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This week Devin & Amy take a look at 1999’s American Beauty, a satire of American middle class notions of beauty and personal satisfaction. It was a huge success at the time it was released but what made it so important? Tune in to hear Devin & Amy discuss the directorial debut of Sam Mendes — and head to the forums on Wolfpop to cast the deciding vote!

Marina Del Ray High’s Humanities teacher Rhonda DeLuce (Danielle Schneider) explains what a daddy stitch is to Wompler & Listler on this week’s WOMP IT UP! We’ll also hear about Listler’s jerky shirt endeavor & Marissa’s holiday plans during Hot Topix, the controversy surrounding the Senior Cruise to Cancun that Rhonda chaperoned, and an update on Listler’s relationship with her child August Wilson Listler during Listler’s Love Lockdown.

Guestress of honore Mary Elizabeth Ellis of FOX’s The Grinder shares what the hardest part of being an actor is on this week’s Comedy Bang Bang! Mary also tells us about becoming a judge, what showbiz job she would take in an alternate universe, and a possible new storyline for her character on The Grinder. Then, Scott’s travel agent Randy Travels arrives to check up on Scott’s last vacation, help Mary schedule her very first vacation, and explain why he learned english from a cartoon public access Hot Dog in NYC. Later, Dr. Frankie Beans stops by to talk about what lead him to be named 2015’s Most Improved Surgeon of the Year.

Paul F. Tompkins welcomes all, including those who feel unworthy, back to SPONTANEANATION! This week, Paul’s special guest is acclaimed screenwriter Ben Garant of The State and Reno 911! They chat about which children need to learn a useful trade, the unexpected pitfalls of dinner theater, and the life-changing revelation Ben had in acting school. Paul is then joined by Annie Savage, Colleen Smith, and Stephanie Courtney to improvise a story set at A Dinner Theater. And as always, Eban (only the best) Schletter scores it all on piano!

THE NEXT SPONTANEANATION LIVE HAPPENS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5th, FEATURING IMPROVISERS HAL LUBLIN, ANNIE SAVAGE AND JANET VARNEY, WITH SPECIAL GUEST RON FUNCHES! HURRY! IT’S ALMOST SOLD OUT! ALL PROCEEDS FOR THIS SHOW WILL GO TO CHARITY. TICKETS

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim podcast hosts Taz Ahmed and Zahra Noorbakhsh join Andrew all this week to answer some racism questions. Today they discuss Islamophobia. Be sure to call us at (323) 389-RACE to ask if anything is racist.

In Ron Howard’s 1985 movie ‘Cocoon,’ a group of elderly people living in a Florida retirement community become magically rejuvenated by aliens. It plays out as a fantasy, a hilarious what-if scenario about old people acting young. The movie seems more fiction than science, but in the 30 years since the film’s release, the branch of medicine devoted to curing aging has grown into possibly the next big thing.

Aging has only been a problem since the beginning of time, a disease born into us by the very nature of being alive, but scientists believe we’re not far off from therapies that could extend our lifespan by decades and keep us feeling like we’re in our 30s the whole time.

Jack O’Brien is joined by Laura Deming, a 21-year-old venture capitalist, who is funding the therapies of the future that will slow the process of aging. They discuss some of the breakthroughs in the field and Laura debunks some myths about current life extension treatments.

Jack is then joined by Fiona Ginty, a principal scientist at GE working on the microimaging of cells. Fiona shares how this technology will aid in the fight against aging as that process might be built into our DNA.

Casey and Danielle kick off the show by telling us all the Housewives questions they want answered. Don’t forget to set your DVRs to the RHOBH premiere Dec 1!

Happy Thanksgiving! Nate starts the show off by reading a wonderfully hilarious piece by Wendy Molyneux of Bob’s Burgers about Thanksgiving tips. Then, Nate has an in-depth chat with Peter Mehlman, author of the novel “It Won’t Always Be This Great” and a writer of great success who has been nominated for 5 Prime Time Emmy Awards and best known for working on Seinfeld for over 150 episodes. Don’t forget to pick up “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel and send in your thoughts on the book at readingaloudpodcast@gmail.com.

Welcome back trash baggies to the 10th episode of Trash Talk hosted by Tony Tushie (Don Fanelli)! It’s the podcast for Garbage men by Garbage men where we talk about the trash, the biz, and trash talk some people. This week Tony is honored to be joined by his mentor in garbage collecting, Bobby Bobbabushi. They’ll talk about one of their very first jobs taking out the trash at Lombardi’s Pizza, share the very interesting items they’ve found during “What’d You Find Yesterday?” and talk a little trash about a certain rat. Later, Tony’s daughter’s friend Traci Reardon arrives to help her Twitter followers with advice on trash in another edition of “Help Me, Rhonda.”

Dive into 1995’s vision of what the internet looks like as Paul, June, and Jason discuss the heavily requested film Hackers. They talk about Fisher Stevens’ amazing performance as the villain “The Plague,” the big computer room with Penn Jillette, the elite hackers’ fashion, and the most common passwords. Plus, the HDTGM crew talks all things snacks and June shares her true fear of technology.

Check out Blake Harris’ Oral History of Hackers over at www.slashfilm.com!

Los Angeles: Grab your tickets now for How Did This Get Made? LIVE from Largo at the Coronet on January 23rd, 2 shows (8pm and 10:30pm)! Go to www.largo-la.com for tickets!

People of the internet: The League is back on FXX 10pm on Wednesdays! A while ago, Paul and Rob Huebel did a comedy special on a 60 foot glass bus that traveled around LA and now you’ll be able to see it. Go to https://itun.es/us/3M4J9 now to buy it! You can also see Jason in Sleeping With Other People in a theater near you!

The Hotwives (Casey Wilson, Danielle Schneider, Andrea Savage, Dannah Phirman, Tymberlee Hill, Angela Kinsey, Erinn Hayes) are back and this time they are in Vegas baby! Watch The Hotwives of Las Vegas on Hulu today!

Also, check out June in Grace and Frankie available on Netflix, Paul in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp on Netflix, all the episodes of NTSF:SD:SUV:: on HULU for free, ScheeRL on YouTube here:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbNGyZuMGBm0cq73JN-QhcpQNc-Shtlb7, and Jason in The Dictator (he’s still in it!).

Randy and Jason welcome former NFL running back Maurice Jones-Drew who talks about asserting himself as a smaller player at his position, the feeling of scoring a touchdown, and the art of managing a career the starts it’s decline the day it begins. Additionally, Maurice discusses the transition from player to analyst, as well as the future of the NFL.

Spike Lee graced us with his presence on the last Denzel Washington Is The Greatest Actor of All Time Period podcast and Kamau & Kevin had the time of their lives. This week Kamau & Kevin talk about how the episode came to be, what happened immediately afterward, and Spike’s Honorary Oscar Acceptance Speech.

Prolific actor James Urbaniak of “Difficult People,” “Review,” and “Venture Bros” joins Sarah & Susan to talk about the W.H. Auden poem “In Memory of W.B. Yeats,” The Beatles, Beck, and Anne Washburn’s play “10 out of 12.”

Breaking ankles with Karen Kilgariff.

With all the podcasts and audio content being produced, how do we make it more searchable, findable, and shareable, and then preserve it for the ages? Pop Up Archive is a start-up aiming to address those challenges. Anne Wootton is the company’s co-founder and CEO, and she joins Adam to discuss Pop Up Archive’s services and approach to growing podcasting. She explains how the company transcribes audio into searchable text that’s also time-indexed, and what kinds of uses that data can be used for, like making audio more shareable. To illustrate, Anne details results from tests Pop Up Archive has been running on audio excerpts of different lengths shared on Twitter. Because she is working both with tech investors and the podcast community, Anne also shares her insights on how podcasting can advance as an industry, and what opportunities exist for podcast producers to grow their audience.

Stephen’s forthcoming golf lessons prompt a discussion considering how mechanisms such as rapid feedback and failure keep us ‘on course’ in more ways than one.

In celebration of the 68th anniversary of the start of the Hollywood Blacklist, Franklin sits down to chat with John McNamara, screenwriter of Trumbo. They discuss if it was intimidating for John to write a screenplay about Dalton Trumbo, arguably one of the greatest screenwriters of all time, learning Trumbo’s voice through trial and error, and what helped guide him toward the story he wanted to tell with the film.

Matt Gourley digs back into the classic I Was There Too vault to bring out the very first episode with the King of Podcasting Paul F. Tompkins. Paul F. Tompkins joins Matt to discuss his role as Mr. Prescott in the film There Will Be Blood. Paul tells us how he got to know Paul Thomas Anderson through the Largo comedy scene and about the strange noises Daniel Day-Lewis makes in between takes. Plus, Matt talks about the people who were originally cast in There Will Be Blood in a segment called I Wasn’t There Too.

The Smartest Man in the World, Greg Proops joins Leonard this week to discuss his wide-ranging interest in movies, which he screens in front of a live audience at Cinefamily in Los Angeles. They’ll also talk about one of Greg’s personal favorites, Don Siegel’s 1973 crime thriller Charley Varrick, starring Walter Matthau.

The Shrimps take on The Traveling Pants at Pan Pacific park. Mark McConville and Sitting-In-For-Matt-Guest-Commentator Paul F. Tompkins call the action, Jensen Karp has the Sock Report.

The Shrimps on Twitter: @pistolshrimpsbb
The Shrimps on Instagram: thepistolshrimps

Matt Gourley on Twitter and IG: @MattGourley
Mark McConville on Twitter and IG: @MarkMcConville

Chicago based singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks joins Mary Holland, John Gemberling, and Horatio Sanz for a very special musical edition of improv4humans with Matt Besser! Robbie performs songs live in-studio that will inspire scenes about marrying musicians in order to form a band, letting that special someone see what you could do to them in your mind, and a catfishing story taking place in Rocky Road Pie Town. Make sure to get the Upright Citizens Brigade television show season 3 now available on DVD, the UCB Comedy Improv Manual, and pick up Robbie Fulks’ music at www.robbiefulks.com!

Paul introduces a brand new show coming to Earwolf December 2nd: Bitch Sesh, A Real Housewives Breakdown Show! Casey Wilson and Danielle Schneider (Hotwives Of Las Vegas) couldn’t be more excited for the latest season of Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, and they’re going to share that excitement with you in their new podcast Bitch Sesh! They’ll dish on the season’s wildest moments, answer all your burning Housewives questions, drink Housewives-branded wine, and bring on special guests like June Diane Raphael. Don’t be tardy to the party; make sure you set your DVRs for the season premiere of RHOBH Dec 1!

Our heroes meet some very familiar faces from the past…

This week, Howard and Kulap discuss how Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton can relate to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, cover songs that come out prematurely, and what a day would look like if our hosts switched bodies! Additionally, Kulap reveals the special guests that have recently visited the set of Bajillion Dollar Properties. Then Noel Wells joins the show to talk about her role on Master of None, as well as her unique connection with Oscar Winner Tom Hanks.

Age and maturity level should go hand-in-hand, but that’s not always the case. What does it take to be ‘mature’, and what are some signs that a person is, shall we say, ‘lacking’ in that department?

Jensen & Matty are taking calls from the Bunheads once again to find out what we should get up OFF. They talk about getting up OFF Netflix, alcohol based mouthwash, ordering shrimp at restaurants, buying items items in bulk to sell back in an increased price, Snapchat, and much more.

In celebration of the 68th anniversary of the start of the Hollywood Blacklist, Franklin sits down to chat with John McNamara, screenwriter of Trumbo. They discuss if it was intimidating for John to write a screenplay about Dalton Trumbo, arguably one of the greatest screenwriters of all time, learning Trumbo’s voice through trial and error, and what helped guide him toward the story he wanted to tell with the film.

Delightful jewess Caroline Goldfarb is the mind behind the beautiful sparkle wonderland that is Official Sean Penn. Caroline joins Deanna & Emily this week to describe what Sean Penn and Lisa Frank mean to her, introduce us to thirst trapping, and break down the social media phenomenon of calling celebs “mom and dad.”

Randy and Jason welcome comedian Mark Cohen who talks about the best joke for silencing a room full of jews, life in Las Vegas, and the unique experience of having to perform on 9/11. Then, Daniel Van Kirk covers stories that include the latest trend in parenting, two men that can only fight if they’re naked, and a woman that learns the hard way that you mustn’t break into a zoo. Lastly, Michael Kissick leaves a voicemail discussing his Thanksgiving plans.