV writer-performer-producer-creator, and independent art-making role model of mine has been a dream guest since I started the show. You can hear why at the beginning of the episode. This conversation took years to happen, and I'm so glad it did. He's a pro talker and an interesting thinker, and I came away deeply evaluating how I want to live, create, and move through the world, which is one of my favorite states of being. Is this the greatest TIYA episode of all time? It's in the running!

And hey, thank you for listening to This Is Your Afterlife. It is a joy to produce, and it means more than words to me that you listen.

We talk about: sad pigeon man, Edinburgh Fringe and Baby Reindeer, Comedy Central, Internal Family Systems therapy, professional jealousy, compartmentalizing, ways people don't listen, unapologetic art rap.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Open Mike Eagle:

https://openmikeeagle.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.youtube.com/@open_mike_eagle

https://www.twitch.tv/open_mike_eagle

https://www.instagram.com/open_mike_eagle/

https://www.patreon.com/openmikeeagle

Past Due podcast with Ana Marie Cox: https://pod.link/1207507389

What Had Happened Was podcast: https://pod.link/whhw

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

[PATREON PREVIEW] Bracketology: Transformative Life Experiences with Meaghan Strickland, Bill Stern, Nick Leveski, Mark "Huberman"

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 03:28:00 -0400

This is a preview of a premium episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

I use my coma as the central metaphor of This Is Your Afterlife to discover the moments that transformed my guests' lives, but is there a more transformative life experience than a coma? What's the MOST transformative life experience? This is the question we answer in this week's TIYA After Dark, Bracketology: Transformative Life Experiences.

"We" is several members of K.C. Redheart, my first improv team in Chicago at the Playground Theater: brilliant standup Meaghan Strickland, stupid (compliment) sketch comedian and improviser Bill Stern, and the very funny Nick Leveski (who improvises in Richmond, VA) and Mark "Huberman." These are some of my closest friends and oldest comedy collaborators, going back to 2008!

Bracketology is a game show format we created where we a) pick a topic, b) fill a bracket with examples of that topic, and c) argue the matchups in the bracket until we crown a winner. The thing is, the winner of Bracketology is the quintessential example of the topic, NOT necessarily the "best" or our favorite example.

If you want to follow along from the beginning without knowing the outcome of each match, here are the top 6 seeds we determined before the episode started:

Coma
Have Kids
Epiphany — Drug-Induced, Art-Related ("See Fall Out Boy at Ryman"), Spiritual Awakening, Ego Death, Cultural (International Travel or Try New Food Whoa It's Good)
Sobriety
Had Enough
Big Move

I hope you love listening as much as we loved doing this. And if you listen to the very end of the full episode on Patreon, you get to find out next week's guest for THE 200TH EPISODE OF THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Meaghan:

https://www.instagram.com/stricklygram/

Follow Bill's sketch group, Cigarette Sandwich:

https://www.instagram.com/cigsandwich/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

An Amusement Park Based on Your Life with KR Riiber

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 02:00:00 -0400

KR Riiber wrote one of the best plays I've ever seen, Tangles & Plaques, a show about dementia and memory care borne from their time as an ensemble member of the Neo-Futurists, the Chicago theater group with core tenets like honesty, brevity, risk & chance, and transformation. Hmmmm, sound like any other show/podcast you know??? Jk, this is not exactly a "brevity" podcast. Truly though, the Neos have been a huge influence on my work, and I'm excited to finally welcome KR to the ranks of Neo-Futurists I've had on the show. The afterlife they imagine in response to the show's first big question is so rich and provides a scaffolding for everything else in the episode. What a treat!

We talk about: divorce, Marfan syndrome, how live performance contains the possibility of failure, "graduating" from the Neo-Futurists, worry vs. practicality in response to traumatic news, a life-changing improv exercise.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow KR:

https://www.krriiber.com/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

PATREON PREVIEW: Exorcist III with Pod Casty for Me (Ian Rhine and Jake Serwin)

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 02:00:00 -0400

This is a preview of a premium episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

I got to talk about my favorite movie with the hosts of my favorite podcast! My guests this week, Pod Casty for Me's Jake Serwin and Ian Rhine, have not appeared on the main feed. YET! But I couldn't resist easing them into the TIYA universe with a talk about a movie I first saw in the fall of 2024 that has since become one of my all-time favorites: William Peter Blatty's Exorcist III! This is the most excited I've been to release an episode since relaunching the podcast, and that is really saying something. This is a wonderful conversation about faith, art, politics, and horror, on screen and in life, wrapped in a blanket of hating on Pete Holmes. Suffice it to say, you don't need to have seen the movie to enjoy this ep! But just FYI, it does spoil plot. I can't say E3 has edged out Bad Santa as my favorite movie ever, but I was not exaggerating when I said Pod Casty for Me is my favorite podcast. If you dig This Is Your Afterlife and want a podcast with a similar worldview but not similar subject matter, you should check out Jake and Ian's show.

I hope you join the Patreon to hear the whole two and a half hour episode, and I'm even offering it as a standalone release over there for $3. If not, enjoy this meatier than usual preview.

Follow Pod Casty for Me:

https://www.podcastyforme.com

https://www.patreon.com/PodCastyForMe

https://twitter.com/podcastyforme

https://www.instagram.com/podcastyforme

https://www.youtube.com/@podcastyforme

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage

What Is the Ladder When You're a DIY Artist? with Kevin Michael Wesson

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 02:00:00 -0400

I encountered the live feed puppetry of Theatre Nobody's "rustbelt." when I shared a venue with the show at Cleveland's BorderLight Festival 2025. That's how I met Kevin Michael Wesson, a Chicago puppeteer and theatre artist committed to the DIY ethos that so inspires me. This episode is full of gems like Kevin calling his childhood puppeteering "playing critters" or dropping the knowledge that doing puppetry is like "acting if you didn't have a body."

We talk about: the foundations of puppetry, bunraku, urban exploration, Midwestern emo, being proudly unrepresented, moving to Chicago from Florida, LaVeyan Satanism, New Year's resolutions.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Kevin:

https://www.instagram.com/xmungyx/

https://www.instagram.com/xtheatrenobodyx/

https://www.instagram.com/stopmotionplant/

https://www.instagram.com/puppetqueers/

https://www.instagram.com/puppetqueersnyc/

https://roughhousetheater.com/pips-1

https://www.instagram.com/roughpuppets/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

PATREON PREVIEW: Best of Best-Ofs 2025: 11 (+3) Albums Worth Exploring

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 02:00:00 -0400

This is a preview of a premium episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

I love year-end list season! Whether you're as gung ho as I am or view these lists with skepticism (or both), I've decided to share my enthusiasm by reading a bunch and then very UNSCIENTIFICALLY telling you which albums on them are truly the best. I sorted through hundreds of albums to arrive at these 11, unranked but sorted into six groupings. Plus three Unlisted Faves that didn't make the lists I perused but that I liked enough to share. You can read the full list on Patreon, but here are...

The Groupings: Rap Faves From Earlier in the Year, Other Faves With Good New Albums, Previously Familiar With a STATEMENT, Discovery (Ambient), Album of the Year?, Discoveries, Unlisted Faves

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

Creating a Space Within Yourself Nobody Can Touch with Keir Neuringer (Irreversible Entanglements)

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Keir Neuringer is my kind of artist. The saxophonist, improviser, writer, and composer of Irreversible Entanglements and DROMEDARIES faces down the horrors of our world and plays AT them. He's not making easy-to-compartmentalize "political art." He's grappling with how to be an artist, father, bandmate, and human being during collapse. Like we all are.

We talk about: being radicalized during the Iraq War, incorporating politics into music, depression, divorce, playing saxophone after a car accident, hospicing both of his parents when they died of cancer, literally arming the audience, No Mas Lagrimas in Ithaca.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Keir, and get the new DROMEDARIES album, The Burning Bright Light:

https://www.keirneuringer.com/

https://www.instagram.com/keirseye/

https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-burning-bright-light

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

PATREON PREVIEW: These Are My Rocks and I Love Them: Talking CDs with Matt Sage

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 02:00:00 -0400

This is a preview of a premium episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

Matt Sage, aka M. Sage and 1/4 of TIYA fave Fuubutsushi, is here to talk about a shared passion of ours: compact discs, aka CDs!!! Matt and I have become friends since his first appearance on the podcast, and it was a blast to stretch out and go super-nerd mode here. I hope you find it as fun as we did.

We talk about: being physical media guys, Neanderthal behavior, the morality of collecting objects, the relative newness of recorded audio, best spots for CD shopping, overspending abroad, ekphrasis, archeology, curation, greenwashing, powerlessness vs. unmanageability, Scotland, Matt's no-streaming resolution, plastiglomerate.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

If you listen to the full episode, you'll get a full list of the albums we talk about.

Follow Matt (who also did the TIYA & After Dark artwork):

https://msage.bandcamp.com/album/tender-wading

https://tallgrassdispatch.substack.com/

https://cached.media/

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

https://matthewjsage.com/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

All music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

We Were Briefly Crossing Guards with Eden Robins

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Eden Robins wrote a novel comprised of obituaries, Remember You Will Die, and even more importantly, she wrote an essay about becoming a school crossing guard that inspired me to do the same. We start our talk there.

We talk about: death as subject matter, best practices for talking and writing about suicide, weirdo heroes, obituary writing, the curse of ANY success, making narratives amidst uncertainty.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Eden:

https://www.monkeythumbs.com/

https://www.instagram.com/edenrobins/

The crossing guard essay:

https://slate.com/technology/2024/01/corporate-job-quit-now-crossing-guard.html

Remember You Will Die:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/remember-you-will-die-eden-robins/570ce692d432bd63

Eden's next book is under the pseudonym Birdie Horne, Don't Cross Mo Ellery, a mystery featuring a crossing guard. Pre-order it now:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/don-t-cross-mo-ellery-a-novel-birdie-horne/21c789c4932d4548

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

PATREON PREVIEW: The Real Story of Thanksgiving (And Every Other Holiday) with Daniel Strauss and Drennen Quinn

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 09:30:00 -0400

This is a preview of a premium episode from the Patreon feed, TIYA After Dark! Head to patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife to hear this full episode and all the others for just $5 a month.

For the first episode of this new premium feed, TIYA After Dark, I talk to my close friends and previous TIYA guests Daniel Strauss and Drennen Quinn about holidays. I went into this episode with a plan to rank holidays by how problematic/weird the people are who call them their favorites. Pretty much from the start, my plans got tossed, and I genuinely couldn't be happier.

As you'll hear when Daniel SAVAGES my unassailable catchphrase, TIYA After Dark intentionally expands the scope of This Is Your Afterlife so I can do whatever I want. On a sincere note, frequent listeners know I've had to curtail live performance since COVID began, and that's a long time to go without one of my favorite/best-at things. Doing this particular episode with my longest comedy buddies scratched an itch that's been itchy for a long time. That's a big reason why I'm making TIYA After Dark "where anything goes," and I hope you enjoy where I'm taking it. This is just the beginning!

We talk about: Experiencing holidays as a kid vs. an adult, pilgrim hat belt buckle bit, "let's drive," are all Jewish holidays rooted in misery?, brown foods & gravy.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Daniel and Drennen:

https://www.instagram.com/danielstrauss/

https://www.instagram.com/drennenwon/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

Music—except the song at the end of this episode ;)—by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

Satan, LOL with Genital Shame

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0400

After a year away, This Is Your Afterlife is back! One of the highlights of my year, creatively and culturally, was dipping my toe into black metal. The extreme music genre inspired my performance art installation, Black Metal Rooftop, which I expanded into a talk show called Black Metal Patio. My house band and musical guest for BMP was Genital Shame, a trans black metal artist from Pittsburgh who now lives in L.A. Real name: Erin Dawson. Genital Shame's Chronic Illness Wish was one of the records that cemented my interest in black metal. In between discovering her music last year and doing Black Metal Patio together in July, my friendship with Erin really began with recording this episode of TIYA, making it an ideal first episode for the podcast's relaunch.

We talk about: black metal lyricism, evangelical Christian upbringings, creative process guilt, breakup memories, undermining the toxic positivity of trans coming out narratives on social media, very specific tastes in art and dating, Erin's favorite Cincinnati nickname joke.

Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

Follow Genital Shame:

https://www.instagram.com/genitalshame/

https://genitalshame.bandcamp.com/

Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:

https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary:

https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

Artwork by Matt Sage:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

Just Us: The Guests I Don't Book

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 05:00:00 -0400

READ THIS!

Life has made it hard to put out the podcast weekly, and I can't stop myself from apologizing for that. Just know this is a temporary situation. Diabetes trauma, depression, and full-time work have been hurdles, but I've nearly cleared the first two. I know better than to make promises about show frequency or format now, but I didn't when recording this episode. Rather than tack on an intro, I'm letting you know here:

I'm doing fine.
I'm sorry the delays.
TIYA will go weekly again ASAP.

I appreciate and share your enthusiasm for the show. Free Palestine.

Here are the regular show notes:

I promised the next solo episode of This Is Your Afterlife would be me reading and talking about the emails I've received pitching guests who are entirely wrong for the show, and here it is. This was so fun that at one point I was in my car during the recording, and I looked around to validate the experience, except I was by myself. Genuinely the most fun I've had doing the podcast in a while. Jazz is about the notes you don't play, and This Is Your Afterlife is about the guests I don't book.

Content warning: NDEs (near-death experiences), SDEs, pictures of angels, 1 picture of faerie, Albert Einstein, toxic masculinity that transcends death, afterlife employment, interdimensional relationships, dishonest PR people, and a buncha made-up names I used to anonymize people that I forget now, so you'll just have to listen.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want the full convos and bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Just Us: The THIS

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 16:30:00 -0400

THIS solo episode comes from my car during my lunch break.

I talk about:

Reading Black Metal Rainbows and the uncanny experience of enjoying reading about an art form more than the art form itself, though I'm still enjoying Dawn Treader's Bloom & Decay
The images of Shaaban Ahmad via @letstalkpalestine and so many other places: a 19-year-old software engineering student burning alive in his bed in a hospital tent with IVs still attached to his arms as a result of IOF attacks on Gaza
Why I refuse to make work that only looks inward
This Instagram carousel from @visualizing_palestine
Hanif Abdurraqib's and Johnny Cash's three themes of their work, and my own
Being done coddling people with my speech, whether about the genocide in Palestine or the reality of long COVID and necessity of masking
Serving you the meal while explaining the recipe
Bizhiki's incredible album, Unbound, which I think I've recommended before
The content of next month's solo episode!

I hope this episode can provide you some obsession in the best way. Thanks for listening. Please donate to a fund in the @fundsforgaza Linktree if you can. And follow/donate to the @scholarships4gh4zza initiative.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want the uncut conversations and bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Keys to All My Favorite Places with Emma Casey

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 05:00:00 -0400

The Neo-Futurists series continues with dyed-in-the-wool weirdo Emma Casey. We bond over our recovery from the hyperindividualism of mistranslating punk ideology, and she shares a walk through New York City that could only happen with the confidence of youth. She's very cool and thoughtful and lovable, and I hope you love her!

Content warning: whiteness, pristine coffee shop hell, personality/worldview copes for not being wealthy or authentic, Taylor Swift, Harold and Maude, Afterlife Tycoon, notebook cartography, the spectacular gift of consciousness.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want the uncut conversations and bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Go see The Neo-Futurists' flagship show, The Infinite Wrench, if you're in Chicago, or find a way to get to Chicago to see it. It is simply the best thing you can see.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

What Is Won't Be with Adam Gilbert

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Adam Gilbert (Just for Laughs) is a real sweetie, and he was in a punchy mood (or maybe that's just him?) when we recorded. And even though he compared me to Bill Maher, we had a lot of fun. This makes two weeks in a row of standups, and who knows, maybe this is the start of This Is Your Afterlife as traditional comedy podcast! (It's not.)

Content warning: alcoholism, dead dad, escalators, spiders, time, self as a concept like gender or money, unsucked boy.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want the uncut conversations and bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Adam on Instagram: @adamgcomedy, and TikTok: @adamgilbertcomedy.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

80% TikTok, 20% Mushrooms with Steven Castillo

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 05:00:00 -0400

SNL writer, stand-up comedy comrade of mine, and O.G. observer of my coma, Steven Castillo joins me to brag about the memory of his second Saturday Night Live audition. Actually, this is a very sweet and warm chat between old friends, and I was so grateful to have it (on my 40th birthday! I don't mention this on the main feed, but it's in the full convo on the Patreon). Now it's yours.

Content warning: YouTube comments, therapy, failure, convoluted reincarnation, a healthy amount of "fuck you," vape soul.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want the uncut conversations and bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Listen to Steven's new podcast, Mind of Castillo, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and/or watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MindOfCastillo/

Visit his website: stevencastillohasawebsite.com

And follow him on social media.

IG: @steezus_castillo

Twitter: @STEEEZUSCHRIST

TikTok: @steeezuschrist

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Not Everything Is a Sign + The BLT Scale with Claire Favret

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 05:00:00 -0400

"Why Cleveland?" is the question I get when I tell people I moved from Chicago to Cleveland, mostly from people IN Cleveland. This Very Special Episode of This Is Your Afterlife does not answer "why" and in fact cautions against reading too much into every little detail of such a huge life transformation. My lovely pal, very funny comedian, and big TIYA fan Claire Favret helps me tease it all out.

Content warning: employment, power outage, crappy apartment, COVID precautions, reckoning with the concept of sour grapes, relationship between making a living and making art, disillusionment with standup, commute soundtrack, are you a club or BLT?

Here's the Craig Wedren post on the 30th anniversary of Shudder to Think's Pony Express Record, which I reference.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want the uncut conversations and bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on IG and Twitter.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

RIYL Will Oldham's Episode: The Patrick Shiroishi Taco Bell Episode

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:39:00 -0400

As a follow-up to last week's Will Oldham episode, I'm re-releasing my episode with the man Will called an "internet angel," saxophonist and Fuubutsushi member Patrick Shiroishi.

This conversation has been on my mind because my move to Cleveland has come with consuming more Taco Bell than I have in the past decade, so take any shade I throw toward T. Bell with that grain of salt.

In my mind, this is a classic This Is Your Afterlife. I hope you enjoy it.

Content warning: Japanese internment camps, ambiguously supportive parents, ancestors, shit, therapy, the Get Up Kids, Taco Bell.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Patrick on IG, @patrickshiroishi.

Check out Patrick's website for tour dates.

Go buy Fuubutsushi's new album, Meridians, right now at cached.media/shop!

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

My Best Self Is the Person That's Making Songs with Will Oldham aka Bonnie Prince Billy

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Booking This Is Your Afterlife sometimes looks like me hand-writing a list of dream guests off the top of my head. Will Oldham appears on every one of those lists. I've been a fan since he released the first Superwolf album with Matt Sweeney in 2005, and their 2021 follow-up, Superwolves, joins it as one of my favorite albums ever.

Few artists are better at combining mystery, sincerity, wisdom, and mischief. And rather than strive for any sort of definitive Will Oldham interview, I just wanted to do the best This Is Your Afterlife episode I could with him on the day we recorded. I hope you like it.

Content warning: dying parents, genocide, convenience, hell is a Twitter feed, the shock of early Facebook, the scourge of superhero movies, Kentucky Pocket Wolf, examining the function of music, George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, Patrick Shiroishi as internet angel.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

If you want to follow Will on social media, he's @wignifier on Instagram and @signifyingwolf on Twitter.

Listen to Superwolf and Superwolves and all the Bonnie Prince Billy solo albums and the old Palace records and and and...

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

This Existence Is So Much Grasping with Steven Strafford

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 00:59:00 -0400

Playwright, actor, and well-balanced adult Steven Strafford is a breath of fresh air when it comes to putting creative pursuits in their proper place, i.e. as part of a life rather than a whole life. It was wonderful to talk to him about sobriety, meeting his husband, and moving from Chicago to Ohio as a grown man.

Content warning: sobriety, family, having kids, people pleasing, ants and grasshoppers, the "Pumpkins" song, a funeral at a sensible black box.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Watch Steven's solo show, Methtacular!, free on YouTube.

Buy his play, Small Jokes About Monsters, from Dramatists Play Service.

Follow him on Twitter, @StevenStrafford. He doesn't post often on Instagram, but you can follow him there too, @stevenstraffordelkins. Hell, you can go follow him on Facebook if you like!

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Punishment Is Not Balance with Benji Hart

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 18:16:00 -0400

I've wanted artist, writer, educator, and organizer Benji Hart on the show for a while, and today we finally make it happen. It's such a pleasure to speak with them about navigating abolition work while acknowledging the very human desire to see evil punished. It's something I think about a lot, and clearly Benji does too.

Content warning: abolition, punishment, religion, not being able to relate to doing a genocide, Saturn return, voguing, bomba, dismantling the binary between thinking and feeling, why am I mourning Ben Carson?

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Find out more about Benji and all their work at benjihart.com.

Follow them on Instagram at @benjifemini + Twitter at @radfagg.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

I Incarcerated the Spider with Lyn Rye

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 05:00:00 -0400

My conversation with Lyn Rye was so intense and locked in that I gave up on taking notes (and doing bits). They're a bass player, songwriter, artist, gardener, "house dad" at Casa Al-Fatiha (an autonomous sanctuary house for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers), and abolitionist troublemaker. Yet our conversation stretched beyond even all that work!

Content warning: domestic violence, carceral violence, assisted dying, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Islam's day of reckoning, Joe Hill, afterlife-as-memory synchronicity.

Wanna hear the full-length version of this conversation? Become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Lyn on IG: @lyn_rye_music, and find their music on Bandcamp at lynrye.bandcamp.com.

For more information and live show dates, visit their website, lynrye.com.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

What Made My Day Today? with Daniel Wyche

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Daniel Wyche is a composer and improvising musician who uses guitar, pedals, and other electronics to make tracks full of ideas, noise, and even humor. I love his new tape with Lia Kohl, Movie Candy, so I talked to him in my living room about how to listen to experimental music (a Patreon-only part of our talk) and just how important other people are to his well-being.

Content warning: hell is NO people, a gap year without the name "gap year," Chris Wiersema, learning how to hitchhike, metalhead with duffel bag full of CDs, Estonian farm, cousins.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Daniel on Instagram, @danielwyche. And go to Elastic Arts, where he frequently curates programming.

You gotta hear Movie Candy. Then, check out his solo albums, 2021's Earthwork and 2016's Our Severed Sleep. You can hear him collaborate with previous TIYA guest Patrick Shiroishi on Long Day (also with Ted Byrnes). And he has a forthcoming project with Lake Mary, so stay on the lookout for that!

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Non-Dual Thinking with Mary Cait Walthall

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 15:21:00 -0400

Improviser, actor, and teacher Mary Cait Walthall directed Feed Wolf Ice Cream, the one-man show this podcast grew from. I talk to her about how the project has evolved and the comas that lead away from the dream of fame.

Content warning: punishment, parenting, enlightenment, death of childhood friends, talking circle funeral, Karens.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Mary Cait's improv team, Super Human, performs on Thursday nights at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago.

Get tickets to the play she's in, Comet, at Rhino Fest 2024. There are two more performances, on June 19 and 28.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Give Up All the Other Worlds

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Moving from Chicago to Cleveland, how do I pay tribute to my home of 22 years, my entire adult life? I do this.

Read the poem I reference (and read), David Whyte's Sweet Darkness.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want more solo (and other bonus) episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

The Solidarity of the Ages with Daniel Bachman

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 18:30:00 -0400

It's an all-time-great This Is Your Afterlife with artist, musician, and independent folklorist Daniel Bachman. Daniel creates huge concept albums like Almanac Behind, which documented the climate crisis with field recordings of extreme weather that sometimes swallowed his guitar playing, and writes pieces on his Substack like “Well Seasoned”: A History of North American Immunocapitalism.

Content warning: I use this space to alert folks to traditional content warnings as well as cheekily share some of the topics covered in the episode. This time, we've got some fairly heavy genuine content warnings, almost all to do with the American culture of white supremacy: hate crime, suicide, drug overdose, Charlottesville Unite the Right rally, animal cruelty, COVID, and colonialism. AND there is so much genuine beauty, history, camaraderie, and fun in this episode! From Daniel teaching me about abolitionist minister and writer Moncure Daniel Conway to discussing his non-human collaborators, this is just a wall-to-wall banger of a conversation.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, like the Crossing Guard Trilogy of This Is Your Aftershow episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Daniel: @almanacbehind on Instagram and Twitter.

Listen to his most recent recording for Longform Editions, Quaker Run Wildfire (10/24/23–11/17/23) for Fiddle and Guitar.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

How We Make Political Performance Art with Bindu Poroori

Thu, 30 May 2024 05:00:00 -0400

How do you make political art that isn't dogmatic or trite? What are ways to reimagine live performance to activate an audience instead of creating a seated mass of mindless consumers?

It's my performance chat with Bindu Poroori!

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Bindu on Instagram: @himabindu

Check out Do the Needful at @dtn_chicago on Instagram.

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

What If I Was Vulnerable Right Now? with Bindu Poroori

Tue, 28 May 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Bindu Poroori is a warm, deep, brilliant writer, performance artist, and singer whose creative practice can't be summed up tidily. She's in a band called Do the Needful, and her time hosting Salonathon made her the live performer she is. We bonded over our approaches to performance and the struggle to make political art that is authentic to us, so much so that there will be a whole bonus episode with our performance talk!

For now, enjoy Bindu's answers to the prompts, "What do you hope happens when you die?," "What's your coma?," and "Relive one memory."

Content warning: friend breakups, Hinduism, castes, the use of reincarnation for oppression!, invitations into intimacy, the ancestral pleasure of one specific meal at Saravanaa Bhavan.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Bindu on Instagram: @himabindu

Check out Do the Needful at @dtn_chicago on Instagram.

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Where Are You At With the Christian Stuff? with Devin Bustin

Tue, 21 May 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Devin Bustin is not just a poet, songwriter, musician, and, gulp, minister (official title: Director of Spiritual Growth and Students). He's one of the most influential people in my life. Listen to us plumb our shared evangelical Christian history, the possible different functions of doubt in our lives, our shared love of poetry, and the entry of recovery into our lives.

Content warning: going pro with Christianity, poverty tourism, sobriety, the unmarketed opinions of evangelical churches, A Gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps, Carl Rogers' unconditional positive regard, Ross Gay's Last Will and Testament.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Devin has a website, devinbustin.com, and an Instagram, @devinbustin. He doesn't use either much, but if he has new projects to announce, it should be on one or both of those platforms.

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

The Bittersweet Files with Annie Share

Tue, 14 May 2024 18:30:00 -0400

The snap of a good jerky stick. The taste of very wet eggs. Venturing off alone to see art. Performing as a Neo-Futurist. Annie Share enjoys her life! It's a skill she's cultivated through a careful selection of little treats.

Content warning: yearbook enemies, wanting to die young and riding your bike, imaginary friend Gerald Oliver Dickens (G.O.D.), solo adventures, breakfast food preferences.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Annie is mostly offline, so it makes sense you can follow her on Instagram @anniesoffline.

Go see The Infinite Wrench at the Neo-Futurists, especially when Annie rejoins the cast in June!

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

We Should Collect Acorns and Record Ourselves with Brad E. Rose of Foxy Digitalis

Tue, 07 May 2024 14:07:00 -0400

Brad E. Rose is a musician, podcaster, music writer, label owner, graphic designer, and dad, and we talk about his motivations beneath and for all of that.

Content warning: COVID, parenthood, legacy, the undertow, extremely metal Capsula Mundi alternative, Terry Riley's A Rainbow in Curved Air.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Listen to Brad's excellent podcast, Songs of Our Lives!

Read his music writing at Foxy Digitalis, and follow @foxy.digitalis on Instagram.

His label is The Jewel Garden, and you can learn more about his expansive body of work at bradroseprojects.com.

The album Brad released with his daughter, Anna L.H. Rose, is called Blanket, and you can hear it here.

And if you'd like to support him financially, here is Brad's Patreon.

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

How to Stop Dressing Like a Magician with Case Blackwell

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 22:10:00 -0400

Is this the first ever Twitch streamer guest on This Is Your Afterlife? I believe it is! But comedian Case Blackwell (from sketch group Cigarette Sandwich) is much more than a streamer. I've known him a while, and I was surprised by most of our conversation. Take a listen to hear a brilliant silly guy get vulnerable.

Content warning: ALS, dementia, parents dying, masculinity, shedding layers of anxiety, realizations while eating and driving, EarthBound pond memories.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Watch Case's bonkers, very funny one-man-news-team stream on Twitch most days at twitch.tv/caseblackwell.

You can find him on most social media @caseblackwell, including Instagram and Twitter.

Check out Case's sketch group Cigarette Sandwich on Instagram, @cigsandwich. Their recent Jurassic Park sketch is incredible, and without exaggeration, I believe Septembert, the Calendar Salamander is one of the greatest sketches of all time. Watch it now.

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

What Kind of Pangea Do You Want to Be? with Maria Jacobson aka Fran

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 05:00:00 -0400

When I saw musician Maria Jacobson (the creative force behind Fran) was starting a new podcast called Godless—asking guests, "Do you believe in God?" and all the other questions it encompasses—I knew I had to have her on This Is Your Afterlife. So here she is! It's a warm, fun, easy convo about hard stuff, just like we like it.

Content warning: anxiety, mom with cancer, climate crisis, Gnostic Gospels, the reward and risk of making friends with strangers on the road, Irenaeus, good in a crisis?, letting go of pressuring others to be good friends/siblings/parents/etc.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Listen to Godless on Beloved Radio every 4th Sunday from 10-11am Central Time!

Follow Fran on IG: @fran_online__

Hear and buy Fran's newest album, Leaving, on Bandcamp.

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

One Last Wipe with Phylicia McLeod

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Second City and Matt Damon Improv's Phylicia McLeod sits down with me to hash out how to deal with strict Christian parents whose idea of what's best for you is different than yours.

Content warning: dead sibling, alcoholism, Pentecostal childhood, playing Lil Boosie/Boosie Badazz at your funeral, presence as the solution to boredom in paradise, masturbating in the staircase at work?

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Phylicia on Instagram: @laugh_with_phee

Go see her show, HOT GIRLS PRESENT: SH*T TALK, at iO Theater on August 16 and 23!

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

The Way the Mind Actually Works with Nick Turner aka Tyresta

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 05:00:00 -0400

When everyone went scrambling to therapy during lockdown in 2020, what did the therapists think? Find out in this sweet and intimate conversation with Nick Turner, aka the experimental ambient musician Tyresta. I've had lots of musicians who are in Nick's orbit as guests, but he's the first one to really delve into the music-making process, so this could be a good intro to thinking about a genre that can get pretty heady. Find joy in the music and in this episode!

Content warning: mom dying, burnout, insomnia, anxiety, modular synthesis, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Zen, making instrumental music ABOUT something, joy-curating practices, Suzanne Ciani & Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith's album Sunergy.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Nick on IG at @nick__turner.

Listen to and buy the newest Tyresta album, Small Hours.

Preorder the new Montgomery and Turner album, Sound Is (Our) Sustenance!

And if you want to book therapy with Nick, check out his Psychology Today page.

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Karaoke As Revolutionary Act with Anna De Ocampo Kain

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 12:37:00 -0400

Beneath the singing, performing, and party organizing, Anna De Ocampo Kain sees themself as a facilitator. I get to the bottom of how the pandemic has changed her career plans to explore my own anger about it.

Content warning: seeing a dead body, dead friends, vocal hemorrhage, Lyme disease, storefront opera, funeral karaoke, rejecting institutions where you're not wanted, radical hope.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Anna on Instagram: @kain.deo.anna.

AND follow Parallel Play, Anna's collective organizing COVID-conscious events, at @parallel.play.chi on IG. You currently CAN STILL GET tickets to Dilly Dally, their speed-friending karaoke mixer in Chicago on April 13, at dillydally1.eventbrite.com.

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Humbled and Amazed by Dead Birds with Julie Mitchell

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Comedian, writer, and artist Julie Mitchell and I get on like gangbusters in this episode that easily could have gone twice as long. The whole conversation felt like unhinging a release valve for me, despite taking on one of my toughest challenges yet as a host: Julie has a definitive coma moment, but it's too raw and unresolved for her to go into detail. How do you talk about a moment that changed you when you can't talk about the moment itself? You talk about the changes!

Content warning: musical improv, rape jokes, Long COVID, Palestine, big "T" vs. little "t" trauma, vulnerability requires anonymity, Maya Shetreat, the Psychedelic Assembly, crowdwork in standup comedy, Pigeon Feathers, finally getting the movie Magnolia.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Julie @juliepoptart on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

Subscribe to her Substack—Girl, Uninterrupted—at juliepoptart.substack.com. And read her movie reviews on her blog, I Heard the Book Was Better!

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Chicken Tenders Salt Lake City Sex Heaven with Chris Jusell

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 -0400

The Fuubutsushi collection is complete! Chris Jusell, the ambient jazz band's violinist, joins me to jump down all the pop culture rabbit holes our brains present us as we try to get to the bottom of why Chris says he wants to take up as little space as possible. 'Cause does he really?

Btw, I forgot to mention the Pigeon patrons on Patreon in my intro, so here they are: G, Barry Fontenot, Shubha Singh, Kati Llewellyn, Fred Fedewa, and DEBO. Thank you all!

Content warning: grandparents' deaths, therapy, judgement, safety vs. variety, Titanic, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Chris is single.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Find out more about Chris (and hire him to arrange music!) at his website, chrisjusell.com.

Follow him on Instagram: @jusellll

Buy Fuubutsushi's music at cached.media/shop, and listen everywhere! Their Instagram is @_fuubutsushi.

If you'd like there to be a working class of musicians in the U.S., sign this petition to support the Living Wage for Musicians Act.

Donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund via my page to provide life-saving healthcare to folks who need abortions.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Be With the Panic with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 05:00:00 -0400

"All the perfections are left in," I say in the intro to this perhaps-greatest-ever episode of the podcast, and yes, I meant "imperfections." But I enjoy the mistake, so it stays in, which is fitting for an episode I've minimally edited so that you can experience it as close to how I did as possible. And fitting for an episode in which legendary experimental/ambient musician and hospice chaplain Jefre Cantu-Ledesma helps me understand in a deep way the meaning of accepting all our feelings about death.

Content warning: hospice, the experience of dying, old age, Zen Buddhism, grieving previous versions of yourself, Frank Ostaseski's The Five Invitations, relationship to creative career success, the Five Remembrances.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Jefre Cantu-Ledesma on Instagram: @jcantuledesma

Listen to and purchase his wonderful, beautiful, mind-blowing, life-affirming music on Bandcamp.

Sign on to support the Living Wage for Musicians Act.

And donate here to help me raise money for abortion access with Chicago Abortion Fund!

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

How Do You Relate to the Past? with Max Fox

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Does Pinko editor Max Fox have a thing with posthumous projects? We explore Max's relationship to death by talking about his work editing his friend Chris Chitty's book, Sexual Hegemony: Statecraft, Sodomy, and Capital in the Rise of the World System.

Content warning: suicide, dead friends, anxiety, legacy, Accountability, history is real, gay communism, Amphitheater of the Dead, having sex in nature.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Max on Twitter: @mxwfx, and check out his website, maxfox.site. You can read his translation of Guy Hocquenghem's The Amphitheater of the Dead for free on his website. You can buy Sexual Hegemony at Duke University Press.

Visit Pinko at pinko.online. Issue 3 of the magazine starts shipping soon! You can follow Pinko, @pinkomagazine, on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com.

Donate to Chicago Abortion Fund during their fund-a-thon via my link here!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

The Better Life List with Mark Richardson

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Mark Richardson (former Editor-in-Chief at Pitchfork, current rock and pop music critic at the Wall Street Journal) tells me about his tendency to help others rather than himself, being pushed into following his dream, and keeping a grasp on the substance of that dream.

Content warning: anxiety, cancer, dementia, parents dying, Christian heaven sounds nice, part-time job with health insurance, difficulties of creating a funeral playlist, helping others to avoid helping yourself.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Read and subscribe to Mark's newsletter at markrichardson.substack.com, and follow him on Twitter @MarkRichardson.

Get a taste of Mark's writing at his website, markrichardson.org.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

Hanging Out With the Elephant in the Room with C. Fausto Cabrera

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -0400

After 20 years in prison, C. Fausto Cabrera is free. Six weeks post-release is quite a time to talk about transformation, and here we go.

Content warning: prison, anxiety and depression, social death, not being a victim, dry room, Keats' negative capability, doing party drugs and getting lost at sea, beets and boiled eggs.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

You owe it to yourself to check out C. Fausto Cabrera's work at his website, faustocabrera.com.

Follow him: @CFaustoCabrera on Twitter and @chris.fausto1 on Instagram.

Chris and I met thanks to my work for Haymarket Books on their announcement of the inaugural Writing Freedom Fellows, of whom he is one. Find out more about the fellowship and Chris' fellow writers at writing-freedom.org.

Learn about the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop at mnprisonwriting.org, and read the collective's essay anthology, American Precariat. One of the book's coeditors, Zeke Caligiuri, will join Bill Ayers in conversation at Pilsen Community Books in Chicago on Friday, March 15.

Learn about the narrative non-profit We Are All Criminals at weareallcriminals.org.

Find info about human rights org Until We Are All Free at uwaaf.org.

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

A Special Batch with Chaz Prymek

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 22:26:00 -0400

Chaz texted me, "it’s pretty nice to be reciprocal fans dave."

I texted back, "It’s so nice! Such a well of comfort and inspiration."

Chaz is the third of four members of ambient jazz band Fuubutsushi who I've had on the podcast. And his solo-and-friends recordings as Lake Mary are divine. Enjoy this exploration of his artistry, pains, and loves, which is also the beginning of our friendship.

Content warning: deaths of family members and pets, grief seizure, against ego death, Big Fish funeral, mischievous trees, people turning into coyotes, long walks to private lakes, death as a break.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Chaz on Instagram: @chaz.prymek

Listen to Lake Mary and Fuubutsushi on Spotify, and listen to/buy Lake Mary albums on Bandcamp.

Buy Fuubutsushi's music at cached.media/shop.

Donate to Care for Gaza's fundraiser to provide direct aid to Palestinians in Rafah and beyond, and follow their efforts on Twitter @CareForGaza.

Here's a Twitter thread with more organizations helping on the ground in Palestine.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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All music by Lake Mary

Uncertainty As a Value with Abby Pajakowski

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Neo-Futurist Abby Pajakowski joins me for an in-person episode from my kitchen, and we get real specific on their hell, a party game, and the exact ways in which a single night in bed can change your life.

Content warning: anxiety, depression, someone slowly approaching with a gun, Antz, mailed cremains, glorious limbo, losing your religion and it's chill.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow the development of Abby's prime time show at the Neo-Futurists' at their website, abbypajakowski.com.

On Instagram, follow Abby, @abbypaj, and the Neo-Futurists, @theneofuturists. And if you're in or going to Chicago, see the Neos' flagship show, The Infinite Wrench, ASAP!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

That's the Old Way, Bro with Aaron Weaver

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Perfect This Is Your Afterlife guest alert! Aaron Weaver is a comedian who's been thinking about spirituality maybe his whole life? He shares the tools he's picked up recently for being present and staying in his body. Those are buzzwords, but we get specific.

We also talk a lot about Aaron's friend, Kenny DeForest, an excellent comedian and amazing person who was killed by a car in December 2023 at age 37. It's brutal and senseless, and I'm grateful Aaron was so open in talking to me about Kenny and his influence on Aaron's life.

Content warning: comedy as detachment (vs. enjoyment), classic eyeball stuff, Kenny DeForest, men's groups, somatic experiencing, un-numbing, alligators with podcast ideas, Katt Williams' appearance on Club Shay Shay.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Aaron on Instagram @weavedreaming, and listen to his wonderful album, Cosmic Joke.

Follow Shamady, Aaron's spiritual comedy channel, @comedyfrombeyomedy on Instagram and YouTube.

You owe it to yourself to watch Kenny DeForest's newest special, Don't You Know Who I Am?

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Aim for the Ditch with Zach Peterson

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Zach Peterson wants to be the Butthole Surfers of comedy. Next step: release his new special, A List of Wet Celebrities, this Thursday, January 25!

Content warning: anxiety, OCD, dead parents, Burger King panic attack, sobriety, success, Neil Young, cigarette heaven, Rick Rubin's "The Creative Act," John Prine's "The Tree of Forgiveness," outsider art, avoiding sour grapes.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

Watch A List of Wet Celebrities on Four by Three's YouTube channel. Stream the album version, and buy it from the iTunes store.

While you're in the listening mood, stream Zach's previous album, Midwestern Jokes of the Americas, and buy that too!

Follow Zach @kingoftheriverpeterson on Instagram and TikTok.

Find his merch and tour dates at zachpetersoncomedy.com or museumofuglyfathers.com.

And listen to his great podcast, No Coast Comedy Club, where he talks to comedians who live and work in cities that aren't huge entertainment hubs.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

TIYA REMIXED: Hell Is a Collective Condition with Dylan Rodriguez

Sat, 20 Jan 2024 15:25:00 -0400

Surprise! It's another installment of TIYA REMIXED, in which I re-edit classic interviews from the archives as refreshers for fans and great introductory episodes for new folks.

Dylan Rodriguez is a founding member of Critical Resistance, an organization that for decades has provided leadership and resources in the movement to abolish the prison industrial complex. As importantly, he's a down-to-earth dude who could absolutely handle a heaven of sushi buffets every day.

Content warning: copaganda, collectivity vs. individualism, Geronimo Ji-Jaga, humility, rude baby.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

If you're looking for an introduction to abolition, I highly recommend Critical Resistance's "Resource Guide for Teaching and Learning Abolition."

Dylan's books:

White Reconstruction: Domestic Warfare and the Logics of Genocide

Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future Without Policing & Prisons (edited by Colin Kaepernick)

Check out the Cops Off Campus coalition: copsoffcampuscoalition.com

And, of course, Critical Resistance: criticalresistance.org

Follow Dylan on Twitter: @dylanrodriguez and Instagram: @dylanrodriguez73

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Mission: Relax the World with Alejandro Salinas

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Alejandro Salinas may or may not be a death doula, but he's definitely a vampire.

Content warning: even more death talk than usual (incl. dead dad), ice cube as reincarnation metaphor, bird eye contact, why goths are tall, dying practice.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Alejandro on Instagram: @alej_salinas

Follow Chicago Death Doula Collective on IG too: @chicago.death.doula.collective. CDDC is hosting a death cafe on January 27 at Chi Yoga Shack, where Alej teaches dream yoga.

Buy the Coffin Cards deck, and listen to the Coffin Cards podcast.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

The Sky Is Just Blue with Tyler Parker

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Tyler Parker (The Ringer) wrote a damn novel! A Little Blood and Dancing is a technicolor Oklahoma revenge story, and I was so stoked to talk to an old friend from Chicago improv about the transition from performing comedy to writing fiction.

Content warning: Christian music, wanting to record your own audiobook, what hell would do to your vocal cords, accepting you're not too good for Minions.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Read Tyler's book, A Little Blood and Dancing! And check out his basketball writing for The Ringer.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

New Year's Special: The Year Hating Went From Delicious to Sour with Claire Favret

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Friend, TIYA superfan, and This Is Your Aftershow cohost Claire Favret returns to the main feed for our annual New Year's Special episode. We celebrate our years of minimal and no resolutions, and we answer a series of New Year's reflection questions Claire is pretty sure came from Simi Botic of Movement Unmeasured.

Content warning: YOU DON'T NEED RESOLUTIONS TO DO THINGS, relationship to the word "prayer," cooking with loved ones, CD shopping, love/frustration with your union, validation at Socialism Conference, good vs. bad hating, printing stickers, Free Palestine.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes, including every This Is Your Aftershow with Claire. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Claire on Instagram: @clairefavs

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

---

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

From Comedy Robot to Confident Ghost with Daniel Shar

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Comedian, sex worker, and writer Daniel Shar directed my first one-man show, Dave Maher Coma Show. The experience changed everything for me creatively and turned us from acquaintances into full-blow friends. Shar is so creative and funny, and he produces work as efficiently as a Comedy Terminator.

Content warning: mom's death, breakup, porn career, surprise Beyonce fandom, this is absurd, evolving ambitions, objectively correct places to haunt, the hell of no comedy, the hell of using comedy work to outrun personal pain, Better Questions.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Listen to/watch Shar's Weird Copcept Album, which features prominently in his Relive 1 Memory segment!!

And he's not on social media, so check out his other projects or get in touch with him via his website, danielshar.com. Tell him he needs to name his show Best Non-Sex Performance!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

---

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

There Are Mean Memes with John Michael

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 05:00:00 -0400

John Michael is my solo play-creating peer, independent art comrade-in-arms, and throwing-humor-at-heavy-subjects brother. I talked to him in my kitchen a couple weeks after seeing his most recent show, Spank Bank Time Machine, at the Neo-Futurist Theater. It's a new TIYA classic.

Content warning: drug overdose, mental illness, weird bits, giddy laughter, Narcan, toxic friend representation, trauma dump vs. trauma bond, our sibling dynamic, twisted mom humor.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow John Michael on Instagram: @jmsilly

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I'm Really Afraid of Liberals with Al from MASK UP (covid.tips)

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Al—first names only this episode—is a member of MASK UP, a group of organizers who authored a 70-page doc called “How to Talk to Your Loved Ones About Covid,” which you can find at covid.tips.

I don't follow the usual format for this interview. COVID has given shape to This Is Your Afterlife in many ways, so I wanted to explore my current thoughts around it with Al directly, rather than mediated through the usual questions. Until the end!

Content warning: tick bite, microscopic feces and blood, chronic illness, fitting in = safety, fatphobia, anger on Twitter, holding complex feelings, experiences with spirits!

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Al on Twitter: @Akshaps

Follow prominent MASK UP member Liz on Twitter: @RealGayArbys

After you learn how to talk to your loved ones about COVID at covid.tips, share your stories about these conversations with MASK UP at covidjournal.org.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

TIYA REMIXED: Wrapped in Mushrooms and Shoved into the Earth with Matthew Sage

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Matthew Sage (aka M. Sage) and Fuubutsushi put out four records—aligned with the seasons—that helped keep me sane in quarantine. I talked to him in 2021 in this classic TIYA, and now he's my friend. I took my editing finger to this episode as an experiment to see if I could bring it under 30 minutes. I'm calling this leaner version of the podcast TIYA REMIXED. Let me know what you think!

Content warning: nondenominational Christianity, type one diabetes, coma snobbery, mushroom suit, memory palace, IVF treatment.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Matt on Instagram: @matthewjsage

Visit his website: matthewjsage.com

Listen to Fuubutsushi on the cached.media Bandcamp.

Read about Fuubutsushi in the Chicago Reader.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

---

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Poem = Walt Whitman: "This Compost"

Poem Reading Bed Music = Fuubutsushi: "I Hold Dearly (for Miles)"

Meadow Goth with Kayte Terry

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -0400

I've been loving Kayte Terry's cannibalism podcast, Tender Subject. It's a weird sell, and that's what I like about it! The visual artist and podcast joins me to bond over type 1 diabetes stuff and talk about the art school permission that was her coma.

Content warning: body horror (& Cronenburg, & Crimes of the Future), blood lickers, mushroom suit, the Five Obstructions, reparative readings.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Listen to Kayte's podcasts: Tender Subject and Fangs for the Memories (a Buffy and horror podcast)

Check out Kayte's art at kayteterry.com

Follow her on Twitter: @kayteterry

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

R.I.P. Jonathan Euseppi

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Jonathan Euseppi has passed away from cancer. I ramble in the intro about who Jonathan is to me, and I've copied the show notes from Jonathan's This Is Your Afterlife episode below to give you more context. I'm uploading this as a new episode in the feed because it is the extended version of our conversation, previously available only on Patreon. I hope you enjoy it as a brief look at Jonathan's life and work.

Jonathan Euseppi (he/they/she) is a comedian who creates one-person shows that feature stories and heightened theatricality, so we're kindred spirits. Her first show, Grief Is Horny, was about her dad's death and her love of the musical Cats. His second show, about getting cancer and marrying his wife, is called Cancer Is Gorgeous. We spend the majority of the episode talking about Jonathan's TWO times suffering through cancer (he's currently cancer-free!) and the difference between those times. But they also talk about their wedding day, their struggle to come out as nonbinary, and the calm that came after admitting who they are.

Content warning: suicidal ideation, anxiety, cancer, dementia, Parkinson's, water afterlives, crying just thinking about your wedding vows.

Here is Jonathan Euseppi's Instagram profile: @jeuseppi

You can follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Here to Make Friends Postpartum Talk with Claire Favret

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Friend of the show Claire Favret helps me process the process of creating my new one-man show, Here to Make Friends.

Content warning: Free Palestine, creative process, postcoital vs. postpartum, Infinite Jest version, massive amounts of navel gazing, the most powerful Afterhead, future of the podcast, Free Palestine.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Download the Palestinian Feminist Collective's "All Out for Palestine" Digital Action Toolkit.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Producing Independent Shows with Rebecca Spectre

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 05:00:00 -0400

What do comedy and magic have in common? What does it take to produce an independent magic and/or comedy show? I talk to my friend, previous TIYA guest, and magician Rebecca Spectre about our recent/upcoming shows, and how we went about both making them and putting them on.

Content warning: DIY producing, comedy vs. magic, you're not Beyonce, "borrowed" tricks, unique venues, Mark James, Max Maven, David Berglas, Gob, the trick that cannot be explained.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Rebecca on Instagram: @rebeccaspectremagic

And grab tickets to her Halloween magic show at Inclusive Funeral Care WHILE THEY'RE STILL AVAILABLE.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Bracketology: Apocalypse with Meaghan Strickland, Bill Stern and Nick Leveski (KC Redheart)

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 05:00:00 -0400

What percent odds do you actually believe you will experience the apocalypse in your lifetime? That's a question from my most recent one-man show, Here to Make Friends, so I brought in my pals and collaborators Meaghan Strickland, Bill Stern, and Nick Leveski to help me answer it, in a roundabout way. "Roundabout" because before they answer the question directly, we perform Bracketology, an improvised argument game show we devised back in our days on the improv team KC Redheart.

Follow along as we attempt to determine what makes for the apocalypse-iest apocalypse.

Content warning: actual apocalypse, Here to Make Friends, the humans are changing, monsters, hoisted by our own petard, laziness, magic.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Check out twitch.tv/caseblackwell for future content from Cigarette Sandwich, Bill's sketch group.

Follow @funnygamesla for upcoming dates for Funny Games, Meaghan's show/open mic at the Elysian Theater in L.A.

And read/subscribe to Continuous Improvement, Nick's weekly newsletter with football "recaps."

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

IT'S A F**KING STICK Episode 5: Strip for Peanut Butter

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -0400

This is a podcast in which two comedians, Ariel Elias and Dave Maher, talk about the television program "Survivor." It is not a recap podcast. Each episode, we chose a single moment from the show's 40+ seasons and connected it to comedy, creativity, our personal lives, our relationship to each other, and so many other things. It's a hangout show with "Survivor" as the starting point.

We only recorded five episodes of It's a Fucking Stick, which means now it's a miniseries dedicated to promoting Dave's new one-man show, Here to Make Friends, which both contains a lot of "Survivor" material and requires no previous knowledge of "Survivor" to enjoy.

In Episode 5, the final episode of the miniseries, we talk about Jenna and Heidi stripping for peanut butter, from Season 6, Episode 7, "Girls Gone Wilder".

Get tickets to Here to Make Friends at the Neo-Futurist Theater in Chicago from 9/28/23-10/1/23!

Follow Ariel @ariel_comedy on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Follow Dave @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

IAFS' music is made by Mike Malarkey, who you can follow on IG @malarkeymike or listen to on Spotify.

IT'S A F**KING STICK Episode 4: Owtuit, Oualtay, Outlast

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -0400

In Episode 4, we talk about Dan's bonkers slide puzzle "solution," from Season 30, Episode 7, "The Line Will Be Drawn Tonight".

Get tickets to Here to Make Friends at the Neo-Futurist Theater in Chicago from 9/28/23-10/1/23!

Follow Ariel @ariel_comedy on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Follow Dave @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

IAFS' music is made by Mike Malarkey, who you can follow on IG @malarkeymike or listen to on Spotify.

IT'S A F**KING STICK Episode 3: James' Banana Etiquette

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -0400

In Episode 3, we talk about James' banana etiquette, from Season 20, Episode 6, "Banana Etiquette."

Get tickets to Here to Make Friends at the Neo-Futurist Theater in Chicago from 9/28/23-10/1/23!

Follow Ariel @ariel_comedy on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Follow Dave @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

IAFS' music is made by Mike Malarkey, who you can follow on IG @malarkeymike or listen to on Spotify.

IT'S A F**KING STICK Episode 2: Shane's BlackBerry

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -0400

In Episode 2, we talk about Shane's BlackBerry, from Season 12, Episode 12, "Perilous Scramble."

Get tickets to Here to Make Friends at the Neo-Futurist Theater in Chicago from 9/28/23-10/1/23!

Follow Ariel @ariel_comedy on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Follow Dave @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

IAFS' music is made by Mike Malarkey, who you can follow on IG @malarkeymike or listen to on Spotify.

IT'S A F**KING STICK Episode 1: It's a Fucking Stick

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -0400

In Episode 1, we talk about the podcast's titular moment, from Season 16, Episode 9, "I'm in Such a Hot Pickle!"

Get tickets to Here to Make Friends at the Neo-Futurist Theater in Chicago from 9/28/23-10/1/23!

Follow Ariel @ariel_comedy on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Follow Dave @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

IAFS' music is made by Mike Malarkey, who you can follow on IG @malarkeymike or listen to on Spotify.

How to Use the Sidewalk Properly with Claire Favret and Meaghan Strickland

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -0400

It's September 2023, which means ANYTHING GOES in the lead-up to my third one-man show, Here to Make Friends. In this episode of the podcast, my aftershow co-hosts Meaghan Strickland and Claire Favret join me to present the one-man show that could have been: How to Use the Sidewalk Properly.

Sidewalk Commandments

You must be willing to shift down to a single file line whenever someone is approaching.
If you have odd numbers, take an Uber, or walk at your own risk.
If you notice someone coming, you are the alpha in your group.
If in a group, merge right to pass someone, and see diagram for oscillating unmerge directions [no diagram given].
Going on the grass is a worst case scenario.
Stop and Allow: If you are walking in a way that requires you to stop at different points, you must stop and allow yourself to be overtaken.
If two couples approach each other both holding hands, they must shout the number of years they have been together at one another, and the couple with the longest tenure may continue holding hands, while the other couple must go single file to pass. Years are the unit of measurement, and in the event of a couple being in a relationship under a year, they must cross their hands over their chests and go single file. This still applies if both couples have been together under a year.
Thou shalt not huff.
Keep right, pass on the left.
When passing a person carrying bags, turn sideways toward them. And when they pass you, do the same, as if you are opening an imaginary door for them.
When passing or being passed by a stroller or wheelchair… squish a little.
Constant left turning is your right to avoid someone in sight. Good luck, bitch.

Sidewalk Beatitudes

Blessed are the complimentary to dogs, for they will inherit freshly paved paths.
Favored are those who keep their heads on swivels, for they will be written in the Lord’s book.
Blessed are the polyamorous, for they have transcended sidewalks.
Blessed are the burden bearers, for they will be at the front of the line when we all know thirst.
Blessed are the slow walkers, for they are really taking it all in. Amen.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes, like this. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Meaghan on Twitter at @MeaghanStrick and Instagram at @stricklygram.

Follow Claire at @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

---

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Here to Make Friends!!

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Announcing my new one-man show and first big live show in 4 years: Here to Make Friends. In 2020, I watched 40 seasons of "Survivor" in 4 months. That + COVID alienation = Here to Make Friends. Enhancing the show is my recent revelation that at my artistic core, I'm an interviewer.

Here to Make Friends will be at the Neo-Futurist theater in Chicago September 28-October 1, 2023. Until then, I'll be having a lot of fun releasing irregular This Is Your Afterlife episodes, both in terms of when they come out and content.

If you'd like to go the extra mile in supporting the creation of Here to Make Friends, donate to my GoFundMe!

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

---

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Binge-Watch Humanity with David Drake

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 23:59:00 -0400

David Drake is a father, doer of drugs in national parks, and fantastic comedian. We talk a lot of comedy process on this episode!

Content warning: drugs, being an observer, standup comedy, major vs. minor storytelling, snapping out of limbo.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow David on IG: @daviddrakecomedy

Find info about his shows and his upcoming special That's It!, plus links to his previous albums, at daviddrakecomedy.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Self-Exclusion with Steve Tapas

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Comedian and video creator Steve Tapas (Win It All, Easy) inspires a This Is Your Afterlife first: a long-form exploration of gambling addiction.

Content warning: gambling, addiction, suicidal ideation, storage facilities, Greece, homemade filo, a bench with your name on it.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Watch Steve's video work by following him:

@smallplates on TikTok

@smallplatesyt on YouTube

And @smallplatesig on Instagram

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

---

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I Hate Being Perceived with Eleanor Russell

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -0400

You may hear writer and theater/performance/comedy/sound theorist Eleanor Russell, but you may not see her.

Content warning: nature vs. nurture fuckup, first time seeing Jurassic Park in the theater, childbirth but more like having a pregnant body.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Eleanor on Twitter: @eleanoir.

And subscribe to her Substack newsletter, outside bones!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

---

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Wake Up Smiling with Alyx Goodwin

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 23:50:00 -0400

Alyx Goodwin (#StopShotSpotter campaign) posits: What if you could be an organizer who is tired and, like, kinda happy?

Content warning: abusive relationship, Everything Everywhere All at Once, "ugh, adulting," parenting is easy, beer weenies.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow the #StopShotSpotter campaign @stopshotspotter on IG and Twitter, and learn more at stopshotspotter.com.

And if you're a Chicagoan, sign the petition to cancel ShotSpotter!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Existential BDSM with Lucas O'Neil

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Comedian and good buddy Lucas O'Neil (Comedy Central) shares his deep need to do things right.

Content warning: grieving correctly, mother's death, Mainers, pet boundaries, being freed of potential.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Go see "Lucas O'Neil: Emotional Man" at Littlefield in Brooklyn on July 24 or at the Edinburgh Fringe at Just the Tonic @ The Caves the whole month of August.

Follow Lucas @mr.lucasoneil on IG and TikTok.

Get all the Lucas info you need, include ticket links, at lucasoneil.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Only Child Heaven Cafe with Karl Bradley

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -0400

A subtle snow theme in this episode with sketch comedian and improviser Karl Bradley (Cigarette Sandwich).

Content warning: suicidal consideration, black hole event horizons, wishing to be at least 200 different people, I DO NOT BELIEVE ANYONE HAS ACTUALLY EXPERIENCED DEJA VU.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

I'll be announcing the details of my new one-man show in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Watch Karl live on stage in Trigger Happy at the Annoyance Theatre (Wednesdays at 9:30pm), the Armando at iO (Thursdays at 8pm), and whenever he happens to understudy the current Second City main stage show, Don't Quit Your Daydream.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

What Are Some of the More Interesting Choices? with Ian Abramson

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -0400

In a This Is Your Afterlife first, comedian Ian Abramson (Conan, Gary Busey's Pet Court) brought a full-on written piece as his sideways answer to "What's your coma?" It's a description of the afterlife that's really about his dad's death, and it rings eerily familiar to my experience waking up from a coma after being eulogized on Facebook.

Content warning: parent's death, Ocean's Twelve, The Phantom Thread, winning a wedding on Instagram, DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Ian on Instagram: @ianabramsons

He just moved back to Chicago, so catch him doing standup all around the city!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Glorified Punk Rock Piss Bucket with Molly Brennan

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Actor, clown, and physical theater artist extraordinaire Molly Brennan has performed in plays at the Goodman Theatre, emceed The Fly Honey Show, and toured the world with her legendary 500 Clown troupe (defunct for some time now). She soothes me with a beautiful New Hampshire memory, talk of her atheist upbringing and DIY ethic, and only the righteous kind of bitterness.

Content warning: abandonment, COVID-19, trickle-down shittery, accessible performance venues, the Titanic submersible, advocating for others vs. yourself, Tom Petty, band vs. solo artist life.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Molly and her DIY music venue, The Garden, on Instagram: @monsterclowngirl and @thegardendiy.

Molly's performing as Bottom in Oak Park Festival Theatre's outdoor production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," July 13-August 19 (2023), and you can learn more at their Instagram, @oakparkfestival.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Worship Leader Nepo Baby with Jason P. Woodbury

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 00:18:00 -0400

Jason P. Woodbury (Aquarium Drunkard, JPW) and I bring our mutual admiration society to the mics. It's an experiment. Do you like it?

Content warning: UFO/UAP sighting, moments of rupture, dental hell, pretty AND funny, evangelical Christianity, Audio Adrenaline, loop.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Jason @jasonpwoodbury on Twitter and Instagram.

Listen to his evocative and mysterious new album as JPW, Something Happening / Always Happening, on Bandcamp.

Listen to his fantastic and TIYA-overlapping podcast, Aquarium Drunkard - TRANSMISSIONS.

Check out his freaky media project WASTOIDS at wastoids.com.

And he has a Substack newsletter, Range and Basin!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I discuss TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I Can Abstract Myself with Tim Barnes

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 15:25:00 -0400

Comedian and TV writer Tim Barnes (The Tonight Show, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central) and I bond over our longing for disembodiment.

Content warning: race, class, retail mirror reflections, abstraction, the Phantom Menace hype machine.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Tim: @TimBarnes451 on Twitter, @timbarnescomedy on Instagram, and @TimBarnes on Bluesky.

Read and subscribe to his comedy Substack newsletter, Letters From African America: timbarnescomedy.substack.com, and his short fiction Substack, Alternate Timeline: alternatetimeline.substack.com.

Listen and subscribe to the Star Wars podcast he co-hosts, Yub Nub.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Everything Is Just People with Neil Bhandari

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Neo-Futurist Neil Bhandari and I really hit it off! We bonded over being big talkers and mischievous little guys (in the full convo you can hear on Patreon), and it was a joy to relate to his neuroses and listen to him describe moments of peace and LIFE.

Content warning: India, Costa Rica, language barriers, extreme cold, the problem with the afterlife is figuring out the ages.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Catch a Neo-Futurists show if you're in Chicago!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Peeves and Affirmations

Tue, 23 May 2023 05:00:00 -0400

In this solo episode, I respond to a suggestion from Mom Stomp's Jo Scott to talk pet peeves. I also provide highly specific and surprisingly sincere affirmations.

Content warning: human nature, (anti-)local pride, outside sounds, synchronicity, imaginary enemies, being present.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

The music I play under the affirmations is by previous guest Matt Sage, from an out-of-print album called Chautauqua (Loops). The newest M. Sage solo album, Paradise Crick, comes out this Friday, May 26, and I'm so excited! Find it and more at msage.bandcamp.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / M. Sage: "Euclid Priori" and "Nell's Line" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Is It Really Ignorance? with Owen Black

Tue, 16 May 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Owen Black, one of the most interesting conversationalists I know, is a writer and once-a-year comedian on his birthday. Hot off his 35th birthday set, my old standup buddy and I talk about his travels, upbringing, relationship to Blackness, and his new Instagram project.

Content warning: walking through town eating gelato in the South of France, hymn raising, Brazil, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, starving and waiting in line at the same time, the curse of infinite variety, dying before your partner.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Owen everywhere—Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter—with the handle @owenblk. That's also his web address: owenblk.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I'm analyzing TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Succession: We Are Not Serious People - Genre Reveal Party!

Fri, 12 May 2023 05:00:00 -0500

To kick off our first season on the theme of "Family Matters," we're talking about HBO's Succession: a show about daddy that's got a lot of mommy issues.

While clearly positioned among HBO's prestige dramas (and currently Emmy campaigning as such), many critics and fans have made the case that Succession is quite clearly a comedy.

So how do we read Succession? And what is it trying to say about the family, capitalism, and genre?

Spoilers: dead daddy, the Shiv of it all, #TeamGerri, Nicholaus Braun seems sketchy, and no more power point presentations from Adam McKay!

Follow Madeline @la_louve_rouge_ on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow Dave @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram, and listen to his other podcast, This Is Your Afterlife.

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Music by Kirk Rawlings from Courtesy and beige on beige

Cover art by Tuli Lane-McKinley

What If They're Doing That Shit?! with Andrew Tisher

Tue, 09 May 2023 22:59:00 -0400

Hilarious and thoughtful comedian/my good friend Andrew Tisher delivers an all-time great episode.

Content warning: noisy neighbors, highly personal afterlife cinema, Thomas Aquinas, Brooklyn Annoyance Theatre, college lunches during thunderstorms in New Mexico, what if hell is real?

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Watch Tisher's very funny video sketches for IFC, "God's Angels" and "Drapple."

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Announcing... Genre Reveal Party! - Genre Reveal Party!

Sun, 07 May 2023 13:50:00 -0500

Here's the trailer for Genre Reveal Party. Writer/cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley and comedian/actor Dave Maher host this podcast exploring tv and movies through the lenses of politics and genre. Season 1 is "Family Matters," focusing on family stories like "Succession," "A Serious Man," "Star Trek: Picard," and "Fast X."

Episodes drop on Fridays! Subscribe now, so you don't miss a single one.

Shmying Around with David Feinberg

Tue, 02 May 2023 13:50:00 -0400

On the heels of releasing his independent comedy album, David Feinberg Plays the Hits, David Feinberg joins me to talk about the beauty and guilt of shmying around.

Content warning: grandfather dying, Jewish summer camp, casket library, resilience.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow David on IG: @davidfeinbergonline, and he says you can email him at davidfeinbergonline@gmail.com.

Check out David Feinberg Plays the Hits on Bandcamp.

And if you're in Chicago, look for his Tuesday writing sessions at the Annoyance and Wednesday open jam at Otherworld Theatre.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I Felt the Moisture in the Air with Stephanie Alma

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Vocalist and songwriter Stephanie Alma (Raro) almost got to the bottom of why she writes songs one night on the dance floor, and I can't let it go.

Content warning: disability/crip culture, humble hopes, songwriting from pain, death is Mexican culture, perfecting whistle tone on Lake Shore Drive.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Stephanie on IG @_stephaniealma_ and follow her band Raro @raro_band.

Look out for Raro's forthcoming album, From Your Fear I Learned.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Deeply Not Chosen with Sheera Talpaz

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 01:47:00 -0400

It was only a matter of time before This Is Your Afterlife included lighthearted discussions of the Holocaust. I'm pleased they come in this episode with Hebrew & Arabic literature scholar Sheera Talpaz (Oberlin College).

Content warning: Palestine, Israel, (anti-)Zionism, Auschwitz, "Never again" for whom?, middle school, motherhood, euthanasia rollercoaster.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Sheera on Twitter: @snarkademic

For a taste of her work, read her article, "Yehuda Amichai, the Unlikely National Poet," about nationalism (and the resistance to it) and translation as it relates to the titular poet.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Eating Sandwiches and Reading on the Beach with Neil Bardhan

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 00:46:00 -0400

Neil Bardhan (First Person Arts, Broad Street Review) is a flaneur with a taste for life's simple pleasures. He tells me about the childhood difficulties that shaped this point of view.

Content warning: medical trauma, standstill traffic, sandwiches, book management systems, the fancy French words for the kind of guy Neil is.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get full convos & bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Neil @knilegram on IG, and sign up for his delightful newsletter.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Feng Shui with the Furniture in Your Brain with Kirk Rawlings (Courtesy)

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 13:58:00 -0400

Kirk Rawlings from the excellent, genre-mashing band Courtesy joins me to talk about a moment that pulled the rug out from under his childhood and the game-changing depression treatment so many of us are curious about. Don't be fooled by this description, there are laughs.

Content warning: depression, suicide, Trump, ketamine, plumbing.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Courtesy on Instagram: @courtesy_idmatic and check out their music on Bandcamp (their newest album, Check the Milk, is so good).

Learn more about Kirk's new project, Beige on Beige, at beige.band, and save their first single, "C'mon," out on April 7, 2023!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I Hate Going Backwards with Jay Mumford

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 22:34:00 -0400

The drummer formerly known as the rapper J-Zone, Jay Mumford, tells me a story he's told many times: how he changed courses musically in his mid-30s. But this time he gets meta. I ask him if he likes talking about this! He reflects on nostalgia writ large and how it plays out in Instagram stories when people use old songs of his he hates. And we frame it all in terms of his switch being an ultimate coma moment.

Content warning: chronic migraines, quitting, starting over, Questlove, the hell of social media, being known for what you want to be known for.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Jay on Instagram: @jzonedontig, Twitter: @jzonedonttweet, and Facebook: @jaymumfordmusic.

Listen to the Du-Rites on Bandcamp and Spotify, and visit Jay's website for more info, jaymumfordmusic.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Join Me in Developing My Next One-Man Show! Listen to Abandoned Building No. 1

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -0400

NEW PODCAST ALERT! Enjoy the first episode of Abandoned Building, my solo podcast to generate and test material for my third one-man show. All episodes will live on Patreon, and I'm hoping for feedback from you all. Otherwise, it's less testing material and more throwing material down a well.

Here are the steps into Abandoned Building:

1. Listen to the episode.

2. If it's fun for you, email me at thisisdavemaher@gmail.com with ANY feedback. And/or join me at patreon.com/davemaher to hear every episode and comment as part of the Patreon community.

2A. Want to join the fun but not sure how to give feedback? Here are some questions to knock loose ideas.

What parts stick with you?
What made you laugh?
What made you uncomfortable, and why?
What did you want more of?

3. If you enjoyed this process, repeat with the next episode!

I'm trying to "black out" as much as possible during these shows, so I may not preview content in show notes. But take my word for it, this first episode will not get you fired.

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

Vast Terminating Silence with Winslow Dumaine

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 23:00:00 -0400

"What if you fell in love with that?" Winslow Dumaine asks about all the feelings there are to feel other than happiness. The comedian, illustrator, writer, podcaster, and game and merch designer (what can't he do?!) is an artist of a type that's somewhat rare for This Is Your Afterlife: someone who takes death and darkness as their explicit subject matter.

Content warning: turning pain into art, breakups, long crushes, tarot, metal, ADHD Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Winslow on Instagram, @calculations, and Twitter, @winslowdumaine.

You can find links to Winslow's stand-up, merch, and dates to playtest his new tabletop game, The Restless, at linktr.ee/Winslowdumaine.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I Definitely Intend to Experience Personal Growth with Rebecca Spectre

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 23:43:00 -0400

It's always nice when a guest is as afraid of death as I am. Bona fide magician Rebecca Spectre, who I know from her time as a standup comedian, joins me for the rare in-person conversation about how she'd like to be remembered and her well-examined reasons for performing magic.

Content warning: magic, the corn kid, self-skepticism, egotistical funeral.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Rebecca on Instagram to find out about her shows and classes at @rebeccaspectremagic. And you can book her for private events by visiting her website, rebeccaspectremagic.com.

Catch her live this month (March 2023) at the Chicago Magic Lounge on March 16, 17, 19, 21, and 28!

And see me at my first live event in 17 months this Friday, March 17, 2023! I'll be talking to previous TIYA guest Madeline Lane-McKinley about her book, Comedy Against Work, at Pilsen Community Books at 7pm.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Open to the Surprise with Nicholas Krgovich

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -0400

At one point during recording, after a pee break, Nicholas Krgovich sat back down and told me, "I'm having fun." It was a tender moment, and the songwriter, singer, and musician brought that sweetness and curiosity to our entire conversation. He's a gem of a man who makes heart-opening music.

Content warning: hating yourself for being gay, completely uncomplicated nap, accidentally paving the way for your future happiness.

You can hear the pee break moment in the full convo at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Nicholas on Instagram, @nicholas_krgovich, and listen to and buy his music on Bandcamp. I recommend starting with the recent Shabason & Krgovich record, At Scaramouche, before his newest, Ducks, comes out THIS FRIDAY (I am assuming the week in which you're listening), March 10!

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

This Asian Hawaiian Over Here with Martin Urbano

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 19:39:00 -0400

Strong contender for Funniest Person on Earth Martin Urbano (This Fool, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Chris Gethard Presents) shares the performance situation that would be his hell, his desire to die in the apocalypse with everyone else, and the ups and downs of chasing your dreams.

Normally, I save process talk for the full convos on Patreon, and there's certainly more of it there, but I had to include some of it in the main episode too. It's a joy hearing Martin talk about doing research for his character and the deliberateness of his satirically offensive act.

Content warning: that Roseanne set making the rounds on Twitter, Pixar's Coco as existential balm, fight, drinking, Madame Tussauds.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Martin @martinurbanojr on Instagram and TikTok, plus @MartinUrbano on Twitter.

Watch Martin's wonderful Kimmel set.

And check out his live dates, including upcoming shows in Brooklyn and Vermont, here.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Taco Bell Is Better for Me with Patrick Shiroishi

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Deep AND fun, this conversation with saxophonist and prolific collaborator Patrick Shiroishi is everything a This Is Your Afterlife episode is meant to be. For those counting, this makes 2 of 4 Fuubutsushi members I've had on the show.

Content warning: Japanese internment camps, Taco Bell, ancestors, therapy, questionable shave, the Get Up Kids.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Check out Patrick's website for tour dates, including a support tour for Emma Ruth Rundle in March and April.

You can find his many albums on his Bandcamp, including Oort Smog's Every Motherfucker Is Your Brother and his recent ambient/electronic record on Touch Music, Evergreen, which includes field recordings from the cemetery where many of his ancestors are buried.

Follow Patrick on IG, @patrickshiroishi, and read the great NPR Music feature to learn more about him.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

But I Respected That Bitch with Marcella Arguello

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Marcella Arguello no longer fears death, and she tells me (and you) why. Her first standup special—the loose, silly, direct, and original Bitch, Grow Up!—is out now on HBO Max. It's a blast, and so is this conversation.

Content warning: cancer, dead parents, reality TV hatred, a cruise, postmortem truth serum, inspiration from MF DOOM.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus audio, including my new solo podcast, Abandoned Building. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Watch Bitch, Grow Up!, and listen to the meditation tape Marcella made with previous TIYA guest SHOWYOUSUCK and which we reference at the end of the conversation, Motivational Monday Meditations with Marcella Marguello.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Unexplained Legends, Part 2: I Am Never Going Away with Denis Len

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 23:40:00 -0400

Completing the Unexplained Legends set with the second co-host of that wonderful comedy conspiracy podcast, Denis Len. Irish comedian, Edinburgh Fringe comrade-in-arms of mine, appearer on the BBC New Comedy Awards and the So You Think You're Funny? final, and consummate This Is Your Afterlife guest. We're in a new classic era, can you feel it?

Content warning: existential crises, fear of death, fear of standup, customer service gaslighting, video games as peak experiences.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Denis on Instagram at @denislen3d.

Listen to Denis and Roger O'Sullivan's brilliant podcast, Unexplained Legends!

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Unexplained Legends, Part 1: Relaxing Pizza Party with Roger O'Sullivan

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 14:55:00 -0400

He is one half of the comedy conspiracy podcast Unexplained Legends, which is so funny it kept me from using it to fall asleep. He's a BBC New Comedy Awards nominee. He's an Irishman. We performed at the same warehouse venue above Bar Bados—a Scottish tiki bar, yes—at my first Edinburgh Fringe. I love Roger O'Sullivan, and I really, really think you will too.

Content warning: warm water and cold tea, depression and bipolar disorder, therapy, balming out, Iceland, The Training Grounds and, on occasion, The Proving Grounds.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Roger on Instagram: @rogerocomedy, and Twitter: @rogerosullivan.

Most importantly, LISTEN TO UNEXPLAINED LEGENDS, Roger's hilarious podcast with comedian (and future guest) Denis Len about conspiracy theories, unexplained mysteries, and paranormal legends.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Pros and Cons List at the Funeral with Raphael Jose Martinez

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Raphael Jose Martinez is a punk rock Swiss Army knife of an artist, a fan of the show, and an open book. A real "(sensitive) dudes rock!" episode we got right here.

Content warning: difficult-to-express thoughts around disability and deafblindness that we awkwardly but I think productively sort through, matter-of-fact death 'tudes, playing Misfits at the funeral, me ripping off the Hirokazu Koreeda film After Life, horticulture, true friendship.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Raphael on Twitter: @CityCelluloid

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Thunder, Balloon, Book, Party, Car with Cat Huck

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 05:00:00 -0400

It's the first backward episode of the show, with Neo-Futurist ensemble member Cat Huck! We start with Cat dissecting one of her plays, "Hold," and I realize we've been talking about her coma moment, the death of her friend Ben.

Content warning: suicide, grief, lilac leather, going to war with roosters, one person's love vs. the spirit of Love.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Cat on IG: @cathuck

See Cat and the rest of the Neo-Futurists in The Infinite Wrench every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Chicago.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Convoluted Cake Metaphor with Thomas Kelly

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 05:00:00 -0400

You've seen Thomas Kelly on TV in hella commercials, and the lucky ones of us have seen him perform on stage with the legendary Chicago improv team Sand alongside previous TIYA guest Mike Brunlieb (and Scott Nelson and others). Thomas and I go way back, and this is an especially cozy chat. The rare in-person This Is Your Afterlife!

Content warning: self-improvement, "Do you know who I am?," vampire lit, praise for doing bits, afterlife as cake or life as cake or maybe both but at different times?

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Sand on Instagram: @sand.improv

Join Sand's mailing list by just emailing Thomas directly and asking: thomas.d.kelly@gmail.com

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

The Patrick Cotnoir Memorial Hell Question with Patrick Cotnoir

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 16:00:00 -0400

Befitting the producer he is, Patrick Cotnoir (The Chris Gethard Show, The George Lucas Talk Show, ASSSSCAT) would book the hell out of his own funeral. He answers the usual TIYA questions and tries to deconstruct the show in the process. According to me, he fails!

Content warning: Nothing, discomfort with self, booking your own funeral, SPOILERS (skip from 35:11-40:00 if you haven't seen the episode of The Chris Gethard Show we mention).

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Patrick on Twitter: @patrickcotnoir, and Instagram: @cotnoir.

Get tickets to Patrick's new show, Untitled Improv Project, at Dynasty Typewriter in LA.

Watch The George Lucas Talk Show on YouTube: @TheGeorgeLucasTalkShow.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks to Associate Producer Sam Welbel!

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Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

New Year's Special: Perfectionist Fantasies with Claire Favret (PATREON UNLOCKED)

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 13:42:00 -0400

It's the second annual This Is Your Afterlife New Year's Special, initially recorded as a Patreon bonus episode with Claire Favret. Call it the Solstice Special. I come hard out the gate with depression and we dive into darkness and its purposes, plus all of Claire's family's solstice traditions, which are many.

Thanks for spending any part of your year with me and this show. See you in 2023!

Content warning: ungrateful children, Eve Bunting's Night Tree, winter solstice, resolution sprees, ongoing muffled scream.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes like this one! Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Claire, @clairefavs, on Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Insulin Rationing/Uncanny Astrology with Zoe Witt (Mutual Aid Diabetes)

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Zoe Witt (Teen Vogue, LA Times) has written pieces I've loved about living with diabetes in the era of insulin price-gouging. "Insulin Legislation Is Leaving Out Many Diabetics: What to Know" is a great intro to an issue that makes its way onto Netflix and comedy stages despite 99% of people having no clue of the real stakes.

Zoe's also an organizer with Mutual Aid Diabetes (MAD), a volunteer-run resource hub connecting diabetics of all types with vital medication, supplies, and information they need to stay alive.

And hey, Zoe has a need right now! Bell's palsy symptoms are keeping her from working, so she needs funds to keep her housed and healing. I've donated $10 to Zoe's Venmo. Can you match or exceed me? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com with what you donate, and I'll report our total next week! Here are their payment handles:

Venmo: @Zoe-Witt

Cash App: $ZoeWitt

Content warning: insulin rationing, suicide, astrology, writing a birthday card to Jeff Bezos, perfect pasta meal, let your disability stop you!

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Zoe, @zoehaswitt, on Twitter and Instagram, and check out their website for more writing.

Give to Mutual Aid Diabetes at mutualaiddiabetes.com/donate. Follow MAD on Twitter at @MutualAidBetes and on IG at @mutualaiddiabetes.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

My Whole Gender Thing with Luca Harsh

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -0400

"A high-ranking angel is banished from heaven and forced to work customer service in purgatory as punishment." That's the description of Luca Harsh's original pilot, Purgatory, Inc. It's a fun show that's easy to imagine animated on your streamer of choice. Add Luca's transit activism into the mix, and you've got a classic TIYA guest. Thanks to friend of the show Whitney Wasson for suggesting them!

Content warning: hidden autism diagnosis, forced fun, beach volleyball with coworkers, mushroom suit!

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Luca, @lucaisharsh, on Twitter and Instagram, and check out their Linktree for links to all their projects.

Also check out Commuters Take Action at ctaction.org.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

If You Could Say Everything in One Verse with Psalm One

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Psalm One is a dope, experienced, independent rapper from Chicago who I just love. Her most recent album, Bigg Perrm, is one of my favorites of the year. She's also an author! Her first book is a memoir, Her Word Is Bond: Navigating Hip Hop and Relationships in a Culture of Misogyny, and it's great for the reasons she is: direct, unflinching, shocking, relatable, and funny.

The way Psalm One talks about her career—making high-quality work for years, watching peers rocket to success, feeling and battling resentment, and powering through it all with love for her craft and belief in herself—I find it hella affirming. I was stoked to talk to her, and I'm stoked to share our conversation with you.

Content warning: domestic violence, exclusive funeral, bonding through complaining, thinking you've transcended.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Psalm One on Twitter: @PsalmOne

Listen to and buy her music on Bandcamp.

And get Her Word Is Bond straight from the publisher, Haymarket Books.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

See Far Away with Sean Morrow (The Eli Lilly Tweet)

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Sean Morrow (Senior Writer, More Perfect Union) wrote the Eli Lilly tweet. You know, "We are excited to announce insulin is free now"? As a type 1 diabetic grateful for his service, I wanted to learn more about the man behind the mischief.

Content warning: depression, Nothing, Pete Campbell, not introspective enough, is "SNL" the New York Times of comedy?

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Sean on Twitter: @snmrrw

Check out his work at More Perfect Union too!

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

Finally, if you want me to launch this new newsletter, Surrounded by Blankets: An Independent Podcast Review, you can subscribe here.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Choke Sex with Susan Messing

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -0400

"If you're not having fun, you're the asshole," is a Susan Messing joint. It's a zen koan of a piece of comedy, art, and life advice that I took issue with back in my improv days. The hella influential improviser and teacher shares why she said it, her own issues with it, and ideas about death, learning what you actually want, a motorcycle ride with her dad, Neptune Society, and being choke fucked with love by a redwood tree.

Content warning: cancer, stroke, improv comedy.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Susan is teaching a 5-day improv intensive with Rachael Mason at iO Chicago December 12-16, which you can sign up for here.

Follow Susan on Instagram: @susanalicemessing

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I've Experienced Blob with Madeline Lane-McKinley

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -0400

We need good comedy criticism, and Madeline Lane-McKinley's new book, Comedy Against Work, assesses comedy not just as an art form but as a way of envisioning utopia. She examines our relationship to work and the kinds of futures we imagine through the lens of comedy on stage and TV.

In this episode, she shares herself as well as her ideas. She also tells me what to do for my next show.

Content warning: suicide, childbirth, constipation, the opposite of constipation, childhood abuse, misogyny, Blob.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Buy Comedy Against Work: Utopian Longing in Dystopian Times, and read more of Madeline's work in Blind Field Journal.

Follow Madeline on Twitter: @la_louve_rouge_

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Out of Body with Franco Danger

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Franco Danger is a superb standup I met when he opened for Chris Gethard, and we immediately hit it off. That energy—and a jaw-dropping Relive 1 Memory segment—translates into one of the funniest conversations ever on the podcast.

Content warning: anxiety, Catholic guilt, Edinburgh Fringe, food poisoning, God is a single dad, multiverse reincarnation.

R.I.P. Mimi Parker of Low. Revisit my conversation with Mimi and her husband/bandmate Alan Sparhawk here.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Franco on Instagram: @franco_danger

Check him out on Twitch and YouTube at @francodanger

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

The Hormones, The Obsession with Tiffany Topol

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Tiffany Topol's debut album, Sophomore Effort, is a bubbly, swooning, nostalgic pop record years in the making. I'm so happy she came on this show to share her anxieties about death and have a full-on psychological epiphany.

Content warning: seeing NSYNC live as a 14-year-old, sensory deprivation chamber, friend's death, crying to Beyonce's Lemonade, how reliable is your memory?

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Listen to Tiffany's album, Sophomore Effort!

Follow her on Instagram and TikTok at @tifftopol.

On/after November 11 (I say November 4 in the intro, don't crucify me!), check out the new Youth in a Roman Field album Tiffany plays on, Get Caught Trying.

Catch her live with Youth in a Roman Field at Mercury Lounge in New York City on December 1.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

This Is Your SLASHERLIFE: Ravenous (1999) plus bonus Braiding Sweetgrass with Bettina Johnson

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Cannibalism? Addiction? Colonialism, patriotism, capitalism? What is the Windigo?! Abolitionist organizer and previous guest Bettina Johnson and I get to the bottom of Ravenous (1999) on this edition of This Is Your SLASHERLIFE.

Content warning: blood, guts, skeletons, eating people, tricksterism, telling time by the moon, overblown queer readings of this movie, did Dave condescend to the Indigenous painting?

Show your love for This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get extended episodes, aftershows and Afterlife Movie Club episodes, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Read Braiding Sweetgrass, and check out Liberation Library, an organization Bettina co-founded that provides books to incarcerated youth.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Thanks to Associate Producer Sam Welbel!

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

This Is Your SLASHERLIFE: Annihilation with Oui Ennui

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -0400

All that shimmers is... whatever The Shimmer is. I'm talking Annihilation (2018) on this edition of This Is Your SLASHERLIFE with previous guest Oui Ennui, the brilliant and thought-provoking experimental musician.

Content warning: bad words, magic, the gimp, is it COVID?, Isaac Mizrahi & Lena Dunham.

Show your love for This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get extended episodes, aftershows and Afterlife Movie Club episodes, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Listen to Oui Ennui's music!

Thanks to Associate Producer Sam Welbel!

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Thanks to Associate Producer Sam Welbel!

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

This Is Your SLASHERLIFE: Serial Mom with Annie Donley and Jo Scott (aka Mom Stomp)

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -0400

John Waters' Serial Mom is the horror-adjacent movie up for discussion in this edition of This Is Your SLASHERLIFE, with previous guests Annie Donley and Jo Scott, cohosts of the Mom Stomp podcast.

Content warning: motherhood, the MNU (Mom Nutting Universe), unconditional family support, useless cops.

Show your love for This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get extended episodes, aftershows and Afterlife Movie Club episodes, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Listen to Mom Stomp!

Follow Mom Stomp on Instagram: @momstomppodcast

Thanks to Associate Producer Sam Welbel!

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Thanks to Associate Producer Sam Welbel!

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

This Is Your SLASHERLIFE: The Babadook with Johanna Isaacson

Tue, 04 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Johanna Isaacson wrote the freakin' book on The Babadook. It's called Stepford Daughters: Weapons for Feminists in Contemporary Horror, and it's about a bunch of other horror movies too. She kicks off This Is Your Afterlife's FIRST EVER themed series, a run of four episodes in October about horror movies I'm calling This Is Your SLASHERLIFE.

First, I talk to Jo about standard This Is Your Afterlife stuff—hell, the afterlife, memories, her "coma" moment—and then we kick off the SLASHERLIFE series with an in-depth discussion of The Babadook! Hopefully it goes without saying, but there are gonna be spoilers up and down this series.

Content warning: woo woo Marxism, communal luxury, the "manosphere," smoking a bunch of hash, Arches National Park, the grotesque feminine.

Show your love for This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher. Here are reasons it is good:

Subscribers get extended episodes, aftershows, and shoutouts in future episodes.
It's the same cost as a nice coffee or a cheap meal.
You're part of making independent art outside of corporate backing.
I need literal insulin.

Buy and read Stepford Daughters: Weapons for Feminists in Contemporary Horror!

Catch Johanna live at The Hollywood Theatre in Portland, OR speaking before a screening of The Babadook on October 23 and before a screening of It Follows on October 30 in San Francisco at the Roxie Theater.

Read more of her work at Blind Field Journal: blindfieldjournal.com.

Join her on Facebook in the group she runs, Anti-capitalist feminists who like horror films.

Follow Johanna on Twitter: @StepfordDotter

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Thanks to new Associate Producer Sam Welbel!

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Hearing Angels with Jon Matteson

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -0400

One of the most unique episodes yet! Jon Matteson (StarKid Productions) comes on the show with a mission: to make sense of a spiritual experience he had as a child. Once he introduces the experience, I spend the rest of the episode helping him chip away at its meaning.

Content warning: Catholicism, Kansas, terrible choirs, beautiful music.

Show your love for This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher. Here are reasons it is good:

Subscribers get extended episodes, aftershows, and shoutouts in future episodes.
It's the same cost as a nice coffee or a cheap meal.
You're part of making independent art outside of corporate backing.
I need literal insulin.

Follow Jon: @jon.matteson on Instagram and TikTok, @jonmatteson on Twitter and Twitch, where you can watch him play video games.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Everything for Everyone Part 2: A Chance to Be Sad and a Chance to Tell Stories with M.E. O'Brien

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -0400

It's part 2 of my first two-episode week, celebrating my new favorite book, Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072. M.E. O'Brien is the book's other co-writer (along with Eman Abdelhadi), and our conversation stems from an email in which she told me her practice of a religion with "a very elaborate idea of the afterlife" might make for a less interesting podcast. Suffice it to say, she was wrong!

Content warning: suicide, Tibetan Buddhism, the lack of kindness in leftist spaces, absolutely refusing to Relive 1 Memory.

Show your love for This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher. Here are reasons it is good:

Subscribers get extended episodes, aftershows, and shoutouts in future episodes.
It's the same cost as a nice coffee or a cheap meal.
You're part of making independent art outside of corporate backing.
I need literal insulin.

Read Everything for Everyone (and buy it from the publisher, Common Notions, here). Then let's talk about it!

Follow M.E. O'Brien on Twitter: @genderhorizon

Support her on Patreon: patreon.com/meobrien

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Everything for Everyone Part 1: Wasalna El-Chalet with Eman Abdelhadi

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Eman Abdelhadi co-wrote Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072, my favorite book in the longest time. I love it so much I'm doing the podcast's first ever two-episode week featuring separate episodes with Eman and her co-author, M.E. O'Brien. So stay tuned!

Content warning: banana peel violence, Islam, being a "bad" Muslim, polycule drama, the literal most idyllic Relive 1 Memory segment ever.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, fund the show for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Follow Eman on Twitter, @emanabdelhadi, and Instagram, @eabdelhadi.

Read Everything for Everyone (and buy it from the publisher, Common Notions, here). Then let's talk about it!

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Full Tortoise: Reflections on 100 Episodes

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Take a moment with me to celebrate 100 episodes of This Is Your Afterlife!

Content warning: surprises, dreams, evolution, lessons learned, 50/50/50 rule, white vs. non-white afterlives, how to use the sidewalk properly.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

---

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Her Reality Holds Space for It with Katie Maher, My Mom

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My mother, Katie Maher, came prepared to EPISODE 100 of This Is Your Afterlife. The first guest to bring notes! She shares her experience during my coma and her strong beliefs about the afterlife. I share a piece about her from the one-man show that gave birth to this podcast. And the episode ends with the funniest five minutes of the show so far.

Content warning: medical trauma, faith, dating, cinnamon rolls, The Bible, Uvalde, thoughts and prayers, lots and lots of paper towels.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, fund the show for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Thanks to Al Church for the music in "Mom's Darkness." Stream his music (Night Games is incredible), and buy it on Bandcamp.

You can read "Mom's Darkness" in my newsletter, Definitive Answers. Subscribe for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Full Body Experience in the Worst Possible Way with Joanna Jamerson

Tue, 30 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Joanna Jamerson (The Neo-Futurists) records the most scatological episode of This Is Your Afterlife yet while leaving the door open to becoming a very devout Christian by the end of her life.

Content warning: depression, Steve Harvey, Fifth Harmony, the curse of empathy.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Joanna on Instagram: @noanna_namerson.

Go see The Neo-Futurists live in Chicago 50 weekends a year, and take their classes!

Joanna recommends Mishkan Chicago, the synagogue where she teared up at the bar mitzvah while doing videography.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I Listen to Staind a Lot with Meredith Johnston (Warm Human)

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Bummer-pop artist Meredith Johnston (aka Warm Human) and I go back many years to our improv comedy days, and that rapport allows me to give her the shit she deserves for her love of butt rock and nu metal. Meredith's a great storyteller, charismatic, complex, dark, and painfully honest about the twists of her brain. Her willingness to display all these facets of herself makes for an intense episode AND one of the most entertaining.

Content warning: eating disorders, physical abuse, (drug/alcohol) addiction, Meredith likes Imagine Dragons, Cream Cheese Hot Dog.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Meredith/Warm Human on Instagram, @lovechunkz, and Twitter, @w000rm.

Buy Warm Human tunes on Bandcamp, and stream on Spotify and everywhere else.

See Warm Human on September 3 at Sleeping Village in Chicago.

Check out her podcast, Sobriety Sucks.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Mushrooms, Spiritual Crisis, and The Truth with Pool Kids' Christine Goodwyne

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Pool Kids songwriter, guitarist, and singer Christine Goodwyne talks to me about why Christian heaven seems unrealistic and the mushroom trip she intentionally used to change her life. I love Pool Kids' new album, and this convo was a breeze. What aspects of our personalities survive huge changes, and is it good that they do?

Content warning: toxic Christianity, mushrooms vs. Lexapro, poorly laid out grocery stores, full-on ego death.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Stream Pool Kids on Spotify and everywhere else.

Buy their new, self-titled album on Bandcamp. It's fantastic.

Go to poolkidsband.com for dates and tickets to their fall tour.

Follow Pool Kids, @poolkidsband: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Hot Bimbo Genius with Em Gonzalez

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0400

I talk to Em Gonzalez (Liberation Library, Chicago Abortion Fund) every day. They're a teacher, a transformative and restorative justice practitioner, a fierce abolitionist organizer, and one of my closest friends. So it was a distinct pleasure to have a different kind of conversation for the podcast. This is one of the most accessible political conversations I've ever had, examining abolition, accountability, and self-esteem through the lens of the Hot Bimbo Genius.

Content warning: amateur witchcraft, Florida Water, not getting dick jokes, wiping your feet on someone's towel, community accountability.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Em on Twitter: @small_meatball

Learn more about and donate to Liberation Library and Chicago Abortion Fund.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

The True Self Emerges in Community with Mike Brunlieb

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Mike Brunlieb (Joe Pera Talks With You, South Side) is one of the greatest improvisers of his and my generation of Chicago comedians. We dig into the reasons behind his love for playing both bullies and cucks. But performance is just the tip of this conversational iceberg.

This is a particularly intimate conversation for 2 reasons: 1) Mike's a close friend, and this was the first time we'd seen each other since pre-COVID, and 2) his daughter Nina slept against his chest for the duration of the interview.

Content warning: crying, having a daughter, pressure to say something smart in college, Nietzsche, heaven, forcing funeral attendees to play improvisational theater games, trying to isolate to find yourself.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs ! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Pushing Forward Like It's Working with Chris Santiago

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Chris Santiago is a hilarious, odd, and one-of-a-kind comedian and an exceptional visual artist. He cares so deeply about creativity he taught high school art for 20 years. Is it true "those who can't do, teach"? Hell no, dude! What are you even talking about? Listen to wise, sweet Chris.

Content warning: stability, space, binge-watching humanity 'til its end, dreams falling through and changing, working at the mall.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Chris on Instagram: @chrisobscura

Listen DAILY to the Chris Obscura Voicemail Podcast (working title) ONLY BY CALLING (773) 234-2784.

See Chris live in Chicago at the monthly TORNADO show at the Hideout. This month's show is "Loppalapooza: Official Pre-After Party Show, Presented by TORNADO," Wednesday, July 27 at 9pm. Tickets here.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs ! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

What's an Awesome Life? with Sarah Knittel

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Sarah Knittel (Edinburgh Fringe, Pig Iron School) is one of my best friends, in part because she is a mischievous, sexy, insecure, sweet, and hilarious clown and solo performer. We met at 2019 Cincy Fringe, and I quickly forced my friendship on her. She breaks the seal on This Is Your Afterlife guests crying on the mic.

Content warning: broken engagement, love of performance, normcore funerals, Tree of Life, emotional bitch, Edinburgh Fringe, being hard on yourself, trapped in pantyhose.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal (I do!), please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Sarah on Instagram for "daily laughs:" @sarahhmonster. She'll post there about her upcoming video series "Hell Town."

Can't believe I'm doing this, but follow her on frickin' LinkedIn and hire her ass!

See Sarah live at her free, monthly variety show, Sarah Knittel's Hell Ride, every 4th Thursday at Sutton's in Philadelphia, starting August 25 at 7:30pm!

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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R.I.P. Jak Knight

He was a brilliant and hilarious comedian who, at 28, already had a deep body of work. If you haven't, check out this 2019 standup set of his at Dynasty Typewriter in L.A.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

HOW Sway?: The Problem With "Don't Have a Plan B"

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0400

In the midst of searching for a job to support my art, bombarded by doubts and old attitude habits, and aching from my second COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, I attempt to find a way to believe the ideas about creativity that I want to believe.

Content warning: discouragement, quitting, insulin, Rilke, job search, life not turning out like you planned, “Don’t have a Plan B,” second booster.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Texts:

"Austin Kleon on the Gift of Obscurity" (In Conversation with Brad Listi on Otherppl podcast)

Andre Gee: "Just Write"

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Learning How to Suffer with Jonathan Euseppi

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Content warning: suicidal ideation, anxiety, cancer, dementia, Parkinson's, water afterlives, crying just thinking about your wedding vows.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Jonathan Euseppi on Instagram: @jeuseppi

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Looking for an abortion resource? Find your local abortion fund at abortionfunds.org.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Fun On As Little Money As Humanly Possible with Mike Park

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Mike Park (Asian Man Records, Skankin' Pickle, the Bruce Lee Band) is an antiracist ska/punk O.G., a DIY role model, and a goofball who wants to throw his funeral at Chuck E. Cheese.

Content warning: traffic, crowds, animatronic funeral performances, free stuff, eating food people off strangers' plates at Denny's and out of the movie theater trash, Venn diagram of punk ethos and Christianity.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal (I do!), please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Follow Asian Man Records, @asianmanrecords: TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

Listen to the new album by the Bruce Lee Band: One Step Forward. Two Steps Back.

Listen to Mike's Degrassi podcast, I'm in Love With a Girl Named Spike

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Looking for an abortion resource? Find your local abortion fund at abortionfunds.org.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Jane Fonda's the Goal with Parker Callahan

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -0400

I've said the funniest three people in the world are Meaghan Strickland and Annie Donley (previous guests), and I don't even know the third. Well, we have a candidate for that spot: Parker Callahan! Parker is a sketch comedian, solo show director, TikToker extraordinaire, and he once did a PowerPoint bit about the original Queer Eye that made me choke laughing.

Content warning: mushrooms are aliens, platonic soulmates, sharks eating dead bodies, 2019 Diane Keaton vehicle Poms, chosen queer family.

Share your thoughts! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872). Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal (I do!), please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Follow Parker, @parkthelark: TikTok, Instagram, Twitter

Go to Parker's shows:

July 18: Applause with Maggie Winters & Parker Callahan at The Hideout

July 24: The Cosmic Country Cookout at Judson & Moore Distillery

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

This Is Your Aftershow: Shalewa Sharpe

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 05:20:00 -0400

Something different this week: a 3-pack of aftershows!

Third and finally, Claire Favret and Meaghan Strickland join me to unpack Shalewa Sharpe's episode of This Is Your Afterlife, including such topics as:

day jobs and making a living from your art
the birth of This Is Your Afterlife's newest segment
2 Wigs, Ring Light or Hat

Get all episodes of This Is Your Aftershow, my full convos with guests, and shoutouts in future episodes by subscribing at patreon.com/davemaher.

Wanna share your answer to the questions or thoughts on an episode? Leave me a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Meaghan on Twitter: @MeaghanStrick and Instagram: @stricklygram, and go to her website: meaghanstrickland.com.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me"

This Is Your Aftershow: Chris Gethard

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 05:10:00 -0400

Something different this week: a 3-pack of aftershows!

In number two in the pack. Claire Favret and I unpack Chris Gethard's episode of This Is Your Afterlife, including such topics as:

COMEDY! lots and lots of comedy talk
rehearsing a TV audition that I BOOKED (I'll tell you more when I can!)

Get all episodes of This Is Your Aftershow, my full convos with guests, and shoutouts in future episodes by subscribing at patreon.com/davemaher.

Wanna share your answer to the questions or thoughts on an episode? Leave me a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me"

This Is Your Aftershow: Bianca Diaz

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Something different this week: a 3-pack of aftershows!

First, Claire Favret and Meaghan Strickland join me to unpack Bianca Diaz's episode of This Is Your Afterlife, including such topics as:

believing in ghosts to placate them
Fran Lebowitz is overrated
needing to see reality to change it

Get all episodes of This Is Your Aftershow, my full convos with guests, and shoutouts in future episodes by subscribing at patreon.com/davemaher.

Wanna share your answer to the questions or thoughts on an episode? Leave me a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Meaghan on Twitter: @MeaghanStrick and Instagram: @stricklygram, and go to her website: meaghanstrickland.com.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me"

Good in a Hospital with Marty DeRosa and Sarah Shockey

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -0400

All I have to do is wind up Marty and Sarah with my death questions, then sit back and ride the wave as they spin podcast gold. They're quick, thoughtful, generous, and silly as they talk about the recent death of a close friend, Marty's memory of first meeting Sarah, a suicide at their old apartment building, and getting so fed up with your own patterns that you make permanent changes for the better. Consider it like an episode of their podcast, except instead of wrestling it's Marty & Sarah Love Talking About Death. Plus, Sarah improvises intro jingles for every segment!

You get a full half hour of bonus material for the cost of a coffee or a meal at patreon.com/davemaher, including their funeral plans and creative/life lessons Sarah learned from our improv days. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Content warning: suicide, depression, calliope music, hospital stuff, death, Muppets, hella comas, past lives, codependency, the consciousness of windows, musical improv.

Marty & Sarah Love Wrestling comes out Fridays via the MLW Radio Network. Listen and follow on Spotify and Apple. Follow @martysarahpod on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow Marty, @martyderosa: Twitter, Instagram

Follow Sarah, @sarahjoyshockey: Twitter, Instagram

Sarah also games live on Twitch with friends: Adventure Tuesday at 8pm Central

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Finding Hope Through the Erotic with Audre Lorde's Help

Tue, 31 May 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Grappling with despair this week in the wake of the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings, plus the quotidian stress of my job search. How do you have hope in hell? I turn to Audre Lorde and Mariame Kaba for answers. But if hope is not a feeling, what is it?

Content warning: gun violence, Uvalde, Buffalo, despair, Audre Lorde, Mariame Kaba, hope.

Texts:

Audre Lorde: "Uses of the Erotic" (printed in Sister Outsider)

Beyond Prisons podcast: Hope Is a Discipline feat. Mariame Kaba (excerpt printed in We Do This 'Til We Free Us)

If you think this show's worth the cost of a coffee or a meal a month, subscribe for $5 or $15 at patreon.com/davemaher. You'll get my mostly-unedited full convos with guests, every installment of the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = The Thermals: "A Pillar of Salt" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Hell Is a Collective Condition with Dylan Rodriguez

Tue, 24 May 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Dylan Rodriguez is a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national abolitionist organization that has shaped my thinking about the abolition of police and the prison industrial complex. As importantly, he's a rad, righteous, down-to-earth dude who is fine with people creating Elvis-and-Tupac-style conspiracy theories that he's still alive after he dies. This is a long episode because I just couldn't cut much (though there is an extra 20 minutes on Patreon)!

Content warning: copaganda, collectivity vs. individualism, Boyz II Men, academia, Geronimo Ji-Jaga, humility, rude baby.

If you're looking for an introduction to abolition, I highly, highly recommend Critical Resistance's "Resource Guide for Teaching and Learning Abolition."

Also, check out Dylan's books:

White Reconstruction: Domestic Warfare and the Logics of Genocide

Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future Without Policing & Prisons (edited by Colin Kaepernick)

Read the article he wrote in response to his invite to the UC Riverside Campus Safety Workgroup: utotherescue.blogspot.com/2021/06/a-public-response-to-ucr-chancellors.html

Check out the Cops Off Campus coalition: copsoffcampuscoalition.com

And, of course, Critical Resistance: criticalresistance.org

Follow Dylan on Twitter: @dylanrodriguez and Instagram: @dylanrodriguez73

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I Want to Be the Strongest Person in Heaven with Jo Scott

Tue, 17 May 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Jo Scott (Joe Pera Talks With You) introduces a unique funeral feature, which rarely happens on This Is Your Afterlife, and that's just one part of a free-flowing conversation that includes talking about introducing the concept of death to kids, a side-investigation into my romantic relationship, and a memory Jo would choose to relive for investigative reasons!

Content warning: motherhood, families, children crying, rough childhood, fear of Nothingness, me shitting on reincarnation, Defending Your Life.

Follow MOM STOMP: Apple, Spotify, Instagram

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Tragedy Minus Time Equals Posting

Tue, 10 May 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Abortion stories flooding my timeline got me thinking about how we mine our most intense experiences for art, or worse, content. As a comedian with a couple one-man shows about my coma, it's a familiar process! Why do we do this? What are we looking for? Do we need to share at all? How can we know what's right for us? Comedian and frequent This Is Your Afterlife guest Claire Favret joins me as a sidekick to sort this all out, once and for all, absolutely no more follow up required, ever, we did it, we're the ones.

Content warning: mansplaining, moms, abortion, social media philosophizing, seeking comfort and connection, unrealistic expectations, boundaries.

Donate to Chicago Abortion Fund's 2022 Fund-A-Thon: https://fund.nnaf.org/daveandhope

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Boring Is the Worst Thing You Can Be with L'Rain

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Taja Cheek records brilliant, kaleidoscopic, genre-bursting music under the name L'Rain. She joins me to talk about the amount of twee in her personal hell, "nice" vs. kind vs. "interesting," and all it takes to grow as a person. We hear about a joyous all-night Thanksgiving cooking binge, and she reckons with a perpetual L'Rain topic, the possibility of change.

The Patreon version of this episode includes a discussion about what Taja is learning about abolition and how we wrestle with ideas of community and self-improvement in our work.

Listen to Fatigue, L'Rain's most recent album, on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple.

Check out L'Rain's tour dates at her website.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Afterlife Movie Club: Little Nicky with SHOWYOUSUCK

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Afterlife Movie Club is back! Rapper and previous guest SHOWYOUSUCK joins me to discuss the 2000 Adam Sandler vehicle Little Nicky. The cameos, the soundtrack, the Popeye's, this movie's got it all! And somehow we're able to overthink our way to a genuine discussion of human nature by the end of the episode. Enjoy this silly, strange, surprisingly real conversation.

Follow @SHOWYOUSUCK on Twitter and Instagram, and follow his band Air Credits on Instagram and Twitter.

Buy tickets for Air Credits' April 30 show at the Empty Bottle.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Incubus: "I Miss You"

Unfollowing Your Old Ideologies with Skyler Higley

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Skyler Higley (Conan, The Onion) is a Black comedian with white parents who grew up Mormon and isn't anymore. He loves comedy, but he wants to be remembered for more than comedy. His new album, SALTWATER, IS more than just comedy. He worked with collaborator Nicholas James to weave comedy and music organically, and they created something that transcends musical comedy. And after a lot of comedy talk, Skyler tells me about losing his religion.

Listen to SALTWATER on Spotify and other platforms.

Follow Skyler on Twitter @skyler_higley, and check out Nicholas James on Spotify.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

The Unknown Is Our Only Hope

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -0400

The second solo episode of the show is about living half-alive, unreasonable expectations, deaths of communities, isolation, disability, and hope. I feel vulnerable putting this out. I hope it connects.

Please let me know what you think. Email me at thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

Inspiration:

Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel

Rebecca Solnit: "The world is unpredictable and strange. Still, there is hope in the madness"

Alabaster DePlume: GOLD on Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify

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Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers (not "Definite Answers," like I say in the episode). Here's the most recent one I'm so proud of. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

I think this show's worth the cost of a coffee or a meal a month. If you do too, subscribe for $5 or $15 at patreon.com/davemaher. You'll get my mostly-unedited full convos with guests, every installment of the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Your Guardian Angel Must Be a Stranger with Shalewa Sharpe

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Shalewa Sharpe (HBO, Comedy Central) is a fantastic standup. If you don't know her, I'm psyched to welcome you into the fandom. She describes a highly physical hell and a surprisingly detailed belief about angels for someone who's not religious. We talk about both her parents dying within two years of each other, including the lessons she learned about funeral planning and the ways she shut down all feeling afterward. No resolution offered, and none needed on This Is Your Afterlife!

I think this show's worth the cost of a coffee or a meal a month. If you do too, subscribe for $5 or $15 at patreon.com/davemaher. You'll get my full convo with Shalewa, every installment of the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Follow Shalewa, @silkyjumbo on Twitter and Instagram, and @silkyjumb0 on TikTok.

Check her out on "Bust Down" on Peacock too! She's super funny.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Language and Linus Blankets: The Return of Oui Ennui

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Oui Ennui (bold, brilliant, and beautiful electronic musician/synthesist) is back as the first return guest on This Is Your Afterlife! We hit it off so much in our first conversation, and here, we have a more expansive, less structured talk about topics like:

Language devolving
Imposing vs. discovering/defining your creative niche
Afterlives created by human fear
The absurdity of being alive

If you think this show's worth the cost of a coffee or a meal a month (I do!), subscribe for $5 or $15 at patreon.com/davemaher. You'll get my full convo with Jonn (aka Oui Ennui), every installment of the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Check out Oui Ennui's music at ouiennui.com. The new album, Forensic Architecture, is especially good.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Definitive Answers (it's my best social media)! You can also follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

If This Is a Movie with Rashawn Scott

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Rashawn Scott (South Side, Abbott Elementary, Second City) tells me about the hell of the Old Navy stock room, the impulse to narrativize your life, a couple of really intense moments at funerals, and her grandmother delivering an unintentional post-college wake-up call. Rashawn is one of my favorite comedic actors, and she's expansive, self-assured, and vulnerable all in one in this episode.

I think this show's worth the cost of a coffee or a meal a month. If you do too, subscribe for $5 or $15 at patreon.com/davemaher. You'll get my full convo with Rashawn, every installment of the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Follow Rashawn, @rashawnscott on Twitter and Instagram. And listen to her podcast, Mystery County Monster Hunters Club!

Here's my favorite Rashawn performance on South Side: Season 2, Episode 2, "Ambulance"

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Busting Balls Is Love with Michael Timlin

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -0400

New segment alert! Standup Michael Timlin (Shameless) is the first guest to tell me the superlative he'd get (and the one he'd want) in his eulogies. He talks about showing up for loved ones, and worrying about their wellbeing. He starts the show committing to never having kids, and he ends it with abundant, specific declarations of love for his wife. It's a complex episode with a lot of feelings!

To get the full experience, start by listening to my episode of Mike's sanity-bestowing podcast, Work Sucks, I Know! Who doesn't love a crossover event?

I think this show's worth the cost of a coffee or a meal a month, and if you subscribe for $5 or $15 at patreon.com/davemaher, you can get my full convo with Timlin, every installment of the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MichaelTimlin

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Afterlife Movie Club: What Dreams May Come

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 05:00:00 -0400

We finally did it! We recorded the first episode in a new series, the Afterlife Movie Club. Claire Favret and Bill Stern join me to talk about the movie most referenced by far on This Is Your Afterlife, 1998 Robin Williams vehicle What Dreams May Come.

Why is there so much purple in this movie? Does the story measure up to the set design? Exactly how fucked up is it for a movie this horny to end with two reincarnated lovers meeting as children? Oh, and spoiler alert.

If you like this episode, subscribe to my Patreon at patreon.com/davemaher to suggest other movies (and guests) for Afterlife Movie Club!

Here are the two Hieronymus Bosch paintings I reference:

The one above the bed: The Garden of Earthly Delights
The one that reminded me of Annie's hell: Ascent of the Blessed

Follow Claire and Bill's sketch group, Cigarette Sandwich: @cigsandwich on Instagram and Twitter.

Follow Bill on Twitter: @dollarbillstern

Follow Claire on Twitter: @clairefavs

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Different Versions of Yourself with Sasha Geffen

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Writer Sasha Geffen (Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR) wrote the book Glitter Up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary and hosts the podcast Shattering Gleam: A Podcast About Music and Gender, so it's fitting we tackle gender and pop music HEAVY in this episode. In his Relive 1 Memory segment, Sasha goes in depth about his memories of pop star Sophie: interviewing her, talking to her at dinner, and seeing her perform live. So much of this episode is about our relationships to our bodies. Sasha is open about the medical aspects of transitioning and insightful about the relationship between our bodies and music. It's a really unique episode of This Is Your Afterlife.

Get my full convo with Sasha, every installment of the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes at patreon.com/davemaher.

Listen to Sasha's excellent podcast, Shattering Gleam: A Podcast About Music and Gender!

Learn more about Sasha and their book, Glitter Up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary, at sashageffen.com.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Mundane or Mind-Blowing? with Chris Gethard

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Hero, mentor, and friend of mine Chris Gethard ("The Chris Gethard Show," "Career Suicide" on HBO, Beautiful/Anonymous podcast, countless TV shows & movies) is here for an extended episode of the show. I tell him about a text exchange we had that he didn't know changed my life, and that's just the warmup. He goes on to describe his customized hell full of Aerosmith, socks with sandals, and raw tomatoes. He explains an underrated aspect of parenting. He cheats when I ask him to "Relive 1 Memory" and picks two that both relate to "The Chris Gethard Show." And he revisits the night that opened him up after a childhood of trying to hide he was not okay.

If you know Gethard and not me, welcome. I hope you'll take a look around the world of the podcast and stay. If you know me and not Gethard somehow, you're in for a huge fuckin' treat.

Get my full convo with Gethard (including more comedy talk at the beginning and the briefest "Funeral Planning" segment we've ever had), every installment of the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes at patreon.com/davemaher.

Read or listen to Gethard's new book, Dad on Pills: Fatherhood and Mental Illness.

Follow him on Instagram: @chrisgeth

And here are the two episodes of "The Chris Gethard Show" on New York City public access TV that I reference in my intro:

"TCGS #87: Let's Get Real"

"TCGS #99: Lookin' at Dicks for an Hour: A New Low" (aka "Dick Skirt")

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

You Never Know When Some Jackass Is Gonna Shoot You with Patrick Rowland

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Comedy writer and actor Patrick Rowland quit his job at Target to work his dream job as a writer for "The Amber Ruffin Show." Patrick's story should be taught to creative people everywhere as an object lesson in doing all the things "they" tell you to do: work hard, be kind, and be patient. It actually worked for him!

Other highlights: He and I agree being immortal would NOT get boring! Patrick genuinely loves improv! And—hard left turn here—he tells me about being shot at 17 and how it changed him, in many ways.

Get my full convo with Patrick (including a lovely "Relive 1 Memory" segment), every installment of the debrief podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes at patreon.com/davemaher. By joining, you're helping me realize my dream of making this show my living.

Watch "The Amber Ruffin Show" streaming on Peacock for free!

Watch "Patrick Rowland's Sketch Show" on Patrick's YouTube channel.

Follow 3Peat: @3peatcomedy on Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

---

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

From Certainty to Uncertainty with Ross Simonini: Part 2

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Was it a dream, alien abduction, angel visitation, or something else? Whatever it was, artist/musician/writer Ross Simonini refuses to dismiss the flying experience he had as a child. We take a tour of some of Ross' more extreme consciousness-shifting experiences in part 2 of our conversation. He also tells me about the play he wrote as a kid for his loved ones to perform at his funeral.

Get my full convo with Ross (even more than Parts 1 and 2 combined!), every installment of the debrief podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes at patreon.com/davemaher. By joining, you're helping me realize my dream of making this show my living.

For both a foundation and a deeper exploration of some of the ideas we talk about, check out Ross' essay, "The All," in The Believer.

Follow Ross on Instagram: @rosssimonini, visit his website rosssimonini.com, and if you're in New York City, go see his art show "The All" at Anonymous Gallery until February 19, 2022!

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

---

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

From Certainty to Uncertainty with Ross Simonini: Part 1

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Painter, musician, and writer (among many other things) Ross Simonini likes to get at the truth by subtraction. In this episode, we talk about the zen koan of "the finger and the moon" and how it relates to knowing the unknown. He introduces me to fun concepts like apophatic theology (the idea that God can never be known or described). And he describes the hell that is being trapped inside yourself. This episode is part one of two because there's a lot to chew on here, and I want to let the conversation breathe a bit. Stay tuned for Part 2 later this week!

For both a foundation and a deeper exploration of some of the ideas we talk about, check out Ross' essay, "The All," in The Believer.

Follow Ross on Instagram: @rosssimonini, visit his website rosssimonini.com, and if you're in New York City, go see his art show "The All" at Anonymous Gallery until February 19, 2022!

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

---

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I've Awoken from This Coma of Whiteness with Bianca Diaz

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Artist and children's book illustrator Bianca Diaz talks to me about unpacking her identity as a white Latina, the personalities of buildings, and the comfort she'd like to give children with incarcerated parents in See You Soon, her forthcoming book with bestselling author and abolitionist organizer Mariame Kaba. She's also at least the third person to reference What Dreams May Come when describing her hopes for the afterlife, so it might be time to start a This Is Your Afterlife movie club.

Get my full convo with Bianca, every installment of the debrief podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes at patreon.com/davemaher. By joining, you're helping me realize my dream of making this show my living.

Follow Bianca on Instagram: @biancadiazart, visit her website biancadiaz.com, and pre-order See You Soon!

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Unscrambled Fullcore with Colt Cabana

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Pro wrestler Colt Cabana (AEW, All Elite Wrestling) is a man of sensory pleasures, which is why this is the most sexiest, "nut"-filled episode of the podcast yet. Colt talks about the rare wrestling event that honored a wrestler who died (his friend Brodie Lee), the distinction between joke hell and cartoon hell, and how getting fired from WWE changed his life, for the better. It's not just sex-y,and heartfelt, this episode is constant laughs.

Get my full convo with Colt, every installment of the debrief podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes at patreon.com/davemaher. By joining, you're helping me realize my dream of making this show my living.

Listen to Colt's newest podcast, Wrestling Anonymous! And follow @coltcabana on Twitch, Twitter, and Instagram.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

---

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Four Tet: "Two Thousand and Seventeen" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

New Year's Special: Resolutions and Rosh Hashanah with Ariel Elias and Daniel Strauss

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 05:00:00 -0400

I discuss specific New Year's resolutions and the concept of resolutions with previous guests Ariel Elias and Daniel Strauss in the first ever This Is Your Afterlife New Year's Special.

We talk about the best approach to making resolutions, how to break big goals down into smaller ones, and if it's worth it to make them at all! Ariel and Daniel also talk a lot about Rosh Hashanah and try to frame me as anti-Semitic in the process, which is honestly fucked up. Actually, this is a really bad episode. Don't listen to this one.

To hear extended episodes, every installment of the debrief podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and more experiments like this one, please join the show's Patreon at patreon.com/davemaher. You're making possible my dream of making this show my living.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me"

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Follow Ariel: @ariel_comedy on TikTok and Twitter, and find tickets to her shows January 6-8 at Comix Roadhouse in Connecticut on her website, arieleliascomedy.com.

Follow Daniel: @danielstrauss on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to my alt-weekly-style newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com for essays, music recs, and interesting links every Friday.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock the Artist or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

Christmas Special: How I Became the Magellan of Music

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 05:00:00 -0400

I guess it's not back to regular programming this week. Instead, you get a Christmas special!

My aftershow co-host Meaghan Strickland and her partner, Tim Lamphier, listen to me try to explain my love for "Alt jeg ønsker meg," a 2015 Christmas song by then-13-year-old Norwegian twin Justin Biebers Marcus & Martinus.

Join us on this ride. Meaghan and Tim take stabs at translating Norwegian, Tim give lightning-round answers to the usual This Is Your Afterlife questions, and they name me the Magellan of music. There are no lessons to learn, just an introduction to a whipped cream dollop of a song I desperately hope you like.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Music = Marcus & Martinus

Watch the video for "Alt jeg ønsker meg": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SImOMpDk4Rg

---

Follow Tim on Twitch and watch him stream at twitch.tv/totallytimlol! Find him on Instagram: @totallytimlol, or on Twitter: @timlamphier.

Follow Meaghan on Twitter: @MeaghanStrick and Instagram: @stricklygram, and go to her website: meaghanstrickland.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

Ambient Comedian and Bud Light Coma Guy

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 05:00:00 -0400

I share quarantine "coma moments" (like embracing my identity as a metaphorically ambient comedian), the process of developing my one-man show Literally the Afterlife, and a live standup recording of my newest bit, "Bud Light Coma Guy," in the first solo episode of This Is Your Afterlife!

Back to our regular programming next week.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Birthday Cakes, Band-Aid Solutions & Poetry: Oscar Sanchez This Is Your Aftershow

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 05:00:00 -0400

G.O.A.T. episode here. What starts as a usual This Is Your Aftershow—with Claire Favret & Meaghan Strickland joining me to unpack Oscar Sanchez's episode of This Is Your Afterlife—becomes something entirely new to the "This Is Your" Universe when Oscar surprises Meaghan & Claire halfway through by JOINING US.

With and without Oscar, we touch on topics such as:

how misguided, confusing, and ridiculous this show is
the necessity of hope
birthday cake smashing
band-aid solutions to systemic problems
race jokes (Oscar and I make them)
anxiety attacks
the possibility of clout organizers being secretly useful actors

Plus, Oscar reads a couple of his poems!

This is the longest single episode of either show ("Afterlife" or "Aftershow") I've ever published on the main feed, with the longest intro I've ever done, and it's the episode I'm proudest of producing in a year and a half of making this show. I hope everyone who would like what this is listens to the whole episode. I feel like this show is becoming something different, something even more special: a world.

If you can, please join the show's Patreon at patreon.com/davemaher to make possible my dream of making this show my living. You'll get all episodes of This Is Your Aftershow, the extended episodes of This Is Your Afterlife, and more!

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow Meaghan on Twitter: @MeaghanStrick and Instagram: @stricklygram, and go to her website: meaghanstrickland.com.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow Oscar: @oso_campeon on Twitter and Instagram, and follow CHI Hunger Strike: @CHIhungerstrike on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

---

Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

This Ugly Baby Gave You Hope with Oscar Sanchez

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Oscar Sanchez (Southeast Chicago community activist, CHI Hunger Striker to #StopGeneralIron, and poet) calls my first question about death "wholesome." Then he gets fiery about the fight for hope, joy, and liberation. He lays out his funeral spread, including carne asada and choco flan. He chooses to relive a memory he doesn't have except in a photobook. And he challenges the entire premise of asking "What's your coma?" A TIYA for the ages.

Get Oscar's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and enjoy fun bonuses while supporting me and the show!

Follow Oscar: @oso_campeon on Twitter and Instagram

Follow these groups Oscar recommends you check out:

CHI Hunger Strike: @CHIhungerstrike on Twitter and Instagram

Southeast Youth Alliance: @seyouthalliance (Twitter) and @southeastyouthalliance (IG)

Chicago Environmental Justice Network: @CEJNetwork on Twitter and Instagram

Southeast Environmental Task Force: setaskforce.org

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

The Last Opportunity to Do What I'm Best At with Nicholas Ward

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Nicholas Ward talks to me about the deep friendships that have shaped his life, including in difficulty and tragedy. We also talk about his plan to get an urn shaped like Prince's symbol and engineering car rides to catch the sunset.

Nick's book, All Who Belong May Enter, is a reflective AND FUN tramp through Midwestern restaurants, neighborhoods, and suburbs, all the while examining the privilege that so many in his (and my) position never question. Listen to this episode, and then check it out!

Get Nick's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and enjoy fun bonuses while supporting me and the show!

Buy All Who Belong May Enter from Autumn House Press: autumnhouse.org

Follow Nick!

His website: nicholascward.com

Twitter: @NicholasCWard

Instagram: @nicholascward

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

---

Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

This Is Your Aftershow: Rob Auton

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 05:45:00 -0400

Claire Favret and Meaghan Strickland join me to unpack Rob Auton's episode of This Is Your Afterlife, including such topics as:

needing subtitles for British accents
The Agreement Zone
hard work + talent + luck in creative/entertainment careers

Get all episodes of This Is Your Aftershow and the extended episodes of This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow Meaghan on Twitter: @MeaghanStrick and Instagram: @stricklygram, and go to her website: meaghanstrickland.com.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

This Is Your Aftershow: Ariel Elias

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Claire Favret (comedian, friend, fan) professes her newfound love for pretty much everything about Ariel Elias in our debrief of Ariel's This Is Your Afterlife episode.

Get all episodes of This Is Your Aftershow and the extended episodes of This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

The World Isn't as Good as I Want It to Be with Rob Auton

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Rob Auton (HBO's Miracle Workers, Edinburgh Fringe whiz) is a writer, performer, comedian, and poet of extraordinary wonder. While this episode is split into many of the usual segments about Rob's personal hell, his views of the afterlife, funeral planning, and his "coma," this conversation flows together as one long meditation on the meaning and magic of life and finding your purpose.

Check out Rob's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and make it so I can continue to produce This Is Your Afterlife ad-free!

Buy Rob's new book, "I Strongly Believe in Incredible Things," on Bookshop or Amazon.

Follow Rob: @RobertAuton on Twitter, @robauton on Instagram

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

---

Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

What's Missing with Ariel Elias

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Ariel Elias (Just for Laughs New Faces) is a fantastic standup comic, my friend, and my co-host on our upcoming SURVIVOR PODCAST together. Here, she talks about the comfort she gets from outer space, enjoying seizures while she's in them, a simple and beautiful memory of her late dog, and not one but two "coma" moments, one from childhood and one from adulthood. It's a cozy and charming portrait of Ariel and of our still-budding friendship!

Check out Ariel's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and make it so I can continue to produce This Is Your Afterlife ad-free!

Follow Ariel: @ariel_comedy on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok

Visit her website: www.arieleliascomedy.com

Listen and subscribe to our Survivor podcast, It's a Fucking Stick, when it comes out!

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

It's Important to Me That You Know You Are Free with Jacoby Cochran

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Jacoby Cochran (The Moth, Snap Judgment, City Cast Chicago) is a damn delight talking about discovering his love of performing, the small moments full of love he'd relive on a loop if he could, and the hell of not being able to correct someone you know is wrong. He's got the smoothest deep voice of any guest I've had, and he uses it to harmonize with me the song that changed his life.

Check out Jacoby's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and make it so I can continue to produce This Is Your Afterlife ad-free!

Follow Jacoby on IG: @cobycochran

Visit his website: www.jacobycochran.com

Listen and subscribe to City Cast Chicago: chicago.citycast.fm

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

---

Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

The song Jacoby sings (and I sorta join in) = Erykah Badu feat. Andre 3000: "Hello"

This Bitch on Some Descartes Shit with Glitter Moneyyy

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 05:00:00 -0400

In-your-face, feminist, political, party rap duo Glitter Moneyyy (TayyySlayyy and Queen Trashley) join me to talk about DRUUUUUUGS. Their funeral planning includes mandatory drug-taking, and their visions of the afterlife get pretty stoner-y. They also talk about the break-up (an old one) and pandemic (the current one) that rearranged their lives.

Check out Glitter Moneyyy's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and make it so I can continue to produce This Is Your Afterlife ad-free!

Follow Glitter Moneyyy: @glittermoneyyy on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow them on Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.

And GO TO THEIR SHOW AT LINCOLN HALL IN CHICAGO ON NOVEMBER 6!

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

---

Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

This Is Your Aftershow: Low

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 05:00:00 -0400

New show alert!!!

Comedians, friends, former guests, and fans of the podcast Claire Favret and Meaghan Strickland join me for This Is Your Aftershow, a new, sporadically released This Is Your Afterlife debrief show.

On this Low Aftershow, we talk about:

worst parenthood fears
our exact yearly earnings
holiday supremacy
prison abolition

Get all future episodes of This Is Your Aftershow at patreon.com/davemaher!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow Meaghan on Twitter: @MeaghanStrick and Instagram: @stricklygram, and go to her website: meaghanstrickland.com.

Follow Claire @clairefavs on Twitter and Instagram.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

It's Not About Hope with Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk aka the band Low

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Low the band, the band Low (making sure I get my SEO straight there) is one of the greatest rock bands of the past 30 years and a perfect fit for a show talking about death, life, and transformation.

Most Low interviews touch on their Mormon faith, and there's a bit of that here. But I was more interested in the personal feelings and faiths of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker (the married couple who form Low's consistent core), so we veer in the direction of doubts, breakdowns, the joy and obligation of Christmas, and whether or not justice is punitive. Alan also requests highly specific funeral plans while Mimi takes notes, and we laugh a bunch (which I consider a huge personal win).

Check out Low's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, and make it so I can continue to produce This Is Your Afterlife ad-free!

Want an introduction to Low's music, or a refresher? I've made a playlist of my favorite Low songs! Here: bit.ly/thisisyourafterlow

Follow Low on Twitter: @lowtheband

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

---

Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Reversaroo! Part 2 with Me, Dave Maher

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Part 2 of the best or worst introduction to this podcast is here! Comedians, past guests, and friends of mine Meaghan Strickland and Claire Favret continue the utterly, definitely-everyone's-saying-it's-classic-and-not-just-a-word-we-made-up "reversaroo" format asking my own questions of me, Dave Maher (This American Life).

In this part, I give the most horrific response to "Paint Your Hell" I can, give away the secrets of my future "How to Use the Sidewalk" one-man show, and stand in awe of Claire and Meaghan asking me, "Is your coma still your 'coma'?"

Check out the extended episode, with an extra segment of "Claire and Meaghan questions," at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

---

Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Reversaroo! Part 1 with Me, Dave Maher

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 05:00:00 -0400

This episode is either the best or the worst introduction to this podcast. I, Dave Maher (This American Life), talk to my friends, fellow comedians, former guests and still-current fans of the show, Meaghan Strickland and Claire Favret, as they turn the tables and ask me all the questions I normally ask guests. A classic "reversaroo," of course!

The episode comes in two parts. In this one, I relay an embarrassing childhood anecdote that explains my personality and invent the "destination funeral."

This was seriously a blast. I hope you enjoy it. I hope you catch the conclusion next week, and I hope you join my Patreon to check out the extended episodes (for both parts!) at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Want to learn more about or sign up for my Unblock or Personal Story Workshops? Email thisisdavemaher@gmail.com.

Come to my next show opening for Cigarette Sandwich at the Annoyance on Saturday, 9/25 at 9:30pm!

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Growth, Right? with Adwoa Agyepong

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Adwoa Agyepong (organizer with #DefundCPD, Chicago AfroSOC, and Chicago DSA) shares the Ghanaian pop music she'd have play at her funeral, her perfectly relivable memory of drinking sunset mimosas in New Orleans, and a good old-fashioned self-acceptance journey from being the person she hated the most to the person she loves the most.

This episode is wholesome, warm, and inviting, just like Adwoa!

Check out Adwoa's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Adwoa would love you to read and sign these petitions!

Cancel ShotSpotter and support community-led solutions to address gun violence in Chicago

Pass the Peace Book ordinance now! (Peace Book = "a restorative justice centered violence prevention ordinance")

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

All of This Was Optional and I Can Let Go of It with Connor Shioshita Pickett

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Connor (The Neo-Futurists) and I ponder the possibility of handing out T-Mobile gift cards at your funeral. He talks about what a hassle life is. And he's the first guest not to bring a concrete "coma" to the table, so instead we talk through what waiting for one of these drastic life-rearranging moments is like.

There are also a couple long silences. Nothing's wrong. That's just Connor thinking.

Content warning: There's talk of suicidal ideation. We're not therapists, we don't solve anything, but we've both had SI before, and hopefully anyone who can relate feels a little less alone from the casual way we talk about it rather than alienated. But if you're sensitive now, that's okay!

Check out Connor's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Learn more about the Neo-Futurists: neofuturists.org

See the Neos in Chicago when they return to doing live performances of their show The Infinite Wrench starting September 18!

Listen to Connor's band, PRECARIAT: precariat.us

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Wrapped in Mushrooms and Shoved into the Earth with Matthew Sage

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Matt Sage and Fuubutsushi put out four records—aligned with the seasons—that helped keep me sane in quarantine. Until this conversation, I had no idea he and I had so much in common, including:

obsession with naming things, especially bands
nondenominational Christian background
knowledge of the Christian ska band Five Iron Frenzy
type one diabetes
surviving comas

And these similarities aren't even the whole story of an episode that covers memory palaces, the terrible beauty of fatherhood, and the legality of funeral pyres vs. mushroom suits. Enjoy!!

Check out Matt's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow Matt on Instagram: @matthewjsage

Visit his website: matthewjsage.com

Listen to Fuubutsushi on the cached.media Bandcamp.

Read about Fuubutsushi in the Chicago Reader.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

---

Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Poem = Walt Whitman: "This Compost"

Poem Reading Bed Music = Fuubutsushi: "I Hold Dearly (for Miles)"

We Might Just Be Examining My Anxiety in Real Time with Alex Stone

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Alex Stone (comedian, co-creator of The Movie Show on SYFY) is a pin-point precise standup who graduated from my high school (Sycamore) a few years after me. He surprised himself with his openness and vulnerability in this conversation, sharing a memory of a dogpile while watching soccer with a now-departed friend. He also talked about a disappointing rabbi, an embarrassingly touching Kenny Chesney song, and whether it's more embarrassing to bomb in front of someone you despise or admire.

Check out Alex's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow Alex on Instagram: @alexstone11

Watch The Movie Show on SYFY.com

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

We're Gonna Teach Everybody How to Speak in Tongues with Nate Varrone

Tue, 27 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Nate Varrone (Second City, Tooning Out the News) and I BRO DOWN about the idiosyncrasies of speaking in tongues. We also share the desire for an afterlife that is Something rather than Nothing. He tells me about the weeklong outdoor camp where he felt like he'd arrived and how hell is basically every office. Nate's one of the funniest comedians there is, and you're gonna love getting to know him.

Check out Nate's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow Nate on Instagram: @natevarrone

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

A Party Where I'm on the Grill with Ramon Rivas II

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Ramon Rivas II (Comedy Central's The Half Hour, Netflix's Cooking on High, HBO's Crashing) describes a deja vu-like afterlife and the memory he'd choose to relive, a whirlwind of food and family prior to filming his Comedy Central special. His hell is full of drunk white people, and his "coma" is a pair of experiences that made him commit to his comedy and his life.

Ramon is a DIY role model, and this episode paints a portrait of a working class dude who loves his family and is working his ass off to create art and build community. Enjoy!

Check out Ramon's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow Ramon on Twitter: @BlazerRamon, and Instagram: @blazerramon

Ramon's work:

"Gentle Hustle" (the self-filmed documentary we talk about him filming prior to his Half Hour): Episode 1

Albums: Revisited, Stick to Comedy, and Now That's What I Call Prebaked Volume 1

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Young Sweaty Student Energy with Claire Favret

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Claire Favret (Cigarette Sandwich) is a warm, super-talented comedian and such a fan of the show that she becomes my first co-host of the intro and outro. She shares her habit of added to her will while sick that dates back to childhood, plus the coma moment that redefined her relationship to food and eating, and the hell of endless notes after a terrible improv show.

Check out Claire's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow Claire on Twitter: @clairefavs

Follow Cigarette Sandwich on Twitter: @CigSandwich

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Where is this life taking me?: Catlyn Savado's Animal Spirit Reading

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0400

I post these readings from Kim Krans' Wild Unknown Animal Spirit deck every week at patreon.com/davemaher. Donate monthly to my Patreon to help me keep making This Is Your Afterlife and join a community of people who love comedy about death and existence and all the biggest/corniest questions in life. You can get an extended episode and bonus clips every week, plus playlists, behind-the-scenes blog posts, experimental podcast episodes, and access to virtual shows.

"I'm either gonna say a serious question, or I'm gonna say a question about Lori Lightfoot." That's how last week's guest, 14-year-old abolitionist organizer Catlyn Savado, starts this Animal Spirit reading. She goes deep from there, and I think this is a really cool document of a teenager in a stable state giving themself comfort for dark times. This is basically the question every teenager, let alone person, has. CS opens herself up for all our benefit.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow Catlyn @catlynsavado on Twitter and Instagram.

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Clip = Future: "Use Me"

Outro Clip = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Something Bread-Based with Catlyn Savado

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Catlyn Savado is a 14-year-old abolitionist organizer in Chicago. Here, she clowns on Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot. She revisits a perfect day of protesting. She describes learning to let go of toxic and straight-up racist friends. She's fun and sincere and curious. Enjoy this time with her.

Check out Catlyn's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow Catlyn @catlynsavado on Twitter and Instagram.

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Screaming Thank You at the Waterfall with Cameron Gillette

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Language is a box. Dogma is a box. Comedian Cameron Gillette makes a strong case against the latter, but unfortunately, we had to use language to do this episode. Cameron and I bond over our memories of Christian weightlifting performers, then he tells me about the mortifying moment that sparked his first depression and a spiritual experience at a waterfall.

Check out the extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher with bonus intro, extended segments, and Cameron's "Funeral Planning" segment.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Watch Cameron's new special, The Best Set I Will Ever Have, on YouTube, and listen to the album on Apple or Spotify.

Follow Cameron @camgillettefan on Twitter and Instagram.

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

We Have Won This Forever with Michael Rice

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Ireland-born, Chicago-forged, world touring Michael Rice is one of the best comedians I know. He talks to me about maybe becoming a tree when he dies, how meditation makes you annoying at parties, and the under-16 hurling championship that was the greatest moment of his life so far.

Check out the extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher with bonus intro banter about Mike's past year plus his "Paint Your Hell" segment.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Listen to Mike's podcast, The Mike Rice Show, on Apple or Spotify

Follow Mike on Instagram: @mikericecomedy

Support Mike on Patreon: patreon.com/mikericecomedy

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Gimme the Boos with Jamison Webb

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Jamison Webb (What We Do in the Shadows, Space Force) had a dream in middle school and got to live it performing on the Second City Mainstage. Along the way, he shook off the bullying of early high school by barraging his classmates with comedy until they booed him senior year. Listen to this journey and his thoughts on what comes after everything.

Check out the extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for hella bonus Jamison, including an intro on aging plus his "Funeral Planning," "Write Your Epitaph," "Kill 1 Thing," and "Paint Your Hell" segments.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Follow @jamisonwebb on Twitter!

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Because Music Makes You Happy with Calvero

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Calvero—aka my former roommate Gabe Liebowitz—is a singer, pop songwriter, producer, and lover of therapy. We talk about the damages capitalism, hustle culture, and young success narratives have done to those of us looking for long and sustainable creative careers. He also shares a memory of working together with his late producer and friend Max Perenchio on a formative Calvero song.

Check out the extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for more in-depth music and us-overthinking-our-social-media talk, plus his "Funeral Planning" and "Paint Your Hell" segments.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Check out Calvero on...

Instagram: @calvero_sings,

Twitter: @calvero_sings,

Spotify,

Patreon: patreon.com/calverosings,

and his podcast, Calvero Speaks! (Apple, Spotify)

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Let's Go Play Uno in the Woods with Mary Williamson

Tue, 25 May 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Mary Williamson's (The Fly Honey Show) mom said, "Nature is our church," and Mary echoes that sentiment when talking about offering up her skull as worm food. She also tells me about a dreamy childhood vacation spot she would freeze in time and the arrest that shifted her perspective on privilege.

Check out the extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, which includes more in-depth talk about the Fly Honeys and representation, plus Mary's "Funeral Planning" segment.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Check out Mary's work (acting AND special effects makeup) in the streaming variety show "grelley." through the Hideout on Saturday, May 29. Learn more and buy tickets here: hideoutchicago.com/event/grelley

Mary on IG: @artisdeadgobears

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Epiphanies Change My Expectations with Air Credits

Tue, 18 May 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Air Credits (Clinton Sandifer aka ShowYouSuck & Steve Reidell aka half of The Hood Internet) contemplate artistic legacies, tell me about one of the best shows of their career, and I act out their hell as a host introducing them at a show. We also talk about the nature of epiphanies as Clinton discusses the fog of his entire school career and Steve relates the three moments women gave him advice he still returns to.

Check out the extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, which includes a lot more talk about their music in the intro, their "Funeral Planning" segment, and an extended riff on surly sound guys.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

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Check out Air Credits on Bandcamp to hear their music and get their new album, Believe That You're Here, when they release it.

Air Credits on IG: @aircredits

And Twitter: @AIR_CREDITS

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

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Intro Song = Future: "Use Me"

Transitional Music = James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Outro Song = Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

The Difference Between Heaven and Hell Is Square Footage with Kurt Chiang

Tue, 11 May 2021 05:00:00 -0400

One man's cancer is another man's coma. Kurt Chiang (The Neo-Futurists) talks to me about the weird corners of feeling that come with surviving cancer and wanting to control that attention by making theater. He describes a particularly theatrical heaven, and I think we accidentally proved the existence of God dissecting Kurt's experience of eating Peruvian rotisserie chicken.

Check out Kurt's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, which includes extra intro talk about his transition from active Neo-Futurist ensemble member to solo performance/video artist, plus his "Funeral Planning" segment.

Follow Kurt on IG: @chiangkurtox

And on Twitter: @chiangkurt

And keep a lookout in June, when Kurt will begin a crowdfunding campaign with support from the 3Arts Foundation for his premiere short film "Chicka-Dee-Dee-Dee!"

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

Yeet Cops with Kennedy Bartley

Tue, 04 May 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Kennedy Bartley (Legislative Director, United Working Families) went from thinking about her movement work in terms of "I'll die for this" to "I want to live for this." We talk about building the personal and professional infrastructure to support abolition and liberation in the long-term, what qualifies someone as a "comrade," and which slang I can get away with incorporating into my post-quarantine vocabulary.

Check out Kennedy's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, which includes extra intro talk and her "Paint Your Hell" segment.

Follow Kennedy on IG: @kbartley_

Follow United Working Families on Instagram and Twitter

Join the Defund CPD campaign!

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

Trees, Bees and Me with Drennen Quinn

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Drennen Quinn (IFC, America's Greatest Rock Band podcast) is my best friend since we started improv classes together in 2008. We catch up and talk about the single question that shook his unexamined childhood faith, his unique ability to wring entertainment out of obnoxious strangers, and GROWING UP.

Check out Drennen's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher, which includes an extended intro and his "Funeral Planning" segment.

Drennen's podcast: America's Greatest Rock Band

Twitter: @DrennenQuinn, Instagram: @drennenwon

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

Basically My Family with Vicko Alvarez

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Vicko Alvarez (Chief of Staff for Chicago Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez) joins me for a different kind of This Is Your Afterlife. As usual, we cover her personal dreams and post-death hopes, but more importantly, we talk about the recent police killings of Adam Toledo, Travon Chadwell, and Anthony Alvarez.

Our conversation touches on community grief, what gets overlooked when narratives form in the wake of deaths like these, and growing up brown or Black in America without expecting to make it to 30.

Thanks to Vicko for opening up here. Love to families, individuals, and communities who have had loved ones ripped away by police. Abolish the police, prisons, and the entire prison industrial complex that limits our imaginations for a truly liberated, loving world.

Check out Vicko's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for an extended intro with her organizer origin story.

Read Vicko's comics: scholarcomics.com

Twitter: @_LaVicko

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

And That's Embarrassing! with Niccole Thurman

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Niccole Thurman (Superstore, Shrill, The Opposition with Jordan Klepper) is kind of modest, so death... is embarrassing! She explains in detail. She also tells me a deep-but-fleeting memory of "making it" and how she's a different person since quitting drinking.

Check out Niccole's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for an extended intro, plus her "Paint Your Hell" and "Kill 1 Thing" segments.

Twitter: @niccolethurman

Instagram: @niccolethurman

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

Fertile Shit with Maureen SanDiego

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Maureen SanDiego (Drag Queen of the Year Pageant) would love hell, but I push her to contemplate the afterlife in general. She paints the horror of having consciousness but no senses and contrasts two musical theater experiences, one affirming and the other utterly devastating. Also, selectively abolish body odor!

Check out Maureen's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for her extended "Paint Your Hell" and "Kill 1 Thing" segments.

MAUREEN'S MERCH: maureensandiego.com

Maureen's podcast: I Couldn't Help But Wonder Mamma

Instagram: @maureensandiego

Twitter: @MaureenSanDieg3

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

Space Gardening with Edgar Blackmon

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Edgar Blackmon (Alone Together, Arrested Development, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) contemplates the possibility of getting reincarnated on yet another remedial-ass planet, life lessons from "Defending Your Life," and a Beyonce/Jay-Z concert at Soldier Field he'll remember forever.

Check out Edgar's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for more pop culture discursions (Drake! "Married at First Sight"!), his Funeral Planning segment ("Return of the Mack"!), plus his breakdown of one of the greatest sketches to ever grace the Second City mainstage.

Instagram: @theedgarblackmon

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

Diapers, Disposals with Meaghan Strickland

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Meaghan Strickland is one of the funniest comedians in the world. I ask if I can tell my favorite joke of hers at her funeral, she tells me her foolproof method to ensure she's not buried alive, and we talk about the kind of friends you just automatically connect with and who make you funnier before realizing we are those friends for each other. It's a real romp!

Check out Strickland's extended episode at patreon.com/davemaher for more than an hour of extra conversation, including LOTS of existential comedy crisis talk, extended segments of what's in this episode, and Meaghan's "What's Your Coma?" segment about ending her lifelong basketball dream in college.

Instagram: @stricklygram

Twitter: @MeaghanStrick

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

To continue the conversation, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

Posthumously Uncomfortable with Sarah Welch-Larson

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Sarah Welch-Larson just published Becoming Alien—her book about the concept of evil in the Alien films—and she comes to This Is Your Afterlife to talk about having a low-key funeral, her infinitely relivable memory on the White Cliffs of Dover, and the tragedy that rearranged her life without her realizing it.

Content warning: There's a reference to a school shooting in this episode.

Check out Sarah's full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It includes more intro and her "Kill 1 Thing" segment, where we discuss our mutual hatred for ranked year-end lists.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Get Sarah's book: Becoming Alien: The Beginning and End of Evil in Science Fiction's Most Idiosyncratic Film Franchise

Sarah's website (with her blog and links to other writing): dodgyboffin.com

Follow her on Twitter @dodgyboffin

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Good Question, Good Answer with Daniel Strauss

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Daniel Strauss (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Second City) believes in combining Journey and Bon Jovi into one band. We talk about God as a loving creator, sitting shiva, and the ten minutes he got to spend with his wife in a room full of food right after they got married and before their reception.

If you want more Daniel, check out his full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It includes more rapid-fire prompts in his intro and his "What's Your Coma?" segment, where he talks in depth about how his kids have rearranged his life.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Visit Daniel's website, danielstrauss.com.

Follow him @danielstrauss on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Inside the Dawn with Udbhav Gupta (Mr Twin Sister)

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 05:05:00 -0400

Udbhav Gupta makes beautiful, mysterious, danceable music with Mr Twin Sister. He talks to me about recognizing cycles of depression, trying to outsmart the religion of your childhood, and a surreal and revelatory walk he took in a pitch-black Olympic National Park.

If you want more Udbhav, check out his full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It includes a hugely expanded intro (we've known each other since 8th grade, so we chat a while) and his "Kill 1 Thing" segment.

Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Listen to Mr Twin Sister: mrtwinsister.com

Instagram: @mrtwinsister

Twitter: @twinsistermusic

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Very Cool Perfect House Party with Whitney Wasson

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Sobriety doesn't stop standup and comic book artist Whitney Wasson (Sober Rabbit) from wanting heaven to be a cool house party with performances from Elliott Smith whenever HE feels comfortable. Whitney is a sensitive, funny, deep-thinking artist, and this conversation is full of gems about addiction, relationships, art, expectations, mental illness, and more and more and more.

If you want more Whitney, check out their full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It includes expanded intro and "Relive 1 Memory" segments, plus their "Kill 1 Thing."

For a full transcript, check out This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe.

Read and buy all things Sober Rabbit: soberrabbit.com

Follow Sober Rabbit on IG: @soberrabbit

Support Sober Rabbit on Patreon: patreon.com/soberrabbit

Follow Whitney on Twitter: @soberfurious

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Moment of Hope with Arish Singh

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Arish Singh (The Onion) performs standup with serious political bite, which makes his introspective and vulnerable turn here surprising and sweet. We talk a lot about depression, the need to hold separate funerals for your friends vs. family, and finally throwing off the shackles of societal and familial expectation to live the life you want.

If you want more Arish, check out his full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It includes a well-expanded version of the intro plus his "Kill 1 Thing" segment.

For a full transcript, check out This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe.

Follow Arish on Twitter: @arishish

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Dismantle Binary Thinking with Sky Cubacub

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 05:00:00 -0400

A lot of people talk about wanting their funeral to be a celebration of life, but Sky Cubacub (Rebirth Garments) has thought concretely about what that looks like. Sky's experienced a lot of death recently, and rebirth is a foundational concept in their work.

We talk about reimagining every facet of life and the struggles that came AFTER Sky's rebirthing ceremony. We also geek out over Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Content warning: Sky and I talk a fair amount about suicidal ideation and other mental illness stuff in this episode.

If you want more Sky, check out their full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It includes expanded versions of almost every segment, plus their "Relive 1 Memory" and "Kill 1 Thing" segments.

For a full transcript, check out This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe.

Visit Rebirth Garments at rebirthgarments.com.

Follow Sky on Instagram: @rebirthgarments

More about Sky's rebirthing ceremony: youtu.be/IvvrTjhGnUU

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Go Hard, Chill Hard with Carmen Christopher

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Carmen Christopher (Shrill, Joe Pera Talks with You) is one of the funniest dudes around, and we bust balls while talking about visiting the Caribbean as a ghost, smoking cigarette butts off the ground as a 4th grader, and the elusive pursuit of go-chill balance.

If you want more Carmen, check out his full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It includes his "Funeral Planning" and "Kill 1 Thing" segments, plus a separate intro segment.

For a full transcript, check out This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe.

Follow Carmen on Twitter: @CarmChristopher

And on Instagram: @carmenyescarmen

Watch Carmen's shorts: "I'm Killing It!!!" and "Single Dad"

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Don't Ever Quit with Al Church

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Al Church (incredible musician) talks about sharing not just a home city but a birthday with Prince, we parse out our relationships to astrology, and I ask him the most annoying question a musician can get: "What kind of music do you play?"

We also talk about the ways in which life narratives aren't clean and how a single comment made to him as a kid serves as a touchstone for the kind of life he wants to live, twenty years later.

If you want more Al Church, check out his full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It includes his "Funeral Planning," "Kill 1 Thing," and "Relive 1 Memory" segments, plus an extended version of the intro.

For a full transcript, check out This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe.

Check out Al's Song Rainbows on Patreon: patreon.com/alchurch

Al made one of my favorite albums of 2018, Night Games, and I truly cannot recommend too highly that you purchase it on Bandcamp and immediately add more joy to your life.

Follow Al on Instagram: @alchurchandpics

And on Twitter: @AlChurchmusic

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Life Is So Open with Untitled Queen

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Untitled Queen (NightGowns on Quibi) creates mysterious, poetic, and beautiful drag performances that tell stories through mediums from visual art to spoken word. She's the kind of deep, sensitive, imaginative guest I love having on the show. Enjoy her gleeful relivings of breakups, baby stroller rides, and her earliest drag days.

If you want more of Untitled Queen's charm, you must check out her full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It includes her "Kill 1 Thing" segment and an extended version of the artistic inspiration conversation at the end of her "Funeral Planning" segment.

To read a full transcript of this and every episode of This Is Your Afterlife, visit the ALL-NEW Podscribe page.

Follow Untitled Queen on Instagram: @untitledqueen

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Fork-in-the-Road Moments with Zack Seward

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Zack Seward (Managing Editor, CoinDesk) has been my best friend since we were college roommates. We veer away from his day job to talk about his relationship, family, and career transformations. Plus, he names the Band song he wrote in his will to be played at his funeral.

Zack's full episode includes his "Kill 1 Thing" segment, in which the two of us bitch about journalistic tics that bug us. Get that at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Zack on Twitter: @zackseward

Follow me on IG: @thisisdavemaher, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

"Showing Black People the Way That We Actually Are" — Vashon Jordan Jr.

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Vashon Jordan Jr. spent summer 2020 photographing the uprisings in Chicago's streets after the murder of George Floyd. His photo book, Chicago Protests: A Joyful Revolution, documents Black joy during demonstrations in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vashon's work is bright and saturated with color. We talk about why he snaps pictures from within crowds rather than on the edges and the near-death experience that became a cornerstone of his work ethic (the dude is 21 and took 17,000 photos at dozens of events this summer!).

Listen to the full episode, including the community college graduation Vashon would choose to relive and his unique perspective on the deaths of others, at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Vashon (@vashon_photo) on Instagram and Twitter, and buy his book: Chicago Protests: A Joyful Revolution.

Follow me on IG: @thisisdavemaher, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Worms Gotta Eat with Oui Ennui

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 05:20:00 -0400

Oui Ennui used his COVID diagnosis as an excuse to put out an album, Sirius Bismuth, in May. Then he kept going, releasing an album every month of 2020 on Bandcamp Fridays.

Oui is the perfect guest for this show in this year haunted by death. Listen to him talk about why he doesn't buy into the afterlife, how physical fights are "fully avoidable," and the Sophie's choice between religion and white supremacy.

The full episode of this show is especially juicy, with exclusive access to Oui's "Relive 1 Memory" and "What's Your Coma?" segments offering detailed stories of drug trips and divorce. Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/davemaher.

Follow Oui Ennui on Instagram: @ouiennui, and listen to (and buy!) his music at Bandcamp.

Follow me on IG: @thisisdavemaher, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

References:

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
Anthropic principle

Annie Russell Has a Death Doc

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Annie Russell (Duct Tape & Paper Clips) has experienced unexpected loss enough to have started a doc with plans for her death. She wants a well-produced funeral and an afterlife with infinite knowledge. She also keeps her own bowling gear in her car "just in case."

Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It's got expanded versions of these segments, Annie's separate "Funeral Planning" segment, and a detour that could be a whole separate podcast of us talking about BOUNDARIES.

Follow Annie, @anniemrussell, on Twitter and Instagram, and attend the Duct Tape & Paper Clips MacGruber screening on December 26!

Follow me on IG: @thisisdavemaher, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Cartoon Heaven with John Spillane

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 05:00:00 -0400

John Spillane (Edinburgh Fringe, Instagram, the country Ireland) wants cartoon heaven, a funeral that celebrates foolishness, and to buy the approval of his friends with surprise ice cream.

Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It's got John's "Kill One Thing" segment, plus a long, playful intro chat and expanded versions of the segments here.

Follow John on Instagram: @thejohnspillane

Follow me on IG: @thisisdavemaher, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Diet Atheist with Odinaka Ezeokoli

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Odinaka Ezeokoli (Netflix's "Easy") got fired from his valet job, his best friend died, he was feeling stuck in standup, and it was his Saturn Return when he went through his first "coma." A comedian and an astrologer, Odinaka is especially prone to self-assessment, which makes him a perfect TIYA guest.

We also make connections between giving up artificial comedy dreams and being present during sex, and it's the proudest I am of an analogy made on this show so far.

References:

The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander
Seth Godin on "On Being"

Listen to the full version of this episode at patreon.com/davemaher. It's got Odinaka's "Funeral Planning" and "Kill One Thing" segments, plus expanded versions of the segments here.

Follow Odinaka on Instagram: @odinaka, and visit his website odinakaezeokoli.com to book him for an astrology reading.

Follow me on IG: @thisisdavemaher, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at thisisdavemaher.com.

That Oyster of a Feeling with Eunji Kim

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Eunji Kim (The Ajumma Show) will be fine with death if it comes as one big heroin-high of a moment of light. It makes sense, considering how highly she values "corporeal pleasure." She chooses to relive a memory that includes her eel-lady aunt and her first time at the sea as cures for terrible teenage depression (and content warning: there's some suicide and other mental illness talk in this episode).

Eunji and I bond over being old-millennial narcissists, and I could talk to her forever. Enjoy this conversation between weird friends!

I DO talk to Eunji much longer on the full version of this episode at patreon.com/davemaher. Follow me on IG: @thisisdavemaher, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at thisisdavemaher.com.

Follow Eunji on Instagram and Twitter: @TheBestEunji. Also follow @AjummaShow on Twitter and Instagram, and support that show on Patreon too!

Bill Stern says, "Your Coma Could Be One of My Comas"

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Bill Stern has been one of the funniest comedians in Chicago at least since he and I were put on an improv team together in 2008. His sketch group Cigarette Sandwich is a powerhouse, constantly churning out new, original material.

Bill's proximity to my coma gives him an intimate perspective for answering the "What's your coma?" question. We talk about some big losses in his life and whether he actually learns lessons from them, the confidence he got from auditioning for SNL, and we plan a prank for his funeral that combines Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man" and silent discos.

Watch "The Power Half Hour," Cigarette Sandwich's tornado-paced sketch comedy pilot (30 sketches in 30 minutes!).

Visit Cigarette Sandwich's website, Instagram, and Twitter. Support them and their incredible patrons-only podcast on Patreon!

Follow me on IG, and support the show at patreon.com/davemaher. If you subscribe there, you can hear the full episode, which is trimmed for time here.

And sign up for my weekly zine, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

Mike Watt Wants to Be Buried at Sea

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Mike Watt is my hero. He might be yours too. He's spent his life making inspired, inspiring, and boundary-pushing music in service of his own vision (solo and with the Minutemen, fIREHOSE, and the Missingmen) and the visions of others (the reunited Stooges, J Mascis), never compromising the independent-yet-interconnected spirit he got coming up in the '80s punk scene.

Watt talks about wanting to be buried at sea, the split-second musical memory he'd choose to relive for eternity, and what he would do if he got to the afterlife and saw D. Boon, his best friend and Minutemen bandmate who died in a van accident in 1985.

References:

-We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen, an ESSENTIAL and super fun documentary that's a great intro to Watt and the Minutemen

-Bloomsday in James Joyce's Ulysses

Visit Mike Watt's hoot page, the online home of all things Watt. And listen to his internet radio show, "The Watt from Pedro Show."

Follow me on IG, and support the show at patreon.com/davemaher. This was a long convo that doesn't fit a single episode, and you can hear another episode's worth of bonus content by pledging on Patreon.

And sign up for my weekly zine, Hella Immaculate, at thisisdavemaher.com.

This Is Your Afterlife, Annie Donley

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Annie Donley is Top 3 Funniest Living Comedians, period. If you don't know her, I'm excited for this to be your introduction. She gets chaotic talking about pulling her ass and tits out at comedy shows, and within 20 minutes she's describing the physical experience of motherly love. We also talk about the need to perform after becoming a mother and the possibility of her son listening to this episode years from now and hearing himself as a baby yelling in the background. Enjoy, and love Annie as much as I do!

References:

-Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss

-Britney Spears, "Work Bitch"

-Annie's videos

The Pete Buttigieg triptych we reference at the end of the episode, starring her actual child:

Her seminar for Mens Rights Activists to reclaim their power in the age of #MeToo:

Chris Gethard Presents 310: "UNCANCELLED" with Annie Donley

Follow Annie on IG and Twitter.

Follow me on IG, and support the show at patreon.com/davemaher to get bonus content.

Donate to the Love Train for this week's fundraiser. If you do, let me know at thisisdavemaher@gmail.com, and I'll announce the total we raise in my newsletter.

This Is Your Afterlife, Bettina Johnson

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Liberation Library co-founder Bettina Johnson's intelligence, humility, curiosity, and just straight-up care for people infuses this episode. Her thoughts about the afterlife steer clear of the fantastical/metaphysical to focus on how she's leaving the world for future generations. Bettina is cool as hell, and this episode is blunt and empowering.

References:

-Cruddy: An Illustrated Novel by Lynda Barry

-The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

Follow Liberation Library on IG and Twitter, and donate in this week's fundraiser!

Follow me on IG, and support the show at patreon.com/davemaher to get bonus content.

Angel Bat Dawid's Animal Spirit Reading

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Enjoy this bonus episode featuring Angel Bat Dawid's reading from the Wild Unknown Animal Spirit deck. Angel pulled the Panther and interpreted it herself before I even read from the guidebook!

This is a segment I'll be releasing every week on Patreon at patreon.com/davemaher. Listeners and patrons make this show possible, thank you!!

This Is Your Afterlife, Angel Bat Dawid

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Angel Bat Dawid ("2019's brightest new jazz star" –The Guardian) is incredible: a clarinetist, composer, leader of multiple bands, spiritual space jazz conduit, and maker of Great Black Music. Hear her OWN St. Peter at the pearly gates and talk about the magical school concert at a zoo that foreshadowed the rest of her life, plus so-so-so-so much more.

Angel's the first artist I've reached outside my immediate circle to talk to on this podcast, and she is as perfect a guest as I knew she'd be.

Listen to her funky, ethereal album The Oracle and MESSAGE FROM THE DAOUI, her new collaborative album with beat maker Oui Ennui. And follow her on Instagram (@angeltheoracle) to keep up with the constant stream of new work she's doing all the time.

References in this episode:

-Angel's "Transition East" single

-Sun Ra, Space Is the Place (movie)

-Elgar's "Enigma Variations"

-"PEACE: A Suite for Skylanding a Mended Petal Odyssey," Angel's composition responding to Yoko Ono's "Sky Landing" sculpture

Follow me on IG, and SUPPORT MY NEW PATREON at patreon.com/davemaher for bonus content from this and other episodes of This Is Your Afterlife.

This Is Your Afterlife, Joz Norris

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Joz Norris (2019 Edinburgh Fringe Comedians' Choice Award, Best Show) dives into meaning-of-life talk right away in this episode. He also has detailed thoughts about friendship, ghosts, and courgettes (American zucchini). Joz is one of my new favorite comedians, and he's as silly, thoughtful, and sincere in this conversation as he is in his act.

Download and watch the film of Joz's great new show: You Build the Thing You Think You Are

Follow Joz on IG (@joznorris) and Twitter (also @JozNorris).

Follow me on IG, Twitter, and sign up for my newsletter, Hella Immaculate!

This Is Your Afterlife, Kimberly Michelle Vaughn

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Kimberly Michelle Vaughn (Second City) goes HAM on me as St. Peter, multiple times, in this episode. She demands to be reincarnated as a Solange BUT NOT ANY KIND OF BIRD OR PLANE. And we bond over missing our toxic pasts spent high and listening to The Weeknd.

Kimberly is wild and so fun throughout our conversation, even when it takes a turn for the vulnerable and dark (heads up, there's a story about an abortion). I'm grateful she went to the places she did. Kimberly contains multitudes, and so does this episode.

Follow Kimberly on IG: @suburbanblckgrl

Follow me on IG, Twitter, and sign up for my newsletter, Hella Immaculate!

This Is Your Afterlife, Kyra Jones

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Kyra Jones (The Right Swipe) wants strippers, or at least pole dancers, at her funeral! She talks about the artistic heroes she's met on earth (Donald Glover/Childish Gambino), the ones she'd want to meet in heaven (Prince, Hendrix), and we talk about the lessons of Chadwick Boseman's legacy.

Follow Kyra on IG: @kyra.a.jones. Watch her series, The Right Swipe. And support the new film she's making, Go to the Body, at its GoFundMe page.

Follow me on IG, Twitter, and sign up for my newsletter, Hella Immaculate!

This Is Your Afterlife, Max Thomas

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Max Thomas (stand-up, improv group PREACH!, organizer with BYP100) wants a full-on roast and an open casket at his funeral, and a sort of roast in a psych ward as a kid changed his life.

Follow Max on IG: @searchingformax and Twitter: @VoodooChild9593

Follow BYP100! on Instagram and Twitter

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This Is Your Afterlife, Jasmine Henri Jordan

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Jasmine Henri Jordan (Neo-Futurists) loves a party so much she wants to plan them in her afterlife, as long as she doesn't have to plan her own. She tells me about the Hobbit Day she would choose to relive over and over again, thinking she was grieving college when she just needed glasses, and poses the question, "If you hate astrology, do you also hate queer people?" Invite your enemies, just like Jasmine would to her funeral, and enjoy this episode!

Follow Jasmine on IG: @live.laugh.blood

Follow me on IG, Twitter, and sign up for my newsletter, Hella Immaculate!

This Is Your Afterlife, Gary Richardson

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 05:00:00 -0400

You gotta live your life to make sure you have enough pallbearers at your funeral. Gary Richardson (SNL, Shrill, High Maintenance) drops gems like this and hella jokes in this conversation. He talks about becoming a more authentic version of himself after moving to New York, how much he hates "shoes off" culture, and the ear-opening experience of hearing definitively white karaoke songs.

Watch Gary's short film, "Places, Thank You Places," here.

Follow me on IG, Twitter, and sign up for my newsletter, Hella Immaculate!

This Is Your Afterlife, Angela Oliver

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Angela Oliver (actor, writer, teaching artist, Annoyance Theatre homie) DOES NOT want her ashes turned into a diamond, and she wants Kirk Franklin and God's Property to play her funeral. We talk about her museum vision of the afterlife, the scourge of grind culture, and I implore her to teach me "how to do the deserving thing."

Follow Angela on Instagram!

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Notes:

Angela's Medium essay, "Systemic Racism in Chicago Improv Scene: One Black Woman’s Experience"

The painter of President Obama's National Portrait Gallery portrait is Kehinde Wiley!

The Nap Ministry!!

This Is Your Afterlife, Derry Queen

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 05:03:00 -0400

Derry Queen (Derry Queen's Big Queer Variety Show, her devil video on TikTok) wants a panini bar and potatoes every way at her funeral reception. There was a single dude who made her realize she was gay in college. And the memory she'd choose to relive again and again involves a "Phantom of the Opera" lip sync.

Follow Derry Queen on Twitter and Instagram!

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This Is Your Afterlife, Andrew Sa

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 05:02:00 -0400

Songwriter and otherworldly-beautiful-voiced singer Andrew Sa (Cosmic Country Showcase) and I (Dave, host of the show!) DOES NOT WANT HIS OWN MUSIC PLAYED AT HIS FUNERAL! He's down with being put into one of those human seed pods that grows a tree, but I think those are creepy and I'm not having it. The memory he'd choose to relive is relaxing and surreal, and I feel like this episode would honestly be great to listen to in the bath.

Follow Andrew and find out about his upcoming (live-streamed!) shows on Instagram.

Follow me on IG, Twitter, and sign up for my newsletter, Hella Immaculate!

This Is Your Afterlife, Jake Noll

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 05:01:00 -0400

Jake Noll (Chicago Reader Best Stand-Up Comic 2019 and STILL REIGNING) tells me (Dave, host) portions of their coming out story that get smoothed down in the narrative they tell most people. We also talk reincarnation, G2 Gatorade (ripoff), and second date energy.

Follow Jake on Twitter and Instagram!

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This Is Your Afterlife, Shantira Jackson

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Shantira Jackson ("Busy Tonight" & "Saved by the Bell" reboot writer, Second City Mainstage writer/performer) talks to me (Dave, the host of the show) about the "Actual Afterlives" live show that gave birth both to her "Black Heaven" sketch and this podcast. You'll hear the absurd reason a woman requested a refund for the Second City show, Shantira's obsession with the "bench dance" on "So You Think You Can Dance," and how performing on a cruise ship led her to sell a bunch of her Banana Republic clothes.

Follow Shantira on Twitter and Instagram!

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This Is Your Afterlife - Trailer!

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 16:00:00 -0400

Want to laugh while contemplating your own mortality? Get a glimpse of the conversations comedian Dave Maher has with artists and activists about death, their lives, and the afterlife on This Is Your Afterlife.