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PODCAST · fiction

WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake

by Moon Street Media

A cold reading of James Joyce’s "Finnegans Wake" just to hear it out loud.

Publisher-supplied feed metadata · PodParley refreshed Apr 30, 2025 · Source feed

Episodes

  1. Bonus Episode: WAKE in Ireland

    Long-promised, finally delivered! No, Toby and TJ didn't get their Finnegans Wake tattoos yet (it might happen one day), but we are finally back to talk about half of WAKE's epic visit to Ireland! Listen to the audio podcast but also hop on over to YouTube to enjoy the first-ever visual WAKE,...

  2. Episode 41: Pluribus and Finnegans Wake

    Vince Gilligan called, and WAKE answered! Toby and TJ are back for this special episode of WAKE, in response to the casual name-dropping of Finnegans Wake in the new Apple+ series, Pluribus. We spend some spoiler-filled time (spoiling the ending of both Pluribus AND Finnegans Wake) discussing…

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  3. Bonus: George Koors in the wake of the Wake

    As we bask in the wake of completing the Wake, Toby and TJ welcome renowned author, librarian, academic, and bookfluencer George Koors to discuss how to get into the Wake, as well as what to do after it's done. We discuss the benefits and risks of BookTok, Bookstagram, and BookTube, the…

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  4. Episode 40: Finishing WAKE

    We can't believe it. Can you believe it? We actually finished reading Finnegans Wake. What started out as a podcast to read an "unreadable book" has turned into a journey that has endeared us to a magical community, connected with our family and friends, and reawakened our sense of what art can…

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  5. Episode 39: 4.1 (Part 2), p613-628

    There's nothing quite like ticking off a bucket list item, and today is the day, where Toby and TJ come to the end of the long reading road to finally finish Finnegans Wake. Before we get there, though, we have superstar guest Neil Wechsler to guide us through his favourite section of the book,...

  6. Bonus: WAKE: The Album with Tommy Mackay

    In the grand tradition of Finnegans Wake, WAKE has looped back around on itself to become a self-generating machine, as we welcome back musical innovator and the most reckless of stramashers, Tommy Mackay, to talk about WAKE: the Album! Yes, this very podcast is honoured to be the inspiration for...

  7. Episode 38: 4.1 (Part 1), p593-613

    Book Four is upon us, and it is with mixed feelings, both excited and sad, that we launch into the final segments of Finnegans Wake. Helping us along the way is fan-favourite WAKE veteran, internationally-acclaimed author, Lucy "old rubberskin" Brazier, who helps us get into a typically ribald...

  8. Bonus: Professors Adrien Peyrache and Arjun Krishnaswamy on Wake and the Sleeping Brain

    If sleep is the panacea of all ills, WAKE has found the very experts who can tell you exactly why that’s the case! On this week’s special bonus episode, Toby and TJ welcome internationally renowned neuroscientists, Professors Adrian Peyrache and Arjun Krishnaswamy, to talk about what’s going on...

  9. Bonus: Fionnán O’Connor on Whiskey and the Wake (or, Jamessan’s Slake)

    Flushed with their firestuffostered friendship, WAKE celebrates St. Patrick’s Day by exploring all of the many ways that Finnegans Wake refers to whiskey: Ireland’s beloved, potent créatúr. Joined by world whiskey historian and former Sweny’s volunteer Fionnán O’Connor, we explode some myths...

  10. Bonus: Igor Belokrinitsky and the Ukrainian Wake in Progress Reading Group

    With stubbornness and defiance, WAKE welcomes the wonderful Igor Belokrinitsky, representative of the Ukrainian Wake in Progress Finnegans Wake reading group! Igor joins Toby and TJ for a wide-ranging conversation about the true meaning of indomitability, where Joyce stands in to tell prescient...

  11. Bonus: Neal Kosaly-Meyer and Memorising the Wake

    Ever have trouble remembering things? Phone numbers? Grocery lists? Names of casual acquaintances? If so, get ready to feel very self-conscious, because on this week's WAKE, we meet the indomitable Neal Kosaly-Meyer, a musician who decided, entirely of his own volition, to spend seventeen years...

  12. Bonus: Peter O'Brien and Wake-inspired Art

    Peter O’Brien is an artist, a visionary, and a life-long Joycean, with the energy to not only dream up one major Finnegans Wake-centric artistic offshoot, but is busy scheming about how to top it. We first became aware of Peter as a brilliant artist, using “letterism” to artistically annotate the...

  13. Episode 37: Book Three Recap

    It's an episode to savour, as Toby and TJ look back on the always entertaining Book 3 of the Wake, and all the fun we had along the way. With great guests, amazing community, purist support, and laughs aplenty, Book 3 has been all the fun you'd expect from the segment of the Wake set just before...

  14. Episode 36: 3.4 (Part 2), p572-590

    It's an episode of WAKE to make Grim Grandma Grunt, as Toby and TJ return from a long reading break to finish up Book 3! With three special readers providing their dulcet tones, we discuss whether there is any actual use to academic summaries of the text, see Joyce's perspective on parenting,...

  15. Bonus: Bobby Campbell and Maybe Night

    Often, when you show the Wake to an uninitiated reader, the first reaction will be “that’s weird.” Today we embrace the weird and lean into the unconventional, with a delightful, insightful chat with the overseer of the Weirdoverse, Bobby Campbell. For this bonus non-reading episode, we discuss…

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  16. Episode 35: 3.4 (Part 1), p555-572

    I hope you have your alarm set, because the dreamer is stirring! Toby and TJ welcome old friend Jason Rothery--acclaimed playwright, novelist, and fellow theatre survivor--to to help us read 3.4: 'Dawn.' In typical incisive form, Jason unleashes insight and enthusiasm as James Joyce acquires...

  17. Episode 34: 3.3 (Part 4), p532-554

    What happens when you put an erudite Canadian-Australian in a room with a verbose Australian-Canadian? This week, as TJ suffers through a department meeting at work, Seth Austin of the "hold my beer" W.A.S.T.E Mailing List joins Toby to take on the maelstrom that is HCE's defensiveness masking...

  18. Bonus: Zoe Patterson and Joyce Reading Groups

    After months of pondering the motivations of those who choose to take up the mantle of the Wake, and particularly those who get together with like-minded individuals to drink and read and discuss, we finally decided to get to the bottom of the phenomenon. Zoe Patterson is a PhD Candidate at…

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  19. Episode 33: 3.3 (Part 3), pp516-532

    Numerologists rejoice: WAKE has hit the master number, and to celebrate, our old pal JJ has chosen to drop the subtlety and let his freak flag fly! Leonard Cohen may have said there was a crack in everything, but we don't want to know what people would accuse HCE of doing with it. Join us to...

  20. Bonus: Guinness and Finnegans Wake (or, Guinnessan’s Slake)

    There are few things more synonymous with Ireland as a creamy, rich pint of Guinness. Plenty of time has been spent on James Joyce’s relationship with the black stuff, yet few have really considered just how much of a role Guinness plays in Finnegans Wake. Through dozens of allusions, references,...

  21. Bonus: A Very Joycean Christmas

    Break out Mr. Tunney the grocer’s Christmas almanac, clear your schedule for Edwin Hamilton's Christmas pantaloonade and the Christmas pantomime Sinbad the Sailor, it’s time for a twelfth night feast dance with the Morkan Sisters, with the chrism for the christmass: in other words, it’s the WAKE...

  22. Episode 32: 3.3 (Part 2), pp496-516

    It’s always a treat when your smartest friend can join you for a chat: especially when it's the kind of smartest friend who makes you feel smarter yourself. Yes, award-winning visionary Neil Wechsler is back with us again to read a part of 3.3, roll past the 500 page mark, and to get deep into…

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  23. Episode 31: 3.3 (Part 1), pp474-496

    Under a full moon and with a pint of Guinness in hand, WAKE welcomes our very first Dublin-based reader, as correctly-accented Sarah Kane joins Toby and TJ to kick off Chapter 3.3. Sarah tells us all about participating in Bloomsday as a neophyte Joycean (“a lifeguard that can’t swim”), slips…

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  24. Bonus Episode: Ana Dahlberg

    Grab your torches and buffs, it's time for another episode of Survivor: Finnegans Wake edition... Experts say that the best way to manage unprocessed trauma is to talk it through, to normalise what you've experienced. Here at WAKE we are all about offering all angles and perspectives on Finnegans...

  25. Episode 30: 3.2 (Part 2), pp448-473

    No one ever likes to WAKE alone, but sometimes the occasion calls for it. On a dark day in WAKE-world, Toby takes the reins solo to deal with the apuckalips, or at least what feels like it. Along the way, Jaun's entirely inappropriate conversation with Issy provides a distraction, tempered by…

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  26. Episode 29: 3.2 (Part 1), pp429-448

    Before today's episode, Toby and TJ had never heard the word "stramash", but now we can't stop saying it! Scottish musician, editor, author, and all-rounder Tommy MacKay joins the WAKE fold, not only to teach us this ever-so useful Scottish term for chaos, but also to discuss his amazing...

  27. Bonus Episode: Every Thunderword

    The hundred-letter 'thunderwords' are arguably the most enduring, well-known, and mystifying feature of Finnegans Wake, jumbles of letters cobbling together words from far-flung languages to create a word salad of difficulty that seems to stand as emblematic of the overall challenges of the Wake....

  28. Episode 28: 3.1, pp402-428

    Hooraymost! It’s the dirtiest chapter featuring insect erotica in all of literature, so grab your doodlers and bungholes, we’re going spizzing! Best of all, beloved Wakexpert Lucy Brazier finds room on her fagroaster to get down to some Clowntalkin about the savage rivalry between Shaun and his...

  29. Episode 27: Book Two Recap

    We find ourselves at the end of Book Two, and you know what that means: another ever-popular recap episode! Using the mind-bending brilliance of the László Moholy-Nagy Finnegans Wake Diagram as a jumping-off point, Toby and TJ try to rank the chapters of Book 2, nostalgically reconsider Night...

  30. Episode 26: 2.4, pp383-399

    This week we break things down to the quark level to bring you mythical love stories (featuring a king named Mark), ghost-written historical romances, interminable sentences, and Joycean numerology. Jackie Mahoney joins the team and expertly weaves their way through questions of whether chapter…

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  31. Episode 25: 2.3 (Part 4), pp370-382

    Hray! This week TJ's fiancé Taylor Hoover joins us to close down the bar, avoid the insults, and drink up all the dregs left over! Find out just what disqualifies one from becoming a limousine lady, the logistics behind transcribing crowd noise, and the relationship between Joyce, Charles…

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  32. Bonus Episode: Richard Harte

    Richard Harte is one of the world's preeminent interpreters of Joyce: a 25 year veteran of Bloomsday performances, and the undisputed star of One Little Goat Theatre Company's parallel (not competing) Finnegans Wake podcast, currently under development as a film and exhaustive live chronicle of…

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  33. Episode 24: 2.3 (Part 3), pp355-370

    WAKE buys you a third round and settles in for yet another Tale at the Inn, where we prominently feature multiple guns, KC Jowls and the little-known horror film Coach with the Six Insides. We bid welcome to another of Toby's former students, Ryan Benson Smith, for a lively discussion that…

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  34. Episode 23: 2.3 (Part 2), pp333-355

    As the whiskey and Guinness flow, the Tales at the Inn get all the more outlandish, Taff and Butt get out of hand, and a Russian general cops it. This week in WAKE, we geek out about geeking out with Carly Derderian, consider whether Thornton Wilder cribbed The Skin of Our Teeth from Finnegans...

  35. Episode 22: 2.3 (Part 1), pp309-332

    It's a milestone episode of WAKE, as we sail past the halfway point on an auspicious anniversary day for Toby. TJ is out sick this week, so we checked our list of dream interim co-hosts and came up with a winner: Toby's brilliant former dramaturgy student, K'hari Constantine! Toby and K'hari dive...

  36. Episode 21: 2.2 (Part 3), pp293-308

    Welcome to WAKE, where language is king! This week we reach the thrilling conclusion of the Night Lessons episode, and get into a little bit of analysis amidst the chaos that reigns when TJ's internet drops out mid-recording. We discuss Neil's ongoing beef against Cognitive Science and the laws…

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  37. Episode 20: 2.2 (Part 2), pp277-292

    Just like a well-ordered barndance, Toby, TJ, and Neil shuffle one step the right to find new dance partners, with all new takes on the mighty columns of Night Lessons! With footnotes that would make David Foster Wallace blush, Latin, French, and a parenthetical that spans five entire pages…

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  38. Episode 19: 2.2 (Part 1), pp260-277

    Grab your notebooks and start practicing your filthiest marginalia, it's Night Lessons time! When confronted with the most logistically challenging chapter of the Wake (columns! footnotes! diagrams! marginalia!), Toby and TJ sent out the Neil-Signal, and brought in our favourite...

  39. Episode 18: 2.1 (Part 2), pp240-259

    The games are afoot on WAKE, but we are fortified and ready to cast our disapproving glances over the debauchery! For the second half of Chapter 2.1, we welcome genuine teenager, Cormac Malone, to start us off, before we churn our way to the door-slammiest of thunderwords yet. We consider whether...

  40. Episode 17: 2.1 (Part 1), pp219-240

    Book Two is underway at the Wake, and it's taking the voices spanning three different continents to take us there. This week Toby and TJ are joined by the delightful Brit Lucy Brazier, author of Finnegans What? Finnegans Wake - a Guide by an Idiot to discuss inappropriate sibling games, river…

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  41. Episode 16: Book One Recap

    We pause the reading of the Wake this week to look back on Book One: HCE, ALP, Shaun, Shem and Izzy have led us on a wild, rumour-filled ride, and we want to process that before we move on! In a free-wheeling conversation, we consider Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812, theatre riots, The...

  42. Episode 15: 1.8, pp196-216

    It's the most watery episode of WAKE so far, as we cruise past the 1/3 complete mark and tackle the legendary 1.8: "Anna Livia." Toby takes hubris to a whole new level by attempting to read the entire chapter, cold, without breaks, or assistance, as TJ furiously circles all of the river-name…

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  43. Episode 14: 1.7 (Part 2), pp182-195

    TJ is back, and WAKE, the podcast of the history of the future, rolls on its unstoppable way! This week, we consider just why siblings are generally awful to one another as Shaun reads Shem to filth to round out chapter 1.7. We discuss Toby's favourite bookstore (Lane Bookshop Claremont,...

  44. Episode 13: 1.7 (Part 1), pp169-182

    It's a WAKE of firsts: the first episode recorded in Australia, the first episode with two guests, and, most difficult of all, the first episode without TJ! When schedules don't mesh, there's nothing for it but to plough on, for the Wake waits for no man (or musical workshop). This week comes to…

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  45. Episode 12: 1.6 (Part 2), pp148-168

    We would never consider ourselves mooks, nor would we gripe about the task in front of us, but finishing 1.6's Quiz (along with the needlessly complicated tale of the Mookse and Gripes) made us wonder whether Joyce might learn a little from Sad Girl Lit. We get a call from the other side of the...

  46. Episode 11: 1.6 (Part 1), pp126-148

    For this week's perzacto episode, we are joined by world-changing director and all-round delight Aili Huber, as we consider the first half of the least user-friendly quiz in literary history. We have our first ever tap-out (it's easy to get lost on the page if your eye wanders), consider Dr…

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  47. Episode 10: 1.5 (Part 2), pp113-125

    Neil is back, and we are going to hear some opinions! TJ and Toby welcome the brilliant Neil Wechsler back to the pod to finish reading 1.5 and then get into some analysis of what we've heard over the last two episodes. We'll talk about the unexpected benefits of reading aloud, find out what…

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  48. Episode 9: 1.5 (Part 1), pp104-113

    The purists are here! The purists are here! Toby and TJ get legit with the presence of long time lover of Joyce, a man who has read the Wake multiple times, and has used it as a major inspiration for his own work. Neil Wechsler is your favourite playwright's favourite playwright: an…

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  49. Episode 8: 1.4 (Part 2), pp90-103

    This week is the total piece of work that Wagner dreamed of, with GMWKS co-creator Jordan Morille joining Toby and TJ to take on the Wake! With a baby on his hip, and delving deep into his actor's experience, Jordan popcorn-reads from the second half of 1.4, where we meet disguised ex-nuns, Dirty...

  50. Episode 7: 1.4 (Part 1), pp75-90

    WAKE loves guests! This Bloomsday week, Toby and TJ welcome the incomparable Dr. Natalie Hoskins, professor of communication, to give us her professional perspective on pleasure reading, broadcasting thoughts, and desperately looking for meaning in the subtext. Also, Natalie joins us to read from...

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

A cold reading of James Joyce’s "Finnegans Wake" just to hear it out loud.

HOSTED BY

Moon Street Media

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake have?

WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake currently has 57 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake about?

A cold reading of James Joyce’s "Finnegans Wake" just to hear it out loud.

How often does WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake release new episodes?

WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake has 57 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

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Who hosts WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake?

WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake is created and hosted by Moon Street Media.
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