Dystopia Tonight With John Poveromo

Day 197 - Social Autopsy with Christian Finnegan

Christian Finnegan is one of my favorite comics and always a blast to talk to. He’s got an incredible comedy special out on Amazon Prime called “Show Your Work.” We cover everything here from his humble beginnings in comedy, crafting new material, the trials and tribulations of social media, deconstructing the world around you, his VH1 appearances, navigating show business, QED, the state of the world, hanging with the outcasts growing up, and more! Enjoy!

Day 196 - Natalya Kay - In A Fiddler’s House All Are Dancers

Natalya Kay joins us on Dystopia tonight for her very first podcast! She’s an extremely talented musician and vocalist who is currently touring with the Irish rock band Gaelic Storm as their resident Fiddler. We discuss her influences in music, what brought her to the fiddle, her time spent in the corporate world, how she became part of Gaelic Storm and her experiences on the road as a full time touring musician, homeschooling, how she manages to keep sane with social media’s ever expanding landscape, her downtime, dating another musician, living in Nashville and more. Enjoy guys!

Day 195 - Dan Pasternack - The World’s Youngest Old Jew

Dan Pasternack, wildly successful producer, comedy writer, stand-up, comedy historian, documentarian and interviewer, joins us on Dystopia Tonight and comes fully loaded with stories of opening for George Carlin, befriending and working with Mel Blanc, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Dick Van Dyke, going to school with the children of Carol Burnett, Don Rickles and good god more, so much more. Enjoy guys!

Day 194 - The Return of Frank Turner - Almost 50 States

Frank Turner Returns to Dystopia Tonight to talk his 50 state tour, the struggles of coming out of covid, we have some fun with Skymall, Frank gives us his thoughts on the Star Wars Franchise, IHOP, Waffle House and Stranger Things. We also talk about his writing process, touring with The Counting Crows and how they were one of his early inspirations, his fans and the community they’ve developed over the years seeing him play, the American v UK perspective and more. Enjoy guys!

Day 193 - Accommodating The ”No” with Tal Bachman

Had a truly amazing conversation with Tal Bachman. We got to dig into his musical past and upbringing with his father, Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, his trepidation towards entering into the music business, touring, being a solo act, loving his band mates, collaborating with his dad on a new album, and we got to dive deep into the trappings of the Mormon religion, how that affected his friendships and family life, and how he deals with it to this day moving forward. We also have fun discussing comedy, his hit song from 1999 “She’s So High” and how it still resonates with fans around the world, and more. Enjoy guys!

Day 192 - Ed Sheeran’s A Dick w/ Alec Chambers

Alec Chambers joins us for a great conversation about his rising TikTok stardom, playing Family Feud live with his fans, and of course his rising new single “Ed Sheeran’s a Dick” which we get into in full detail as well as some deep talks about anxiety, depression, dealing with self doubt, rising above it and laughing through it all. Enjoy guys it’s a fun one!

Day 191 - Jo(h)n The Double w/ Jonathan Russel of The Head And The Heart

Jonathan Russell, lead singer of The Head And The Heart joins me on Dystopia Tonight to talk about the ups and downs of the music industry, how not being able to tour during the pandemic fundamentally changed his perspective, sacrificing family for drive, centering himself and becoming better at managing personal and family time between his career and creativity, getting older, our diets, skinny jeans, and his beginnings as a musician and his new album Every Shade Of Blue. Enjoy!

Day 190 - Michael Bonfiglio - George Carlin’s American Dream

Had an absolute blast talking to Michael Bonfiglio on this episode of Dystopia Tonight! We talked about his creative beginnings, what drove him into film making, his passion for storytelling and how he chooses to look at his subjects to make an honest story about their lives, working with Judd Apatow on May It Last: a Portrait of the Avett Brothers which one awards at SXSW, his turn as producer on the Gary Shandling Documentary and as of recently the Emmy Award Winning Documentary he co-directed with Judd, “George Carlin’s American Dream.” Enjoy!

Day 189 - Graham Parker ”A Fabulous Bump for a Number of Years”

The man the myth the legend, Graham Parker joins us on Dystopia Tonight to talk about Humans Are The Mutant Virus, the re-release of Another Grey Area, the current but unfortunate relevance of his controversial women’s rights song “Coat Hangers” the current state of the world, his humble beginnings touring with his band The Rumor, reuniting with them and landing top billing on the Judd Apatow Film, “This Is 40” giving advice to Billie Joe Armstrong about moving to England and much more! Enjoy guys!

Day 188 - Being The King of ”Not Cool” with Melvin George

Melvin George is one of the nicest, funniest, most professional comedians I ever had the pleasure of working with as a young comic. As he says on Dystopia Tonight he’s all about energy. He’ll click with you if you’re energy is good. And we clicked! But I have to say it’s almost impossible to not have good energy around Melvin.

 

We talk about how he got started, getting pulled over going to gigs, traveling to other countries, opening for some of the biggest acts in the music industry, his contemporaries, and the comedy buddies he hung around with back in the day, his turn to focus on his wife’s baking business during covid, the Amazon Prime documentary, his Dry Bar Comedy Special and More! Enjoy!