I Made This

Santa Claus (via his good friend Kelly Rands from The Humor Mill Orlando) joins us to celebrate... Well, the North Pole of course, but mainly Christmas! Santa recalls his early days with Burgermeister Meisterburger, and talks honestly about why he's currently spending most of the year at The Villages in Central Florida. Santa Claus shares his pro tips to a fulfilling Yuletide season, tells us about balancing the demands of his job and his marriage to Mrs. Claus, and plays a new game we invented just for him: WHAT ARE THEY GETTING? PLUS: Santa won't stop calling me Billy.

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YouTube (Live Streams)
YouTube (Episodes)

LINKS
Full Uncut Interview (Livestream)
Where I'm From YouTube Channel
The Humor Mill Orlando
Burgermeister Meisterburger
2020 Central Florida Sketch Comedy Festival
The Villages
Santa Claus is Coming To Town
The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus
The Elf Riots of 1536
Mcdonald's Santa Clause The Movie Christmas Happy Meal Commercial
Violent Night
The Santa Clause
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians
Miracle on 34th Street
The Polar Express

TIMESTAMPS
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:19 How Old Is Santa?
00:03:22 Santa Calls Bill "Billy"
00:04:24 Why Is Santa in Winter Haven, Florida?
00:05:10 - North Pole Chili's
00:07:03 - The Villages
00:08:02 Even Santa Works Remote
00:08:59 The Secret Origin of Santa Claus
00:10:10 - Santa Claus is a Hufflepuff
00:11:15 Mrs. Claus
00:11:54 Santa's Favorite Santa Movies
00:12:28 - The Santa Clause
00:12:28 - Violent Night
00:13:13 - Santa Claus Conquers The Martians
00:15:36 Santa's Favorite Teachers
00:16:20 - Santa's Cats
00:17:40 The Saddest Thing Santa's Seen
00:19:11 Cookie Talk
00:20:13 Santa's Thoughts on "Keep Christmas In December"
00:21:11 How Santa Learned To Make Toys
00:22:45 The Elf Riots of 1536
00:24:57 A Coal Conundrum
00:27:25 Streann Studio Ad Read
00:28:56 The Dark Side of the Reindeer
00:31:35 Santa Is The Real Florida Man
00:32:48 Job Stress and Santa's Marriage
00:32:48 A Chat Message from "Rudolpho"
00:35:45 Should We Still Be Giving Each Other Christmas Presents?
00:39:07 - Bill Doesn't Want To Get Angry At Santa
00:40:01 Santa's Favorite Santa Claus Story
00:40:11 - Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
00:40:28 - The Polar Express
00:42:10 What Are They Getting?
00:50:11 The Humor Mill Orlando
00:51:27 Santa Goes Hard Against Commercialism
00:52:40 The Elves Party Hard
00:54:25 Santa Loves Rap
00:54:51 - Santa Raps
00:56:21 Santra Addresses Labor Issues and THAT New York Post Article
00:59:26 How Many Children Has Santa Delivered Presents To?
01:00:27 Santa's Relationship with McDonald's
01:05:03 What Does Santa Want For Christmas?
01:08:57 Wheel of Anecdotes
01:14:57 Close

In this preview episode, Anne Marie DeSimone joins Bill Meeks to discuss ABC's Cavemen sitcom, based on the character from the GEICO ads.

Weird TV, a new podcast from Bill Meeks, shines a light into forgotten corners of television history to examine obscure media through a modern lens. Each week Bill Meeks reviews obscure television shows, made-for-tv movies, and primetime specials. He’ll watch just about anything, as long as it’s weird.

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Weird TV

Bill Meeks and guest co-host Anne Marie chat with four special guests about how they are staying creative, happy, and healthy during this coronavirus pandemic.

Featuring quarantine reports from NATHAN BEATTY (The CiP Network), JOEL VANVALKENBURG-HUFF (Ghost Train), HOPE MULLINAX (Geeky Girl Experience, Jaig Eyes and Jedi), and Rebecca Johnson (Supergirl Radio). 

Show Notes
In One Week Playlist
I Made This Video on Youtube
The CiP Network
Ghost Train
Ghost Train Playlist
Geeky Girl Experience
Jaig Eyes and Jedi
Supergirl Radio

Robin Hoffman flipped a career spent working with the disabled into two great chat shows which she publishes on Facebook: Chat With Me and Hoffy’s Heart Bake With Me. We’ll discuss what drove her to create her shows, the people who’ve helped her along the way, and how she’s using her platform to elevate all kinds of voices.

Show Notes
Chat With Me
Bake With Me
Full Sail University
https://www.katebackdrop.com/
Bill’s Episode of Chat With Me
https://running4heroes.org/
Dragon Dictate
Lunch Laughs Live
Robin’s IMDB Page
I Am 50 Million 
Watch The Full Interview On YouTube

Josh Zepess is the head honcho over at Broke Is No Joke, an edutainment platform he built after escaping the corporate world. We'll discuss how Josh enables other people to be successful, discuss our shared history in improv and sketch comedy, and talk about how goal setting can supercharge your life.

Show Notes
Broke Is No Joke
Binj TV
Exodus United
Watch the interview on YouTube

Ali Spagnola made her first mark with her Power Hour drinking game/album or 60 1-minute songs, but for the past several years she's been focusing on making her mark on YouTube. She finally hit paydirt eight months ago when she recorded a style mash-up of Billie Eilish and Meghan Trainor. It was meant to be her final YouTube video, but when it got millions of views Ali decided to follow the trend. We discuss all the work she put in before her video hit big, and why she can't leave the fur room she called us from.

Show Notes
Ali's YouTube Channel
Ali's Website
Ali on TikTok
Ali Spagnola - What if Billie Eilish's Bad Guy was by Meghan Trainor
Ali Spagnola - I Made A Fur Room In My Apartment
Ali on 4 the 412
Ali Spagnola - I Turned My Mom Into A Pop Star
Ali Spagnola - Freewheeling

Guest host Anne Marie DeSimone interviews our normal host Bill Meeks about his new book Fan Podcasting: The Complete Guide, and it covers everything from critical theory to how to land an interview with the star of your favorite show. Bill reveals his Cafe POV philosophy to podcasting and discusses writing and self-publishing his own non-fiction book. Listen for info on how to get a free copy of the book when it releases on February 18th.

Show Notes
Anne Marie DeSimone's Twitter
The Universe Box Podcast Archives
Do Anything Media
Join Do Anything Media and Get Fan Podcasting: The Complete Guide for free

Brian Brushwood is best known for his YouTube shows Scam School and The Modern Rogue, but it all started with a dream to get his own TV show. In this interview, Brian outlines the steps he took to eventually land his own cable series (NatGeo's 'Hacking The System'), and how, when the dream went away, he leveraged his experience to self-start a fresh YouTube brand, web store, and blog that Brian controls himself, no cable network required. He also shares his unified theory of being an independent creator and how you can start from nothing and get to something. It's a magical discussion.

Show Notes
Brian Brushwood
Scam School
The Modern Rogue
Night Attack
Bill’s Top 10 of the 2010’s
Scam School in Indonesia
Diamond Club Interview on On The Media
The Origin of Brands - Al Ries

Andy Behbakht and Rebecca Johnson are the founders of DCTV Podcasts, a podcast network devoted to tv adaptations of DC Comics characters with well over a dozen successful fan podcasts under their belt. Hear what it takes to run a podcast network, particularly within a niche like superhero shows. We also discuss how vulnerability makes you a better podcast host, and how the network unites every year to support a great cause.

Show Notes
DCTV Podcasts
The Lost Show with Jay And Jack
Andy Behbakht
Rebecca Johnson
The Flash Podcast
Supergirl Radio
Operation Cobra Podcast
Sign up for a free copy of The Complete Guide To Fan Podcasting

Justin Robert Young is a comedic podcaster on the long-running podcast Night Attack, but his big personal passion is politics and political history. It's only natural that he's making a new podcast covering one of the biggest presidential elections ever. In the first season of "Raise The Dead,", Justin dives deep on the 1960 Presidential election between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, and how that election influenced Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016. We talk about the ins-and-outs of producing a researched podcast, and Justin reveals how his podcast broke new ground in soup-related political history. Yes, you read that right.

Show Notes
Raise The Dead
Justin Robert Young
Night Attack

Cliff and Melissa Barackman built the North American Bigfoot Center in Boring, Oregon. You might know Cliff from the Animal Planet series Finding Bigfoot. He's been a dedicated sasquatch field researcher for more than two decades, and he brings all that experience to the North American Bigfoot Center. His wife Melissa is also great at making horrific replicas and props, skills she puts to use working for the museum.

Show Notes
Hanging with Connor Ratliff in NYC
North American Bigfoot Center
Finding Bigfoot
Bigfoot and Beyond Podcast
Melissa’s Gym Funky Video
Expedition Bigfoot
Unit 70 Studios
Melissa’s Etsy Shop

Jason Usry has been writing screenplays for nearly twenty years. In 2019, his screenplay Dead Water was made into a movie starring The Breakfast Club's Judd Nelson and Starship Trooper's Casper Van Dien. We'll find out how he got his movie made, and hear some solid tips to break into showbiz while considering creative and financial requirements.

Show Notes
Dead Water on IMDB
Jason Usry's IMDB Page

Rich Johnston has been reporting on comic book rumors since 1994. Currently, he's the Head Writer and Founder of BleedingCool.com, a site known for breaking comic book news long before DC or Marvel issues a press release. Bleeding Cool has quite a reputation among comic book professionals, and we dig in on how Rich feels about all that, as well as how he sources stories and the people who've helped him along the way.

Show Notes
Bleeding Cool
Bill's Dragon Con Reporting For Bleeding Cool
The Billy West Interview

Laura Purdie, sole proprietor at Hey Sweetness Bakery in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (soon to be Florida) makes cookies for a living. Beautiful cookies, packed with detail and design. This "cookie savant" has been making sweet treats professionally for most of 2019, so we'll talk a lot about how she built her cookie business. If you don't make cookies, don't worry! Laura has a lot of solid advice for creatives of any discipline.

Show Notes
Hey Sweetness Bakery Facebook
Hey Sweetness Instagram

Michael Dolce is an accomplished writer, graphic novelist, podcast and web guru. He’s currently in charge of Sire Studios, a multi-genre IP production company. He’s written for Image Comics, Zenoscope, and ran several successful Kickstarters to finance his passions. We talk about using Kickstarter to fund your passions, and Michael offers up some great advice for somebody leaving their job to start their own business (like me).

Show Notes
Sire Studios
Descendant Volume 1 Trade Paperback Kickstarter

Aviva is just oozing with life and passion, and she writes great songs. She's also an activist. Aviva’s song “Cannabis Car” is part protest song, part groovy jam, that teaches the listener about the history of hemp in our country, and all the ways it can help the environment today. She didn’t stop at writing a song, though. She’s become a familiar face to Georgia legislatures, where she’s spent countless hours arguing for legal hemp. Plus, she was kind enough to play some songs while jumping on her trampoline!

Show Notes
Support Aviva on Patreon!
Aviva's Bandcamp Site
Aviva's YouTube

Connor is best known for his work at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade improv school and theater in NYC, but you might have seen him on Last Week Tonight, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, or as a 35-year-old Presidential candidate on The Chris Gethard Show. Expertly staged and foolishly named, Connor's "Talk-A-Doodle-Doo" was broadcast on MNN earlier this year as part of Chris Gethard Presents. It's a real piece of theater that keeps you guessing for the whole hour. Plus, Connor sheds light on what he's moving towards, and its a limited series with familiar trappings.

Go see Talk-A-Doodle-Yule LIVE at UCB Hell's Kitchen!

Show Notes
Connor Ratliff on Twitter
Talk-A-Doodle-Doo On YouTube
Talk-A-Doodle-Doo on Twitter
Chris Gethard Presents
The Lone Cornmeal Machine
Police Squad

After talking with Brian Brushwood about Katy, Texas earlier this week, I decided to rebroadcast an interview I did with Karen Kay, the host of the Fox 26 Kids Club in Houston, Texas. The Fox Kids Club was a local broadcast in many cities that promoted the Fox Network’s early-90s cartoon lineup, Fox Kids. Karen Kay was my local host, and when I’m not fanboying out, she tells me what it was like to be a kid show host, and how much persistence it took to build a career in broadcasting. Plus, Karen makes a commitment to locate a relic from my past, if she can remember where she put it in her basement.

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YouTube (Live Streams)
YouTube (Episodes)

LINKS
Karen Kay on Hit Video USA
fox 26 kids club with karen kay fright fest
Karen Kay and the Belugas
The Fox Kids Club – History of Fox Kids
Original I Made This Episode
Where I'm From YouTube
Bill Meeks YouTube

Bill Meeks talks to passionate people executing their “Big Ideas” in realistic ways. From entrepreneurs to artists and everything in between, I Made This tells the stories of dreamers just like you.

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