From the outside looking in, Eleanor Conway had a pretty good gig going for herself as a music journalist for Virgin Mobile, interviewing the biggest pop stars and singers on the planet. But she was miserable on the inside, and Conway had to change her life inside out. She has since sobered up and lived to joke about it, taking her debut show about sex, addiction and dating, “Walk of Shame,” to more than 10 countries. Conway followed that up with her show, “You May Recognize Me From Tinder.” But her 2021 show, “Vaxxed & Waxxed,” is the first that Conway has brought to the United States, performing in New York City for the 2022 Frigid Festival. Conway sat down with me between shows to talk about her life and career.
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Blair Socci played Division I college volleyball and went to grad school for creative writing before finding her voice through stand-up comedy. Her first break came in 2016 co-starring in the MTV sketch show, Ladylike. After becoming a New Face at Just For Laughs, Socci made her way back to California, where she became the co-host for The Trevor Moore Show on Comedy Central Digital, a frequent touring partner for Ron Funches, and made her late-night TV debut telling jokes on The Late Late Show with James Corden. In 2022, she has lots of voiceover work in the can already, including gigs on Netflix’s Q Force and Adult Swim’s upcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. She also co-stars in the voice cast of Comedy Central’s new topical show Fairview, and Socci spoke to me about how she has found her way thus far.
If you like this conversation, please consider subscribing to my Substack called Piffany at Piffany.Substack.com so you can read bonus commentary on this episode as well as more comedy news and insights. Thanks in advance, and now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to it!
R.J. Fried turned down the National Hockey League first to pursue his college education, and then a career in comedy. So far, so good. Fried is an Emmy-nominated and WGA Award-winning comedy writer, producer, and performer whose credits have included Triumph's Election Special 2016, (Hulu), Maya & Marty (NBC), Onion Sportsdome (Comedy Central), The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell (MSNBC), Popzilla (MTV), and Rob & Big (MTV). He’s consulted for Sacha Baron Cohen, and he has written and performed onstage for Late Show with David Letterman. More recently, Fried has become a creator, show runner and executive producer for multiple animated series and movies with Stephen Colbert; among them, Our Cartoon President, Tooning Out the News, Washingtonia, and now, the topical toon satire, Fairview, for Comedy Central. He joined me over Zoom to talk about what he loves about his work and what he has learned along the way.
If you like this conversation, please consider subscribing to my Substack called Piffany at Piffany.Substack.com so you can read bonus commentary on this episode as well as more comedy news and insights. Thanks in advance, and now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to it!
Al Madrigal grew up in San Francisco and worked in his family’s HR business for 10 years before deciding to pursue a career in comedy. The next decade found Madrigal on the cusp of fame, starring or co-starring in a handful of network sitcoms and even more TV pilots that never made it to air. You likely first got to know Madrigal when he became the Senior Latino Correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Not long after that, Madrigal and Bill Burr launched All Things Comedy, a podcast network and more owned by comedians and built for comedians to succeed, expanding in recent years into making stand-up specials for Comedy Central and Netflix. Since the release of his acclaimed 2017 stand-up special, Shrimpin’ Ain’t Easy, Madrigal has written and performed on Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here, and landed on the big screen in Night School, The Way Back, and in 2022, the big Sony-Marvel Spider-Man Universe movie, Morbius. Speaking of comic books, Madrigal has just released his own comic-book series featuring Latino superheroes, called Primos. Madrigal sat down with me to talk about that and everything else.
If you like this conversation, please consider subscribing to my Substack called Piffany at Piffany.Substack.com so you can read bonus commentary on this episode as well as more comedy news and insights. Thanks in advance, and now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to it!