Episode 176: Molly McAleer

if you o.d. at a phish concert, call the JAMBULANCE!
hello friends! i hope you're all doing well. i am. i've had a good week. i just went running and did some laundry. pretty productive, huh? i played a solo show this week at the saxon pub here in austin... i had a great time. i was joined on stage by my friends, todd v. wolfson (on kazoo), jeremy nail and kurt neumann from the bodeans! it was great. i had a blast playing my songs and i'm looking forward to doing more. hey! we have a live podcast coming up on june 19th at strange brew in austin, tx. my guests will be nakia, jazz mills, the boxing lesson and more! if you're here, you should come out! we're going to be giving away some prizes and taking some audience questions. also, these are all very entertaining people who you can count on for a good time. seriously, come out!
my guest for episode 176 is molly mcaleer. molly is an internet personality, a writer for the cbs comedy hit, "two broke girls" and co-founder of the extremely popular website, hellogiggles.com. i met molly through a co-worker of hers while she was in town writing. we hit it off, became fast friends and had some great hangs while she was here. the day before molly left, i went to her apt and we sat down and talked about her life. she has a great story and she is an extremely entertaining person. i wish she lived here. i hope you enjoy our conversation. i did.
ciao! -jg

Episode 174: The Venus Illuminato

hello friends! i hope this episode finds you happy and healthy. things are going well here in my life. i've been laying low this week. i had some dental work done earlier this week and i've just been recuperating. i've done quite a few podcasts, i've played guitar and piano, listened to an audiobook ("hollywood animal" by joe eszterhas) and watched a couple of movies. i've also booked some shows. i have a solo acoustic show next wednesday, may 29th at 10pm at the saxon pub in austin, tx. if you're in austin, come out and i'll sing you songs and tell you stories. it's fun. also, i have some big news we have a live "how did i get here?" recording coming up on wednesday, june 19th at 7 pm at strange brew. i've reached out to some folks and and so far jazz mills, nakia and the boxing lesson are confirmed!!! i'm very excited about this. i hope that if you're in austin, you'll come out and join the party!
my guest for episode 174 is the talented, entertaining and eccentric frontman from the venus illuminato, rob franco. rob is a modern renaissance man, he's a musician, actor and vegan food truck owner. rob is also very handsome. i've been friends with rob for around a decade. at some point like 8 years ago, i produced an album for his old band, dragonfly jones. i've always found him to be incredibly entertaining. always "on" and very funny. he's also a very talented singer and songwriter with an adventurous soul. rob came by the apartment last week and we talked about growing up in small town texas, going to new york, acting, traveling, kung fu, living in a tee pee, fighting monkeys, los angeles, food trucks and much, much more. i hope you enjoy our conversation. i sure did.
ciao! -jg

Episode 172: Live at Saxon Pub w/ Edison Chair and David Cotton!

hello friends! i hope life is treating you well. my guests for episode 172 are the band, edison chair and austin treasure, david cotton. this was recorded earlier this week at the saxon pub in austin, tx. edison chair has just released a new e.p. produced by matt novesky (blue october), they've changed some members and added some girls. i was joined by founding members, martin aker, wes armstrong and will bryant. we talk about how they got together and why, "secret asian man" , girls, power pop and much more. first up, i'm joined on stage by david cotton. david and i have worked together and been friends for 20 years. we talk about the rooms he books, bill hicks, the houston comedy scene and more! i would like to thank everyone who came out. the audience was very, very cool. also, thanks to the saxon for having us and jay thomas for recording it. i hope you enjoy this episode. i did!
ciao! -jg

Episode 166: Jitterbug Vipers

hello my friends!!!! i hope you are all doing/feeling/being well. i am. i've had a great week. the moontower comedy festival has been in town and i've gone the last two nights. i've seen a lot of comedy, made some friends and hung out with other friends. they have an after show party that's also a lot of fun. i saw so much comedy. it was  a lot of fun, but i am looking forward to getting back to playing some shows. speaking of which, i have a solo acoustic show on monday, may 6th at 7pm at the saxon pub in austin, tx. if you're here, come by. i'll be opening for bob schneider.
my guests for episode 166, is the prohibition-era jazz band,  jitterbug vipers. i don't always have whole bands on the show, but to get the idea of this wonderfully talented group of kooks, you need them to be together. luckily, we were able to pull it off. it was early, i was hungover, but we got to business... masumi and sarah sharp meeting at the berklee college of music, slim and francie's 15 marriages to each other, slim's hit and run. their new album featuring mostly songs written by sarah, their show on may 4th at the one world theater and much, much more. we laugh a lot on this one. these are some crazy, talented folks and i really enjoyed my conversation with them. i hope you do too.
ciao! -jg

Episode 163: Rob Mungle

"one question... can i perform shakespeare there?"
hello my lovelies! i hope this episode finds you happy and healthy. i think i'm happy and healthy. i am running out the door to tape an episode of the hodgecast. the hodgecast is a podcast hosted by my friend, charlie hodge. he and his co-host, matt sadler have been guests on this show and i have been on their show many, many times. i'm looking forward to it. i bet it will be up tomorrow. i'm thinking about making t-shirts... would you want a t-shirt? tweet at me. let me know. maybe i should put someone in charge of it. shit! i need an intern. i'm terrible at getting these kinds of things done. then when i get them done, i'm terrible at keeping up with them. let's see what happens.
my guest for episode 163 is stand-up comic and part of the whiskey brothers podcast, rob mungle. i've known rob for a few years. he comes out to the SKYROCKET! shows in houston. we usually talk and hang for a bit. he's a great guy. he's a very funny guy. the whiskey brothers podcast was just at #38 on the itunes comedy podcast chart. that's quite an accomplishment. he came by my hotel when i was in houston a few weeks ago and we sat down and talked about the comedy scene, podcasts and much, much more. i hope you enjoy our conversation. i did.
ciao! -jg

Episode 162: Lucas Molandes

hello friends! how are you guys? i just woke up... it's obscenely early. i was too tired when i go home last night to do this. i got a few hours of sleep, i'm jacked up on coffee and i'm ready to write. i played with SKYROCKET! last night and we're playing the next two nights. i can't tell you how nice it is to work with people you love and enjoy being around. it's a good thing and i consider myself very lucky. i make fun of it a lot because it's also very silly, but it's a good time and i love my friends.
hey!!!! we're working on our live shows... talking to SPACE about an "invite only" live podcast event. look for that soon!!!!
my guest for episode 162 is extremely funny comic/writer, lucas molandes. lucas won austin's funniest person in 2010, he has appeared on comedy central's "live at gotham", austin's moontower comedy festival (i saw him open for marc maron @ last years festival) , montreal's "just for laughs" festival, written for mtv and much, much more. i've gotten to hang out with lucas and see him perform a few times over the last couple of months and i really like him and i think what he's really, really funny. if you're in austin this weekend, he'll be doing two shows on saturday, april 13th at the velveeta room. he'll also be at the moontower comedy festival (just got my badge yesterday!!!). you can also find him doing stand up somewhere in austin almost every night of the week. find out more about lucas at lucascomedy.com . i hope you enjoy our conversation. i did.
ciao! -jg

Episode 156: Steve Poltz

hello friends! i hope you're well and well rested. i've been sleeping later this week than i have in years and i fucking love it!!! it's been so nice. when i have woken up too early, i've been able to go back to sleep until i'm actually ready to wake up. so, i'm well rested. i saw my friend, lucas molandes do some comedy last night. if you like comedy and live in austin, i suggest you get out and see some of these guys like lucas, jake flores, chris cubas, matt sadler, matt bearden and so many more. there are some really funny people here right now. i'm actually going to see jake flores do some stand-up tonight. you might remember him from episode 36 of this show. after the comedy, i'm going to see my best friend, joseph king play at the scoot inn. he'll be playing every thursday for the next month. i'll be on the bill on thursday, april 4th at 9:30... the scoot inn. come out. get down.
my guest for episode 156 is the amazingly talented and entertaining, steve poltz!!!! you might know steve from co-writing "you were meant for me" with jewel, or one of his many solo albums, or from seeing him at one of his 250 performances every year. i've known about steve and his legend for years. i finally got to witness it several times this week and i fucking loved it! he is an incredible songwriter and possibly the most entertaining entertainer i have ever seen. i went to his hotel this week and we sat down and talked about, inappropriate times to laugh, drugs, naked shows, finding your true self, traveling, how jewel would skin him if he were a deer and much, much more. this was one of my favorite conversations i've ever had. steve is a true gem of a person and i'm so glad we met. let's get down!
ciao! -jg

Episode 155: SXSW 2013 Part 2 - Howard Kremer, A Fragile Tomorrow, No Way Josie, The Attic Ends

another sxsw has come and gone. i miss having parties to go to at noon.
hello friends! i hope you're well. if you were at sxsw 2013, i hope your life has gone back to normal by now. it's taken on a "las vegas on spring break" sort of intensity. walking down one of the closed off streets feels like walking through a tunnel full of white noise, sunshine and bearded dudes in skinny jeans. it's a lot of days. it used to start on wednesday and end on saturday with a softball game on sunday... now it goes for a week and a half and i swear i saw a band playing a showcase at my 7-11. it's huge. it's just gonna get bigger and longer and add more things. by 2020,  it'll be "the 2020 sxsw music/film/interactive/television/comedy/comic con/podcast/cable news/audiobook/cell phone/music business reenactment/youtube/facebook/pintrest/ mustache - festival"... it just means more parties. is that good, bad or is it just change?
episode 155 is another sxsw mash-up with some of the festival's hottest tickets! up first is comedian/musician/rapper/host of the very popular podcast, "who charted", howard kremer a.k.a. dragon boy suede. i am a huge fan and i was glad he took some time to sit down and chat with me with me. we talk about podcasting, "austin stories", the new dragon boy suede album, "douche minutiae" and much, much more... our second guests are south carolina power pop band, a fragile tomorrow. i just walked in to a show, saw them playing and i was blown away. i had them come outside and talk to me and we talked about having their album produced by the great, mitch easter, some of the album's special guests are, the bangles, susan cowsill and amy ray! great band and great guys... our third guests are brooklyn dance/pop duo, no way josie! andrew and kym rode their bikes to my apartment and we talked about music, life, health, dancing and we laugh our asses off. i just love these guys so much. i had a blast chatting with them... last up, i got to catch-up with new york band, the attic ends. i finally got to see them play and it was fantastic. we had some cocktails and ducked into the driskill hotel bar and talked about their recent album and tour, songwriting, sxsw, being tall and much much more. there is also a lot of laughter on this one. i hope you enjoy these conversations. i really did. sxsw is gone, but i think i kept a little of the vibe on these two mash-up episodes. for pictures and updates, go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/How-Did-I-Get-Here/255200761176138
ciao! -jg

Episode 137: Dana Wheeler-Nicholson

can i borrow your towel?
 
hello my people! welcome to another episode of "how did i get here?".  i'd like to thank all of the folks that came out to the SKYROCKET! show last friday in pflugerville. we had a great time! i talked to a couple of fans of the podcast. thanks for saying hi and listening to the show. on that note, thanks to everyone who's been writing in and tweeting me about the show. i really appreciate it. on this episode i read some emails and tweets. keep 'em coming and i'll keep reading them!
 
my guest for episode 137 is actor, dana wheeler-nicholson. you might know dana as the chevy chase's love interest in "fletch", the movie, "tombstone", one of jerry's girlfriends on "seinfeld",  "friday night lights" and much, much more. i reached out to dana through my friend, todd wolfson and it tuns out, she's heard the show and was down for a podcast. she came to the apartment and we talked about her beginnings in new york city, her first audition with paul newman, moving to l.a., fletch, the movies and changes that followed. i had a great time getting to know this soulful woman. i know you will too. enjoy! ciao!-jg

Episode 119: Matt Sadler

hello people! it's finally cold and i love it! i bought a sweater the other day when i was playing in a ballroom at the galleria in houston. i saw the sweater in the window, fell in love, asked for a small, got a lot of sweet comments from the sales girl and bought it. i did not look at the price until she handed me the ticket to sign.... WOAH! it was expensive. so, i bought it anyway. then i watched kenny loggins perform and it was fabulous. i talk about it on the show.
my guest for episode 119 is comedian, fellow podcaster and my friend, matt sadler! outside of being an insanely funny stand-up comic, matt is the co-host of "the charlie hodge show"(on which i am a regular guest) and co-host of "totally hungover" with blynch and chuy zarate. i have gotten to know matt from my appearances on the charlie hodge show and i think he's really funny. so, i asked him to stop by and chat with me about being a touring comic, how he got into comedy and much, much more. i hope you enjoy our conversation.i did.
ciao! -jg
ps... let's get down!