When I saw musician Maria Jacobson (the creative force behind Fran) was starting a new podcast called Godless—asking guests, "Do you believe in God?" and all the other questions it encompasses—I knew I had to have her on This Is Your Afterlife. So here she is! It's a warm, fun, easy convo about hard stuff, just like we like it. Content warning: anx…

Second City and Matt Damon Improv's Phylicia McLeod sits down with me to hash out how to deal with strict Christian parents whose idea of what's best for you is different than yours. Content warning: dead sibling, alcoholism, Pentecostal childhood, playing Lil Boosie/Boosie Badazz at your funeral, presence as the solution to boredom in paradise, ma…

When everyone went scrambling to therapy during lockdown in 2020, what did the therapists think? Find out in this sweet and intimate conversation with Nick Turner, aka the experimental ambient musician Tyresta. I've had lots of musicians who are in Nick's orbit as guests, but he's the first one to really delve into the music-making process, so this…

Beneath the singing, performing, and party organizing, Anna De Ocampo Kain sees themself as a facilitator. I get to the bottom of how the pandemic has changed her career plans to explore my own anger about it. Content warning: seeing a dead body, dead friends, vocal hemorrhage, Lyme disease, storefront opera, funeral karaoke, rejecting institutions…

Comedian, writer, and artist Julie Mitchell and I get on like gangbusters in this episode that easily could have gone twice as long. The whole conversation felt like unhinging a release valve for me, despite taking on one of my toughest challenges yet as a host: Julie has a definitive coma moment, but it's too raw and unresolved for her to go into …

The Fuubutsushi collection is complete! Chris Jusell, the ambient jazz band's violinist, joins me to jump down all the pop culture rabbit holes our brains present us as we try to get to the bottom of why Chris says he wants to take up as little space as possible. 'Cause does he really? Btw, I forgot to mention the Pigeon patrons on Patreon in my in…

"All the perfections are left in," I say in the intro to this perhaps-greatest-ever episode of the podcast, and yes, I meant "imperfections." But I enjoy the mistake, so it stays in, which is fitting for an episode I've minimally edited so that you can experience it as close to how I did as possible. And fitting for an episode in which legendary ex…

Does Pinko editor Max Fox have a thing with posthumous projects? We explore Max's relationship to death by talking about his work editing his friend Chris Chitty's book, Sexual Hegemony: Statecraft, Sodomy, and Capital in the Rise of the World System. Content warning: suicide, dead friends, anxiety, legacy, Accountability, history is real, gay comm…

Mark Richardson (former Editor-in-Chief at Pitchfork, current rock and pop music critic at the Wall Street Journal) tells me about his tendency to help others rather than himself, being pushed into following his dream, and keeping a grasp on the substance of that dream. Content warning: anxiety, cancer, dementia, parents dying, Christian heaven sou…

After 20 years in prison, C. Fausto Cabrera is free. Six weeks post-release is quite a time to talk about transformation, and here we go. Content warning: prison, anxiety and depression, social death, not being a victim, dry room, Keats' negative capability, doing party drugs and getting lost at sea, beets and boiled eggs. If you believe in This Is…

Chaz texted me, "it’s pretty nice to be reciprocal fans dave." I texted back, "It’s so nice! Such a well of comfort and inspiration." Chaz is the third of four members of ambient jazz band Fuubutsushi who I've had on the podcast. And his solo-and-friends recordings as Lake Mary are divine. Enjoy this exploration of his artistry, pains, and loves, w…

Neo-Futurist Abby Pajakowski joins me for an in-person episode from my kitchen, and we get real specific on their hell, a party game, and the exact ways in which a single night in bed can change your life. Content warning: anxiety, depression, someone slowly approaching with a gun, Antz, mailed cremains, glorious limbo, losing your religion and it'…

Perfect This Is Your Afterlife guest alert! Aaron Weaver is a comedian who's been thinking about spirituality maybe his whole life? He shares the tools he's picked up recently for being present and staying in his body. Those are buzzwords, but we get specific. We also talk a lot about Aaron's friend, Kenny DeForest, an excellent comedian and amazin…

Zach Peterson wants to be the Butthole Surfers of comedy. Next step: release his new special, A List of Wet Celebrities, this Thursday, January 25! Content warning: anxiety, OCD, dead parents, Burger King panic attack, sobriety, success, Neil Young, cigarette heaven, Rick Rubin's "The Creative Act," John Prine's "The Tree of Forgiveness," outsider …

Surprise! It's another installment of TIYA REMIXED, in which I re-edit classic interviews from the archives as refreshers for fans and great introductory episodes for new folks. Dylan Rodriguez is a founding member of Critical Resistance, an organization that for decades has provided leadership and resources in the movement to abolish the prison in…

Alejandro Salinas may or may not be a death doula, but he's definitely a vampire. Content warning: even more death talk than usual (incl. dead dad), ice cube as reincarnation metaphor, bird eye contact, why goths are tall, dying practice. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at …

Tyler Parker (The Ringer) wrote a damn novel! A Little Blood and Dancing is a technicolor Oklahoma revenge story, and I was so stoked to talk to an old friend from Chicago improv about the transition from performing comedy to writing fiction. Content warning: Christian music, wanting to record your own audiobook, what hell would do to your vocal co…

Friend, TIYA superfan, and This Is Your Aftershow cohost Claire Favret returns to the main feed for our annual New Year's Special episode. We celebrate our years of minimal and no resolutions, and we answer a series of New Year's reflection questions Claire is pretty sure came from Simi Botic of Movement Unmeasured. Content warning: YOU DON'T NEED …

Comedian, sex worker, and writer Daniel Shar directed my first one-man show, Dave Maher Coma Show. The experience changed everything for me creatively and turned us from acquaintances into full-blow friends. Shar is so creative and funny, and he produces work as efficiently as a Comedy Terminator. Content warning: mom's death, breakup, porn career,…

John Michael is my solo play-creating peer, independent art comrade-in-arms, and throwing-humor-at-heavy-subjects brother. I talked to him in my kitchen a couple weeks after seeing his most recent show, Spank Bank Time Machine, at the Neo-Futurist Theater. It's a new TIYA classic. Content warning: drug overdose, mental illness, weird bits, giddy la…

Al—first names only this episode—is a member of MASK UP, a group of organizers who authored a 70-page doc called “How to Talk to Your Loved Ones About Covid,” which you can find at covid.tips. I don't follow the usual format for this interview. COVID has given shape to This Is Your Afterlife in many ways, so I wanted to explore my current thoughts …

Matthew Sage (aka M. Sage) and Fuubutsushi put out four records—aligned with the seasons—that helped keep me sane in quarantine. I talked to him in 2021 in this classic TIYA, and now he's my friend. I took my editing finger to this episode as an experiment to see if I could bring it under 30 minutes. I'm calling this leaner version of the podcast T…

I've been loving Kayte Terry's cannibalism podcast, Tender Subject. It's a weird sell, and that's what I like about it! The visual artist and podcast joins me to bond over type 1 diabetes stuff and talk about the art school permission that was her coma. Content warning: body horror (& Cronenburg, & Crimes of the Future), blood lickers, mushroom sui…

Jonathan Euseppi has passed away from cancer. I ramble in the intro about who Jonathan is to me, and I've copied the show notes from Jonathan's This Is Your Afterlife episode below to give you more context. I'm uploading this as a new episode in the feed because it is the extended version of our conversation, previously available only on Patreon. I…

Friend of the show Claire Favret helps me process the process of creating my new one-man show, Here to Make Friends. Content warning: Free Palestine, creative process, postcoital vs. postpartum, Infinite Jest version, massive amounts of navel gazing, the most powerful Afterhead, future of the podcast, Free Palestine. Patreon supporters make This Is…

What do comedy and magic have in common? What does it take to produce an independent magic and/or comedy show? I talk to my friend, previous TIYA guest, and magician Rebecca Spectre about our recent/upcoming shows, and how we went about both making them and putting them on. Content warning: DIY producing, comedy vs. magic, you're not Beyonce, "borr…

What percent odds do you actually believe you will experience the apocalypse in your lifetime? That's a question from my most recent one-man show, Here to Make Friends, so I brought in my pals and collaborators Meaghan Strickland, Bill Stern, and Nick Leveski to help me answer it, in a roundabout way. "Roundabout" because before they answer the que…

This is a podcast in which two comedians, Ariel Elias and Dave Maher, talk about the television program "Survivor." It is not a recap podcast. Each episode, we chose a single moment from the show's 40+ seasons and connected it to comedy, creativity, our personal lives, our relationship to each other, and so many other things. It's a hangout show wi…

This is a podcast in which two comedians, Ariel Elias and Dave Maher, talk about the television program "Survivor." It is not a recap podcast. Each episode, we chose a single moment from the show's 40+ seasons and connected it to comedy, creativity, our personal lives, our relationship to each other, and so many other things. It's a hangout show wi…

This is a podcast in which two comedians, Ariel Elias and Dave Maher, talk about the television program "Survivor." It is not a recap podcast. Each episode, we chose a single moment from the show's 40+ seasons and connected it to comedy, creativity, our personal lives, our relationship to each other, and so many other things. It's a hangout show wi…

This is a podcast in which two comedians, Ariel Elias and Dave Maher, talk about the television program "Survivor." It is not a recap podcast. Each episode, we chose a single moment from the show's 40+ seasons and connected it to comedy, creativity, our personal lives, our relationship to each other, and so many other things. It's a hangout show wi…

This is a podcast in which two comedians, Ariel Elias and Dave Maher, talk about the television program "Survivor." It is not a recap podcast. Each episode, we chose a single moment from the show's 40+ seasons and connected it to comedy, creativity, our personal lives, our relationship to each other, and so many other things. It's a hangout show wi…

It's September 2023, which means ANYTHING GOES in the lead-up to my third one-man show, Here to Make Friends. In this episode of the podcast, my aftershow co-hosts Meaghan Strickland and Claire Favret join me to present the one-man show that could have been: How to Use the Sidewalk Properly. Sidewalk Commandments You must be willing to shift down t…

Announcing my new one-man show and first big live show in 4 years: Here to Make Friends. In 2020, I watched 40 seasons of "Survivor" in 4 months. That + COVID alienation = Here to Make Friends. Enhancing the show is my recent revelation that at my artistic core, I'm an interviewer. Here to Make Friends will be at the Neo-Futurist theater in Chicago…

David Drake is a father, doer of drugs in national parks, and fantastic comedian. We talk a lot of comedy process on this episode! Content warning: drugs, being an observer, standup comedy, major vs. minor storytelling, snapping out of limbo. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead…

Comedian and video creator Steve Tapas (Win It All, Easy) inspires a This Is Your Afterlife first: a long-form exploration of gambling addiction. Content warning: gambling, addiction, suicidal ideation, storage facilities, Greece, homemade filo, a bench with your name on it. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bo…

You may hear writer and theater/performance/comedy/sound theorist Eleanor Russell, but you may not see her. Content warning: nature vs. nurture fuckup, first time seeing Jurassic Park in the theater, childbirth but more like having a pregnant body. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Aft…

Alyx Goodwin (#StopShotSpotter campaign) posits: What if you could be an organizer who is tired and, like, kinda happy? Content warning: abusive relationship, Everything Everywhere All at Once, "ugh, adulting," parenting is easy, beer weenies. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhea…

Comedian and good buddy Lucas O'Neil (Comedy Central) shares his deep need to do things right. Content warning: grieving correctly, mother's death, Mainers, pet boundaries, being freed of potential. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher. Go see "Lucas O'N…

A subtle snow theme in this episode with sketch comedian and improviser Karl Bradley (Cigarette Sandwich). Content warning: suicidal consideration, black hole event horizons, wishing to be at least 200 different people, I DO NOT BELIEVE ANYONE HAS ACTUALLY EXPERIENCED DEJA VU. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome …

In a This Is Your Afterlife first, comedian Ian Abramson (Conan, Gary Busey's Pet Court) brought a full-on written piece as his sideways answer to "What's your coma?" It's a description of the afterlife that's really about his dad's death, and it rings eerily familiar to my experience waking up from a coma after being eulogized on Facebook. Content…

Actor, clown, and physical theater artist extraordinaire Molly Brennan has performed in plays at the Goodman Theatre, emceed The Fly Honey Show, and toured the world with her legendary 500 Clown troupe (defunct for some time now). She soothes me with a beautiful New Hampshire memory, talk of her atheist upbringing and DIY ethic, and only the righte…

Jason P. Woodbury (Aquarium Drunkard, JPW) and I bring our mutual admiration society to the mics. It's an experiment. Do you like it? Content warning: UFO/UAP sighting, moments of rupture, dental hell, pretty AND funny, evangelical Christianity, Audio Adrenaline, loop. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus ep…

Comedian and TV writer Tim Barnes (The Tonight Show, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central) and I bond over our longing for disembodiment. Content warning: race, class, retail mirror reflections, abstraction, the Phantom Menace hype machine. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon…

Neo-Futurist Neil Bhandari and I really hit it off! We bonded over being big talkers and mischievous little guys (in the full convo you can hear on Patreon), and it was a joy to relate to his neuroses and listen to him describe moments of peace and LIFE. Content warning: India, Costa Rica, language barriers, extreme cold, the problem with the after…

In this solo episode, I respond to a suggestion from Mom Stomp's Jo Scott to talk pet peeves. I also provide highly specific and surprisingly sincere affirmations. Content warning: human nature, (anti-)local pride, outside sounds, synchronicity, imaginary enemies, being present. Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesom…

Owen Black, one of the most interesting conversationalists I know, is a writer and once-a-year comedian on his birthday. Hot off his 35th birthday set, my old standup buddy and I talk about his travels, upbringing, relationship to Blackness, and his new Instagram project. Content warning: walking through town eating gelato in the South of France, h…

To kick off our first season on the theme of "Family Matters," we're talking about HBO's Succession: a show about daddy that's got a lot of mommy issues. While clearly positioned among HBO's prestige dramas (and currently Emmy campaigning as such), many critics and fans have made the case that Succession is quite clearly a comedy. So how do we read…

Hilarious and thoughtful comedian/my good friend Andrew Tisher delivers an all-time great episode. Content warning: noisy neighbors, highly personal afterlife cinema, Thomas Aquinas, Brooklyn Annoyance Theatre, college lunches during thunderstorms in New Mexico, what if hell is real? Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get a…

Here's the trailer for Genre Reveal Party. Writer/cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley and comedian/actor Dave Maher host this podcast exploring tv and movies through the lenses of politics and genre. Season 1 is "Family Matters," focusing on family stories like "Succession," "A Serious Man," "Star Trek: Picard," and "Fast X." Episodes drop on Fr…