Paul F. Tompkins and Meklit

Summary

Live Wire with Luke Burbank

Episode: Paul F. Tompkins and Meklit
Date: September 26, 2025

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Episode Overview

This week’s Live Wire with Luke Burbank serves up the signature blend of wit, warmth and live performance the show is known for. The centerpiece of the episode is comedian, actor, and writer Paul F. Tompkins, who is celebrated for becoming Live Wire’s most frequent guest—a milestone marked by a hilariously chaotic onstage celebration. Tompkins discusses his prolific career, the joys and vulnerabilities of live variety shows, and the subversive decision to sing in earnest on stage. The episode balances laughs with heartfelt stories, crowd participation, and culminates in a rich musical performance from Ethiopian-American artist Meklit.

Tone: Playful, eclectic, and occasionally poignant—“late-night for radio,” full of banter and warmth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kicking Off with Good News

[01:23–07:33]

• Connection and Kindness:
  Elena Passarello shares a touching story about an Uber driver, Diana Morales, who befriends her elderly passenger Leroy Burdick, forming an “adopted family” bond.

  “I learned from him that I can have family that isn’t my blood relation.” — Elena Passarello, [03:46]

• Sustainability through Ingenuity:
  Luke Burbank highlights Lauren Choi, a college student who recycles plastic solo cups into colorful fashion yarn, thanks to a grant from the company that makes them.

  “They don’t have to use any artificial dyes to make the sweaters these colors, because that’s the color that the solo cups were.” — Luke Burbank, [07:03]

2. Paul F. Tompkins’ Landmark Appearance

[08:32–12:41]

• Celebration Goes Awry:
  Paul is welcomed with a confetti-filled balloon pop, resulting in glitter everywhere—on his suit, glasses, and even his water. The hosts joke about the chaos and Paul’s patient good humor.

  “You sprung for the big glitter too. That’s nice.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [09:35]
  “It feels good.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [09:50] “I refuse to be cleaned up. I’m getting in the Uber like this.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [12:42]

3. The Magic of Varietopia: Paul F. Tompkins on Tour

[13:40–19:26]

• Show Structure:
  Tompkins describes his touring variety show, Varietopia, featuring a four-piece band (guitar, drums, sousaphone, trumpet), stand-up, musical guests, and a non-comedy ‘variety act.’

  “The band plays on their own. We have a musical guest… I do a stand-up monologue… a variety act, which is something that’s neither comedy nor music.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [13:52]

• The Challenge of Earnest Singing:
  He discusses singing pop covers earnestly—no jokes, no irony—which was initially hard due to the vulnerability and the comedic stigma (i.e., Joe Piscopo's album), but ultimately is more fun and surprising for both him and the audience.

  “I realized… it will actually be better if I do the best I can at this thing that I can do.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [15:20] “It is vulnerable. Comedian singing is always very dicey… I would rather run towards something like that that I’m afraid of…” — Paul F. Tompkins, [16:26–16:39]

• Surprise and Discovery:
  Varietopia never announces its guests, valuing spontaneity for both audiences and performers.

  “You’re going to see something that you didn’t know what it was going to be… as in the moment and as exciting for people as possible.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [17:22]

4. Viral Animal Videos & Possum Bits

[17:27–20:26]

• Nature Cam Comedy:
  Tompkins recounts setting up a squirrel picnic table and night-vision cam, delighting in repeat footage of squirrels and, later, a possum at the bench eating nuts, which he narrates for comedy bits.

  “It was the absolute best. I never got tired of it. It’s like he’s sitting at the bench like a person… but then you get your raccoons and your possums coming out.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [18:03]

• Nightly Goodnight Call Skit:
  Inspired by a TikTok trend, Tompkins and comedian Vinnie Thomas improvise a “goodnight” call with the possum, lampooning the awkward sincerity of male friendships.

  “I just have the possum saying different things… it works for me every time.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [19:08]

5. Wikipedia Fact-Checking & Comedic Process

[20:26–27:09]

• Wikipedia Lore:
  The hosts read and fact-check Tompkins’s Wikipedia, digging into his famous “peanut brittle” rant and confirming his sartorial style—foppish, “just this side of Cedric the Entertainer.”

  “I have one piece of glitter in my throat right now.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [20:58]

• Authenticity in Comedy:
  Tompkins reflects on evolving from “arch” or ironic comedy to embracing vulnerability and authenticity on stage, advice he’d give his younger self.

  “Hey, relax, man. Just calm down. Everything’s fine. Just relax.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [24:49] “You have just enough self-delusion, you get just enough laughs, that it’s like, okay, I’m onto something here.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [25:43]

• On Bombing:
  Early failures used to be painful, but now:

  “If I should bomb… it’s funny now… this is still happening. That’s amusing, right?” — Paul F. Tompkins, [26:25]

6. Comedy’s Best Hands: A Running Gag

[27:09–28:41]

• Tig Notaro’s Compliment:
  The episode checks in with a playful segment (via Tig Notaro’s podcast “Handsome”) about Tompkins’ “beautiful hands and fingers,” which he jokes he keeps “pristine… for one thing and one thing only: display.”

  “I was born this way, I’m sorry to tell you.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [27:55]

7. “Only Hands with Paul F. Tompkins”: Improv Game

[28:41–34:34]

A radio-improv challenge: Tompkins describes famous scenes involving hands (e.g. “Unchained Melody” from “Ghost”, Mr. Burns from “The Simpsons”, E.T. and Elliott), and Elena Passarello tries to guess the reference.
> “[On Ghost] That’s exactly right. Wow.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [31:04]
> “[On Simpsons] Look, if a show is gonna be on for 40 years, eventually they’ll get around to me.” — Paul F. Tompkins, [32:16]

8. Audience Stories: Most Unforgettable Surprises

[35:42–39:00]

• Heartwarming and Hilarious Listener Submissions:
  • Smuggled into Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade family area by a NYPD officer (“Uncle Dave”).
  • Anonymous generosity at a truck stop: car fixed, gifts for a child, $1500 envelope.
  • Flash mob of airport workers dancing about luggage, likely at Portland’s PDX.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Sometimes described as the herpes of the art world because it will be with you for the rest of your life.”
  — Interviewer, describing glitter, [09:51]

• “Aren’t we tired of all these Olivia Rodrigo jokes? Let’s move on.”
  — Paul F. Tompkins, [14:53]

• “I would rather run towards something like that that I’m afraid of and try to do it than forever be running away from it… It was very freeing.”
  — Paul F. Tompkins, [16:36]

• “I confirm that I did have a rant about peanut brittle. That’s my greatest hit.”
  — Paul F. Tompkins, [21:11]

• “I have steadfastly refused to do anything that would put my hands in danger… including playing the piano.”
  — Paul F. Tompkins, [27:55]

• “Hey, relax, man. Just calm down. Everything’s fine. Just relax.”
  — Paul F. Tompkins, on the best advice he’d give his younger self, [24:49]

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Important Segments with Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamps | |----------------------------------------------|-------------------| | Good News Round-Up (Uber driver, Solo cups) | 01:23–07:33 | | Paul F. Tompkins’ Chaotic Glitter Entrance | 08:32–12:41 | | Varietopia and Live Performance Discussion | 13:40–19:26 | | Squirrel Picnic Table & Possum Video Bit | 17:27–20:26 | | Wikipedia Fact-Checking & Comedy Process | 20:26–27:09 | | “Best Hands in Comedy” Segment | 27:09–28:41 | | “Only Hands with Paul F. Tompkins” Game | 28:41–34:34 | | Audience Surprise Stories | 35:42–39:00 | | Musical Performance by Meklit | 44:25–50:09 |

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Meklit: Musical Performance

[44:25–50:09]

• Ethiopian-American vocalist Meklit shares “Tzita,” a reinterpretation of a traditional song, blending jazz, folk, and East African musical traditions. Spiritually rich and rhythmically layered, the performance demonstrates Meklit’s emotive voice and inventive arrangements.

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Closing Thoughts

This Live Wire episode epitomizes the show’s appeal: spontaneous celebration, playful chaos, deep creative process talk, improv games, and an anchor in community and good news. Paul F. Tompkins is both vulnerable and hilarious, reflecting on a long career of embracing creative risk. Listeners come away both entertained and warmed by the stories—onstage and off—that highlight the enduring power of human connection.

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If you’re a fan of variety, comedy, and a side of heartfelt storytelling, this milestone episode with Paul F. Tompkins and Meklit is an installment not to miss.

Transcript

[Elena Passarello]

From prx, it's Live Wire. This week, comedian Paul F. Tompkins.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I saw an ad for a squirrel picnic table and it brought me so much joy. Every single time, it's the same thing over and over again. There's a squirrel coming, taking a nut out of the thing, sitting on the bench and eating it. It was the absolute best. I never got tired of it. It's like he's sitting at the bench.

[Elena Passarello]

Like a person with music from McLeet and our fabulous house band. I'm your announcer, Elena Passarello. And now the host of Livewire, Luke Burbank.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, thank you so much, Elena Passarello. Thanks to everyone tuning in from all over the country to this week's Livewire. We have a great show in store for you this week, including maybe one of the worst lapses in judgment that I've ever made on stage. And that's really saying something. It involves a balloon full of glitter, which I'm still finding pieces of in my laptop computer to this day. Elena.

[Elena Passarello]

Well, I mean, I could think of worse places to still be finding glitter, so.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that is true.

[Elena Passarello]

Count your blessings.

[Luke Burbank]

Before we get to all that, though, of course we gotta kick things off like we always do with the best news that we heard all week. This is our little reminder that there is, in fact, good news happening out there. You just, you gotta get up pretty early and you gotta really commit yourself to the process of finding. And that's what we do. And we found some. Alayna, what is the best news you heard all week?

[Elena Passarello]

Okay, I heard this great story about an Uber driver in Victorville, California named Diana Morales. She's been driving Uber part time for three years. She's a mom of two, she's in her late 20s and likes the job. And last November, she picked up a 92 year old resident named Leroy Burdick. She drove him to church. Leroy is a 92 year old widower and he can't drive anymore, but he is in great shape. Master conversationalist, apparently. And his daughter books him Ubers when he needs to go to church or to choir practice, which is very important to him, or, or golfing, which is his other passion. And so he's in Diana's car and they strike up a conversation and I guess by the time they get to church, she is just, just bowled over by this amazing man and how fun he is to talk to and what a sweetie pie is. So she gives him her phone number and she's like, hey, anytime you need a ride, just give me a call. And that was, you know, almost a year ago. And she takes him to golf, to church, to run errands. His church going schedule changed to day where she's not driving. So their paths weren't necessarily supposed to cross anymore. But who cares? She still finds reasons to pick him up and drive him around. She's not even charging him anymore. He's like, like slipping money to her when he can, but, you know, like a total grandpa move or whatever. She just loves him. She says that, you know, I, I learned from him that I can have family that isn't my blood relation. I could love someone like a family member. And she's introduced him to her family. And now leroy takes her 8 year old son golfing. Got him golf lessons and his first set of clubs. And a couple of times a month, usually on Sundays, they go on these outings as a, as a new kind of, you know, 21st century blended family, which I just think is such a lovely story and makes me want to drive Uber so I can make more nonagenarian friends.

[Luke Burbank]

Love it, by the way. Total violation of Uber policy to give your personal phone number out. And I love it, I think.

[Elena Passarello]

Is it really?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh yeah, they don't like that. But listen, Uber can handle it.

[Elena Passarello]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

The best news that I heard all week involves a college student named Lauren Choi who was at Johns Hopkins University recently. And what do you know about being in college? But you know, the college kids, they like to party, right? And what is like the classic sign the day after there has been raging in a college environment? It's all of those red solo cups.

[Elena Passarello]

Oh yes, the ubiquitous. They're so ubiquitous that. And when people overseas throw American college parties, that's like the, it's, that's like the party favor is that you have to have red solo cups.

[Luke Burbank]

There's also nothing more sad than it's the day after. And you're just going around stacking up these cups, many of which still have some amount of alcohol in them. And there's, you know, Lauren thought there's gotta be something that we could do with these red solo cups because they're getting thrown out and they're plastic and they're going to waste. So she had this idea, well, maybe you could actually put them into something called an extruder machine, which could then basically spin the plastic from these solo cups into a filament yarn. Now it turns out that machine is very expensive and Lauren Choi is a college student, so she didn't have it. She tried to build one in her parents garage.

[Elena Passarello]

Oh, I love this person.

[Luke Burbank]

It's some real Doc Brown from Back to the Future Energy. It was not successful. Her homemade extruder machine did not work. But she was undaunted. She figured out everything else about the system of taking these solo cups and then turning them into this filament yarn so then they could be spun into fashion into, like, sweaters and stuff. But she still needed the machine. So guess who bought her the machine. The Reynolds Consumer Products Company, the parent company of Hefty, the largest producer of plastic solo cups in America.

[Elena Passarello]

Hey, how did that. How did they figure out about Laura? Did she get in touch with them?

[Luke Burbank]

She received grant funding from some part of the Reynolds Consumer Products, you know, grant situation. It's a pretty big company. They probably do a lot of that stuff.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Cool.

[Luke Burbank]

And so this is sort of a match made in heaven. Now she's got this extruder machine, and she has now started this company that's really successful. It's called New Norm. And basically what they do is they take all these solo cups and they get them all together down in North Carolina, in Virginia, and they shred them up, and then they turn them into this filament yarn. Now, here's the reason that filament yarn is important in this. It is less likely to shed microplastics.

[Elena Passarello]

Mm.

[Luke Burbank]

So if you turned it into regular spun yarn, that would continue to shed the microplastics. And that's a big problem. We all know. So they ship all of this yarn then up to a factory in Brooklyn where they do this 3D knitting where they knit these sweaters. And I've been looking at pictures of these sweaters. They're amazing looking. And they come in all these different colors. Yellow, green, blue, pink. Guess what, Alayna? They don't have to use any artificial dyes to make the sweaters these colors, because that's the color that the solo cups were. Ah.

[Elena Passarello]

So. So not just a red solo cup. You could get solo cups in multiple hues, and they're using that to make these vibrantly colored sweaters.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, Any color that a solo cup could be that was then used, then thrown away, or in this case, not thrown away, but recycled. Could become a fashionable sweater from this company. They retail for between 45 and $85, which.

[Elena Passarello]

Not bad.

[Luke Burbank]

Honestly, not bad at all. So making use out of red solo cups. That's the best news that I've heard all week. All right, our first guest is a comedian, actor, and writer who might have the longest IMDb page in history. At least the longest one that I've seen. It's 176 credits, including as an Emmy nominated writer on Mr. Show, as the host of the Best Week Ever show, and the voice of Mr. Peanutbutter on the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman. The LA Times calls him a mix of Mark Twain, old timey radio entertainer and vaudeville actor for the Internet age. He is none other than Paul F. Tompkins. Now, Elaine, I have to tell the listeners, when Paul came on stage, we thought it might be and we haven't verified it, but it's close enough for us that Paul was going to become the most frequent guest in Livewire history. At least as of this appearance.

[Elena Passarello]

Yes, he has to be.

[Luke Burbank]

And I wanted us to celebrate it by doing something fun on stage like popping a balloon full of confetti.

[Elena Passarello]

Oh, this I remember very well.

[Luke Burbank]

And over us and my computer and many of the people in the front row. So it's kind of chaotic for radio. You're gonna hear a balloon popping and a lot going on. But just wanted to give you some context. This is Paul F. Tompkins on live, where I recorded at the Alberta Rose Theater.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Check it out. Hello, Paul. Do you realize that with your appearance on this episode of Livewire, you have now set the record for most guest appearances in the history of Livewire radio. That was so much more glitter than I thought it was going to be.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

It's a lot.

[Interviewer/Producer]

I really apologize.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

You sprung for the big glitter too. That's nice.

[Interviewer/Producer]

I'm gonna little stuff now for those listening on the radio, Paul is, as always, just absolutely fabulously turned out. A beautiful three piece suit that is now absolutely covered in glitter.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

It feels good.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Sometimes described as the herpes of the art world because it will be with you for the rest of your life.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

It's an insidious creation.

[Interviewer/Producer]

It's true. It really is.

[Elena Passarello]

I like that there's a fleck of glitter inside your glasses.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I can see it. I'm keeping it in there.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Today. I thought it would be really fun if we could celebrate Paul's accomplishment and if we could have a little confetti drop.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Paul, you are the most available of anyone we've ever booked on the show.

[Interviewer/Producer]

And then I said, well, why don't we get a balloon full of glitter? And after saying that, almost every person along the way indicated it was a bad idea. Elena said, are you going to get clearance from Paul about getting on his fine suit? Our photographer said, is Paul a veteran? Will the bursting of the balloon possibly.

[Elena Passarello]

Oh, good point, good point.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Possibly Be jarring for him.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I'm not a veteran, but I do steal valor. Yes.

[Interviewer/Producer]

By the way, do not under any circumstances drink your show provided water. It's more confetti than liquid at this point. You do have. I have to say, Paul, though, in looking over your credits and like, particularly with the show Comedy Bang Bang and now with us and Livewire, you are so prolific. Are you. Is this. Do you just have more energy than some people? Is this, like, how do you account for this?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I mean, I think I just like to do stuff. I think it's really just that simple. And I do get myself into a situation where I'm doing too many things at the same time. And I used. I. But I had a turning point after quarantine when I was doing a bunch of shows. I think it was the Comedy Bang Bang tour. And I think I had told myself that I didn't like traveling around and having to do a show in a different place every night. And then I suddenly realized, I love this. This is absolutely what. This is all I ever wanted to do when I was a kid. And now I'm doing it. Thank you so much. And then it became. I would have respected it. I would have respected it. I was brought. I was brought.

[Interviewer/Producer]

I forgot we had a backup balloon. I apologize.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I have to respect it.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Speaking of touring around, I want to ask you about Varietopia, this amazing variety show that you're taking around first, though. And I say this a lot on the show and I rarely mean it. But we do need to take a break. I mean it this time because we need to hose Paul F. Tompkins down.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

No, I refuse. I refuse to be cleaned up.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Clean. The.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I'm getting in the uber like this.

[Interviewer/Producer]

So we are going to take a very quick break here on Livewire. Back with more in just a moment. Hey, welcome back to Livewire from prx. We are at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland, Oregon. This week we are talking to the fabulous Paul F. Tompkins from Varietopia and so many other things. So you're out touring your variety show. Can you tell the audience kind of what's a typical night look like? What do you guys tend to do?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

We have a band that we travel with. It's a four piece band. It's a classic four piece setup. It is guitar, drums, sousaphone and trumpet.

[Elena Passarello]

Rock and roll.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

And the band plays on their own. We have a musical guest who does a couple songs. I do a standup monologue. Getting back into stand up again. It's been quite A while I took like a long break from stand up and so I'm slowly learning how to do it again. I'm still good at it.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I don't want, if anybody comes to this show, I don't want them to go in thinking he's still learning how to do it. I remembered. And then we have what I call a variety act, which is something that's neither comedy nor music. And we try to always include that on every show.

[Interviewer/Producer]

One thing I was struck by watching various video of the show is that you sing a lot. You have a lovely singing voice.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Thank you.

[Interviewer/Producer]

It's not a bit per se, like I saw that you were singing an Olivia Rodrigo song.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Vampire.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Yes. It's a great song.

[Interviewer/Producer]

You just like you and the band just knocked it out of the park. But I was kind of waiting for where there became like an Olivia Rodrigo joke or something. It was just a good ass song that you were performing.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Aren't we tired of all these Olivia Rodrigo jokes? Let's move on. It's funny. When I've been doing the show in one form or another since 2002, and when I first started doing the show, I would add jokes into the song. I do a song with the musical guest and it felt sort of, I don't know, I think I was worried about seeming self indulgent or, you know, whatever. And I wouldn't really sing to the fullest extent of my ability. And I felt like, I felt like I wasn't allowed to. And then as time went on, I, I, I realized, oh, it will actually be better if I do the best I can at this thing that I can do. And it's a, it's more fun to have it be unexpected. That it sounds good.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Yeah.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Than to have me do a joke which is more predictable. So then I started getting more and more comfortable with it. And then eventually I would every once in a while sing a song on my own and. No, this is like Deadwood or something. Start shooting at my feet. Yeah.

[Interviewer/Producer]

The ballad of Buster Scruggs. I've got a third balloon under here and it has the name of a song in it. Well, that's the thing though, because I feel like singing earnestly is such a different way of being on stage than doing comedy.

[Luke Burbank]

100% where there's no irony.

[Interviewer/Producer]

And I'm wondering, was that hard for you to get to at a certain point?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

That was the hardest part because it is vulnerable. Comedian singing is always very dicey because for me, this might resonate with older listeners, but Joe Piscopo is always the example that I go to.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Sure, sure.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

It was a guy. I had no business releasing an album, but did. And so that's always. That had always been in the back of my mind. And then I realized, like, I would rather run towards something like that than I'm afraid of and try to do it than forever be running away from it. And it was very freeing. I want to surprise the audience as much as possible. We never say who the guests are going to be on the show. And so when you come, you're going to see something that you didn't know what it was going to be, but you're going to maybe discover somebody new that you're now a fan of, or you're going to see something that I've never done before. You know, we just want it to be as in the moment and as exciting for people as possible.

[Interviewer/Producer]

There's another character that frequently appears on the Varietopia tour, which is a possum or a video of a possum. Can you explain the origins of this video?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Absolutely. So I saw an ad for a squirrel picnic table. Comes with a little umbrella and everything looks like a picnic bench. And I said, I have to get that. And then I have to get a nature cam and have it stationed to always capture the squirrels eating the hazelnuts. And it brought me so much joy. Every single time. It's the same thing over and over again. Is it a squirrel coming, taking a nut out of the thing, sitting on the bench and eating it? It was the absolute best. I never got tired of it. It's like he's sitting at the bench like a person. It was always good. But then also there's the night shift. If the squirrels have left any hazelnuts behind, then you get your raccoons and your possums coming out. And I had this. I captured this possum sitting at the bench and eating hazelnuts. And he's just sitting there chewing for such a long time. And it looked like he was talking. So I started. I used this footage so many times. I just have the boss of saying different things. And, you know, I pitched the voice up a little bit and it's, it's, it's. It works for me every time.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Well, there is this. There's this trend that's been going around of late of, like, dudes calling their male friends to wish them goodnight and putting it on speakerphone. It's so funny to, like, hear the reaction from their male friend. And there is a great video of you calling the possum. Yeah, to wish it good night.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Cause the male, the friend is always. There's always a pause. The guys, you know, they make small talk for a second and the guy says, okay, well, I just wanted to wish you good night. And then there's always a pause. And then the guy on the other end of the phone is like, what? And so, like, the weekend that this was going viral, we had a show coming up at our home lodge room in Los Angeles. And so I said, I gotta do this. And I got the very funny Vinnie Thomas. Vinnie is a comedian who, like, pushes that button in me. Like, his stuff is so silly and so funny. And I've had him on the show a bunch of times. And I said, will you be the voice of this possum? We'll just do a zoom call. And then I'm gonna put the footage in, you know, later. And so we just improvise this scene where I call up the possum to say goodnight, and he's confused. And then it gets into. It gets deeper into our relationship.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Yes, you have a robust Wikipedia page, Paul.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Well, thank you.

[Interviewer/Producer]

But even as somebody with a fairly puny Wikipedia page myself, some of the facts can get a little squishy. You never know what people are gonna put up there.

[Luke Burbank]

I wanted to read a little bit.

[Interviewer/Producer]

From your Wikipedia page and just fact check this with you. Tompkins stand up comedy performances are of a storytelling and observationalist style. His shows often consist of extended riffs. There's so much glitter on this computer screen.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I'm gonna also reveal I have one piece of glitter in my throat right now.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Tompkins deals with topics of the bizarre and the absurd, such as a rant about peanut brittle. Can you confirm that you have a rant about peanut brittle?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I confirm that I did have a rant about peanut brittle. That's my greatest hit. The peanut brittle bit.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Okay.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

It is the bit that most people will.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Oh, okay, well, we won't bore them with that then. In addition to recounting stories about his own life experience and family, his comedic style has been described as alternative comedy. Tompkins has stated that he is not bothered by that label and that he likes the term. Can you confirm that you.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I'm not bothered by that and I like it.

[Elena Passarello]

Citation.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Yeah. Tompkins is known for his style of dress during the comedic performances, always performing in a suit and tie, sometimes in pinstripes and with a bow tie. His look has been described by some in the press as dapper. There's four citations for that it's true, Tompkins.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I've been dapper at least four times.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Tompkins has described his own look as quote, foppish and quote, just this side of Cedric the Entertainer.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I did say that once. Yes, that's true.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Now, as I was writing these questions out to ask you about Paul, my computer, the AI that is built into my computer, this is a very real thing. Kept trying to offer to write the questions for me. Oh, yeah. Truly dark stuff. So I decided to let it. And it wrote five questions. It asked me, this is an actual thing from my actual computer, which may never work again with this glitter, but that's fine. It said, hello, I see you're writing some questions. You want me to help you? And I said, okay.

[Luke Burbank]

And they said, is it going to be a live event?

[Interviewer/Producer]

And I said, yes. And it wrote, this is from the computer. Great. Here's a version of the five questions, tailored for a live event setting, designed to feel conversational, keep the energy up and encourage audience engagement. Paul, your characters are absolutely wild in the best way.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Oh, in the best way.

[Interviewer/Producer]

When you're coming up with someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber or Cake Boss, how much of that is planned and how much is you just letting loose? Now, what ChatGPT fails to understand is that these are improvised characters. Correct?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Right. That's right.

[Interviewer/Producer]

How much of it is planned and.

[Luke Burbank]

How much is you just letting loose, Paul?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I would say it's 1% planning and then 101% letting loose. Yeah, baby, yeah. Sorry, sorry.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Let's talk style. You're one of the best dressed people in comedy. Was that a conscious decision early on or did it just evolve naturally? Now here's the problem. I believe I've asked you that question in appearances past.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Oh, everyone's asked.

[Interviewer/Producer]

All on my own stupid brain.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

It is the number one question that people ask.

[Luke Burbank]

Really?

[Interviewer/Producer]

Is that annoying or have you just learned to. Hey, Paul, if you could time travel back to give advice to young Paul F. Tompkins to just getting started in comedy, what would you tell him and would he listen? Actually, I don't think the end of that question is the worst.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

No, it's not.

[Interviewer/Producer]

That's actually kind of good.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I'll take the second part first.

[Interviewer/Producer]

No. Is it maybe the thing about authenticity? I mean, we're talking about it in the context of music, but the idea that. Now I'm gonna answer the question for you, but you were talking about singing as part of Varietopia and how it's. It's more interesting and more surprising for you just to do your best job singing the song. And I wonder if there's some of that in comedy too, where being the most arch, being the most steeped in.

[Luke Burbank]

Irony, the most removed from everything, is.

[Interviewer/Producer]

An initial reaction to try to make comedy. But the better you get at it, the closer you're getting to authenticity and to being kind of vulnerable.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Absolutely. I think that if I were to go back to my younger self, comedy or otherwise, the thing that I most would want to say to myself that I would hope my younger self to hear is, hey, relax, man. Just calm down. Everything's fine. Just relax. Because I was so wound up for such a long time, I had such a weird pull between doing my own thing and not thinking about it and also being very much concerned about what people thought of me. Like performing in front of audiences when you start out and you just suck. I mean, it's very rare that people come right out of the box ready to go. That does happen sometimes, but it's extremely rare for somebody to be so good just starting out, you have to go through a period where you're learning how to do it and you're not very good and you have just enough self delusion, you get just enough laughs that it's like, okay, I'm onto something here. I can keep going.

[Interviewer/Producer]

There's something about this, particularly stand up comedy brain.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer/Producer]

I was a sort of aspiring stand up comedy comedian after college or whatever. And, and I would go have a set and I'd get down off stage and my friends would be like, oh, that was rough. And I would remember the one laugh. It would somehow all of the, all the bad parts on stage would sort of leave my mind and I would focus on the one thing that worked. Yeah, there's. I think that's part, I think that's what keeps people doing it.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

And you have to have 100% because you feel like, all right, that's some proof of concept.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Yes.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

That I, I'm not, I didn't get zero laughs.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Yeah.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Not zero.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Yeah.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

And they were laughing with me, so I'm gonna keep trying. And so when, when, when I would bomb, it was really hard. I guess it would be for anybody, but I was such a. A raw nerve in that way that it really hurt. It really hurt every time I bombed. And now I'm at the point where if I, if I should bomb because nobody's immune to it, I can go out and have a bad set anywhere, you know, and it's, it's funny now. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like, oh, this is funny. I'm doing very poorly. These people aren't enjoying it at all. And I've been doing this for more than half of my life, and this is still happening. That's amusing, right? Yeah.

[Interviewer/Producer]

It's Livewire Radio. We're talking to the great Paul F. Tompkins. Paul. It has recently been brought to our attention by way of Tig Notaro's wonderful podcast, Handsome, that. You, my friend, have a bit of a reputation around Hollywood. It's correct. Let's take a listen.

[Elena Passarello]

And you know who has the best hands and fingers in comedy? Who?

[Interviewer/Producer]

Paul F. Tompkins.

[Elena Passarello]

Really? Gorgeous fingers. Anyone's.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Beautiful hands.

[Elena Passarello]

Really. It's beautiful. The man has beautiful hands.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Beautiful, beautiful hands. Honestly, they are nice.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

It's true.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Let's get eyes on those. Marvelous.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

It's true.

[Interviewer/Producer]

What do you. What's your secret, Paul F. Tompkins.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I was born this way, I'm sorry to tell you. And I have steadfastly refused to do anything that would put my hands in danger in any way, including playing the piano. You think a piano doesn't see these hands coming and say, let. Let me. Adam.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Yeah, no, of course.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

But I keep them pristine. They're for one thing and one thing only. Display. Well, I do like that. Tig included. And fingers.

[Elena Passarello]

Hands. And fingers.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Yeah, yeah. Beautiful hands. Ugly fingers. Package.

[Interviewer/Producer]

You're the whole package.

[Elena Passarello]

But because if they said. If Tick said you had the best hands in comedy, that could mean something else.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

It's very true.

[Elena Passarello]

So you got to get the fingers in there so that we have.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I think that makes it worse. I actually. Oh, it does.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Whichever the non creepy one is, that's what Paul F. Tompkins has. Okay. We figured since we have a recognized nice hand haver and noted improviser here with us, Paul F. Tompkins, we wondered if you would participate in a little.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't even know if we can.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Call it a game or a contest. An improv exercise. This is a little activity we're calling Only Hands with Paul F. Tompkins. I'll just hand this a little reminder sheet to you. The idea here. And as we practiced this, as we rehearsed this in the sound check, we realized just how limited the chances of success are with this particular exercise. We're going to try it anyways.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Here's the idea. Paul F. Tompkins, you noted. Nice hand, Haver. We would like you to try to talk our announcer, Elena Passarello through an exercise where you're gonna be describing famous hands in movies and TV and Pop culture.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Okay.

[Interviewer/Producer]

These are things where there's a famous scene involving hands. And we would like you to try to describe what the hands are doing in the scene. And Elena, based on that description, is going to try to figure out the.

[Luke Burbank]

Movie or TV show or commercial or.

[Interviewer/Producer]

What have you that you are talking about.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Yes.

[Elena Passarello]

Okay.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Okay.

[Elena Passarello]

Do I do the things with my hands?

[Interviewer/Producer]

If that helps you.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, sure.

[Elena Passarello]

Like when spelling bee. When they spell it with their foot.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Absolutely, yes. It's also occurring to me that this is radio.

[Elena Passarello]

Yeah.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Whoops.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

That's funny, because when I was told this idea, it immediately occurred to me. I was like, it's their show. What am I going to do?

[Interviewer/Producer]

All right, here we go. Let's go with example number one. Question number one on Only Hands with Paul F. Tompkins. What's this person doing with their hands?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Put your hands forward and point them towards each other. Okay, well, not point. Yes, face them towards each other. I should say fingers together. And then I want you to lightly make a caressing motion. Making the hands go opposite each other. No, but sort of. You're caressing something in front of you in front of the hands. You're almost sort of hugging the thing with your hands. Okay, that's much better. That's.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Are you getting any ideas, Elena?

[Elena Passarello]

Is this the unchained melody scene from Ghost?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Wow. All right, now I would like you to make a sort of a praying motion. Okay.

[Elena Passarello]

Okay.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

But then angle your hands, thumb side away from each other. Okay. You know what? No, let's put it back together. Put it back together. Angle them away from the. At the palms, but keep the tips of the fingers together. Just move the palms away. Keep the hands straight. Now I want you to tap your fingertips against each other. No, no, no. Keep them together. Keep them together.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Oh.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh. I think I'm picking this, like, kind of a.

[Interviewer/Producer]

This move a little bit.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Elena Passarello]

Is that like Dr. Evil?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

No, you're on the right track.

[Interviewer/Producer]

It's Dr. Evil coded.

[Elena Passarello]

Mr. Burns.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Yes, that's correct.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

That's correct.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Well done. Have you worked on the Simpsons?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I did do an episode of the Simpsons. Look, if a show is gonna be on for 40 years, eventually they'll get around to me.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Was that as, like, amazing as those of us who just been fans of the show for years just to get to it?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it was wild around.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I was, like, losing my mind. I didn't think about it that much. I was like, oh, that's nice. You know? And Then when I got there, I was like, I'm gonna. This is the Simpsons. Yeah. It was a huge deal.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Elena Passarello]

I used to live across the street from Tom Savini, the horror movie designer guy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And 25 years ago, he got a voiceover part on the Simpsons. And this was before, I guess he probably didn't even communicate on the Internet. To tell him that the show was airing, they sent him a bowling ball with the information on it. Did they do that for you?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I did not get a bowling ball.

[Elena Passarello]

He was also a liar, so he could have just made it a ghost.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

He was also a liar.

[Elena Passarello]

He's a big liar. He wore jean shorts a lot.

[Luke Burbank]

This is.

[Interviewer/Producer]

We're burning a lot of bridges this week on Live Wedding.

[Elena Passarello]

Nice guy.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Nice flyer. All right, next one, Paul.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

This one, you're going to be two characters. One hand is one character, the other hand is the other. I want you to point with both fingers. I want you to raise one hand. Perfect. Angle them towards each other. No. Can I give you a hand reading?

[Elena Passarello]

Yes. Give me a hand reading.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Then lower the other one and have it pointing up at that finger.

[Elena Passarello]

Oh, yeah, that's Evie from Out of this World, a 1980s television show about a teenage alien who could stop time.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

You're so close in so many ways.

[Interviewer/Producer]

I don't even think I know.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

But remember, you're two characters.

[Elena Passarello]

Oh, am I David and God?

[Paul F. Tompkins]

No. That's also a good guess. It's not that. It's not that.

[Elena Passarello]

Oh, it's E.T.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

That'S right. That's right. That's right.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Paul, I feel like we put you through enough.

[Elena Passarello]

Yeah. Wow.

[Interviewer/Producer]

On your night off.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

I actually enjoyed that.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Thank you so much for coming back on Livewire and congratulations on your title as most frequent guest. Paul F. Tompkins, everybody, right here on Livewire.

[Luke Burbank]

That was Paul F. Tompkins, right here, here on Livewire. If Paul's live show, Varietyopia is coming to a town near you, you must check it out. I've seen it, and it is incredible. Hey, special thanks this episode to Esther Freeman of Portland, Oregon, who is part of the Livewire member community and is generously supporting our show with a donation each month. We are so grateful for Esther's support because it's frankly, how we can keep Livewire going. Not sure if you've heard, but tough time in the funding department for public radio. And we are so appreciative of Esther Freeman and our other members for keeping Livewire operational. Thanks, Esther.

[Interviewer/Producer]

You're listening to Livewire.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm Luke Burbank here with Elena Passarello. Each week on the show, we like to ask the Livewire audience a question that is relevant to that week's episode. Inspired by our conversation with Paul F. Tompkins, we have asked them a question this week. Alayna, what are we asking the audience?

[Elena Passarello]

We want to know what is the most unforgettable surprise you've ever experienced?

[Luke Burbank]

Hmm.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

What are they saying?

[Elena Passarello]

They're saying hilarious, wonderful, kind of sweet things like this one from Kayla. Kayla says, when I was little, my parents decided to take us to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but it was so packed, we couldn't find a single place to watch. We were on the verge of tears. And then a police officer saw us and said, listen, just pretend I'm your Uncle Dave for a few minutes. He got them in to an NYPD family section, one of the best spots to see the parade. Yay, Uncle Dave. Officer Uncle Dave.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm going to use that if I'm ever in New York for the Macy's Parade. My daughter and I need to make a pilgrimage because she's 31 now, but ever since she's been, I don't know, 2, 3 years old, every Thanksgiving morning Macy's Day Parade, we've gotta watch it. It's a Thanksgiving tradition. And all we do the whole time is make fun of it. But we like, that's how we like to enjoy it together.

[Elena Passarello]

Do you watch the dog show afterwards?

[Luke Burbank]

The dog show is usually on, but that's when I start trying to organize the Burbank Family Fun Run, which as all of the my daughter and my little brothers and nieces and nephews. As all of the kids have gotten older, fewer and fewer people participate in the Burbank Family Fun. I don't think it was fun for anyone except me.

[Elena Passarello]

It's the Burbank Forced Fun Run.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. So maybe this year we'll go back to the dog show.

[Interviewer/Producer]

All right.

[Luke Burbank]

What's something else truly surprising that happened to one of our listeners?

[Elena Passarello]

Oh, this one's wonderful. Lindsay says, right after my son was born, I was working at a truck stop. Right before Christmas, my car needed new brakes. I was having a hard time paying for them, and one of my regulars came in and asked for my keys, took the car, completely, tuned it up, new brakes, belts, oil change, the works, and then filled the back seat with presents for my son. I was in tears in the parking lot, Lindsay says, and then they handed me an envelope with fifteen hundred dollars in it and said, merry Christmas.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my goodness.

[Elena Passarello]

That is a Santa and a half right there.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, that is an incredible thing to do for somebody.

[Elena Passarello]

Wow. That's life changing. Well, whoever that person is, I hope that they're having an amazing day because they definitely made Lindsay's day slash year.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, one more shocking thing that happened.

[Interviewer/Producer]

To one of our listeners.

[Elena Passarello]

Speaking of shocking, Samantha says, I was at the airport once when a flash mob of dancers in airport uniforms started performing a full on musical number about luggage. I'm trying to think what, what that would be like. Like a song about a bag. Like, Papa's got a brand new bag.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, there you go. Papa's trying to fit his bag in that sizer thing.

[Elena Passarello]

Papa's got an oversized back. But how much do you want to bet that this flash mob about luggage took place at the Portland International Airport?

[Luke Burbank]

It very much seems like something. I mean, you know, I fly in and out of PDX on almost a weekly basis, and it's definitely an airport that prides itself on thinking outside of the airport box.

[Elena Passarello]

Yes. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, thank you to everyone who responded to our listener question this week. We really do appreciate it.

[Interviewer/Producer]

This is Livewire.

[Luke Burbank]

We have a quick break we've got to step away for, but don't go anywhere. When we return, we're going to have some music from McLeet, who blends jazz and folk and her East African roots in a performance from her new album, A Piece of Infinity. Stay tuned for that. More Livewire coming your way in a moment.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Hey there.

[Luke Burbank]

Welcome to Livewire. I'm your host, Luke Burbank. On today's show, we are going to be joined by a Livewire and comedy legend, Paul F. Tompkins. You might know him from the Netflix animated series, BoJack Horseman, or his multitude of podcast and TV appearances. But what you might not know is that Paul has now been officially crowned the guest with the most appearances ever on Livewire. So we decided to honor him on stage. And like often happens here on Livewire, things kind of went off the rails really quick. But you're gonna wanna listen to it cause it's funny. Then we're gonna hear some music from another Livewire favorite, macleet. Macleet is a singer and songwriter who blends jazz, soul, funk, and influences from her East African roots in Ethiopia. She is gonna perform a single off her new album, A Piece of Infinity. It's gonna be a fun, informative, weird episode of Livewire, which is just how we like it. So stick around. It all gets started right after this.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Welcome back to Livewire from prx.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm Luke Burbank here with Elena Passarello. All right, it is that time once again, part of the show where we play a little station location identification examination. Now, if you're not familiar, in order to win this game, our announcer Elena Passarello, who seems to know everything, has to try to figure out the place in the United States that I'm talking about where Livewire is on the radio based on these clues that I'm about to give her. Elena, are you ready?

[Elena Passarello]

Yes. I'm trying to gauge how hard this is by your intro, and I cannot tell.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I feel like there is a clue that I will give you towards the end which may give it away if you are familiar with the work of a certain comedian by the name of Yakov Smirnoff.

[Elena Passarello]

No, not the name you were expecting.

[Luke Burbank]

Me to say, was it.

[Elena Passarello]

What a country.

[Luke Burbank]

We'll get there in a moment. All right, here are the slightly harder questions. This area was actually first called hog heaven in 1875. Early settlers reported that five local men were chosen to choose a proper name for the town, but they could not agree. So the postmaster at the time, a guy named Samuel Neff, completed the official papers for the town and chose the name of his hometown in Pennsylvania. So this is already a place in Pennsylvania. And I want to mention, because there's a lot of, like, weird Pennsylvania towns.

[Interviewer/Producer]

You know, like Intercourse.

[Luke Burbank]

Intercourse comes to mind. You've got industry. Yeah, it's not any of those. I didn't know this was a place in Pennsylvania. And let me just say, it is associated in my mind with a whole different part of the world, actually.

[Elena Passarello]

Okay. And 1870 something. So we're post Gold rush. So we are West. We are in the West.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Good, good, good thinking. Yes, we are out in the West. This place is part of a kind of unique bi state metropolitan area. So you've got basically, like, a lot of people that are living right along the border of two states, and you've got two rival universities that are just eight, eight miles apart because of this.

[Elena Passarello]

So.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's in the West.

[Elena Passarello]

We're on the Washington, Idaho line, aren't we?

[Luke Burbank]

We absolutely are.

[Elena Passarello]

And you said Yakov Smirnoff. So we have to be talking about Moscow, Idaho.

[Interviewer/Producer]

You are so right.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm thinking he might have recorded a comedy special there or something that makes sense. In 1990. That's like, you know, hey, we're going to. It's Yakov Smirnoff live from Moscow. But it's the Moscow, Idaho.

[Interviewer/Producer]

That's right.

[Luke Burbank]

It's where we are on the radio on K wsu. Shout out to all of our listeners there in Moscow, Idaho. Okay, before we get to our musical performance from McLeet, a little preview of next week's show. We're gonna be talking to writer and podcaster Dana Schwartz about her book, Immortality A Love Story. It's one of those young adult books. It's got everything, history, romance, blood, in, like, a medical way. Speaking of blood, we're also going to talk to Dana about her podcast that she hosts. It's called Noble Blood. Then we're going to chat with the artist and writer Jenny o' Dell about her book Saving Time, Discovering a Life beyond the Clock. Then we're going to close out the show with music from Black Belt Eagle Scout, whose latest album, the Land, the Water, the sky, is inspired by her life in the Pacific Northwest, specifically the Swinomish Indian tribal community in Washington State. It's gonna be a fun show. Make sure you don't miss it. That's next week on Livewire. This week, our musical guest is macleet, a vocalist who mixes the sounds of East Africa and the Bay Area on her latest album, A Piece of Infinity, which was released by Smithsonian Folkways Records. She's also the host of the podcast Movement, where she tells stories of global migration through music. Here is some music from McLean recorded at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland, Oregon.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Hello.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Hi.

[Interviewer/Producer]

What song are we going to hear now?

[Elena Passarello]

We are going to hear a song called Tzita, which is a traditional song, and it's our interpretation of it.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Excellent. All right, this is Macleet here on Livewire.

[Paul F. Tompkins]

Yamato SA.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Thank you.

[Luke Burbank]

That was Mcleet recorded live @ the Alberta Rose Theater here on Livewire. Her latest album, A Piece of Infinity, is available right now. All right, that's gonna do it for this week's episode of the show. A huge thanks to our guests Paul F. Tompkins and McLeet. Also special thanks to Chris Bright.

[Elena Passarello]

Laura Haddon is our executive producer. Heather D. Michel is our executive director. And our producer and editor is Melanie Savchenko. Eben Hofer is our technical director. Hazik Bin Ahmad Farid is our assistant editor. And our house sound is by Dee Neil Blake. Deja Palikonda is our production fellow.

[Luke Burbank]

Valentine Keck is our operations manager. Ashley park is our marketing manager. And Ezra Veenstra runs our front of house. Tiffany Wynn is our intern. Our house band is Jonathan Newsome, Sam Pinkerton, Ethan Fox Tucker, and A. Walker Spring, who also composes our music. This show was mixed by Eben Hoffer and Hazik bin Ahmad Farid.

[Elena Passarello]

Additional funding provided by the Oregon Arts Commission, a state agency funded by the State of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts. Livewire was created by Robin Tenenbaum and Kate Sokolov and this week we'd like to thank member Esther Freeman of Portland, Oregon.

[Luke Burbank]

For more information about our show or how you can listen to the Livewire podcast, head on over tolivewireradio.org I'm Luke Burbank for Elena Passarello and the whole Livewire team. Thanks for listening and we will see you next week.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

This show is supported by Odoo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out odoo-o o.com that's o d o o.com.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, if you appreciate the work that Livewire is doing to amplify riveting and unexpected voices to a national audience, and I gotta tell you, it's a big audience these days, please, please please consider offering some monthly support by becoming a member of our League of Extraordinary Listeners.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Here's how it works. Membership starts at just five bucks a.

[Luke Burbank]

Month and there are great perks at every level, including a special shout out on the broadcast.

[Interviewer/Producer]

Impress your friends by being shouted out on Livewire.

[Luke Burbank]

It means the world to us and really does make it possible for us to do the show. So please, if you can help, support us by visiting livewireradio.org membership.

[Elena Passarello]

From PRX.