Talkhouse Podcast

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a legendary musician in conversation with a guy best known as a cartoon voice—what they have in common is friendship and a love of the absurd. It’s Robyn Hitchcock and Eugene Mirman.
Hitchcock came to prominence nearly 50 years ago as co-founder of British band The Soft Boys, whose 1980 album Underwater Moonlight is rightfully considered an all-time classic by music fans everywhere—it was a stated influence by bigger bands that came right after, including REM and the Replacements. But Hitchcock didn’t stop there: The Soft Boys’ split led straight into an incredibly prolific solo career that found him everywhere in the ‘80s and ‘90s with more classics, including Globe of Frogs. The throughline in Hitchcock’s music has been a dedication to classic pop sounds and a streak of weirdness: He’s always been called psychedelic, but it’s a word that only tells part of the story. Speaking of stories, Hitchcock just released his second memoir, Stranded in the Future, which covers some incredibly fertile ground in the history of punk. The book came hot on the heels of his 25th solo album, The Confuser, which has met with critical acclaim. Check out the song “My Dead Astronaut” from The Confuser right here.
The other half of today’s chat is comedian Eugene Mirman, who’s been telling weird and wonderful jokes since the early 1990s, but who broke out along with a bunch of his friends and colleagues in the early 2000s—guys like Aziz Ansari, Patton Oswalt, and David Cross. He ran a comedy festival for a decade, toured with your favorite indie-rock band, starred on Flight of the Conchords and more—and if you don’t recognize him from anything yet, he’s been the voice of Gene Belcher on Bob’s Burgers for 15 years and 300-ish episodes. He continues to perform weirdly wonderful stand-up as well: You can watch his latest special, Here Comes the Whimsy, for free on YouTube, but it’s also worth checking out prettygoodfriends.com, where you can purchase the special and some truly unique merchandise to go along with it.
It’s no surprise that this conversation between Mirman and Hitchcock got a little weird and rangy: Prepare yourself for a fun and lengthy diversion about which animals are most likely to kidnap you, among other things. Enjoy.
0:00 Intro
02:44 Start of convo, Comic Con, and bootleg Legos
04:45 On generations loving their work
07:24 On Robyn’s European tour, and Eugene’s trip to Helsinki
11:23 Visiting the Smithsonian, The Space Race, short astronauts, and Laika
15:19 Robyn’s story about a drunk Finnish man, and Finnish trams, bars, markets, and restaurants
20:14 On the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Robyn’s Scottish and Irish tour dates
22:26 On Florida, new comedy festivals, and Eugene’s new special and working on new material, and “LA/New York Years”
25:11 On New York and how distance changes perspective
26:36 On It’s A Wonderful Life, Scrooged, and “Frisbee the Dog”
30:15 On Eugene’s shows, calling with bad news, and animals that would be good at kidnapping
37:21 On David Cross telling them about the “fungal network,” if mushrooms have souls, Murfreesboro, and not being approached by oligarchs
39:43 On winter plans, sharks, and plugs
Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Eugene Mirman and Robyn Hitchcock for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great stuff at Talkhouse.com. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan and the Talkhouse theme was composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the latest episode of Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That, Nick Dawson sits down with the legendary
French actress Juliette Binoche, who is currently starring in the moving family drama Queen at Sea,
which is now in theaters. In a profound and connected conversation, she opens up about how she is
“getting acquainted” with the Holy Spirit, the time she nearly drowned on a film shoot, her recent trip
to Lesbos to visit refugees, communing with a friend who recently died, the reason she wishes she
could fly, and much more. Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That now has a Substack, so head there to check
out all of our past episodes, plus subscribe to get access to exclusive audio and video content!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve got a songwriting and production wizard who’s having a big moment in conversation with a legend that he considers a huge influence: It’s Nate Amos and Bruce Hornsby.
Nate Amos may have caught your attention in the past few years with Water From Your Eyes, a duo he started about 10 years ago with vocalist Rachel Brown. Together they’ve released a bunch of tough-to-categorize records: One minute you’re singing along with an arty pop song, the next you’re on an unexpected, noisy tangent. Throughout the Water years, Amos also quietly amassed a solo catalog under the name This is Lorelei—putting out dozens of experimental albums and EPs that you had to dig on Bandcamp to find. But This is Lorelei poked its head into the real world a little more with 2024’s ⁠Box For Buddy, Box For Star⁠, a record so beloved that its recent re-release includes covers of its songs by Jeff Tweedy, Waxahatchee, and MJ Lenderman, among others. Those names are good reference points for the latest This Is Lorelei record, too: ⁠The Singer in My Band⁠ came out in September, and it’s a much more straightforward version of Amos’ fantastic songwriting. Check out “Billy Came Back” ⁠right here⁠.
An artist that Amos wanted to cover one of his songs for that reissue was the other half of today’s conversation, Bruce Hornsby. Hornsby liked what he heard, but unfortunately couldn’t make the timing work, as you’ll hear in this conversation. Hopefully you recognize his name: Bruce Hornsby has built an incredible career over the past 50 years. He smashed into the mainstream in the late ‘80s with huge pop hits including “The Way It Is,” but before that and definitely since then he’s been a musical wanderer who loves to mix it up. You’ll also get some insight into the music Hornsby has been making in the last decade, including the fantastic ⁠Indigo Park⁠, which features guest appearances from all sides of Hornsby’s world, from Ezra Koenig to Bob Weir. Check out the title track from Indigo Park ⁠right here⁠.
In this lively conversation, you’ll hear a lot of mutual admiration: Hornsby even asks Amos if it’s okay if he kisses his ass a little bit. They chat about Kmart mix tapes, weird time signatures, and their shared love of the band ⁠Palm⁠, among other things. Enjoy.
00:00 Intro
03:26 Start of convo, Zoom etiquette, and Nate’s guitars
05:10 The New Yorker, batting cages, and Nate’s mercury poisoning apartment
08:25 On Vermont and Virginia, Bruce’s nephew, playing cards onstage, Frank Zappa, and Captain Beefheart
13:03 On Nate’s introduction to Bruce’s music, improvising musically, and songwriting
16:03 On Bruce’s early influences, and John Mulaney supporting Bruce’s new album
19:40 On defying expectations, experimenting musically, making “weird” music, and Hunter S. Thompson
23:05 On what Bruce admires about Nate’s songwriting, how Nate tries out new ideas, microtonal music, and Ben Johnston
28:31 Breaking down the sounds in Water From Your Eyes’ “Playing Classics,” and the working principle of the project
30:53 On the producer Tony Berg, how different projects call for different sounds, and loving the group Palm
34:18 Bruce’s commentary on more Water From Your Eyes songs, how Nate got in touch about collabing, and his “swing for the fences” list
37:15 On Gerry Rafferty, The Cure, and commentary on “Hey Sara Is It Gonna Rain Forever”
40:13 On how Bruce influenced Nate’s early music, his covers of two of Bruce’s songs, and “Barren Ground”
42:55 On Bruce’s work with Bon Iver, playing at his festival, and how “Barren Ground” influenced “Beth/Rest”
45:03 On “Scenes from the South Side,” and enjoying your big moment
Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast and thanks to Nate Amos and Bruce Hornsby for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great stuff at ⁠Talkhouse.com⁠. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan. See you next time!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the latest episode of Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That, Nick Dawson sits down with the hugely talented English singer-songwriter Clara Mann, whose sophomore album, Wishbone, is out now. In a wonderfully open conversation, Mann talks about such topics as climbing the legendary French peak Mont Ventoux with her 80-year-old father, the spoon that taught her about selflessness in art, the fake skater personas “Darvid and Mikael” she invented wth her teenage best friend, how she recently ended up spending a short vacation in a garden shed, the time she stayed up all night on MDMA at End of the Road festival, and much more.
Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That now has a ⁠Substack⁠, so head there to check out all of our past episodes, plus ⁠subscribe to get access⁠ to exclusive audio and video content!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s Talkhouse episode, we’ve got some notable Canadians with tons of great music under their belts, including a recent collaboration—their first. It’s Ryan Hemsworth and Sara Quin.
Hemsworth—no relation to those Australian actor guys—is a musician and producer who’s made records with a really interesting array of folks over the past 15 years, creating beats and beds for everybody from E-40 to Mitski. Hemsworth just released his first solo album in nearly a decade, and ⁠Numbskull⁠ sounds like a guy who’s been bursting with pent-up creativity. It’s all over the map in the best way, with rock and even emo influences pushing up against his electronic tendencies. Unsurprisingly for a guy who gets around—musicially, I mean—it features lots of guest artists on various tracks, including the unmistakable voices of his fellow Canadians Tegan and Sara on one song. Check out that song, “Never Learned,” ⁠right here⁠.
One of those voices of course was Sara Quin, half of the twin-sister duo that’s been surprising and delighting its fans for the past 30 or so years. Beyond their extensive musical catalog, Tegan and Sara have done graphic novels, a documentary, and a TV show. As you’ll hear in this chat, Sara recently became a mom for the second time, and she learned some lessons about diving back into work too quickly.
That’s just one of the many topics these two chat about: In addition to the joys and difficulties of parenting as a touring musician, they talk about the horrors of social media—Sara is not a fan—plus Ryan’s early Tegan and Sara fandom. Enjoy.
00:00 Intro
02:06 Start of conversation, setting up Sara’s studio, and Ryan’s room
04:03 On the most expensive thing they’ve bough for music, and recording in strange spaces
07:24 On getting to know each other, Ryan’s Tegan & Sara t-shirt, discovering music in high school, and starting to collab
10:36 On listening to and collaborating with very different artists
12:48 On Sara writing a book, and trying different things artistically
16:29 On promoting creative projects, hustling, and passion
19:00 On how having kids changes creative work and touring
24:14 On touring with Neil Young, Sara’s first tour, and how it compares to touring with her kids
27:40 On how artistic identity, promoting work, and using social media have changed, and on hating algorithms
33:49 On “going viral” horror stories, and how book promo compares to music promo
36:07 On pressure to stay present in the media and “prove you’re still alive”
38:17 On how their partners react to their downtime, when they find time to work, and pressure to work again immediately after having babies
42:18 On what they’re doing next
45:32 On big production tours and branding vs. more stripped back performances and artistic identities
48:09 On Sara’s ideas for her next tour, and creating good experiences for audiences
51:28 On eating in movie theaters, working together, and quiet gigs
Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Ryan Hemsworth and Sara Quin for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great stuff at ⁠Talkhouse.com⁠. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme was composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.