ERICA REID (@drunkmonkeyshow) and REBECCA HANSON (@phunkybeck) give PopFury the full cross-country catch up! They talk about American Girl’s Logan doll, Rebecca’s South Dakota experiences, Erica’s trio of kittens and, naturally, Loretta Lynn’s ranch. SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:40 Rebecca and Erica share how they spent their (non-romantic) Valentine’s Day. 3:40 Erica just got THREE new kittens. They are destroying her home. They even their own Twitter: @3kttns 9:35 Rebecca helped run the Winter Dance Party in Clear Lake, Iowa. Sammy wonders what rider demands Erica and Rebecca would have. 16:45 Rebecca did not care for her experiences in South Dakota’s restaurants, airports or truck stops. 23:00 Erica is going to Tennessee to visit the Loretta Lynn Ranch. The ladies share what they still NEED to do in their lives. 28:15 Even though her knees are sharp and janky, Erica is doing her first half-marathon in Vermont 32:15 Rebecca and her husband are moving to Los Angeles. 37:20 An 80-year-old woman accidentally brought a sword-cane through airport security. Erica had her own run in with security. 40:05 A man mailed himself Crystal Meth to try on vacation in Key West. 41:20 American Girl added a new boy doll, Logan Everett the drummer, to its line up. Rebecca and Erica recall their own childhood dolls. 50:00 Outro Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music! If you have any questions or comments, you reach me at Sammy@PopFuryPodcast.com!

PopFury

173: Erica Reid and Rebecca Hanson

ALEX TREPKA and ANDY JUNK share a few words of wisdom and many words of nonsense on PopFury! They talk about furniture shopping, winning back the heart of your amnesiac lover, the bucket lists of their 10-year-old selves and Alex's cinematic triumph, "AKA Bad Boy 2" SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:15 Andy and his wife just went furniture shopping. He enjoys home improvement projects on their new home even though he has no idea what he is doing. Andy doesn’t have a junk room for all the instruments he doesn’t know how to play. 13:10 A woman suffered from amnesia and forgot her boyfriend. Sammy wants to know how Andy would woo Jenn back if that happened to him. 20:35 They wonder what they would tell their younger selves if they could send advice back in time. 26:55 A 10-year old girl’s bucket list has gone viral. Andy and Alex share what their 10-year-old bucket lists would have been. Andy had a very specific fantasy as a child. 38:30 Alex met his current girlfriend through Bumble. Sammy asks if he has a playbook of dating techniques. Alex offers drink ordering advice. 46:45 Alex is a doing the February money challenge...which Andy and Sammy immediately shit on. Andy and Alex try to sell Sammy on a vacation in Canada. 50:30 Drunk men drove an ATV pulling a couch through a drive through. Alex recalls the Jack Ass-inspired bush diving shenanigans of his own youth. Andy is too excited about Alex’s homemade high school film “AKA Bad Boy 2” 58:50 Outro Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music! If you have any questions or comments, you reach me at Sammy@PopFuryPodcast.com!

172: Alex Trepka and Andy Junk

MANDY SELLERS and ERIN GOLDSMITH brutally enforce the "no smoking" policy in Penthouse Studio 4W! They talk about their upcoming weddings, the Jerry Maguire video store, their tempers and one very epic bus brawl... SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:45 Both Erin and Mandy are getting married soon! Sammy wants to know how they met their fellas, when they knew they dug them and their proposal stories. 12:15 They are doing a joint bachelorette party in New Orleans. Sammy wonders if you can be in a relationship too long before getting married. 18:25 Mandy recently started working with a personal trainer. 20:55 Erin is happy a bunch of “murder shows” are on Netflix. She once wanted to be a forensic scientist. 25:15 A LA video store is only stocking Jerry Maguire VHS tapes you cannot rent. Sammy wonders if Erin and Mandy would have been friends in high school. 30:25 Erin, who is from Long Island, and Mandy, who is from nowhere specific in Canada, are both getting married in Chicago. 31:55 A woman organized a Women’s March in a tiny town in Minnesota. Neither Mandy or Erin attended the march in Chicago. 36:00 Erin and Mandy share how they argue with their significant others. They both have hot tempers and tell Sammy what sets them off. 42:45 Mandy shares her epic city bus brawl story and Erin shares a much less epic story. Sammy asks if their tempers have ever affected their careers. 53:45 Outro Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music! If you have any questions or comments, you reach me at Sammy@PopFuryPodcast.com!

171: Mandy Sellers and Erin Goldsmith

MOLLY WILBANKS ANDERSON (website) returns to PopFury to talk about "the worst year" she's had as an actor, living in Los Angeles, what she misses in Chicago, and a fleeting experience at a LA Scientology center. SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:30 Molly was last on PopFury waaaaay back on episode 3. Sammy sees if there are any updates to the show notes about her personal life from back then.  “It’s easy to focus on the wrong things when you live in L.A.” 9:30 Sammy calls bullshit when Molly says she’s coming off the worst year she’s had as an actor. 13:30 She appeared on Celebrity Name Game with Sarpy County People’s Choice Award winner Eddie Mujica. She blames Jane Kaczmarek for their loss. 19:30 Molly turned down being a contestant on a “race car game show” “I dress like a boy and I love it.” 21:15 Two strangers who were “very L.A.” approached her on the street and said her dog should be in the movies. Molly tries to explain L.A. fashion. 25:20 Molly is in Chicago for a wedding. She is very excited to dress like the Wizard of Oz. Molly shares what Chicago things she misses. 33:00 She explains what the improv scene is like in LA. “Hollywood Boulevard is like Clark Street with more deaths…” 35:45 Molly is way too excited about redecorating her apartment. Molly tries to plug her husband’s card game: Corporate Ladder  40:25 Molly thinks in hindsight what she what she would have wanted to know when moving to L.A. 43:30 A corporate cafe is accepting a 6-minute workout as payment for a lunch meal. 45:55 To save energy, France is urging people to not send e-mails with big attachments. 47:45 Molly went to Albania on mission work and ended up doing improv on Albanian TV. “The whole time I was like, ‘I want to save you…’” 50:30 Molly lives near the Scientology Celebrity Center and once attended an event there. 54:50 Outro Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music! If you have any questions or comments, you reach me at Sammy@PopFuryPodcast.com!

170: Molly Wilbanks Anderson

JIMMY PENNINGTON and ROSIE MOAN bicker and banter...then get real as shit on the newest PopFury. The first hour they vulgarly chat about the Women's March on Washington, Silence Retreats, Red Line EL confrontations and the new Monopoly pieces. Then they pivot into an honest and in-depth discussion of sexual harassment, misogyny and theater polices in the Chicago improv community. SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:15 Jimmy quit smoking...and replaced it chewing tobacco. He’s also way into working out now. Rosie and Sammy dive into his addictive personality. 8:20 Jimmy has quit Twitter and cable news in the wake of the election. Jimmy goes on a long Vietnam War jeremiad. “I’m trying to remain positive because I feel like a real shit…” 16:00 Rosie is attending the Women’s March on Washington this weekend...but not really due to poor planning. 20:00 Jimmy is considering attending a 10-day non-verbal silent camp retreat. 25:00 Rosie and her boyfriend Ben slept on an uneven bed for 2 years.  “I imagined her beating me up in my own fantasy.” 28:20 Rosie shares two horrible Red Line stories: a man pooping on her train car and being verbally (and physically) harassed by a homeless woman. She is thoroughly non-confrontational. 36:50 She is on a new health kick this January. 40:00 Goat Yoga is a thing. Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus is closing. “A goat cornered my mom and I think was trying to have sex with her!” 45:00 Hasbro is letting the internet decide its new Monopoly playing pieces.  49:15 Sammy reads Jimmy's final tweets...including Jimmy’s angry tweet response to an improvisor’s poor taste social media joke about someone’s passing. 56:15 Jimmy and Rosie deep dive into the uncomfortable topics of sexual harassment, misogyny, teachers dating students and institutional policies in the Chicago improv scene. We briefly touch on the Profiles Theater controversy. Sammy asks Rosie, who is on iO’s Harold Commission, if things are actually better now.  1:24:00 Outro Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music! 

169: Jimmy Pennington and Rosie Moan

JOHN SABINE (@jsabine214) and JAMISON "JT" WEBB (@jamisonwebb) road trip to the PopFury Podcast! The talk about getting burgled at XSport, John's recent passing, Jamison's retracted "rebranding effort" in high school, and possible names for their kids. SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 0:55 Jamison recently celebrated his 31st birthday. Folks have never appraised him as his actual age. 3:45 Both JT and John have had their lockers was robbed at XSport. They recount their trials and tribulations getting new IDs.  15:45 Sammy and John celebrate Jamo’s 7-month wedding anniversary and wonder how the new marriage is going. “It was a war of attrition on both our parts. And we finally were just like, ‘Hey, I think we really like each other.’” 18:15 John loves online dating. Both John and J-Webb describe how they met their current significant others. 23:00 Sammy informs John Sabine that he passed away in 1997 and his body was only recently discovered. “To be fair, ‘Mystery Skeleton’ is so apropos for describing a current living me…” 27:45 Fisher Price is offering a $150 exercise bike with a tablet holder for toddlers. 30:45 John and Jay brainstorm potential kid names for their future progeny. Jay shares his retracted high school rebranding effort and recalls a “personality rebrand” 39:10 A teen (over)dressed up to meet his newborn niece. John and the Webbster describe their own overdressed forays. “I remember during a middle-school dance moshing to ‘Pretty Fly For A White Guy’...I mean god…” 44:25 Outro, during which JamJam Webbz forces in just one more story Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music!  

168: John Sabine and Jamison Webb

 Last episode, SAMMY TAMIMI thought his week from hell was over...then spent 3 days in the Illinois Mason Intensive Care Unit over New Year's weekend. He shares everything that went down that weekend.   Ambulance ride for 1/6 of a mile!   ICU: What lovely pale cheeks I have!   ICU: the corner toilet taunts me   Fancy new wheel chairs! Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music!

167: Week From Hell (Part 2)

CYNTHIA BANGERT and RYAN BEN and  bear witness to Sammy’s week of hell on the newest PopFury! The fantastic couple also talks about who won Christmas, a romantic date of overindulgence, getting suckered into adopting 2 cats and Cynthia's sisters! Note: For those of you who want just Cynthia & Ryan, simply jump to 39:00 of the podcast! SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:05 Ryan, the “owner” of the PopFury podcast gives his Owner’s Statement 3:00 Sammy’s Hell Week Part One: The Catheter (AKA Ryan's quest to pick up Sammy) 16:45 Sammy’s Hell Week Part Two: The Nose Tampon (AKA Ryan critiques Sammy’s pick up technique) “One of the thoughts I had on my way back to the hospital...because I was really for sure convinced I was gonna die was--’Was I good in the last show I did?’” 28:35 Sammy’s Hell Week Part Three: Food Poisoning (AKA Grossed-out Cynthia says “StopFury”)  Sammy also recounts all the times he’s gotten stitches in his head. 39:00 Ryan won Christmas over Cynthia with his superior gifting. “Ryan’s my little ball of sugar…” 46:20 Ryan and Cynthia got into tiff about her oversharing. They way overindulged for their romantic Christmas dinner. 52:20 They got suckered into adopting 2 cats. Cynthia gives Julie Pearson a shout out. 59:00 Sammy finds out what Cynthia had planned with family instead doing the podcast. Cynthia and Ryan are doing a “25 workouts in December” challenge. 1:04:25 Sammy grills Cynthia about her sisters and their forced foursomes of sister activities that are “fun” and they “enjoy” “This could be thing we look back on and go, ‘That’s why we’re not together anymore…’” 1:12:05 Cynthia and Ryan each try to describe Cynthia’s sisters in 1 word.  Buckle in, y’all. 1:21:35 Outro Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music!

166: Cynthia Bangert and Ryan Ben

Reprogrammed Imperial Improv Droid K-11 Tier-8 (KELLEN TERRETT) visits the secret rebel base of Penthouse Studio 4W to talk about Rogue One! We break down the characters and story, fanboy over some stuff and whine about other stuff in this special Star Wars episode!  SPOILER WARNING: We talk about the movie, its plot and the characters in detail. Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music!

165: Star Wars: Rogue One

SPENCER HAMILTON and PAT NIDAY bring their music picks and songbird pipes to the PopFury podcast! The risk-averse duo chat about company cover bands, getting grilled by your gal’s pals, Pat almost drowning, Spencer’s awesome high school playlist and, naturally, peeing in weird places. SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:10 Pat sang at his company’s holiday party. In unrelated news, he received a promotion. (You can listen to Pat’s audition tape at the end of the podcast!) “I had to audition to be in my company-sanctioned cover band for a holiday party...” 6:45 Pat went to a second holiday party where he got grilled by one of his girlfriend’s pals. We discuss being in--and putting someone else in--the hot seat. 12:40 Spencer just turn 28. Sammy thinks he looks very mature for his age. Spencer once took Pat to a wrestling show. 18:00 Spencer is bad at budgeting his time. Pat and Spencer work through their feelings about the Chipmunks. “So, I’m pinned here and I was like, OK, that’s how I die.” 21:00 A racehorse was doped up on meth. Both Pat and Spencer are risk averse. Pat almost drowned until a girl saved him. Spencer really doesn’t do risky things because catching alligators doesn’t count as risky. 27:15 Pat hates the idea of dinosaurs having feathers. Pat is a forgiving person. Spencer? Not so much. Sammy wonders if this reflected in their personal relationships. 33:00 Pat sang Rihanna with his Uber driver. “That’s ‘Seven Nation Army’ -- which we can all agree is the best song ever written” 35:20 Sammy plays songs from Spencer’s awesome high school Spotify playlist.  45:00 Pat wants to fix the White Elephant gift exchange. Sammy hates the idea of a donation to charity as a gift to someone. 48:35 The NFL Pro Bowl will be adding dodgeball to the event. Pat is the nerd kid who disappointed his jock dad. All of us rebelled by peeing in weird places. 56:10 Outro 58:00 BONUS: Pat’s audition recording of  Billy Joel's “Only the Good Young” Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music!  

164: Spencer Hamilton and Pat Niday

MICHAELA PETRO (website) and MALLORY NEES (@The_Mal_Gallery) bring both kindness and vulgarity to PopFury (but mostly vulgarity)! We talk about the status of their 2016 resolutions, Mallory's freak strength, Profiles theater, Scrotox, and wonder why people just can't be kind to each other.   SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:00 Sammy holds Mallory and Michaela accountable for the New Year resolutions they made on the show back in January. Mallory has 1 win, 1 loss and 1 push. Sammy asks about the ladies’ experiences at the gym. “I can’t do a pull up...but I know for a fact that I can pick a car up and spin it on my finger like a basketball.” 8:20 A girl saved her father by lifting a burning truck off him, driving it away, evacuating the family from the house, calling 911 AND using a hose to contain a fire. 11:20 Michaela sails over the low bar of a New Year’s resolution she set for herself. Sammy tries to compare Girls Gone Wild to a play that Michaela will be partially nude in--until she sets him straight. “Can’t you act like your boobs are out?” 16:10 Mallory and Michaela discuss the shuttering of Profiles Theater and the controversy surrounding the misogyny and abuse committed by those in charge.  20:00 Botox in your balls AKA Scrotox AKA Ball Ironing is a thing now. 23:55 Mallory will be attending the 2017 NAMM Show...it’s her first business trip! 27:00 Michaela is deliriously happy she got a residual check. She is in rehearsal for Cymbaline. Mallory helps break down what makes a bad director and offers “good” advice for actors. “I know that 2016 has been a rough fucking year but does it mean we have to treat each other like shit especially around the holidays?!?!” 33:25 Michaela goes on a tirade about the lack of manners. Sammy treated a barista like a human. Mallory was a superhero who saved a baby and yelled at a person. Sammy is concerned about Mallory confronting people 42:40 Sammy recalls Michaela’s vulgar phone tirades at work. 47:00 Mallory is trying to do 46 days of good deeds to make the world a better place. “I’m using social media in a way that I wished that everybody would--which is to make people think or make people smile.” 54:10 Sammy asks for the Michaela’s and Mallory’s 2017 resolutions since their 2016 resolutions were such a shit show. 56:00 Outro, during which Michaela blows her plugs and Mallory reveals the real reason she is on Twitter Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music!

163: Michaela Petro and Mallory Nees

 DIANE TENG and ANDY JUNK are totally adults now and you can hear them talk like mature adults about very adult things like buying lipstick, buying a house, traveling to Myanmar, teddy bears and allergies! SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:05 Diane needs advice on how to buy lipstick and explains make-up costs to the fellas.  “You know who taught me how to put eyeliner on? My high school theater director…” 7:10 Andy has bought a house. His mommy helped him with how to do it. 12:50 Diane Teng Chronicles (continued): now lives with her boyfriend in a studio apartment. Andy got cleaner once he moved in with his lady. 20:15 She spent two weeks in Myanmar with her family. She pooped in a hole, slept with 10 people in a hotel room and saw a “famous” boulder. There were also places where ladies were not permitted. It was great! 29:45 A blind horse has a seeing-eye camel. Andy and Diane wonder which animal they would be. “If my mom listens to this, I hope that I’ve already told her this because I don’t want her to find out this way…” 32:25 A boy had teddy bears made from his deceased father’s uniform. Andy shares a horrible secret about a Build A Bear. Sammy and Diane decide Andy is lactose intolerant. 37:45 Diane is allergic to everything. 42:40 Sammy wonders when Andy finally felt like an adult. “Why can’t we ever end on a high point for me?” 46:20 Outro Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music!

162: Diane Teng and Andy Junk

   ROB GRABOWSKI and LAURA MARSH board the S.S. PopFury and set sail for silliness! We discuss performing on cruise ships, the ship life, bad auditions and Laura’s newest obsession with animal noises! SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:10 Rob is leaving Chicago to perform for Second City on a cruise ship for 4 ½ months! 4:05 After college, Laura worked on a cruise ship for Disney. SAMMY HAS ALL THE QUESTIONS! “It is very similar to being wrapped up in a carpet and doing aerobics in the sunshine.” 10:40 Laura recalls her Disney audition. 14:10 Rob and Laura discuss the ins and outs of ship life. 21:40 Sammy wonders if Rob is a sell-out. Rob thinks Laura is a furry. “Actors are horrible people.” 24:00 We commiserate over bad auditions and learn from Laura’s mistakes. Rob once auditioned for a talking air conditioner. Sammy learns what their "types" are. 41:00 Laura’s favorite new thing is teaching animal noises to her nephew. Sammy wonders what Laura and Rob would want their children to learn from them. 48:00 Outro, where Rob continually corrects Laura on her plugs and discover Laura let her website expire. Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music!

161: Rob Grabowski & Laura Marsh

CAROLINE NASH and LAURA MARSH celebrate the return of PopFury by relentlessly plugging their sketch show! We chat about Laura’s (lack of) crafting skills, Christmas commercials that make us cry, online dating, regrettable purchases and explain to Laura what a ‘facial’ is. This is coincidentally the one-year anniversary of the first time this hilarious duo debuted on PopFury. You can listen to the that episode HERE. SHOW NOTES 0:00 Intro 1:05 The heartless Laura and Caroline didn’t care that the podcast was coming back, only that it aired before their sketch show performance. 5:10 They will be performing their sketch show Spectacular! Spectacular! At Sketchfest in January. 8:15 Laura is big into cross-stitch even though she’s not good at it. “How badass would it be to blow some glass?! Y’know what I’m saying?!” 14:00 Caroline is brought to tears by a polish Christmas commercial and a Frankenstein Christmas commercial.  Laura is touched by the classic Folger’s Christmas commercial... which Sammy immediately ruins by describing the parody commercial. 17:50 Laura is not handling winter well. Caroline is escaping to New Orleans in January to celebrate her trip-a-versary. Sammy wonders how well Caroline and her boyfriend travel together. 24:40 We share our first celebrity crushes. 26:30 Laura describes the disasters of online dating. “Laura does not Christmas shop--she Christmas crafts.” 34:05 Caroline recounts how she met her boyfriend and determining their anniversary date. Neither has finished their Christmas shopping. 41:30 Nordstrom’s $85 leather-wrapped stone has sold out. We remember purchases we regret. 46:15 United Airlines will start charging for carry-on overhead bin bags. The ladies share their guilty-pleasure vacation treats to themselves. Caroline and Sammy have to explain what facials are to Laura. “I thought that was just called a ‘jizz-in-the-face’” 51:15 A Facebook invitation to quinceanera was shared publicly and 1.2 million accepted. Sammy is stunned when he learns of Caroline’s high school boyfriend was 4 years older than her. 58:55 Outro Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the PopFury Podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or Stitcher! You can also listen to PopFury on Google Play Music!

160: Caroline Nash and Laura Marsh

Gumshoe Gal Caroline Nash and Sidekick Sammy would rather get tasered--twice--than face the legal wrath of L. Lin Wood or repeatedly hear the dreaded "P-Word." We wrap up our coverage of CBS' The Case of JonBenet Ramsey docuseries with ruminations on whether Burke Ramsey did it and why Patsy would cover up the murder of her daughter. You can e-mail us with questions and comments at GumshoeGalPodcast@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter (@TheGumshoeGal) or Facebook! The intro and outro music is provided courtesy of Rob Cavallo.

PopFury Presents: Gumshoe Gal Episode 3

Pop Fury invites improvisors, stand ups and actors from the Chicago comedy scene to celebrate--and savage--pop culture and current events.