25 Minutes of Silence with Joey Clift

Gina Ippolito is a comedy writer who wrote for the ninth and final season of Cartoon Network’s Emmy Award winning program Regular Show. She also wrote for the 2016 reboot of the classic cartoon The Powerpuff Girls among other shows and is a co host of the G.I. Joe themed podcast “Knowing is Half the Podcast.” We could have talked about her extensive comedy writing resume, her childhood in Boonton Township, New Jersey or her current work as a champion of women’s rights* in the Los Angeles comedy community. Instead, we sat in silence for 25 minutes. I think Gina used that time to reply to e-mails.
* – My words, not hers.

Chris Ballew is the lead singer and ‘basitarist’ of the triple platinum selling alternative rock group The Presidents Of The United States of America. He also releases childrens music under the pseudonym Caspar Babypants. With his POTUSA’s songs “Lump”, “Peaches”, “Kitty” and “Love Everybody” Ballew’s music was basically the soundtrack to my youth. Between his decades in the music industry, his billboard chart topping hits, his work with director Roman Coppola, his multiple Grammy Award nominations and his immense creative output there’s a lot we could have talked about. Instead, we sat in silence for 25 minutes. He used that time to package CDs for a charity fundraiser.

If you were to describe Scout Durwood in two words, those words would be “boundless optimism.” Whether she’s acting as Jordan, co star of the MTV show Mary + Jane, acting as herself in Oxygen’s Funny Girls or performing stand up and music in some of Los Angeles’ best comedy clubs, Scout does it with optimism. Scout and I talked for close to an hour about what it takes to be successful in the entertainment industry, creating your own work and her personal tagline “just keep swimming.” Instead of recording that, we recorded the two of us sitting in silence for 25 minutes. She used that time to work on a screenplay while I finished reading a digital copy of the book “Dream It! Screw It!” by Geoffrey Golden.

Matt Lieberman is a social media renaissance man. He is a correspondent for Sourcfed, a writer / performer for the sketch comedy youtube channel Nuclear Family and io West’s DJ Faucet, and a life advice guru for all of his Lieberfriends. Matt understands the internet and content creation in a way that few people do and we could all benefit from his advice. Instead of seeking any of that, we sat in silence for 25 minutes. About halfway through this episode my microphone started picking up a weird clicking noise. I don’t know what that’s about.

Diona Reasonover is one of the funniest people that I know. From playing the role of Charmaine on the TBS series “Clipped” to performing on Maude Night at the UCB Theatre with her team “Bombardier” to her stints writing for truTV’s “Adam Ruin’s Everything” and Jill Soloway’s “I Love Dick” Diona is a shining example of hard work paying off. With her experience, she’d be a great person to interview but instead of talking about her background we just sat in silence for 25 minutes. We used that time to work on a bird puzzle.

You may know Maddox as the author of the New York Times best selling book “The Alphabet of Manliness,” the creator of ” The Best Page in the Universe” or as the host of the podcast “The Best Debate In The Universe.” He and I had a long conversation about what it takes to be successful as an online content creator and he really opened up to me about his past and his creative process before we started recording. After we started recording we sat in silence for 25 minutes. He used that time to work on his third book which does not yet have a title.

Beth Appel is the current Artistic Director of the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. You may have seen her on MTV and TruTV or in her hilarious one woman show “Beth Appel: Sexiest Woman Alive.” Between Harold Auditions and her many credits, there was a lot to talk about. Instead, we sat in silence for 25 minutes. I believe she used that time to work on a screenplay.

 

The theme song to the podcast "25 Minutes of Silence." If you want to pretend you're a guest on 25 minutes of silence, just listen to this and then sit in silence for 25 minutes.