Los Angeles based band Electric Guest joins Scott to play songs off their new album “Plural” on this week’s musical episode of Comedy Bang! Bang! Singer-songwriter Brandon Potter (no relation to Harry Potter) also arrives to perform some of his personal flute songs. Plus, internet personality Janelle Jinx stops by to promote her popular YouTube channel.

This episode is brought to you by Last Week Tonight on HBO, ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com/cbb), Legal Zoom (www.legalzoom.com code: BANG BANG), and Stamps.com (www.stamps.com code: BANGBANG).

Jamie Denbo (Ronna & Beverly) and John Ross Bowie (The Big Bang Theory) aren’t the only Hamilheads in their household: their 9-year-old daughter, Nola, loves Hamilton, too. This enthusiastic Ham fam joins Travon and Mike to talk about “A Winter’s Ball” and their favorite parts of seeing the show live in New York City. Plus, they discuss how some people can harness their narcissism for the greater good.

This episode is brought to you by Zola (www.zola.com/HAMILTON).

Paul F. Tompkins welcomes everyone in these unwelcome times back to Spontaneanation! This week, Paul’s special guest and SOLE improvisor is Spontaneanation’s good friend Craig Cackowski! They chat about what rating Craig’s kitchen would receive if a health inspector were to enter his home, Craig’s unexpected responsibilities as a bartender at a mall deli, and the lovely compliment paid to him by his dentist. They then improvise a story set in an Ice Cream Parlor. And as always, Eban (only the best) Schletter scores it all on piano!

This episode is brought to you by Crashing on HBO.

Actor Jason Schwartzman (Mozart in the Jungle) sits down with Randy and Jason on this week’s Sklarbro Country! The Bros listen in on Ray Lewis’s pump-up psych out speeches before getting into it with Jason about his Sirius XM show “Coconut Radio,” identifying your musical pillars, and childhood sensitivities. Then, Jason reflects on his working partnership with Wes Anderson and dealing with family fame. Finally, the Sklars welcome back Christoph Waltz to hear his take on Charles Oakley’s recent altercation.

This episode is sponsored by ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com/happy).

Saved by the Bell, the Collateral Beauty of Will Smith’s mind, and plants. All of this and more is covered on this week’s mini-sode! Paul goes through Corrections and Omissions for Airborne and we hear Blake J. Harris interview Shane McDermott aka Mitchell Goosen, star of Airborne (go to www.slashfilm.com to read the whole thing) and the Movie Bitches review Collateral Beauty. Plus, we find out what bad ass sequel we’ll be hearing on next week’s episode!

Where to Find Jason, June & Paul:

Paul’s new comedy Drive Share is available on Go90. You can see June and Paul on NTSF:SD:SUV:: on HULU. June stars in Grace and Frankie on Netflix, as well as Lady Dynamite alongside with Jason.

Jason can be seen in The Lego Batman Movie, How to Be Single, Sleeping with Other People, and is still indeed in The Dictator.

David Feldman (Triumph The Primary Election Special 2016) and Kaitlin Fontana (The Box) join Negin for a snow day conversation about Elizabeth Warren and other progressive leaders to watch, and Trump’s travel ban, which is winding its way through the courts. Plus, they share tips for making phone calls to Congress.

This episode is brought to you by DecodeDC podcast, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO.

Ronna & Beverly pay a visit to San Francisco for the annual SF Sketchfest! They welcome very talented actors James Urbaniak (Difficult People) and Arden Myrin (Shameless) to chat about drag queen leisure wear, the whole refugee project, on-stage engagements, old-timey podcasts, Ambien Santa, and much, much more.

This episode is sponsored by ThirdLove (www.thirdlove.com/shalom) and Keepsake (www.keepsake.us/shalom).

This week: Allan Sherman branches out! Ethel Merman buys in! Richard Dawson jumps ship! And the versatility of Bert Convy! 

Vanessa and JR Ford didn’t know their youngest child was a girl until she told them on her fourth birthday. “Mom, I’m not a boy,” she said. “I’m a girl in my heart and in my brain.” As the parents of a transgender daughter, Vanessa and JR are at the epicenter of today’s changing terrain when it comes to gender. The Fords are just one of the families featured in Katie’s new documentary, Gender Revolution: A Journey With Katie Couric. In this companion podcast, Katie and Brian dive deep with the Fords and two others featured in Gender Revolution: Georgiann Davis, a sociologist and intersex activist, and Dr. Joshua Safer, who runs the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Boston Medical Center.

This episode is brought to you by Gender Revolution on demand (www.NatGeoTV.com/GenderRevolution), Toyota Highlander 2, and Hello Fresh (www.hellofresh.com code: COURIC35).

Cruising together with Cristela Alonzo.

This episode is brought to you by MVMT Watches (www.mvmtwatches.com/never), History of Comedy on CBB, and Harry’s (www.harrys.com code: PARDO).

Charlie Sanders, Don Fanelli, and Laura Willcox join Matt Besser to experience a hardcore snow room on this week’s improv4humans! A child services agent has issues with interior design, a congresswoman takes a stand against her own daughter’s artwork, and an author is pressured to hunk up her protagonist. Later, we meet a teacher who gives fish for grades and a couple of spies that can’t fathom a human birth.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace.com (www.squarespace.com code: IMPROV) and MVMT Watches (www.mvmtwatches.com/improv).

Actor Justin Cornwell sits down with Kevin this week to make his podcast debut! They talk what it’s like to act alongside Bill Paxton and the best way to “work the scene.” Then, Justin tells the story of getting cast in the “Training Day” reboot and gives his Denzel Top 5. Finally, Kevin grills Justin with a special “Training Day” quiz.

This episode is sponsored by MVMT Watches (www.mvmtwatches.com/denzel).

Doubts and confusion about the identity of the Boston Strangler didn’t end with the death of lead suspect Albert DeSalvo. In fact, a small but determined group of family members and journalists continued to investigate the many unresolved questions surrounding the case–including the chilling possibility that some stranglers continued to live freely. In this episode, host Portland Helmich talks to Casey Sherman, nephew of victim Mary Sullivan (profiled in Episode 1) about his unlikely effort to exonerate DeSalvo. We learn about the existence of new forensic evidence, and about the strange, post-Strangler career of another major suspect: he moved to Michigan, and—perhaps coincidentally—a new series of murders began.

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: STRANGLERS), Casper Mattresses (www.casper.com/STRANGLERS), Blue Apron (www.blueapron.com/stranglers), Audible (www.audible.com/stranglers), and Investigation Discovery.

Comedians Ify Nwadiwe and Brodie Reed join Andrew to discuss the Super Bowl, the Oscars, the impeachment dream, and the apocalypse. As always, leave us a message about anything you think is racist at (323) 389-RACE.

Hillary’s pal Kirsten gets a lot of her magic from her dad. But she inherited some less-fun things from him, too. The first in a two-parter on the stuff our parents pass down to us. To join the conversation go to longestshortesttime.com!

This episode is brought to you by Third Love, Squarespace, Casper Mattresses, Yogi Teas, and 1-800 Flowers.

To hear more episodes from The Seth Morris Radio Project, go www.stitcherpremium.com/seth and use promo code SETH at checkout to receive 1-month of our premium service for free! In Episode 1, it’s early morning as an anonymous driver is running late for an appointment and gets harassed by people in traffic. Meanwhile on the radio, a bunch of Morning Zoo Crews help to get the day started.

Mark & Pete welcome Negin Farsad from Earwolf’s “Fake The Nation” as they process the wild early days of the Trump administration. Pete posits that Donald is forever stuck in the New York City of the 1970’s, Mark wants to replace everyone’s hands with guns, and Negin is concerned about mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds.

This episode is brought to you by the DecodeDC podcast.

Actress, comedian, and founder of “Can’t Do Nothing” Milana Vayntrub joins Howard and ku-host Ele Woods this week to swap some first quarter Super Bowl stories. Milana tells what it was like to be in a Tony Robbins documentary while they count down Spotify’s Top 5 US Songs, and the gang reminisces on high school celebrity classmates during the Movie Chart. Finally, they discuss the Black Sabbath breakup and Nic Cage’s festival crashing during Two Charted.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: CHARTED)

Join Kevin as he sits down with singer, songwriter, and actor “Weird Al” Yankovic (UHF, Comedy Bang! Bang!).  Al chats about occasionally stalking artists he can’t reach, constantly evolving with the times, and rarely second guessing the encore.

Today’s caller is recovering from a serious illness acquired while working on peace building in East Africa. He likes to give Chris a hard time but also talks about some deep stuff, like contemplating how to maintain one’s idealism and passion when suffering from chronic illness. Also, he hopes the Beautiful Anonymous community can help him find a permanent home for a dog he’s currently fostering.

This episode is brought to you by Mailchimp (www.mailchimp.com), Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful), and Match.com (www.match.com/beautiful).

On a special episode of Get Up On This, Jensen and Matty break format to bring you the premiere episode of “Toshinary Tales,” the one and only Tosh.0 after show. This week they go in depth about Season 8, Episode 29: “Kate’s Food Challenge.”

The boys do another insane challenge they learned about on the computer, then JULIE KLAUSNER joins the show to help them with a new project.

This episode is sponsored by Shari’s Berries(www.berries.com code: HOLLYWOODHANDBOOK) and MVMT Watches (www.mvmtwatches.com/hollywood).

Travon Free is a writer and the host of the podcast “The Room Where It’s Happening” and he joins Deanna and Emily to chat about the best cosmetic dentistry practices and the story of how he landed a writing gig on The Daily Show. Later, Travon shares personal tips on how to be successful in the writing scene and his thoughts on the evolution of the LGBTQ community in showbusiness.

This episode is sponsored by ThirdLove (www.thirdlove.com/omfg).

If you’ve followed the news recently, you may have noticed the tiny little superpower Sarah Palin can see from her house has emerged from its slumber and re-injected itself into American politics. Not since the Cold War has Russophobia been as much of a part of our daily lives as it is now. Disinformation, strong man tactics and a corrupt and dictatorial turn have spilled into American life in a way that would’ve seemed like fiction only a few decades ago. What was once the well-trodden territory of black and white “duck and cover” videos and 80s action flicks is now a staple of Twitter feeds and nightly news broadcasts.

So how did we get here, and what the hell does Russia even want from us this time around? That’s what Cracked’s Robert Evans and Michael Swaim are here to find out on this week’s podcast. They join Jack O’Brien for an all-encompassing conversation about the KGB’s history of deceit, Russia’s methodology for spreading lies and Vlad Putin’s psych evaluation. Later in the show, Jack interviews Cracked engineer Tatiana Nam about her experiences growing up in Russia.

Our next live podcast is on Saturday, February 11th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, join Jack O’Brien, Michael Swaim and Teresa Lee as they welcome Dr. Christopher Ryan, author of Sex at Dawn for a discussion about love, relationships and why our sex lives now bear no resemblance to the way our ancestors got down. Tickets are $7 and available here: https://goo.gl/aXqXex

Footnotes:

Video: Cracked:  Why the #1 Fact of Military History is a Lie: https://goo.gl/12apTz

Article: Cracked: 5 Conspiracy Theories That Are Real (But Not How You Think) [#5 CIA created AIDS]: https://goo.gl/wrt8Kk

Article: Cracked: 6 Insane Conspiracy Theories That Actually Happened [#2 KGB Was Involved in JFK Assassination]: https://goo.gl/w4gBl

Article: NPR: Putin ‘Probably’ Approved Plan to Kill Spy: https://goo.gl/cTC3h0

Podcast: NPR: Russia’s Interference is an Assault on the Western Liberal Order: https://goo.gl/8FPDyv

Video: Press Conference with Bill Clinton and Drunk Boris Yeltsin: https://goo.gl/aEcvkT

Podcast: NPR: Trump Seems Willfully Blind to Putin’s Real Goals: https://goo.gl/tIixW3

Book: Peter Pomerantsev: Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: https://goo.gl/UI1nNx

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: CRACKED) and ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com/cracked).

Musician and vocalist Howard Kaylan (The Turtles, The Mothers of Invention, Flo & Eddie) joins Gilbert and Frank for a funny, freewheeling discussion of a host of topics, including the virtuosity of Harry Nilsson, the “free love” of the 1960s, the nostalgic appeal of “That Thing You Do!” and the underrated artistry of The Zombies. Also: Howard disses Lulu, parties with Soupy Sales, runs afoul of Jimi Hendrix and meets his personal “Louis Prima.” PLUS: Kate Smith! “Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club!” Donald Fagen buys a suit! John Lennon feuds with Frank Zappa! And the Turtles invade the White House! 

I do want to talk about badger stuff.

Credits
Arnie: Arnie Niekamp
Chunt: Adal Rifai
Usidore: Matt Young
Blemish: Martin Wilson
Talbot the Badger: Tugs the Badger
Craig: Ryan DiGiorgi
Tricia: Kate James

Producers: Arnie Niekamp, Evan Jacover, Ryan DiGiorgi
Editor: Garrett Schultz
Theme Music: Andy Poland
Magic Tavern Logo: Allard Laban
Audio Assistance: Jason Knox
Production Assistance: Garrett Schultz
Episode Art: Justin Osterling
Extra Art: Jessica Osterout

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: TAVERN) and Blue Apron (www.blueapron.com/magic).

Paul F. Tompkins welcomes all (including The beasts of the field) back to Spontaneanation! This week, Paul’s special guests and improvisers are Nyima Funk, Daniele Gaither, Gary Anthony Williams, and Cedric Yarbrough of The Black Version! They chat about if they’ve ever called 911 to help a stranger, Gary getting involved in a dangerous situation near our studio, and how Cedric handled a childhood French fry fire. They then improvise a story set in A Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland. And as always, Eban (only the best) Schletter scores it all on piano!

This episode is brought to you by Mack Weldon (www.mackweldon.com code: PFT).

Chris and Gary tuck us in and say goodnight one last time… but not before one last truth bomb gets dropped.

Go to www.casper.com/dreams and use the offer code “DREAMS” for $50 off your next mattress purchase.

Author, actor, and humorist John Hodgman of Judge John Hodgman joins Scott to count down the Top 5 Times he has been stripped to the waist, tell us about a sketch idea Quiznos stole from him, and share a special message during Hodgman’s Shine Time. Later, medical practitioner Dr. Green stops by to talk about his new products and confirm that he is not a weed dealer. Plus, businesswoman The Chief arrives in pursuit of the one and only Carmen Sandiego.

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: BANGBANG), Black Tux (www.theblacktux.com/BANGBANG), and Jack Threads (www.jackthreads.com code: BANG).