Episode 364

with Paul F. Tompkins, Ijeoma Oluo, and Open Mike Eagle

Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello reveal what takes them out of their "comfort zones;" comedian Paul F. Tompkins discusses the perils of improvising on his podcast Spontaneanation and shares the secrets behind writing his theme to the film, Phantom Thread; writer Ijeoma Oluo unpacks the themes of racial oppression in her new book, So You Want to Talk About Race; and hip hop artist Open Mike Eagle performs a track from his concept album Brick Body Kids Still Daydream about the Chicago Housing Project where spent time as a kid.

Paul F. Tompkins
Comedian

If you’re looking for comedy and podcast royalty, look no further than Paul F. Tompkins. A comedian, actor, and writer, he’s appeared on over two hundred episodes of Comedy Bang! Bang!, hosts the popular improvised SPONTANEANATION podcast, and charms audiences all over with his live comedy shows. TV-wise, Tompkins has appeared on HBO’s "Mr. Show" and voices the character of Mr. Peanutbutter on the hit Netflix animated series "Bojack Horseman". Style-wise, he always performs in a suit and tie. All hail the king! Website • Twitter

Ijeoma Oluo
Writer

Reading Ijeoma Oluo’s work gives you the rare and wonderful experience of feeling your own vocabulary expand. A self-proclaimed “internet yeller,” Oluo is the New York Times best-selling author of 2018’s breakout book So You Want to Talk About Race. Her wide breadth of work encompasses race, identity, feminism, mental health, social justice and the arts. An editor-at-large for The Establishment, Oluo is yelling about the most important things in our modern society – are you ready to listen? Website • Twitter

Open Mike Eagle
Hip Hop Artist

Open Mike Eagle’s work resists easy classification - for good reason. He’s an alternative hip hop artist who performs, in his own words, “art rap” and in the words of Pitchfork is “armed with a caustic wit and a poetic eye.” His most recent solo album, "Brick Body Kids Still Daydream," is a concept album about the public housing project he grew up in in Chicago. In 2017, Comedy Central greenlit his standup and musical show The New Negroes, co-hosted with Barron Vaughn, and he performed a Tiny Desk set for NPR. Get onboard the Open Mike Eagle Train, because you don’t want to miss where he’s heading next (at least one stop will be this year's Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago!). Listen • Twitter