This Is Your Afterlife

Nov 12 2024 217 ep. 55 mins 5

This Is Your Afterlife Podcast artwork

What happens when we die? What if this is the afterlife? Comedian, coma survivor, and former Pitchfork writer Dave Maher ("This American Life") asks artists, entertainers, and activists for definite answers to these unanswerable questions.

Society & Culture Comedy Religion & Spirituality

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Just Us: The Guests I Don't Book

Nov 12 2024 50 mins

READ THIS!Life has made it hard to put out the podcast weekly, and I can't stop myself from apologizing for that. Just know this is a temporary situation. Diabetes trauma, depression, and full-time work have been hurdles, but I've nearly cleared the first two. I know better than to make promises about show frequency or format now, but I didn't when recording this episode. Rather th

Just Us: The THIS

Oct 16 2024 42 mins

THIS solo episode comes from my car during my lunch break.I talk about:Reading Black Metal Rainbows and the uncanny experience of enjoying reading about an art form more than the art form itself, though I'm still enjoying Dawn Treader's Bloom & DecayThe images of Shaaban Ahmad via @letstalkpalestine and so many other places: a 19-year-old software engineering student burni

Keys to All My Favorite Places with Emma Casey

Oct 08 2024 67 mins

The Neo-Futurists series continues with dyed-in-the-wool weirdo Emma Casey. We bond over our recovery from the hyperindividualism of mistranslating punk ideology, and she shares a walk through New York City that could only happen with the confidence of youth. She's very cool and thoughtful and lovable, and I hope you love her!Content warning: whiteness, pristine coffee shop hell, p

What Is Won't Be with Adam Gilbert

Oct 01 2024 63 mins

Adam Gilbert (Just for Laughs) is a real sweetie, and he was in a punchy mood (or maybe that's just him?) when we recorded. And even though he compared me to Bill Maher, we had a lot of fun. This makes two weeks in a row of standups, and who knows, maybe this is the start of This Is Your Afterlife as traditional comedy podcast! (It's not.)Content warning: alcoholism, dead dad, esca

80% TikTok, 20% Mushrooms with Steven Castillo

Sep 24 2024 51 mins

SNL writer, stand-up comedy comrade of mine, and O.G. observer of my coma, Steven Castillo joins me to brag about the memory of his second Saturday Night Live audition. Actually, this is a very sweet and warm chat between old friends, and I was so grateful to have it (on my 40th birthday! I don't mention this on the main feed, but it's in the full convo on the Patreon). Now it's yo

Not Everything Is a Sign + The BLT Scale with Claire Favret

Sep 17 2024 95 mins

"Why Cleveland?" is the question I get when I tell people I moved from Chicago to Cleveland, mostly from people IN Cleveland. This Very Special Episode of This Is Your Afterlife does not answer "why" and in fact cautions against reading too much into every little detail of such a huge life transformation. My lovely pal, very funny comedian, and big TIYA fan Claire Favret helps me t

RIYL Will Oldham's Episode: The Patrick Shiroishi Taco Bell Episode

Jul 30 2024 55 mins

As a follow-up to last week's Will Oldham episode, I'm re-releasing my episode with the man Will called an "internet angel," saxophonist and Fuubutsushi member Patrick Shiroishi.This conversation has been on my mind because my move to Cleveland has come with consuming more Taco Bell than I have in the past decade, so take any shade I throw toward T. Bell with that grain of salt.In

My Best Self Is the Person That's Making Songs with Will Oldham aka Bonnie Prince Billy

Jul 23 2024 77 mins

Booking This Is Your Afterlife sometimes looks like me hand-writing a list of dream guests off the top of my head. Will Oldham appears on every one of those lists. I've been a fan since he released the first Superwolf album with Matt Sweeney in 2005, and their 2021 follow-up, Superwolves, joins it as one of my favorite albums ever.Few artists are better at combining mystery, sincer

This Existence Is So Much Grasping with Steven Strafford

Jul 16 2024 55 mins

Playwright, actor, and well-balanced adult Steven Strafford is a breath of fresh air when it comes to putting creative pursuits in their proper place, i.e. as part of a life rather than a whole life. It was wonderful to talk to him about sobriety, meeting his husband, and moving from Chicago to Ohio as a grown man.Content warning: sobriety, family, having kids, people pleasing, ant

Punishment Is Not Balance with Benji Hart

Jul 09 2024 68 mins

I've wanted artist, writer, educator, and organizer Benji Hart on the show for a while, and today we finally make it happen. It's such a pleasure to speak with them about navigating abolition work while acknowledging the very human desire to see evil punished. It's something I think about a lot, and clearly Benji does too.Content warning: abolition, punishment, religion, not being