WDEK Ep. 100: Marcellus Hall An Artist in New York City - 2/22/22

WE DID IT! We created 100 Episodes - which mean we stuck together for 100 months celebrating people from all walks of life, the comedy found in our lives and world, the amazing art created by those in our community and the voices of a wide array of inspirational people.  We are proud and we are not shy about saying we are excited about what is yet to come. 

We open with the WDEK crew in different cities: Shonali in DC, Christian in Palm Springs and Justin in Brooklyn.   Christian reveals his first "Daddy" t-shirt.   When we look back over our 100 Episodes, we give shout outs to the many performers who delivered brilliant character performances throughout the years including (but not limited to): Alan Yaspan who played the Russian Hacker; Theo Koppel who played WDEK Dance Choreographer; Becky Chicoine who played Rhonda The Dog Trainer; Roy Koshy who played NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere; Jordan Clifford who played the Grumpy Holiday Guy; Nat Towsen who played the Podcast Protestor; Matt Hunziker who played Mitch The Enthusiasm Coach; and Matt Little who played Gary the (Bad) Vampire.  

Offical poster for Marcellus Hall an Artist in New York City - illustration by Marcellus Hall

In this celebratory episode, we celebrate the work and career of our long time friend, illustrator and musician Marcellus Hall. Our own Justin The Intern aka Justin Joseph Hall was the director via his Fourwind Films and worked with Marcellus in creating a documentary series titled Marcellus Hall An Artist in New York City.  For the first time we presented a virtual screening of a documentary and later interviewed and had a Q&A with the artist himself.

Listen and enjoy!  We discuss the artistic interplay that Marcellus brings together in his music and illustrations, his approach to life not just music, his reaction to the pandemic as an artist and what's on the horizon for Marcellus including his upcoming Leestavall recording session - for which you should pre-order now! 

Marcellus Hall's vibrant illustrations can be found throughout well-known periodicals and books including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Time, and The Cow Loves Cookies (Simon & Schuster 2010). Also an indie musician with his bands Railroad Jerk (Matador Records), White Hassle (Glacial Pace Records), and his solo project, he starts his career in New York City and falls deeply in love with it, intoxicated by its never-ending inspirations and possibilities. He’s recorded the city as well as the ups and downs of his personal life for years through his art and music, which are featured seamlessly throughout episodes. This award winning short series documents his creative journey from being seven-years-old drawing pictures to a successful working artist, and all the stages in between.

Thanks to all of you for supporting us over the years!  Here's to 100 more Episodes together! For more info on how to view the documentary Marcellus Hall An Artist In New York City sign up for the Fourwind Films Newsletter !

WDEK Podcast Ep. 88: Kadine Anckle & Greg Humphreys - 1/26/21

Happy New Year! We survived 2020 y'all! Sure 2021 has already brought us an insurrection and an inauguration BUT here's some joy for you! Christian got a new 2021 couch (see couch background filter) and Shonali is resolute in her plan to make no 2021 New Year's resolutions.  She insists you do the same!

To start out 2021, we introduce you to a bright light - Kadine Anckle!  She is an accomplished creative: showrunner, writer, producer, director and more!  We talk the rarity of showering during the pandemic along and the accumulation of stuff in a NYC apartment, hair issues in Zambia & gardening in NYC.  Kadine shares her pride as a creator and an Afro-Latina woman from Panama. 

We Get It Off Your Chest with WDEK crew member Jason Lam. Shonali has roommate issues with her husband.  Christian discusses the casual usage of the word "slave" by friends.  Jason Lam, one of the most annoyed people we know - but today he surprises us all!

Musician Greg Humphreys comes to us live from his NYC music room. Greg is the former leader of the bands Dillon Fence and Hobex and now leads The Greg Humphreys Electric Trio. He also currently records his own solo acoustic music.  We discuss the grind from non-stop touring over the years, time with family in NYC and  recording his own music at home with The Rig. We are lucky enough to hear him perform one of his unreleased new songs Take A Trip. 

WDEK lost two friends unexpectedly in December, musician & Love As Laughter leader Sam Jayne and comedian Catie Lazarus.  Both were infectious spirits who brought us so much joy. They are gone too soon and we are so thankful for them being in our world.  All of you whom have experienced loss this past year, we are with you and extend our condolences.  We hope you will continue to celebrate these humans throughout your life as we will Sam and Catie. 

Happy New Year all! Check out Christian's t-shirt from high school! "Who Got Big Lips?" Only Christian knows the answer to that question!  

WDEK Podcast Ep. 88: Kadine Anckle & Greg Humphreys - 1/26/21

WDEK Podcast Ep. 76: Kenice Mobley, Angelline Chung & Hope Hall - 11/26/2019

We welcome back Christian Felix aka Mr. Cardigan to the show.  Shonali & Christian discuss their preparations for the holiday season and seeing friends vs family over the holidays.  

Our first guest (00:08:45) is comedian & filmmaker Kenice Mobley.  Kenice is from North Carolina and came to NYC via Los Angeles and Boston MA.  Kenice has only been in NYC for the past 2 1/2 years and she has already made a big impact on the NYC comedy scene.  Kenice tells us about a time when she received a "high volume" of Richard pics from men. Find out how she dealt with them.   Kenice has a podcast called Love About Town w co-host Rohan Padhye discussing love, sex & relationships.  Christian and Shonali lobby to be on her show.  

Our second guest (00:26:50) is actress Angelline Chung who also happens to be a Julliard graduate thanks to her parents in Singapore. Angelline hails from Singapore and was on a television show there called Shall We Talk?  Her dream role is one which would deal with issues of mental health.   Angelline discusses how although Hollywood is doing it's best, it still needs to do more  regarding inclusivity and white washing Asian culture.  Angelline educates us as to exactly what "yellow fever" is.  She explains how this mindset and behavior is detrimental to everyone involved especially Asian women. 

We #GetItOffYour Chest (00:59:03) with former Ep. 21 WDEK guest, Pete Miser.  Christian and Pete have a heated conversation regarding chicken vs turkey for Thanksgiving.  Shonali is the Judge Judy of this debate.  Also don't loudly restate your partner's name over and over in a condescending way on a flight so that the entire flight feels bad for your partner. 

Our final guest (00:59:03) is cinematographer, filmmaker and photographer Hope Hall. She is currently Senior Road Videographer for Senator Elizabeth Warren 2020 Campaign. She was President Obama's Principal Videographer in the White House.  Hope is one of the most positive people we have had on the show.  Yes, her name is fitting.  We ask Hope what makes working for Senator Warren so special. We discuss Hope's unusual career transition into filmmaking and photography.  We share (1:35:21) some of Hope's helpful tips on mindfulness and getting through the tough times.  We are lobbying her to have a weekend seminar on these tips so we can all be as powerful a force as she is.

Another year winds down for We Don't Even Know.  We wish you the peace and joy during this holiday season and we will be back next year, for our live taping on January 28, 2020. 

Love,

Shonali & Christian

Direct download: WDEK_Ep._76_Final_Nov_2019.mp3

WDEK Podcast Ep. 51: Colin Buckingham, Selena Coppock & M. Lamar - March 27, 2017

Returning from Hawaii to a blizzard has Shonali feeling down.  Leave it to Christian to come up with a story about his jacket to cheer her up.

The Get Out of A Funk episode starts out with special guest actor & performer Colin Buckingham.  Shonali is impressed with Colin’s stage combat skills which he has had to use in real life. Do you know what a “half nelson” is?  If you want to fight a drunk person “take out their knees.”  Colin has a achondroplasia which is a form of dwarfism. We discuss labels, entitlement, empathy and privilege.  In addition to acting professionally on film and tv, Colin has recently joined the cast of Sleep No More.  He is also in a new tv show which he can’t tell us anything about.  Look for him in Black Magic for White Boys at Tribeca Film Festival pilot series.

Our second guest is comedian, writer, actress Selena Coppock.  Selena has a popular twitter feed @NYTvows which makes fun of what she calls the “wedding industrial complex."  She has written a book and she is currently on a television show called Red Oaks on Amazon, but she is yet to release a comedy album.  Well that is until now!  Selena has plans is tape her first live comedy album very soon.  Make sure you are there!

Our last guest is musician & artist M. Lamar.  Lamar opens with a performance of "They Took You From Me” from his latest releast “Funeral Doom Spiritual.”  Originally from Alabama, Lamar has lived as a musician in New York City for the past 10 years.  He is a fan of metal music and classical music and has coined himself “Negro gothic devil worshipping free black man in the blues tradition.”   Find out why and what his mom thinks about that. Lamar comments on how current moments speak to so many other moments of the past, be it police brutality today or being on a slave ship.   Lamar recently performed at National Sawdust in Brooklyn.  The New York Times wrote about it.  Check it out. Christian and Shonali are proud to announce their very first all day We Don’t Even Know Variety Fest to happen Sunday April 23 at DCTV, 87 Lafayette Street. Make plans now to join us and our amazing lineup! 

Check out the Latest Episode of We Don’t Even Know!

WDEK Podcast Ep. 50: Negin Farsad, Mike Recine & Beth Wawerna - Feb. 28, 2017

We celebrate our 50th Episode of WDEK on Mardi Gras with party horns, beads and great guests.  Shonali shares a feel good story about a NYC cabbie. Christian gives us his take on rules for shushing at the movie theater.  We have new WDEK T-Shirts for sale at the show and now online.

Our first guest is a comedian, writer, filmmaker, author, Ted Fellow…the list goes on and on, Negin Farsad.  She made a film which came out in 2014 called The Muslims Are Coming which follows a group of Muslim American comedians as they visit towns all over the US to combat Islamophobia. Turns out it can be exhausting combatting Islamophobia.  She also met Bono and turns out they have something in common.  Negin has a political roundtable podcast called Fake the Nation and wrote a book called How to Make White People Laugh. She is an inspiration.

We play a special WDEK 50th Ep trivia game with our WDEK regular audience member Isabel Restrepo.  Somehow Isabel wins a WDEK t-shirt without passing the quiz.  Our second guest is comedian and writer Mike Recine. Out of the gate Shonali brings up Mike’s side hustle, Recine Brothers Pasta Sauce and wants a jar of sauce.  We are sorry to hear Mike’s grandmother just passed away. Mike is originally from Jersey and the 2016 presidential win threw Mike off his comedy course. He’s been rethinking his views on his people, the working class. “Tastykakes” & “WaWa” are mentioned.  Look for Mike performing stand-up live all over the country or check out Mike’s Comedy Central half hour on Hulu or his Conan guest spots online right now. #GetItOffYourChest features our audience member Stacey Mills who talks about reactions to her camouflage jacket.  Shonali requests being polite to loved ones.  Christian reiterates his shushing policy.  

Our last guest is musician Beth Wawerna of the band Bird of Youth. She and Shonali share a connection to Atlanta and a love of The Rock*A*Teens and The Replacements.  All of which their influences can be heard in her music. A former music journalist, Beth now plays in a band comprised of multi-talented musicians.  They have released two full lengths, Defender and Get Off. She plays two songs, one called Glory Knows and the other titled Dad. Thanks to all who celebrated our 50th Ep with us!  Remember to save the date, April 23rd for our first ever all day WDEK Fest at DCTV in downtown Manhattan.  

Check out the Latest Episode of We Don’t Even Know!

We Don't Even Know - Ep. 38 - David Cross, Dolly Wells & Will Sheff - Dec. 29, 2015 →

This is Christian and Shonali's last WDEK of 2015. They had a great 2015 BUT the Happy Holidays weren't so happy for one of their audience members who thinks Shonali and Christian are too positive.

Ep. 38 first guest is comedian, actor, writer and director David Cross. David has maintained his success for a long time. Shonali believes David's success has something to do with promptly answering emails. Which do you think is David's favorite thing to do: stand up, acting, editing, writing, or directing? David's holiday party was intense. Check out Jon Benjamin and David's Icelandic Blue on YouTube. The third and last season of David's show Todd Margaret comes out this week. In the Christmas spirit, David leaves us with words about Jesus.

Photo by Stefano Giovannini

The second guest on WDEK is Shonali's latest girl crush; actress and writer Dolly Wells of HBO's Doll & Em. Dolly and Shonali take shoe pics together. Dolly moved to Brooklyn recently from England and explains (Americans) our differences. She loves Jordan. Dolly created her HBO show with her very best friend, successful actress Emily Mortimer. The show was huge in England. Dolly's kids, her husband and her mother are all cast within the show. Dolly says she and Emily once took 9 years to write a script for a screenplay. She inspires us all to shoot a pilot instead of writing treatments. In addition to requesting another season of Doll & Em from HBO, look for Dolly in the show Blunt Talk with Patrick Steward and a very tiny part in the movie 45 Years.

Ep. 38 musical guest is songwriter, musician and leader of Okkervil River, Will Sheff. Will's band started out in Austin, Texas where he worked at a video store and played music in his house. After he was written up in Rolling Stone, everything changed for his father. Will sings an unreleased song that he did lots of research on called Famous Tracheotomies. Find out why Will and Shonali are fellow fans of the Rock*A*Teens. Will plays Car and Driver from the Rock*A*Teens - Sweet Bird of Youth. Have you heard of the musician David Wiffen? David Cross joins the discussion and shares his new favorite musician, from the 1970's, Chic Clerggg from Greenland. Happy New Year everyone! Please follow us on Twitter @WDEKPodcast and contact us at WDEKpodcast@gmail.com

We Don't Even Know - Ep. 31: Saundra Williams, Adam Lowitt - March 31, 2015 →

It's Spring time in New York City! Yes, it's is still chilly, overcast and we are all tired of the winter. In honor of the Spring that has not happened, Shonali brings in the March episode of WDEK in a purple dress, a sun hat, sunglasses, bright green bucks as in shoes and shaking her pom poms. Christian had nightmares the night before the show. The entire audience monitors Christian and Shonali's use of "like", "um", "wow" and "no."

Our first guest is the talented singer Saundra Williams. She is a member of new Daptone recording artists, Saun and Starr, and also a back-up singer for Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. She's from the South Bronx and has been singing since she was a young girl. She talks about her journey as a performer, including church choir, her father, a wedding band, her special relationship with Starr Duncan Lowe and Sharon Jones, appearances at Live at the Apollo in Harlem and so much more. Saun and Starr just debuted a new video featured a soul funk hit called Big Wheel.

Our second guest is comedian and executive producer of the Daily Show, Adam Lowitt. Adam is a newlywed and Shonali recently attended his wedding. Adam sent himself to Outward Bound for a reason. He also helped build part of the Appalachian Trail. Adam sits beside John Stewart during writers' meetings. All the writers bomb in front of John when preparing for the show. Jason Lam was in consideration (in his own mind) as John Stewart's replacement. Check out his audition tapes. Do you know what Adam's dad's name is? Let us know. Do you know how to pronounce Shonali's name? Neither does Christian. Happy Holidays everyone!

Jason Lam's Me So Hungry Food Blog →

Christian Felix and Shonali Bhowmik are longtime friends who met as temps at a huge lawfirm in NYC.  Due to their love of laughing and giving each other hell, they figured a podcast would be the best way to share their fun with the world. Christian is from Chicago, IL and Shonali is from Nashville, TN.  They are both a little bit country and a little bit rock n' roll.  Wait, correction - Shonali is a little of both.  Christian, is well Christian.  

This first episode was done as a test pilot and we figured no one would ever hear it, but we decided to hell with that.  Who cares?  You may actually enjoy it and who are we to stop you.  This episode includes discussions on the Hipster Riviera, Girls, Nudity, Christian's father, the NYC Soda Ban, Denny's and David Cassidy.  Our special guest is Jason Lam - food blogger for Me So Hungry, rock star, mashup king and passionate Tim Tebow fan!

Next week we dissect our test pilot.  Guess what words we will omit from our vocabulary?!

Episode 1: Jason Lam - July 26, 2012