Thoughts about life, faith and scripture, often prompted by the Bible readings set for the Sunday but taking a ‘sideways look’ that you might not get in a church sermon. Why i-Llan? Well, I am based in Wales and a Llan is the enclosure where a group of Welsh Christians would gather in community, living and worshipping together. And i- for the virtual community of the internet.
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Janet Bone Podcasts
Getting to sleep can be difficult sometimes. Now you can achieve that urgently needed rest by taking advantage of our most precious natural resource: celebrities. Each week on the slyly humorous and reassuring Sleeping with Celebrities, host John Moe talks with a different guest from the world of entertainment about something they know a lot about. The conversation is guaranteed to be just interesting enough to draw your attention away from your own swirling anxieties but never interesting e ...
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Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future
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Jean Hailes for Women's Health is a national not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving women's health across Australia through every life stage.
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Actor and comedian Baron Vaughn is familiar to audiences for his work on Grace & Frankie, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and The New Negroes with friend of the show Open Mike Eagle. He’s familiar to his family for watching a whole lot of those multi-episode, sepia photograph-intensive, history rich documentaries by Ken Burns on subjects like basebal…
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Ravi V. Patel’s Fitness Routine, Which Frankly Makes Us Tired Just Hearing About It
41:38
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41:38You have definitely seen actor, writer, and director Ravi V. Patel on a screen before. He’s one of those guys that seems to be in everything. Perhaps most recently as a team mentor on the new season of LEGO Masters Jr. or maybe co-starring on Animal Control with Joel McHale or acting in Ghosts or being put through some grueling paces on Special For…
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Patrick McEnroe and Melissa Errico, Stars of, Respectively, Tennis and Broadway
50:57
50:57
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50:57When you have two guests on one show, you’re going to get a variety of topics, especially when they have such diverse interests as tennis great Patrick McEnroe and Broadway icon Melissa Errico. The two, married 26 years, take us on a very friendly and relaxing jaunt through a very old-timey English castle (that somehow has a sauna and Pilates room)…
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Kendahl Landreth and Jordan Myrick Gently Realign Your Chihuahua Perspectives
46:43
46:43
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46:43As hosts of the Happy Wife Happy Life podcast, comedians/writers/actors Kendahl Landreth and Jordan Myrick help their listeners navigate everything related to relationships. Here on our show, in this episode, they bring that gift of harmony to society’s views of chihuahuas, especially their own rescue dog, Angel. As you drift off to sleep, you’ll h…
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Ana Marie Cox on the Architectural Styles of Texas Homes of the Seventies and Eighties
46:40
46:40
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46:40The versatile Ana Marie Cox is a podcast host (Space the Nation, Past Due), a veteran journalist (MTV News, The New York Times Magazine), the founding editor of Wonkette, a writing instructor, and a political pundit and analyst, frequently featured on various cable news programs. But not to worry. Ana stays out of the political fray in this intervi…
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Listener Winter Burnett Tours Two Laundromats in Morris, IL
37:35
37:35
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37:35Here’s how we figure it: if you appear on our show (the most popular podcast in the world) (look that up) (don’t), you automatically become a celebrity. We have listeners all over this planet at least. That makes hardware store assistant manager Winter Burnett a celebrity. During our last Max Fun Drive, we set a stretch goal for new members and sai…
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Demi Adejuyigbe’s Well-Developed Interest in Film Photography
50:29
50:29
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50:29The multi-talented Demi Adejuyigbe is a podcast host (The Gilmore Guys) writer (The Good Place, The Late Late Show with James Corden), and social media celebrity (those wonderful homemade videos for the song “September”). Those are all very exciting things that Demi does and we’re concerned they would keep you up. So instead, we’re focusing on his …
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Meet Your Nocturnal Animal Friends with Janet Varney
46:13
46:13
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46:13You know Janet Varney from her starring roles in You’re the Worst and The Legend of Korra and from hosting two Maximum Fun podcasts, The JV Club and E Pluribus Motto, which she co-hosts with John Hodgman and which just launched its second season. But to the critters of the night, Janet is simply a friend, a liaison between themselves and all the di…
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Kevin Fong on medical planning for Mars and Earth-based emergencies
28:39
28:39
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28:39There can't be many people in the world who've saved lives in hospital emergency rooms and also helped care for the wellbeing of astronauts in space – but Kevin Fong’s career has followed a singular path: from astrophysics and trauma medicine, to working with NASA, to becoming an Air Ambulance doctor. Kevin is a consultant anaesthetist and professo…
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The Many, Many Cats That Have Belonged to Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go’s. Many Cats.
46:35
46:35
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46:35Kathy Valentine is the bassist for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Go-Go’s. Emerging from the L.A. punk scene, ruling the charts, and still playing shows 47 years later, any member of the band must have a million thrilling stories about life as real live rock stars. But we’re a show that tries to put you to sleep so on our program Kathy …
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Dame Pratibha Gai on training atoms to do what we want
28:23
28:23
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28:23Chemical reactions are the backbone of modern society: the energy we use, the medicines we take, our housing materials, even the foods we eat, are created by reacting different substances together. If we zoom in, it’s the atoms within these substances that rearrange themselves to give rise to new substances with the properties we need. However, che…
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Paget Brewster: Star of Screen, Stage, and Barnyard Bone Broth
54:30
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54:30You may know Paget Brewster as FBI Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss on the television series Criminal Minds or as Joey’s girlfriend Kathy on multiple episodes of Friends. If you’re a particularly discerning entertainment consumer, you also know her from Andy Richter Controls the Universe or as Sadie Doyle on the podcast and stage series The…
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Catherine Heymans on the lighter side of the dark universe
28:34
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28:34Have you ever considered the lighter side of dark matter?Comedy has proved an unexpectedly succesful way to engage people with science - as today's guest knows first-hand. Astrophysicist Catherine Heymans is a Professor at the University of Edinburgh and the current Astronomer Royal for Scotland. She’s spent her career studying dark matter and dark…
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John Hodgman Attempts To Memorize All of Maine’s Coastal Islands (RERUN)
1:12:13
1:12:13
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1:12:13This episode originally ran August 14th, 2024. *** Is this a feat that the beloved author, actor, and host of Maximum Fun’s Judge John Hodgman can actually pull off? Well, no, probably not. There are over 4,600 such islands and he’s only one mortal human. Come on. But will he make a pretty game attempt for a little while and invite you to join his …
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Tim Coulson on how predators shape ecosystems and evolution
28:36
28:36
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28:36As a young man, traveling in Africa, Tim Coulson - now Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford - became seriously ill with malaria and was told a second bout would probably kill him. Aged only 20, this brush with his own mortality led him to promise himself he would write a complete guide to science: life, the universe and everything. His …
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Julie Klausner Tours You Through Her Pleasant and Less-Than-Pleasant Massages
45:29
45:29
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45:29The very funny and charming Julie Klausner is known for her starring role in the acclaimed Hulu dark comedy series Difficult People and she has appeared in Big Mouth, What We Do in the Shadows, At Home with Amy Sedaris, and many other beloved and hilarious programs. It’s stressful work, we think, because Julie has had a lot of massages over the yea…
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Claudia de Rham has rather an unusual relationship with gravity. While she has spent her career exploring its fundamental nature, much of her free time has involved trying to defy it - from scuba diving in the Indian Ocean to piloting small aircraft over the Canadian waterfalls. Her ultimate ambition was to escape gravity’s clutches altogether and …
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Chris Duffy is a writer, extremely funny comedian, and host of the TED podcast How To Be a Better Human. He’s also a former contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? (answer: well, we all do, of course) where a producer asked what he would do if he won the titular million bucks and Chris said he would buy a lifetime supply of new socks. That’s a…
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Neil Lawrence on taking down the 'digital oligarchy' and why we shouldn't fear AI
28:35
28:35
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28:35When you think of Artificial Intelligence, does it inspire confidence, or concern? Although it's now generally accepted that this technology will play a major role in our future, a lot of conversations around AI and machine learning come back to the argument over us losing control and robots taking over. Happily, Neil Lawrence has a more optimistic…
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NPR’s Tamara Keith Has Strong Yet Soothing Opinions On Pie
39:44
39:44
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39:44You know Tamara Keith as NPR’s Senior White House Correspondent and as one of the hosts of the NPR Politics Podcast. You can count on her to deliver up-to-the-minute news and analysis on the most dramatic beat in journalism, even if it’s news that you may find very alarming. But there’s nothing alarming or upsetting about Tamara’s thoughts on the v…
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Liz Morris on Antarctic adventures and the melting polar ice sheets
28:28
28:28
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28:28A frozen, white world at the far-reaches of the globe, where you're surrounded by snow and silence, might sound rather appealing. Factor in temperatures that drop to -57°C and a few of us might be put off - but for glaciologist Liz Morris, that's very much her happy place. Liz is an Emeritus Associate at the University of Cambridge’s Scott Polar Re…
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Tamara Yajia: Brad Pitt’s Charcuterie Pal
38:34
38:34
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38:34Comedian, actor, and author Tamara Yajia has a new book Cry for Me, Argentina: My Life as a Failed Child Star that doesn’t spend all that much time on the subject of charcuterie boards. But that’s what our discussion is for. Learn about Tamara’s grandfather’s extensive and somewhat emotionally charged boards and how they inspired her to make vast b…
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Anthony Fauci on a medical career navigating pandemics and presidents
45:05
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45:05Welcome to a world where medicine meets politics: a space that brings together scientific research, government wrangling, public push-back and healthcare conspiracies… Dr Anthony Fauci was the Director of America’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for nearly four decades, during which time he not only helped study, treat and pr…
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Hanif Abdurraqib Has 90 Band Shirts. Which We Think You’ll Agree Is a Lot.
46:59
46:59
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46:59Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, cultural critic, and author of numerous books, including They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, A Little Devil in America, and There’s Always This Year. He’s very passionate about music, as is evidenced in his massive collection, purchased online and at concert venues, of concert t-shirts, band sweatshirts, and other vin…
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Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace Has THOUGHTS on Sports Team Names and Logos
49:55
49:55
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49:55If you love history, you already know about the lovely podcast The Memory Palace, which celebrates the quirky and intriguing elements of stuff that has happened. If you haven’t heard it, go listen. But first, hear honey-voiced host Nate DiMeo explain his complex and impassioned opinions on team names, logos, the nefarious nature of image consultant…
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NPR’s Linda Holmes Takes You on a Sleepy Tour of Beverly Hills, 90210
41:24
41:24
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41:24Nobody knows pop culture better than Linda Holmes, one of the hosts of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, and culture doesn’t get much more pop than the nineties teen prime time soap Beverly Hills, 90210. Let Linda guide you to sleep while she introduces you to Brandon, Brenda, Kelly, Steve, Donna, and even Scott, who we frankly didn’t even know existed…
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Comedian, Actor, and Podcaster Sierra Katow Gently Takes You Grocery Shopping
46:30
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46:30There are many places to acquire food and household items in the greater Los Angeles area. You could go to Costco, you could go to Ralphs, you could even swing by 99 Ranch. Or if you listen to this episode with the delightful Sierra Katow, you could visit all these places and let Sierra do the driving while you zonk off to sleep, sated with the aud…
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Roxane Gay is one of the greatest writers in the world today. Everyone knows this. We’re so thrilled that she agreed to be on our show. Roxane is the author of books like Bad Feminist and Hunger, writes for the New York Times, is a respected social critic and noted professor. All this means that she travels a lot and she joins us, using a very soot…
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Brian Schmidt on Nobel Prize-winning supernovae and the joys of making wine
28:39
28:39
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28:39Have you ever pondered the fact that the universe is expanding? And not only that, it's expanding at an increasing speed - meaning everything around us is getting further and further away? If that isolating thought makes you feel slightly panicked, don't worry: this programme also contains wine! Brian Schmidt is a Distinguished Professor of Astroph…
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i-Llan: 20th April 2025 – Easter joy in difficult times
4:46
4:46
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4:46Can we sing the Easter Alleluia when we aren't feeling like it? i-Llan is part of alisteningspace.ukBy Janet Bone
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Campin’ About with Allan McLeod of Walkin’ About
39:54
39:54
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39:54Allan McLeod is an actor who has appeared on Parks & Recreation and You’re the Worst. He’s a podcaster who appears regularly as host on Walkin’ About, here on Maximum Fun. And, for our purposes on this episode, he’s a camper, who appears pretty often at campgrounds around California. Allan walks us through his incredibly detailed and quite lengthy …
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Jacqueline McKinley on unearthing bones and stories at Britain's ancient burial sites
28:32
28:32
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28:32How much information can you extract from a burnt fragment of human bone? Quite a lot, it turns out - not only about the individual, but also their broader lives and communities; and these are the stories unearthed by Jacqueline McKinley, a Principal Osteoarchaeologist with Wessex Archaeology. During her career, Jackie has analysed thousands of anc…
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Philosophy Tube’s Abigail Thorn Takes You Scuba Diving
43:45
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43:45Whether you know her from the phenomenally popular YouTube channel Philosophy Tube or from her acting appearances in House of the Dragon or The Acolyte, chances are Abigail Thorn was dry when you saw her and above the surface of the water. Just know that this is not where she prefers to be. Abigail is a scuba diver and is here to send you to sleep …
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Jonathan Shepherd on a career as a crime-fighting surgeon
28:38
28:38
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28:38Surgeons often have to deal with the consequences of violent attacks - becoming all too familiar with patterns of public violence, and peaks around weekends, alcohol-infused events and occasions that bring together groups with conflicting ideals. Professor Jonathan Shepherd not only recognised the link between public violence and emergency hospital…
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Queen Priyanka on Crazy-Ass Dog Ownership
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41:53Queen Priyanka is many things: singer, drag queen, Canadian television personality. But today we talk about her role as dog owner and keen observer of the quirks and personality facets of other dog owners, specifically the kind of dog owner that can be characterized as “crazy-ass dog owner.” If you like dogs, are fascinated by the eclectic habits o…
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Doyne Farmer on making sense of chaos for a better world
28:32
28:32
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28:32Doyne Farmer is something of a rebel. Back in the seventies, when he was a student, he walked into a casino in Las Vegas, sat down at a roulette table and beat the house. To anyone watching the wheel spin and the ball clatter to its final resting place, his choice of number would’ve looked like a lucky guess. But knowing the physics of the game and…
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BONUS MINI-SODE: Naps with Normies: Bikram Chatterji
12:26
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12:26Being the CEO of Maximum Fun is not as glamorous as you might expect. In fact, it involves a lot of running reports. That’s what we found out from Bikram Chatterji in our latest and final installment of our Naps with Normies series. Tune in and drift off for a quick snooze while the big boss of the whole shebang reveals how shockingly normal his wo…
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BONUS MINI-SODE: Naps with Normies: April Pendergraft
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5:55You’ve heard of the Max Fun Drive. Perhaps you’ve heard us mention it eight billion times. We have to. It’s how we are able to exist. The person who runs the whole drive is April and while she won’t extoll you to donate during this edition of Naps with Normies, she will tell you all about all the spreadsheets and reports she has to run. Just a cons…
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Astronaut and Dog Lover Leland Melvin on Dogs, Space, and Building Campers
49:46
49:46
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49:46You’ve likely seen some of the famous pictures of former astronaut and NFL player Leland Melvin with his two beloved and boisterous dogs, Jake and Scout, Leland is wearing a space suit, the dogs are showering him with affection. It’s really wonderful. Leland, WHO HAS BEEN TO SPACE, tells us all about the dogs he’s had, what it’s like to orbit the e…
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Tori Herridge on ancient dwarf elephants and frozen mammoths
28:39
28:39
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28:39Elephants are the largest living land mammal and today our planet is home to three species: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. But a hundred thousand years ago, in the chilly depths of the Ice Age, multiple species of elephant roamed the earth: from dog-sized dwarf elephants to towering woolly mammoths. …
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BONUS MINI-SODE: Naps with Normies: Danny Baruela
10:57
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10:57Danny Baruela is responsible for you being able to hear your favorite shows at Maximum Fun, serving as the company’s Technology and Data Specialist. Unlike many people who we have as guests, he’s not a celebrity. Has no movie to promote nor album to plug. He’s a normie, with tasks to perform, a life to live, and a great deal of complicated computer…
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BONUS CONTENT PREVIEW: The Celebrity Parade of Dreams Supershow
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5:18When you become a member of Maximum Fun at even the $5/month level, you get access to our entire library of Bonus Content, including this year’s Sleeping with Celebrities special: The Celebrity Parade of Dreams Supershow. We asked guests from the last year of the show to tell us their weirdest and funniest dreams to lay the groundwork for dream of …
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Laura Swisher, also known as Swish, is a senior producer at Maximum Fun, overseeing several shows, including ours. Unlike many people who we have as guests, she’s not a celebrity. Has no movie to promote nor album to plug. She’s a normie, with tasks to perform, a life to live, and so many dogs to sit. Get to know Swish as you settle in for a nap. W…
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BEDTIME STORY MINI-SODE: Ducky the Dog and His Many Couches
11:42
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11:42During the Max Fun Drive, we’re offering you special mini-sodes in our regular feed. In this one, host John Moe tells of fostering a rescue dog named Ducky who is really moved by being allowed up on the couch. So much so that he builds a vast network of used and donated couches for dogs to lie down and relax on. It’s a really impressive business mo…
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BEDTIME STORY MINI-SODE: The All-Iguana Band
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10:40Certain movies would have you believe the dogs can play football but I think we all agree iguanas shouldn’t. They’re too delicate. They can, however, form eclectic musical ensembles and play mid-tempo music on bugle, triangle, oboe, and woodblock. This is the story of one band that did just that and was much beloved by a local football team, especi…
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A Soothing Nighttime Edition with Steve Inskeep of NPR’s Morning Edition
50:16
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50:16For many people, Steve Inskeep is a voice you hear in the morning on NPR in intermittent bursts, sometimes telling you about alarming news. We switch that around with Steve, bringing him to you for a bedtime appearance and speaking at length about things that are benign or even pleasant. Steve discusses the state of Indiana, Abraham Lincoln, the pr…
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Sir Magdi Yacoub on pioneering heart transplant surgery
28:35
28:35
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28:35What does it take to earn the nickname, ‘The Leonardo da Vinci of heart surgery’? That's the moniker given to today's guest - a man who pioneered high-profile and often controversial procedures, but also helped drive huge medical progress; carrying out around 2,000 heart transplants and 400 dual heart-lung transplants during his 60-year career. Sir…
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BEDTIME STORY MINI-SODE: Louie the Tugboat’s Teriyaki Restaurant
12:51
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12:51Obviously, Seattle has a rich and vibrant wizard scene. We all know this. Well, one day, one of the wizards turned a tugboat named Louie into a human being and Louie decided to do one of the most Seattle things possible: open a teriyaki restaurant. He was really good at it. The meat was not too soggy but not burnt, the glaze was sweet and just a li…
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BEDTIME STORY MINI-SODE: Ed’s House of Many Onions (and Dancing)
12:11
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12:11During the Max Fun Drive, we’re offering you special mini-sodes in our regular feed. In this one, host John Moe tells one of his improvised and semi-drowsy bedtime stories. It’s about an onionman named Ed, who opens the shop of his dreams, selling all 21 types of onions. But in the effort to market his shop, he finds a love even greater than onions…
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A Calm and Soothing Trip to Escape Rooms with Mary Holland
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40:05You may know actress and comedian Mary Holland from the new movie Nightbitch or from TV shows like Veep, Bob’s Burgers, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Or you might know her from literally hundreds of escape rooms around the country, where she absolutely loves solving puzzles, cracking codes, and figuring out how to escape the room. And then…
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