The JV Club with Janet Varney

Heads up! It’s another Voyage to the Stars cohort, the delightful human being that is Steve Berg! (You also probably know him from tons of other stuff, too.) JV and SB goof around and talk river cities, football dustups, and late night college radio dj action in this latest episode bringing you Boys of Summer! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

This week JV sits down with Boy of Summer and Voyage to the Stars co-star Colton Dunn (“Superstore”) for a conversation about Michael Jordan t-shirts, hipster video stores, and what it means to be an “Act-lete." Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Boys of Summer rolls on as JV sits down with her friend and Stan Against Evil co-star John C. McGinley to yak about lazy susans and big families, endurance in sports and Broadway, and much more, including insight and information on Down Syndrome and the amazing Global Down Syndrome Foundation, which you can check out and support via this link! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

This week's episode was recorded in front of a live audience at POD X in Nashville, Tennessee. JV takes a one-week break form the boys of Summer series to chat with attorney and podcaster Susan Simpson! In addition to being one of Janet's all time favorite people that she's admired from afar, Susan's got tons of stories about being a sporty high schooler and childhood dismemberment at Chuck E. Cheese (yes, really!) Plus: live musical performances from JV Club alum Jenny Tolman!

Boys of Summer begins with a heart-surgeon-turned-controversial-Egyptian-ex-pat: the fascinating and funny Bassem Youssef! From high school biology to cardiology, from watching Jon Stewart to becoming what some call Stewart’s Middle Eastern counterpart, episode 326 should leave you inspired! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Mind your shmanners, because this week’s guest is the delightful and talented Teresa McElroy! Learn about the follies of high school ID badges, the triumph of speech state competitions, and the guilty pleasure of a good old American hot dog. Come see Janet at PodX in Nashville from May 31 to June 2! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Clear backpacks, gator-laden bayous, and an absolutely extraordinary story of Hurricane Katrina come to you this week courtesy of the radiant Ciera Payton (“She’s Gotta Have It”), whose teenaged medical knowledge was of the “Anaconda” variety. Come see Janet at PodX in Nashville from May 31 to June 2! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

It’s part TWO of JV's chat with entrepreneur and fellow Post-Mormon, Tresa Edmunds.They continue to with stories about her teenage years and Latter Day Saints atrocities before getting to happier times with the MASH game! Come see Janet at PodX in Nashville from May 31 to June 2! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

It’s part one of a two-parter with advocate, entrepreneur and fellow Post-Mormon, Tresa Edmunds. Interwoven stories of Tresa’s unconventional (to say the least) teenage years and “big picture” Latter Day Saints atrocities in this we-had-to-talk-for-almost-three-hours conversation with JV! Come see Janet at PodX in Nashville from May 31 to June 2! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Meet the delightful singer/songwriter responsible for creating the opening song Jeff Bridges sang at Lebowski Fest! Nashville native Jenny Tolman hangs with JV in LA and these new gal pals talk Dolly and Burt, the glory of creative collaboration, and even some classroom panic attacks— you know, just to spice things up and get in touch with their true grit. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Episode 320 welcomes the terrific and talented Irene Koh, illustrator extraordinaire of, among many other things, the Legend of Korra: Turf Wars books! Join JV and Irene as they dish on inspiring anime, old-timey Connecticut fruit stands, and complicated girl crushes, and oodles more. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Atlanta, Atlantis, and other words that begin with an “A,” like Amber Nash! This week’s guest, perhaps most famous for her role on “Archer” (now in its TENTH season), regales JV with tales of Peruvian love, historic strip clubs and so much more. Come see Janet at PodX in Nashville from May 31 to June 2! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Enjoy this episode with this real-life Attendant-to-the-Queen, Bridget Nelson (MST3K, Rifftrax) as she expounds with JV upon the marvels and dangers of thick shag carpet, grecian statues, and the kind of name-pun you can expect from a Tennessee Williams-loving singing group. Come see Janet at PodX in Nashville from May 31 to June 2! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Put on your tank top and suuuuuuper baggy jeans for a visit with Lilan Bowden (known for her role in the Disney Channel show "Andi Mack"), and don’t let the Usher poster on her teenage wall fool you. From early improv to wall collages, this episode is a potpourri of creativity. Come see Janet at PodX in Nashville from May 31 to June 2! Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

The nearly nonstop Max Fun Crossovers continue! Try out your best Mid-Atlantic accent for this chat with Danielle Radford (who you may have heard on the Max Fun podcast Tights and Fights or on Screen Junkies), who shows us the nefarious side of choir with surreptitious cigarettes and how a certain Little Woman can clarify your dreams... Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. This show is directly funded by our Maximum Fun Members. As part of the annual #MaxFunDrive, you can sign up for as little as $5 a month at maximumfun.org/donate to help support this and other Max Fun shows you listen to AND earn great gifts in the process!

Put on your sequined vest and don’t let the band kids snub you— you’re show choir royalty with this week’s guest, Sydnee McElroy (Sawbones)! It’s all about singing, the raggle taggle delights of high school theatre, and the long road to figuring out that it doesn’t take dress slacks and a pair of heels to prove you’re a grown up. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

This is what teenage Alison Becker (Star of the Maximum Fun podcast "Bubble!") might refer to as “a really great episode, eh?” Join her as she takes JV for a trip from the firefly-laden woods of New Jersey across the globe to the mountains of Switzerland. By the way, do you pronounce the “T” in mountains? Tweet us about it. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Did your hometown have its own urban legend about a mine-slag-monster-man? If so, you may be from a village in Northern Britain, just like this week’s wonderful guest, author (and wrestling aficionado) Lindsey Kelk! Plus: Logans vs. Troys, Oasis vs. Trance, and Dolphin vs. Dolphin. Suit up! You can hear Lindsey on the Maximum Fun wrestling podcast Tights and Fights and on the make-up and beauty podcast Full Coverage. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Swing set Millennium Falcons! Giant Tinker Toys! Band bus makeouts! All this and oodles more with this week’s enchanting guest, Kara Morgan ("Fortune Rookie," "The Kara Morgan Show"). Reach for the stars with us and dare , yes dare, to dream the ultimate Impossible Dream: to intern on a yogurt farm. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

This week’s inspiring guest Erika De La Cruz (creator of the TV & Personal Development Conference Passion 2 Paycheck) goes deep with JV about controversial tildes, NoCal and SoCal surprises, Lords and Rings, and the heartbreak and unexpected gifts of losing your home at nineteen. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Calling all giant-cross-necklace owners and cross-legged sitters! If you’ve been waiting for a very niche episode of The JV Club made just for you, this episode with the wonderful Carrie Poppy (Host of the podcasts "Oh No Ross & Carrie" and "Hidden Mickeys") is it. Everyone else: never fear! There’s also plenty of whale-watching-out-for, summer camp revelations, and everyone’s favorite, pig dressage. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Get ready to cut some alarm wires, escape your apartment and sneak on over for some teenage tales of literature devouring, lakeside sulking, and blue hair dying with musician Vera Sola, and find out who King Solomon was (no, not that King Solomon) and the mysterious fate that befell him. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

This special episode recorded live at SF Sketchfest has a little something for everyone. Thrills! (Pneumatic high school theatre orchestra pits!) Chills! (Is Aparna a biter?) Spills! (Okay, maybe no spills. But aren’t you glad there weren’t any wet messes to mop up?). Join JV and marvelous guests Scott Adsit, Aparna Nancherla and musician/dreamboat Matt Nathanson for a double M.A.S.H. game unexpectedly featuring worms. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Comedian Emily Catalano joins JV mid-Sketchfest for a hotel room hang covering very controversial topics like earring backings, family card games, and comfy sweatshirts. But fear not! There’s also plenty of lighter fare, like heartbreak and religion. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

JV’s old chum Sonita Henry (who's been seen in shows like Luther and Krypton) pops over from across the pond to indulge JV’s interest in regional accents, Guyanese cooking, and Sonita’s adorable boyish alter ego Giuseppi. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Join us this week for a very exciting guessing game of “Which Instrument Did You Play in the Marching Band” and much, much more with the simply delightful (and Janet's fellow only child) Rachel McElroy, who, it’s probably safe to say, had one of the most original and exciting dollhouse inhabitant dynamics of the late 20th century. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

The very funny, very candid and very present Carly Jibson talks Broadway grinds, Tinder surprises and something wonderful called “Poopy Chicken,” all the while reminding us it’s possible to be vulnerable at the same time you’re being a complete badass. Hosted by Janet Varney. Edited by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

It’s a foamy almond milk latte of an episode with the delightful Alicia Witt, who talks Nashville, Bill Shakes, and the simple elegance of a tv show title when it’s as self-explanatory as “That’s Incredible!”

Janet Varney indulges her most recent lady crush with this week’s guest, the immensely talented Breeda Wool. She's known for her role in the Audience Network TV series Mr. Mercedes. Breeda tells Janet about how her precociousness combined with life in a sleepy college town created a perfect storm of pre-teen wildness. Plus! Homemade clothes, campfire witches, and breast-exposing ballgowns!

Semper ubi sub ubi, everyone! This former New Jersey native and Latin Club superstar Grace Helbig joins Janet Varney for a stroll down their mutual in-state scholarship experiences, a Halloween costume quid pro quo, and camping out in your teacher’s backyard.

To celebrate the 300th episode of The JV Club, JV is joined by Say Hi’s Eric Elbogen! Eric, of course, is the reason for the very existence of The JV Club’s theme song, “Back Before We Were Brittle!” Before some excessive mutual fawning (don’t worry- it’s at the VERY END), Eric and JV talk living rooms, first guitars, and the indignities of class team presentations in this special 300th Episode Non-Boy-of-Summer!

Great news, janitors! The JV Club will have a brand new home on Maximum Fun. Listen to find out when our 300th episode will debut on Maximum Fun.

Originally Aired 3/2/2012 It’s the first episode of The JV Club with Janet Varney! Throw on your tunic and Birkenstocks for a chat about small towns, the fierce passion of Celine Dion, and the importance of special effects in high school stage productions of Agnes of God.

Special Post-Labor Day Boy of Summer Cedric Yarbrough talks JV through the adventures of faking a bath, using a wall for your flattop, and having a secret college theatre identity. Oh, and it’s SEE-Dric.

Put on your rollerblades and stay OFF your bike while this week’s Boy of Summer Justin Willman (Netflix’s "Magic for Humans") indulges JV’s endless questions that somehow combine teen era trivia with magic-centric interrogation for this deep-dive into broken arms, sleights of hand, and an eco-burial cameo.

The wonderful, self-effacing yet let’s-face-it-multi-award-nominated Jonathan Coulton joins JV as the latest Boy of Summer with a cross-continental chat covering parties and guitars, the fierce competition of flavored chips, and what it takes to cultivate a Professor X / Magneto friendship, Old Chum.

The most important takeaway of this special episode with musician and Boy of Summer Mondo Cozmo/Josh Ostrander is that HE HURT HIS HAND PUNCHING A SHARK IN THE NOSE (self defense)! But you’ll also hear about basement-band-eavesdropping, math-class-stressing, and what can happen to a baseball player when he hears the music that changes his path.

This week’s Boy of Summer is the extremely cool Michael Irby, star of the upcoming highly anticipated “Sons of Anarchy” spinoff, “Mayans,” and he brings with him tales of growing up Palm Springs-adjacent, the necessary amnesia of a good soccer player, and the satisfaction of a good karaoke jam. But remember… don’t name your fish! Or turtles!

Originally aired 7/16/2015 It’s the badass creator of You’re the Worst, Stephen Falk! Episode 162 lets you straddle the disparate high school worlds of theatre, jazz band, and sports, and then fall in love with the new girl in school, who naturally drives a stick-shift pick-up truck. Swoon!

Boy of Summer and author/screenwriter Jonathan Ames (“You Were Never Really Here,” “Blunt Talk”) joins JV for some satisfying deep-dives into mind, ego, body, aging and, of course, the appeal of a really cool mime.

This week, SNL and Groundlings alum (and creator of The Black Version!) Jordan Black graces Boys of Summer with tales of Kankakee, Illinois in all its small-town glory… inspiring such topics as the perfect Bruce Springsteen song, a badass mom with an impressive approach to raising 4 boys, and the right way to wear a fringe vest.

This week JV geeks out over the latest Boy of Summer: Undisclosed’s Colin Miller! From debate club to huevos rancheros; from long-distance running to a film club with a name that sounds like a funny-yet-unpleasant diagnosis (sorry Colin!), this law professor and true crime/legal podcast dynamo does not disappoint!

This week’s Boy of Summer is the delightful, uke-strumming, movie-riffing, dog-paw-admiring, nose-fluting Kevin Murphy ("Mystery Science Theatre 3000"; Rifftrax), who regales JV with tales of abruptly-ending football “careers,” sibling album-borrowing, and how a certain summer song can accidentally transition into a “Flashdance" favorite.

Originally aired 6/26/14 This week with the always wonderful Paul F. Tompkins: build a snow tunnel, sing a few piano tunes, or recite Edgar Allen Poe in the place where his macabre work truly shines, a brightly lit classroom. Boys of Summer continues!

From a shared mutual love of the “Miss Chevious” detective novels to the perennial -- if scary -- appeal of an old diving suit, JV and this week’s Boy of Summer Jordan Morris (Jordan Jesse, Go!) cover a lot of ground in both the real and thoroughly made-up worlds of Earth, Earth 2, veiny comic book characters, and maybe the best name ever for a turn-of-the-century baseball team.

Originally Aired 6/11/2015 Hey, everybody — it’s the sublime Marc Evan Jackson! The latest Boys of Summer episode will reveal some compelling and charming new things about the man you may also know as Sparks Nevada from Thrilling Adventure Hour. Addendum: you will not be asked to sign a pledge to abstain from drinking, smoking, sex, or dancing during the consumption of this episode. We are not the boss of you.

This year’s first Boy of Summer and longtime JV pal Tony Hale ("Veep”) relives the fond and not-so-fond memories of his youth... but for goodness’ sake DO NOT ASK HIM ABOUT ANYTHING pre-7th grade! Plus: Asthma, cigarettes, and unfortunately artfully dodging being the Artful Dodger.

Calling all witches! Head up to a wild and lovely mountain outside of Santa Barbara for this magical yet utterly grounded visit with “Unreal” creator Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, who completely inspires JV with her honesty, humor, and particular and surprising fierceness that comes along with skiing to Enya!

A chance airport encounter finally yields this episode with the charming Marla Sokoloff (“Fuller House”) who patiently indulges Janet’s love of “The Practice” and pontificates with JV on relativity, dry mouth sounds, music-making and the clown in A Christmas Carol(!).

Put in your nose ring and pull on your long skirt for a meander through the delightful misadventures of teenaged Gaby Dunn (Bad With Money Pod). Plus, Gaby and JV bask in some mutual crime/murder/justice television and podcasting love, and discuss the phenomenon of listening to other people listen to Phish.