This week, I'm letting Kevin M. Kruse talk.  Also this week: the debut of what I hope will be a recurring episode premise called “Political Pundits on Pop Culture.” Then again, maybe it’ll be a one-off. But given how much fun I had talking to Kevin, I certainly hope it isn’t. Kevin is a history professor at Princeton, a respected author, and one of my favorite follows on Bluesky, but as it turns out, we also have more than a few similar pop culture touchstones, from SNL and Police Squad! to Edgar Wright and R.E.M. In the long run, it’s basically a conversation between two guys who are geeking out on their pop culture faves, but – spoiler alert – this is not the first time a podcast has descended into such a conversation, and it damned well won’t be the last. Listen, enjoy, and if you haven't already, please subscribe! 

This week, I'm letting Paget Brewster talk. I have a long and thoroughly non-sordid history of interviewing Paget for various outlets. It started with her Random Roles for the AV Club, continued with an interview for Decider, and I know I’ve interviewed her twice for That Thing They Did, and…I think this is therefore our fifth time talking, maybe? Unless you count the time when I met up with her at a CBS party during the 2016 summer Television Critics Association press tour, but if I did an interview with her there, I don’t think it was a full interview, and if any portion of it ran anywhere, I can’t produce it. Anyway, my point is that we've talked about a lot of stuff over the years, and this time we talked about a lot of stuff, too, including - but not limited to - Criminal Minds, Friends, Two and a Half Men, Grandfathered, Drunk History, DuckTales, and The Thrilling Adventure Hour. We also talked about some of her failed pilots, including the inevitable Ghost Cop. (He’s a ghost, she’s a cop… You get it. But I still have to recite the line anyway.) Oh, and we also talked about the time she created botulism for a comedy sketch. Yeah, we really covered the gamut. You'll love it. She's delightful.

This week, I'm letting Mitch Easter talk. He's a producer (R.E.M., the Connells, Suzanne Vega, Marshall Crenshaw), and he's also a singer, musician, and songwriter in his own right, though you likely know him best on that front from the years he spent in the band Let's Active. He's made a lot of music over the years, and as a result, he's got a lot of stories to tell. Also, when it comes to Smash Mouth's cover of "Every Word Means No," he has...thoughts. But you'll have to listen to find out what they are.

This week, I'm letting Robbie Rist talk. For my first guest, I wanted someone I actually know but who I've never interviewed before, and although I've interviewed Robbie once many years ago, it wasn't a full look back at his career, so this seemed like a good time to do that. We discuss Big John, Little John, Battlestar Galactica, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Kidd Video, and much more, including his music career. Fair warning, though: we barely touch on his time on The Brady Bunch at all.