Podcast

This Is Your Afterlife

Comedy, Comedy Interviews, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

What do you hope happens when you die? If you could relive one memory, what would it be? What's your coma? Comedian and coma survivor Dave Maher ("This American Life") asks artists and organizers these questions in conversations about death, politics, and art.

Episodes
275
Releases
Weekly
Typical length
1 hr 22 min
On air since
2020
Latest episode
1 week ago

Episodes

275 episodes, newest first

  1. Grief and Death Want to Be Observed with Colleen of Death Doula Does

    Episode 222

    Show notes

    Death workers have been rare guests on This Is Your Afterlife. Listeners know my interest in death is about how it helps us make meaning in our lives more than the death industry. On the flip side, reckoning with your own death and your grief over the deaths of others is a process for the living. Enter Colleen, a death doula who practices under the name Death Doula Does and the first TIYA guest to identify primarily as a death doula. They offer one-on-one sessions, notary services, craft-based grief care, and other end-of-life planning, and they connect their work to mutual aid in ways that set them apart from less community-focused death doulas. Colleen is a delightful conversationalist, and it was a pleasure to talk to them about their work as well as some of their own end-of-life plans. A very useful episode!

    We talk about: making art from death, disenfranchised grief, death doula MLMs, hanging out in the cemetery as a kid, The Last Waltz, sharing a vision of the afterlife with a live-action Scooby Doo movie, probate court.

    This Is Your Afterlife is made possible by listeners like you on Patreon. Support the show & get bonus episodes by subscribing to TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Follow Colleen:

    https://deathdouladoes.com/

    https://instagram.com/deathdouladoes/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    1 hr 22 min
  2. TIYA After Dark Preview — Horses Are Awesome with Bryan Duff

    Show notes

    This is a preview of this week's bonus episode. Subscribe to TIYA After Dark on Patreon to support This Is Your Afterlife & get all bonus episodes for $5 a month: http://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife.

    Friend, TIYA listener, and comedian Bryan Duff creates short-form videos that are funnier & more informative than I've come to expect from social media. They're packed with so much information that I wanted to give him a chance to stretch out in a friendly environment where he can talk about whatever he wants. Turns out that's horses. Thus, we have Bryan Duff's first appearance on TIYA After Dark.

    A couple promises before you listen: 1) You WILL learn about horses in this episode, and there will be very sweet moments that warm your heart. 2) Bryan was thinking about all this because his dad's last horse died very recently, so this episode definitely goes into some sad areas along with the sweet and informative ones. I say that to be gentle with your heart, though I think Bryan's clear care for the horses in his life offsets the emotionally difficult moments here.

    We talk about: horses being friends with other animals, horse death and its common causes, foundering, wannabe Amish dad, glyphosate, sounding MAHA when talking about chemicals, Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, Ulysses S. Grant, ranking animal poop smells, needing a purpose, refusing to plow, R.I.P. Charlie & Mark & Suntan & Little Fella.

    Follow Bryan:

    https://www.instagram.com/bryanevansduff/

    Prairie Rivers Network:

    https://prairierivers.org/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    11 min
  3. The Burden of Isolation with Pauly V of DIABETICGUY.ORG

    Episode 221

    Show notes

    I can't say for sure what I expected to find at diabeticguy.org when I saw Pauly V's sticker outside a concert venue in Cleveland. I just knew it was a funny URL, and I was curious. What I found was best-case scenario: an artist with type 1 diabetes making zines and prints protesting the evils of capitalism and the U.S.A.'s corporate healthcare system. Basically, a fellow type 1 diabetic making DIY art with disability justice in mind. The moral of the story is visit URLs you see on stickers! And enjoy this conversation in which I intentionally steer Pauly into the weeds of diabetes prescription talk to give a glimpse into the healthcare horrors disabled people face regularly, especially in our country. Coupled with plenty of affirming art & nature & relationship talk!

    We talk about: defacing "we buy diabetic test strips" signs, type 1 diabetes minutiae, plant-based photo developers, DIY zine distribution, masking to mitigate COVID, connection to wilderness and the planet, being in a long-term relationship, individual responsibility amidst systemic oppression.

    This Is Your Afterlife is made possible by listeners like you on Patreon. Support the show & get bonus episodes by subscribing to TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Follow Pauly's work and whereabouts at, of course:

    https://diabeticguy.org/

    While you're there, subscribe to his email list!

    Finally, buy prints of his work and subscribe to his zine, KZOO FILM PHOTO, both of which help a ton as he is about to lose his health insurance:

    https://ko-fi.com/kzoofilm/shop

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    1 hr 24 min
  4. Podcasting in Time: Voyage in Time + That One Scene From Atomic Blonde with Jake Serwin Bonus

    Season 1, Episode 7

    Show notes

    Podcasting in Time is brought to you by the Afterheads and Producers on Patreon in collaboration with my unemployment. If you enjoy it, SUBSCRIBE to get episodes early and enable me to do more things like this. You'll also get all the other bonus episodes of TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Welcome back to Podcasting in Time, a This Is Your Afterlife bonus miniseries exploring the filmography of Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky.

    This episoden focuses on 1983's Voyage in Time, which is unique in several respects. Most notably, it's a documentary, and it's a co-directed effort with Tonino Guerra, the writer of our last film, Nostalghia. Often summarized as a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Nostalghia, it's more of a look behind the location scouting, as observed by my guest, Jake Serwin. Regular This Is Your Afterlife & TIYA After Dark listeners will recognize Jake as the co-host of Pod Casty for Me with Ian Rhine, who I talked to about Andrei Rublev. Jake is also responsible for suggesting we cover the scene in Atomic Blonde where Charlize Theron kicks ass in a movie theater playing Stalker. It's a silly and fun episode in which I do my best to keep Jake from taking over as host. Only you can decide if I succeeded.

    Incredibly Incomplete List of Works Referenced

    Solaris (2002)

    High Life (2018)

    Jaws (1975)

    Alien (1979)

    Burden of Dreams (1982)

    Gap-Toothed Women (1987)

    Cameraperson (2016)

    Stray Dogs (2013)

    Bi Gan (director), esp. Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018)

    Jia Zhangke (director)

    Follow Pod Casty for Me:

    https://www.podcastyforme.com/

    https://www.patreon.com/c/PodCastyForMe/

    https://www.instagram.com/podcastyforme/

    https://twitter.com/podcastyforme

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    1 hr 51 min
  5. Air Felt Different with Ned Milligan

    Episode 220

    Show notes

    "Music Sounds Better with You" by Stardust is Ned Milligan's favorite French house song, and by the end of this conversation, we realize the title is basically Ned's ethos as a musician and the founder of Florabelle Records. He makes space for listeners to make meaning with him. That generosity extends to our conversation, and I think I tell him several times how nice it is to finally talk. We've been in touch as fans of each other's work for a few years now, and his new album, Real Fun, lives up to the title of "domestic music" he claims. There are field recordings of his son and late father, and the whole thing reckons with parenthood, loss, memory, friendship, and what it means to be present in a moment. Ned has been a part of so much music that brings me into the present. His immersive, finely detailed, ambient-for-lack-of-a-better-term soundscapes are far from Stardust in sound, but French house comes up as part of Ned's answer to my "good memory" question. He chooses a whole day that comes complete with photographic proof of his commitment to the music. I could spend a full day just talking to Ned, and I hope there's space for you here too.

    We talk about: losing his parents, when a sound becomes a composition, listening and not listening to field recordings, being no one to most people, integrity, teaching at a Quaker school, a very Millennial night of dancing.

    The photo of Ned FEELING IT at the concert: http://music.solidgoldberger.com/music/10-15-07/DSC00190.jpg

    This Is Your Afterlife is made possible by listeners like you on Patreon. Support the show & get bonus episodes by subscribing to TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Follow Ned and Florabelle:

    https://florabelle.bandcamp.com/

    https://florabellerecords.com/

    https://www.nedmilligan.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/ned.milligan/

    https://www.instagram.com/florabellerecords/

    Listen to and mailorder the two new albums Florabelle released, billy gomberg's capacity and Ned's own Real Fun:

    https://florabelle.bandcamp.com/album/real-fun

    https://florabelle.bandcamp.com/album/capacity

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    1 hr 46 min
  6. Podcasting in Time: Nostalghia with Comrade Yui Bonus

    Season 1, Episode 6

    Show notes

    Podcasting in Time is brought to you by the Afterheads and Producers on Patreon in collaboration with my unemployment. If you enjoy it, SUBSCRIBE to get episodes early and enable me to do more things like this. You'll also get all the other bonus episodes of TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Welcome back to Podcasting in Time, a This Is Your Afterlife bonus miniseries exploring the filmography of Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky.

    This episode, we're covering 1983's Nostalghia, a film that presents some people's favorite final image in a Tarkovsky movie and answers the questions, "What if Mirror were more personal but in the present?" and "What if Andrei Tarkovsky made a fringe show?" This conversation gets more personal than the others in this series and touches on comedy and music as art forms, thanks to the thoughtfulness of my guest, Comrade Yui. Yui is a passionate, provocative writer and critic, and it was lovely to have them accompany me on this trip down Nostalghia lane.

    P.S. I forgot to give my own answer in the "Fire, Water, Mirror" segment, so here it is: Mirror.

    Follow Yui:

    https://letterboxd.com/comrade_yui/

    https://twitter.com/yui_antinomy

    https://www.patreon.com/comrade_yui

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    2 hr 48 min
  7. TIYA After Dark Preview — Blackmetalpalooza with Jetski

    Show notes

    This is a preview of this week's bonus episode. Subscribe to TIYA After Dark on Patreon to support This Is Your Afterlife & get all bonus episodes for $5 a month: http://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife.

    Longtime listeners know my musical explorations have led me to black metal in recent years, but this is the first bonus episode I've dedicated to the fascinating extreme metal subgenre. My guest is Ian Ostaszewski aka Jetski. I've been following Ian's own black metal deep dive on the Jetski Twitter, where he has been posting a new black metal album he loves seemingly every other day. This is just two music dorks dorkin' out about their current musical obsessions. Welcome to Blackmetalpalooza.

    We talk about: fun evil, going down musical rabbit holes, art about cruelty, corpse paint, Black Metal Rainbows, unsavory guys, found footage horror, which of the big five Incubus singles are black metal.

    For a list of the albums we reference in this episode, subscribe to TIYA After Dark and read the show notes on Patreon!

    Follow Jetski:

    https://twitter.com/jetskitosway2

    https://www.instagram.com/jetski0/

    https://jetski0.bandcamp.com/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    13 min
  8. Two More Minutes of "Purple Rain" with Hanif Abdurraqib

    Episode 219

    Show notes

    This is an all-time great episode of This Is Your Afterlife, the entry point I'll give to TIYA newcomers going forward. Poet, essayist, cultural critic, Ohioan, and MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient Hanif Abdurraqib explores death, loss, grief, awe, and even heaven so deeply in his work that I had to rephrase the show's tentpole questions for this conversation. The result is a dream episode with a new metaphor for the afterlife I can't stop thinking about. Hanif has a way with images that keep you thinking.

    We talk about: birds, aboutness as myth, talking to Martin Scorsese about The Last Waltz, not wanting war criminals in your heaven neighborhood, what Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison taught him about "sad songs," making a city yours, checking in with people about the condition of their heart.

    This Is Your Afterlife is made possible by listeners like you on Patreon. Support the show & get bonus episodes by subscribing to TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Follow Hanif:

    https://www.instagram.com/nifmuhammad/

    I'm Always Looking Up and You're Jumping comes out April 2027!

    https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790234/im-always-looking-up-and-youre-jumping-by-hanif-abdurraqib/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    1 hr 41 min
  9. PATREON PREVIEW — TIYA After Dark: Mid-Life Crisis Tier List with Drennen Quinn

    Show notes

    This is a preview of this week's bonus episode. Subscribe to TIYA After Dark on Patreon to support This Is Your Afterlife & get all bonus episodes for $5 a month: http://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife.

    I turned 42 last week, which is honestly the closest to middle age I've ever been. I decided to have fun with it and do some CONTENT CREATION by making a tier list with my buddy, TIYA After Dark regular Drennen Quinn. I created tiers based on the Afterlife Power Rankings, and we slotted in as many standard mid-life crises as we could, plus a few super specific ones. You can see the final list on Patreon, but good luck guessing what any of it means without listening to the episode!

    Final Tier List:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife/posts/tiya-after-dark-169078220

    Afterlife Power Rankings:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife/posts/afterlife-power-157398357

    Follow Drennen:

    https://www.instagram.com/drennenwon/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    6 min
  10. Utmost Worst with Tom Krell (How to Dress Well)

    Episode 218

    Show notes

    "There is nothing theorizable or interesting about death," Tom Krell says 30 minutes into his appearance on my podcast about death. He's speaking precisely. By "death," he means what he's learned of it from watching those close to him die. The annihilation of self. The finality of it. What he's not doing is dismissing the topic. Tom earned his PhD in philosophy, metaphysics specifically, so it makes sense he's intentional and unsparing with his words. But he also makes this beautiful music.

    Under the name How to Dress Well, his art-damaged R&B soundtracked my bike rides the summer before my coma in 2014. Since then, his music has grown deeper and more promiscuous. He incorporates metal, noise, and field recordings on tracks with lyrics about the hegemony of realism and intergenerational trauma. But it's all wrapped around a spine of primal, haunting melody. In our conversation, Tom tells me how important it is for him to use direct language to discuss philosophical ideas. And that is what he's doing with his music. He piles layers of sound and meaning onto melodies to bury the ideas and feelings deep. I'm still listening.

    This episode also includes the fun of Tom claiming Hegel, Heidegger, and Marx are easy to grasp and the rare TIYA exclusive! Here it is: Tom plans to call the new How to Dress Well album "Glow Palimpsest No Hell."

    We talk about: working on philosophy in piecemeal while touring, writing about your own work, Gaspar Noe's Climax, exoteric vs. esoteric, his version of the "terribly stupid" movie Memento, consciousness as Hegelian "picture thinking," metaphysical cope.

    This Is Your Afterlife is made possible by listeners like you on Patreon. Support the show & get bonus episodes by subscribing to TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Follow How to Dress Well:

    https://howtodresswell.substack.com/

    https://instagram.com/howtodresswell/

    https://twitter.com/HowToDressWell

    Listen to (and buy!) I Am Toward You. It's really very good:

    https://howtodresswellmusic.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-toward-you

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    1 hr 23 min
  11. Podcasting in Time: Stalker with Philip Metres Bonus

    Season 1, Episode 5

    Show notes

    Podcasting in Time is brought to you by the Afterheads and Producers on Patreon in collaboration with my unemployment. If you enjoy it, SUBSCRIBE to get episodes early and enable me to do more things like this. You'll also get all the other bonus episodes of TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Welcome back to Podcasting in Time, a This Is Your Afterlife bonus miniseries exploring the filmography of Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky.

    Stalker is the only movie I'd seen before embarking on this project, and it's in the conversation for most people's favorite Tarkovsky. But for me, the real treat of this episode is my guest. Philip Metres is a poet, scholar, and TRANSLATOR OF ARSENY TARKOVSKY'S POETRY. That's right, the father of Andrei whose poems feature prominently in several of his films, especially including Stalker. Phil and his co-translator Dimitri Psurtsev published I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky, an approachable volume that shows the father as an artistic force, a fact the son clearly knew. Beyond his translation work, Phil has amassed a heap of impressive accomplishments. Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships! A Pushcart Prize! He's the director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University! And I just happen to know him socially as a fellow Clevelander and 80s punk rock fan. Who better to talk to about Andrei Tarkovsky's status as "the poet of cinema"? What a treat.

    Follow Philip and read his work:

    https://philipmetres.substack.com/

    https://instagram.com/philipmetres/

    https://twitter.com/PhilipMetres

    https://linktr.ee/philipmetres

    https://philipmetres.com/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    2 hr 22 min
  12. PREVIEW — Everything Is a Ghost Kitchen

    Show notes

    This is a preview of this week's bonus episode. Subscribe to TIYA After Dark on Patreon to support This Is Your Afterlife & get all bonus episodes for $5 a month: http://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife.

    Here's another solo episode of TIYA After Dark where I give myself a starting point and an endpoint and improvise the in-between. This one is brought to you by moving to Ohio and driving to restaurants in the suburbs as well as my conversation with NEXT WEEK'S This Is Your Afterlife guest. Listen to find out who it is!

    I'm having fun with these. I hope you are too.

    I talk about: messy Chipotles, beef patties on shroom burgers, the conversation vs. the show, doing it wrong, authoritative truth, trusting your eyes.

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    17 min
  13. Serving, Loving, and Mocking Children with Brandon Ogborn

    Episode 217

    Show notes

    I razz him for using "brutally honest" in descriptions of two separate projects, but I love Brandon Ogborn. I know the comedian, playwright, podcaster, and reluctant "content creator" from our days on the same improv team at iO Chicago, Sports Team. Reminiscing about that time is the closest I get to nostalgia, and even then, Bubba had stories that made all our eyes pop out of our skulls. He's continued to amass stories as a parent of two young kids he makes fun of on Instagram, and now he's turned his parenting and growing up stories into a one-man stage show, SAHD (Stay-At-Home Dad). It's a funny, personal piece full of heart and the idiosyncrasies that make Brandon such a joy to know. You should see it in L.A. if you can (details below). Either way, enjoy this little slice of Brandon.

    We talk about: his dead dad, ADHD, growing up Christian nationalist in the Midwest, out-of-body experiences vs. astral projection, people outgrowing homophobia, the accuracy of Pixar's Soul, reckoning with the statistical unlikelihood of Hollywood success. Also, there is one f-slur and a very quick mention of child sexual abuse.

    This Is Your Afterlife is made possible by listeners like you on Patreon. Support the show & get bonus episodes by subscribing to TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Follow Brandon and his bad-parenting podcast, Listen, They're Fine:

    https://www.instagram.com/bubbaogborn/

    https://www.instagram.com/listentheyrefine/

    https://www.listentheyrefine.com/

    If you're in Los Angeles August 22, 29, or September 5, check out SAHD (Stay-At-Home Dad) at the UCB Annex: https://ucbcomedy.com/show/sahd-stay-at-home-dad/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    1 hr 29 min
  14. Podcasting in Time: Mirror with Vienna Bonus

    Season 1, Episode 4

    Show notes

    Podcasting in Time is brought to you by the Afterheads and Producers on Patreon in collaboration with my unemployment. If you enjoy it, SUBSCRIBE to get episodes early and enable me to do more things like this. You'll also get all the other bonus episodes of TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Welcome back to Podcasting in Time, a This Is Your Afterlife bonus miniseries exploring the filmography of Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky.

    We've reached Mirror, the 4th of the man's 7 fiction features but not quite the midpoint of our series because of the inclusion of a documentary and a book. I say "fiction," but this is famously Tarkovsky's most autobiographical film. In at least one interview, he claimed every single thing in it had happened. I'm skeptical, but as you'll hear, he certainly went to GREAT LENGTHS for verisimilitude. My guest for this episode is Vienna, a contributor to Madeline Lane-McKinley and Sean O'Brien's The Return of the 90s anthology who also happens to love this movie. This episode is a special one because I refer to Tarkovsky's questionnaire for his mother. He had planned to include her answers as documentary footage in an early version of the film, but instead, these wide-ranging questions serve as punctuation throughout our episode. As always, let me know what you think.

    Check out Vienna's work:

    https://heatwavemag.info/

    https://www.instagram.com/htwvmag/

    https://blindfieldjournal.com/2025/01/04/staying-with-the-storm-weathering-with-you-and-the-oceanic/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    2 hr 25 min
  15. PATREON PREVIEW — TIYA After Dark Live at Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii with Daniel Strauss and Drennen Quinn

    Show notes

    This is a preview of this week's bonus episode. Subscribe to TIYA After Dark on Patreon to support This Is Your Afterlife & get all bonus episodes for $5 a month: http://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife.

    These bonus episodes are nothing if not experimental. Even more than This Is Your Afterlife, TIYA After Dark is a place to test how close I can come to replicating the experience of doing a live show in podcast form. Which is to say I am so curious what you think of this week's episode, in which my fellow comedians and longtime buddies Drennen Quinn and Daniel Strauss join me to talk over Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, a recently reissued concert film Drennen saw at the store recently. He suggested we do the podcast while the movie plays, and so we did. Does the concert audio cut out at one point? Does a baby interrupt the recording? Does the episode start with three people and end with two? Yes, yes, and yes! It is chaos. Here's hoping the good kind! I know I encourage your feedback every week, but if there's any week to email, it's this one.

    We talk about: boomers on weed, music babies can play, how volcanoes work, wearing diapers to concerts.

    To watch along with us, click the link, hit pause, mute the audio or lower it to your desired volume, and press play when we do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVau7xYA8rk

    Follow Daniel and Drennen:

    https://www.instagram.com/danielstrauss/

    https://www.instagram.com/drennenwon/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    22 min
  16. Resonance in All Its Forms with Oui Ennui

    Episode 216

    Show notes

    "Ants experience humans as shadows and wind." And with that statement, four-time (!) TIYA guest Oui Ennui blew my mind. There are forces bigger than we can imagine, and how can we be sure of what we know??!!! My conversations with Jonn (Oui) get heady, so I wasn't surprised to be talking about the nature of time, but that ants line was poetry. It's a moment of resonance in a conversation about resonance, artistically and in relationships. The episode starts and ends with the concept of no-contact, but it's the result of the exact opposite between Oui and me.

    We talk about: breaking no-contact, Alice Coltrane, Prefab Sprout, not being built for these times, passive suicidal ideation, reasons to stay alive, overexplaining as kink, one-person communities.

    This Is Your Afterlife is made possible by listeners like you on Patreon. Support the show & get bonus episodes by subscribing to TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Follow Oui Ennui:

    https://www.instagram.com/ouiennui/

    https://ouiennui.bandcamp.com/

    If you're in Chicago August 14, check him out live at the Electronic Buffet:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/DbLinkMRHMJ/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    1 hr 27 min
  17. Podcasting in Time: Solaris with Fred Barrett Bonus

    Season 1, Episode 3

    Show notes

    Podcasting in Time is brought to you by the Afterheads and Producers on Patreon in collaboration with my unemployment. If you enjoy it, SUBSCRIBE to get episodes early and enable me to do more things like this. You'll also get all the other bonus episodes of TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Welcome back to Podcasting in Time, a This Is Your Afterlife bonus miniseries exploring the filmography of Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky.

    With this Solaris episode, we're deep into this filmography. My head is full of flowing waters, plants swaying in the wind, and horses being weird, and we've reached the point of the series where I'm not sure what I've said and on which episode. Plus, this movie affects me the way the planet Solaris does everyone in its orbit: it scrambles my mind! Fortunately, I've got film critic Fred Barrett here to talk about it. Fred is sharp and insightful, and he rattled off a syllabus' worth of other films to watch during the course of our conversation. If you like it, let me know!

    Follow Fred:

    https://twitter.com/fred_beretta

    https://fredbarrett.substack.com/

    https://letterboxd.com/electricdreams/

    Incredibly Incomplete List of Works Referenced:

    Stanislaw Lem: Solaris

    Harlan Ellison: "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream"

    Solaris (2002)

    Red Line 7000 (1965)

    Gertrude (1964)

    Ugetsu (1953)

    Laura (1944)

    Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

    High and Low (1963)

    Journey to the Shore (2015)

    High and Low (1963)

    Moon Rainbow aka Lunar Rainbow (1983)

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    3 hr 9 min
  18. PATREON PREVIEW — Bracketology: Ways to Live with Bill Stern, Claire Favret, Meaghan Strickland

    Show notes

    This is a preview of this week's bonus episode. Subscribe to TIYA After Dark on Patreon to support This Is Your Afterlife & get all bonus episodes for $5 a month: http://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife.

    It's another episode of Bracketology, the comedy argument game show created by me and some of my longest friends in comedy. This time, it's Bill Stern, Claire Favret, Meaghan Strickland, and me arguing Ways to Live!

    How it works: pick a topic, fill a bracket with examples of that topic, and argue the matchups in the bracket until we crown a winner. The thing is, the winner of Bracketology is the quintessential example of the topic, NOT necessarily the "best" or our favorite example.

    If you'd like to look at the bracket in seed order before/while you listen, here you go!

    • Golden Rule
    • Farm With All Your Friends Surrounded by the Ripest, Most Delicious Fruits (Fruit Commune)
    • Extravagantly
    • YOLO
    • Famous Musician Constantly on Tour, Beloved by Fans but at Night After the Shows… Alone (Commitment to Craft)
    • Anonymous
    • Double Life
    • Vicariously

    Enjoy, subscribe to TIYA After Dark to hear the full ep, and spread the word!

    Follow Claire:

    https://www.instagram.com/clairefavs/

    Follow Meaghan:

    https://www.instagram.com/stricklygram/

    Follow Bill and Claire's sketch group, Cigarette Sandwich:

    https://www.instagram.com/cigsandwich/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    20 min
  19. Communism or Faith or Both with E Conner

    Episode 215

    Show notes

    I don't remember when I started responding "THANK YOU" to guests saying, "Good question," but E Conner said it so often I felt obliged to explain the bit. I was slightly humbled by their admission it's an organizing trick for when you don't have an answer and not the turbo validation I interpret it to be. Fortunately, I don't need permission to self-aggrandize, and I have no plans to retire the bit any time soon. It's a silly moment in the midst of a really pleasant and sometimes intense conversation about E's punk rock radicalization, surprising (to me) orientation toward religion, and what it feels like to be part of an activist/artistic community in the Bay Area for 20 years.

    We talk about: punk roots, tenant organizing, Black Liberation Army pamphlets, Maximum Rocknroll, traveling as a homeless teenager, the Ghost Ship fire, environmental grief, turning self activity into collective activity.

    This Is Your Afterlife is made possible by listeners like you on Patreon. Support the show & get bonus episodes by subscribing to TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Check out & support the Freedom Archives:

    https://freedomarchives.org/

    Follow The Weakly:

    https://www.instagram.com/thee_weakly/

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    Artwork by Matt Sage:

    https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/

    1 hr 26 min
  20. Podcasting in Time: Andrei Rublev with Ian Rhine Bonus

    Season 1, Episode 2

    Show notes

    Podcasting in Time is brought to you by the Afterheads and Producers on Patreon in collaboration with my unemployment. If you enjoy it, SUBSCRIBE to get episodes early and enable me to do more things like this. You'll also get all the other bonus episodes of TIYA After Dark:

    https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife

    Welcome back to Podcasting in Time, a This Is Your Afterlife bonus miniseries exploring the filmography of Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky. This is it, y'all: the Andrei Rublev episode. I write this blurb from a future where I've now seen 5 of the 7 Tarkovsky features, and currently, Andrei Rublev is my favorite. In the Mark Le Fanu book I reference throughout this series, he says this movie "represents filmmaking about as physically ambitious as it is possible to contemplate." And here, I'm contemplating it with Pod Casty for Me's Ian Rhine. Ian is a sensitive, funny, and intelligent conversation partner, and this episode was truly a joy to make. At one point during recording, I remember sitting back and just appreciating how nice it was to be having such a great talk about such an incredible movie. This episode is longer than the final cut of the film but not as long as the original cut, The Passion According to Andrei. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

    Incredibly Incomplete List of Works Referenced

    Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed

    Mark Le Fanu: The Cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky

    Follow Pod Casty for Me:

    https://www.podcastyforme.com/

    https://www.patreon.com/c/PodCastyForMe/

    https://www.instagram.com/podcastyforme/

    https://twitter.com/podcastyforme

    Follow TIYA, share your thoughts:

    https://thisisyourafterlife.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/

    thisisdavemaher@gmail.com

    Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:

    https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/

    3 hr 16 min