Episode 356

with Andy Kindler, Rico Gagliano, Brendan Francis Newnam, Lidia Yuknavitch, and Ural Thomas & the Pain

Host Luke Burbank details how his contrarian streak affects his marriage; author Lidia Yuknavitch shows us how to embrace our inner misfit; Dinner Party Download hosts Rico Gagliano and Brendan Francis Newnam make the case against brunch; comedian Andy Kindler discusses how his recent foray into therapy has changed his comedy; and Ural Thomas and the Pain bring us musical relief.

Lidia Yuknavitch
Author

Lidia Yuknavitch writes with urgent empathy. In her new book, Verge, she turns her eye to life on the margins, in all its beauty and brutality, as she pens the stories of the marginalized and outcast among us. Yuknavitch is the author of the novels The Book of Joan, The Small Backs of Children, Dora: A Headcase, and a critical book on war and narrative, Allegories of Violence. Her widely acclaimed memoir The Chronology of Water was a finalist for a PEN Center USA award for creative nonfiction and winner of the Oregon Book Award Reader's Choice. Website • Twitter

Rico Gagliano
Host

Rico Gagliano has worked in public radio for almost a decade. His pieces have been heard on All Things Considered, Weekend America, The Savvy Traveler and other series, but he’s best known as a reporter on Marketplace, for which he has filed stories from England, Ireland, Sweden, The Netherlands, India, South Korea and across the good ol’ USA. He also pens and performs many of the show’s “Marketplace Players” comedy sketches. Prior to radio, Rico worked as a TV writer on shows for MTV, ABC, Fox Family and The Cartoon Network… and as a freelance print reporter for LA Weekly, the Village Voice, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and others. Rico holds an MFA from the American Film Institute. Website • Twitter

Brendan Francis Newnam
Host

Brendan Francis Newnam is a native of Philadelphia, Pa., who still can’t come to terms with the fact that he lives in Los Angeles. Before working for the national public radio programs Marketplace,Marketplace Money and Weekend America, he was a freelance radio reporter and he freelanced domestically and abroad for various publications. He worked for three years as an associate producer for a local arts program at WRTI in Philadelphia and prior to that he was the staff researcher at the national public radio program Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Website • Twitter

Andy Kindler
Comedian

Andy Kindler is an American comedian from Queens, New York. He played the character "Andy", a fellow sportswriter and friend of sportswriter "Ray Barone" on the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, was a regular guest on Late Show with David Letterman, contributor to The Daily Show and has performed on HBO Website • Twitter

Ural Thomas and the Pain

Musician

If life was at all fair Ural Thomas would be a household name, his music slotted into countless sweet, seductive mixtapes between James Brown, Otis Redding, and Stevie Wonder (all of whom Thomas has performed with.) Straddling the line between hot soul shouter and velvety-smooth crooner, Thomas released a few singles in the late 60’s and early 70’s; most notably “Can You Dig It”, which featured backing vocals from soul luminaries Merry Clayton, Mary Wells and Brenda Holloway. Thomas played over forty shows at the legendary Apollo Theater before turning his back on an unkind business and heading home to Portland, OR. Listen • Insta