Rumpus Radio

Michael Showalter. One of the founding members of Stella and The State as well as co-writer/co-producer of the cult comedy classic Wet Hot American Summer. Comedy legend Michael Showalter has now added to his resume by writing a book, Mr. Funny Pants. Interviewed by Stephen Elliott with co-host Nato Green.

Derek Cianfrance. Rumpus Radio talks with the director of Blue Valentine. We talk about the process of getting a movie made, working ten years on a script only to throw the script away and encourage his actors, Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, to improvise. The result, the finest movie of the past year.

Marc Maron, comedian, kind of the podcast, talks about finding himself in a industry. We talk about alternative comedy, hecklers, fame. And of course we talk about the What The Fuck Podcast, the second most popular podcast on iTunes, and the original inspiration for <a href="http://therumpus.net/radio">Rumpus Radio</a>.

Kyle Kinane. In this episode of Rumpus Radio Stephen Elliott, Isaac Fitzgerald, and Nato Green sit down with comedian Kyle Kinane to talk about Bare Naked Ladies, white power, and making it in the world of comedy..

Comedian W. Kamau Bell, co-hosted by Nato Green with special guest Hari Kondabolu (yeah, that guy). We talk about Martin Luther King. W. Kamau Bell poses that question: Late at night, on a street corner, who can a 6'4" black man ask for directions?

Steve Almond, one of our favorite authors and frequent contributor to The Rumpus, stopped by the radio suite/apartment to talk about publishing, politics, media and community. Comedian Nato Green co-hosts along with Rumpus managing editor Isaac Fitzgerald. 

K. Flay is a Rumpus favorite. A female hip hop artist based in San Francisco. We talked about touring with all male bands, the difference between posse and entourage, and the etymology of the word ho.

Antonia Crane is a writer, activist, and a sex worker living in Los Angeles. We talk about sex in memoirs, what makes good personal writing, and the time she took me home from the airport handcuffed and hooded beneath a blanket in the back seat of her car.

Alex Mar. In this episode Josh Mohr stops by again for a few minutes and then I go talk to Alex Mar, director of the documentary American Mystic. I've known Alex for six years and I'm most amazed by how she seems to do whatever she wants. She was an intern at FSG, a writer for Salon, the editor of Rolling Stone online, a producer at MTV, and recently she raised like a million dollars to make this film. In other words, nothing about Alex adds up.

Nick Flynn: A great interview with Nick Flynn, author of The Ticking Is The Bomb and Another Bullshit Night In Suck City and the poetry collections Some Ether and Blind Huber. In a pre-interview conversation with Joshuah Mohr, author of Termite Parade, we discuss Nick's problems, and luck, with women. The actual interview starts around the seven minute mark where Nick Flynn discusses at length the problems with America's torture policies.