89. Mom Talk: Healed and evolved, but not a pushover

Today is my birthday! It’s also my podcast’s birthday! I’m deep into my Saturn Return, which is the astrological concept that shows from ages 27-29, you experience crazy life changes and a rebirth to finally become an adult in the astrological world. I have on Deborah Coons, a career astrologist, to explain the concept and give advice for when you’re going through itThe rest of the episode is recap on some of my most important lore and recapping 28, the year everything got real: I quit my job, got engaged, faced my codependency with friends, and started working on the bad patterns that keep getting in my way.

Internet sketch king Jack Maloney (Betches, Upright Citizens Brigade) is on the pod! Jack goes deep about his mental health journey, his struggles with OCD and binge eating, and how an intense, competitive musical theater BFA made it all worse. We talk about rebuilding his relationship with his body and whether making comedy helps or hurts.We also get into going viral, why you don’t need a massive following to be taken seriously, the childhood iMovies that started it all, and we design our dream theme parks. New episodes every Tuesday!

Former Book of Mormon star PJ Adzima (nine years as Elder McKinley!) joins the pod to talk about Slam Frank, the off-Broadway musical everyone in New York is debating. Slam Frank is a play-within-a-play satire of woke politics, inspired by a 2022 tweet asking whether Anne Frank ever acknowledged her white privilege, and PJ is one of the lead producers who took it from a wild internet idea to a sold-out run at the Orpheum Theatre.PJ goes from a fourth-generation farm in Massachusetts to New York at 18, survives a years-long international Book of Mormon tour, lands his Broadway dream job, and then launches Stage Time, his production company for drag, burlesque, circus and comedy. And then signs on to produce Slam Frank.We get into mid-performance walkouts, surprise celebrity guests, what the message of the musical is and what “woke” even means anymore. Plus the big question: has Broadway gotten too polite?In this episode:How Book of Mormon gave PJ the blueprint for a hitGoing from a scrappy downtown run to the OrpheumWalkouts, outrage and wildly different audience reactionsCelebrity sightings in the crowdWhat it takes to produce a musical with no marketing budgetBroadway etiquetteIs Hamilton cringe?Whether musical theater has gotten too safe*This interview was independently organized by me. This is not a partnership, collaboration or endorsementNew episodes every Tuesday. Subscribe so you don’t miss the next one!

My mom is back on the podcast! Sarah’s here to talk about Soul Stretch Retreats, how she vets who comes on them (some people need a group retreat first, some need one-on-one work before they’re ready), and what she does on a private retreat when ~the magic~ hasn’t happened yet, which for one very skeptical guest came down to a night-blooming flower.We also talk about a recent event where she was disrespected and how she stood up for herself, which involved slamming not one but two doors. Just because you’re healed and evolved doesn’t mean you can’t crash out when it’s deserved. 

My Aunt Kate is on the pod to tell her story! Kate is 37 years sober and now works in drug intervention in Kentucky. She grew up in the ’70s in a lawless house with five kids and two alcoholic parents, where she knew she was gay (and that her dad was too) but had to keep it buried. She started drinking at 12, got kicked out of college for drinking, wasn’t the mother she wanted to be, but now she’s rewriting her story by showing up for her grandsons and finding ways to turn turn her addiction, once her biggest curse, into her biggest ally in helping other people get sober. Kate is such an important person in my life, and I’m so excited to share her story with you guys!

This one's for the 365 party girls. Downtown NYC girls and nightlife experts Gabby and Lucy join the pod to tell me how they became such icons, where in NYC they go out, and how to get into exclusive clubs. We get into the male photographer epidemic plus what NOT to do when you meet people out. Then we play a very long Chic or Freak and talk party hot takes. New episodes every Tuesday!

The funniest girl alive Belle Decker is finally on Lit Hein. We’re talking about childhoods: growing up with 3 siblings in a WWE household, playing Barbies until a little late in life and working in immersive theater for four years. Belle is a literally princess and am addicted to her vibe!!!!

Another high school friend back on the pod which means lore and gossip from our crazy Atlanta private school. Julianne is an improv icon in both LA and Chicago and is now breaking into Hollywood. She’s improvised with Doja Cat in a Taco Bell commercial and had a guest spot on The Comeback. She tells what it's like being an actor in LA right now and gives her best audition tips and the best and worst types of acting classes. We talk relationships and the perks of being single as a creative!

Lit Hein fav Erik Martini is back on the pod after a harrowing injury!! He snapped his ankle clean off! He spent 19 days in the hospital and racked up a $200k hospital bill and is giving us the podcast exclusive.Erik takes us through his electric summer leading up the Ankle Gate, how the accident happened, army crawling for help, and how this injury has changed his perspective on his career, friends and alcohol 

Mika Stein is an NYC comedian and a certified politics and history junkie. He joins Lit Hein to talk about growing up Black and Jewish in Texas and rising through the ranks of the Jewish community.We briefly met at a Jewish youth group (BBYO) convention in 2013, when he served as International President, taking a gap year to advocate for Jewish teens and Israel. Since then he's become outspoken about Israel and about the propaganda he was fed, both from BBYO and on his various trips to Israel.Mika and I get into the actual fever dream that was BBYO: a teen hierarchy and hookup economy based on an elaborate point system, a Malia Obama spit chain, and the life-altering chaos of losing an election.He opens up about how anti-Semitism, his mixed race identity, lobbying, and youth organizing shaped the pressure to be "the right kind of Jew,” and what it actually cost him to start speaking out.