Advertise on podcast: On the Mic with Tim Drake

On today's episode on the podcast, I have actor, writer, and comedian, Matty Cardarople!  I've had the pleasure of getting to know Matty over the past few years after he joined the cast of our film, "Demonetize". Matty was part of our LIVE WonderCon show earlier this year as we promoted the film's world premiere at Panic Fest, but I've always wanted to know more about Matty and was excited to finally have him on the show!  Long before he was on our set, Matty is of course best known for his roles in hit shows like Stranger Things, Fallout, Series of Unfortunate Events, Reservation Dogs, Jurassic World, and so much more! Matty and I talked about growing up in New Hampshire and finding his way to acting, traveling the world, living in a bio dome, making the move to LA, his first big acting roles, writing poetry, and so much more! A huge Thank You to Matty Cardarople for taking the time to join me on the show! If you are in the Los Angeles area, come join myself and Matty and the LA Premiere of "Demonetize" this Friday, October 2nd at Night Frights LA! Make sure to follow Matty on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com Subscribe to his Patreon, buy is poetry books, you wont regret it! Thanks, Matty! Enjoy the episode!

(Apologies for a few audios issues throughout) On today's episode of the podcast, I have TV writer, showrunner, and author, Stefanie Leder! Stefanie was also a previous guest on my LIVE SDCC show, but we didn't get to talk much during the LIVE show about her incredible career, so I invited her to join me again on the show.  Stefanie and I talked about her background growing up in the industry with a prolific TV writer as a Dad but never planning to work in the industry. Living in Costa Rica, working as a union organizer in her early 20's, writing her first novel, finding her way to TV writing, surviving the ever-changing industry, and so much more!  A huge Thank You to Stefanie Leder for taking the time to join me on the show again. Please follow Stefanie on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com Make sure to pick up her book as well!  Thanks, Stefanie! Enjoy the episode.

On today's episode, I have TV writer, Kirk Kushin!  Kirk was one of my guests on our LIVE SDCC episode, and I wanted to talk to Kirk a little bit more about his career and writing in kids animation.  I talked with Kirk about his early inspiration and finding his way into the industry, the importance of networking and being nice to people, putting in the work and meeting deadlines, working on Hello, Kitty, as well as Blippi, a little comic book wirting, and so much more! A huge Thank You to Kirk Kushin for taking the time to come back on the podcast and give me a more in depth look at his incredible career. Make sure to follow him at all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com ! Thanks, Kirk!  Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode of the podcast, I have comedian, Derek Sheen! I first met Derek probably close to 15 years ago performing stand-up in Salt Lake City, and I was thrilled to catch up with him and to have him join me on the show to talk about is new special "Unrelatable"that releases this Friday, August 21st!  We talked about Derek's early introduction to comedy, his mom's encouragement to do standup and perform comedy, using comedy to deflect bullies and trauma bond, how to make audiences laugh with darker subject matter, our comics and action figure collections, opening for some of his idols like Brian Posehn and Patton Oswalt, how "Unrelatable" came together, and so much more! A huge Thank You to Derek Sheen for taking the time to join me on the podcast. It was so great to chat with him and see what he's been up to over the years. I had so much fun with his special and I can't wait for you guys to see it as well. Check out "Unrelatable" this Friday on YouTube! Make sure to follow Derek on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com Thanks, Derek! Enjoy the episode!

(Apologies on some audio issues. The perils of doing a live show) On today's episode of the podcast, I am coming to you LIVE from San Diego Comic-Con for our annual show!  This year I sat down with recurring panelist, and 5X Emmy winning writer, Rob Kutner to set up a different take on the panel discussion. With so much changing in the job landscape within Hollywood, especially as writers, we created a discussion topic of "How to Navigate a Writing Career in Hollywood in 2026". Rob helped me coordinate the panelists, and we invited Kirk Kushin, Stefanie Leder, and Hyunjin Jo to join us on the panel.  We talked about how everybody got their start writing in Hollywood, adjusting to new skill sets, taking the time to learn the craft, the art of the meeting set up, advice to new writers, and so much more.  A huge Thank You to Rob, Kirk, Stefanie, and Hyunjin for taking the time to make the trek down to San Diego to join me on this show. It's crazy that I've been doing this for 11 years now, and there is no sign of stopping! Please make sure to follow them on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com ! Thanks, Rob, Kirk, Stefanie, and Hyunjin!  Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode of the podcast, I have the several members of the new documentary "Saber" joining me on the podcast! Director Matthew Wiatt, Alec Martinez, who is one of the documentary subjects as.fighter, and is know one of the directors of The Saber Legion, Charlie Cummings, the owner of The Saber Legion, and David Laudenslager, one of the national directors and media lead of The Saber Legion. "Saber" is an incredibly fascinating documentary about the phenomenon that is competitive light saber fighting. Matthew had reached out to me ahead of San Diego Comic-Con to let me know that the film would be screening at SDCC and to see if I would be interested in chatting with them. I was so enamored by the idea of the film and jumped at the opportunity.  I talked with them about how Matthew first became aware of The Saber Legion, how each of them got involved with lightsaber fighting, the positive and inclusive environment that The Saber Legion has fostered and created, being about to compete have fun without letting competitiveness overtake their joy, and so much more.  A huge Thank You to Matthew, Alec, Charlie, and David for taking the time to join me ahead of preview night at San Diego Comic-Con. Make sure to check out "Saber" when it plays in a town near you. If you are interested in The Saber Legion, we have also provided the website at www.onthemicpodcast.com to find a chapter near you. Please make sure to follow them as well! Thanks, Matthew, Alex, Charlie, and David!  Enjoy the episode!

Hi Everybody! It's been a bit since a new episode as I have been off at film festivals promoting "Demonetize", as well as getting two new feature films off the ground and into development. But I wanted to make sure that you had the newest updates of what was going on, starting with SDCC this week!  We are back for our 11th year with a LIVE show TOMORROW, July 23rd at the Neil Morgan Auditorium at SDCC. Bringing along special guests, Rob Kutner, Stefanie Leder, Kirk Kushin, and Hyunjin Jo, discussing navigating a writer career in Hollywood! We also, after 13 years, finally have merch! Why so soon, right? You can get all of the merch at the link below.  BUY ON THE MIC PODCAST MERCH HERE! New episodes coming next week!  See you in San Diego!

On today's episode, I have Emmy winning writer and comedian, Matt Koff! Matt's new standup special, "Cat Man", comes out May 15th, and I had the opportunity to watch the special ahead of this episode and I absolutely loved it! From life as a cat guy, relationships, writing in television, and the worst party Matt has ever been to, this special is excellent! I talked with Matt about getting his start in comedy, working and interning for The Onion, writing for The Newlywed Game, making his way to The Daily Show, his new special "Cat Man" and so much more.  A huge thank you to Matt Koff for taking the time to join me on the show today. Make sure to go watch "Cat Man" on May 15th, and follow Matt on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com Thanks, Matt! Enjoy the episode.

On today's episode of the podcast I have comedian Caleb Zeringue! I first became aware of Caleb from his play "Luigi: The Musical", and have continued to see his standup clips pop up online. So when his publicists asked if I wanted to have him on the show to talk about his new show, "The Drillmaster", which he co-wrote with Jenny Zigrino, I was excited to have him join me.  I talked with Caleb about growing up in the South and finding his comedic voice, using comedy as therapy through a divorce, queer representation in comedy, Luigi: The Musical, how The Drillmaster was created and so much more!  Don't miss the LIVE reading of "The Drillmaster", the mostly true story of America's gayest founding daddy, this Sunday, May 3rd @ The Elysian Theater here in Los Angeles during the Netflix is a joke fest. Tickets are going fast, so get them while you can! Ticket links as well as all the places you can follow Caleb at available at www.onthemicpodcast.com Thanks, Caleb! Enjoy the episode!

We're back! FINALLY! And what better way to kick off the first episode of 2026 than with a LIVE episode from WonderCon! In perfect Con fashion, this episode has some audio issues. Our apologies. But the show must go on! For this year's WonderCon show I decided to bring not only my dear friend and director of Demonetize, Alex Watson, but a few of our cast members as well! We were thrilled to have Matty Cardarople and Janine Hogan join us for this year's episode.  Our film Demonetize is about to have it's World Premiere at Panic Fest in Kansas City on April 12th, and we thought it would be great to showcase a little more of the film.  We talked about how the film and the cast came together, favorite moments on set, ghost hunting the set (which was haunted), letting the actors improvise, and Matty shows everybody why he's the best podcast guest ever.  Thank you for those of you the joined us in Anaheim! I'm always so grateful for those of you that stick around for our show. Thank you to WonderCon for having us back once again. A huge thanks to Alex, Matty, and Janine for taking the time to join me as well. And an extra special thanks to Vanella Drake and Chris Dotson who luckily filmed the episode so it wasn't entirely lost.  Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode I am LIVE from Los Angeles Comic Con with actor Sean Carrigan!  I have had the pleasure of getting to know Sean over the past year as he is one of the stars of our latest film, "Demonetize"! I have always been so intrigued by Sean's backstory of a professional boxer turned actor and invited him to join me for the live show to tell that story.  We talked about growing up on the East Coast and finding his way to boxing, striving to become a professional, and then making the move to chasing acting full time. We also talked about the roles that pushed him forward as an actor, getting the role on "The Young and the Restless", working on "American Vandal" and "All-American", lessons on "Ford v Ferrari", being star stuck ahead of an upcoming role, and so much more.  A huge Thank You to Sean Carrigan for taking the time to join me for this LIVE show. Sean also just became a Dad and brought the whole family to the convention! Make sure to follow Sean on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com Thank you for having us, LA Comic Con! Thanks, Sean!  Enjoy the episode.

On today's episode we are coming to you LIVE from San Diego Comic-Con celebrating 10 Years at SDCC with special guests Rob Kutner, Mike Heidbreder, and J.B. House! While Rob, Mike and J.B. are all returning guests to the show, I felt that it was very fitting to celebrate my 10 Year anniversary show with three of the people who are a big part of SDCC to me and I was thrilled they were all able to be a part of this.  We talked about how I initially met each of them and became acquainted with the podcast and SDCC, our shared love for animation, the animated shows we would love to work on, characters we relate the most to, favorite SDCC memories, Rob's upcoming book "Deadpool Affirmations", and so much more.  A huge THANK YOU to San Diego Comic-Con for allowing me to be a part of this show for the past 10 years. It is absolutely wild to me that 12 years ago I could've only dreamed of attending SDCC, and suddenly, I was a part of it. Also a huge Thank You to Rob, Mike, and J.B. for taking the time to join me on the episode this year. It meant the world to me. Make sure to follow them on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com and pre-order Rob's "Deadpool Affirmations" book!  Thanks, SDCC, Rob, Mike, and J.B.! Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode I have actor Jesse Posey! I've had the honor of getting the know Jesse over the past few months while moderating panels and Q&A's for the film "Screamboat" that Jesse is one of the stars of. I was intrigued to know more about Jesse's career and growing up in an acting family and was thrilled to have him join me on the podcast.  I talked with Jesse about growing up in Santa Clarita, playing baseball and skateboarding as kid, finding his way into acting, what he's learned from watching his dad and brother's careers, how he approaches acting, acting in the "Selena" series, his upcoming project The Midnight Sector, and so much more! A huge Thank You for Jesse Posey for taking the time to join me on the podcast! It was so great getting to know more about his career. Make sure to follow Jesse on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com and if you haven't yet, go watch him in "Screamboat"! Thanks, Jesse! Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode I have comic book writers and filmmakers, Ben and Max Berkowitz!  I first came across the Berkowtiz Brothers almost a year ago when I briefly met them at a signing for their comic book, "The Writer". I'll be honest, I wasn't at the signing for them, but for another comic and decided to pick theirs up while I was there. As soon as I dove in I was hooked! I talked with Max and Ben about growing up on the East Coast, their first introduction to comic books, getting involved with entertainment, earliest influences and the first comics they bought, developing "The Writer" and bringing Josh Gadd on board, pitching to Dark Horse Comics, their social marketing company Not A Billionaire, and so much more! A huge Thank You to Max and Ben for taking the time to join me on the show. I've been wanting to have them on the show for a while now and was thrilled we were able to make it happen. You can pick up the paperback of "The Writer" now, which includes the full story and all of the issues in one book simply by clicking on the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com Make sure to follow the Berkowitz Brothers on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com as well.  Thanks, Ben and Max! Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode of the podcast, I have actress Allison Pittel! I got to know Allison a little bit over the past few weeks while moderating the Q&A's for "Screamboat" at AMC. Allison is the star of the film, playing the "final girl" Selena! I was excited to have Allison join me on the show to get to know more about her and her career.  I talked with Allison about growing up in Michigan, her early love for acting and performing, taking a break and studying economics and considering going to law school, moving to New York and finding her way back to acting, getting cast in "Stream" and “Screamboat”, making the move to Los Angeles, and so much more!  A huge Thank You to Allison for taking the time to join me on the show. Make sure to follow her on all of the links at www.onthemicpodcast.com And make sure to pick up your copy of “Screamboat” this Friday, May 2nd and stream it as well!  Thanks, Allison!  Enjoy the episode!