PODCAST · society
You Seem Exceptional
by WSUM
You Seem Exceptional features a guest each week so that we can get to know them and their story.
Episodes
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Art Teacher Elliot Novak
In 2025 my friend Elliot Novak graduated from UW-Madison and got a job as an Art Teacher. Join us and co-host Ian Hoffman as we talk about how Elliot approaches teaching, why kids are like that these days, and what it's like to work in a small school district environment.
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District 8 Alder Ellen Zhang
Ellen Zhang, a Sophomore at UW-Madison, was recently elected the next Alder of District 8, a seat on the City Council representing the UW-Madison campus area. In this episode of You Seem Exceptional she joins host Oliver Gerharz and guest co-host Kayla Dembiec for a discussion about her campaign,...
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Musician Sean Michael Dargan
Sean Michael Dargan is a musician and the advisor to the Wisconsin Union Directorate's Music Committee. In this episode of You Seem Exceptional, Oliver Gerharz and freshly graduated guest co-host Easton Parks talk to him about his music, life as a musician, his straight gig with the Union, baby's...
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Director Michael Pipkorn
Michael Pipkorn is the director and writer of "Fragile," one of two student films to come out of Com Arts 659 this semester. “Fragile” is about two college students who meet and fall in love, start dating, but when the girl dies, the boy begins to spiral, and believes that the girl lives on in…
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Elephant Autopsies with Natalie Tocco
Natalie Tocco is a veterinary pathologist with years of experience in autopsy of wild, pet, and zoo animals. Join host Oliver Gerharz and guest co-host Ian Hoffman in an interview discussing the grief of losing an animal, the mysteries of animal anatomy and evolution, panda diplomacy and two...
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Science Communicator Dominique Brossard
On this week's episode of You Seem Exceptional, Oliver and guest co-host Kayla Dembiec speak with Dominique Brossard, a science communicator at UW-Madison currently working with the Morgridge Research Institute. They discuss her research, time as the department chair of life science…
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Steve Goldberg, Irish Person of the Year
Dane County's Shamrock Club named Steve Goldberg the "Irish Person of the Year" in 2026, despite Steve not being Irish by blood. For St. Patrick's Day, Steve joins Oliver and guest co-host Paige-Elizabeth Kearney in an interview focused on what it means to be Irish, what the Dane County Shamrock...
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Former USAID Worker Jean Oliveras
Jean Oliveras worked at USAID for 15 years, but after Trump put a pause on foreign assistance, she got an email from DOGE (The Department of Government Efficiency) asking her to report any office, position, program, contract, or grant with any ties to "DEIA or similar ideologies." Within the…
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Icefishing on Monona Bay
On this episode of You Seem Exceptional, Oliver and guest co-host Allie Hoffert interview three fisherman on the ice of Lake Monona Bay. Tune in to hear about why these men are interested in ice fishing, what equipment helps, and about the time one of them fell in.
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Constitutional Law Professor Franciska Coleman on Free Speech
On this episode of You Seem Exceptional, Oliver and guest co-host Lydia Picotte interview Franciska Coleman, an Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law at UW-Madison's Law School. They talk about what free speech is, the dialogue around free speech in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination…
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Dean Eric Wilcots
On this episode of You Seem Exceptional, Oliver and Jeb have a dynamic conversation with Eric Wilcots, the Dean of UW-Madison's College of Letters & Sciences and its 25,000+ students. On one hand, they discuss where Wilcots' interest in astronomy originates, what he misses about teaching, and...
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Moth GrandSLAM Competitor Alice Pauser Returns
Part of series of brief interviews with competitors in the 2025 Moth GrandSLAM, in this episode Oliver and Jeb talk to Alice Pauser, a prolific storyteller who was once the first guest on the show in early 2024. They discuss Alice's decades as a writer and humorist, her love of storytelling, and...
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Moth GrandSLAM Winner Eli Schmidt on Camping
Part of series of brief interviews with competitors in the 2025 Moth GrandSLAM, in this episode Oliver talks to Eli Schmidt, a student who sits next to him in Professor Adam Schrager's Social Impact Storytelling class. Oliver realized that the upcoming GrandSLAM competitor was his classmate just…
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Moth GrandSLAM Competitor Danielle Hairston-Green on Family
Part of series of brief interviews with competitors in the 2025 Moth GrandSLAM, in this episode Oliver and Jeb talk to Danielle Hairston-Green, a storyteller and host at the Moth. They discuss how Danielle learned about storytelling from her mother and how she in turn passed that knowledge down…
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Olympic Gold Medalist Beau Hoopman
On this episode of You Seem Exceptional, Oliver and Jeb talk to Men's Rowing Coach Beau Hoopman, who tells the story of how he walked on to the men's Rowing Team in 1999 having never rowed before, won two Olympic medals over the next decade, and then came back to UW-Madison as an assistant coach...
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Ranvir Rajesh Raheja
On this episode of You Seem Exceptional, Oliver and Jeb talk to Oliver's Roommate Ranvir. They discuss in-depth where Ranvir is from, going through what it means to say you are from India, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and San Diego. They also talk about immigration, green cards, citizenship and being a Boy...
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UWPD Chief Brent Plisch on Campus Safety
On this episode of You Seem Exceptional, Oliver and Jeb talk to Brent Plisch, the Chief of UW-Madison's Police Department. Chief Plisch talks about UWPD policy on underage drinking and smoking on campus, the change in public perception of his job over 20 years at UWPD and the struggle to connect...
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Mariel Barnes on the Manosphere
This week our guest is Mariel Barnes, an Assistant Professor of Public Affairs at UW-Madison. We dive into her research into the highly online group of hypermasculine sexists called the Manosphere and look at her work in housing policy for victims of domestic abuse.
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Shawn Steen 2
This week our guest is Shawn Steen, a family friend of Oliver's who has had a long career in the nonprofit sector. We discuss the culture shock of growing up in rural Wisconsin before coming to UW-Madison in the 90s, some stories about Shawn Steen and Matt Gerharz in College, the digital divide...
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Pediatrician Dipesh Navsaria
In this week's episode Oliver and Jeb talk to Dr. Dipesh Navsaria of the nonprofit organization Reach out and Read about his medical work, the benefits of early childhood literacy, the program he is a part of, his bowties, and flags. You can listen to the Reach out and Read podcast here:...
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The Haunted Horror Friends
In this week's episode Oliver spoke to Nick Doermann and Hayden Woodard, the hosts of the Haunted Horror Hour, a horror movie review show at WSUM. We talk about Inside Out 2, other Horror Movies, a character named "jokey" with a magnetic hat who is not a clown, what Hayden is hiding under his...
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Storyteller and Educator Noelle Mariano
In this week's episode we spoke to Noelle Mariano, the assistant producer at the Moth StorySLAM, a monthly storytelling event at the High Noon Saloon in Madison. We discuss how Oliver was once a student in Noelle's class, the tricks that Noelle uses when telling stories at the High Noon, some of...
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Professor Jacob Thebault-Spieker on Information Gaps
In this week's episode we spoke to Jacob Thebault-Spieker, a professor in UW-Madison's Information School. We discuss fountain pens, Wikipedia, the village of Black Earth in Wisconsin, the rural/urban divide, Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, and all the other exceptional work that Jacob is...
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Emeritus Professor Tom Eggert
In this week's episode we spoke to Emeritus Professor Tom Eggert about the intersection between business and finance. We discussed his teaching the University's first sustainability class, what sustainable businesses look like, and Wisconsin Microfinance's role in Haiti. You can learn more about...
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Jeanne Gomoll on Feminism and Science Fiction
In this week's episode we spoke to Jeanne Gomoll, the winner of February's Moth StorySLAM and a significant figure in the feminist science fiction fandom. We discussed her story for the theme of "Love Hurts," her work on the fanzine Janus when she was a student at UW-Madison, and the fascinating...
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EMMIE Editor-in-Chief Easton Parks
In this episode of You Seem Exceptional, EMMIE Magazine's Fun Director Oliver Gerharz and non-member Jeb Blossom talk to Editor-in-Chief Easton Parks about EMMIE Magazine. They discuss UW-Madison's Supply Chain Management Major, Easton's Passion for Music, Kenosha, Easton's year at UW-Parkside…
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Gun Culture with Professor Nick Buttrick
In this episode of You Seem Exceptional, hosts Oliver Gerharz and Jeb Blossom talk to Professor Nick Buttrick, a Professor in UW-Madison's Department of Psychology. They extensively discuss the research that Professor Buttrick has been doing into the culture surrounding gun ownership in America,...
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Jackson Antonow and the "Enemy in Your Pocket"
In this episode of You Seem Exceptional, hosts Oliver Gerharz and Jeb Blossom talk to Jackson Antonow, a Junior at UW-Madison who recently wrote a book about phone addiction called "Enemy in Your Pocket." We talk to Jackson about the negative effects of heavy phone use, the benefits of having…
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Cornell Professor Neil Lewis Jr. on Higher Education
In this episode of You Seem Exceptional, hosts Oliver Gerharz and Jeb Blossom talk to Neil Lewis Jr., a behavioral scientist working in the department of communications at Cornell University.
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Eagle Scout Kenny MacAskill
This week, Oliver's friend Kenny was in town, so we had a discussion of some of the pressing issues over at Marquette University, UW-Madison's campus rumors and our ancestry. We talk about RFK Jr. a lot more than usual in this one because Kenny is a Political Science Major. You can listen to You...
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Election Day Special with Professor Howard Schweber
The two most significant things that regularly happen on Tuesdays are Election Day and new interviews on You Seem Exceptional. To commemorate a very special overlap, we spoke to retired UW-Madison Political Theory Professor Howard Schweber. We discussed some of the possibilities of both a Trump…
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Moth GrandSLAM Winner Cheri Miller
On October 26th, the Moth Madison held the yearly GrandSLAM event, where the best storytellers in city get together to tell stories. Cheri Miller was the winner among winners that night, so we invited her on the show. We discussed her schooling, her teaching, her work in the toilet seat factory…
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Professor Cody Wenthur
In this week's episode, we spoke to Professor Cody Wenthur, an Associate Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin0Madison who heads the University's Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation programs. We discuss how addiction works at the general and the chemical level, what a...
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"Sitting Pretty" with Go Big Read Author Rebekah Taussig
Every year, UW-Madison distributes a book to thousands of students as a part of the Go Big Read. This year, the university handed out copies of Rebekah Taussig's "Sitting Pretty: The View from my Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body". We got the chance to sit down with her this week to discuss the...
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Professor Ramzi Fawaz and the Transformative Power of the Humanities
This week, we talk to English Professor Ramzi Fawaz. We discuss his research into the transformative powers of a psychedelic humanities education, the relationship between American popular culture (superheroes) and social justice movements and the career in education that led to and has followed...
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Archivist Mary Huelsbeck
This week, Oliver talks to Mary Huelsbeck, the Assistant Director at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. We talk about the collections at the center, how Mary got interested in the field and how who uses the center. If you want to use the center's services or add your own…
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WSUM Sports Director Vince Hesprich
This week, we had the privilege of talking to Vince Hesprich, the Sports Director at WSUM. Our topics of discussion vary more wildly than usual this episode as we discuss driving, broadcasting Badger sports events, being a chess prodigy, the sports club at WSUM, childhood video games, our lowest...
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All Hail Chairman Neil Crowson
We have returned from the summer. Our first guest of the semester is Neil Crowson, a student in an Occupational Therapy Doctorate program here at UW-Madison. We discuss Neil's life in Madison, growing up in Salt Lake City and an experimental high school class, and we also go fairly in-depth on…
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Flipping the Script (Jeb Interviews Oliver)
For the last You Seem Exceptional of the semester, we decided to switch things around and have our host Jeb interview fellow host Oliver. We discuss Chicago and deep dish pizza, Scouts and camping, storytelling and college journalism and Oliver's dog Wilbur.
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Russia Talk with Professor Yoshiko Herrera
This week, our guest is Yoshiko Herrera, our Political Science Professor in our class, Political Science 344: The Russian War On Ukraine: Causes and Consequences. We discuss the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, the classes Professor Herrera teaches, Professor Herrera's experiences as an academic in a...
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Learning to Yodel with Nate Gibson
This week, our guest is Nate Gibson, an ethnomusicologist currently working as an archivist and lecturer at UW-Madison. Nate teaches us to yodel, and we discuss the history of yodeling, Nate's experiences meeting legendary yodelers, the three wise kings, Nate's dog Lola, pirate jokes and hodag...
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Jamie Perez
This week, Oliver's guest is Jamie Perez, a local entrepreneur and the owner of Beyond Words Productions. We discuss storytelling, being an entrepreneur, working as a multimedia journalist, the transition between the two and the value of storytelling to the companies that she works with. Catch…
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Science Communicator Caitlin Looby
This week, our guest is Science Communicator Caitlin Looby, the Great Lakes reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. We discuss Caitlin's 13 years researching the effects of climate change on soil microbes, her transition from science research to science journalism, her enthusiasm for camping...
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Master of Fine Arts Candidate Tamara McLean
This week, our guest is MFA Candidate Tamara McLean, a graduate student and lecturer at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. We discuss her experiences with making art in augmented reality, her work as an instructor over the last 6 years, her research into the views of female graphic designers…
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Professor Dorothea Salo
This week our guest is Professor Dorothea Salo, a professor in the field of Library and Information Science. We discuss data security concerns, the Canvas app that is used by the university, purple squirrels, cycling and Dorothea's field of study. Catch You Seem Exceptional Live at 4PM every...
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Voice Actor Jason Stephens
This week, our guest is Jason Stephens, a voice actor, professional imitator, mimic and father. We discuss Jason's start in voice acting, AI voice acting and the gaming presidents, a bag full of squirrels as a metaphor for ADHD, a clown hat as a metaphor for working on your public image, running…
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News, Talk and Public Affairs Director Chali Pittman
This week, we spoke with Chali Pittman, the News, Talk and Public Affairs Director at local community radio station WORT 89.9 FM Madison. We discuss being a college student with a passion for radio, working at WORT, the accountability Ouroboros and other esoteric vocabulary. Catch You Seem...
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Alder Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford
This week, our guest is Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, Alder of the 15th District of Madison and the first out trans woman elected in Wisconsin. We discuss her dog, local government, being the first elected trans official and Dina's career as a comedian. Catch You Seem Exceptional Live at 4PM…
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Shawn Steen
This week, our guest is Shawn Steen, a volunteer coordinator and former book dealer. We discuss Shawn's experiences working at several nonprofits, the Memorial Union pool Hall and being a Book Dealer in Seattle at the time Amazon was crushing the competition. Catch You Seem Exceptional Live at…
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Alice Pauser
This week our guest is Alice Pauser, a writer, author, storyteller and stand-up comedian. We discuss Catholic School, experiences as a young Journalist, Alice's book NUNderwear, Local Standup and Storytelling and the Moth. Catch You Seem Exceptional Live at 4PM every Tuesday on WSUM 91.7 FM...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does You Seem Exceptional have?
You Seem Exceptional currently has 51 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is You Seem Exceptional about?
You Seem Exceptional features a guest each week so that we can get to know them and their story.
How often does You Seem Exceptional release new episodes?
You Seem Exceptional has 51 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to You Seem Exceptional?
You can listen to You Seem Exceptional on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts You Seem Exceptional?
You Seem Exceptional is created and hosted by WSUM.
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