Nest Sessions: Tim Kasher on Game Shows

Summary

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Flightless Bird – "Nest Sessions: Tim Kasher on Game Shows"

Date: June 4, 2026
Host: David Farrier
Guest: Tim Kasher (musician, songwriter, game show aficionado)

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode of Flightless Bird, host David Farrier sits down with acclaimed musician and songwriter Tim Kasher (best known from Cursive and The Good Life) for a candid, funny, and affectionate deep dive into game show culture in America. The conversation blends musings on midwestern life, the trials and joys of being a creative, personal stories, and a mutual love—a borderline obsession—with trivia and game shows, both as viewers and contestants. Tim and his wife Gwynedd’s game show enthusiasm provides the backbone for reflections on competition, relationships, and the quirky corners of American pop culture, culminating in a taste test of very American snacks and an intimate mini-concert.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tim Kasher’s Artistic Path and Beginnings

• Early Passions: Tim describes his dual love for music and filmmaking, noting that music became his career more out of immediacy and opportunity.
  • “I’m also a filmmaker, but I’m not ready or comfortable calling myself a professional filmmaker because I’ve made films, haven’t been paid.” (01:29)
• Forming Cursive: The indie band Cursive formed around when Tim was 20–21, initially just as a hobby among friends in Omaha, Nebraska.
  • “My 21st birthday recollection is my… buddy and I throwing up in a neighbor’s yard, but in just such a triumphant way, like, we were laughing and just being like, well, it’s my 21st birthday.” (03:09)
• The Omaha Scene & Moving to LA: Tim offers a warmhearted defense of Omaha’s beauty and arts scene, while acknowledging the common migration of creatives to bigger cities.
  • “Omaha… what people who haven’t been to Omaha, what they don’t realize is that’s actually rolling hills and it's incredibly green.” (03:52)

2. When Music Became Viable

• Cursive’s Breakthrough:
  • “It wouldn’t have been until like the third Cursive record… [with] Domestica… The little rooms we were playing were now filling up and people were singing along and we were like… is this… working?” (05:49)

3. A Life of Trivia and Games

• Game Obsession Origin:
  • “Probably really just in the most basic sense, just being a kid and just loving… to play board games… and then in trivia… was always a blast. But I think I can also credit my wife Gwynedd…” (06:54)
• Gwynedd’s Jeopardy Journey:
  • Gwynedd always dreamed of being on Jeopardy!, took the online test for years, and eventually made it on—playing during the Alex Trebek era.
  • “She grew up wanting to be on Jeopardy. That was the big dream and she… did it.” (07:29)
  • “She didn’t do great… she was against these two young gentlemen who are really good with the buzzers.” (09:23)
• Starting 'Musical Puke':
  • Inspired by their love for games and to create a fun promotional avenue for musicians, Tim and Gwynedd created their own music trivia game show: Musical Puke (available as a podcast and YouTube show). They aim for a supportive atmosphere that avoids making guests feel foolish.
  • “We want you to do well. We’re not trying to stump you… we want you to scratch your head a little bit…” (08:02–08:38)

4. Inside 'Musical Puke'

• Guest Stories:
  • The episode with Shannon Shaw (Shannon & the Clams), soon to be released, was notably fun—so much so that editing out the off-topic hangout moments was necessary!
    • “There were points where it was like they were just hanging out… it stopped being a game show for a moment.” (14:35)
• Trivia Pitfalls & Age Gaps:
  • Challenges around creating fair trivia arise because younger bands may not know 70s/80s music, so the solution is to simply ask for a guest’s birth year.
    • “We’re realizing that we shouldn't even ask ’what decade are you best with?’ We need to ask ’when were you born?’” (15:38)
• DIY Approach:
  • “We really try to promote it as a game show… By doing it as a podcast on YouTube, that’s our way of making it incredibly DIY.” (16:32)

5. The Allure of American Game Shows

• Game Shows as Inspiration:
  • Tim draws from various classic shows—especially Jeopardy! and The Price Is Right—for inspiration for Musical Puke.
  • “Jeopardy is actually… the template for most trivia.” (17:13)
• Game Show Mustache:
  • Tim is currently growing a mustache for an Omaha nonprofit (The Bay); the group jokes about mustaches and Movember (No-Shave November). (17:30–18:21)

6. Competing on Game Shows

• Shared Game Show Histories:
  • Tim, David, and Rob have all appeared on game shows: Family Feud, Chain Reaction, and more.
    • “You’ve both been on Family Feud?” (19:00)
• Behind-the-Scenes Stories:
  • Making custom t-shirts for The Price Is Right is a classic American tradition, but Tim’s design—a Drew Carey/‘Carrie’ horror movie mashup—was deemed TV-inappropriate!
    • “I hired a caricature artist to do Drew Carey covered in blood as a prom queen. I thought it was brilliant… but I think they’re like, that won’t play.” (22:29)
• Chain Reaction Win:
  • Tim and his team performed superbly on Chain Reaction, winning $12,000, which he spent on a guitar.
    • “We did… as best as you can possibly…” (25:15)
    • “I bought a guitar.” (25:38)
• Game Show Aspirations:
  • Tim and Gwynedd remain active applicants, always looking for the next game show challenge. Their shared obsession is both endearing and a little strange—even to themselves.
    • “You’re waking me up to how abnormal it sounds.” (26:19)

7. Thoughts on Game Show Variety

• The Floor:
  • Tim describes the new Fox show 'The Floor'—hundreds of contestants, simplistic and sometimes wild questions, and random pairings—a format he finds both exhausting and oddly compelling.
    • “Some… the majority of the questions are absurdly laughable… like ’things in a junk drawer’…” (28:25)
• Reality Competition Shows:
  • Baking competitions (especially Ink Master and The Great British Bake Off) come up as favorite “game show adjacent” categories. The group commends the more authentic and less sensational British and Korean cooking game shows.
    • “We get super into the trashy shows… for us [it’s] baking shows. We’re gaga right now about Ink Master.” (29:27–29:45)
  • Rob recommends “Culinary Class Wars,” a Korean show with a competitive but less audience-driven vibe.

8. Game Shows, Competition, and Personality

• Where Does the Obsession Come From?
  • Tim traces it back to growing up loving games and loving competition, adding he follows sports for similar reasons: “the drama.”
    • “I think it’s as simple core as just being a kid and just games… But also, I do like that I just love competition.” (31:57)
• Survivor as Ultimate Competition:
  • Rob (cohost) is a huge Survivor fan, to which Tim concedes he’s never watched it but suspects he’d love it.

9. American Snack Culture: Cheetos Taste Test

• Snack Selection:
  • Tim brings in Cheetos Cheddar Jalapeño Crunchy as his “quintessential American snack,” explaining the evolution of flavors and the importance of fluffiness in chip texture.
    • “Cheetos, I think I’m probably a little indifferent to... but when they nailed down this flavor, I just think it changed. It was a game changer for me.” (33:21)
  • David, the Kiwi, is unfamiliar with Cheetos' cultural impact—leading to a cross-cultural snack discussion, a quick history lesson on Chester Cheetah, and musings on generational chip trends (Takis, Flamin’ Hot, etc.).
    • “Takis have way too much powder on them. That’s the problem. Takis are like, try-hards.” (36:21)

10. Songwriting as a Game: The Four-Day Album Challenge

• The Challenge:
  • Tim shares the story behind his “Sponges of Experience” album, written and composed over four days during a self-imposed challenge inspired by an Elvis Costello quote.
    • “It was a challenge... I’ve been holding that thought for 35 years or something like that. So… last year over Memorial Day, I just kind of… did it.” (37:31–38:58)
  • Rules: Complete composition and lyrics for each track in one go, then full album arrangements later.
  • “You have to write… the composition, and you have to complete the lyrics. That was the really taxing part.” (39:14)
  • The project resulted in a full 12-song album, intended as a niche, physical-only release (available on Bandcamp).

11. Intimate Live Performance & Song Backgrounds

• Song 1: "The Collapse" (42:14)
  • A moving, detailed story about Tim experiencing collapsed lungs as a high schooler. He used the pressure of his four-day challenge to finally process the trauma musically.
    • “I did… you need something to sing about and you need it now… That just occurred to me… that was a really traumatic time in my life… I’m like really proud of this song.” (44:22–44:54)
• Song 2: "The Boy Who Played a Dime Store Bass" (51:24)
  • Reflects on relationships, touring, and the personal cost of music.
• Song 3: "Forever of the Living Dead" (56:53)
  • From the album "Middling Age," musing on aging and mortality with poetic, reflective lyrics.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On discovering Omaha’s beauty:
  • “Omaha… what people who haven’t been to Omaha, what they don’t realize is that’s actually rolling hills and it's incredibly green.” (03:52, Tim Kasher)
• On the anxiety of trivia:
  • “There’s anxiety. Absolutely. There’s anxiety of musicians who don’t want to come on and be like, grilled and then like, maybe look bad or look stupid. And we’re always just convincing people… it’s just fun.” (08:02, Tim Kasher)
• Musicians and game shows:
  • “So her [Gwynedd’s] dream was to be on Jeopardy!... and she did it.” (09:23, Tim Kasher)
• DIY podcasts:
  • “By doing it as a podcast on YouTube, that’s our way of making it incredibly DIY.” (16:32, Tim Kasher)
• On aging and snacks:
  • “I’m too old to just be hanging out, eating chips all the time.” (37:12, Tim Kasher)
• Songwriting pressure:
  • “You need something to sing about and you need it now… I can't go on a walk and think about it… you don’t really have time.” (44:32, Tim Kasher)
• On generational snack trends:
  • “Takis are like, try-hards. They’re like… just take it on… there’s gonna be so much spice… Takis are like a monster energy drink chip.” (36:21, Tim Kasher + 36:38, David Farrier)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:05]–[05:23] — Tim's early career & Omaha stories
• [05:49]–[06:39] — Music turns full-time; Cursive’s breakthrough
• [06:52]–[11:47] — Trivia as lifestyle; Gwynedd’s Jeopardy story
• [11:47]–[16:29] — Musical Puke’s origins and guest challenges
• [16:45]–[18:21] — Inspirations from classic American game shows
• [18:39]–[25:38] — Game show contestant experiences (Family Feud, Chain Reaction, The Price Is Right)
• [25:35]–[27:09] — Prizes, dreams, and actively seeking game show spots
• [27:18]–[31:50] — Competitive reality shows, Korean cooking game shows
• [33:04]–[37:12] — Cheetos taste test and American snack culture
• [37:31]–[41:55] — The 4-day songwriting/album challenge
• [42:14]–[56:53] — Live performances and in-depth song backstories

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Summary

This episode is essential listening for fans of indie rock, game shows, or anyone fascinated by how pop culture weaves into everyday life. Tim Kasher is open, witty, and insightful as he and Farrier draw connections between creativity, competition, nostalgia, and the immigrant perspective on American weirdness. 

There’s real humanity in Kasher’s anecdotes: about the nerve-wracking fun of trivia, the strange pressure of self-imposed artistic challenges, and how even snacks can be laced with nostalgia. The camaraderie between David, Rob, and Tim makes for a show that is genuinely funny, occasionally biting, but always heartfelt.

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Find Musical Puke: Podcast and YouTube
Find Tim’s Albums: Bandcamp (limited vinyl/CD release for "Sponges of Experience")
Signature American Snack: Cheetos Cheddar Jalapeño Crunchy
Memorable Closing Line:

“You need something to sing about and you need it now… That just occurred to me… that was a really traumatic time in my life… I’m like really proud of this song.” (44:22–44:54)

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Transcript

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[Tim Kasher]

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

Gonna cut me into the good and the true. Let the good stay at home.

[Interviewer]

Start with an incredibly simple basic question that I think you can manage. Just love to know your name and sort of what it is that you do.

[Tim Kasher]

Oh, right, me, I'm Tim Casher. I'm a musician and a songwriter, touring musician.

[Interviewer]

And you're about to go on tour soon, right?

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, yeah, in about a week.

[Interviewer]

Thanks for coming here first.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, thanks for letting me.

[Interviewer]

This is your rehearsal space basically for the tour. Did you always know you wanted to get into music? Was that always a thing or was that a dive in a different direction?

[Tim Kasher]

So I'm also other than a musician, I'm also a filmmaker. But I'm not ready or comfortable calling myself a professional filmmaker because I've made films, haven't been paid.

[Interviewer]

You can call yourself that.

[Tim Kasher]

I'm a. I'm a. I'm a hobbyist, I guess. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

But when I was young I really wanted to be a filmmaker and music was in a more immediate release. It was just like I gotta. And I just got kind of feverish about. I had a keyboard and then I had guitar and. And then that kind of snowballed in a great way in a very fortunate way for me. So I was like. So I got to. Lucky enough to be able to like kind of pluck out a career.

[Interviewer]

You know you're also very good at it. Right? And like once you dive into that.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

How old were you when cursive started?

[Tim Kasher]

Maybe 20 something around there. Yeah, yeah, I think 20. I remember. I think I remember having the big 21st birthday and I was with some of the cursing guys.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, my 21st was cursed. I had like a goth themed party. Like 10 people come and I feel like it wasn't like a good 21st. It was pretty lame. But I feel like Americans do 20 firsts in a really like they're big here, right?

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, what was your 21st?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

I was on tour for my 21st birthday and we were at a show in Washington, DC.

[Interviewer]

Okay. You have a little cake, a little party.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah, they got me, like, a big bottle of wine.

[Interviewer]

Oh, that's nice.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Sang me Happy Birthday.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And. And cursive was kind of taking off then. Where was it at when you were 21?

[Tim Kasher]

Real. I think we were really just like, writing our first songs and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. So not nothing. It was full hobbyists at that point. Yeah. I. My. My 21st birthday recollection is my. One of my best buddies and I throwing up in a neighbor's yard. But, like, in just such a triumphant way, like, we were laughing and just being like, well, it's my 21st birthday. We really are. This is what you do. Like, we are messed up.

[Interviewer]

Was it very clear to the neighbor that it was you guys?

[Tim Kasher]

It was a friend's rental and it was in the grass. It was probably fine. There was probably, like, worse things. We probably threw up on, like, dog shit or something, covered it up.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

And this is all Omaha, Nebraska.

[Tim Kasher]

It was in Omaha, Nebraska.

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

What do you.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

David, do you know anything about Nebraska?

[Interviewer]

I know nothing about Nebraska. I've got no images in my mind. I feel it's beautiful, maybe, and sort of a quiet pace of life.

[Tim Kasher]

Yes. And I want to. I'm going to back up because I don't know if beautiful. You might have just lobbed that out, because that's like a courtesy. It's like a nice thing to say, you know, because I think a lot of people in the United States would consider Omaha to be somewhere that's not beautiful. It's like, okay, it's like Great Plains, the Midwest. It's like flyover. It's flyover country. But I'm here to say that you nailed it. Omaha. What? People who haven't been to Omaha, what they don't realize is that's actually a rolling hills and it's incredibly green. So when you fly over it or if you fly in, it's actually really. It is quite a beautiful patch. It's along the Missouri river. And yeah, it's just like these, like, really nice, softly rolling hills that a city was built onto with just tons of greenery.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. And what are people mostly doing there? What's kind of the thing that gets

[Tim Kasher]

a little bit dull? It's business. Like, business would be kind of like the main export, but, you know, with, like, us musicians, we kind of of like, you know, really plugged away at the top of the century and, and kind of made a little name for Omaha for music and that's nice. And there's some cool filmmakers. Alexander Payne came. Came out of Omaha. So there's the. There is arts that exist as well. That's just the problem with so many of the. Of cities in the US that. And I'm part of the problem. I live in LA now, but. But you know, like the artists do tend to go to the coasts.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, they gravitate out. But you're sort of saying, no, it's still. It's a great place to be. You love it.

[Tim Kasher]

It is. And I'd be happy to live there now. It's not. There's really no, it's just, you know, my wife works out here in la and I love LA too. I'm pretty easygoing. I love wherever I live.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, you seem like you have an easygoing energy about you, I have to say.

[Tim Kasher]

Just try to. I just try to acclimate.

[Interviewer]

When did you know that music could be a full time thing? Was there a moment when you realized that this is going to be. This is gonna work?

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, but I think it wouldn't have been until like the third cursive record. And that was in like the 2000.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, right.

[Tim Kasher]

And that was like a turning point for us where we put this record out called Domestica and we were out, you know, just out touring like as we had been for the other two albums. But it was. Touring was a total slog, which like most, the majority of musicians understand it's a total slog. And. But then for the Domestic album, it was weird and exciting thing where the little rooms we were playing were now filling up and people were singing along and we were like. And then that was the point to pinpoint it, where we kind of looked at one another and we're like, is this like something. Does this work? Is this working? Yeah, because I was. Which was weird because I was very used to it not working.

[Interviewer]

The excuse of the show really is just for me to extract knowledge about American culture and also to get to watch amazing musicians perform in front of me. But you, I understand, have had a brush in with game shows.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Where'd your love for game shows start?

[Tim Kasher]

Probably really just in the most basic sense just being a kid and just loving to play board games and just loving. And then in trivia, you know, was always a blast. But I think I can also credit my wife Gwynedd, who also, like when we found each other, we were both people who love games. Right.

[Interviewer]

And when you say Games, like. What do you mean? Like, game shows on tv. Like, playing ball. Like, what kind of games we talking?

[Tim Kasher]

Like, we play. I travel, like, with a Monopoly deal, which is monopolistic little card game. So, like, Gwynedd and I are the type that when we go to a bar, we'll just, like, post up and, like, play cards.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, right.

[Tim Kasher]

We'll play Scrabble at home. So she's been on Jeopardy. And it's really kind of amped up for her. She grew up. She grew up wanting to be on Jeopardy. Like, so that was like the biggest. That was the big dream and she. She did it.

[Interviewer]

I mean, that's incredible.

[Tim Kasher]

It was incredible.

[Interviewer]

How do you, like, how does one get on?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

It's a hard thing to prepare for, too, because it's just general knowledge of everything.

[Interviewer]

It's the most terrifying thing I could think of. Nothing more hellish than to put me on Jeopardy. Because it's basically just a way that you see. Everyone sees how dumb you are and what you don't know.

[Tim Kasher]

So I love trivia. Gwynedd loves trivia. I. And I don't. My. And so also what I'm kind of leading to is that, yeah, we have, like, we started like, a trivia show and stuff like that. And so I. I need to be really in the conversation like this. I need to be really positive and pro trivia because we ask people to come on and some we ask musicians to come on. So the show is called Musical Puke and it's a music trivia game show. But there's anxiety. Absolutely. There's anxiety of musicians who don't want to come on and be, like, grilled and then like, maybe look bad or look. Look stupid. And we're always just convince people that just, like, it's not. It's just fun. We want you to do well. We're not trying to stump you, you know, like, we want to just have a good time, just have some trivia. We want you to scratch your head a little bit and think, oh, I know. I got. I almost got it. But it's tough to come up to the questions to. To know, like, what?

[Interviewer]

Yeah. What that. What people know.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Like what you get.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Wait, so rewind. Your wife dreamt of being on Jeopardy.

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

What's her name?

[Tim Kasher]

Gwynedd. Gwynedd Stewart.

[Interviewer]

So Gwynedd just wanted to do this. How the hell did she make that dream a reality? Like, it didn't just let anyone on Jeopardy.

[Tim Kasher]

She. So she's. She's quite. She's rather Bright. And. And so there's a test. There's like an online test. Before that, there was probably just a written. I think that really. I think go. And there'd be like. Yeah, like tryouts.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

But now it's an online test.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Tim Kasher]

And she was taking it for years. I think it was like once a year. Maybe a couple times a year. And then she just try. And then she. She just nailed it. She came upon a test and she asked the right questions. And how long ago was she on Alex Trebek? She got to be on when Alex Trebek still around. I know she's so proud of that. I'm proud of it too. I mean, she love her. She didn't do great. She. It was really hard. I'm always the first to defend her that she was against these two young gentlemen who are, like, really good with the buzzers.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

The buzzers are no joke.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can see she's. She's one of the type of suppliers when you watch Jeopardy. She's like. Where you see her frustrated, like, she's like. She knows the answers, but she can't get in. She can't get in, you know?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, completely.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Was that part of knowing that you guys were a good match is like, we all love games. Like, we both love games, or did that come later in the relationship?

[Tim Kasher]

You know, I think that she might say it that way a little bit. I think that she feels like she fell in love with me because I'm fun and like. And because I like games.

[Interviewer]

Oh, that's so nice. That's so nice.

[Tim Kasher]

So I don't know how accurate it is, but.

[Interviewer]

And when did you get the idea to have your own game show? When was that a thing?

[Tim Kasher]

Her and I just kind of, you know, been throwing around ideas of, like, something that we could do together for quite some time, and I think I just kind of stumbled upon. So. So I'm a musician, and I'm in kind of like I'm a cog in the machinery, you know? And it occurred to me that musical puke as, like, the concept of it. I was like, you know, if we had musicians on and then kind of have it kind of a little more niche about it being music trivia, I was like, you know who would love that is publicists. Yep, that's kind of what I was thinking. And I'm not totally sure if I'm right about that or not, but I do. We have good rapport with publicists now as a result. But because I was thinking when you Put out an album you have.

[Interviewer]

You need to tell people about what is coming. You've got to get it to all these different people somehow.

[Tim Kasher]

And you're just saying the same thing thing over and over again. And you'd have a few a day or whatever. And you have. And you have a lot of weed, you know. Anyways, I've been through this a lot. And so it occurred to me, I was like, oh, my gosh, what if you could kind of plug into that and be like, hey, this one. It's like, we will still plug it. We'll talk about the tour and we'll talk about the album, but mostly you just get to play a game.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

And I was thinking publicists would like that. I was thinking musicians would like it because it's like, oh, so I get to. I get a check off. Like, hey, I'm a. I'm a Doing what I'm supposed to. I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. My publicist is happy with me and I get to just hang out and play a game for an hour.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, completely. And just. You're not having to think about portraying a certain message or the certain bullshit that you're having to say again and again and again. You're having a nice time.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And an audience is watching, going, who's this person? I like this person. Oh, they're a musician. They've got this album coming out.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

That was the idea of this show too, for our music series, was like, we don't need to talk about the history of the band and how they. The album coming out.

[Tim Kasher]

It's.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Let's find that weird American topic that.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

They know about.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Still, plug your stuff still. And then like, let's show you use your superpower at the end, but let's talk about game shows and Cheetos instead of.

[Interviewer]

Because talking about music, the music should stand on its own two feet. Right. Talking about. I mean, it can be interesting, but it can get pretty boring as well. Talking about the origin of the lyric and the.

[Tim Kasher]

Well, I was just gonna say, isn't that just the thing? Right. It's just like if you get into the weeds as musicians, you don't really. I don't. I enjoy getting in the weeds. Yeah. But there's that. That's a slippery slope, right. Of just like, you start talking about theory or something like that and just people are going to start glazing over.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

And there's enough. You're going to have to do that anyways. You're Going to go do it on 10 other shows. Like go on Song Exploder if you want to really dive into it.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah. Which as a musician, I think that's like one of my favorite parts. Yes.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

It's awesome. It's like.

[Tim Kasher]

It's so interesting.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

And don't. We're not trying to recreate and beat that because completely. You want go listen to interview on

[Interviewer]

Rolling Stones instead we're trying to beat Tiny Desk.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Who's been one of the most fun guests that you've had. That was like quite a good. The good at trivia or particularly bad at trivia or just stood out.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Let's hear both.

[Interviewer]

So put them in it. Shame them.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah. So probably the most fun. The first one that popped in my head as far as a really fun show we had is it's not out yet. It's coming out in a month or two or something. But we had Shannon Shaw on of Shannon Shaw and the Clams. And Shannon brought. So it's generally. It's like a three person game or a two person game or a solo game. We did a three person game with that. She brought Cody Blanchard who's in the Clams. He's such a. Just a really fun and affable guy. And also brought Seth Bogart of Hunks and his Punks. And this guy is just. I don't know if you know him or not, but he's just so funny in the group. So the three of them are really tight friends. When I was I. So it's finished. And I was editing it. I had to edit out a certain. A lot of sections because there was points where it's like they were just hanging out and it was.

[Interviewer]

It stopped being a game show for a moment.

[Tim Kasher]

And I even pointed out I was like, this is like really fun for Gwynedd and I. It's like we're just like a fly in the wall. Hanging out in your kitchen or something. Like while you guys are shooting this shit.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

But it was really funny. It was great. It was just like they're really tight and it was a really fun show.

[Interviewer]

Cool.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

And who was the worst at trivia? So just let their fear come to light. They go on a trivia show. They're afraid of looking stupid and now call them out for being the stupidest.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, I know. I want to. I want to. I'm trying to think. So what we'll struggle with sometimes in advance we've asked like, what. What decade are you most. Are you most familiar with for music and. Cause we're trying to kind of pinpoint, like, what can we. And what cannot we ask? Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

You're not doing 60s jazz for someone that.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Like 90s R B.

[Tim Kasher]

And we definitely do stuff like that. Like, we had King Tough on and we asked some, like, kind of difficult questions about, like, older psych rock stuff. And he just. He was just like, that's so easy. And I was like, okay, cool. But that's like, a question we could never ask.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

Most of the people that are on. But so that what we'll run. The struggle we run into, we'll run into is I'm. I'm in my. I'm 51. And so I'm like. I have, like, a real. I know the 80s real well. I know the 70s pretty well, and I can really pull from that. But a lot of the bands we have on that are, like, born in the 90s, like, the people, not the band, you know, so that's good. That gets tricky. So we're realizing that we shouldn't even ask. What we really need to ask people is, when were you born?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah. What eras of music was we need to know?

[Tim Kasher]

Like, even if you don't like Whitney Houston or aren't familiar, but at least

[Interviewer]

you know Whitney Houston, you know who this person is.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Just for anyone listening along, that's sort of going, I want to watch this thing. I want to engage with it. Where can people watch the show?

[Tim Kasher]

Well, it's musical puke. And it's just. It's a podcast, but we do it on YouTube as well.

[Interviewer]

Great name, by the way.

[Tim Kasher]

Thank you.

[Interviewer]

It's really fun.

[Tim Kasher]

And we really try to promote it as a game show. Well, because it is a game show. But by doing it as a podcast on YouTube, that's our way of making it incredibly DIY.

[Interviewer]

What were your main inspirations from other American game shows? Were you lifting from anything that you loved in particular?

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, you know, we actually try to, like, lift. Borrow from, like, all the different things that we watch. Like, I love watching Price is Right. And I'll try to think about, like, how, like, different little games they have and if I can, like, turn that into something that's like. I can't think of an extent of an exciting example, but really it's like that in Jeopardy, for sure. We watch Jeopardy. Every day and. And it's certainly, like, borrow from Jeopardy Style questions. And Jeopardy. Is actually a lot of, like, the template Jeopardy. Is it not like, kind of the template for most trivia?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah, I was gonna say.

[Interviewer]

I mean, I Feel like that's the key one, right? That's where it all kind of began.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

And the mustache comes from Family Feud. Steve Harvey. All right.

[Tim Kasher]

This is actually. Thank you for bringing and pointing out my mustache. I'm actually growing my mustache this month for a donation for a charity.

[Interviewer]

It looks really good. It suits you. I think it was always been there for a long time.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah. You know, I think that mustache. Well, mustache is certainly in like the younger generations. Like, I've kind of just come back and so I'm just being like a hip guy right now with my mustache. But yeah, no, it's the donation. It's the. There's a company, there's a. A nonprofit called the Bay, you know, Omaha, Nebraska. And it's a cool spot. It's a. It's for. It's like an after school place for kids.

[Interviewer]

In New Zealand, we have a thing in November called Movember and everyone grows under MO and it's for testicular cancer research. Do you have that here as well?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah, we got like no Shave November.

[Interviewer]

No shave November.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. They were alike in New Zealand and America.

[Tim Kasher]

Is it for testicular cancer, too?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

I don't know that it is that, but okay.

[Interviewer]

I'm pretty sure in New Zealand it's for testicles. Anyway. Are there any new game shows? As someone that loves game shows, are there any sort of current ones or new ones that you're particularly excited about? Are you more just old school, Jeopardy, Family Feud, that kind of thing?

[Tim Kasher]

There's. So there's one called Chain Reaction that we were on, actually. Oh, what the hell.

[Interviewer]

So you just go on. You've been on more than one?

[Tim Kasher]

Well, living out in la.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Right. Wait, so just wait. What game shows have you been on?

[Tim Kasher]

You should be on. You should get on some game shows.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

We've done. We've both done Family Feud.

[Interviewer]

We've both done Family Feud through friends who are celebrity whatevers, you know.

[Tim Kasher]

You've both been on Family Feud?

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Tim Kasher]

Wait, were you guys on a team together?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

We were not on a team of things.

[Interviewer]

I went on with Reese Darby, the New Zealand actor. He was on. And so he brought me in as like, part of his New Zealand team.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

And I want to. With Rachel Bilson.

[Tim Kasher]

I love it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. And that. I mean, and that was the most wild experience because you. It's like a finely oiled machine. And, you know, you arrive and suddenly you're almost. You suddenly just. You're doing it. You're recording and. Oh, we're doing it now. And it's happening.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

The celebrity ones are intense, too, because they're also filming, like, eight in a day. And then there's just like, oh, there's John. And. And they care much more about certain ones than other ones. And then, like, doing the pickups during it.

[Interviewer]

Like, oh, yeah, there was a point.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Rachel and I, like, went to high five, and we missed. So they made us retake, like, celebrations.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, they're watching a production's watching it like a hawk, right? They know exactly what they.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Fighting with his producer as it's happening, because it's like, they've done this for six hours already. And he's like, I don't want to do this again. And they're just yelling at each other.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. And he just, like. See how we just, like, fucked off at the end of our thing. Wasn't going to meet him. He was gone, you know.

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

Oh, really?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

You don't get to meet Steve Harvey.

[Interviewer]

I saw him. He. Him and his big mustache was up

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

to the buzzer, which mine did not work.

[Tim Kasher]

We.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

We got killed. And the other team was practicing the buzzing beforehand, and we were like, look at these nerds.

[Interviewer]

That's what took you out, apparently.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Or that it's the buzzer.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we've done Family Feud. What have you done?

[Tim Kasher]

Well, it's a chain reaction, okay? I've tried to be on Prices right? And I even made shirts for me and my friends, because you do know that that's, as you're learning, American culture, Price Is Right. The. Really, the most common people generally do is they make shirts to kind of be like, pick me.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

I did notice Aaron Paul famously got on Price is Right, like, very early on and had, like, shirt made. And.

[Interviewer]

Wait, so what do you mean? You make the shirt so that they take notice of you, and then they say, come on the show.

[Tim Kasher]

It's my birthday. Pick me, Drew. Just things like that. Like, where are you?

[Interviewer]

How is Drew gonna see the shirt? What do you mean?

[Tim Kasher]

Because prior, there's this. To be on prizes, right? Is actually really kind of exhausting. It can be a little bit grueling, actually. I have some friends out in the Valley who are just on it, and they kind of gave me, again, just, like, the whole spiel. But, yeah, it's just hours of waiting in line at the beginning. And while you're in this long line, these, you know, our little producer crew keeps going through and, like, talking to everybody and, like, and they're asking you questions. But what they're really doing is they're trying to assess. They're looking at your shirt. They're, you know, I. Right.

[Interviewer]

So you turn up on the day to get the job.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah. Are you right? Are you right for. Are you going to like, have the right amount of energy if you like, if you get pulled up on stage?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

So my big gaff, I'm convinced is. Well, I know this is a big gaff. I had this super. Well, I had this super clever idea. I think this is. This is a good idea, but not good. Price is Right. Yeah. Well, I made these really cool shirts that was. So Drew Carey is the host. And so I was like, Drew Carey, Drew Carey. Okay. Carrey, the Movie, Carrie, Stephen King, Brian Palma, you know, Sissy's Basic covered in blood. So I go online and I go to. I hire a caricature artist to do Drew Carey covered in blood as a prom queen. And I made shirts that said like, I can't remember what exactly what it said, but said Drew Carey.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, I get it.

[Tim Kasher]

I thought it was brilliant, but I didn't even occur to me. It's like, I think they're like, yeah, that's really cool. We can't. That won't play.

[Interviewer]

It's just like, we can't put that on air. We can't put our. Covered in blood.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

This is horrific.

[Tim Kasher]

It was a terrible idea.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. No, it kind of was.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

But I mean, it's a great. I'd want to have that shirt that I could buy. I'd wear that.

[Tim Kasher]

I. I can't even find mine anymore. I don't know where it went. I must have given it to someone.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

I think this is something, right?

[Tim Kasher]

Probably in between. This is so frustrating too. In between. So is me, my. Is my buddies Steph and Roger and Aaron and my buddy Roger, who's also the drummer in the Good Life. One of the bands that I do in beach like during the commercial breaks. Drew Carey loved. So Drew loves music. You know this, right? Drew Carey loves music. And this is my buddy Roger is musician who also happened. But he's like, he should be. He should have his own music trivia show because he's just lives and breathes music encyclopedia. So they just would go off every single circle commercial break. Drew would just be line back to Roger and they would just like shoot this about like all this music and stuff. And so we're all just watching like, well, you know, like, let's take. But let's. Let's take this to the next level, the next step. But they didn't. They didn't Pick any of us.

[Interviewer]

I'm so sorry.

[Tim Kasher]

Oh, it's frustrating.

[Interviewer]

I'm deeply sorry you didn't get on that show that you wanted to get onto, but you did get on a game show that I've never heard of before.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah. Chain reaction.

[Interviewer]

What is chain reaction?

[Tim Kasher]

Chain reaction is a word association. Maybe it's the best way to describe it. Are you familiar with chain reaction?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

A little bit.

[Interviewer]

So lion and you'll go elephant.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah, you nailed it.

[Tim Kasher]

Moving on, the word be. Coffee. So there's like. There's like seven words, I think, or something like that. And the top will be coffee. But it's not just. Not just word association. It's like word chains. Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

You're trying to get from the top to the bottom. Right. And there's a bunch.

[Tim Kasher]

So it'll be like coffee, coffee mate or coffee maker or it's like something.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Tim Kasher]

And so anyways, there's a coffee and the next one starts with B. The letter B. Bean. There it is. Coffee, Bean. And then it'll be bean. And then the next letter starts with C. Bean.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Curd.

[Interviewer]

Cream.

[Tim Kasher]

Okay. Bean curd works. I was actually thinking bean counter for some really weird.

[Interviewer]

Okay. And you end up at a final

[Tim Kasher]

word and then you kind of. Yeah. And then. Well then there's the bottom word and they all kind of meet up and all of them are, you know, are attached. Chained it together. Chain reaction.

[Interviewer]

I thought chain reaction. I was thinking some sort of like physical game show with explosions and stuff and people.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Like a mousetrap game.

[Interviewer]

It's just like very. It's words. It's a word game.

[Tim Kasher]

It is wor.

[Interviewer]

How did you go?

[Tim Kasher]

We did like really well.

[Interviewer]

Congratulations. That's so good.

[Tim Kasher]

I don't usually like to answer that question because I always like to be like, go find out for yourself.

[Interviewer]

No, but you did really well.

[Tim Kasher]

But yeah, let's just say we did. Let's just say we did. As best as you can possibly.

[Interviewer]

Oh my God. What?

[Tim Kasher]

Did you.

[Interviewer]

Did you win something?

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Is the episode out?

[Tim Kasher]

Oh, yeah. It's actually old. Okay, so what did you win? So it's not. So it's a game show network show where they don't. There's not usually like a lot of. Not like loads of money or anything like that, but it's still nice. There's a three person team. I think we won like 12 grand or something.

[Interviewer]

That's so nice. Congratulations.

[Tim Kasher]

I bought a guitar.

[Interviewer]

That's great. Is there like a dream one you want to get onto?

[Tim Kasher]

I have been thinking lately Chain Reaction was the dream. And the dream was, the dream is complete.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Well, now you got to move the goalposts and find the next one.

[Tim Kasher]

I haven't, actually. I'm glad you brought this up, because I was just the other day thinking, like, I should just. I should put my. I should put myself back out there again. Gwynedd did. She was on the show. She continued. So she's been on three shows now. She was on a show called Split Second, which is a pretty fun show.

[Interviewer]

So let me get this straight. So both you and your wife, you're both. You've got your own game show, and you're both always trying to get on game shows.

[Tim Kasher]

I know.

[Interviewer]

Actually sounds like this is. You're really, like, burying how batshit this is. Like, you're talking about this like it's normal. And I'm really blown away by this.

[Tim Kasher]

You're waking me up to how abnormal it sounds.

[Interviewer]

It's really weird.

[Tim Kasher]

It is.

[Interviewer]

Like, I thought casually, like, you've just been on one maybe a long time ago, but you're actively, like, still trying.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And both of you are in this together, so you're both enabling each other's insanity. Because in most relationships, I feel like one of the people involved kind of keeps the other one in check, whereas you're almost both building each other up.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, we're going wild, man.

[Interviewer]

And she's winning currently. She's been on more than you.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So you need to get back over there.

[Tim Kasher]

I know there was a show. I don't want to be on the show, but I kind of do. There's a show. There's a show called the Floor. Are you familiar with it? No, it's really. It's on Fox. And really, this isn't going to get me on the show, but it's, like, really dumb. But there's something seems, like, compelling to be on that show.

[Interviewer]

What are you doing? What do you have to say the show and not say what it's about? Like, what's the aim of the game? Get on the floor.

[Tim Kasher]

Mostly why I don't want to be on the show, though, ultimately, is because I think it would be really exhausting.

[Interviewer]

It's like the floor is lava. Is it like that?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

That'd be fun to go on, though.

[Interviewer]

Okay, so what's the floor?

[Tim Kasher]

The Floor is too many people. I want to say, like, 50, like, 100 people or something like that. And they're all on this floor, this great big floor. And then they. And then in the floor all gets activated. Like, has Lights. And it's like lights all move around and then like. And the light will show up like under your feet and be like, oh, that's you, Tim. You're gonna go up. You're the next. So like you'll have two people go up against. Against one another. Okay. And they're picked from the floor and you keep picking people out until there's just one person left on the floor. What's a little silly about it is that some. Is that the majority of the questions are like absurdly laughable. One of them is that I remember that I. It's insane. It was. Well, there's a big screen and so mostly it's just kind of visual or they'll show a still of something and you say what it is. So one of them was things in a junk drawer and they go, go. And you. It's like just, you know, one back and forth. So me first. And they'll show. I'd be like stapler. Yep. And then you'll get paperclip scissors. I mean just like really inane.

[Interviewer]

Like really. I feel like I could cope with this level of press much more than Jeopardy.

[Tim Kasher]

What's weird about though is that there are like maybe a few or a couple. Especially when you get toward the end like ones that people are trying. Topics that people are trying to avoid. And then so it'll go from junk drawer, which is like so like, which is like 6 year old level easy. And then it'll go to like, it'll be like like Leaders of Cold War Eastern Amazing. Like what?

[Interviewer]

So they'll go to fuck you up suddenly. Yeah, I kind of like that they get that category like oh no.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, like it's easy. Right?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Do you get into the like competitive game show? Because there's those like game show networky. And now network shows got the wheel, the floor, no Deal or no Deal. But then you've got like Squid game and Survivor.

[Tim Kasher]

So Survivor. No, but should I. I mean I.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

I love you talking to the biggest

[Interviewer]

survival fan of all time.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

There's a lot. But it's a totally different type of game show. It's a competitive.

[Tim Kasher]

Well, so we get. So we get super into the trashy shows that we all. I think we all kind of want have like some trashy shows in our back pocket.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Right.

[Tim Kasher]

And these are like, these are like the real, you know, reality shows things and stuff like that Bachelorette or whatever. So that for us those versions are competition shows. Baking shows.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Baking. Love baking shows.

[Tim Kasher]

Love baking shows. We're gaga right now about Ink Master. We're just like just flying through Ink Master episodes. But yeah, competition based. They're game shows, essentially.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Have you watched Culinary Class Wars?

[Tim Kasher]

No. Should I?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Korean cooking competition show on Netflix. It's incredible.

[Tim Kasher]

The fact that it's. Sorry, sorry. United States. That as we're learning about the America.

[Interviewer]

That's okay.

[Tim Kasher]

A problem with the game shows in this country is they tend to cater too much to the audience and to, you know, just be like, oh, we're having a good time, aren't we? It's like, what's nice about the great British baking show, the Bake off, is that it's so. It feels so authentic. Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

They're not real fucking around with like trying to build too much suspense before they eliminate someone. But yeah, culinary class where there's no audience. It's.

[Tim Kasher]

That's what it sounds like.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

100 chefs probably just come in.

[Tim Kasher]

Just like pure competition. Yes, that's what.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

And they take. Koreans just do game shows at such a different level than America where it's like every cooking American show, like pulled into one.

[Tim Kasher]

Culinary.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Culinary Class wars.

[Tim Kasher]

Why is it class?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

It starts with 80 black coat chefs which are just like normal work at a little restaurant, like not notable. And then 20 white coat chefs which have like Michelin star restaurants.

[Tim Kasher]

Okay.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

So it starts off like Those are the two groups. The 80 immediately compete, go down to 40, and then start competing against the white coats. Well, they don't even give the black coats names. They all have nicknames. They can't use their real names. They have to like earn it.

[Interviewer]

So intense.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

It's intense, but it's. It's. Yeah. Do you like cooking shows?

[Tim Kasher]

How many seasons?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

They've only done two.

[Tim Kasher]

I gotta check it out.

[Interviewer]

Before you share your favorite American snack with Robert and I, where do you think this came from? Like both you and your wife, you love game shows. Like, were you raised with them or something? Like, it seems like deep in your veins because I have no interest in them really. It's like, if they're on, I'll watch them.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And going on Family Feud was a fun thing, but at no point was I thinking, here's my dream. Like, where did it come from?

[Tim Kasher]

I really, I think it's. I think it's as simple core as just being a kid and just gay. It's just literally just games. But also, I do like that I just love competition. I don't actually watch a lot of sports, but I watch a little bit of sports because I love competition. I just think competition is really exciting. If you really pay attention to a football game or soccer game or whatever. I mean, there's. There can be. There's like a. The drama. Yeah. Oh, the drama.

[Interviewer]

You like drama? It's big control drama.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Is your kink.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Survivors like, I know strategies.

[Tim Kasher]

I would probably be really into Survivor. I just have never seen an episode. I've never seen an episode. That thing is like probably on this 400th season, right?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

They're currently 50th season. 50th season finale is next week.

[Tim Kasher]

My God, are you on? You're like, you're strapped in.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah, we watch. We watch Rob.

[Interviewer]

It's just whenever Rob can talk about Survivor, he will do.

[Tim Kasher]

Oh, yeah.

[Interviewer]

What snack have you bought in that represents America in your veins that I can put in my mouth, Right.

[Tim Kasher]

Shall I grab it?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, please. I'm dying for a snack. Why is this your choice?

[Tim Kasher]

Cheetos. Cheddar jalapeno crunchy. That's important.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Tim Kasher]

Oh, and also it has a nice new low price, too, and that's why it's affordable. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Cheetos is a brand you like or this particular flavor.

[Tim Kasher]

You know, Cheetos, I think I'm probably a little indifferent to you grow up in America. And it's like, Cheetos, Doritos, Fritos, Lays, Ruffles. They're all good. You know, they're all at a picnic and you love them all. So Cheetos, I don't think I ever liked them more or less than anything else, but when they nailed down this flavor, I just think it changed. It was a game changer for me. And so that was the. This is the one I immediately thought of upon, upon discussing to discuss snacks because.

[Interviewer]

And this little guy, this little tiger is a Cheetos guy. Is he there?

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Do you not know what Cheetos are?

[Interviewer]

No, no, you don't understand.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

I'm not hatched.

[Interviewer]

No, I'm sure we do. But it's not like I think Doritos would be like a bigger thing in New Zealand. Cheetos are not. No New Zealander is going, I must have a Cheeto.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

We're going to get so many New Zealand listeners.

[Interviewer]

Ma.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Every time he does this, he's like,

[Interviewer]

I love making blanket statements about how New Zealand operates and just finding. I live in just an entirely different

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

episode saying that New Zealanders don't refrigerate eggs and we don't.

[Interviewer]

But no, my point is this little tiger is the Cheetos guy.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yes, that's the mascot.

[Interviewer]

So it's a Cheetos I'm putting it all together.

[Tim Kasher]

His name is Chester. Chester Cheeto.

[Interviewer]

What's his personality?

[Tim Kasher]

Pretty wild and cool shades. And he's just, like, really cool and awesome. I mean, look at him.

[Interviewer]

These. He does look cool. These are nice. Not as much flavor as I was expecting. It's more mellow.

[Tim Kasher]

Agreed. I think that. Yeah. And also, I can't. Having gotten older, I can't really eat spicy things anymore.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

It's like, so me, and I hate it.

[Tim Kasher]

So irritating. I grew up on spicy things. Yeah. These are great because it's like the taste of jalapeno, but it doesn't stay with you.

[Interviewer]

What I like, I like a fluffy chip. I don't like a flat chip. Do you know what I mean? Like, this is what I want.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Well, you gotta fat and crunchy puffs. Blow his mind. Yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

You might want Cheetos. You might want Cheetos puffs.

[Interviewer]

They're puffier than blown up.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Three times the size of that.

[Interviewer]

That's what I want.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah. Like, they're soft and pillowy. Pillowy, maybe, but they're soft.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Did you ever have.

[Tim Kasher]

I'm glad you like them.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Did you have a hot Cheeto phase as a teenager?

[Interviewer]

Ever? I.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Or adult?

[Tim Kasher]

No, actually, hot Cheetos tended to be a little like. You talking about flaming hot, right?

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

Yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, they're okay. They're good. I was like, they're actually a little too spicy.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

There's like, a junior high phase where everyone got real into hot Cheetos.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

They're red. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Tim Kasher]

Well, and then the new generations, they love their Takis and talking Takis are just really hot, man.

[Interviewer]

Takis I've been seeing everywhere. That's, like, for the younger people, is it the Takis, the younger people.

[Tim Kasher]

Wow. This is what I have to say to all you younger people who are. Who are addicted to talkies, I guess I don't want to make any major

[Interviewer]

disrespect, but we can.

[Tim Kasher]

I'm gonna say, well, y' all don't realize you just said that. These so nice. There's, like. The flavor is subtle. It's nice.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Yeah.

[Tim Kasher]

Takis have way too much powder on them. That's there. That's the problem. Like, Takis are like, try hards. They're like. It's like a try hard, like, chip product. Or they're like, oh, it's like, just take it on. Like, oh, there's gonna be so much spice on there and stuff like that. It just makes it all messy and weird, and it kind of feels like

[Interviewer]

A monster energy drink kind of a vibe. It's just like, too much. Too much, too much in there.

[Tim Kasher]

Monster energy drink. Takis. I'm 22 years old.

[Interviewer]

No, this is like a refined. The Cheeto is sort of a refined.

[Tim Kasher]

Taki.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

We're gonna lose our talking sponsorship now.

[Interviewer]

Thank you so much. I am not a big chip guy, but these fluffy little clouds.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

We're making some puffs, too.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, you gotta try it on. Puffs. They have the cheddar, jalapeno and puffs. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

How often are you eating these?

[Tim Kasher]

Not a lot. Not a lot.

[Interviewer]

Not a lot. Not daily.

[Tim Kasher]

Let's be honest.

[Interviewer]

When there's a little treat, when you

[Tim Kasher]

have a hammer, hopefully not even then. I mean, I just try to. Yeah, I mean, we don't gotta. I'm too old. I'm too old to just be hanging out, eating chips all the time.

[Interviewer]

You're gonna play us three songs, which we're very blessed to have. Do you want to sort of explain what your first song is gonna be to sort of kick us off?

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, short story. I want to tell this little short story too that is called Sponges of Experience. And it's just a really. It's notable that I want to explain it because I wrote it over four days. It was a challenge that. It was a challenge that I have. Have had in the back of my mind since I was a teenager. I wouldn't say 15, 16 years old or something like that. I'm like, watching Elvis Costello conduct an interview on probably, like a Night Flight or USA Up All Night or just some kind of music video thing. Mtv, I suppose. And he had an offhand remark. He's like, oh, I could write an album. I could write a pop album over a weekend. But he was talking. Whatever it was he was talking about at the time, he's like. But, you know, like, oh, I was pouring over. I was working on this album, but I got a pop album I could write over the weekend. And it just, like, stayed in my head of. Just like, huh, that's wild. He's like, I wonder if I could do that. And I've been holding that thought for 35 years or something like that or in. And so anyways, last year, over Memorial Day, my wife was out of town, and I just kind of saw that. I was like, I just had a free weekend. And I was like, I'm gonna do it. So I did. It was really fun. It was really. It was really. I mean, it was challenging. It truly was a challenge. I. And I took it really seriously. I mean, like, woke up. I mean, like, woke up. Like. Like almost like wide awake. Like, oh, I gotta go. Like, and just started and just did really long days. I don't remember exactly about something I did. Like four songs the first day, four songs the second day. And what I did, what the rules were. You have to write.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

It's like a game show you made for yourself.

[Tim Kasher]

I know. Seriously, it's just another game. It was just another game I created for myself. So the rules were you have to write the composite, you have to complete the composition, and you have to complete the lyrics. And that was the really taxing part

[Interviewer]

because I feel like both of those things are quite hard in different ways.

[Tim Kasher]

The composite, I don't want to be. I don't want to be too dismissive. But the composition, as a lot of musicians that we all know, it's like. That doesn't have to be too hard. I mean, it can be because. Because I didn't want to just write. I didn't want to be like G, C, D, E minor there that done. I had to be inspired by it. I had to believe that it was a song. So it still had to pass like that. That test in my head of like this. I'd listen to this, you know. But are you.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Are you coming into this with ideas for songs already?

[Tim Kasher]

That was terrifying.

[Interviewer]

This feels.

[Tim Kasher]

That was one of the rules.

[Interviewer]

Terrifying to me.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Blank page.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. It's so intense.

[Tim Kasher]

It was intense. I mean, it really was just like. And it was just like four days all by myself. And that's all I did. I only did one thing. I mean, and I would. I ate standing up. I'm not kidding. It was just like. Just. Just breathe. Just breathing. Just the whole time. Just like, what am. This is this thing. I'm. I gotta get this done. I got 12 songs done over the weekend.

[Interviewer]

Holy.

[Tim Kasher]

And ended up releasing the. Well, the album. And I ended up just putting all 12 on. I wanted to write more than enough so I could have some B sides and kind of choose and release. Make like the right album. At the time, I wasn't even planning on releasing it. It was just kind of like. It's just the. The act. Like, I've done a lot of albums, so I just like. I just the act of making an album. But this one's over four days.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. And you had had this idea in your head for so long. It's like, let's try this thing. It's the right time.

[Tim Kasher]

So I ended up deciding just to do all 12 songs. Just because I think it's. It's a capsule, you know, it's just like that's. These are the. This is the weekend. And with kind of like warts and all, because I. I can't really, like, go to bat for all of these songs that are on it. But it. But the record overall, it's like. It's an interesting thing. It's like. Like, it's. It's an artifact.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Tim Kasher]

Oh, and so that was. The rules were, again, so composition and lyrics. But then I did spend. Over the coming month, the months following, I just kind of would. I would tinker with it here and there. That was. That was all acceptable because judges were

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

like, we'll allow this.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you can't. Over four days, I couldn't myself, like, write drums, play bass doing the guitar. I was just like, that's not going to happen. So I was like, you can do that stuff later. And. And so I did. And then. And then I ended up. And I talked to a label, Born Losers, and they were just like, yeah, we'll release this. I was like, yeah, okay, let's. Let's do it. And we're actually. It's actually not on streaming or anything like that because it's really. It's a really niche thing. It's really. It's like a novelty thing kind of, you know, So I don't really need it. I don't really need it, nor do I want it on streamers or anything like that. I'm not trying to advance.

[Interviewer]

Well, how can we. Obviously, people are going to listen to some songs now, but how do they listen to this riff?

[Tim Kasher]

Oh, you can get on Bandcamp. Cool.

[Interviewer]

We love Bandcamp. This is like.

[Tim Kasher]

This is great. And so we did. And so the label did vinyl and cd.

[Interviewer]

Cool.

[Tim Kasher]

But. And so Bandcamp is a resource to be able to go through that, you know.

[Interviewer]

And what song are you going to play now?

[Tim Kasher]

Oh, yeah, so this is. I'm going to do the Collapse is a song that was part of that weekend, notably, I think, is that link was interesting about it. So the song I'm going to do is about my. I've had my lung collapse. My left lung collapsed twice.

[Interviewer]

Holy.

[Tim Kasher]

In this life. And this song is about the first time that it happened. And I was back in high. Back in high school. The problem I have is to those listening out there who are like, oh, I've had my long collapse. Lungs collapse sometimes. The problem that I have is it's a disorder, and I don't recall like the scientific name for it. But when my lung collapse, when my lungs collapse, they don't heal. They don't heal themselves.

[Interviewer]

Superstition.

[Tim Kasher]

Basically you get a scratch on your arm and then it heals over. Lungs do that too. Do for most of us. Like your lungs know how to heal themselves. I just have a disorder. This not a major disorder, just a small disorder that my lungs won't do that. So it's scary. You, your lung will collapse and then you start your chest cavities just starts feeling every time you breathe the air can't go anywhere. So it just starts filling. So when I was in high school, I didn't know I had no whatever. It doesn't even matter if I was in high school or if I was 70 years old. If it never happened to you before, you don't know what the hell's going on.

[Interviewer]

No. Terrifying.

[Tim Kasher]

So it just felt weird. Weird. And I think it was like five days before I went into the hospital. I finally went to the hospital because my heart was pushing up against my sternum.

[Interviewer]

You're not like that.

[Tim Kasher]

No. Yeah. I mean I was probably like, I probably was. My death day was the next day

[Interviewer]

or something like that.

[Tim Kasher]

But you'll hear it all in the.

[Interviewer]

Okay, great. No, amazing.

[Tim Kasher]

It's a really depressing and awful song. I'll say that to everybody. I'm sorry. You're gonna hear the song. It's really an awful song. It's really just. But anyway, I, I, it's an interesting, it's interesting to me because this is, Imagine you're, you have a four day weekend and you're writing as many songs as you can. This song, I, I, I did, I, I worked out, you know, this song structure that I thought was interesting and I was like, what do I sing about? Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Are you like going through a list of traumatic things in your life or.

[Tim Kasher]

I didn't have anything written down or lit or anything like that, but I did. But yeah, I think that in a moment of like what it was, was like he's like, you need something to sing about and you need it now. Yeah.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

What can I pull from?

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, you need to now. Like I can't go on a walk and think about it. It's like you don't really have time. And, and so that just occurred to me. Like this song kind of feels like that and it's like, you know, that was a really traumatic time in my life. It's a, the song, the structure of the song felt kind of story based. There was not so. So I did it and it turned out nice. Like, I feel like this is like, I'm like really proud of this song. That's why I'm playing it for you guys.

[Co-Interviewer / Commentator]

Did it seem surprising that you hadn't wr song about it prior? Like, did you uncover anything of, like, why have I never written a song about this?

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah, this is. I want to think about this more. I think that's really interesting. For 35 years or whatever. 30. I'd never occurred to me to, like, address this and yeah, I just never had written about it before and so I thought that was interesting too. He's just like, well, I guess now's the time.

[Interviewer]

It makes me think of, was it like Chinese democracy, that Guns n Roses record that he spent like 10 years on or something writing turned out like a piece of shit in like four days. Imagine if you'd given him that four day philosophy.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah. What would have happened?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, it would have been fucking good, probably. Thank you.

[Tim Kasher]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Tim Kasher]

Study and play come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the unreal college deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox game pass ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn [e-mail] studentoffer while supplies last ends June 30th terms at aka mscollegepc.

[Interviewer]

This is what everyone's talking about

[Tim Kasher]

stayed on the table. This is what champions come to take. This is what everyone came to see. And the slam. No do overs, no second chances.

[Interviewer]

No more Mr. Nice Guy.

[Tim Kasher]

This is winner take all. The NBA Finals. Continue on ABC and the ESPN app.

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

At first it was felt headed upstairs. A knot in my chest, a grasping for air. Working a shift, moving a dresser. The shortness of breath wasn't getting any better. Gym class out on the track, running laps. The sun, the sweat, the collapsing overhead, the vulture circle out. I pled to God, there's something wrong. She Blinked and mostly shrugged it off I swallowed hard the aching spread rising like a loaf of bread distending me I put on a film Stayed up on the couch I couldn't relax I couldn't lay down Seconds ticked on Four in the morning I wondered aloud his lips my racking and racking hand I climbed across the floor to find the stairs but they're too hard to climb I collapsed again a second time I said I'd be fine but no deep down inside it's over, over, over,

[Tim Kasher]

over

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

Sat I still hadn't slept we stopped by the hospital for a few tests Doctors and nurses were running in circles Said how did you walk in here? How are you Mobile Nah, nah, nah nah nah they threw me down onto a bed that they jabbed a knife into my chest Some nurses cried One held my hand Said look in my eyes as they stabbed me again it's over, over, over, Over it's finally over. It's finally over.

[Tim Kasher]

This is a brand new song. This is called the Boy who Played a Dime Store Bass. Hoping to record it and put it out next year. Sometimes Sam.

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

He gave her love he gave her all his love it wasn't quite enough not even close. Left her at home left her all alone no family, no support on foreign soil. When she started making special friends he never dreamt it all would end. The boy who played a dime star bas Always off on tour Rarely there for her. If there were cracks in the facade he wouldn't let it fall apart. The girl who always cut her own bangs says I'm too ugly who would ever want on me? They tied the knot and shed a

[Tim Kasher]

name

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

it didn't last long they rarely last too long. Years went by they started different lives Quite a few. He tried. He's trying again. One drunken night he dialed her telephone she answered curt and cold he asked her why. You never knew what love was for to you we're all revolving doors. The boy who played a dime star bas he had so much to give yet he offered none of it

[Tim Kasher]

the

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

girl who always cut her own way she's grown her hair out. She's a different person now, Sam.

[Tim Kasher]

Okay, this is Forever of the Living Dead. This is off of an album I put out a few years ago called Middling Age.

[Poetry Reader / Narrator]

Gonna cut me in half Count the years of my past and the lines on my face Count the years I've learned Blade waste and these fingers are rusty gears they used to point strain My feet had become drunken My pony body swift place. The good and the true. Let the good stay at home let the true outs are own. I don't know what to find out there but it hates to be out. I know truth can be something so awful but it's all we truly know. Going to cut out my heart going to feel into the dog. Gonna cut off my head Leave it at the end of your bed. These long lives we're promised to this run and sack dancer One thing I know for certain, you can't outrun the dead. Forever away but forever is just a day away Forever seems so far away but forever is just a day away Forever seems so far away Forever is a day now. Foreign.

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[Tim Kasher]

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[Interviewer]

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[Tim Kasher]

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[Interviewer]

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[Tim Kasher]

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