1000 w/ Ron Placone

Colin Hernandez is a Democratic Socialist and Candidate for CA Assembly District 51. He was recommended to me by a trusted colleague, as somebody trying to use the levers of elected office for good. Ahoy! Midterms ahead!

Danilo Napoli is an actor, writer, and producer from Italy. I saw his show, This Show Has Been Canceled (Due To The End Of The World), and it was absolutely brilliant. It tackles climate change, and it’s unapologetically anti-capitalist. Plus it’s Italian? We had drinks after, as Michael Blaha of Fringe Management produced the show and he also produced Termination Fee. Unsurprisingly, Danilo and I got along pretty well.

Cyrus Naderpour is a comedian and, now, an influencer. He also used to co-produce one of the most successful shows in LA before it folded. We talk the journey and finding our place in all of it. Please welcome to the show, Cyrus Naderpour.

Jon Schnitzer is a comedian and filmmaker. His latest Fringe show, “Something Spooky,” took the Hollywood Fringe by storm. His first show, “Just the Tip,” which is about his upbringing learning about Zionism and then later questioning everything, was beloved around the country.

Ester Maria Segretto is a photographer and author. She is an Italian-American, who, like myself, celebrates the culture and food but found herself at odds with the conservative political undertones that often accompanied it. Thanks to organizations like PIACE and Italians Against Fascism and others, we’ve been finding our people and each other.

Adam Cagley is an actor and writer. He’s been doing the Hollywood thing since he was kid. He got to work with Jeremy Allen White when he played Lip’s roommate on Shameless. Then, he walked away from all of it to become a Horror Writer. Books no less. We talk about his journey.

Dennis Trainor Jr. is an actor, writer, and stage performer. He was the Communications Director for Jill Stein, and he was active during both Occupy and the early days of political YouTube with his channel, Acronym TV. We’ve both distanced ourselves from the YouTube space some. Another thing we have in common: We’re both Edinburgh Fringe bound this year, 2026. 

Ready to talk about sex? Billy Procida is a sex-positive comedian and self-proclaimed whore. He’s the host of the Manwhore podcast, and founder of the Naked Comedy Show, which constantly sells out. I met Billy at a comedy festival over 10 years ago when he was still finding his footing in all of this.

Mike Siegel is a comedian, TV Host, and podcaster. He hosts one of my favorite podcasts, Travel Tales with Mike Siegel. I was lucky enough to guest on there twice. We talk the crumbling industry in LA, what it means to be creatively fulfilled, the infectious allure of wanting to see the world, and he’s got a pretty interesting dilemma coming up involving the World Cup.

John F. O’Donnell is a comedian, TV Host, and Mental Health Advocate. We’ve been friends since the Redacted Tonight days. Those were simpler times when people genuinely believed that left-wing comedians were Russian spies. Somehow, things have gotten even crazier.

Laura House is a comedian, podcaster, and an Emmy Nominated TV Writer. CBS, HBO, the BBC, all on her resume. She also has a very helpful perspective on how to handle the times we’re living through.

Brandie Posey is a comedian, podcaster, and record label owner. Her new special, Milk Job, is out now and her label is Burn This Records. She brings a punk rock DIY ethos to putting out comedy albums, which is beyond a breath of fresh air amidst a crumbling, fascist friendly industry. We break it down the only way two lefty millennials know how.

George De Stefano is an author, journalist, and critic. In my show, Anti-Fascist Pasta Night, I make reference to MAGAroni, a new moniker for right-wing Italian-Americans. I knew I needed to find the inventor of this hysterical slogan. Well, George is the inventor! Please welcome to the show, the creator of the MAGAroni tag, among so many other amazing things.

Daniel Mate is a musician, playwright, author, and podcaster. He recently co-authored a book with his father, Dr. Gabor Mate, and he’s the co-host of the Bad Hasbara podcast.

Nick O’Malley is the singer/songwriter for the Wisconsin leftist punk band, The First Rule. Also, as a resident of Kenosha, he has a first hand perspective on the event, trial, and murders, and yes they were murders, committed by Kyle Rittenhouse.

Katie Compa is a comedian. Her new album, Incurable Optimist, is out now. She lives in NYC and was active with the Mamdani campaign. She co-hosts a podcast called Kid/Life Crisis, that goes in-depth about their guest’s decision on whether or not to have children. Which is quite the topic given the state of the world...

Mike LoBello is an organizer who has been instrumental in the rise of the Italian-American Left in New York. He helped organize the Italians for a General Strike demonstration in Brooklyn. His speech was incredible, it was about his family being Partisans. It literally brought me to tears. I didn’t even know he was because he does not use his name for his IG account. I found out who he was, and immediately sent him a 1000 invite.

Madinah Wilson-Anton is an elected official in the state of Delaware, and a comedian. Also, she’s a polyglot! At least I would say she is, I guess some people define it differently. We have an in-depth conversation about how she weaved her web, and the inside-outside strategy for change. Myself being on the outside, and her being on the inside.

Nolan Higdon is a political analyst, author, and academic. He writes the Gaslight Gazette on Substack and works with the amazing, Project Censored. We first cross paths via Substack over a cordial disagreement on Section 230, and started collaborating. Yay Substack!

Black Guy Fawkes is a musician. I first came across him when I saw a video of him covering an Against Me song. I became an instant fan. Aside from the great music, his story is one of the importance and challenge of finding your community amidst these difficult times. Said challenge is not a destination, it’s a journey. One that we’re all still on. Please welcome to the show, Black Guy Fawkes. 

Dennis Kucinich is a public official. He’s been a Mayor, State Senator, Congress Member, and Candidate for President of the United States. He is, in my opinion, one of the few out there who has genuinely tried to use public office, as corrupt as it is, for good. We talk about his history, the current state of affairs, and even a few points of disagreement.

Craig Pasta Jardula is a Journalist and YouTuber. Also, we’re friends, at one point we were roommates. Pasta and I were both part of the Bernie movement. When that fractured, we went different ways. I’ve been curious about that fracturing, so I decided Pasta was somebody I needed to ask about it. We see things differently. We’re not aligned on issues such as Covid, Kyle Rittenhouse, and social issues. We talk about it, and its impact on the splintering of a movement that once, at least in my opinion, had potential, and hopefully will again.

Jake Flores is a comedian and podcaster. I first cross paths with Jake when he was a guest on The Jimmy Dore Show many years ago (when it was a much different show), and have been following his path ever since. He’s a huge contributor to the left podcasting space, and he’s never been shy to call out what’s been happening politically in the stand-up comedy world amidst this fascist rise.

David Rovics is a musician, songwriter, anarchist, and activist. I’ve been listening to David for over 20 years, having first discovered his music when the Iraq War jolted me awake and I started participating in the anti-war movement in the United States. If you’re not familiar with him, you are about to learn why this is the perfect episode for St. Patrick’s Day.

Last week we had Zac Polston, well, this is the other half of the Vanguard. Gavin Charles is a YouTuber, Journalist, and Filmmaker. He’s the creator of the Found Footage Indie Horror series, No Clip, and, as mentioned, he’s the co-host of the YouTube Breadtube show, the Vanguard.

Zac Polston, known on YouTube as Zac from the Vanguard, is a YouTuber, Journalist, and Filmmaker. He’s the co-host of the Lefty Breadtube show, The Vanguard. They do a news show from a progressive point of view, and dissect the inter-fightings of indie lefty media. Also, they talk film, sports, and culture as 2 dudes from Kansas City.

John-Michael Bond is a writer and comedian. He’s had quite a life. The son of a preacher, Americore, being held up at gun point, and that’s barely scratching the surface. Punk rock, public broadband in Chattanooga, philosophy, politics, religion, and cats. This is everything 1000!

Sarah O’Connell is a show host, writer, and movie reviewer. I had the honor of being a guest on her show, she’s an incredible interviewer. She noticed things about Loner and Left At Wall that I didn’t even think of. She’s interviewed some of the biggest actors in the world. This is her story.

Jesse Ortiz is a med student and activist. He is the founder of the Instagram account, Italians for Zohran, an account in support of the election of Zohran Mamdani. It remains active post-Mamdani’s victory, as an outlet for leftist and progressive Italian-Americans (and everybody else, too) to gather and exchange ideas, and pushback against the commonly held generalization that Italian heritage in the US automatically means right-wing conservative.

Matt Lech is a podcast producer and media maker. He’s best known for Jacobin, Left Reckoning, and the Majority Report. We both dwelled or currently dwell in similar YouTube spaces and we’re both anti-capitalist. Lot of talk about the current state of affairs in this one.

Matt Kirshen is a comedian, writer, and podcast host. He’s one of the co-hosts of Probably Science, one of my favorite comedy podcasts that incorporates science news. Matt and I first met at a live show of the Infinite Monkey Cage and then reconnected when I moved to LA. He’s one of my favorite comics to watch.

Ramsey Kanaan is a musician, anarchist, and publisher. He is the founder of AK Press and, later, PM Press. I’ve been a fan of PM Press for many years, I highly recommend diving into their catalog if you’re not already familiar, it’s one of the best out there. They’ve tabled at some of our events over the years. We talk Ramsey's origin story from Scotland to San Francisco, what it means to him to be an Anarchist, the contemporary state of Socialism, and, of course, punk rock.

David Whitney is a London-based actor and comedian. He helps run one of my favorite comedy clubs in the world, not an exaggeration, the Backyard Comedy Club in London. Turns out David went from Drama School, to getting booked to do stand-up in LA, only problem was, David had never done Stand-up. What? We go through it, buckle in for a wild creative journey!

Mary Houlihan is a comedian, writer, and artist. She’s the host of the Mary Houlihan Show and she paints live on Twitch. She had an interview with Martin Shkreli that I thought was hilarious and exposed and unmasked him.

Sara Kay Godot is an actress, comedian, and producer. Her and I have collaborated on an awful lot. She was in Loner, Left At Wall, and Termination Fee. Termination Fee began as a read through at a pizza place. It went on to do the Hollywood Fringe, sold out 60% of the run, got nominated for an award, and its film version is currently in post-production. Sara was a driving force behind all of that, so we’ve had quite a year.

Tim Warner is a comedian, podcaster, and filmmaker. Most importantly, though, he’s Tim Warner. I’ve known Tim for a long time. We did comedy together in Seattle when I was first starting out, he had been doing it in New York a few years prior. Tim released a short film on YouTube called Quitter. I loved it. It captured what I was trying to do in a short film we did (also on YouTube), Loner, but, at least in my opinion, didn’t quite capture. Quitter was done, exclusively, on a phone. We dive into it.

Chris Liatsis is an artist and illustrator. He is the other half of Lucy & Ron. I would write them, Chris would draw them. Lucy & Ron was a labor of love for us for a long time, out of necessity, it was an on-again off-again pursuit. At one point in our professional and personal relationship, I messed up. Fortunately, we were able to reconcile, and we revisit that time in this interview. This is an episode about friendship, collaboration, love, loss, art, and growing up Greek.

Andrew Saxena. You’ve heard that name before on this show, Andrew does the music for 1000. Andrew Saxena is a filmmaker, musician, actor, and podcaster. Andrew and I met a few years back in the lefty creator space in San Pedro. He was a huge part of Left At Wall, Frank Azurri, Termination Fee, and there’s another project we’re working on that has to do with cats. Also, we’ve become close friends over the past few years. We talk online media and young Andrew's escape from the Alex Jones cult, discovering punk rock in middle school, hanging out with David Lynch, CATS....This episode is everything that 1000 holds dear!

Jesse Case is a comedian, writer, and podcaster. Jesse’s one of the best comedians I know, and he’s a good friend. We spent our early comedy days in Seattle, Jesse went off to LA, and then, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer in his late 20s. He documented the whole thing in a podcast series called Jesse vs. Cancer, it’s absolutely brilliant. His journey’s wild, and we go through it.

Steve Cerulli is an Italian-American Historian. Like Steve, I’m an Italian-American, too. The Italian-American identity seems to be very right-wing-presenting, at least in the mainstream. But, that is far from reality. Steve’s work has exposed why that is the case in the contemporary United States, the scam that is Columbus Day, and so much more. In a landscape where all of the most powerful Italian-American organizations are praising Trump, Steve is among the voices of opposition.

Leila Leigh is an actress, writer, and podcaster. We first met amidst the online Lefty Bernie Movement. She’s the co-host of one of my favorite Lefty YouTube Shows, PunchUp Pod. In addition to podcasting, she’s done a ton in the indie film space, some of it with her husband, Josh Stolberg, who was Episode 98.

Dave Chawner is a speaker, comedian, and anorexia survivor. I first met Dave at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival because we had a similar timeslot and our venues were near each other. I think most people don’t understand how anorexia works, or even what it actually is. I include myself in this. Well, I wanted to learn more...

Hank Thompson is a video editor, writer, and comedian. Hank and I both worked at The Jimmy Dore Show, and overlapped a little bit. Hank also worked at The Young Turks, and was heavily involved in the Union efforts there. Hank was laid off. The TYT Union effort was a national story. For the past 2 years and counting, Hank’s been fighting to get his side of the story out there. This one’s a deep dive.

Christian Reilly is a musical comedian and self-proclaimed "MMT lover." Are you familiar with Modern Monetary Theory? Honestly, I don’t even know if it’s accurate to call it a 'theory' because it’s basically just the actual way money works. Christian breaks it down, and shares what got him into MMT in the first place.More MMT Stuff:(5-min read) Explainer: what is Modern Monetary Theory? By Steven Hail: https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-modern-monetary-theory-72095Re “What’s the solution?” (to most of the suffering caused by austerity policies, and mainstream economic policy in general): everything you need to know about the Job Guarantee in a really accessible format: https://pavlina-tcherneva.net/job-guarantee-faq/Our podcast on economics - The MMT Podcast with Patricia Pino & Christian Reilly: https://pileusmmt.libsyn.com/Or: https://www.patreon.com/MMTpodcastMy website: www.christreilly.comMe on Twitter, but mostly posting about econ: https://x.com/mmtpodcast

Bill Conway is a comedian, writer, and co-founder of The Hard Times. The Hard Times is basically the Onion, but for punk rock. You’ve probably heard of the Hard Times, you’ve definitely seen one of their headlines. Recently, after over a decade, Bill decided it was time for him to step down from The Hard Times. How do we know when it’s time to say goodbye to a creative endeavor? Especially when it’s a successful one?

Betsy Cox is a comedian, writer, and solo performer. Her Fringe show, “Broke B*tch Got Rich”, was among the most popular and talked about shows of the festival. At the award ceremony, she wore a cape that said “ADHD is my Super Power.” At a time when Eugenics is on the rise in the United States, it was powerful and encouraging to see. We talk about what it means, how she got out of a difficult background in New Orleans and got to Los Angeles, and navigating a life where one doesn’t fit in a box.

Chris Smith is a writer and performer. From a small farm in rural California to the movie business in LA, he’s had successes, failures, and has dealt with crushing loss. His Fringe show, Mine For the Tribe, tackles all of this, and takes a one-person deep dive into our search for meaning. I went to his show not really knowing what to expect. What is this tribe, anyway? I guess we’re all still searching, and that’s the point.

Before Lady Gaga, before Madonna, there was Johanna Went. Johanna Went is a performance artist. She found her home in the LA punk scene of the 1970s after a run doing experimental theater. The Minutemen opened for her. I got to meet her in Vetura because she was on a panel I was moderating for a screening of the film Desolation Center. I was stoked when she agreed to do the show.

I’ve known Joy Marie Mann awhile now. We’ve collaborated on a ton of shows. We met amidst the Bernie Movement in 2016, which seems like a different life at this point. In many ways it was. In the time I’ve known Joy, among other things, she lost most of her eyesight. Despite that unexpected hurdle, she’s written a few books. Recently, Joy wrote a book about Temujin Kensu. Temujin was convicted of a murder and has spent the last 38 years and counting in prison. The problem: There’s some serious holes in this conviction. We dive into it.

Jonathan Berman is producer, director, and academic. His documentaries include Calling All Earthlings, My Friend Paul, and Commune. Commune is coming up on its 20th Anniversary. It’s about a commune in California that started in the 60s, financed by rockstars, and still exists to this day. We dive into his origin story, and what made him want to chase the counterculture.