Episode 368

with Gary Shteyngart, Hari Kondabolu, Maxine McCormick, and Lenore

Host Luke Burbank gets a “fresh start” when he learns how to correctly pronounce announcer Elena Passarello’s name; writer Gary Shteyngart recounts how his Greyhound adventures across America inspired his latest book Lake Success; comedian Hari Kondabolu shares his experience teaching stand-up to prison inmates; 14-year-old Maxine McCormick explains how she became the two-time world champion of fly casting; and Portland folk band Lenore perform their track, “Thick Skin, Tender Heart.”

Gary Shteyngart
Writer

Gary Shteyngart is not afraid to get satirical when the situation calls for it. An American writer born in Leningrad, Shteyngart’s prose is filled with blistering humor and sharp societal observations powered by masterful storytelling. His work is acclaimed and awarded, best-selling and blurbed, read and translated into twenty-six languages. Shteyngart’s fifth book, Lake Success, described as “a stylish and big-hearted novel” by Publisher’s Weekly, takes on a character who abandons his life in the one percent to learn about the “real America.” We can’t wait to take his take to heart. Website • Twitter

Hari Kondabolu
Comedian

Comedian Hari Kondabolu is probably the smartest person you’ll laugh at this year. Why? Because he earned a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and worked as an immigrant rights organizer in Seattle. Thanks to that, his comedy is a complex blend of social commentary, honest personal experience, and trenchant political wit. His new Netflix standup special “Warn Your Relatives” came out this year, he was named one of Variety’s “Top 10 Comics to Watch,” and his critically-acclaimed documentary “The Problem with Apu” has been making waves since 2017. Sit down and get ready to be taken to school by the brainiest comedian around. Website • Twitter

Maxine McCormick
World Champion of Fly Casting

Maxine McCormick is American royalty – of the noble flycasting variety. Dubbed “America’s Casting Princess,” by some of her European competitors, she holds back-to-back World Championship titles at just fourteen years old. Oh, and her first championship, won in 2016, made her the youngest gold medal winner at a world-class sporting event in history. When she’s not hitting impossible-seeming targets very far away with a tremendous mix of grace and skill, McCormick maintains near straight A’s, loves animals, and is pretty great at track and softball. Her competitors might call her a princess, but we think Maxine McCormick is already the Queen. Website

Lenore
Folk Band

The Portland-based folk group Lenore rose up from the rock bottom of its two creators. Following a period of personal problems, Rebecca Marie Miller and Joy Pearson found solace in songwriting and the immediate connection they felt with each other after a chance meeting. Two years after that fateful night, Lenore has performed at a plethora of legendary Pacific Northwest venues, opened for acts like Blitzen Trapper, Laura Gibson, and Gomez, and brought on full-time musical collaborators to help develop their signature sound. Their self-titled debut album showcases their dreamy, melancholic blend of harmony-driven folk – and appropriately, given how they met, an ever-present sense of hope. Listen • Twitter