I had the priviledge to sit with friends and colleagues of Norm Macdonald Bruce Clark, Jim McAleese, Lara Ray and Todd Van Allen. They shared their memories and thoughts of their time and experiences with Norm Macdonald. Thanks to Dexter Outhit for our new opening theme.By Matthew Ardill

In our final episode we return to a favourite album of mine, I chat Let's Get Small with Luba Magnus and Yaw Attuah. While this is the final episode of Comedy Album Book Club in its current incarnation please stay subscribed. We'll be bringing one off special conversations as well as coming back with a whole new format in the future. Thanks for thr…

In celebration of two years in the studio, we re-air this awesome episode featuring Courtney Gilmour where we chat about John Mulaney's Kid Gorgeous at Radio City. Our first full panel in the studio space.By Matthew Ardill

I had an opportunity to talk with the always funny Tracy Hamilton about comedy, self-care and her awesome podcast Love is Everywhere. This was a terrific opportunity to catch up with a funny friend and chat about the realities of the comedy world right now, their inspirations and some of their crazier experiences as a working stand-up (plus what ki…

Clare Blackwood and Ryan Hughes of Whisky Kids chat with Matt about the film Easy A, like a high-class podcast for governors or athletes.By Matthew Ardill

In this episode I have the pleasure of chatting with returning guests Alicia Carrick and Emily Milling as well as Julia Jones, Sam Sexton and Jo Anne Tacorda all of Big Chick Energy. It was a real joy to chat with this hilarious group (and do yourself a favour, check out their video Spanx live today). We discussed the incredible Ali Wong and her sp…

I sit with comics by Andy Wong, Christine Kay, Justin Antony, Kenzie Nelligan and Rosemary Quinlan to discuss the disgraced comic Louis C.K.'s album Hilarious. This is a difficult conversation about the comic at a pivotal moment in his career and how his eventual disgrace recontextualizes this earlier work.…

I sit with comedian Joe Vu where we talk about the mechanics of comedy and the life of a comedian. We also touch on his amazing album First Generation Comedian. If you can download it and give it a listen now.By Matthew Ardill

The pod is back for a special retro series of pods during the corona virus pandemic. First up Maciej and I take on the dark but colourful period of match-fixing in Polish football when anything was possible if you knew how to go about it. We talk about the title decider of the 1981-1982 season, the famous 1992-1993 denouement of the Polish league, …

All last week and all this week we're in the throes of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival 2020! The 15th festival has been a showcase of some amazing talent with both new acts and returning acts. One of the returning acts is Girl Brain from Edmonton. This awesome troupe composed of Alyson Dicey, Ellie Heath and Caley Suliak wowed audiences from the…

This week we sat with the hilarious Martha O'Neill and Karen O'Keefe to discuss their albums Fine Big Girl and Surprised Eyebrows. We touched on the process of recording an album, the state of comedy in Canada and the amazing powers of attraction granted to you on recording a comedy album. Thanks again to Karen and Martha for joining me and please …

Jason and Matt sit with Jim McAleese and Robin Archer to listen to the career-defining George Carlin album Class Clown. We discuss the impact George had on the comedy world and how he shaped our own views of comedy. We also discuss how his voice changed and evolved, his continued relevance and the lasting impression of his work to this day. We also…

In April of 2019 we sat down with funny people Grace Smith and Ryan Hughes to talk about Beth Stelling's awesome album Simply The Beth. We spent a great hour talking about Beth, the accessibility of her material and the power a good burp. After the episode, we decided to reach out to Beth and seeing if we could chat with her about the album, her in…

It's that time of year again, we're back for our second annual holiday special this year with writer, musician, filmmaker and performer Emily Milling plus writer and performer John Budreski of Weird Town Comedy sat with their fellow Weird Town citizen Matt. We each selected one of our favourite funny holiday films. Emily selected the Gubinator's fa…

This past spring my wife Heather and I visited the UK, on our trip we had the opportunity to sit down and chat with sisters Nicola and Rosie Dempsey also known as Flo & Joan. Fixtures of the Toronto sketch community who had returned to their native England sat with us over an initially sunny and progressively rainy brunch to talk about their influe…

We do a second deep dive into Lenny Bruce's album The Carnegie Hall Concert this time joined by special guest writer, comedian, playwright, educator and activist Lara Rae. Lara has spent many years working with some of the greats of comedy and was able to share their encyclopedic knowledge of comedy with some terrific first-hand accounts of talking…

Jason and Matt sit down talk with Andrew Lizotte to discuss the immensely influential Lenny Bruce and his seminal recording The Carnegie Hall Concert. It's a really deep dive into language, relevance and how many comedians who model their work after Bruce just can't reach what he's attained.By Matthew Ardill

The pod is back after a month's break as Maciej, Tomek and I cover all the latest news in the Polish Ekstraklasa, Poland's European failures (yet again) and make a half-hearted attempt to talk about the national team. Along the way we find out that Tomek watched Śląsk Wrocław's pre-season friendlies, how Legia Warsaw were big meanies in not letting…

Hey Chachi, put down your latte and get a load of Mr. Todd Van Allen and Mr. Chili Davidson taking a break and chatting with Jason and Matt about the 1988 debut album by Dennis Miller called The Off-White Album. We discuss the career of Dennis Miller and ponder what turned him from the comedian he was into the comedian he is (as well as the fact th…

We sit down with a batch of new comedians to talk about Jim Gaffigan's Grammy nominated album Mr. Universe. Thanks to Alicia Carrick, Liz Myers, Sunny B and Miguel Martin-Garcia for joining me to discuss the quiet and subtle darkness that is Jim Gaffigan.By Matthew Ardill

Joining us via Google Chat we sat with Alsa Bruno from the sunny Bay of San Francisco and Izaak Runkel Sunleaf from the bustling black and white cookie filled metropolis of New York. These two joined us from two of the most influential comedy cities in the world to talk about Richard Pryor's revolutionary album Live on the Sunset Strip. We talked a…

We had the joy of sitting with Marc Hallworth of Vest of Friends and Chili Davidson of Pay What You Can't to discuss Jerry Seinfeld's 1998 album and HBO special I'm Telling You For The Last Time. We discussed Jerry's impact on comedy, his continued relevance and the weird little differences between the album and the special. In addition to this ama…

I had the pleasure of sitting with Second City and Sketchersons alumnus Brandon Hackett, Brandon had previously joined us on our Saturday Night Live album episode from the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. In our on one one conversation we were able to discuss his early influences, the writing process and underrated nature of MadTV.…

Jason and Matt sit down with the incredibly funny and talented Grace Smith and Ryan Hughes to discuss Beth Stelling's album Simply the Beth. We touch on her incredible pacing, meticulous use of language and her instantly relatable humour, all whilst plumbing the dark arts of the dramaturge and family strengthening qualities of belching the alphabet…

In this, the last interview in our week long celebration of Canadian comedy, we sit with Pat Thornton to discuss their Juno nominated album Chicken! as well as the adorable dog the album was named after. I mean look at that cutey on the cover! ​Come back in April when we'll be discussing Simply The Beth with with Grace Smith and Ryan Hughes also ch…

The fourth interview in our week long celebration of Canadian comedy we sit with Mayce Galoni to discuss their Juno nominated album Awkwarder, what it was like recording an album and the experience of driving around Stanley Park with his partner for over ten hours. ​Tune in tomorrow for our conversation with Pat Thornton also while you're there che…

The third interview in our week long celebration of Canadian comedy we sit with Debra DiGiovanni to discuss their Juno nominated album Lady Jazz, the experience of recording an album and her life in Los Angeles.​Tune in the rest of the week for our conversations with Mayce Galoni and Pat Thornton also while you're there check out our last two inter…

Continuing our week long celebration of Canadian comedy we sit with Dave Merheje to discuss their Juno nominated album Good Friend Bad Grammar and the excitement of being nominated for a Juno.​Tune in the rest of the week for our conversations with Debra DiGiovanni, Mayce Galoni and Pat Thornton also while you're there check out yesterday's intervi…

The third episode in our week long celebration of Canadian comedy we sit with Chanty Marostica to chat about their Juno nominated album The Chanty Show and all the excitement since we last sat with Chanty.By Matthew Ardill

Recorded live at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival sit down with Robin Duke of Second City, SCTV, Saturday Night Live and Women Fully Clothed, Kerri Donaldson and Allie Entwistle of Brunch Comedy and their podcast You've Got Brunch as well as Brandon Hackett of Second City and The Sketchersons to talk about the 1976 cast recording of The Not Ready…

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is underway and Jason had the pleasure of sitting down with artists during a brunch gathering of sketch comedians. We talk with Carson Pinch about his show Carson Fears Fear Itself, Cam Wyllie about Cam Wyllie & Jon Plester Presents Fruit Cart Bonanza (and another show that we distinctly did not talk about because…

In this terrific episode Jason and Matt sit down with performer and teacher Jess Grant and writer and performer Tracy Hamilton to discuss the amazing and awesome album Ask Me About My New God! by Maria Bamford. During this conversation we have the joy of discussing the bright darkness that is Maria Bamford's comedy along with its healing power and …

We catch up with one of our very first guests Olivia Stadler (@ostadz). We have a great conversation about her last year and a half in the comedy world and how she's experienced her journey as well as the terrific new comedy show case she produces at The Comedy Bar called Literally Dead! It's a terrific conversation that touches on her inspirations…

We (Jason, Helena and Matt) had the joy of sitting down with Martha O'Neill and Andrew Fleming to discuss Robin Williams' debut album Reality... What A Concept. If you don't do drugs you'll surely feel like you've done them after going down the rabbit hole of Willams' album Reality... What a Concept. His rapid fire delivery, his off the cuff improv…

Jason, Helena Marie and Matt sit down to talk about their favourite holiday movies that are part of their holiday traditions. Jason and Helena selected holiday classics National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Home Alone... Matt selected the cultish comedy mock-musical AD/BC: A Rock Opera... of course. Here them talk about their holiday favourites…

In this week's episode Courtney Gilmour comes back to talk about her experiences as a stand up comedian. It's a great chat with a hilarious person and where we get to hear about everything from why she selected Kid Gorgeous as her album for the panel show to doing jokes in the nude. To find out more about her shows check out her Twitter, Instagram …

In our second panel episode from our shiny new studio space we sat down with comedians Courtney Gilmour (@CourtGilmour) and Ryan Dillon (@TheRyanDillon) to discuss the amazing album John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous At Radio City. We chat about assembly, sex ed and this incredible album by this gifted writer and teller of jokes.…

In celebration of Adam Sandler's well received new Netflix Special 100% Fresh we are re-airing our December 2017 episode of Adam Sandler's They're All Gonna Laugh At You. In it, Jason sits down with Jordan Kennedy, Jon Blair and Kat Letwin to discuss this Adam Sandler album. Join us in discussing this interesting and early work.…

The third in our JFL42 2018 interviews we chatted with Matteo Lane, I was lucky enough to catch him perform twice at the festival and it was a real joy. He joined me for a phone interview after his return to New York from Toronto and we discussed one of his favourite comedy albums Ellen Degeneres' special Here and Now. The chat was a blast, we talk…

Over the last two weeks of September JFL42 rolled into town and we got to sit with Jackie Kashian to talk about the state of the comedy world and her experiences in it but also about podcasts (like her two podcasts The Dork Forest and The Jackie and Laurie Show), fantasy novels, role playing games (including her husband's super hero game The Hero I…

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Chanty Marostica, the first out trans performer in JFL42 history and a finalist in the SiriusXM Top Comic competition. They just wrapped their solo show at The Comedy Bar last night and will be recording their set for the SiriusXM Top Comic special this evening. It was a great converation about comedy, creat…

It may be a bit late but the wait is worth it, welcome to the first episode of The Comedy Album Book Club recorded in our new studio. I was lucky enough to have the pleasure of sitting with SiriusXM Top Comic finalist Chanty Marostica, comedian Kat Letwin and playwright and performer Adam Bailey. We dug into the album Jesus Is Magic by Sarah Silver…

We wanted to welcome you to our new studio, unfortunately we're going to be a bit late in getting our first episode in the new space out and to your ears. Tune in next week though when we sit down with Chanty Marostica, Kat Letwin and Adam Bailey to discuss Sarah Silverman's Jesus Is Magic! In the mean time enjoy this picture of our recording space…

Wow, it's been a year already?! Thanks to everyone for being such an amazing gift! To Neil Jones for helping us get off the ground, to Andrea Miller and the folks at the Social Capital Theatre for being such amazing hosts! To Helena Marie for sitting in when Jason was sick and to every single guest Jules, Olivia, Craig, Martha, Jeremy, Nug, Sharily…

Unfortunately this month Jason couldn't join us so I (Matt Ardill @commonperson) had the pleasure of hosting the podcast. I was lucky enough to sit down with Peter Hill (@peterjameshill) and Sharilyn Johnson (@thirdbeat) to discuss the Robin Williams album A Night At The Met! It was a night to relive memories of our youth and laugh out loud from Th…

Hi everyone, this is Matt Ardill the co-producer of Comedy Album Book Club. I had the pleasure of sitting down with our guest Adam Bailey three weeks ago following his turn on the panel where we spoke about Eddie Izzard's Force Majeure. We got to talk about his process of writing and all the influences that go into it. A lot has happened since this…

This month we dig deep into the force of nature that is Eddie Izzard's live album Force Majeure. A two album extravaganza with God, Gods, Scuba diving, Darth Vader, Titans clashing and makeup. What more could you ask for? Jason (@JasonDeline) is joined once again by Ian MacIntyre (@mrianmacintyre) and Meryle Evans (@themeryle) as well as new comer …

Having had such a great time with Derek Forgie (The Ten Minute Talkshow) and Adam Kenneth Wilson (@adamkwilson) we decided to release this from the Disney vaults. It involved a heist led by Bill Murray, the elite hacking skills of Hackerman and the dry cool action hero wit of Jason Deline (@jasondeline). As usual Andrea Miller runs the show from be…

This month from The Social Capital Theatre (TheSoCap) Jason (Jason Deline) was joined by activist, comedian and ginger Derek Forgie (10 Minute Talkshow) as well as his partner in laughs and classy fellow Adam Kenneth Wilson (Adam K Wilson) to discuss Bill Hicks' posthumous work Arizona Bay. You could almost call it Three Funny Men and a Comedy Podc…

Our regular host Jason Deline (@JasonDeline) was under the weather and the intrepid Helena Marie stepped in to fill his hosting shoes while we discussed the multi-talented Ben Elton's album Motormouth. Joined by Neil Jones (Radio Project X), myself Matt Ardill (@commonperson) and Kyle Scott (@gkylescott) while we dive into the man who made Edmund B…