Literally Heinous

Today is my birthday! It’s also my podcast’s birthday! I’m deep into my Saturn Return, which is the astrological concept that shows from ages 27-29, you experience crazy life changes and a rebirth to finally become an adult in the astrological world. I have on Deborah Coons, a career astrologist, to explain the concept and give advice for when you’re going through it

The rest of the episode is recap on some of my most important lore and recapping 28, the year everything got real: I quit my job, got engaged, faced my codependency with friends, and started working on the bad patterns that keep getting in my way.

Internet sketch king Jack Maloney (Betches, Upright Citizens Brigade) is on the pod! Jack goes deep about his mental health journey, his struggles with OCD and binge eating, and how an intense, competitive musical theater BFA made it all worse. We talk about rebuilding his relationship with his body and whether making comedy helps or hurts.

We also get into going viral, why you don’t need a massive following to be taken seriously, the childhood iMovies that started it all, and we design our dream theme parks.

New episodes every Tuesday!

Former Book of Mormon star PJ Adzima (nine years as Elder McKinley!) joins the pod to talk about Slam Frank, the off-Broadway musical everyone in New York is debating.

Slam Frank is a play-within-a-play satire of woke politics, inspired by a 2022 tweet asking whether Anne Frank ever acknowledged her white privilege, and PJ is one of the lead producers who took it from a wild internet idea to a sold-out run at the Orpheum Theatre.

PJ goes from a fourth-generation farm in Massachusetts to New York at 18, survives a years-long international Book of Mormon tour, lands his Broadway dream job, and then launches Stage Time, his production company for drag, burlesque, circus and comedy. And then signs on to produce Slam Frank.

We get into mid-performance walkouts, surprise celebrity guests, what the message of the musical is and what “woke” even means anymore. Plus the big question: has Broadway gotten too polite?

In this episode:

• How Book of Mormon gave PJ the blueprint for a hit
• Going from a scrappy downtown run to the Orpheum
• Walkouts, outrage and wildly different audience reactions
• Celebrity sightings in the crowd
• What it takes to produce a musical with no marketing budget
• Broadway etiquette
• Is Hamilton cringe?
• Whether musical theater has gotten too safe

*This interview was independently organized by me. This is not a partnership, collaboration or endorsement

New episodes every Tuesday. Subscribe so you don’t miss the next one!

My mom is back on the podcast! Sarah’s here to talk about Soul Stretch Retreats, how she vets who comes on them (some people need a group retreat first, some need one-on-one work before they’re ready), and what she does on a private retreat when ~the magic~ hasn’t happened yet, which for one very skeptical guest came down to a night-blooming flower.

We also talk about a recent event where she was disrespected and how she stood up for herself, which involved slamming not one but two doors. Just because you’re healed and evolved doesn’t mean you can’t crash out when it’s deserved.

My Aunt Kate is on the pod to tell her story! Kate is 37 years sober and now works in drug intervention in Kentucky. She grew up in the ’70s in a lawless house with five kids and two alcoholic parents, where she knew she was gay (and that her dad was too) but had to keep it buried.

She started drinking at 12, got kicked out of college for drinking, wasn’t the mother she wanted to be, but now she’s rewriting her story by showing up for her grandsons and finding ways to turn turn her addiction, once her biggest curse, into her biggest ally in helping other people get sober. Kate is such an important person in my life, and I’m so excited to share her story with you guys!

This one's for the 365 party girls. Downtown NYC girls and nightlife experts Gabby and Lucy join the pod to tell me how they became such icons, where in NYC they go out, and how to get into exclusive clubs. We get into the male photographer epidemic plus what NOT to do when you meet people out. Then we play a very long Chic or Freak and talk party hot takes.

New episodes every Tuesday!

The funniest girl alive Belle Decker is finally on Lit Hein. We’re talking about childhoods: growing up with 3 siblings in a WWE household, playing Barbies until a little late in life and working in immersive theater for four years. Belle is a literally princess and am addicted to her vibe!!!!

Another high school friend back on the pod which means lore and gossip from our crazy Atlanta private school. Julianne is an improv icon in both LA and Chicago and is now breaking into Hollywood. She’s improvised with Doja Cat in a Taco Bell commercial and had a guest spot on The Comeback.

She tells what it's like being an actor in LA right now and gives her best audition tips and the best and worst types of acting classes. We talk relationships and the perks of being single as a creative!

Lit Hein fav Erik Martini is back on the pod after a harrowing injury!! He snapped his ankle clean off! He spent 19 days in the hospital and racked up a $200k hospital bill and is giving us the podcast exclusive.

Erik takes us through his electric summer leading up the Ankle Gate, how the accident happened, army crawling for help, and how this injury has changed his perspective on his career, friends and alcohol

Mika Stein is an NYC comedian and a certified politics and history junkie. He joins Lit Hein to talk about growing up Black and Jewish in Texas and rising through the ranks of the Jewish community.

We briefly met at a Jewish youth group (BBYO) convention in 2013, when he served as International President, taking a gap year to advocate for Jewish teens and Israel. Since then he's become outspoken about Israel and about the propaganda he was fed, both from BBYO and on his various trips to Israel.

Mika and I get into the actual fever dream that was BBYO: a teen hierarchy and hookup economy based on an elaborate point system, a Malia Obama spit chain, and the life-altering chaos of losing an election.

He opens up about how anti-Semitism, his mixed race identity, lobbying, and youth organizing shaped the pressure to be "the right kind of Jew,” and what it actually cost him to start speaking out.

I’m recapping the most important parts of Alix Earle’s “Earle Meets World” Netflix reality show, and sorry but I did like it overall!

I break down the Earle family lore and how an FBI investigated prostitution ring that led to the resignation of the NY governor is the foundation of the blended family that the show is centered on.

I go through the biggest plot points, the drama, and my take on why Alix's career is headed for trouble as long as her dad is the one managing it.

Topics include:

• Earle family history with prostitution scandal
• Alix’s dad being her manager
• Stepmom dynamics
• Ashtin not having purpose or passion
• Alix firing her friend Sally Carden
• Alix breakup with Braxton Berrios
• Massive fights between Ashtin and Alix
• Alex Cooper Call Her Daddy fall out

Stella Lefkofsky is the nepo baby of the moment and she is not helping her own case. Daughter of tech billionaire Eric Lefkofsky, she dropped her first album, and is now catching a bunch of flak for being a billionaire and still ripping off Noah Kahan.

I get into who she actually is, how she blew up, and why this is a different animal than other industry plant allegations.

I'm talking about Chanty Beluga and giving the backstory on her and why people are acting completely insane about it. Justice for Chanty!

I discovered ⁠Ari Ehrlich⁠ through his ⁠viral Substack⁠ about a friend trip to Nantucket that went completely sideways: the cold shoulder, no explanation, a girl world nightmare, and I had so many questions.

We get into what it was actually like growing up with the children of Manhattan's elite, his other salacious Substack stories where he's reporting on who's banging who and how he's managed to keep his friends despite writing about all of their drama. Ari is one of the funniest and most astute observers of social dynamics I've talked to. Remember his name!

Syracuse professor and TV writer Taylor Vaughn Lasley joins the podcast to talk about the trial that’s sweeping the nation! Taylor has worked in Hollywood for years as a writer and now teaches screenwriting. She’s gone viral on TikTok by covering the trial and using her writer brain to poke holes in the case.

Before we get into the case, we talk pop culture, her experience going to high school with the nepoiest of the nepos (Tom Hanks crashed her party?!), and what it’s like teaching college students in the age of AI (sigh).

Why is there so much shame around friend breakups? Is anyone else feeling insane? This week I'm getting into friend breakups and the four distinct flavors they come in:

• Will We Won't We
• Conscious Uncoupling
• Confrontational Fall Out
• The Ghost

I talk about my relationship to friendship as a whole and how it's shifted over the years. Where do friends fit into our lives? When is it worth it to confront someone? Do we need to just chill out and lower our standards?

Plus the art of confrontation: when a situation calls for an in-person conversation versus when a text will actually do, and the pros and cons of both. If you've ever lost a friend and spent way too long trying to figure out what happened, this one's for you.

Fan favorite Genna Cifelli is back on Lit Hein to promote our upcoming show (tickets here)!!! Genna and I were frenemies in high school but we worked it out on the remix.

In this episode, we get the exclusive of her experience being hit by a car in NYC: how it happened, what it felt like and what some of the benefits were.

We talk about Ariana’s new album and her current public perception and why people aren’t happy with her. Even though she’s literally never done anything wrong.

And lastly, we talk about our favorite scandals from our crazy liberal arts private school in Atlanta. Sorry bout it!!

*Content warning: this episode discusses sensitive material including sexual assault, death threats and mental health grapplings.

A year after a breakdown following the public resurfacing of a painful chapter, Jess Elgene is on the pod telling her side of the story, from start to finish.

In 2014, a former romantic partner accused Jess of sexual assault while they were both students in college. Jess maintained her innocence, and was found unanimously not in violation by their university. Last year, the allegation resurfaced on social media, resulting in backlash beyond the online death threats and hate comments.

Jess was kicked off of two comedy teams and pulled from various show lineups. Though she received plenty of support in private, only a few of her peers shared their support publicly. Now, nearly a year later, Jess reflects on her public mental breakdown, what actually happened in college and rebuilding her relationship with her comedy peers, her career and herself.

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Watch Jess’s special

In late 2023, Hope Woodard declared to her followers she was going Boysober — no dating, no sex — in effort to break a generational pattern of male-centerenedess.

What was intended to be a personal mission to stop being a “generational slut” (her words, not mine!), the internet latched onto the term and Hope accidentally became the face of Gen Z celibacy. Her internet fame took off and had her replacing male validation with internet validation.

In the years following, Hope reckoned with being the face of a movement she didn’t identify with, was canceled twice, was ran off the internet, and dabbled in unconventional methods to make ends meet.

Hope is now telling her story about the “beautiful disaster” that was Boysober and where she stands today with her relationship to men.

Tina hand is singer, performer, comedian, internet personality and my new sister from another mister. Tina was a pioneer and early hero of Tik Tok in 2020 and now is a rising pop star and NYC icon who is regularly starting trouble online! She performs concerts around New York city and recently opened for Twink and a Redhead at their sold out show at gramercy theater.

Tina MATCHED MY FREAK in ways I did not think were possible!!!

Topics covered:

• Writing music/filming music videos
• Internet fame
• Victorious and Disney Channel
• Madison beer (recently unfollowed Tina but we still Stan)
• Omegle
• Lady Gaga
• Scooby Doo
• Kelly Clarkson

NECESSARY LISTEN if you plan on seeing The Odyssey!!! I saw it a few days ago completely blind and I don't recommend it, that movie is LOUD and I spent half the runtime trying to make out dialogue instead of just enjoying the story.

So this episode is me handing you all the context I wish I'd had going in, who everyone is, what's actually happening, the whole deal.

I'm also talking about why Christopher Nolan is becoming a legend in real time and the weird ways he runs his sets and casts his movies. He's NOT like other girls! I go through the cast and how much everyone got paid, and of course the IMAX debate.