Episode 412

with François Clemmons and Joey Clift

Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello share small wins they've accomplished; François Clemmons, famously known as Officer Clemmons on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," discusses how Fred Rogers became a mentor and father figure to him during personally turbulent times; comedy writer Joey Clift explains how he painstakingly crowdsourced musicians to make an album for every state in the union... a feat which was promised (yet never finished) by singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens; and Luke and Elena try their hands at writing and performing their own regional songs.

François Clemmons

Actor

Dr. Clemmons received a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College, and a Master of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University. He also received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Middlebury College. In 1968, Dr. Clemmons won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He went on to Cleveland, Ohio, where he won a position in the Metropolitan Opera Studio. For 25 years, Dr. Clemmons performed the role (which he created) of Officer Clemmons, a friendly neighborhood policeman, in the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe” on the Peabody award winning children’s television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Website

Joey Clift
Comedy Writer

Joey Clift is a writer, performer, and enrolled Cowlitz Indian Tribal Member currently living in Los Angeles. He went to college to be a local TV weather person, because when he was in high school, he didn’t see any Native American comedians on television, so he didn’t think he was allowed to work in comedy. Over the last few years he has learned that that is absolutely not true, and he has written on shows for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Nerdist, DreamWorks, and a TON of other places. Website . Twitter