Wow, can you believe it’s already been a year since our last year-in-review? Time flies when you’re making podcasts! We’ve been able to do a lot this past year thanks to our members’ support, so let’s celebrate it! Plus: if you want to help the podcasts get made, apply to be our next Production Fellow!
Seven New Shows in 2024!
This year, we brought seven new shows to the network—one more than the six we brought on last year! Whether they’re entirely new or just new to us, these shows deserve a listen.
Eurovangelists is teaching us the ins and outs of Eurovision, television’s most fabulous competition show.
Valley Heat brings us the hilariously awkward misadventures of freelance insurance adjuster Doug Duguay.
Sound Heap, the podcast of infinite podcasts, gives us dozens of fake podcasts that bring very real laughs.
Free With Ads reviews movies from the awful to the awe-inspiring, from the “Wow!” to the “What?!“—as long as it’s free to watch.
Primer gives us a beautiful and in-depth exploration of the rise, fall, and resurgence of Japanese City Pop.
TV Chef Fantasy League mixes a 1/2 cup of fantasy football with 1 cup of cooking competitions to make a delicious podcast.
E Pluribus Motto sets out on a cozy roadtrip to explore the history and culture of every U.S. state, one motto at a time.
Special guests galore!
In addition to some amazing network crossovers, our hosts and producers did an incredible job finding guests this year! A non-exhaustive list of some standouts:
- Time to repay your grain debt: Ted Danson was on Beef and Dairy Network
- Yeah, we got both VlogBrothers! John Green on Sawbones + Hank Green on Let’s Learn Everything!
- Jesse’s dream interview: André 3000 came on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
- Ben and Adam hung out with Tawny Newsome (AKA Beckett Mariner) over on Greatest Trek
- Drag superstar Katya Zamolodchikova talked about The Substance on Maximum Film!
- Aisha Harris, host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, guested on both Black People Love Paramore and Jordan, Jesse, Go!
- Sean Wang, director of the critically-acclaimed Dìdi, talked about Richard Linklater’s Boyhood over on Feeling Seen
And, a special treat for our members: Kamay Lafalaise, runner-up of MasterChef Generations, came onto TV Chef Fantasy League! If you’re a member, you can find the full episode in your BoCo feed. If you’re not a member yet, you can listen to a preview here—and, if you wanna hear the full thing, consider becoming a member for $5/mo to hear that and an additional 600+ hours of BoCo!
New Face at MaxFunHQ!
At the beginning of the year, we brought on the lovely Daniel Huecias as our 2024 Production Fellow. His year-long fellowship is wrapping up soon, but he’s been a joy to have at MaxFun and a great addition to our production team. We all wish Daniel well in wherever he goes next!
In August, we teamed up with the wonderful bookkeeping services of Jenn Stithem! Jenn is kind, great with numbers, and—critically—has a very cute senior dog, Myles, whom she sends a lot of pictures of.
We’re now hiring for our next Production Fellow! This is a great opportunity for people starting a career in audio production. The fellow will work a full-time (35 hrs/week) schedule and receive an hourly pay rate of $20 per hour, along with paid holidays, health insurance, and a bunch of other benefits—all while learning the ins and outs of audio production in a real working environment. The role is hybrid and based out of our office in Los Angeles.
If you’re interested, don’t wait to apply—the deadline is December 31!
→ Apply Now!
Still shopping for presents?
We’ve got you! The shipping deadline has passed for most of the items in our merch store, but we’ve still got a great gift option:
→ 🎁 Gift Memberships! 🎁
Plus, now through the end of the year: if you buy a gift membership, we’ll mail you a mystery gift from the depths of the MaxFun vault!
Know a MaxFunster who isn’t a member yet? Know a MaxFunster who is a member, but would still be excited to have their membership prepaid for the next year? A MaxFun membership is the perfect gift! And, if anyone has been asking you what you’d like this season, they’re also a great addition to any wishlist.
Our new Bookshop—plus, we want your recommendations!
In our last newsletter, we asked you to send in your favorite books, and we got a bunch!
Check out the Community Recommendations list on our Bookshop storefront to see what your fellow MaxFunsters recommended:
Is there a book you really love? Shout about it in our Google Form, and we may include it on our next Community Recs list!
🎉2024 Highlight Reel 🎉
What happened this year at Maximum Fun?
Over 16,000 people joined, upgraded, or boosted during MaxFunDrive 2024! Because of our members’ support over the past year, we were able to bring on more shows, remodel our recording studios, and—perhaps most importantly—release Tabletop Hullabaloo, a network-wide D&D crossover DM’d by our very own Austin Taylor!
Black People Love Paramore had an amazing first full year on the network: they won a Webby, got a billboard in Times Square, and made it on Spotify’s list of Breakout Creators of 2024!
Go Fact Yourself has partnered with LAist to broadcast on the radio in the greater LA area! You can hear them Saturdays at 10am and 5pm (followed by Bullseye at 7pm!) and on Sundays at 8pm.
Our members’ generosity during our most recent charity pin sale allowed us to donate over $42,000 to VoteRiders, a nonprofit working to ensure that every eligible U.S. citizen is able to vote! Get all of the details right over here.
Flop TV—the livestream that brings The Flop House to video form—came back for a second year! They’ve got two more streams coming up, and you can still buy a season pass for those plus the four that have already passed!
And finally, we introduced something that our audience has been requesting for a long time: a pre-pay option for memberships! Tired of juggling so many recurring monthly payments? Now you can pay for your membership a year at a time! It also helps us out because it means lower processing fees every month—win/win!
MaxFun Introduces: Member of the Month!
MaxFun has started selecting one random member each month to be our distinguished Member of the Month. This extremely high honor includes a phone call from a favorite host, a bumper sticker to let everyone bask in your glory, a $25 gift card to the MaxFunStore, and a reserved parking spot for the month at MaxFunHQ in Los Angeles.
Who’s next? Could it be you?
Party Game Recommendations!
Between holidays, school breaks, and time off work, December is a month full of fun gatherings. If you’re looking for a game to bring to your next party, here are some recommendations from MaxFunHQ staff…
Christian (Producer): Wavelength babyyyy. This game consistently creates fun conversation and is a good way to learn what Pokemon your friends think are sexy. Also, I made a new group of friends a few years ago and we played Chameleon a ton. It was a very good way to hang out with people that I didn’t know until like 15 minutes earlier.
Danny B. (Tech & Data Specialist): For an all-ages family, or for a group that doesn’t want to get bogged down in rules, I’d recommend The Fuzzies. Or for a small (3-5 people) group that wants to play a game that isn’t too light, but doesn’t want to spend all night in the same game, I’ll always recommend Wingspan.
Raghu (Producer): Seconding Wingspan.
Stacey (Director of Business Ops): I really like Codenames and Sushi Go Party for a group! They’re easy to learn and you can play with a wide range of people. I also really enjoy The Mind, which Danny introduced me to.
Kira (Ad Ops Specialist): Surprising nobody, I recommend the social deduction game Blood on the Clocktower. The format is similar to games like Werewolf, but better, because everyone has a unique ability and you can still play after you’re dead. Do I have a BOTC stream on in the background while I am working right now? I guess we’ll never know. (I do.)
Laura (Senior Producer): Catan: Cities & Knights Game Expansions. I played the original Catan with friends and fell in love with the game. It’s a game in which players compete against one another to grow their towns and cities, and doing so requires strategy, trade and deal making.
C.N. (Comms Specialist): My spouse got me hooked on Viva Piñata: Party Animals last year. It’s a great Xbox game that you can play with 2-4 people! I’m also a huge fan of Marrying Mr. Darcy, a Jane Austen-inspired card game where you duke it out with the other players to marry your perfect man.
Hey, readers: What’s your favorite game to play with a group? Email cn@maximumfun.org and let us know!
Well, here we are at the end: the last newsletter we’ll be sending in 2024. I hope you all have a restful December and a good start to 2025. If you need me, I’ll be spending the rest of the year like this:
See you next year!
— C.N. and your friends at MaxFun
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