032 Five First Names (w/ Chad Philip Peter)

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Chad Philip Peter is a filmaker, writer and post production mogul who's work you've seen in tv shows like Mr. Robot and Mindhunter and in films like Birdman and The Revenant.
He's also the son of an alpha fighter pilot father and a junking mother. Lucky for us he's on the couch this week talking about moving a bunch as a kid including a short stint in Japan, his father taking him to see Running Man as his first movie and how Alien 3 was the only Alien movie. He also shares how a comic book shop opening up in his small town of Evergreen, Colorado helped him find the little corner of the world he felt at most home and how that led to publishing his own comic.

There's also Natalie Portman message boards, short films, shared schools with Trey Parker, his town being in South Park, being publicly bipartisan, making offers people can't refuse as a means to a foot in the door and some talk about his first independent feature film, "Apocalypse, CA."

All in all he and Jake find they had some similar life plot points in their respective coming of age movies.

031 Seize Dis Ease (w/ Damian Washington

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Actor, Rapper and self-proclaimed Nerd, Damian Washington joins Jake this week and the two recall the day they met & Damian's job of tackling the six time world champion Chris Jericho on Comedy Central's "Nothing To Report."

Damian shares some of his experience growing up in Harlem, having hood stripes and how people that don't actually wear them romanticise them. He talks about his neighborhood watch-woman grandmother who kept an eye on him and the block, the father he met for the first time when he was 30, the struggle in reconnecting, growing up fatherless and how family norms strongly differ between his inner city black community and Jake's suburban white one, despite some personal similarities.

There's also performing arts high schools, sexual theater analogies, Captain Crunch commercials, the ancient chinese art of Qigong, and influencial co-stars before Damian also speaks transparently and emotionaly about living (and vlogging) with Auto Immune Disease and Multiple Sclerosis and how publishing and sharing his treatment, struggles, ups and downs has opened doors and offered strength.

Follow Damian on Twitter @DeeDubs57

030 The Committal Rascals (w/ Jordan Black)

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From Groundlings to SNL to Dan Harmon's Community, Jordan Black is ever-present in the business of funny. This week he's on the couch speaking about his small town illinois upbringing idolizing The Fonz and his supportive and pro-active mother who was the only person he needed to hear "you can do it" from.

He talks about his suprisingly well rounded mindset at young age having a clear picture of what he wanted, how he decided as a perfectly attending class-clown freshman in high school that college simply wasn't gonna work for him, some wise words he hung onto by the great philosopher Lenny Kravitz, and about how he moved to LA before he was even 18.

He also shares his experience being a black man in the mostly white dominated world of sketch/improv, how a lot of the pushback and struggle he faces comes from a place you probably wouldn't expect and how it all led to the critically acclaimed Groundlings show he created called "The Black Version."

Follow Jordan on social media @FakeJordanBlack

029 Seven Year Plevin (w/ Brionne Davis)

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Actor/Director/Producer Brionne Davis is on the couch talking his small town roots and the nugget of truth that's been burning like lava inside him ever since playing Tom Saywer as a kid in community theater in Paris TX.

He talks about how C.S. Lewis' The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe sparked an active imagination, his relationship with his quite opposite older brother, the outsider mindset and his childhood ADD before ADD was really a "thing."

The two also share their experiences growing up in two similar racially mixed public schools in what most people would consider two vastly differently parts of the country, before having an open and frank discussion about racism, acceptace, and thier experiences growing up on the privleged side of the skin color spectrum. They discuss how something happens in the formative teenage years that triggers a shift in the social consciousness, and how our tribe mentality lends itself to the rebelious nature of teens as well as some of the guilt they feel for adolescent transgressions.

Brionne also speaks to his desire for a world that embraces culture and finds itself in other peoples' history opposed to alienating it. And how his roll in the Academy Award Nominated film "Embrace of the Serpent" helped him do exactly that.

Be sure to check out Embrace of the Serpent on Amazon, iTunes or Vudu and look out for Brionne on the brand new Hulu show Castle Rock, based on stories by Stephen King.

Follow Brionne on social media @BrionneDavis

028 Shifting Feelings Dealings (w/ Krista Allen)

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Actress, Comedian & Podcast Host Krista Allen is on the couch this week for an amazingly transparent, enlightened, beatifully introspective and self-aware journey through her at times tragic experience finding her voice, LITERALLY. 

With a con-man father and a narcissistic, Beach Boy groupie mother (no seriously), she discusses how the difficult hand she was dealt led to some massive insecurities, both anger and "daddy issues," an unhealthy career victim mentality, eating disorders, love addiction and more. From constantly moving around and seeking safe haven, being inable to express her feelings, leaving school young, surviving sexual abuse and more, she has a truly incredible perspective on her own story and her outlook on both her past and her future is inspiring and lovely.

She talks about alignment and he talks about balance. And thats all just the first half. This a dont-miss whirlwind of a conversation.

There's also a 5 foot 6 persian cage-fighting rapper in there somewhere.

Follow Krista @KristaAllenXO

027 Action Woman Protraction (W/ Maggie Levin)

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Writer/Director and Woman of Action, Maggie Levin joins Jake this week and talks growing up in Woodstock the daughter of free-spirited rockstar and a crazy balerina, being 6 years old in the theater playing boys, and being un-schooled and teenaged in New York City!

She also talks a bit about a pattern of relationship tag along (that's not as unhealthy as it sounds), the "New York Grudge" which is totally a thing, and her more-than-boyfriend and the joy watching his discomfort with difficult people brings her.

They also discuss her Rocky Horror stage show with a twist "Rocky Horror Hipster show" and how her incredibly talented friends helped spawn the idea with thier collective super-powers, the Sci-Fi Comedy TV show she directs and writes called "Miss 2059" on Go90.com, representing women in film and television, writing as woman and for women and navigating the landscape of casting women and people of color in a time when it is in the forefront of public conversation. 

Follow Maggie on social Media @MaggieLevin
See Miss 2059 at Go90.com or on the Go90 App on any Verizon device.
Visit Women of Action LA at www.WomenOfAction.us

026 Corrective Perspective Objective (w/ Aaron Pruner)

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Actor/Writer/Critic Aaron Pruner is on the couch this week talking about his on-again off-again relationship with entertaining. He tells the tales of being a teen commercial star and how his role as the often picked on "Percy" on VR Troopers effected his off screen life, the decision to leave acting as a career behind and how proving his ability to exist in the "real world" to himself was important.

He also talks about some dark family history and how his mother came out of it unconditionally supportive, how a series of unfortunate events in 2007 led to his decision to persue better living through therapy and improving his physical health which ultimately hurt his ability to perform and finding the balance.

There's also Comic Cons, acts of kindness, and Gordon Ramsay.

Follow Aaron on social media @AaronFlux

025 Depression & Rememberies

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Jake is back after another week dark explaining himself. He's talking about the shallow pit he recently fell into, Bojack Horseman and his internal dialogue, his doggo Cosmo and his new cats and how nothing is wrong yet something is wrong. Then we jump into a time machine back to a test recording from before the start of the show with writer/actor and Elaborate First Mate, Paul Bianchi in which the duo discuss memories and Jake's inability to recall details that the seemingly Mutant Memoried Paul knows each and every detail of. Regular shows return next week!