Mother Lucy Goose sits down with Jake and Nick to tell them all about her clowning journey and how it helped her reconnect with herself and laugh again after a bad time in her life. She also discussed the online versus in-person clown communities, advice for people looking to get into clowning, the differences between clown styles, and how to use clowning to fight back against oppression and connect with the people in your community better.

If you fell in love with Lucy Goose like we did, here's where you can find and support her:

https://linktr.ee/motherlucygoose

Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini

Clips:

• May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications
• The Thing (1982)
• Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

Now that we've laid the foundation for what the clown community is and some of the benefits it can provide its members, we wanted to talk with some actual clowns and get their perspective!

Jake and Maisy sit down with Cait the Clown: professional children's clown, emotional support clown, and possibly the nicest person on the internet.

We discuss the clowning journey, how she built her local community in Massachusetts, and the online versus in-person clowning community. You can also expect to hear a lot about how silliness and tomfoolery can be powerful tools for resistance and change in the face of oppression.

If you fell in love with Cait like we did, here's where you can find and support her:

https://linktr.ee/caittheclown

Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini

Clips:

• May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications
• The Thing (1982)
• Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

Making Friends is all about friendship and communities, and we've talked a lot about friendship, so let's get into the communities. For our very first community spotlight episode, we dug into the history of clowns and how clowns come together to help each other and the world as a whole. Clowns are silly, but don't fall into the trap of not taking them seriously - clowns can teach us a lot about how to be better friends and better people in general.

Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini

Clips:

• May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications
• The Thing (1982)
• Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

Y'all ever have such a good gossip sesh with your friends that you run the gamut of laughing so hard you cry to talking about your deepest traumas? That's what this interview feels like.

Jake and Maisy sit down with their friend Erin Harris to talk about things like childhood bullying, how to build a healthy marriage, and raising a boy to be a good person in this perilous modern world. All the while running down numerous ADHD rabbit holes about everything from raptor screams to hallucinogens. This one is so much fun, so grab a beverage and tuck in.

TW: Alcoholism, drug use, child abuse, CSA, bullying, suicide, sexuality

Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini

Clips:

• May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications
• The Thing (1982)
• Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

It's our tenth episode, and we're celebrating it with possibly the most influential book on American masculinity in pop culture: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Jake, Maisy, and Jordan sit down to discuss the unique time period of the 90s, Fight Club, the book and its movie adaptation, and how they have influenced masculinity, politics, and the current state of affairs. This one's a real chunky episode, so grab a snack and strap in! It's a good one, I promise.

Also, there's a lot of wrestling talk in this one, fair warning up top.

TW: Physical violence, sexuality, misogyny, racism

Support Your Local Library

Music: Nick DiMarco

Clips:

• The Pagemaster (1994)
• Henry Rollins on the Joy of Writing
• The Twilight Zone - "The Obsolete Man" (TV Episode 1961)
• The Princess Bride (1987)

We're back again this week with part two of our Double Date episode with Nick, Kim, Jake, & Maisy! This time we're talking all about relationship dynamics and how we create and maintain our healthy romantic relationships. We discuss conflict resolution, love languages, and date night plans. Hope you enjoy!

TW: Mental health, relationship struggles

Music: Call Me Baby (Instrumental Version) - John Runefelt

We have a very special episode for you this week! If you're curious about your hosts, you're in luck, because Maisy and Jake are sitting down with Nick and his wife, Kim, for a group interview where we discuss making friends (of course), growing up, forming relationships, and how we got to where we are now. We had a lot of fun working on this one, so hopefully you enjoy listening to it just as much!

TW: Child abuse, divorce, mental health

Music: Call Me Baby (Instrumental Version) - John Runefelt

For this week's interview, Jake and Nick sit down with one of Jake's closest friends, Jordan Kent. They dig deep into Jordan's childhood, his perspectives on masculinity throughout his life, and the loss of his father and how it affects his ability to form and maintain relationships to this day. It's a deep one this week, folks, so lock in!

TW: Loss of a parent, child abuse, cancer

Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini

Clips:

• May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications
• The Thing (1982)
• Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"