The Dinner Party Download

A couple weeks ago, The Dinner Party Download took a trip down south to North Carolina to stage a special live event in conjunction with the Merge 25 music festival. Over three days, dozens of bands from the indie record label Merge’s 25 year history gathered together – and we were delighted to help kick […]

This week: literary giant Margaret Atwood is prepared for giant bears… Tim Gunn returns, just in time for Project Runway’s 13th season debut, to save listeners from the ‘comfort trap’… Guitarist Steve Gunn (no relation to Tim, as far as we know) spins a mellow party playlist… The author behind the bestselling “Jack Reacher” series […]

This week: a very special edition of The Dinner Party Download originally crafted as part of the Big Sur Sound and Story Festival at the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur, California. The show is themed around a summer night, out under the stars. Bill Nye The Science Guy takes us on a trip […]

This week: Scarlett Johansson muses on ol’ blue eyes and earthly aliens … Comedian Billy Eichner takes etiquette to the streets … We catch up with 90′s alt stars Slint … A baseball game everyone wanted to lose … A terrifying rabbit, brought to you by UCB co-founder Matt Walsh … Uncovering Uzbek cuisine … […]

Pop-parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic on being weird (and Weird, and “Weird”) … “Boyhood” star Patricia Arquette’s stolen Santa Clauses … How singer Jenny Lewis kicks people out … A trademark-licensing dispute that lead to a big hit … Visiting a magical-realist Virgin Islands with author Tiphanie Yanique … New York Philharmonic conductor Alan Gilbert counts coughs to judge […]

She may perform fearlessly, but Broadway star Audra McDonald tells us which party decoration freaks her right out … Thomas Jefferson (well, scholar and radio host Clay Jenkinson channeling Thomas Jefferson) expounds on patriotic decorum … Get ready, people, for a playlist from indie-supergroup People Get Ready … A scoop of new Spoon … Blankets that […]

The life and legacy of critic Roger Ebert … Secret liaisons with Jackie Collins … Boozing and camping with “Mad Men” actor Rich Sommer … Heavy metal rockers Zig Zags crash your party … A spooky, supernatural adventure … Crafting a symbol of Pride … A joke for book-worms … And dating for super-nerds.

A podcast-only bonus! We’re sharing the extended cut of our interview with Steve Martin, just in time for his 4th-of-July bluegrass shows at The Hollywood Bowl. Steve discusses his musical life, his early days as a performer, and the connection between banjo & de Kooning. Enjoy! And after hearing the interview, you will surely find this to […]

This week: Jonah Hill’s search for the perfect coupling … Skip Lievsay explains how movies should sound … Life imitates board games imitating life (but not The Game of Life) … One mother’s love-hate relationship with a thousand plastic blocks … Getting what you pay for with luxury toast … The creator of “House of […]

This week: Filmmaker, writer, and ‘Pope of Trash’ John Waters offers etiquette advice, naturally… Jenny Slate, star of the film “Obvious Child,” says ‘complicated’ and ‘comedy’ can coexist… Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit bring board games and tacos to their dinner cozy party … When we’re hungry, why do we get ‘hangry‘? … From Panama […]

This week: Actor Harry Dean Stanton shows off his singing … Poet Patricia Lockwood revisits childhood … Why Lyndon Johnson fascinates us, fifty years later … Former frontman of The Walkman on his soulful solo debut … Baseball excellence, naturally … The arc of history bends towards better booze … One sleepy rabbit with a […]

This week: Oscar nominee Steve Coogan (“Philomena,” this summer’s upcoming “The Trip to Italy”) meditates on condiments and dramedies … “The Monuments Men” star Hugh Bonneville – a.k.a. Lord Grantham on “Downton Abbey” - minds his manors … Former “The Office” employee B.J. Novak introduces us to Wikipedia Brown, Boy Detective … The BFFs behind Comedy […]

This week: Actor James McAvoy (of this week’s new “X Men” blockbuster, and the art-house drama “Filth”) flies the Scottish flag… Writer-director Jon Favreau cooks up a new film… Emma Straub on why vacation with the ‘rents isn’t all that bad… Indie pop duo Sylvan Esso score your next brat barbecue… The one time when […]

Musician Conor Oberst gives us a topography lesson … A new movie – and fail-safe flirting tips – from actor Griffin Dunne… ’Freakonomics’ Stephen Dubner is your kryptonite …. Colson Whitehead becomes a gambling man … Inventing the futuristic fastener Velcro … Why bad words might be good for you … Annabelle Gurwitch finds lust in […]

This Week: Marc Maron gives etiquette AND time-travel advice… Graphic novelist Mimi Pond lists criminals, spies, and other bohemians … “Man On Wire” tightrope-walker Philippe Petit explores creative chaos… “The Descendants” author Kaui Hart Hemmings tells a new tale… load up on Kleenex ’cause here comes SADvertising… the history of the least respected trophy in […]

This week: Stage & screen star Kevin Spacey channels Richard III (and Bill Clinton)… Food icon Ruth Reichl has us eating her words… folk-rocker Todd Snider meets Tony Bennett in an unlikely place… English pop duo Elephant come together to DJ a dance party… Pluto gets discovered, gets a name – and then gets demoted […]

On the occasion of our 250th podcast, we’re celebrating with this bonus mini-episode, compiling a year’s worth of our show-starting jokes into one convenient package. These tiny tales of stuff walking into bars, bad trips to the doctor and lightbulbs in need of changing come courtesy of guests like Jonah Hill, Carrie Brownstein, The Arctic […]

This week: Daniel Radcliffe wears a mask that is not for a role … Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich tells your roommate to turn that racket down … Elizabeth Gilbert (“Eat, Pray, Love”) sets the planets spinning … Cartoonist Jeff Smith lists favorite strips … Visiting the Candyland of vegetables … There is danger and allure at […]

We just released the 250th episode of our show, so we’re celebrating with this bonus episode, containing a collection of party-winning jokes from our guests. These laughs (or groans) come courtesy of Jonah Hill, Carrie Brownstein, The Arctic Monkeys, Tavi Gevinson, Jim Jarmusch, Timothy Olyphant, and many more. “A Space, Man” – Hugh Bonneville aka […]

This week: Scarlett Johansson muses on ol’ blue eyes and earthly aliens… Comedian Billy Eichner takes etiquette to the streets … We catch up with 90′s alt stars Slint… A baseball game everyone wanted to lose… Terrifying Easter bunnies, brought to you by UCB co-founder Matt Walsh… Uncovering Uzbek cuisine … And, check your chins, […]

This week: Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch sinks his teeth into a new genre and Tom Waits metaphors… Comedy writer Carol Leifer (“Seinfeld,” “SNL”) kicks off her shoes… Lavender Country brought gay rights to country … ”Review” star Andy Daly reviews other reviewers … Rock music insider Lisa Robinson shares her backstage stories (and takes credit for U2) […]

This week: Comedienne Amy Schumer secretly enjoys tea and reading … Errol Morris explains Donald Rumsfeld’s problems with reality … Actress Judy Greer steps into the spotlight, for a change … The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel invites Bryan Ferry and Humphrey Bogart to his party … The best milk for your coffee, from cow or nut […]

This week: Toni Collette grabs the wheel … Rob Delaney takes us to a dark, dark chocolate place … Ben Schott shares speichelgleichmut … Texas singer-songwriter Bill Callahan remembers the Seventies … Celia Rivenbark smuggles in the sauce … Poetry among thieves … And savor-ish dough balls straight from Amsterdam.

This week: Steve Martin puts on a show as well as a concert … Emily Posts’ progeny pocket dial us … Switchel, a.k.a. Herman Melville’s fave energy drink… Filmmaker Davy Rothbart celebrates beautiful losers – in basketball and life … A British Invasion of radio pirates inspires a rum cocktail – naturally. Plus, a two million dollar puppy, mute violins, and […]

This Week: Filmmaker Wes Anderson on stoves that witnessed history… Humorist Dave Barry takes aim at your etiquette questions… Real Estate (the band, not the biz sector) play party DJ… Lit phenom Helen Oyeyemi gazes into the mirror, mirror….And Noah Strycker opens up his bird-brain. Plus, Wild camels roaming Texas, the strangest cleanse ever, and Mac DeMarco’s […]

This week: Portlandia duo Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen open up about hot-tubs, underwear, and weddings … Music multi-hyphenate Pharrell Williams explains his ‘exotic rainbow’ of ‘Happy’ness … Danish electro-pop phenom Mø spins us a party playlist… author Cari Lynn tells the tale of a NoLa birthday party of ill-repute… How the grandest experiment in […]

Oscar Isaac, star of “Inside Llewyn Davis” and the new “In Secret,” talks travis pickin’ and tabbies … Mads Mikkelsen of Oscar-nominated Danish drama “The Hunt,” looks on the bright side of strife … Bestselling author Janet Evanovich tells us how to politely destroy a van … Vermouth that gin actually loves … Changing views […]

This week: Stephen Malkmus on rock and roll fatherhood … Comedienne Annabelle Gurwitch makes an effort at etiquette …. Rebecca Mead revisits “Middlemarch” … Humble doughnuts get a sophisticated make-over … “The Act of Killing” is a difficult, fascinating, and important film to watch … Angel Olsen takes flight … Clown college admissions decline … […]

This week: Jonah Hill’s search for the perfect coupling … Skip Lievsay explains how movies should sound … Life imitates board games imitating life (but not The Game of Life) … One mother’s love-hate relationship with a thousand plastic blocks … Getting what you pay for with luxury toast … The creator of “House of […]

This week: Oscar nominee Steve Coogan (“Philomena,” this summer’s upcoming “The Trip to Italy” ) meditates on condiments and dramedies … “The Monuments Men” star Hugh Bonneville – a.k.a. Lord Grantham on “Downton Abbey” - minds his manors … Former “The Office” employee B.J. Novak introduces us to Wikipedia Brown, Boy Detective … The BFFs behind […]

This week: “Short Term 12″ (just out on DVD and streaming) star Brie Larson fears oranges and lobsters … Baz Luhrmann talks movie music from Bee Gees to Gatsby … Author Juan Gabriel Vásquez shares a story of narco-trafficking and lost hippos … A Jimmy Buffet song brings indie band Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr to […]

Zoe Kazan, writer/star of “Ruby Sparks” and the new play “Trudy & Max in Love,” uses our show to save a chihuahua… bestselling author Jackie Collins kidnaps our etiquette segment… Actor Sam Harris remembers the little people on his rise to stardom… all about an American who was big in Japan… New software monitors if […]

This week: “Justified” star Timothy Olyphant says he’s just the help… Etiquette from Carl Hiaasen, chronicler of bad Floridian behavior… Rosanne Cash takes a trip into music & literary history… You can’t win ‘em all – unless you’re the Harlem Globetrotters … Luxembourg gives it all away … Indie band Diane Coffee brews us a pot […]

This week: Lupita Nyongo, Golden globe nominee for “12 Years A Slave” reveals the secret to happiness… Gary Shteyngart develops a crush on the Iron Lady … Beyond the tabloid tale of Tonya Harding … Pittsburgh, PA steels itself for an influx of foodies… Novelist Chang-Rae Lee’s dystopian vision of Baltimore … Night clothes with thinking caps […]

This week, we ring in 2014 by looking BACK at our favorite interviews of 2013. (Because, yes, we’re punk like that.) You’ll hear “things you didn’t know” from Daniel Radcliffe, Margaret Atwood, and many more… Sounds big and small from reggae legend Jimmy Cliff and They Might be Giants… Writer Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) […]

This Week: We take a brief holiday break (and hope you’re able to do the same) and leave you with this choice episode from earlier in the year … Liev Schreiber (just nominated for a 2014 Golden Globe) talks canine engineering and bad answers … Choire Sicha, founder of The Awl, offers etiquette quips … Chicago […]

This Week: Jeremy Renner does the American Hustle… Nancy Sinatra on headphones and hair-poufs … Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins asks you to clean your room …Nick Lowe’s Eccentric Xmas Soundtrack … An inimitable, unpronounceable writer you’ve got to read… Italian food that might remind you of sushi … The precise moment when cringes become […]

Oscar-winning thespian Geoffrey Rush goes from burlesque to “The Book Thief”… “Parks and Recreation’s” Aubrey Plaza will not be mean on command … LeVar Burton, of “Reading Rainbow” fame, gets all Dirty Harry on a book “vandal”… We learn about a phone call that changed rock-and-roll history… rock critic and musician Joey Sweeney plays the […]

Oscar Isaac, star of the Coen Bros. “Inside Llewyn Davis,” talks travis pickin’ and tabbies… Int’l star Mads Mikkelsen, lately of Danish drama “The Hunt,” looks on the bright side of strife… Bestselling author Janet Evanovich tells us how to politely destroy a van… Changing views of Manhattan from the roof of the Chelsea Hotel … […]

Thanksgiving is kind of a national dinner party, so we wanted to bring our contribution: an ALL-FOOD EPISODE of the show. We know it comes a day late, but everybody loves leftovers, right? Lidia Bastianich on freedom food… Michael Pollan’s kosher barbecue … The Arctic Monkeys play a little dinner music … Eddie Huang vs. […]

We reheat an old episode for this pre-Thanksgiving week, featuring, fittingly, an English take on American culture … Superstar comedian Kevin Hart growing an inch … Comic, writer, TV host and now etiquette expert Aisha Tyler steering listeners clear of video game hogs and sunshine nazis … Memoirist Ashley Cardiff on being haunted by Prince […]

Brit wit Stephen Fry talks Shakespeare, takes on Turkey Day, and meets dead people… “Top Chef” judge Gail Simmons adjudicates your etiquette questions while growing the perfect sous chef… star chef Daniel Boulud sniffs out truffle treasure… “Medora” co-director Davy Rothbart declares victory for some beautiful losers… neuroscientist and skeptic Sam Harris cannot tell a […]

This week: Toni Collette grabs the wheel … Rob Delaney takes us to a dark, dark chocolate place … Ben Schott shares speichelgleichmut … Texas singer-songwriter Bill Callahan remembers the Seventies … Celia Rivenbark smuggles in the sauce … Poetry among thieves … And savor-ish dough balls straight from Amsterdam.

This week: one of our favorite episodes of 2013, in which Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain of “Zero Dark Thirty” riffs on Pitt and pigs… Humorist Dave Barry offers insane advice… Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff plays dinnertime DJ… Joy Division’s Peter Hook tells the bright side of a dark band… We excavate the story of a […]

This week it’s a special ALL MOVIE EPISODE! Starring Oscar-nominees Michelle Williams and David O. Russell … Also: Laura Dern re-examines David Lynch’s brain(s) … “Hunger Games” make-up artist Ve Neill lists a few fave transformations … Spike Lee plays matchmaker … Steven Spielberg incites a teenage riot … Dick Cavett teaches us “how to […]

This week: Bob Odenkirk, comedy polymath & “Breaking Bad” breakout star, talks sketch and Saul… … Pop provacateur Peaches strips down etiquette… Folk-rock icon Linda thompson plays party DJ … Small island, big library … Food writer Nigel slater recalls pre-parm Britain … Behind the scenes with Johnny Carson … Leafy green humor … And […]

This week: “Kill Your Darlings” star Dane DeHaan catches the Beats… Operatic indie rocker Anna Calvi DJs your next soiree… The Posts return with etiquette advice smokers will love… We’re schooled in design by the man who defined late 20th Century style… Old-school Hollywood honcho David Picker acts out for Woody Allen… Little Richard throws […]

This week: Daniel Radcliffe wears a mask that’s not for a role … Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich tells your roommate to turn that racket down … Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) sets the planets spinning … Cartoonist Jeff Smith lists favorite strips … Visiting the Candyland of vegetables … There is danger and allure at […]

This week: Daniel Radcliffe wears a mask that’s not for a role … Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich tells your roommate to turn that racket down … Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) sets the planets spinning … Cartoonist Jeff Smith lists favorite strips … Visiting the Candyland of vegetables … There is danger and allure at […]

This week: literary giant Margaret Atwood is prepared for mega-bears… Tim Gunn returns, just in time to save listeners from the ‘comfort trap’… guitarist Steve Gunn (no relation) spins a mellow party playlist… The author behind the bestselling “Jack Reacher” series lists toughs he loves… ”China, Illinois” Animator Brad Neely wants Hulk Hogan to eat him… […]