PODCAST · comedy
This Week in Despair with Peter-john Byrnes
by Peter-john Byrnes
This Week in Despair is a comedy podcast summary of the week's news, hosted by Peter–john Byrnes.
Episodes
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Episode 115 - Lisa Cohen and Cynthia Kaplan
The show rediscovered the mission statement inherent in its title this week, as the 2016 Presidential election came to a close with a twist ending that no one expected, not even the candidates. Lisa Cohen and Cynthia Kaplan join me to sort through our shock, provide irresponsible speculation as…
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Episode 110 - Trace Beaulieu
On this Very Special Episode, I am pleased to welcome Trace Beaulieu, the man who was both Dr. Forrester and Crow on the beloved television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. This poor man gets dragged into our usual nonsense about the Panama Papers, black lesbians from Skokie, and a planet…
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Episode 64 - Stephanie Hasz and Mike Lawrence
In the middle of a week of sub-zero temperatures, Mike Lawrence came through Chicago and sat down with Stephanie Hasz to talk about Chris Christie and Bridge-gate and a man who hasn't bathed in 60 years, but then we mostly ended up talking about television shows. A story about Cormac McCarthy's...
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Episode 103 - Live from Iowa 2016
It's Election Season, and the podcast goes on the road to report live from the Iowa Democratic Caucuses, and brought Tim Barnes and Cody Melcher along for sociological experimentation. Interviews with local Democratic party officials and a live segement from the caucus site in Dubuque are in the...
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Episode 102 - Erik Niewiarowski and Kyle Scanlan
David Bowie is dead, and I'm not feeling too good myself. Joining me to discuss his legacy are Erik Niewiarowski and Kyle Scanlan, who also indulge me in a discussion of the upcoming election season, an update on the militia in Oregon and the care packages they've received, and Rupert Murdoch's...
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Episode 101 - Reena Calm and Mary Zee
It was the week that a bunch of ill-prepared rancher militiamen took over a federal building and Oregon, and Reena Calm and Mary Zee were both there to help me make fun of them. Obama was accused of fake crying over gun deaths, when it really should have been Rahm Emanuel. A discussion of the...
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Episode 87 - Sonia Denis and Xavier Lamont
It was the week of the protests and riots in Baltimore after the killing of yet another unarmed man by police, capping off a year of terrible misery. Joining me to explain why their black lives matter are Sonia Denis and Xavier Lamont, who talk about their own experiences, both of casual racism…
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Episode 93 - Bill Bullock and Stephanie Hasz
It was a week during which in the wake of yet another gun massacre, President Obama got mad instead of sad, and America spent the week shouting at one another. Also, Volkswagen is poisoning the world, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron really likes pork, and even the possiblity of water on Mars...
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Episode 60 - Jamie Campbell and Sherman Edwards
It's the week that Nelson Mandela died and Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson got fired, so as far as racism goes it was pretty much a draw. Jamie Campbell and Sherman Edwards join me to sort through it all, plus several stories about foreign objects being inserted into people for the purposes of art....
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Episode 59 - Adam Burke and Stephanie Hasz
In this live episode from The Hungry Brain, Adam Burke and Stephanie Hasz help me celebrate Thanksgiving by discussing Toronto mayor Rob Ford and abstinence education in Texas. The 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination is handled in the show's usual tasteful manner. The panel reminisces...
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Episode 58 - Cody Melcher, Dave Stinton, and Alexandra Tsarpalas
It's the beginning of the charity season, and your host isn't feeling particularly chartiable. Returning veterans Cody Melcher, Alexandra Tsarpalas, and Dave Stinton are dragged into the cynical mire. Compassion fatigue and inefficient charities are discussed. A what-if scenario is discussed in...
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Episode 57 - Chad Briggs and Goodrich Gevaart
Chicago has a new mass transit card, and it's terrible. Veteran despairer Chad Briggs joins newcomer and gigglepuss Goodrich Gevaart to discuss that horror, plus the nightmare of modern customer service. Edward Snowden's government theft is compared to that of Fat Lenny, who ripped off the Navy…
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Episode 56 - Bill Bullock and Sonia Denis
Regular guests Bill Bullock and Sonia Denis return to reveal their secret identities as Information Technology professionals for a discussion of Healthcare.gov, the failing Obamacare website. The NSA is also in the news as the discussion turns to privacy in the modern age or the lack thereof.…
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Episode 55 - Stephanie Hasz and Katie McVay
Returning champions Stephanie Hasz and Katie McVay join me for a live episode that needed to have the monologue re-recorded due to technical difficulties. Racist NFL owners and bisexual Disney princesses are in the news, plus menstruating t-shirts make an appearance. Katie knows things about...
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Episode 54 - The Byrnes Sisters Strike Again
In previous episodes, my sisters have ruined Christmas, and Memorial Day. Now they ruin a funeral. This episode was recorded after attending the funeral of a close family member, and my sisters help produce an episode where the humor is as black as pitch. It's the full set of Kubler-Ross stages,...
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Episode 53 - Andy Fleming, Jason Earl Folks, and Derek Sheen
It's our first-ever three-guest show! Seattle comic Derek Sheen is in town to join stalwart regulars Andy Fleming and Jason Earl Folks on a week where the government has been shut down, giant Chinese wasps fill the air, lizard people roam the streets undetected, and local restaurants are serving...
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Episode 52 - Matt Drufke and Joe Herrmann
Fellow comedy dads, über-nerds, and loud laughers Matt Drufke and Joe Herrmann join me on a week where Ted Cruz redefines a waste of time on the floor of the Senate. Pregnant priests, warp drive, and the deliciousness of babies all get discussed. We get nostalgic for how Rodney King was merely...
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Episode 51 - Adam Burke and Stephanie Hasz
Adam Burke and Stephanie Hasz are my two most frequent guests, but they've never appeared together on an episode...until now. On this special LIVE episode from Chicago's Hungry Brain, we have to sort through the wreckage of yet another gun massacre, plus the Costa Concordia makes a surprise…
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Episode 50 - Stephanie Hasz and Nathan Rabin
Our 50th episode is also one of our most entertaining. First-time guest Nathan Rabin and long-time regular guest Stephanie Hasz join me for a discussion about Miss America, Juggalos, and Vladimir Putin. Our historical relationship with Russia is explained thorugh the filter of Rocky IV and Hawaii...
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Episode 49 - Will Miles and Liza Treyger
We recorded this episode on September 11th, which is like Christmas for despair fetishists. Will Miles and Liza Treyger join in my nostalgia for terrible things, as George Zimmerman popping up in the news gives us an opportunity to review the Trayvon Martin case, and an analysis of Syria and...
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Episode 48 - James Fritz and Zach Peterson
On our very first ever live episode, delivered to a largely indifferent coffeeshop audience at the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, we're joined by one of the guests on our very first episode, James Fritz, because sometimes you want a friend when you go skydiving without a parachute. He's joined by...
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Episode 47 - Ralph Hardesty and Kerri Lendo
It was a week where reporters threatened to murder whistleblowers and a racist rodeo clown was the toast of FOX News, so what better week to go visit Austin, Texas? Recorded during the Out of Bounds Festival, this episode features two of Austin's finest, Ralph Hardesty and star of stage and…
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Episode 46 - Sonia Denis and Charlie Rohrer
It's a week when there's a new Royal Baby and a new panelist on The View, so first-time guest Charlie Rohrer is joined by the canny veteran Sonia Denis to help sort it all out. Charlie doesn't like babies. Sonia doesn't like anyone. Genital-hungry Israeli snakes, Jenny McCarthy and other horrible...
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Episode 45 - Ever Mainard and Cody Melcher
On the week where the Defense of Marriage Act was struck down, we convene a demographically-accurate all-gay Texan panel of frequent guests Ever Mainard and Cody Melcher, who discuss Rick Perry, Playboy bunny art installations, and how it feels to win one for a change. Ever and Cody perform their...
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Episode 44 - Sonia Denis and Andy Fleming
Regular panelists Sonia Denis and Andy Fleming are back for a very strange episode in which a discussion of Paula Deen and Rupert Murdoch is delayed so I can explain the plot of Last Tango in Paris and give a brief history of sexual lubricant. Other topics include eyeball licking and...
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Episode 43 - Drew Frees and Stewart Huff
From the heart of Bloomington IN, Drew Frees and Stewart Huff join me for our first remote recording, made during the Limestone Comedy Festival. It's a episode in which the difficulty of major social change is discussed in the wake of the NSA scandal, and how the poor are well and truly screwed…
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Episode 42 - The Return of the Byrnes Sisters
My sisters previously ruined Christmas, and now they're back to ruin another holiday. Memorial Day usually means cookouts, and on this food-themed show we discuss marijuana-infused bacon, insect-based protein, and how everything gives you cancer. Suzanne makes a brave stand against poisioning…
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Episode 41 - Cody Melcher and Ranjit Souri
The co-hosts of the delightful podcast Tomefoolery, Cody Melcher and Ranjit Souri, don their tinfoil hats and join me on a trip down the rabbit hole, as the news this week leads us to a series of conspiracy theories. The IRS scandal and Benghazi are given their due, but also the theory that...
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Episode 40 - Steve Walker and Brian Wille
This week, Steve Walker and Brian Wille join me for a discussion of bodily horrors, with multiple stories of terrible things being inserted or excreted from a cornucopia of orifices. The revenge of bees, and the 3-D printing of guns also come in for scrutiny. I am accused of working for the NSA....
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Episode 39 - Joel Ingersoll
Sometimes the peril of doing a topical show is that you end up processing tragedy in real-time. When my guest Joel Ingersoll agreed to do the show months in advance on a trip through Chicago, he had no idea that he'd be talking about the bombing at the Boston Marathon, which happened just days...
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Episode 38 - Andy Fleming and Stephanie Hasz
Frequent guests and good-but-not-great friends Andy Fleming and Stephanie Hasz have never appeared together on the show, and their pairing results in utter insanity. The sexiness of Elizabeth Warren is discussed. Bob Woodward is explained and defamed again. Sex is Zimbabwe is revealed to be...
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Episode 37 - Chad Briggs and Cody Melcher
Our first-ever star-spangled all-Texas panel of Chad Briggs and Cody Melcher demonstrate just what a wide demographic diversity that state really has. It's a week where horsemeat and beauty-pageant show ponies were in the news, as well as the animals behind Girls Gone Wild. Chad and I try once…
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Episode 36 - Bill Cruz and Sean White
The very entertaining and thoughtful pair of Bill Cruz and Sean White join me to discuss papal conspiracy theories, historically-significant pornography collections of the non-Vatican variety, and sacred jelly. Sean and Bill educate me on TSA security holes. Racist math problems are examined.…
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Episode 35 - Maggie Ednie and Michael Ortiz
On a week where the United States government announced it had the right to kill its citizens without trial if they are considered an imminent threat, returning guests Maggie Ednie and Mike Ortiz are very patient with me as I rail about government overreach and sing the praises of the US Postal...
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Episode 34 - Alexandra Tsarpalas and Mike Wiley
On a week where North Korea dominated the news, Alexandra Tsarpalas and Mike Wiley come to discuss Pacific Rim geopolitics and the Benghazi hearings, but stay for the more serious matters of unauthorized silicone butt injections in Miami, and "Flamy," the ill-conceived Brazilian hospital mascot…
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Episode 33 - Joe McAdam
Joe McAdam joins me for a particularly free-wheeling episode, where everything from Iranian Space Monkeys to Bedbugs to Hitler's fabled Lost Toilet were in the news. The NRA compiles a ilst of enemies that sounds like a sad Hollywood Squares cast list. A discussion of poisonous vaginas lead to a...
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Episode 32 - Adam Burke and James Burke
Regular guest Adam Burke returns, this time accompanied by his brother Jim, for an off-beat episode with an international flair, wherein we sit around and tell stories of travel and journeys. Adam and Jim talk about their early years in Australia, and summer holidays in Spain. Jim has a tale of...
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Episode 31 - Bill Bullock and Megan Gailey
It's a week when Notre Dame football is in the news, so who better to bring on the show than Naked Sports Live Host Megan Gailey, and Notre Dame alum Bill Bullock? This marks the first time on the show that I know the least about the subject at hand. We all share on this episode. Bill tells us…
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Episode 30 - The Byrnes Sisters
My sisters, Jessica and Suzanne, are my guests this episode with the intention of sharing Christmas memories from our childhood and adulthood, but instead reveal themselves to be horrible, horrible people. Grandmothers are mocked. Nutloaf is discussed. A story is told of enemas purchased in…
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Episode 29 - Adam Burke and Kenny DeForest
One of our favorite regular guests, Adam Burke, is joined by newcomer Kenny DeForest to help with a recap of 2012. Adam and Kenny share their love of Gangham Style. Fan-favorite subjects Bigfoot and The Girl with the Anal Tattoo make return appearances. Kenny gives his plans for introducing world...
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Episode 28 - Andy Fleming and Emily Lake
Never has our show's title been more appropriate as on this episode, recorded the day after the Sandy Hook Elementary School gun massacre. Andy Fleming and Emily Lake endure the blast of the angriest opening monologue ever recorded on the show, then help me dissect the arguments that allow these...
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Episode 27 - Anthony McBrien and Nate Simmons
The first of two episodes where our gun culture is discussed, this episode was recorded immediately prior to the Sandy Hook massacre. Anthony McBrien and Nate Simmons join me for a conversation heavy with historic irony as we discuss the gun culture as it relates to the NFL, but also covers Katt...
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Episode 26 - Stephanie Hasz and Danny Kallas
Hostess has filed for bankuptcy, Twinkie speculation is running rampant, and Stephanie Hasz and Danny Kallas join me to make sense of it all. On a very food-oriented episode, we cover Danny's love for Olive Garden, Stephanie's dislike of sweets, and my knowledge of kosher Dunkin' Donuts in the...
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Episode 25 - Rachel Baron Singer and Henry Birdseye III
There was a Presidential election this week, but there were far more weightier matters at hand, like the premiere of a new James Bond movie. Ian Fleming expert Rachel Baron Singer and Ian Fleming novice Henry Birdseye III join me for an in-depth discussion of Bond movies past and present. Rachel...
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Episode 24 - Drew Michael
Drew Michael and I don't agree on much, politically, but we do agree that we like our periodic spirited discussions, and one another. He joins me for what turns out to be an audio version of My Dinner with Andre, with beastiality jokes. This Very Special Episode is being released deliberately…
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Episode 23 - Rhea Butcher and Cameron Esposito
And sometimes, you just want to take a break from news and politics and talk about the movies with your friends. The utterly charming Rhea Butcher returns, accompanied by the no-less-charming Cameron Esposito, to talk about the recent DVD releases The Avengers, Prometheus, and The Dark Knight...
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Episode 22 - Ted Alexandro and Adam Burke
Ted Alexandro and Adam Burke are in the studio with me for a surprisingly serious and considered discussion of what gets left out of our national political discourse. I make an argument for mob violence against Wall Street executives. Adam tells us about The Scottish Streaker. Ted explains how...
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Episode 21 - Jessica Byrnes and Brian Wille
My sister Jessica Byrnes makes a return appearance, accompanied by local man-about-town Brian Wille. The VP debate is quickly discussed and dismissed in favor of Lance Armstrong's testicle, a murder-castration in New York, and the linking of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Flowers in the Attic. Jessica...
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Episode 20 - Maggie Ednie and James Fritz
The dismal first Presidential Debate sends regular guest James Fritz and me into a spiral from which we self-medicate by discussing Texas spanking rules, horse sex, and Koren eunuchs. Maggie Ednie comes along for the ride and shares her disdain for media-baiting scientific studies. James reveals...
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Episode 19 - Andy Fleming and Natalie Jose
On this episode Andy Fleming and Natalie Jose join me for a particularly biological discussion. Boobs of the Hooters and Kate Middleton variety make an appearance, so to speak, and we wind up the episode sharing childbirth stories. My prostate makes a special guest appearance. Natalie details her...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
This Week in Despair is a comedy podcast summary of the week's news, hosted by Peter–john Byrnes.
HOSTED BY
Peter-john Byrnes
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How many episodes does This Week in Despair with Peter-john Byrnes have?
This Week in Despair with Peter-john Byrnes currently has 67 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is This Week in Despair with Peter-john Byrnes about?
This Week in Despair is a comedy podcast summary of the week's news, hosted by Peter–john Byrnes.
How often does This Week in Despair with Peter-john Byrnes release new episodes?
This Week in Despair with Peter-john Byrnes has 67 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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Who hosts This Week in Despair with Peter-john Byrnes?
This Week in Despair with Peter-john Byrnes is created and hosted by Peter-john Byrnes.
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