Sleeping with Celebrities

Chris Duffy is a writer, extremely funny comedian, and host of the TED podcast How To Be a Better Human. He’s also a former contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? (answer: well, we all do, of course) where a producer asked what he would do if he won the titular million bucks and Chris said he would buy a lifetime supply of new socks. That’s a bad answer, the producer said, but Chris stands by it. He loves the feel of new socks quite a bit and has many thoughts on sock selection based on length...

You know Tamara Keith as NPR’s Senior White House Correspondent and as one of the hosts of the NPR Politics Podcast. You can count on her to deliver up-to-the-minute news and analysis on the most dramatic beat in journalism, even if it’s news that you may find very alarming. But there’s nothing alarming or upsetting about Tamara’s thoughts on the vast and delicious world of pies, it’s all very pleasant. She tells about making her favorite cherry pie and the pecan pie served at the secret White House basement Christmas party. Tamara’s job forbids her...

Comedian, actor, and author Tamara Yajia has a new book Cry for Me, Argentina: My Life as a Failed Child Star that doesn’t spend all that much time on the subject of charcuterie boards. But that’s what our discussion is for. Learn about Tamara’s grandfather’s extensive and somewhat emotionally charged boards and how they inspired her to make vast boards of her own, first in England and then in America. Learn also about how Brad Pitt became such a fan of Tamara’s charcuterie-informed podcast that he invited her over to his place for... charcuterie. Truth be to...

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, cultural critic, and author of numerous books, including They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, A Little Devil in America, and There’s Always This Year. He’s very passionate about music, as is evidenced in his massive collection, purchased online and at concert venues, of concert t-shirts, band sweatshirts, and other vintage apparel linked to various artists. Hanif walks us through his criteria for selecting which shirts to buy as well as what will determine the coming culling of his collection down to a more manageable 70. He also details the white whale tha...

If you love history, you already know about the lovely podcast The Memory Palace, which celebrates the quirky and intriguing elements of stuff that has happened. If you haven’t heard it, go listen. But first, hear honey-voiced host Nate DiMeo explain his complex and impassioned opinions on team names, logos, the nefarious nature of image consultants, and Utah somehow being known for Jazz.

Get your copy of The Memory Palace book wherever books are sold. Listen to and learn more about Nate and The Memory Palace by visiting www.thememorypalace.us.

Go to www.max...

Nobody knows pop culture better than Linda Holmes, one of the hosts of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, and culture doesn’t get much more pop than the nineties teen prime time soap Beverly Hills, 90210. Let Linda guide you to sleep while she introduces you to Brandon, Brenda, Kelly, Steve, Donna, and even Scott, who we frankly didn’t even know existed until Linda told us about him. We also challenge Linda to tell us, in the calmest and most soothing way possible, about the car bomb that killed Dylan’s dad. Linda Holmes has the honor of being the...

There are many places to acquire food and household items in the greater Los Angeles area. You could go to Costco, you could go to Ralphs, you could even swing by 99 Ranch. Or if you listen to this episode with the delightful Sierra Katow, you could visit all these places and let Sierra do the driving while you zonk off to sleep, sated with the audio equivalent of free samples of tasty snacks. You might have seen Sierra on Sex Lives of College Girls or Last Comic Standing or perhaps you’ve heard her as one of the hosts of Max...

Roxane Gay is one of the greatest writers in the world today. Everyone knows this. We’re so thrilled that she agreed to be on our show. Roxane is the author of books like Bad Feminist and Hunger, writes for the New York Times, is a respected social critic and noted professor. All this means that she travels a lot and she joins us, using a very soothing voice, to share her opinions on air travel. Hear about her favorite airports, such as Indianapolis, and her least favorite airports, like JFK in New York. We even get some book recom...

Allan McLeod is an actor who has appeared on Parks & Recreation and You’re the Worst. He’s a podcaster who appears regularly as host on Walkin’ About, here on Maximum Fun. And, for our purposes on this episode, he’s a camper, who appears pretty often at campgrounds around California. Allan walks us through his incredibly detailed and quite lengthy packing list that he uses whenever he and his family take off for the great outdoors and he discusses some tips and tricks for making your camping adventure a wonderful experience. Drift off to sleep as you listen to Allan...

Whether you know her from the phenomenally popular YouTube channel Philosophy Tube or from her acting appearances in House of the Dragon or The Acolyte, chances are Abigail Thorn was dry when you saw her and above the surface of the water. Just know that this is not where she prefers to be. Abigail is a scuba diver and is here to send you to sleep by telling you all about her pastoral adventures had while wearing a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. She made friends with an octopus.

Watch Abigail's video essays on her Youtube channel, Philosophy Tub...

Queen Priyanka is many things: singer, drag queen, Canadian television personality. But today we talk about her role as dog owner and keen observer of the quirks and personality facets of other dog owners, specifically the kind of dog owner that can be characterized as “crazy-ass dog owner.” If you like dogs, are fascinated by the eclectic habits of their owners, or just enjoy hearing conversation with a charming and vivacious human being, you will drift off to sleep with a smile on your face.

Listen to Queen Priyanka's album, DEVASTATIA, on the music streaming service of your...

Being the CEO of Maximum Fun is not as glamorous as you might expect. In fact, it involves a lot of running reports. That’s what we found out from Bikram Chatterji in our latest and final installment of our Naps with Normies series. Tune in and drift off for a quick snooze while the big boss of the whole shebang reveals how shockingly normal his work really is.

It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www.maximumfun.org/join and select Sleeping with Celebrities to support our show.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone wh...

You’ve heard of the Max Fun Drive. Perhaps you’ve heard us mention it eight billion times. We have to. It’s how we are able to exist. The person who runs the whole drive is April and while she won’t extoll you to donate during this edition of Naps with Normies, she will tell you all about all the spreadsheets and reports she has to run. Just a constant sea of precise low-key work to be done.

It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www.maximumfun.org/join and select Sleeping with Celebrities to support...

You’ve likely seen some of the famous pictures of former astronaut and NFL player Leland Melvin with his two beloved and boisterous dogs, Jake and Scout, Leland is wearing a space suit, the dogs are showering him with affection. It’s really wonderful. Leland, WHO HAS BEEN TO SPACE, tells us all about the dogs he’s had, what it’s like to orbit the earth, and he goes into a lot of detail about his lifelong hobby of converting trucks into campers. Leland is just the most delightful guy and you will love going to sleep with his voic...

Danny Baruela is responsible for you being able to hear your favorite shows at Maximum Fun, serving as the company’s Technology and Data Specialist. Unlike many people who we have as guests, he’s not a celebrity. Has no movie to promote nor album to plug. He’s a normie, with tasks to perform, a life to live, and a great deal of complicated computer things to keep track of. Get to know Danny as you settle in for a nap. With a normie.

It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www.maximumfun.org/join and select...

When you become a member of Maximum Fun at even the $5/month level, you get access to our entire library of Bonus Content, including this year’s Sleeping with Celebrities special: The Celebrity Parade of Dreams Supershow. We asked guests from the last year of the show to tell us their weirdest and funniest dreams to lay the groundwork for dream of your own. Here, for FREE, is a little preview of that episode to give you a taste, featuring Jenny Lawson, Josh Gondelman, Blaine Capatch, and Nate Corddry.

It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www.ma...

Laura Swisher, also known as Swish, is a senior producer at Maximum Fun, overseeing several shows, including ours. Unlike many people who we have as guests, she’s not a celebrity. Has no movie to promote nor album to plug. She’s a normie, with tasks to perform, a life to live, and so many dogs to sit. Get to know Swish as you settle in for a nap. With a normie.

It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www.maximumfun.org/join and select Sleeping with Celebrities to support our show.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is t...

During the Max Fun Drive, we’re offering you special mini-sodes in our regular feed. In this one, host John Moe tells of fostering a rescue dog named Ducky who is really moved by being allowed up on the couch. So much so that he builds a vast network of used and donated couches for dogs to lie down and relax on. It’s a really impressive business model, especially for a rescue Pomeranian.

It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www.maximumfun.org/join and select Sleeping with Celebrities to support our show.

Hey Slee...

Certain movies would have you believe the dogs can play football but I think we all agree iguanas shouldn’t. They’re too delicate. They can, however, form eclectic musical ensembles and play mid-tempo music on bugle, triangle, oboe, and woodblock. This is the story of one band that did just that and was much beloved by a local football team, especially number 75.

It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www.maximumfun.org/join and select Sleeping with Celebrities to support our show.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift...

For many people, Steve Inskeep is a voice you hear in the morning on NPR in intermittent bursts, sometimes telling you about alarming news. We switch that around with Steve, bringing him to you for a bedtime appearance and speaking at length about things that are benign or even pleasant. Steve discusses the state of Indiana, Abraham Lincoln, the processes of the Library of Congress, and how to make your boyhood friends upset by calling a high school football game without favor or bias. Let his dulcet NPR tones send you off to sleep.

It's the Max...

Obviously, Seattle has a rich and vibrant wizard scene. We all know this. Well, one day, one of the wizards turned a tugboat named Louie into a human being and Louie decided to do one of the most Seattle things possible: open a teriyaki restaurant. He was really good at it. The meat was not too soggy but not burnt, the glaze was sweet and just a little salty, the cursory salad was fine. And after a while, Louie had thoughts of expanding to new locations but then didn’t.

It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to ww...

During the Max Fun Drive, we’re offering you special mini-sodes in our regular feed. In this one, host John Moe tells one of his improvised and semi-drowsy bedtime stories. It’s about an onionman named Ed, who opens the shop of his dreams, selling all 21 types of onions. But in the effort to market his shop, he finds a love even greater than onions: dancing. Tune in and drift off to sleep as Ed leaves his vidalias behind to trip the light fantastic.

It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www.maximumfun.org/join and select Slee...

You may know actress and comedian Mary Holland from the new movie Nightbitch or from TV shows like Veep, Bob’s Burgers, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Or you might know her from literally hundreds of escape rooms around the country, where she absolutely loves solving puzzles, cracking codes, and figuring out how to escape the room. And then she goes right back into another room and has to escape from that one too and the process continues. Hear all about escape rooms and the triumphant, satisfying feeling of escaping them as you drift off to sleep.

Samantha Irby, best-selling author of several hilarious books of essays, is one of the funniest and most delightful people you’re likely to come across. In this episode, we talk about all the things she likes to buy as well as the things she avoids on a routine trip to her local drugstore. We even comb through some of the newspaper circulars for her favorite store to see what she would like to toss in her cart and what she’d leave on the shelf. Look, there aren’t any shocking revelations here, no huge reveals, just a very friend...

Is it weird for a grown man to own lots and lots and lots of Cabbage Patch Kids? No. No, it is not. Therefore, comedian Mike O’Connell, who has amassed an adorable army of the pretend children that dominate his southern California home, is not a weird person. He is instead a person who thinks that to love something nice and sweet is a nice and sweet thing to do. Join Mike and drift off to a very cute sleep as he outlines his collection.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to d...

You might know Anna Sale as the host of Slate’s podcast Death, Sex, and Money, which digs deep into topics that a lot of people would rather avoid. If you attended Camp Alleghany in West Virginia, you might know Anna as one of the many campers, spending idyllic summer days and nights having wholesome fun in the great outdoors. At the request of our listener Beth, who wanted to hear Anna’s voice on our show, Anna fills us in on all the warm camaraderie as well as the good-natured fierce competition that factor so heavily into the summe...

You might know our guests, Mallory O’Meara and Brea Grant, from their podcast Reading Glasses, their new podcast Reading Smut (debuting on Valentine’s Day), or from their overloaded physical and digital bookshelves that groan to support all that literary knowledge. Brea and Mallory share with us, in tones dulcet and sleep-inducing, how to sort through all those books and how to employ a spreadsheet database to keep track of all you’ve read and what you thought about it.

Review, listen, and subscribe to Reading Glasses on the podcatcher of your choice. This Valentine's Day, listen...

We wanted to be ready for the Super Bowl so we called up NFL veteran punter Chris Kluwe for a lesson on all that goes into punting the ball to the other team. How much goes into punting? Turns out A LOT. Chris, who is a published author and game designer as well, guides us through each minute step of the punting process (and there are maybe, conservatively, a zillion steps) in enough detail to easily zonk you out to sleep. It’s NFL football but without any of the violence or thrills that might conspire you to keep yo...

Comedian, podcaster, author, and all-around delightful celebrity Jamie Loftus is in the process of rediscovering her love of NeoPets. She values the lessons they taught her about the stock market, war preparation, and the complexities of a capital-driven economy. She also likes that the electronic pets are impossible to kill. It’s true, all you can do is completely, devastatingly bum them out. Listen to Jamie as she grapples with the liminal zones between pets, NeoPets, wake, and sleep. Then sleep.

Listen to Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) and The Bechdel Cast, as well as Jamie Loftus's various podc...

You might know the actor Langston Kerman from his roles on the television shows English Teacher, Insecure, and The Boys. You might know him also from lengthy board game nights at his house where explaining and comprehending the arcane, byzantine rules of a game is a necessary labor of the occasion. Langston, fortunately, knows all the rules to games like Villainous and Scythe and will happily explain them to you in a calm and reassuring voice that will send you off to sleep without ever having to roll dice or draw a card. And that makes you a winner.<...

Jonathan Ames is the author of numerous acclaimed and popular books, including the brand new detective novel Karma Doll. He’s also a television creator, having come up with the series Bored to Death, wherein Jason Schwarzman played a detective named Jonathan Ames. When he’s not writing, Jonathan, the real Jonathan, not the character, enjoys a comfortable soak in the Russian bathhouses of New York and Los Angeles and, using his smooth and sonorous voice, is here to tell you about all that as well as the heat, the cold, and the importance of the towel as you drift...

You might know comedian and actor Jon Gabrus from shows like Guy Code, What We Do in the Shadows, or Drunk History or from podcasts like Action Boyz or The Gino Lombardo Show. Perhaps you know him from meals like breakfast, where he has very particular thoughts on breakfast sandwiches. He’ll teach you how to order a proper New York bodega breakfast sandwich by asking for a BEC with SPK and he’ll explain what that means. You will sleep well tonight although you may be hungry in the morning.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice...

Amy Tan, Alan Tudyk, Stephen Tobolowsky, Marsha Warfield, Open Mike Eagle, Janie Haddad and Paul F. Tompkins, and more are ready to knock you out. To sleep, that is.

It’s very counterintuitive, appearing on Sleeping with Celebrities. Most shows ask the guest to be energetic, effervescent, and fascinating. We want none of that. We want detailed discussion of a topic that the guest knows a lot about but that the listener will not be captivated by, all for the purpose of putting said listener to sleep. In this star-studded 100th episode special, we recall some guests wh...

Blaine Capatch is your favorite comedian’s favorite comedian, a top comedic mind known for his sharp writing and expert delivery. And as much as those comics are fans of his, he, Blaine, is a fan of family style restaurants. Oh man, he just loves them. Your IHOPs, your Cracker Barrels, and especially your Waffle Houses. He talks us through some of the top eateries around the country, why he loves them so dang much, and why Waffle House is leaving billions of dollars on the table by not opening a restaurant in Los Angeles.

Follow Blaine Ca...

Jenny Yang has a headlining spot in comedy clubs everywhere, a master’s degree in urban planning, and a penchant for piling her kitchen countertops high with a variety of devices and appliances. Egg cookers? She’ll tell you about that. Grapefruit spoons? Jenny has thoughts. Microplanes? Oh yeah, that’s covered. Hear about a million kitchen doohickeys and gizmos as you drift off to sleep, hopefully not in the kitchen.

Learn more about Jenny Yang and her comedy by going to www.JennyYang.tv.

Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to...

Beloved comedian, writer, and podcaster Ophira Eisenberg has lived in many places, several of which were part of provinces. That’s because she’s from Canada, which is a little like America but with more healthcare, hockey, and moose. Ophira illuminates us on the correct pronunciations of many major Canadian cities and provides valuable insight into the parka-clad lives of the folks who call Canada home. Let her send you off to the sleep just as calmly as the call of the loon or with the sudden power of a puck to the head.

Listen to beluga whal...

Before taking the stage as a very popular and acclaimed standup comic, Billy Wayne Davis was a squatting catcher. Billy Wayne played at a high level behind the plate in college baseball and can still describe the intricacies behind helping pitchers get to a calm and relaxed place. Perhaps you will find his voice does the same to you. Plus you have the advantage of not having to throw a baseball at all, which is a good thing you have going for you.

Watch Billy Wayne Davis's stand-up comedy special Testify on Youtube. For tour dates and m...

Novelist Amy Tan is well known as the best-selling universally acclaimed author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, and many more important works. In her backyard, among the hundreds of visiting birds, she is known as The Lady Who Builds Birdfeeders. Hear about the ongoing turmoil of Amy’s homemade feeders, the charming hummingbirds, the pesky squirrels and rude scrub jays, and the plight of her very small dog who tries to make sense of everything. Then settle into your nest for the night and fall gently asleep.

Purchase your copy...

He’s also pretty enamored of George Carlin, Mel Brooks, Helen Hunt, and his new comedy special, Life, Death & Rice Pudding. The veteran actor and comedian is just as charming and funny as ever as he regales us with his philosophy on travel and, especially, packing for travel. Let him lull you to sleep with his wonderful stories and knowledge on how to pack underwear.

Watch the movie The Problem With People, starring and co-written by Paul Reiser, on the streaming service of your choice. Paul's latest standup special, Life, Death & Rice Pudding, is available for streaming on A...

Andrew Ti is a big fan of poker and says the whole thing about everyone having a “tell” is a little overstated. To win at the game, even for the comparatively small amounts he favors, it is less about scrutinizing someone’s behavior than it is about memorizing probability charts enough to know what is most likely to happen in a given scenario. Andrew has a pleasant time playing poker and while he’s not getting rich off it, he’s not losing his shirt either. He still has a shirt. Pull up to his table and get ready for sleep...