Wits ® Apm Podcasts

In this week's show, comedian and actor Patton Oswalt and host John Moe are John Oates and Daryl Hall: Animal Control Officers in our "Maneater" Pop Song Correspondence. Singer-songwriter Ben Lee squares off with Patton in our Wits Game Show, and we've got another Charlie Brown story; in this latest installment, featuring John Moe, Patton Oswalt and actress Ione Skye, Linus quits his blanket cold turkey and has a spiritual epiphany.

This week, comedian, actor and author Michael Ian Black joins Cop Squadron, indie-pop powerhouse singer/songwriter A.C. Newman writes a very catchy theme song for the canceled show "Mr. Nebulous," and we hear where babies really come from. Really.

On this week's episode, comedian Tig Notaro goes up against singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards in our Wits game show, Bruce Springsteen warns about what happens when you blow up the Chickenman's house, and we get updates from our favorite publications, like Older Brother Magazine and Tiger Beat for Seniors.

As a regular panelist on Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me!, comedian Paula Poundstone is perfectly positioned to compete on this week’s Wits Game Show: The Game Show Game Show. Paula explains the rules of fictitious games while one of the godfathers of alternative rock, Robyn Hitchcock, creates the pretend game show’s theme songs. Robyn also plays songs from his latest album, Love from London, and we hear an urgent plea from the big coat in the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hit, "Thrift Shop."

In this episode of Wits, punk rock icon Henry Rollins tells us why he wants to be in a constant state of agitation, Lissie bewitches us all with her songs, and the two compete in our Wits game show.

On this week's Wits, a look inside the brains of some of our favorite funny authors. We join writers Patton Oswalt, John Hodgman, Neil Gaiman and Julia Sweeney for discussions of grandmothers, Beatles, wine, sex, and Dungeons and Dragons. Plus, music from singer-songwriter-authors (yep, double hyphenates) Josh Ritter and John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

This week on Wits, we visit with comedian, actor and longtime comedy partner of Conan O'Brien, Andy Richter, as well as internationally renowned vocalist/beatboxer/comic Reggie Watts. Check out the next big hit TV show Mummytown, hear letters from the Civil War soldiers long forgotten - the animal regiments, and learn why Elton John gets fired by NASA in our Pop Song Correspondence.

This week, Tim Meadows, one of the longest-running cast members in Saturday Night Live history goes up against singer/songwriter and Old 97's front man Rhett Miller in our Wits game show, Funnier and Poignanter. Who will win? It's a nail-biter. You'll also be able to hear Rhett's powerful hip-swivel on all the rocky-roll songs he plays, and you'll get a letter from Axl Rose's editor in this week's Pop Song Correspondences.

This week's show features best-selling author and actor Amy Sedaris along with Grammy award-winning They Might Be Giants. We hear what went on behind the scenes when the founding fathers were writing the Declaration of Independence, we hear from the schoolmaster at the school referenced in Pink Floyd's The Wall, and we get a little insight about what would happen if Winnie the Pooh took an office job.

A special studio version of Wits this time around, an intimate setting, a show NOT available to radio listeners. We visit with comedian James Adomian about his eclectic choice of impressions, particularly former pro wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura. Also, a chat with Grant Lee Phillips, a Wits alumnus, about the new music he's been making.

Rhett Miller is a singer-songwriter and front man of the Old 97's and a friend of the show. He stops by to talk about how touring with the same batch of guys is way different in your 40s than in your 20s. He also plays a song that's all about a daydream of romance wherein his heart gets crushed. We listen back to Rhett's appearance in the Wits game show from March of 2012. It is both hilarious and bittersweet. And we get a visit from Jan the custodian.

It's a comedy interview DOUBLE SHOT! First up, Maria Bamford. She's one of the biggest and easily one of the funniest comedians working today. Maria has appeared on The Comedians of Comedy tour, Louie, and in somewhat unsettling Christmas commercials for Target. We climb inside Maria's head in a revealing interview. Hannibal Buress recently starred in the Comedy Central special, Hannibal Buress: Animal Furnace, and is a former writer for SNL and 30 Rock.

On this week's program, we get a haunting visit from the ghost that haunts the Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul. If you listen closely, you can almost hear him attempt to do standup comedy. Also, a look inside Mitt Romney's tax returns. Yes! In the wake of his electoral defeat, he has released them only to us. What? Why wouldn't he? And a chat with Julia Sweeney about how Wits -- yes, this very program -- led her to reassess her literary career and her daughter's taste for fame.

This week, host John Moe chats with songwriter John Roderick. He's the lead singer and guitarist in The Long Winters, and the co-host of the podcast Roderick on the Line. Roderick has been tweeting about the connection between nuclear war and '80s movies and music and our apparent nationwide insistence that the town we are in would be the first one hit. We also hear Roderick perform his song Not Moving to Portland with our music director John Munson in a Wits appearance. Plus, an interview with War Horse about how many horses and bayonets the American military really needs.

This week, host John Moe visits with the multi-talented John Hodgman. He's the author of several books of fake knowledge, including the latest, That Is All, which has just been released in audiobook form. We hear Hodgman's thoughts on margarine tub percussion, the hugs one receives while famous, and the model set by George Plimpton. If you don't know who George Plimpton is, go look it up. Please. Also, a Wits classic: Julia Sweeney tells the story of the bumpy road toward explaining sex to her daughter. And we get a news update and debate analysis from the somewhat disturbing @HereAreTheNews team.

Host John Moe welcomes a pair of singer/songwriters/memoirists. Rosanne Cash talks about her love of John Denver, William Shakespeare and Mike Doughty. Doughty returns the love and is enthused over Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and the cavernous cars of the seventies. Plus an update on the lesser Nobel Prizes and a classic from the Wits archive: Andy Richter and Reggie Watts visit, among other places, Mummytown.

On this, the inaugural Wits podcast, host John Moe visits with comedian and actor Paul F. Tompkins, who provides valuable insight in how to podcast, the liabilities of having 100 podcast hosts speaking at once, and the invigorating powers of Irish music. John also talks with a certain enormously tall bird who was the surprise star of the first presidential debate, and we explore the career of time-traveling history repairman and U.S. President James K. Polk.