Dystopia Tonight With John Poveromo

Day 202 - Kris Perry - Executive Director of Children and Screens

I truly love guests like Kris Perry. Not that I’m picking favorites here but when you get the chance to speak with someone who’s as wildly intelligent and as passionate about a subject as Kris is you jump at the opportunity to have them on your show. I mean…first get a show. Then jump. You get it.

 

Kris Perry is the former advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom of California and Deputy Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency where she led the development of the California Master Plan for Early Learning and Care and the expansion of access to high-quality early childhood programs.

 

She is now the executive director of Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development! She joins me to discuss just that. It’s a really great talk and I learned a lot from having her on. Enjoy guys!

Day 201 - Jonathan Katz - The Dr. is REAL in.

Dr Katz joins us on Dystopia Tonight for one of my favorite eps of the year as he truly makes himself at home in the world of Dystopia. Answering questions that were never asked, getting us to admit to things we shouldn’t, contemplating the uncomtemplateable, while every so often giving a straight but hilarious answer to something I’m not sure I ever said and always regardless of context being insightful. This one was fun and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

Day 200 - Rita Rudner - ”Adding Something Pink”

As if it would come as as some sort of surprise, we had an absolute blast with Rita Rudner on Dystopia Tonight! Hilarious, charming, and chock full of amazing stories which she shares from her new book that can be found here https://www.ritarudner.com/

 

We discuss her beginnings on Broadway, her road to comedy, family life, meeting her husband, how Rodney Dangerfield helped her career and became a friend, working with Paul Reiser, Bill Maher passing her at Catch A Rising Star, how comedy has changed for better or worse over the years, her positive outlook on life, her new book, love of dogs, and more! Enjoy!

Day 199 - Maurice LaMarche and The Healing Art Of Laughter

Maurice LaMarche joins us on Dystopia tonight to discuss his beginning as a stand-up comic, opening for Rodney Dangerfield on the road, his early influences, The Comedy Store, YukYuks, his thoughts on the ever changing comedy scene, how he dealt with the lockdowns creatively, his incredible career as a voice actor, and his most notable roles on Animaniacs as Brain of Pinky and the Brain, and the myriad of voices he's done on Futurama (one of my favs being Morbo!) How he copes when he's down, his possible return to stand-up, love for John Cleese and more!! Enjoy guys this one is one of my favorites!

Day 198 - Mel Draisey

Mel Draisey joins us on Dystopia Tonight from across the pond to talk about her incredible career in music, her unique style of improvisational performing, entertaining folks in the hospital who are going through a wide range of afflictions, her time with The Clientele, playing different Instruments, finding the confidence in her voice as a vocalist, how she spent her time creatively during the pandemic and more! Enjoy!

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!