Beginnings

On today's episode, I talk to stand-up and activist Ted Alexandro. A New York native, Ted has been performing comedy for over 20 years and was called one of the linchpins of New York comedy by Time Out. He's performed on Letterman, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, The View, and he has two half-hour specials on Comedy Central. Ted is also heavily involved in activism, including the Occupy Wall Street movement. He was also one of the founders of The New York Comedians Coalition, which helped organize New York stand-ups to fight for better pay.This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Briana Marela. A Seattle native, Briana knew she wanted to be a musician from a young age. In 2010 she released her first album Water Ocean Lake, and two years later Bicycle Records put out her next one Speak From the Heart (which is wonderful). Her first album on a larger indie label All Around Us was recorded in late 2013 in Reykjavik, Iceland with some of the dudes from Sigur Rós and múm, and it was released in August on Jagjaguwar!This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to stand-up and writer Marina Franklin. Originally from Chicago, she moved to New York in 1997 after getting her Master's degree in theater. Two short years later, she made the decision to pursue comedy as a career and since then has appeared in numerous shows including Chappelle's Show, Inside Amy Schumer, and The Nightly Show. Marina's performed stand-up on Last Comic Standing, John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show, the Showtime special Women Who Kill, and most recently killed it on Conan, as well as internationally at festivals like the Melbourne Comedy Festival, Montreal’s Just For Laughs, and Ireland’s Kilkenny Comedy Festival. Most recently, Marina has been working as a writer on the new Sharon Horgan HBO show Divorce!This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to writer and director Leslye Headland. Leslye began her career in showbiz as an assistant to film producer Harvey Weinstein. But her career as a professional filmmaker began in 2012 when her film Bachelorette with Lizzy Caplan and Rebel Wilson debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Leslye is also a playwright and screenwriter - Bachelorette is based on one of the plays in her Seven Deadly Sins cycle, and she penned the screenplay for the Kevin Hart remake of About Last Night. This year, Leslye's second movie Sleeping with Other People premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and in September had a theatrical release by IFC Films.This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to political cartoonist and writer Ted Rall. Originally from Kettering, Ohio, Ted's cartooning career began at Columbia University, where he contributed to a number of publications. Since then, his comics have been syndicated in newspapers and alt weeklies around the country, and in magazines like Rolling Stone, Time, and Fortune, and he's edited a series of anthologies of alternative comics called Attitude. Ted's work has also won numerous awards including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award twice and was a finalist for both the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Ted's latest graphic novel Snowden is a look at the whistleblower's life and the surveillance state, and is available from Seven Stories Press.This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to TV writer Murray Miller. Originally from the Bay Area, Murray began his comedy career as a stand-up and moved into TV writing from there. He's written for a number of great shows including Clone High, King of the Hill and American Dad. Currently, he's a writer and producer on the HBO series Girls, and earlier this year his wonderfully absurd tennis movie 7 Days in Hell with Andy Samberg and Kit Harrington debuted on HBO.This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Jack Stansbury. Jack's family dates back to the founding of America, and Jack grew up on the not-so-mean streets of Baltimore. Since 2013, he's been releasing music under the name Princess Reason, and recently he formed a full band with his friends Mike Allison and Morgan Spaner under the moniker. Their latest release, the Your Divorce EP is a wonderful take on Pavement-era indie rock, but with their own spark of originality, and it's one of my favorite things that's been released this year.This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.