Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents three stories where facts, beliefs, and fabrications coincide. Essayist Samantha Irby debunks nature, fresh air, and sunshine in “A Case for Remaining Indoors,” performed by Retta. Rebecca Makkai shares tattered facts about a terrorist in “Everything We Know About the Bomber,” performed by John Cameron Mitchell. And Michael McKean brings a difficult prankster father to life in Walter Kirn’s “The Hoaxer.”
ACTORS & ARTISTS
Samantha Irby is the author of the essay collections Meaty; The New York Times bestseller We Are Never Meeting in Real Life; and New Year, Same Trash. She is also the author of the blog bitches gotta eat. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, In Our Words, and Jezebel, among other publications. Her new essay collection, Wow, No Thank You, will be published in 2020.
Jane Kaczmarek is best known for her role as Lois on Malcolm in the Middle, for which she received 7 consecutive Emmy nominations as well as nominations for the Golden Globe and SAG Awards. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Yale School of Drama, Kaczmarek made her screen debut on The Paper Chase and Hill Street Blues. Additional screen credits include Playing House, 6 Balloons, This Is Us, and Carol’s Second Act, among others. In New York, Kaczmarek has appeared on Broadway and off at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, the Public Theatre, New York Theater Workshop, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her recent theater credits include in Long Day's Journey Into Night, Our Town with Deaf West Theatre, The Year to Come
at La Jolla Playhouse, and Tell Me I’m Not Crazy at Williamstown.
Walter Kirn is the author of nine books, including the novels Thumbsucker and Up in the Air, both of which were adapted into films, and the nonfiction work Blood Will Out. He has written for publications including The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The Atlantic, New York Times Sunday Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, and Time, where he also serves as a contributing editor.
Rebecca Makkai is the author of the novels The Borrower
and The Hundred-Year House, as well as the short story collection Music for Wartime. Her most recent novel, The Great Believers, was honored with the Carnegie Medal and the Stonewall Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Her stories have appeared in publications such as Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Harper’s, Tin House, Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, The New Yorker, and the 2017 Pushcart Prize anthology. Makkai is the Artistic Director of Chicago’s StoryStudio.
Michael McKean is recognized for his film and television performances on Laverne & Shirley, Young Doctors in Love, This Is Spinal Tap, Clue, Coneheads, Saturday Night Live, The Brady Bunch Movie, Best in Show, The X-Files, A Mighty Wind, Food: Fact or Fiction?, and recent turns on Better Call Saul, for which he won a Satellite Award, The Good Place, Veep, and Good Omens. McKean has appeared on stage in productions of The Pajama Game, Our Town, Superior Donuts, King Lear, All the Way, The Little Foxes, and most recently, The True. He is also a Grammy winner for the title song in the film A Mighty Wind, shared with regular collaborators Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy. Upcoming projects include Playing God, Pink Skies Ahead, and Delilah.
John Cameron Mitchell is the co-creator of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He also directed the films Shortbus, Rabbit Hole, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties. His film and television credits as an actor include Girls, Vinyl, Mozart in the Jungle, Shrill, and The Good Fight. Recently he's been on a world tour with The Origin of Love: the Songs and Stories of Hedwig,
which culminated at Town Hall for 50th Pride next June. Mitchell is the co-creator of the new musical Anthem: Homunculus with Bryan Weller and featuring himself, Glenn Close, Denis O'Hare, Patti Lupone, Cynthia Erivo, and Nakhane, presented as a podcast by the Luminary Podcast Network.
Retta is an actress, comedian, and author, best known for portraying the beloved Donna Meagle for seven seasons on Parks & Recreation. She went on to star in four seasons of the Bravo series Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce. Additional film and television credits include Pinky Malinky, Good Boys, An Emmy for Megan, Where’s Waldo?, and Big Mouth. In 2018 she added author to her resume, publishing So Close to Being the Sh*t, Y’all Don’t Even Know, which is a hilarious retrospect on her career on entertainment. Retta is currently starring as Ruby on the NBC dramedy Good Girls.
