Live podcast tapings are one of the few areas where Los Angeles can claim cultural superiority to New York. (Sorry if I can’t get excited about paying a cool hundo to meet Nate Silver at the PlayStation Theater during a taping of his FiveThirtyEight election podcast.) But at least there’s this: One of our favorite podcasts, Catie Lazarus’s Employee of the Month, records right here at Joe’s Pub, and the new season returns this month.
On Sept. 22, Lazarus will conduct no doubt semi-awkward interviews with Maya Rudolph, Broadway star Laura Benanti, and author Isaac Oliver. Other guests during the season include comedian Phoebe Robinson and astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan.
Employee of the Month tapings are always a hoot. In the past, we’ve seen Greta Gerwig talk about her old audition tapes with Lena Dunham. On another occasion, Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields played a ditty, after the obligatory moping. There’s always fun and games, like the blind taste test that forced celebrity chef Tom Colicchio to admit he preferred another restaurant’s grilled cheese over his own. In addition to the back-to-back interviews, Lazarus does a little shtick and has a house band that comes up with kooky ditties and covers– they even got UN ambassador Samantha Power dancing once. Trust us, you’ll get your $30 worth, even if the interviews end up being used for a podcast that’s free.
Other tapings this season will occur on Oct. 27, Nov. 17, and Dec. 22. Guests for those shows will be announced closer to their dates, so keep checking back.