Comfort, laughs, and cute pets

Posted by C.N. Josephs on 10th February 2025

Hi there,

Stacey here. I wanted to check in before I pass the keyboard over to C.N.

MaxFun is headquartered in Los Angeles, so a lot of our folks have had a scary start to the year with these wildfires (not to mention the other scary goings-on this week for everyone in America). Thank you for rolling with any delays to episodes that occurred as folks took some time away as needed.

Many of you reached out to check on hosts, producers, and staff, and we appreciate that so, so much, even if we weren’t able to get back to every message. The LA community has come together swiftly and resiliently to take care of each other, and I think that’s a hopeful thing for the start of the year.

Take care of yourselves and your communities—and thanks for being a part of ours <3.

Now, I’ll hand it off to C.N. for our regularly scheduled newsletter.

12 new episodes to provide comfort, distraction, and laughs

C.N. here! This month is already proving to be rough for a lot of people in a lot of different ways. If you’re looking for a little good amidst all the bad in the world, here are twelve new podcast episodes to check out.

Comfort listens

Engage your brain

Laugh out loud

🐶 Pet Corner 🐶

Do you want to see photos of cute animals? I want to see photos of cute animals. Let’s look at some MaxFun staff pets together.

Bigby is probably not plotting your demise. Probably.
(Valerie)

Boomer would really like it if you’d follow him on Soundcloud. Please?
(Brynna)

Juanito is modeling the latest trends in this runway-ready green vest.
(Daniel S.)

Charlie has no thoughts besides “chew bone”, and we love him for it.
(Danny B.)

Oreo sometimes forgets that she’s supposed to have bones.
(Ashe)

Stanley got a bath, and his owner got to wrestle a 140 lbs. wet beast.
(K.T.)

Pekoe’s ability to turn into a perfect orb baffles scientists everywhere.
(Kira)

Pelor is convinced he’s a human man and he likes to sit accordingly.
(C.N.)

Podcast Recommendations

Because you can never have too many podcasts in your life! We asked MaxFunHQ staff what they listen to outside of MaxFun shows. Here are their picks.

Raghu (Producer): I liked Shell Game by Evan Ratliff. It’s indie produced by a host and like two people, which I think is cool, and sorely needed in the current *~media landscape*~, where it feels like those kind of shows aren’t breaking through anymore. It’s also just a clever show to think about how simultaneously mundane and frightening AI might be.

Jen (Producer): The Deep Dive, Ask Ronna, and Basket Case!

Danny B. (Tech & Data Specialist): If you’re caught up on Triple Click and are still craving more video game content, Get Played is lively, funny and I never miss it. (Kirk, Maddy, and Jason have all been guests too!) And Escape This Podcast is the escape room for your ears that you’ve been looking for.

K.T. (Ops Specialist): It’s Christmastown, Scam Goddess, Maintenance Phase, If Books Could Kill.

Jesus (Producer): 60 Songs that Explain the ’90s: the 2000. The perfect podcast for fans of lengthy YouTube essays. Contextualizes songs and albums you haven’t thought of in decades. I’d recommend starting by choosing an episode with a title of a song you enjoy; the “Chop Suey” episode goes pretty hard!

Stacey (Director of Business Ops): Bananas: best buds talking about strange news and telling their own fantastic stories. Funny, kind, great community. Where Are You Going?: a show where a person just asks strangers where they are going. It feels special to me. I love the connection and stories that come out of this simple question. And, finally, The Neighborhood Listen: if all the zany people on Nextdoor had a podcast (I love the Andrew Farmer ep).

Julian (Producer): Snap Judgment and Spooked.

C.N. (Comms Specialist): I listen to pretty much exclusively fiction pods, and my first recommendation is always Flyest Fables, a hopepunk anthology series. I’m also a big fan of Wolf 359 (a comedy-drama space adventure) and VALENCE (a great urban fantasy made by some colleagues-turned-friends of mine, perfect for fans of The Magicians).

Thanks for reading—I know this is a weird time for everyone for many different reasons, and I hope you found something in this newsletter to help lift your spirits at least a little.

We’ll be back in your inbox next month. Until then, take care.

— C.N., Stacey, and your friends at MaxFun

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