New Show!
So…You’re Canadian with Dave Hill!
On Tuesday, August 27, Dave Hill makes his triumphant return to Maximum Fun with his new podcast, So…You’re Canadian with Dave Hill! Dave Hill is not Canadian, but his grandfather was – and as Dave says – he wouldn’t shut up about it. Dave decided to see what all the fuss was about, so he recently traveled all over Canada, reconnecting with his Canadian heritage for his upcoming book, Parking the Moose: One American’s Epic Quest to Uncover His Incredible Canadian Roots.
To continue on this quest, every week on So…You’re Canadian, Dave attempts to get to know our neighbors to the north – one Canadian at a time. Guests include noted Canadian and Dave Hill-friends, author Malcom Gladwell, musician Amy Millan, comedian K. Trevor Wilson, First Nations filmmaker Trudy Stewart, and more! This podcast is seriously Canadian – and it’s not sorry about it. Subscribe now so you’re ready for the first episode next week! Be sure to listen to the trailer, where you’ll hear Dave talk about poutine for the first of many, many times. And tell your friends all about it, please!
Season Premieres and Finales!
Story Break
Our friends over at Story Break have recently embarked on a very exciting adventure, and it is the perfect time to start listening to the show if you haven’t given it a shot yet! Last summer, Will Campos, Freddie Wong, and Matt Arnold recorded an episode based on an original idea, called Heaven Heist. For their bonus episode for MaxFun monthly members, they recorded an episode where they just wrote the opening scene of Heaven Heist. They had so much fun doing it that they decided to switch the format of the show and launch a new season. So now they are just WRITING A MOVIE, scene-by-scene, each week! There are only a couple of eps to catch up on, so start by listening to the original Heaven Heist episode!
Mission to Zyxx
The crew of the Bargarean Jade came aboard Maximum Fun right as they were setting off on their third season, and just last week they released their HUGE season finale! If you were waiting for the full season to end so you could do a complete binge listen, well, LOCK AND LOAD. Start listening to Season 3 here, and if you haven’t begun this improvised space adventure yet, start at Season 1, Episode 1 on your favorite podcast app!
An Update on Transcripts! Plus, Exciting September Tidings!
Since we announced our transcript initiative in partnership with the McElroy family this past March, we’ve gotten a ton of excited feedback from the community. We promised a Summer 2019 launch, and we’ve made incredible headway toward that goal through the addition of our Transcription Manager Cassie (you’ll meet them in the next section of this newsletter), the assembly of our transcription team, and the formation of a style guide. Plus, you may have noticed the McElroys have been including links to transcripts in their episode posts. We can’t wait to share the next steps with you, and fortunately for all of us, we won’t have to wait long! We’ll be rolling out the next phase of transcriptions in late September, along with a beautiful, brand new website, freshly designed by our friends at Pixel & Dot. Keep an eye on our social media as September unfurls for sneak peaks and opportunities to give feedback on our transcription style guide!
Already know you’ll be using those transcripts? Interested in helping us make them as good as possible? Send an email to Lindsay via this link to get on a one-time mailing list for a survey examining our transcript users’ needs and preferences.
Welcome New HQ Staff!
Steph Prader, Full-Charge Bookkeeper
Steph recently moved to LA from the East Coast shortly before she joined us as our full-charge bookkeeper. She seems to genuinely love data and accounting – I witnessed her getting deep in the spreddies (that’s what we call spreadsheets around here) on Day 1. When she’s not poring over the company budget, she likes hiking, exploring, cooking, eating, playing video games, and producing and attending video game music concerts.
Cassie Josephs, Transcription Manager
Cassie is our first official remote employee! They are based out of Seattle, Washington, and I personally hope they will take videos of the rainy days for me. Cassie will use their passion for storytelling, representation, and accessibility to head up MaxFun’s transcription initiative. Activity-wise, Cassie enjoys writing, drawing, and playing Dungeons & Dragons (much like some McElroys we know and love).
K.T Wiegman, Operations Specialist
K.T. hit the ground running as our Operations Specialist two weeks ago! This is a position we were going to hire someone for a few months down the line (which is why you wouldn’t have seen any announcements for the position on our hiring page), but when K.T. came in to interview for a different position, we realized she’d be perfect for this. K.T. has been a stunt person, a band member, a photographer, an advice columnist, and a roller derby announcer (among other things), so she’s ready to handle whatever is thrown her way!
August Staff Pick of the Month
Stacey MolskiYou probably expected the staff pick to be from one of our cool new staff members, right? It definitely should have been, but I’m going to abuse my newsletter power for one last chance to talk about how great it was that Jeff Goldblum was on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn. This is a pretty long newsletter already, so I’ll keep it short. Jeff Goldblum is an absolute delight, and is absolutely delighted by everything. This interview is no different. You should listen to it right now to hear about his new movie, his start in acting (including his mantra as a youth), being a dad, and just to hear him interact with Jesse. Start listening nooooooooooooooow! (This will be fun when you listen and you hear the part I’m referencing, I promise.) Thanks for reading! Say hi to our new MaxFun staff if you see them online! And please send me gifs of Jeff Goldblum whenever you feel inspired.