WDEK Podcast Ep. 59: Emily Flake, H Jon Benjamin & Rob Townsend - May 29, 2018

We Don't Even Know

Welcome to our 59th Episode of WDEK Podcast. Justin the intern starts the live show on a Tuesday night at the Red Room in NYC! Christian just returned from father's retirement party in Chicago. Shonali just returned from Nashville where she kept up with the news about a racist crazy tv star and her tweets. What's it like to have your creative work rejected in person to your face over and over? We ask our first guest that question. She is cartoonist, illustrator, writer and performer Emily Flake. She has "cobbled" together a living as a cartoonist for a long time now. She's come a long way from being an ad sales person for alt weekly New York Blade to becoming a successful cartoonist who has had hundreds of her works featured in the New Yorker. She's written a book about parenting called Mama Tried. She's a parent who refreshingly doesn't think being a parent is the MOST awesome thing in the world. How cool is that? Look out for her upcoming YA (Young Adult) book she's working on now, a fictional fanzine from 1992. Our second guest is H. Jon Benjamin, a comedian, actor and writer probably most famous for his work as the voice of Bob in Bob's Burgers and the voice of Archer in Archer. Benjamin as Shonali calls him (they are old friends) used to host a comedy show in the East Village called Midnight Pajama Jam. It was the best. JB's written a book that just came out called Failure is An Option: An Attempted Memoir. Shonali's been listening to the audiobook and loves it. She is intrigued by Jon Benjamin's love for disco, roller skating and disco balls. Jon explains what the main take away from his book is in two words. We Get It Off Our Chest with illustrator musician Marcellus Hall who refuses to rap with us. Our final guest is musician, singer, songwriter Rob Townsend. Rob is originally from Spartanburg, SC. He's also a part time sailing instructor and may be the only gay sailing captain on the Hudson. We like the idea of a gay sailboat. We discuss the difficulty of selling music during an era where everyone gets their music free. Rob moved to NYC from Austin, TX where he was in a folk band. His music has changed drastically. He is humble and self deprecating but we think he's awesome. He sings an original song called Clatskanie and a Randy Newman tune called Short People! Welcome to our new sound engineer Ezana Million! ENJOY!!! Photo by Daria Huxley.