Live shows at the Elysian (and on your couch!)

🏎️ Jordan, Jesse, Go! 

→ Get tickets or RSVP for the livestream

🎙️ MaxFunDrive Finale Show

→ Reserve your tickets

→ Set a reminder on YouTube

Looking for a new podcast app?

Meetup Day and other fun events!

→ Meetup Day page

See you next week–we're going to have a very fun surprise for you on Day 1, and that's just the beginning!

— Your friends at Maximum Fun

Want to get these updates sent directly to your email? Subscribe to the Maximum Fun newsletter!

Jordan Morris and Emily Fleming launch Free With Ads on MaxFun!

“I love working with the folks at MaxFun. They've built an insanely fun and dedicated fan base who have tolerated my dumb jokes for almost twenty years. I'm so excited to bring more nonsense to the ear holes of the best podcast listeners in the world.”

— Jordan Morris

→ Subscribe to Free With Ads

MaxFunDrive is March 18-29!

MaxFun Meetup Day is Thursday, March 21!

→ Host a Meetup

🏆 It's awards season! 🏆

We’ll be back soon with more MaxFunDrive news! Now go listen to Emily and Jordan talk about Jean Claude van Damme's butt in Timecop.

— Your friends at MaxFun

Want to get these updates sent directly to your email? Subscribe to the Maximum Fun newsletter!

Sound Heap with John-Luke Roberts, the "podcast of too many podcasts", joins Maximum Fun!

The highly-awaited second season of British comedy podcast Sound Heap with John-Luke Roberts starts February 19 on MaxFun!

“I’m thrilled to be bringing Sound Heap to the Maximum Fun network,” says John-Luke Roberts “In my opinion, they’re not only one of the best podcast networks in the world, but also our greatest rival. I never dreamed we’d have the opportunity to bring them down from within.”

— John-Luke Roberts, CEO and Fun Captain of Sound Heap

→ Subscribe to Sound Heap

Welcome to Daniel Huecias, our new Production Fellow!

Every year, MaxFun brings on one or two folks to partake in a year-long production fellowship. Our 2024 Fellow just started!

Since 2015, Maximum Fun has been running a production fellowship program to help people gain experience in all aspects of audio production. The fellowship is a paid, full-time position with benefits, and it's one of the most rewarding things we're able to do at MaxFun.

We’re pleased to welcome Daniel Huecias to the MaxFun team as our 2024 production fellow!

Daniel recently graduated from UC Santa Barbara where he directed news and special programming at KCSB. His work as a producer, journalist, and photographer has been featured on radio stations and publications across California. Outside of work, Daniel was previously a nationally ranked black belt in tae kwon do, the frontman of a contemporary Christian youth band, and a "funeral songster."

Please join me in welcoming Daniel to the team! He's great and we're so excited to have him here.

Valley Heat joins Maximum Fun!

"... I’m parceling it out, because I don’t want it to end. But my God, it’s so hilarious. It’s one of the best podcasts I’ve heard in a long time, up there with Welcome to Night Vale."

→ Subscribe to Valley Heat

Jesse Thorn has been inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame!

→ Watch Jesse's video now

A quick favor to ask

Eurovangelists wants you—yes, you—to get really into Eurovision

"The Eurovision Song Contest has all the emotion of your favorite sporting event, plus pomp, circumstance, music, heroes, villains, and occasionally a man trapped in a giant hamster wheel." — Dimitry Pompée

Black People Love Paramore has joined MaxFun!

→ Subscribe to Black People Love Paramore

The perfect last-minute gift: a year-long membership!

→ Purchase a gift membership

2023 Year-in-Review

... added six new shows!

• Secretly Incredibly Fascinating (January)
• Sleeping with Celebrities (February)
• We See Each Other (May; limited run)
• Queery (July)
• Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries (November)
• Black People Love Paramore (December)

... created a way for members to customize their BoCo!

 → Access your bonus content

... hired more staff!

We hired three new employees in 2023:

• Palmira Muñiz (Producer): Palmira joined MaxFun as a producer last January, working primarily on FANTI. Palmira is a highly skilled producer and an all-around great person who’s proven a really wonderful addition to the MaxFun team!
• Ashe Vernon (Transcriber): Ashe has been transcribing for us as a contractor since 2019, but in 2023, we officially brought them on as an employee. They’re amazing at their work (and a delight to have in Slack)!
• Matt Lieb (Producer): Matt joined MaxFun last April to produce Jordan, Jesse, Go! He’s done a great job working on the show and continuing JJGo’s thirteen-year streak of being one of the funniest shows out there!

... donated $50,000 to five food banks!

During our 2023 charity sale, your generosity allowed us to donate $50,000 to five food banks across the US, which added up to about 225,000 meals!

Working with charity has been a key part of MaxFun’s values since the network was founded, and together, we’ve raised over half a million dollars for charity in the last six years. We’re so grateful we get to keep making these donations year after year because of you.

→ About the donation

... became a co-op!

In March, we announced that Maximum Fun was becoming a worker-owned cooperative. We officially completed our transition in June, and in October we had a whole month-long event all about co-ops! Worker-owned cooperatives are still relatively uncommon in the US, and a podcast network becoming a worker-owned co-op is a rarity. It’s been so amazing to make this transition with my fellow worker-owners. I’m so proud of the work that everyone has put in and everyone’s commitment to making MaxFun the best network we can.

A few weeks ago, I got this in the mail from our wonderful Board of Directors:

It was accompanied by a handwritten note from our first President of the Board, K.T. Wiegman. It’s now one of my favorite possessions (I plan on framing it as soon as I find a frame that’s a good size), and I know I’m going to treasure it for a very long time. It’s a reminder of everything our network has accomplished: everything we’ve been able to do because you, our audience, believes in us and gives us your support. With a MaxFun membership, you're not only supporting the shows and creators you love—you're also supporting a bunch of kind, genuine people who just want to work together to create cool stuff.

So thanks for all the support—we really couldn’t do this without you.

If you’re celebrating any holidays this December, we hope that they’re wonderful—and if you’re not celebrating anything, we hope that you have a lovely end to this year, whatever the year has brought for you. Thank you for making it possible for us to do everything listed above (and more) in 2023! We’re all so excited for what we have planned in 2024, and we can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on.

— C.N. and your friends at MaxFun

It has been an absolute joy to create and share Tiny Victories, so it's with many mixed feelings that we've decided to conclude the podcast. We both are feeling spread too think to devote the time and energy we need to make the show every week. We are so grateful to our incredible listeners for getting tiny with us over the past three years. We've loved getting to hear about tiny victories from nearby and around the world. And have found that when we unpack the tiny, it's often big. We're overcoming old patterns, letting something painful go, or experiencing a new joy. We appreciate the podcast home and support we've enjoyed from Maximum Fun. Our editors Christian Dueñas and Nihar Patel for their deft skill and patience. And our incredible producer Laura Swisher, not only for shaping and guiding the show, but also for being a wonderful friend and support. We hope to keep crossing paths with listeners, because now you all feel like friends. Not that we have to get "Tiny Forever" tattoos, but we're open. And if you have tiny victories to share, hit us up on the socials, we'll always want to celebrate them with you. Stay Tiny, friends! - Annabelle & Laura

Hi!

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries joins Maximum Fun!

Subscribe to Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries.

A new chapter for The Adventure Zone, plus live show recordings

Subscribe to The Adventure Zone.

Live shows coming up very soon!

• The Greatest Generation is wrapping up their Share Your Embarrassment Tour with stops in Seattle (tonight!), Salt Lake City, Denver, Portland (OR), and Los Angeles.
• Judge John Hodgman is playing the final show of their Van Freaks Roadshow tour tonight in Brooklyn. $15 Balcony and Mezzanine tix still available!
• The Jackie and Laurie Show has upcoming performances at Creek & Cave in Austin, TX, with early and late shows on November 10 and 11.
• Go Fact Yourself is hosting a live show with Billy Gardell and Gina Yashere (and secret special guests!) in Pasadena, CA on December 2.
• The Flop House has the second-to-last installment of their monthly video live stream, Flop TV, on December 2.

Thanks for reading! Now go subscribe to Secret Histories of  Nerd Mysteries, and discover the answers to things like "Did Blockbuster really try to make indoor playgrounds for adults?" (Yes, yes they absolutely did.)

— Your friends at MaxFun

Co-Optober officially ends today! We’ve all had a great month celebrating co-ops with you, and we hope that you have, too.

This week of Co-Optober has been all about co-ops doing good in their communities, so it seemed very fitting to end the week with one of our favorite annual traditions: donating the money we raised during our last charity sale!

Donating $50,000 to five food banks

After the last MaxFunDrive, we ran a special sale where all of our $10+ members could buy as many stickers as they wanted. Thanks to our members’ generosity during our MaxFunDrive 2023 sticker sale, we raised $50,000 to distribute equally between five different food banks!

• Banco de Alimentos PR (Puerto Rico)
• Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana (Monroe, LA)
• Merced County Food Bank (Merced, CA)
• Second Harvest of South Georgia (Valdosta, GA)
• Food Bank of RGV (Rio Grande Valley, TX)

These donations will add up to over 225,000 meals across all five food banks. That’s going to do a lot of good for a lot of people who really need help.

We’ve been running an annual post-drive charity sale for several years now, starting with a donation to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank in 2017. Last Tuesday, a team of MaxFun worker-owners went back to the LARFB for a day of volunteering. Working together with another group of volunteers, we assembled almost 900 food donation boxes!

Since 2017, our incredible members have helped us raise more than $600,000 for eleven charities. Thank you so much to everyone who’s participated in the charity sales since they started—and a big thank you to the employees and volunteers at food banks, who work tirelessly to help their communities.

Co-Optober comes to an end

Co-Optober has been a wild but very fun ride—while we’re no stranger to events, we’ve never put on anything quite like this before!

It was so great to share info about the cooperative model, spotlight other co-ops doing great work, chat with audience members who are interested in forming a co-op, and talk about why we love co-ops so dang much.

Interviews, a worker-owner Q&A, and more

Check out what we’ve gotten up to over the past month:

• Interview with K.T. Wiegman, MaxFun’s First President of the Board
• Reddit AMA with Jesse Thorn, Danny Baruela, and K.T. Wiegman
• Get to Know the Worker-Owners of MaxFun
• MaxFun Hosts Share Thoughts on the Co-Op
• Interview with Artisans Cooperative
• Interview with Meerkat Media
• Interview with Groupmuse
• Interview with Stocksy
• Interview with Defector
• Co-Ops Doing Good in Their Communities

Or, if you’re more of a video person:

Hanging with MaxFun HQ - Co-Op Q&A: MaxFun worker-owner Julian Burrell moderated a chat with Board members Gabe Mara, Stacey Molski, and Bikram Chatterji.

Creative Co-op Roundtable: Moderated by Bikram Chatterji and featuring Michelle Sadler from Stocksy, Jasper Wang from Defector, and Evan Edwards from Project Equity, the non-profit that helped MaxFun become a co-op.

Co-Optober merch final call!

While Co-Optober ends today, our member-exclusive merch will still be available until the end of October! All of these items—our comfortable T-shirts, ultra-cozy hoodie, cool hat, and sleek enamel pin—are only going to be available until the night of October 31, so if you want something, make sure to snag it before it’s gone.

If you’re already a member, you can get your merch by going to maximumfun.org/manage and requesting a magic link. Follow the magic link to your membership dashboard, then tap the button for the merch store!

Supporting MaxFun beyond Co-Optober

About 70% of Maximum Fun’s funding comes directly from audience contributions. This means that…

• We can keep ads to a minimum, with just a few short ads per episode
• We don't have corporate investors pressuring us to go against our values, so our creators can make their shows exactly how they want
• We get to make all of the decisions about how we use our resources and money, which means we can keep doing good in our communities

Every single member—whether they give us $5 a month or $100—directly helps us keep our network afloat and ensures that all of our shows can keep making cool art. If you want to support the network and help ensure our long-term sustainability, becoming a member is the best way to do that!

If you can’t become a member but still want to support the network, we completely understand. Here are other ways you can support us:

1. Buy some of the MaxFunHQ merch available in our online store
2. Make a one-time contribution towards our operating costs
3. Spread the word about us to help us grow our shows and our network!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in Co-Optober—whether you bought merch, shared our posts on social media, made a contribution, asked us questions, or just followed along as we went on this ride. It warms all of our hearts to know how many people care about the network.

We’ll be back in your inbox next month with a special announcement—we want to keep it a secret for now, but we’re excited to unveil the mystery soon!

• Banco de Alimentos PR (Puerto Rico)
• Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana (Monroe, LA)
• Merced County Food Bank (Merced, CA)
• Second Harvest of South Georgia (Valdosta, GA)
• Food Bank of RGV (Rio Grande Valley, TX)

This year, through our members’ generous support, we were able to raise $50,000 to distribute evenly among the five food banks. That comes out to about 225,000 total meals that the food banks will be able to distribute to the people in need in their communities.

• Banco de Alimentos PR
• Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana
• Merced County Food Bank
• Second Harvest of South Georgia
• Food Bank of RGV

Co-ops doing good for their communities

Last week of merch!

Co-op interview roundup

Whether you’re a member or not, whether you’ve been a fan of the network for ten years or ten minutes, thanks so much for all of your support. We couldn’t do what we do without all of you. We’ve had a really great time celebrating National Co-op Month with Co-Optober, and we hope you have, too!

— C.N. and all your friends at MaxFun

Theatre of the Oppressed NYC

Area:

The Tree Yoga Cooperative

Area:

Groupmuse 

Pedal People

Area:

Community Language Cooperative

Area:

Company Questions

Worker Questions

Cooperation Among Cooperatives

“I really want [to be part of a cooperative] because I will have that governance control to make sure that it stays a good platform and doesn't charge too much in fees and stays inclusive and stays broad. I don't just want a seat at the table to talk about things, I want us to own the table. I want us to actually earn the value that we are providing by creating these beautiful and interesting items, all of us, and putting it there in one place.”

— Valerie, Artisans Cooperative

Creative Co-Op Roundtable

Volunteer Week

ICYMI

Meetup Day

Blog Post Roundup

• Interview with K.T. Wiegman, MaxFun’s First President of the Board
• Get to Know the Worker-Owners of MaxFun
• MaxFun Hosts Share Thoughts on the Co-Op

Beep: the Foley library is ready!

Hosts and audience members on why the co-op matters

Andrew Reich Dead Pilots Society

Tom Lum Let's Learn Everything!

Dan McCoy The Flop House

Meetup Day is Thursday!

ICYMI

Thanks for reading! Next week, we'll be highlighting other creative co-ops and learning about their experiences. Hope to see some of you at Meetup Day!

Want to get news like this in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter at maximumfun.org/newsletter. 

Janet Varney (The JV Club)

Tom Lum (Let's Learn Everything!)

Andrew Reich (Dead Pilots Society)

Ross Blocher (Oh No, Ross and Carrie!)

Dan McCoy (The Flop House)

Alex Adan (Dr. Gameshow Producer)

Jackie Kashian (The Jackie and Laurie Show)

Alex Schmidt (Secretly Incredibly Fascinating)

Co-Optober is here!

First, some real talk

But! More workers are unionizing or exploring the cooperative model; existing unions are striking—fighting to be treated fairly for their work—and we’re starting to see really amazing results from that, like the new deal that the WGA is making with the AMPTP. That's good! Really good. This labor movement is important and challenging and inspiring all at the same time.

We are very hopeful that being a co-op will enable MaxFun to persevere through this tumultuous time in entertainment. It preserves our independence, and makes sure everyone who works here—from first-year producers to the CEO—remains committed to the long-term strength of the company. That strength has always been, and will always be, thanks to our audience and our partner shows. And it helps ensure that the people working at the network can continue our mission of bringing good things into the world in an equitable way.

We keep talking about co-ops because we think it's a really exciting way forward for workers, especially those in the creative industry. You'll hear more from other co-ops later this month, but for now, let's hear from some other folks at MaxFun…

Get to know the worker-owners

Head over to our website for an interview with K.T. Wiegman, the first President of the Board!  Then dive into our Q&A with worker-owners at Maximum Fun to hear their thoughts.

And follow us on Instagram, Facebook, the site formerly known as Twitter, YouTube, Threads, and Bluesky (we're not on those last two as much yet, but we do poke our heads in) to continue to get to know the folks who co-own this network a bit more. We love these shows just like you do, and we're excited to continue to work to help bring them to you. As always, we couldn't do it without you—thank you!

Limited-edition member-exclusive merch!

Become part of the co-op Launch Crew by buying some special merch to help get our co-op off the ground! Our friends Tom Deja and Geoff Tice designed some fantastic space-inspired merch for us–and it's only available to MaxFun members until the end of the month.

Already a MaxFun member? Snag that swag by going to your membership dashboard and using the merch button there. (To get to your membership dashboard, follow the instructions at maximumfun.org/manage to get an email with the Magic Link. That Magic Link will take you to your membership dashboard.)

Not a member yet? Become one for as little as $5/month at maximumfun.org/join.

How you can help the co-op

Mark your calendars

Reddit AMA

Wednesday, October 4 12pm PT / 3pm ET Worker-owners Jesse Thorn, K.T. Wiegman, and Danny Baruela will be on the MaxFun Reddit from 12-1pm PT answering your questions!

Hanging with MaxFunHQ: Co-op Q&A

Friday, October 6 12pm PT / 3pm ET MaxFun worker-owners and Board members answer your questions. Want to know what the process of transitioning to a co-op was like? How worker-owners feel about it? Just want to meet some folks? Kevin Ferguson, Stacey Molski, Gabe Mara, and Julian Burrell will be streaming live on Friday in all the internet places we can manage, including YouTube!

MaxFun Meetup Day

Thursday, October 12 Meet nice, fun people in the MaxFun community by attending a local meetup! At the time of writing this, meetups are planned for NYC, LA, Nashville, and Copenhagan! We'll keep updating the list of meetups as they come in. Don't see your town? Pick a place and email cn@maximumfun.org so we can add it to the list!

Thanks, as always for reading. We hope you come say hi to us online or in-person!

Want to get news like this in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter at maximumfun.org/newsletter. 

What was your reaction when you first learned that MaxFun was becoming a cooperative?

What does it mean to you to be a worker-owner at a cooperative media company?

What's your favorite thing about working at Maximum Fun?

What do you think the future of MaxFun will look like now that we're a worker-owned co-op?

What are your hopes for the future of art and media as a field?

Announcing Co-Optober!

Co-Optober events coming soon!

October 12: MaxFun Meetup Day

We’re bringing our favorite MaxFunDrive tradition to October! On Meetup Day, MaxFun fans all around the world get together with local MaxFunsters to hang out, talk about podcasts, and make new friends. If you’re interested in hosting a meetup and want some tips, check out our Meetup Day kit—and make sure to email cn@maximumfun.org so we can add it to our list!

October 23-29: Volunteer Week

A bunch of MaxFun HQ staff are going to be volunteering together at our local food bank and we encourage you to do the same! It's a really nice way to help your community and spend time with friends. If you’re not sure how to set something like that up, check out this handy volunteer guide.

New Bonus Content!

Shootin' the Bries returns!

Since MaxFunDrive ended…

Upcoming Live Shows

Thanks for reading! We’ll be back next month with Co-Optober!

— Your friends at Maximum Fun Want to get news like this in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter at maximumfun.org/newsletter. 

Three long-running shows hit big milestones! 

The Flop House

Jordan, Jesse, Go!

Stop Podcasting Yourself

Live shows abound!

• Dead Pilots Society: On August 29, Dead Pilots Society is hosting Soapdish at the Friends of the Fest film festival in Los Angeles!
  • Buy tickets here
• The McElroy Family: The Adventure Zone and My Brother, My Brother and Me have upcoming live shows and con appearances!
  • Get tickets and more info
• Go Fact Yourself: Go Fact Yourself has a bunch of live shows with a great guest line-up coming up over the next few months!
  • Get tickets and more info
• Judge John Hodgman: JJHo is going on a fall tour across North America and Europe!
  • See locations and buy tickets
• The Flop House: Check out Flop TV, a new monthly livestream from the creators of The Flop House!
  • Get tickets for one stream or the whole season
• The Greatest Generation: Join Ben and Adam on a tour around North America this fall!
  • See locations and buy tickets
• The London Podcast Festival: Judge John Hodgman, Beef and Dairy Network, The Greatest Generation, and Jordan Jesse Go! are performing at the London Podcast Festival, and some of them are streaming live so you can watch from anywhere!
  • See dates and buy tickets

MaxFun had a party!

• September 9: The Greatest Generation
• September 14: Jordan, Jesse, Go! 
• September 15: Judge John Hodgman
• September 16: Beef and Dairy Network and Judge John Hodgman

If you're getting MaxFunDrive gifts, those ship separately from purchased stickers. 

We will let you know when your stuff has shipped.

If your address has changed and you did NOT update it when we sent our emails out:

If you live outside the US:

Thank you!

New Show–We See Each Other: The Podcast

• Subscribe to the limited-series podcast (only nine episodes, and two are out now!)
• Order the book it's based on
• Tell your friends!
• If you're in the trans community, leave a voice message answering one of six questions (for example, "How has trans visibility in the media impacted you?") and your voice might be used on the show!

A Few Post-MaxFunDrive Updates

MaxFunDrive gifts and stickers are in production!

Submit your idea for the MaxFun Foley library!

The Yumbotron: a MaxFun community recipe

Upcoming live shows

In the chat with HQ: Music to clean to

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:

The 2023 sticker sale will benefit food banks in the U.S.

• Banco de Alimentos in Puerto Rico
• Second Harvest in South Georgia
• Merced County Food Bank in California
• The Food Bank of Rio Grande Valley in Texas
• The Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana

How to buy stickers

Sticker sale FAQs

• Stickers CANNOT sell out! Because we make our stickers to order after the sale is over, it’s not possible for any stickers to sell out. So don’t fret if you find your sticker email later than other folks!
• Are the stickers really re-stickable? Yes, they are. They are re-stickable a bunch of times on most surfaces. Though if you use them on cloth or dirty, dusty stuff, they will lose their stick quicker!
• $10+ members will have access to all of the show’s stickers. You'll be able to buy any of the designs you saw during the Drive.
• All members at any level can buy our special MaxFunDrive 2023 network sticker. It’s an adorable sticker featuring our original mascot, a squirrel named Nutsy, making a cake.
• The sticker sale will close Friday, April 14. When it’s closed, it’s closed! Be sure to make your purchases before then.
• We can’t offer refunds on purchased stickers, so please keep that in mind!
• It’ll be some time before you get them! As mentioned, stickers are made to order after the sale and will ship separately than MaxFunDrive gifts. We expect it will take around 3-4 months for stickers to start shipping, but we’ll keep you posted.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Sticker sale starts Monday, April 3!

Did you miss an event? Enjoy the replay!

We matched 161 people with gift memberships!

New milestone unlocked: MaxFun Foley library!

Celebrate the end of the Drive with Chorelord!

Give the gift of MaxFun membership (& BoCo)!

Help our shows and network hit our milestones!

It's the last week of MaxFunDrive!

1. You're investing in the creators you love. Our shows are owned by their creators and your support means they can continue to make those shows the way they'd like (and the way you like!) on a consistent schedule. It also means ads can be kept to a minimum so hosts can focus on the show itself.
2. You're supporting a business that cares about people more than profits. For over a dozen years, MaxFun has had one mission: to foster sustainable creative work that makes the world a better place. We’ve been able to do this with the support of members. Now, we’re transitioning to worker-ownership, and continuing to value people and sustainability in an industry awash with layoffs and show cancellations. And we still can only do it with your support.
3. You get special thank-you gifts. As our way of thanking you for your commitment to independent media, $5/month will get you over 500 hours of Bonus Content–including  fun  stuff  like  this. $10 or more a month will get you some limited edition physical gifts like our show-specific restickable stickers.
4. You will feel good. Paying creators for their work, being a part of what makes that work possible, and ensuring that it remains freely available for folks who rely on it but can’t afford to support it right now feels really, really good. I know, because I was a member for years before I worked here and it felt great.

Post-Drive sticker sale for charity is April 3-14!

• Banco de Alimentos in Puerto Rico
• Second Harvest in South Georgia
• Merced County Food Bank in California
• The Food Bank of Rio Grande Valley in Texas
• The Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana

The big news...

MaxFunDrive 2023 starts today and ends Friday, March 31!

• launched Sleeping with Celebrities and brought Comfort Creatures, Let’s Learn Everything!, and Secretly Incredibly Fascinating onto the network;
• donated over $50,000 to charity;
• hired additional producers and a bookkeeper;
• launched a new merch store;
• dipped a toe into video;
• improved our Bonus Content system;
• learned how to become a co-op; and
• started work on projects that we hope to tell you about later this year!

Thank-you gifts for new and upgrading members

MaxFunDrive events!

Event reminder: MaxFun Meetup Day and MaxFunDrive Grand Opening

A big update to Bonus Content

1. Members now get two Bonus Content feeds: one for all MaxFun BoCo, and one that they can customize with BoCo from the shows that they choose
2. It’s a lot easier to access BoCo — if you visit our membership site on your phone, and use one of the supported podcatchers, you can add BoCo with one tap
3. Your BoCo feeds are specific to you, which means that they’ll continue to be updated for as long as you have your membership. There's no need to update your feed each year.

MaxFunDrive Grand Opening livestream event on March 20 at 4pm PT!

In the chat with MaxFunHQ: MaxFunDrive

MaxFunDrive is March 20 - 31!

John Hodgman and Elliott Kalan's new miniseries Be Podding You is out now!

MaxFun Meetup Day returns on March 23!

New Show: Sleeping with Celebrities debuts on Maximum Fun!

A new season of FANTI starts March 2!

• If you’re new to the show, take 15 minutes to sample the show with these recent minisodes from the February Hiatus: Love the Artist, Meh the Work and Hot Topics
• Check out some behind-the-scenes images from their photo shoot on FANTI's Instagram (preview above!)
• Make sure you are subscribed to FANTI to hear the season premiere on March 2!

In the chat with MaxFunHQ: Sleeping with Celebrities edition

• Julian: How I spent most of my senior year of high school crafting the perfect Pokemon team using the game's very specific math and build-based training systems. Like my friends and I had spreadsheets devoted to the practice.
• Valerie: I could probably rattle off an entire SwC episode about The Transformers: The Movie (1986) off the cuff with no prep.
• April:  The northern Nevada economy.
• Tabatha: Fatbergs. Anything sewer related, really.
• Stacey: I told my partner about this and was trying to think of my topic and he was like 'maybe your topic should just be you talking about all the topics you might want to do'...
• Kevin: Beans recipes.
• Danny: I guess the board game Monopoly.
• Marissa: I could probably do some Sweet Valley High minutiae, like character names and bios and relationships.
• Gabe: A visit to my favorite antique mall in my hometown of Allentown, PA. I could describe every single shop in the mall with very long lists of the items.
• Christian: I don't think I can participate because I’m just such a charismatic guy and great speaker I just inherently make everything super interesting. [editorial note: there's no avoiding this section, Christian, but good try. I did tell him I was putting this in the newsletter!]

New Show: Secretly Incredibly Fascinating joins Maximum Fun!

• Chairs (Laurie Kilmartin, Danielle Radford)
• Dice (the McElroy brothers)
• Pears (Riley Silverman, Jackie Kashian)
• Myrrh (Jesse Thorn)
• Doorknobs (John Hodgman)
• Manatees (Ellen Weatherford)
• Musk Oxen (Elliott Kalan)

New producer: Palmira Muniz joins MaxFun! 

SF Sketchfest and more!

• Adam and Ben are taking their love of Star Trek to Sketchfest with The Greatest Generation live on February 2!
• Judge John Hodgman is on a West Coast tour now, making a stop at SF Sketchfest on February 4. If you don't live on the West Coast of the US, don't worry, you can watch the livestream of JJHo's SF Sketchfest show from anywhere in the world!
• Jesse Thorn and Jordan Morris are bringing Jordan, Jesse, Go! back to the stage on February 5! 

• Go Fact Yourself will be in Pasadena on February 11 with guests Bruce Vilanch and Josefina López!
• Newly added since last month–both taking place at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY:
  • The Flop House live on Sunday, April 2
  • Triple Click live on Thursday, May 18

In the chat with MaxFunHQ: Tom Hanks movies

• Joe Versus the Volcano - Marissa, K.T., Bikram, Julian. (And Bikram noted “The Maximum Film! episode about Joe Versus the Volcano is a personal favorite.”)
• The Money Pit - Bryanna, Jennifer, Tabatha
• Splash - Laura

• Mazes and Monsters - April
• “Can I volunteer the “I Really Like You” music video?"  - Danny (Tabatha is Team Danny because look at this)
• “Elvis babyyyy” - Christian

2022 Year-in-Review!

• New shows:
  • Comfort Creatures
  • Let’s Learn Everything!
• New faces at MaxFunHQ:
  • Tabatha Myers - Production/Communications Fellow
  • Kylee Shimomura - Bookkeeper
  • Bryanna Paz - Our brand new Production Fellow just joined us this month to learn the ropes and help us make Bullseye with Jesse Thorn! Follow that link and get to know Bryanna, who enjoys poetry, hiking, and TikTok (and radio/podcasting, of course).
• Plus, the two Production Fellows included in last year's list, Valerie Moffat and Richard Robey, have come on board as full-time Producers.
• Support for non-profits:
  • In November, we donated $53,436 from the members-only patch sale to Trans Lifeline! That donation could:
    • fund 693 hours of the hotline,
    • connect 2,137 trans folks to the hotline, or
    • pay for the legal fees to update the IDs of 117 people
  • We've continued working with National CASA/GAL, including holding a recent fundraiser event. We've also chatted with MaxFunsters who are CASA/GAL volunteers themselves, so folks can get a better idea of what that entails. Learn more about the great work they do or get involved here.
• MaxFunCon:
  • We finally got together for the last MaxFunCon (originally scheduled for 2020) and it was fantastic!
• New merch:
  • 74 new products and counting in our new store
• Episodes:
  • 1,723 episodes of MaxFun shows were produced in 2022!
• Episodes that won LA Press Awards
  • FANTI: The Blogger-Journalist Divide (ft. Jasmine Simpkins)
    • Soft News Feature, 1st Place!
  • Depresh Mode: Joel Kim Booster Is In A Pit
    • One-on-One Interview, Film Personalities, 1st Place!
  • Bullseye:The Bullseye Halloween Spectacular!
    • Best Arts or Entertainment Podcast, 3rd Place!

Hang out online with HQ staff tonight!

• Daniel Baruela, Technology and Data Specialist
• Valerie Moffat, editor of Judge John Hodgman, livestreams for Jordan, Jesse, Go
• Marissa Flaxbart, producer of Feeling Seen and Maximum Film!
• Gabe Mara, producer of Depresh Mode and One Bad Mother
• Kira Gowan, Ad Operations Specialist

Eps from holiday seasons past and present!

Reading Glasses

We Got This with Mark and Hal

Wonderful

Depresh Mode with John Moe

Tiny Victories

FANTI

Shmanners

Last-minute gift ideas!

Get your tickets to these live shows! 

Get inspired for holiday cooking!

For someone that you know loves MaxFun shows but you aren’t sure which ones:

The Adventure Zone

Baby Geniuses

Beef and Dairy Network

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Comfort Creatures

Dead Pilots Society

Depresh Mode

Dr. Gameshow

FANTI

Feeling Seen

The Flop House

Go Fact Yourself

The Greatest Generation and Greatest Trek

The Jackie and Laurie Show

Jordan, Jesse, Go!

Judge John Hodgman

Just the Zoo of Us

The JV Club with Janet Varney

Let's Learn Everything!

Maximum Film!

My Brother, My Brother and Me

Oh No, Ross and Carrie!

One Bad Mother

Reading Glasses

Sawbones

Shmanners

Still Buffering

Stop Podcasting Yourself

Tights and Fights

Tiny Victories

Triple Click

Troubled Waters

We Got This with Mark and Hal

Wonderful!

The week, Maximum Fun sent Trans Lifeline a donation of $53,436.

If you’d like to join the Maximum Fun community in donating to Trans Lifeline, you can by making a contribution at translifeline.org.

Two new beginnings and one fond farewell

A new season of The Adventure Zone has just begun!

Greatest Trek is the latest Trek!

Mission to Zyxx just wrapped up with its two-part series finale!

We're looking for a Fall 2022-2023 Production Fellow!

Meet our new Bookkeeper: Kylee Shimomura!

Cool things to do with your MaxFunDrive patch!

If you are getting MaxFunDrive gifts, those ship separately from purchased patches. The purchased patches will ship out first.

We will have tracking numbers for you!

If your address has changed and you did NOT update it when we sent our emails out:

If you live outside the US:

Thank you!

Want to work at MaxFun? We're hiring!

MaxFunDrive gifts have been sent to production!

Live events!

• Judge John Hodgman
  • New York, NY - Wed, June 29 at 8pm ET ft. guest Jean Grae. Tonight! FREE! Outdoors!
• The Greatest Generation
  • Los Angeles, CA - Sat, July 16 at 8pm PT
  • Streaming Spocktacular - Thu, August 4 at 8pm PT (can view until Aug 7)
• The Flop House
  • Brooklyn, NY - Sun, August 7 at 7:30pm ET talking about Morbius
•  Beef and Dairy Network Podcast
  • London, England - Sun, September 18 (rumored)
• My Brother, My Brother and Me
  • Cincinnati, OH - Thu, November 10 at 7pm ET
  • Detroit, MI - Fri, November 11 at 6pm ET
  • Washington, DC - Sat, November 12 at 7pm ET
• The Adventure Zone
  • Washington, DC - Sun, November 13 at 7pm ET
• The Dave Hill Goodtime Hour
  • Streaming - every Monday at 8pm ET on Twitch

We estimate that gifts will begin shipping in early to mid-August

Purchased patches ship separately

Next step: Updating your address if needed

Last step: Getting tracking numbers This update is partially to thank you again, but mostly to let new and upgrading members know that we've sent the MaxFunDrive thank-you gifts and patches to production!

The 2022 patch sale will benefit Trans Lifeline!

How to buy patches

Patch sale FAQs

• Patches CANNOT sell out! Because we make our patches to order after the sale is over, it’s not possible for any patch to sell out. So don’t fret if you find your patch email later than other folks!
• $10+ members will have access to all of the show’s patches. You can buy what we call a reasonable amount (which includes the ability to get the whole set or to get a handful of some patches if you want to give any as gifts or get backups in case you lose any.)
• All members at any level can buy our special MaxFunDrive 2022 patch. It’s a very cute patch featuring our original mascot, a squirrel named Nutsy, riding a MaxFun rocket.
• The patch sale will close Friday, May 20. When it’s closed, it’s closed! Be sure to make your purchases before then.
• We can’t offer refunds on purchased patches, so please keep that in mind!
• It’ll be some time before you get them! Patches are made to order after the sale and ship separately than MaxFunDrive gifts. We expect it will take around 3-4 months for patches to start shipping, but we’ll keep you posted.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Members-only patch sale for for charity starts Monday, May 9

Watch (or re-watch) our Finale Hangout or play the custom game episodes!

Everyone on our waiting list got a gift membership, and we've still got a few to give out!

Thank-you gifts will take a little while!

It's the final week of MaxFunDrive 2022!

Want to support your favorite shows?

Post-drive patch sale to support Trans Lifeline!

MaxFun gift memberships!

MaxFunDrive Finale Hangout!

MaxFunDrive 2022 is here!

Thank you so much for being a part of the MaxFun community! Since the last MaxFunDrive, we've launched Feeling Seen and brought Just the Zoo of Us onto the network, donated over $100,000 to charity, hired additional producers, and have started work on a bunch of projects that we hope to tell you about later this year.

Thank-you gifts for new & upgrading members (introducing: PATCHES!)

$5/month:

$10/month:

$20/month

How a monthly membership helps our shows

MaxFun Pub Trivia with Chuck Bryant & John Hodgman

MaxFunDrive Finale Hangout

MaxFunDrive 2022 is April 25 to May 6!

New Bonus Content for monthly members!

Virtual Events: Pub Trivia and a Finale Hangout!

MaxFun Pub Trivia with Chuck Bryant & John Hodgman on April 30

MaxFunCon Pub Trivia's dynamic duo of Chuck Bryant and John Hodgman are hosting a virtual trivia event for charity, with the help of the MaxFunsters over at Trivia Mafia! MaxFunDrive is the perfect time to get together and have some fun for a good cause, so we hope you can join us! Gather your pals and get ready to search for some facts hidden in your memory next to the lyrics to a bunch of podcast theme songs.

MaxFunDrive Finale Hangout on May 6

• The worst theme for a pinball machine
• My new podcast name
• A new closing line for my show

• Your co-host riding a dinosaur
• A hat Jesse Thorn might wear
• The character you would be in a teen drama

Vaccination policy and COVID-19 protocol

Details regarding shared accommodations

Cancellation policy

Peruse the MaxFun Holiday Gift Guide!

MaxFun at SF Sketchfest!

SF Sketchfest is returning to in-person shows (with COVID protocols), and a bunch of MaxFun shows will be there!

• Friday, Jan 7, 8:00pm:  Mission to Zyxx
• Thursday, Jan 20 8:00pm: The Greatest Generation
• Saturday, Jan 22, 7:30pm: Judge John Hodgman
• Sunday, Jan 23, 8:00pm: Jordan, Jesse, Go!

Plus, several appearances from Ify Nwadiwe and SF Sketchfest founder Janet Varney and a whole bunch of friends of MaxFun! Check out the full lineup here.

2021 Year in Review!

New shows:

• Depresh Mode with John Moe
  • Named one of the best shows of 2021 by Stitcher and Mashable!
• Just the Zoo of Us
• Feeling Seen
• (and a fresh name for Maximum Film!)

New faces at HQ:

• Gabe Mara – Producer
• Lorraine Wheat – Producer
• Richard Robey – Production Fellow
• Valerie Moffat – Production Fellow

A great MaxFunDrive and our first-ever MaxFun Block Party:

• Thanks for your support throughout both of those events!

Support for nonprofit organizations:

• Through our pin sale, live shows, and various giving throughout the year, Maximum Fun–with the help of our community–has given over $100,000 to nonprofits in 2021.And this doesn’t even count the tens of thousands of dollars various MaxFun shows have each raised through their specific audience communities!
• In November, we donated the proceeds from the members-only pin sale ($91,125) to EveryoneOn to help bridge the digital divide.
• And on Giving Tuesday, we announced that we've started working with National CASA/GAL to provide ongoing support for the organization, starting with a $5,000 donation. In the coming months, we’ll work with National CASA/GAL to share examples of the great work they do, highlight MaxFunsters who’ve been volunteers, and provide fun opportunities to raise funds for this great nonprofit organization. If you've been a CASA or GAL volunteer and would like to share your story, please email april@maximumfun.org.

Happy Holidays from MaxFun HQ!

Thank you, as always, for all of your support!

• Donate as part of the MaxFun community: https://give.nationalcasagal.org/maximumfun
• Become a CASA or GAL volunteer: https://nationalcasagal.org/advocate-for-children/be-a-casa-gal-volunteer/
• And spread the word about @NationalCASAGAL on your social media accounts

For someone that you know loves MaxFun shows but you aren't sure which ones:

The Adventure Zone

Baby Geniuses

Beef and Dairy Network

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Can I Pet Your Dog?

The Dave Hill Goodtime Hour

Dead Pilots Society

Depresh Mode

Dr. Gameshow

FANTI

Feeling Seen

The Flop House

Go Fact Yourself

The Greatest Generation and The Greatest Discovery

The Jackie and Laurie Show

Jordan, Jesse, Go!

Judge John Hodgman

Just the Zoo of Us

The JV Club with Janet Varney

Maximum Film!

Minority Korner

Mission to Zyxx

My Brother, My Brother and Me

Oh No, Ross and Carrie!

One Bad Mother

Reading Glasses

Sawbones

Shmanners

Still Buffering

Stop Podcasting Yourself

Tights and Fights

Tiny Victories

Triple Click

Troubled Waters

We Got This with Mark and Hal

Wonderful!

On November 22, 2021, Maximum Fun, headquartered in Los Angeles, sent EveryoneOn a donation of $91,125.

Community Talent Show Thread!

Meet the Neighbors eps & other crossovers!

• Dead Pilots Society x The Greatest Generation
• Shmanners x Tights and Fights
• One Bad Mother x Just the Zoo of Us
• Go Fact Yourself x Depresh Mode
• My Brother, My Brother and Me x Maximum Film!
• Minority Korner x The JV Club x Can I Pet Your Dog?
• Judge John Hodgman x We Got This
• The Dave Hill Goodtime Hour x Jordan Morris (JJGo, Bubble)
• The Beef and Dairy Network x Janet Varney (The JV Club) x Ify Nwadiwe (Maximum Film!)

Doing Good with MaxFun!

What did you think?

Last chance to buy the Block Party poster!

Fun stuff:

Doing Good With MaxFun

Upcoming Livestreams:

A Block Party-exclusive poster!

MaxFun Radio!

Block Party Bingo (with prizes)!

Community Picks

Meet the Neighbors mini-sodes!

Block Party playlist!

Announcing MaxFun Block Party Oct. 11- 22!

Doing Good with MaxFun in 2021!

Our audience survey closes Sept. 24

Upcoming livestreams (and a couple you may have missed!)

Start the survey

Seven MaxFun shows will take part in the London Podcast Festival!

• Thursday, Sept 2: Stop Podcasting Yourself
• Friday, Sept 3: Dr. Gameshow
• Sunday, Sept 5: FANTI
• Thursday, Sept 9: Judge John Hodgman (with John Darnielle)
• Saturday, Sept 11: Beef and Dairy Network at 4:30pm BST / 8:30am PT / 11:30pm ET
  • (you can also enjoy the show live in London!)
• Saturday, Sept 11: We Got This with Mark and Hal (with special guest Paget Brewster)
• Sunday, Sept 12: Tights and Fights

And a few other live shows coming up!

MaxFunDrive gifts and pins are about to ship!

Audience survey starting September 1!

It’s happening! Our fulfillment centers are starting to get your gifts and pin orders ready to go out the door.

We will have tracking numbers for you!

If you are getting MaxFunDrive gifts, those ship separately from purchased pins.

If your address has changed and you did NOT update it when we sent our emails out:

If you live outside the US:

Thank you!

The 2021 pin sale will benefit EveryoneOn!

How to buy pins

Pin sale FAQs

• Pins CANNOT sell out! Because we make our pins to order after the sale is over, it's not possible for any pin to sell out. So don't fret if you get your pin email later than other folks!
• $10+ members will have access to all of the show's pins. You can buy what we call a reasonable amount (which includes the ability to get the whole set or to get a handful of some pins if you want to give any as gifts or get backups in case you lose any.
• All members at any level can buy our special MaxFunDrive 2021 pin. It's a very cute pin featuring our original mascot, a squirrel named Nutsy.
• The pin sale will close Friday, May 28. When it's closed, it's closed! Be sure to make your purchases before then. 
• We can't offer refunds on purchased pins, so please keep that in mind!
• It'll be some time before you get them! Pins are made to order after the sale and ship separately than MaxFunDrive gifts. We expect it will take around 3 months for pins to start shipping, but we'll keep you posted.

The MaxFunDrive Game Show Spectacular is Friday, May 14!

Pin sale for charity starts Monday, May 17

Want to support your favorite shows?

RSVP for Friday's star-studded finale show!

• Renee Colvert and Andrew Reich playing a Go Fact Yourself round of What's the Difference with Helen Hong and J. Keith van Straaten
• Jarrett Hill, Tre'vell Anderson, Drea Clark and Stuart Wellington navigating Troubled Waters with Dave Holmes
• A live round of a Dr. Gameshow game chosen by the MaxFun community! Featuring Jo Firestone, Manolo Moreno, Alonso Duralde, Ify Nwadiwe, John Moe, Janet Varney, and Laura House
• A selection of exemplary cows that have been nominated for The Beef and Dairy MaxFun Bovine Civic Pride Award 2021
• A fun night hanging out with your charming MCs James Arthur M. and Biz Ellis (and a bunch of MaxFunsters in the live chat) as we count down to the end of the Drive!

Give (or receive!) the gift of Maximum Fun!

Enjoy replays of past events!

Thank-you gifts for new & upgrading members!

$10 a month:

$35 a month:

How a monthly membership helps our shows:

Boosting to in-between levels!

Upcoming live shows!

Bonus content for monthly members!

Virtual events, like our huge finale show!

Friends, it is a bittersweet Thursday, because I must announce that I've decided to end Switchblade Sisters. I know this news will come as a disappointment to listeners, many of whom have stuck by us since the beginning. That's the bitter part. The sweet part is more personal and has to do with my writing work ramping up and my inability to devote the time necessary to keep the show at the high caliber we set for it. If you listen to us, you know every episode is extremely researched—and meticulously produced and edited by Casey O'Brien. We've always been on the academic-entertainment end of the spectrum, but it takes quite a bit of time and effort to accomplish that.   The good news is that our show is what you'd call "evergreen," meaning the archived episodes will always be relevant, and available for you to visit or revisit. Each is meant to be a mini-masterclass. But if you're craving more contemporary film discussions, may I direct your attention to my podcast alma mater, Who Shot Ya?, hosted by Ify, Drea, and Alonso.   If you're a member who supports other shows on MaxFun, the money you put towards Switchblade Sisters will automatically be split up among those other shows after ours ends. If this is the only show you support, please hang tight until March 1. You'll get an email from the network about what to do next.   I also want to take a moment to address our last episode, which will be unleashed February 25. We want it to be an all-star blowout, and we need your help. Casey has set up a hotline (818-962-0286), where you can dial in and leave a message for us. Maybe tell us what the show has meant to you. Maybe tell us which movie you would have picked if you were a guest. Whatever you wanna say—go tits to the glass with it. Just keep it under 1 minute and call on or before February 17.   From the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every one of you for listening, for telling a friend to listen, or for becoming a member to support our show financially. You helped make Switchblade possible for nearly 3 1/2 years, and if you've ever picked up one of our enamel pins, I hope you continue to wear it with pride. -- April Wolfe

We will have tracking numbers for you!

If you are getting MaxFunDrive gifts, those ship separately from purchased pins.

So, if you get one package before the other, or if you see your friends posting photos of their awesome swag — don’t fret, your stuff is headed your way soon!

If your address has changed and you did NOT update it:

If you live outside the US:

Thank you!

Apple Podcasts named FANTI one of its favorite shows of 2020!

2020 Holiday Gift Guide!

More info about our GiveDirectly donation!

2020 Year-in-Review (only the good stuff)

• New shows
  • FANTI
  • Triple Click
  • The Outer Reach
  • Tiny Victories
  • The Dave Hill Goodtime Hour
• New faces at HQ
  • April Pendergraft - Director of Development and Membership
  • Kristen Bennett - Production Fellow
• Our biggest MaxFunDrive ever
  • 32,177 of you joined, upgraded or boosted your membership this year and we are so grateful!
• Money raised for charity
  • Through our pin sale, live shows, and various giving throughout the year, Maximum Fun--with the help of our community--has given over $150,000 to nonprofits in 2020.
  • And this doesn't even count the tens of thousands of dollars various MaxFun shows have each raised through their specific audience communities!

Happy Holidays from MaxFunHQ!

For fans of the network in general, or for someone that you know loves MaxFun shows but you aren't sure which ones:

The Adventure Zone

Baby Geniuses

Beef and Dairy Network

Bubble

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Can I Pet Your Dog?

The Dave Hill Goodtime Hour

Dead Pilots Society

Dr. Gameshow

FANTI

The Flop House

Friendly Fire

Go Fact Yourself

The Greatest Generation and The Greatest Discovery

Heat Rocks

I, Podius

The Jackie and Laurie Show

Jordan, Jesse, Go!

Judge John Hodgman

The JV Club with Janet Varney

Minority Korner

Mission to Zyxx

My Brother, My Brother and Me

Oh No, Ross and Carrie!

One Bad Mother

Reading Glasses

Round Springfield

Sawbones

Shmanners

Still Buffering

Stop Podcasting Yourself

Story Break

Switchblade Sisters

Tights and Fights

Tiny Victories

Triple Click

Troubled Waters

We Got This with Mark and Hal

Who Shot Ya?

Wonderful!

On November 23, 2020, Maximum Fun, headquartered in Los Angeles, sent GiveDirectly a donation of $95,400.

If you would like to join the Maximum Fun community in donating to GiveDirectly, you can help support families in need across America by making a contribution at GiveDirectly.org.

• Changes to our front-end website functionality (with corresponding changes to the back-end)
• Improvements to our implementations of various APIs to make sure all of our sites are working properly together
• Improvements to our membership repository

Desired qualifications

• React.js (familiarity with Redux and Formik a big plus)
• PHP

• Laravel/Lumen
• Recurly, or similar online payments platforms (Stripe, Chargify, etc.)
• CiviCRM (especially CiviCRM extension development)

Submissions

We will not be holding an in-person MaxFunCon in 2021

We do plan to have one last in-person MaxFunCon

Let us know your thoughts!

MaxFunDrive new, upgrading, and boosting total was 32,177!

The MaxFun community raised over $10,000 with weekly livestreams for charity!

• Pub Trivia with John Hodgman and Chuck Bryant raised $5,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative. You can find this recording on the bonus content page of our website.
• The MaxFun Dinner Party raised $1,800 for Meals on Wheels. You can watch that any time on our YouTube channel.
• Our Standup Showcase raised over $2,000 for Trans Lifeline. This show was not recorded, so it will just have to live on in the hearts of those who watched it.
• The MaxFunDrive Finale-thon raised $1,700 for Give Directly. You can watch the replay on our YouTube channel. (It won't include the standup sets for the same reason we didn't record the standup showcase—hosts performed new, unreleased material, so out of respect for the comedians, we can't release the recordings of their sets.)

Pin sale closes this Friday, August 14!

Gift memberships will be distributed all year!

Livestreams for charity!

MaxFunDrive Live Finale-thon this Friday, August 7!

A MaxFunDrive pin that ALL members can buy!

Gift memberships are here!

Pin sale for charity starts today!

Livestreams for charity!

Standup Showcase on July 31!

MaxFunDrive Finale Show on August 7!

Gift memberships coming this week!

If you are eligible to buy a pin, you will be getting an email later today from the membership@maximumfun.org email address (please search your spam folder, too). This email will include all of the details you’ll need to purchase pins, and for some of you, it might mention information that we need from you in order to process your MaxFunDrive gifts, so please do read the email carefully! If you qualified for a gift pin this year, please note that the pin sale is just in case you want additional pins. It's separate from the thank-you gifts we'll be sending along to new and upgrading members.

What does boosting a membership mean?

Will boosting get me a gift? Will it count me towards shows' member goals?

How do I boost my membership?

Livestreams for charity!

MaxFun Dinner Party on July 24!

Standup Showcase on July 31!

Boost feature is available!

How your membership helps

Share your member stories

• Fantastic shows!
• Delightful guests! 
• Some boco surprises (like some recipes from the MaxFun Family Cookbook)! 
• Livestreamed events (like Pub Trivia on July 18 and the MaxFun Dinner Party on July 24!)
• AND of course...

THANK-YOU GIFTS!

New things for MaxFunDrive 2020!

Boosting your membership

Gift memberships

If you joined or upgraded between March 13 and now:

MaxFun Presents: Pub Trivia with John Hodgman and Chuck Bryant

DATE: Saturday, July 18th

Dad Pods:

Suggested Listening:

Livestreams:

Coming up next:

Suggested listening:

Livestreams:

Coming up next:

On Friday, June 19, Mark Gagliardi and Hal Lublin invite a host of podcast luminaries to debate topics on the most exciting We Got This “Clean Slate” yet! At 5pm PT/8pm ET, join Mark and Hal along with special guests Janet Varney, Danielle Radford, Travis McElroy, Lindsey Kelk, Paul F. Tompkins, Laser Malena-Webber, Symphony Sanders, Meg Bashwiner, and even more folks who have yet to be announced! Tickets are $6.50 and benefit the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

This past week:

Important reading:

Ways to support:

• NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• Equal Justice Initiative
• Black Lives Matter
• Black Visions Collective
• Reclaim the Block
• Know Your Rights Camp
• National Bail Out
• The Bail Project
• Various bail funds
• The Okra Project
• Southerners on New Ground
• ACLU

Suggested listening:

Livestreams:

This past week:

Coming up next:

We believe in elevating voices, and there are many that deserve our full attention right now. Black lives matter. All of us at Maximum Fun stand against racism, and are horrified by the way racism in our public institutions continues to deprive Black people in America of their rights, liberty, and lives. We stand with our Black colleagues, artists, audience, and the Black community at large. We encourage you to speak out against racial injustice, and support Black-led organizations in your community that are fighting against it.

Suggested listening:

Livestreams:

This past week:

Coming up next:

Show updates!

Livestreams!

This past week:

Coming up next:

Looking for some podcast listening activities?

• You don’t need anything fancy to have fun drawing! A #2 or mechanical pencil is just fine for sketching, ballpoint pens can give you great lines, and you can find sketchbooks in the $6-10 range online. Or just use whatever you already have in your house!
• While your local craft stores may be closed down, your favorite grocery store might have a small art supplies section.
• If you're working with clay and can’t/ don’t want to bake your creations, look for air dry clay.

• See if any trails near you are open or walk around your neighborhood. Just be sure to stay at least 6 ft./2 m. away from anyone you pass, and wear a mask if you live in a place that requires it.
• If you're biking, just be sure your volume is low enough that you can still hear traffic noises.

Here's what MaxFun staff members are up to!

MaxFun Shows Focusing on Coronavirus

• Masks: All about 'em!  (Maybe you watched the video Sydnee made last month about How To Wear A Cloth Mask? If you haven't you should! I found it really helpful.)
• The Most Dangerous Parade: The parade that spurred on the second wave of the 1918 influenza epidemic
• Dr. Anthony Fauci and Coronavirus Myths
• Ignaz Semmelweis: And the advent of handwashing
• Hydroxychloroquine
• COVID Lies, Darned Lies, and Statistics: Fighting the narrative that the pandemic has been overblown by hospitals in order to get more money. (Spoiler: It hasn't).

• Triple Click did an episode all about The Best Quarantine Video Games.
• Shmanners outlines good Zoom etiquette in their episode on Video Conferencing.
• Reading Glasses did a whole episode on books to read while in isolation.  They also have a new choice for their Isolation Book Club, so check that out and join for their discussion on May 24!

This past week:

Coming up next:

We'd like to hear from you!

Here's what MaxFun staff members are up to!

New (To Us) Show! The Outer Reach: Stories from Beyond

Bubble's Being Adapted Into An Animated Movie!

Livestreamed Events!

Livestreams and more!

This past week:

Coming up next:

We'd like to hear from you!

Here's what MaxFun staff members are up to!

Livestreams and more!

This past week:

Coming up next:

We'd like to hear from you!

Here's what MaxFun staff members are up to!

Want to help us out with a 10-minute ad survey?

Updates from shows

Oh No Ross and Carrie just finished up their 7-part investigation on the Conscious Life Expo! If you missed it, or if you just like to wait to binge the whole thing, here's where you can start the series in both podcast or transcript form. Now pour yourself a cool glass of Starfire Water (no) and settle in for an audio journey. I googled Starfire Water to make sure I remembered the name right, so I'm looking forward to seeing what shows up in my Facebook ads now.

Dr. Gameshow - our wonderfully chaotic call-in game show - recorded their first remote episode using Zoom! It's a show that is technically difficult on a good day with a studio, so it's awesome that they figured our a way to still have the audience participation that makes this show shine. It's a really great and silly show that is perfect if you need something lighthearted right now. PLUS it's family-friendly, so you can play along with your kids!

Livestreams and more!

This past week:

Coming up next:

We'd like to hear from you!

Here's what MaxFun staff members are up to!

After five years, the Trends Like These podcast is coming to an end. In the spring of 2015, it started out as a goofy weekly recap of what was trending on social media. But the trending topics today look a lot different than they did five years ago. We’ve experienced the campaign and presidency of Trump, the #MeToo movement, and now COVID-19. At a certain point, giving our all to this show has started to butt up against our own self-care. We would rather wind it down now than let the quality drop because of our hearts just not being in it anymore. On the bright side, our 2020 MaxFunDrive episode is an hour of us losing our minds about the movie “Cats,” and we’re releasing it to the public today along with our final episode. By the way, none of the hosts are going anywhere! We’re still on Twitter and working on other projects, so don’t be shy to reach out. Our Trendos will always be our Friendos. We’re so grateful to the audience who has stuck with us through all of this and we want to thank all of you who have listened to us and supported the show. If you learned anything from us, we hope it’s that you should read all of an article before you post it and check the source. Love y’all!

NEW SHOW: Triple Click!

Updates from shows!

Livestreams and more!

This past week:

Coming up next:

We'd like to hear from you!

Here's what MaxFun staff members are up to!

Mission to Zyxx is changing things up! They'll be moving to a bi-weekly schedule for fresh episodes, but they're starting a new project called Mission to Zyxx Live Listens. Today at 1pm PT, the cast will be listening along to Ep 101: All Hail The Federated Alliance on YouTube live, sharing behind-the-scenes info, and chatting with the audience. Subscribe to their YouTube channel and then head there to watch it this afternoon!

Sawbones host Dr. Sydnee McElroy made a really helpful video about cloth masks that you should all watch if you live in a place (like LA) where you need to wear a mask if you absolutely have to go outside. Also, let's just take a second to appreciate that Dr. Sydnee McElroy is a real life hero. And if you are a health care worker, so are you. Thank you!

The Flop House generally puts out an episode every other week, but lately they've been trying out something new and dropping mini-episodes on their off weeks. There are 4 mini-eps so far and you can listen to them all here.

Heat Rocks dropped a Bonus Beats episode in between scheduled episodes this week where host Oliver Wang answers questions from fans. They're hoping to do a couple more eps like this, so keep an eye out!

Troubled Waters released a "Play At Home" edition where you and the folks in your home can play along! If you'd like to record yourself playing along, send a video to to @Troubledpod, or email them at troubledwaterspod@gmail.com.

Go Fact Yourself has changed up their show a little bit since they can't record in front of a live audience as they usually do. They brought back the very first guest they've ever had on the show, Jimmy Pardo, to quiz him on both of his areas of expertise that they didn't talk about in his first episode. Listen here.

Reading Glasses is starting a new book for Isolation Book Club. If you missed out on their first read, you can jump in on the new club where they will be reading Charlie Jane Ander's Six Months, Three Days. Mallory and Brea will discuss it live on April 20

Jordan, Jesse, Go's long-awaited drinking game bonus episode is up now on the bonus feed for members! Please listen responsibly. If you're a $5+ monthly member and you need access to the bonus feed, you can find the info by following the directions at maximumfun.org/manage.

The Jackie and Laurie Show's Laurie and Jackie (and a couple of special guests) are doing a standup show for MaxFun members on Wednesday! It won't be recorded, so if you'd like to watch it, be sure to sign up for a spot here as soon as you can. We can only accommodate 300 folks, but we'll add folks to a waitlist if it fills up quick.

We'd like to hear from you!

Here's what MaxFun staff members are up to! Cassie Josephs, Transcription Coordinator (They/Them) Cassie has been getting back into knitting, and they’ve just finished this pair of arm warmers! "I've tried picking up knitting many times in the past few years, but I never managed to complete a project. I always tried to make scarves and I always got bored and gave up before I had a good length. When I tried knitting this time, I went for a simpler project: a pair of arm warmers that are just rectangles with the ends sewn together. And, for the first time, I completed a knitting project! If you're struggling with reaching the goal of a project, try re-considering what your goal should be. Make it something attainable and I bet you'll get it in no time!" That's it for this week! Next week we are going to have some pretty BIG announcements so get excited!

Maximum Fun Classics Feed

Livestreams, extra recordings, and online shows from MaxFun hosts!

Here's what MaxFun staff members are up to!

Kira Gowan, Ad Operations Specialist (She/Her) Kira has been making clay masks this week! "My pottery studio is closed, so I've been working on smaller projects at home. I figured, if I can't invite friends over, I might as well make some new friends."

Jesse Thorn's Soup Show

John Hodgman's GET YOUR PETS

Justin McElroy Talking Disney World

Ben Harrison Star Trek and #GreatestGen Stuffcast

Baking with Travis: Cherry Beer Bread

Travis McElroy Creating a 5th Edition D&D Character

Rileigh Smirl Bakes Blondies

Jesse Thorn Ice Cream Making Party

Jesse Thorn Guesting on Brian Heater's Podcast

Sawbones Match Day Party

Dr. Gameshow Fancast on Zoom

The Thrilling Adventure Hour Livestream 

Jordan Morris Ask Me Anything

Clint McElroy Stories from your Gaffer

Griffin McElroy Plays Animal Crossing: New Horizons

The Charlie and Daddy Show

Reading Glasses Isolation Book Club

Travis McElroy: Daddy and Bebe

Play Games with MaxFun Friends!

• Roll20 Online Tabletop gaming platform
• Jackbox Games
• Use Your Words by Trends Like These co-host Brent Black

Movie watch/chat party!

• Kast watch party app 
• Netflix Party

Coloring book pages

• Coloring books based on museum collections

Visiting places online together:

Host a Zoo viewing together!

• Monterey Bay Aquarium webcams 
• San Diego Zoo Webcam 
• Cincinnati Zoo Fiona Show 
• The Cornell Lab bird streams
• Kitten Rescue Kitten Cam

Museums!

• Smithsonian online exhibits
• List of other museums with virtual tours

Gardens!

• Botanical gardens across the world

Parks!

• National Park Service webcams
• EarthCams

Adventures!

• Random tours through Atlas Obscura
• Learn about a random thing from Wikipedia

Stuff to do on other days

Watch Live performances!

• • Thrilling Adventure Hour folks (including Hal, Mark, and Janet) are streaming a show Sun 3/22 
  • Stay At Home Fest
  • The Met is streaming operas for free this week 
  • List of live virtual concerts
  • A host of MaxFun-related livestreams, with new ones added every day

Seattle Area Max Fun Meetup Virtual Day—Jackbox Party (& more?)

Seattle Area Max Fun Meetup Virtual Day—Jackbox Party (& more?)

• You have significant financial need. Specifically, it would be difficult or impossible for you to attend MaxFunCon if you did not receive a scholarship.
• You will be able to participate in the entire weekend-long conference. MaxFunCon begins at 4 PM on Friday, June 12 and ends at 1 PM on Sunday, June 14.
• You are able to arrange your own transportation to and from Lake Arrowhead, CA to attend MaxFunCon.

• Please fill out and submit this google form to provide your name, contact info, and the short essay.
• Please note that the essay must be no longer than 1500 characters. Essays longer than 1500 characters will not be read or considered. Sorry, we love you and want to learn about you, but we only have so much time to read all of these!

MaxFun Meetup Day is Tuesday, March 24!

The MaxFunDrive Finale Show is Friday, March 27!

The National CASA/GAL Association for Children believes that every child who has experienced abuse or neglect deserves to be safe, have a permanent home and the opportunity to thrive. We work with our 950 member programs across the country to pair children with a court appointed special advocate (CASA) or guardian ad litem (GAL) volunteer – caring, compassionate individuals who advocate in court for a child’s needs and best interests.

The holidays should be a time to make happy memories with family. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of thousands of children who are spending the season attending court hearings, adjusting to new foster homes and transitioning to new schools. CASA and GAL volunteers make sure these children don’t face that chaos alone.

We want to thank Maximum Fun and all their amazing members for this incredible gift. Your generosity will help National CASA/GAL and our nationwide network recruit, train and support more volunteers so we can reach more children in need.

Welcome to your new home!

Accessibility is a top priority

Dive in more deeply to your favorite podcasts, and discover new treasures

Manage your membership in a single place

A nicer navigation and simpler search

How'd we do?

The folks at our fulfillment center have started shipping out MaxFunDrive gifts!

We will have a tracking number for you!

If you purchased pins, those ship separately.

So, if you get one package before the other, or if you see your friends posting photos of their awesome swag -- don't fret, your stuff is headed your way soon!

If your address has changed and you did NOT update it:

If you live outside the US:

Thank you thank you thank you!

New Show!

So...You're Canadian with Dave Hill!

Season Premieres and Finales!

Story Break

Mission to Zyxx

An Update on Transcripts! Plus, Exciting September Tidings!

Welcome New HQ Staff!

Steph Prader, Full-Charge Bookkeeper

Steph recently moved to LA from the East Coast shortly before she joined us as our full-charge bookkeeper. She seems to genuinely love data and accounting - I witnessed her getting deep in the spreddies (that's what we call spreadsheets around here) on Day 1. When she's not poring over the company budget, she likes hiking, exploring, cooking, eating, playing video games, and producing and attending video game music concerts.

Cassie Josephs, Transcription Manager

August Staff Pick of the Month

Stacey Molski

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn: Jeff Goldblum

You probably expected the staff pick to be from one of our cool new staff members, right? It definitely should have been, but I'm going to abuse my newsletter power for one last chance to talk about how great it was that Jeff Goldblum was on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn. This is a pretty long newsletter already, so I’ll keep it short. Jeff Goldblum is an absolute delight, and is absolutely delighted by everything. This interview is no different. You should listen to it right now to hear about his new movie, his start in acting (including his mantra as a youth), being a dad, and just to hear him interact with Jesse. Start listening nooooooooooooooow! (This will be fun when you listen and you hear the part I’m referencing, I promise.) Thanks for reading! Say hi to our new MaxFun staff if you see them online! And please send me gifs of Jeff Goldblum whenever you feel inspired.

We're hiring for TWO positions at MaxFun!  

Full Charge Bookkeeper

Transcription Manager

Back during the MaxFunDrive, we announced that we were going to start providing transcriptions for 18 of our shows. In order to make this happen, we're hiring a Transcription Manager, who will be responsible for ensuring the quality, consistency, and timeliness of transcripts. The Transcription Manager is a new position in our company, and the person in this position will lead our transcript initiative. It's important that they have a deep understanding of MaxFun's culture and values. The Transcription Manager will build and manage a small team of freelance transcribers, ensure quality and consistency across all transcriptions, and post completed transcriptions. For more details and to apply, please click here.

Want to join the Listener Panel?

Interested in helping us shape new and existing Maximum Fun shows? Join the Listener Panel! We're about to send our current Listener Panel a show to review, so now's a great time to sign up (plus, sometimes you'll get a sneak peek - well, sneak listen - at brand new shows!)To join the panel, follow these instructions to subscribe to a special podcast feed, where we'll be sharing episodes of some existing shows (and occasionally sneak peaks at some new ones). You'll also receive links to surveys to provide your feedback, which will help us understand what's working and what isn't, and improve MaxFun shows for our listeners. We just put up an episode and corresponding survey and we'd love to hear what you think!

New Staff Member: Jordan Kauwling!

June Staff Pick of the Month

Jordan Kauwling, Production Fellow The Flop House: Episode 282: Castle Freak

Since we hit our goal of 25,000 new and upgrading members during the MaxFunDrive, we're fulfilling our promise to put the exclusive enamel pins on sale for a limited time for all active members at the $10 monthly membership level or above -- with proceeds going to charity. We're about the open up that pin vault! The limited time only pin sale will run from Monday, April 29 to Friday, May 10.

If you are eligible to buy a pin, we'll be sending you an email very early on MONDAY, APRIL 29th from the donations@maximumfun.org email address (please check spam, too). This email will include all of the details you'll need to purchase pins, and for some of you, it might mention information that we need from you in order to process your MaxFunDrive gifts, so please do read the email carefully!

If you'd like, you can check out all the pins again to decide on your order ahead of time. And don't worry about anything selling out - the pins are made to order, which is why it will take some time for these pins and for your MaxFunDrive gifts to arrive. We have to wait until after the pin sale to order the pins, so if you are eligible for MaxFunDrive gifts*, hang tight. We expect the gifts and the purchased pins to ship separately in July, but we will keep you all posted.

As you know, Maximum Fun will not keep the proceeds from this sale (the best way to support your favorite shows is through your monthly membership, as always - thanks!).

The proceeds from the pin sale this year will support the National Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Association. National CASA’s network of nearly 950 member programs across the country helps children and youth who have experienced abuse or neglect by pairing them with highly-trained volunteers who advocate for their best interests in the court and foster care systems. We are so proud to be able to support the great work National CASA does, and we think you will be, too.

So, check your email on Monday to get yourself some wonderful pins, while supporting National CASA and some of our nation’s most vulnerable kids.

Thank you again!

*Please note, cancelling your membership or altering your membership level may affect gift eligibility.

• You have significant financial need. Specifically, it would be difficult or impossible for you to attend MaxFunCon if you did not receive a scholarship.
• You will be able to participate in the entire weekend-long conference. MaxFunCon begins at 4 PM on Friday, June 7 and ends at 1 PM on Sunday, June 9.
• You are able to arrange your own transportation to and from Lake Arrowhead, CA to attend MaxFunCon.

• Please fill out and submit this google form to provide your name, contact info, and the short essay.
• The essay must be no longer than 1500 characters. Essays longer than 1500 characters will not be read or considered.

Watch a replay of Friday's live show!

Thank-you gifts

Pin sale for charity

Transcripts announcement

• The Adventure Zone
• Bubble
• Bullseye
• The Flop House
• Friendly Fire
• The Greatest Generation
• Heat Rocks
• Judge John Hodgman
• My Brother, My Brother and Me
• Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone
• Oh No, Ross and Carrie!
• One Bad Mother
• Sawbones
• Shmanners
• Still Buffering
• Switchblade Sisters
• Trends Like These
• Wonderful!

Jordan and Jesse are wrapping up The Summer Boys of Summer Tour on July 24th with one final show at the Angel City Brewery in Los Angeles with special guests Nick Wiger, Mike Mitchell, and Allie Goertz! And a special opening set from the amazing podcast Story Break! Please come! It's going to be great!

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!

Week one of the 2019 MaxFunDrive is drawing to a close, and while we had some bumps at the very start, we’re ending the week on a high note. Why? Because as of this writing, 7,901 of you have started or upgraded a monthly membership. To give you some perspective, that’s significantly higher than double-occupancy capacity of world’s largest cruise ship (so cancel your plans for a Caribbean vacation with all of your fellow MaxFun members). Thank you SO MUCH to all of you who have already shown up to support your favorite shows!

But this week was action packed beyond our progress toward our goal of 25,000 new and upgrading members. For one thing, we released the long awaited MaxFun Dream Date footage, where you can see Ross and Carrie (of Oh No, Ross and Carrie!) treat long-time listener and superfan Mya to flowers, chocolate, a massage, a delicious dinner, and an exclusive live show in the comfort of her home. Is it a podcast match made in heaven? Or does Mya NEXT ONRAC? Watch and find out, and then support the MaxFun podcasts you’re crushing on at maximumfun.org/donate; after all, this special date was a result of us smashing our network-wide goal last year. Who knows what stretch goals we have in store for this year?

The second week of the drive holds some of our favorite MFD traditions, which we are eagerly looking forward to. First off, MaxFun Meet-Up Day is happening this Tuesday, March 26th at 7:00 PM local time. It’s a fantastic opportunity to make connections with folks in your area with built-in shared interests because, let’s face it, it’s tough to make friends as an adult, and the knowledge you can show up at a place, shout “GHOST HORSE” and get some nods of recognition is a huge relief, right? And if your city isn’t on the list yet, just pick a place, commit to showing up yourself, and send the info to stacey@maximumfun.org. We’ll add it to the list, and that’s ALL you need to do to make it official.

Finally, while we still have AN ENTIRE week between now and then, a wise man (Stephen Covey) once said “begin with the end in mind,” and we AGREE. The end of the 2019 MaxFunDrive will be marked with a live show extravaganza on Friday, March 29th at 4 PM PDT, 7 PM EDT, and it’s sure to be a ridiculous, playful, unmissable blast. If you’re a member who is a Los Angeles local (or just happen to be in town for the day), there’s still a handful of spots available to join us in person. Admission is free, but RSVP is required (so we have enough snacks) -- check your email for the invite. If you can’t make it or will be in one of the many non-LA places in the world, don’t worry, we’ll be live-streaming the festivities. Tune in and help us close out this year’s greatest week of podcasting!

We hope everyone is enjoying all of the live-streaming, tweeting, facebooking, special-guest-having, and more that's happening! And thanks again for your amazing support!

Max Fun Members, this episode is exclusively for you! The hosts of the podcast "Oh No Ross & Carrie!" compete to determine trivia supremacy in a special network crossover edition of "Go Fact Yourself"!

Ross Blocher is known for being an expert in the paranormal… and disproving it. As a member of the Independent Investigations Group, he investigates the paranormal from a scientific perspective. What's he discovered? Not much of the stuff that goes bump in the night holds up.

His opponent is Carrie Poppy. Like Ross, she's also extremely well-educated in the paranormal. But her education actually extends to the degrees that she's earned. And she's all to happy inform everyone about it.

In this episode, we'll learn about mathematics, comedy legends, and the subtleties of men's fashion.

This show is available EXCLUSIVELY to our Maximum Fun Members. To get the chance to listen as well, be sure to take part in the annual #MaxFunDrive and become a monthly member! You can sign up at maximumfun.org/donate to help support this and other Max Fun shows you listen to.

What’s the difference: Hanging on the rod

What’s the difference between a blazer and a sportcoat?

What’s the difference between drapes and curtains?

Areas of Expertise

Ross Blocher: The band The Smashing Pumpkins, The number Pi and the duck-billed platypus.

Carrie Poppy: "The Dick van Dyke Show", "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and farm animals

Appearing in this episode:

J. Keith van Straaten
Helen Hong
Ross Blocher
Carrie Poppy

With guest experts:
Dr. David H. Bailey, author of the book Pi: The Next Generation.

Earl Pomerantz, TV writer whose credits include "The Cosby Show," "Cheers" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

Go Fact Yourself was devised by Jim Newman and J. Keith van Straaten, and produced in collaboration with Maximum Fun. The show was recorded at The Angel City Brewery in Los Angeles.

Theme Song by Jonathan Green.
Maximum Fun's Senior Producer is Laura Swisher.
The show is edited by Julian Burrell.

Due to some technical issues, at the time of posting, the new gifts aren't displayed yet on maximumfun.org/donate. Don't worry, we're hard at work getting things updated. In the meantime, if you sign up to become a member right now, you'll still get these sweet drive-exclusive pledge gifts you've heard so much about -- we'll send you an email to confirm your pin selection. You can see all of the gifts (including all of the pins selections) below. Thanks for your patience and support!

MaxFun High Fiver

$5: Bonus Content

For just $5 per month, you’ll receive immediate access to our single most popular thank you gift: hours upon hours upon hours of bonus content from all of our shows! There’s really something for everyone in our oversized (if metaphorical) bonus content vault, from exclusive music, wild videos, fan-favorite guests, and more!

Friend of the Family

The finest accessories for your jean jackets, cork boards, lapels, and fanny packs are back for the third year running - beautiful enamel pins designed by the inimitable Megan Lynn Kott! Choose your favorite from 41 unique, show-specific designs, and declare your fandom to your fellow listeners and the world at large.

Plus, you'll receive your own letterpress MaxFun membership card, ideal for flashing, should anyone doubt your podcast bona fides.

And of course you'll get access to all of our bonus content!

Diamond Friendship Circle

$20: Maximum Fun Jigsaw Puzzle & One of 41 Enamel Pins & Letterpress MaxFun Membership Card & Bonus Content

Sometimes you need a chill activity to keep your hands busy while you're listening to your favorite podcasts. With that in mind, we are thrilled to present our $20 monthly members with the first ever Maximum Fun Jigsaw Puzzle! One of our favorite artists, Geoffrey Tice, brought to life our vision of a listener enjoying a podcast from MaxFun HQ while gazing over Los Angeles's MacArthur Park lake.

This beauty's 550 pieces come together to create an 18"x24" final product, which is challenging enough to appeal to the hardcore puzzler, but definitely still doable for novices. Glue the finished puzzle together to hang on your wall, or take it apart and keep it as your trusty companion for future bonus content binges!

Naturally, you'll also receive your choice of enamel pin, a letterpress membership card, and access to all of our bonus content!

Leadership Squad

$35: Rocket Engraved Glass Coffee Mug & Maximum Fun Jigsaw Puzzle & One of 41 Enamel Pins & Letterpress MaxFun Membership Card & Bonus Content

Your morning (or afternoon or evening -- we're not judging) beverage should appeal to your eyes as much as your taste buds, which is why our new and upgrading $35 monthly members will receive a beautiful glass coffee mug, permanently engraved with our rocket logo. Sip your coffee (or hot chocolate or hot toddy -- again, we're NOT JUDGING) in style!

Will you still receive the Maximum Fun jigsaw puzzle, your chosen enamel pin, a letterpress membership card, and access to our bonus content? Yes, of course!

Silver Seagull

$50: Custom Metal MaxFun Membership Card & Rocket Engraved Glass Coffee Mug & Maximum Fun Jigsaw Puzzle & One of 41 Enamel Pins & Letterpress MaxFun Membership Card & Bonus Content

We recognize contributing $50 per month in support of our podcasts is a huge, solid commitment, and your gift should be something that reflects that solidity -- something like a solid, metal MaxFun membership card, laser engraved with your name (or whatever you’d like, provided it fits on the line).

That extra special membership card AND a rocket engraved glass coffee mug, the MaxFun jigsaw puzzle, your choice of enamel pin, a letterpress membership card (for when you want to be light and casual with your proof of membership), and access to all of our bonus content are yours at $50 per month.

Golden Eagles

$100: Membership in the Inner Circle culture club & Immortalization at MaxFun HQ & Custom Metal MaxFun Membership Card & Rocket Engraved Glass Coffee Mug & Maximum Fun Jigsaw Puzzle & One of 41 Enamel Pins & Letterpress MaxFun Membership Card & Bonus Content

Golden Eagles are welcomed into the Inner Circle, receiving hand-picked pieces of culture from their favorite MaxFun hosts. Each month, a host will select a movie, album, game, book, or other piece of culture that they’ve been currently enjoying or is an all-time favorite, and we’ll send you a copy in the mail (or e-mail) along with a note from the host explaining their choice.

Plus, we’ll immortalize you in MaxFun HQ! We’ll engrave your name on an engraving plate that will be permanently displayed in our office. How’s that for commitment?

Last but not least, our Golden Eagles are invited to the annual get-together in Los Angeles the evening before MaxFunCon. It’s a great opportunity to rub elbows with MaxFun staff, hosts, and special guests!

All that PLUS the metal engraved membership card, the rocket engraved glass coffee mug, the MaxFun jigsaw puzzle, your choice of enamel pin, a letterpress membership card, and access to all of our bonus content! Do you have room in your home for all of that?

Platinum Angels

$200: Complimentary Registration at MaxFunCon 2020 & Membership in the Inner Circle culture club & Immortalization at MaxFun HQ & Custom Metal MaxFun Membership Card & Rocket Engraved Glass Coffee Mug & Maximum Fun Jigsaw Puzzle & One of 41 Enamel Pins & Letterpress MaxFun Membership Card & Bonus Content

Our Platinum Angels soar in the stratosphere, helping spread joy and podcasts to all. If you choose to join their ranks, we’ll comp your registration to MaxFunCon 2020 in Lake Arrowhead. What’s MaxFunCon, you ask? Only the best weekend for fans of comedy, creativity, friendship, and natural beauty imaginable! Registration is all inclusive (food, lodging, entertainment, ridic bevs [both alcoholic and non-alcoholic], and swag) -- all you need to do is get yourself to Lake Arrowhead, and you’re in.

If you’re ready to inhale that rarefied Lake Arrowhead air as a Platinum Angel, in addition to your registration, you’ll also get membership in the Inner Circle, immortalization at MaxFun HQ, an invitation to our pre-MaxFunCon soiree, a custom engraved metal membership card, a rocket engraved glass coffee mug, the MaxFun jigsaw puzzle, your choice of enamel pin, a letterpress membership card, and access to our treasure trove of bonus content.

• Submit a game show! Send your game show ideas to drgameshow@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 256-MANOLO-1.
• Call in and play along! You can tune in to a live stream of the recording on the dates and times below and call in to play along. The studio number is 857-MANOLO-1 (only works during recording times). Follow Dr. Gameshow's Twitter, Instagram and Facebook page for updates on when the livestreams start. Recording dates:
  • Tuesday 3/5 at 1pm & 3pm ET
  • Thursday 3/14 at 1pm & 3pm ET
  • Sunday 3/17 at 1pm & 3pm ET

• WFMU (2014-2016)
• Earwolf (2017-2018)

• Ep 47 - Salusalah's Diaspora (w/ Bowen Yang & Matt Rogers)
• Ep 41 - #NAHSMYOZ (w/ Jason Mantzoukas & Manolo’s 10-year-old niece Anna)
• Ep 46 - Mesh Shorts (w/ Michelle Buteau & Anthony DeVito)

• Submit a game show! Send your game show ideas to drgameshow@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 256-MANOLO-1.
• Call in and play along! You can tune in to a live stream of the recording on the dates and times below and call in to play along. Follow Dr. Gameshow's Twitter, Instagram and Facebook page for updates on when the livestreams start. Recording dates:Tuesday 3/5 at 1pm & 3pm ET Tuesday 3/12 at 1pm & 3pm ET Saturday 3/16 at 1pm & 3pm ET Tuesday 3/19 at 1pm & 3pm ET