Liz and Matt reconvene after a long absence. An absence due to factors beyond their control. No, that’s not true. Beyond their interest? Probably.

In the the spirit of this episode, this post has no image.

Matt and Liz return, guestless, hollowed-out, confused. It’s our most 2020 episode yet. It’s also our only 2020 episode yet.

Megan makes, markets and manages the best pie game we’ve ever seen/tasted. If you’re writing a hard-bitten noir novella with a pie magnate in it, we’d recommend you just steal her persona whole cloth. It’s equal parts Millennial Martha Stuart and Mom’s Old Fashioned Robot Oil and who wouldn’t want to read that?

Here are some pie pics. And a link her empire , Emporium Pies.

It’s part two of our lengthy and entirely rewarding (looking at you, Liz) conversation with Daniel Forsythe. Listen to part 1 first. Or don’t. We’re not in charge of you.

ALSO! As promised in part 1, here’s a look at Dan’s custom liturgy, made just for blessing/cleansing Matt’s son Colin’s closet. You are not required to sing the musical parts aloud, but you are required to try to hum them reverently in your mind.

This is a two-parter, and worth every second of it. Daniel Forsythe is a former Byzantine Catholic Priest and good friend of Matt and Liz’s. Part I deals with Daniel’s decision to join the priesthood after seminary, his awkward attempts at coming out to his friends, and his later decision to leave the church in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the rights of gay people to marry. Part II will deal with the fallout of his resigning his post, and a lot of esoteric discussions of heretical theology and Tolkien and Moby Dick and gnosticism and the name of Lucifer and so many other things that bored Liz every bit as much as it delighted Matt and Dan. So come back for that for sure.

Here’s a picture of dan ceremonially cleansing Colin’s room of monsters.

Chris is the creative director for Motel 6 and HEB. He’s won the Mercury Award for radio 7 times. He’s a two-time jeopardy champion, an improv comic, a serial event MC, and a dad. He’s also Matt’s former hair-metal-cover-band-mate. Pictures below for proof.

For the new year, we wanted to invite on someone who inspires us to be better people. So the natural choice was our amazing friend Kim. Unfortunately she couldn’t inspire us to get the podcast edited in time to still call it a new year episode, so now it’s a Valentine’s Day episode. Because … we love her.

Kim teaches English As a Second Language in a public school, and is also a gifted painter and writer and convener of thinkers. Check out some of her art we mentioned in the show.

Thorne is our friend, and also an award-winning photojournalist who covered, among other wars, the run up to the Iraq War and the Bosnian civil war. This conversation touched on his life and career, his spousal rivalry, and how to gain the trust of street racing gangs.

Yes, it’s long. But we promise we would have made it shorter if it wasn’t worth your time.

Our very first non-us guest, Alice Laussade, discusses the meaty fruits of her bone-deep hatred of MS. She’s a James Beard award-winning food writer. Also founder and CEO of Meat Fight. Also a very funny person. 

Tickets to her life’s work are still available! Go to Meat Fight! Buy tickets here.

[also, editor’s note: the Dallas people Matt mentions in this episode as also allegedly having James Beard awards were only nominated, and did not in fact win. FYI.]

Liz grills an audibly uncomfortable Matt, who somehow landed this gig as the podcast’s cohost, for the better part of an hour, after heavy editing. Topics discussed include advertising, do-gooderism, which of the hosts is the most insufferable, Scientology, UFOs, and why Dallas is so weird.