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Making Friends Podcast

Making Friends Podcast

by Shut Up Nick Productions

Mental Health Society & Culture

Season 1

Stripped Down with Paresh Maharaj

Returning to our regularly scheduled programming, Jake and Maisy sit down with one of Jake's friends from law school, Paresh Maharaj. They chat about all sorts of things from growing up brown during 9/11 to learning life lessons from anime. Get ready to hear about Dungeons and Dragons, karaoke, strip clubs, and the struggles of scheduling hang-outs with groups of busy adults. This is such a fun interview; it's a great episode to get you back used to our regular interview style. We hope you enjoy! TW: Racism, mental health, misogyny If you fell in love with Paresh, here's where you can find and support him: https://www.instagram.com/pmaharaj92/ https://bustedlimes.podbean.com/ Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini Clips: May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications The Thing (1982) Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

Run Away to the Circus with Alaina Calliope Lucille

Jake and Maisy sit down with Alaina Calliope Lucille, a clown and drag performer who takes us through her 15-year journey with clowning, from locking herself in the bathroom to learn makeup as a kid; through clown college in her early twenties; marriage, family, and transition; and up to her current career as a drag clown. We chat about the intersection between clowning and drag, how gender affects clowning, and how Calliope has found her home in the clown community. If you fell in love with Calliope like we did, here's where you can find and support her: @alainacalliopelucille Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini Clips: May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications The Thing (1982) Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

You're a Clown, Get Over It with Uncle Stepdad the Clown

"You're a clown, get over it!" Uncle Stepdad walked us through his clowning journey, telling us about his clown found family, battling imposter syndrome and insecurity, and how clowning can be a way to hold a mirror up to society. We also chat about how finding your clown can be a reflection of your truest, most unguarded self. Uncle Stepdad has become a wonderful irl friend for us through this podcast, so this episode is particularly fun because he and Jake spend the whole interview messing with each other and trying to make each other laugh. We had a really good time and I think it shows through in the episode. If you fell in love with Uncle Stepdad like we did, here's where you can find and support him: @unclestepdad1979 Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini Clips: May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications The Thing (1982) Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

Happy as a Clown with Mother Lucy Goose the Clown

Mother Lucy Goose sits down with Jake and Nick to tell them all about her clowning journey and how it helped her reconnect with herself and laugh again after a bad time in her life. She also discussed the online versus in-person clown communities, advice for people looking to get into clowning, the differences between clown styles, and how to use clowning to fight back against oppression and connect with the people in your community better. If you fell in love with Lucy Goose like we did, here's where you can find and support her: https://linktr.ee/motherlucygoose Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini Clips: May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications The Thing (1982) Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

Whimsy-Maxxing with Cait the Clown

Now that we've laid the foundation for what the clown community is and some of the benefits it can provide its members, we wanted to talk with some actual clowns and get their perspective! Jake and Maisy sit down with Cait the Clown: professional children's clown, emotional support clown, and possibly the nicest person on the internet. We discuss the clowning journey, how she built her local community in Massachusetts, and the online versus in-person clowning community. You can also expect to hear a lot about how silliness and tomfoolery can be powerful tools for resistance and change in the face of oppression. If you fell in love with Cait like we did, here's where you can find and support her: https://linktr.ee/caittheclown Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini Clips: May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications The Thing (1982) Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

Community Spotlight: Clowns

Making Friends is all about friendship and communities, and we've talked a lot about friendship, so let's get into the communities. For our very first community spotlight episode, we dug into the history of clowns and how clowns come together to help each other and the world as a whole. Clowns are silly, but don't fall into the trap of not taking them seriously - clowns can teach us a lot about how to be better friends and better people in general. Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini Clips: May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications The Thing (1982) Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

ADHD, Perverts, & Boy Moms with Erin Harris

Y'all ever have such a good gossip sesh with your friends that you run the gamut of laughing so hard you cry to talking about your deepest traumas? That's what this interview feels like. Jake and Maisy sit down with their friend Erin Harris to talk about things like childhood bullying, how to build a healthy marriage, and raising a boy to be a good person in this perilous modern world. All the while running down numerous ADHD rabbit holes about everything from raptor screams to hallucinogens. This one is so much fun, so grab a beverage and tuck in. TW: Alcoholism, drug use, child abuse, CSA, bullying, suicide, sexuality Music: Friends (Instrumental) - Whodini Clips: May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications The Thing (1982) Ms. Rachel - "Learn About Emotions and Feelings"

The Annotated Book Club: Fight Club

It's our tenth episode, and we're celebrating it with possibly the most influential book on American masculinity in pop culture: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Jake, Maisy, and Jordan sit down to discuss the unique time period of the 90s, Fight Club, the book and its movie adaptation, and how they have influenced masculinity, politics, and the current state of affairs. This one's a real chunky episode, so grab a snack and strap in! It's a good one, I promise. Also, there's a lot of wrestling talk in this one, fair warning up top. TW: Physical violence, sexuality, misogyny, racism Support Your Local Library Music: Nick DiMarco Clips: The Pagemaster (1994) Henry Rollins on the Joy of Writing The Twilight Zone - "The Obsolete Man" (TV Episode 1961) The Princess Bride (1987)

Double Date! PART TWO with Jake & Maisy and Nick & Kim

We're back again this week with part two of our Double Date episode with Nick, Kim, Jake, & Maisy! This time we're talking all about relationship dynamics and how we create and maintain our healthy romantic relationships. We discuss conflict resolution, love languages, and date night plans. Hope you enjoy! TW: Mental health, relationship struggles Music: Call Me Baby (Instrumental Version) - John Runefelt

Double Date! with Jake & Maisy and Nick & Kim

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

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