Episode 690

Written By Ashley Park

Maria Bamford, Brandi Brown, and The Reasonable Doubts

Comedian Maria Bamford riffs on money troubles... and why Instacart might be to blame; comic and crop artist Brandi Brown unpacks her childhood encounter with Prince and her favorite spots at the famed Minnesota State Fair; and The Reasonable Doubts prove that a cover band made up entirely of Minnesota state judges knows how to rock without robes.

 
 
 

Maria Bamford

Stand-Up Comedian

Maria Bamford is a stand-up comedian, actor, and New York Times bestselling author with her memoir Sure, I'll Join Your Cult. Stephen Colbert called her his "favorite comedian on earth." The first female comic to have two half-hour Comedy Central Presents specials, Maria's acclaimed work includes her Netflix series Lady Dynamite and comedy specials Old Baby and Special Special. She's provided voices for Big Mouth, BoJack Horseman, Adventure Time, and Word Girl. Awarded Best Club Comic at the American Comedy Awards, Maria's writing has appeared in The New York Times and LA Weekly. She has five hours of stand-up available on iTunes, including her latest recording 20%. For her mental health advocacy, she's received The OCD Foundation's Illumination Award.

Website • Instagram • Facebook

 
 
 

Brandi Brown

Writer, Comic, and Crop Artist

From Minneapolis, Minnesota, comic and writer Brandi Brown regularly hosts at Minneapolis' Acme Comedy Company. She has toured with Jim Norton and opened for comics including: Josh Johnson, Guy Branum , Maria Bamford, Joe Mande, Vanessa Bayer, Hannibal Buress, and many others. Brandi was a moderator on James Adomian and Anthony Atamanuik's "Trump vs Bernie" tour and was co-host of the podcast Bill Corbett's Funhouse. She has also appeared on American Public Media/ Minnesota Public Radio shows, including Open Mike Eagle's Secret Skin and Brains On! children's show Smash Boom Best, where she was a writer and panelist.

Website • Instagram

 
 
 

The Reasonable Doubts

Minnesota’s Only All-Judge Band

The Reasonable Doubts is Minnesota's only all-judge band, founded by Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Anne McKeig as a creative outlet to help judges manage the mental demands and emotional weight of their work. The nine-member group brings together current and retired judges from the Minnesota Supreme Court and district courts across the state, united by their love of music. Their diverse repertoire spans country, pop, and rock, featuring covers from Elvis Presley and AC/DC to Beyoncé. The band has been featured on NPR's Weekend Edition and performed at judicial conferences and law-related events around the region, including Law Law Palooza, a benefit concert for Justice North.

Article (Star Tribune)

 
 
 
 

Show Notes

Best News

“When you're in something that really, really sucks, like, you know, terminal travel delays and stuff, people—human beings—tend to actually kind of take care of each other, and bond, and really show up for each other. Making friends in unusual places: that’s the Best News that I heard this week!”

Brandi Brown

Live Wire Listener Question

  • If someone was visiting your hometown, what's the one thing they shouldn't miss?

Maria Bamford

The Reasonable Doubts

  • The Reasonable Doubts are a cover band exclusively made up of Minnesota Supreme Court justices and district judges. They tear up the Fine Line stage with “The Authority Song” by John Mellencamp.

 

  • Elena Passarello: From PRX, it's LIVE WIRE! This week, comedian and Minnesota State Fair expert, Brandi Brown. 

    Brandi Brown: I mean, I grew up going to the state fair when I was like a little kid. My family, they did put me on a leash, but it was like a humane one. 

    Elena Passarello: With stand-up comedy from Maria Bamford. 

    Maria Bamford: I could retire, uh, to Pahrump, Nevada in the middle of the sense if I would just stop insta-carting individual cans of Pilsbury crescent rolls.  

    Elena Passarello: And music from The Reasonable Doubts and our fabulous house band. I'm your announcer, Elena Passarello, and now, the host of Live Wire, Luke Burbank! 

    Luke Burbank: Thank you, Elena Passarello. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in from all over America. And thank you for coming out to the beautiful fine line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We have such an amazing show in store for everyone this week. I'm so excited to get to it. We gotta kick things off though, like we always do. With the best news we heard all week. All right, here's the thing. If you have looked at the news, you realize. [Elena: Ouch, yes.] That's not great. [Elena: No.] But that's where we step in. Elena, what's the best news you heard all week? 

    Elena Passarello: I heard some Yogi Berra news, huh? 

    Luke Burbank: Okay, I'm always here for Yogi Berra news. 

    Elena Passarello: His centenary is this year and in honor of that there's a Yogi Berra Museum and cultural center at Montclair State University in New Jersey and they have a stadium there named after Yogi Berra and the weekend before his 100th birthday they had 2,358 people show up in this stadium to honor Yogi berra by having the world's largest game of catch Guinness Book of World Record making. It's the first time anything in Montclair, New Jersey has ever been on the Guinness book of world records. [Luke: Really?] And they thought, cause Yogi Berra, you know, I don't know if everybody knows Yogi Berra. He was this great baseball player. He played for the Yankees. And then he became this personality who had all these really funny kind of tautological sayings. Like I think it ain't over till it's over is a Yogi berra original. That sounds about right. And he had one like, if you see a fork in the road. [Luke: Take it.] Take it, yeah. The future ain't what it used to be, which is now just, it's just true. [Luke: Yeah, yeah.] But he was such a friendly, personable guy and catch is such a friend personable sport. But the coolest thing about this article I read is what it takes to make a Guinness World Record. Like there were adjudicators there and they set rules for these 1,179 pairs of people playing catch. They had to be three meters apart. You could throw overhanded or underhanded but you couldn't roll the ball. You also couldn't be on your cell phone, so no TikToking, no videoing of the catch, which would be really hard to do. And they all had to play catch for five minutes. And then when it was over, there were these judges that kind of went around and they disqualified eight pairs of people. But it was still enough to break the record. And then they held up a big certificate and I think they stole Yogi Berra's Hall of Fame plaque from Cooperstown and it was there and everybody came and took a look at that. 

    Luke Burbank: Do you go, if you grew up in Georgia, I grew up the Pacific Northwest, where we would say, let's go play catch. But other places, it's have a catch. 

    Elena Passarello: Yeah, like field of dreams. 

    Luke Burbank: Does that have a catch in territory? 

    Elena Passarello: I feel like I come from throw the ball around [Luke: Okay.] country. You know, you want to go outside and throw the ball around. 

    Luke Burbank: I come from... Dad said he'd be back any moment, country. 

    Elena Passarello: Yeah, you go for it, go over it, yeah. 

    Luke Burbank: Let's get my mitt ready, just sit on this curb adorably. 

    Elena Passarello: Wearing that hat. 

    Luke Burbank: Yeah, wearing the actual hat I'm wearing for the show this week. You know, I think I have to say, Elena, the best news that I heard this week was that our airplane was actually landing at MSP Airport here in the Twin Cities. 

    Elena Passarello: Yeah, fair. Very fair, very fair. 

    Luke Burbank: As I was sort of explaining to the crowd here at Fine Line before we started recording, I had a real adventure, like a planes, trains, and automobiles level adventure trying to get here. You all came yesterday and were enjoying all the beauty and all the cool stuff there is to do here in the Twin Cities. 

    Elena Passarello: All the Juicy Lucys. [Luke: Meanwhile-] All the juicies, Lucy? 

    Luke Burbank: Yeah. It's like a attorney's general yes. I was suffering through all of these crazy plane delays and then cancelations that just dovetailed in this kind of perfect storm of it taking me like a day and a half to get here to Minneapolis from the not that far away Portland, Oregon. And you know, it was very frustrating but something kind of also beautiful happened. And maybe this is like the best news part of it which is I ended up falling in with this crew of people that since yesterday afternoon had been trying to get here to the Twin Cities and we had been through it together. 

    Elena Passarello: You together have been shuffled on and off of myriad vehicles that weren't taking you to Minneapolis. It turned out. 

    Luke Burbank: We had together we had run to the plane that decided to like push back from the gate right before we got there. We had all stayed overnight in Seattle. We- yeah on and off the plane. We were all on sort of a first name basis. There was like, um, there was the couple that was trying to get to a wedding in International Falls, Minnesota. Those are people that have driven to International Falls. I was like, so that's, what a suburb of the Twin Cities? It's like a suburb of Ontario, I'm now learning. There was this really sweet dad with his two, like maybe sort of tween teenage sons. He was taking them to see their first football game at his alma mater, St. John's University in Collegeville. 

    Elena Passarello: Ah. 

    Luke Burbank: Which was really sweet. There was a local media celebrity on the flight, and I don't mean me, I mean Sue Wilken, who explained that she writes the backwards glance column at the Fergus Falls newspaper where she lives. 

    Elena Passarello: Yeah, Fergus Falls! 

    Luke Burbank: By about like the sixth delay that we went through, Sue. She said, Sue Wilken of the newspaper, she said, I was gonna write my column about geese this week, but now I'm writing about this airplane delay. And I was like, me too, we're not that different. I'm totally dining out on this when I get to Minneapolis with the Live Wire crowd. I guess the point is, not to be corny, but it's like when things are so bad as they are every second of every day. It's easy to get bummed out. But also when you're in something that really, really sucks, like, you know, terminal travel delays and stuff, people, human beings tend to actually kind of take care of each other and bond and really show up for each other, you now? And that was my experience in the last like 28 hours. So making friends in unusual places, that's the best news that I heard this week. All right, you are listening to Live Wire Radio from PRX this week. We're at the Fine Line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our first guest is actually from right here in the Twin Cities, but her comedy has taken her all over the country. She's opened for Josh Johnson, Guy Branum, and Hannibal Buress, among others, and is a regular at ACME Comedy Club here in town. In her non-comedy life, she is, how do we say this, a power user of the Minnesota State Fair, attending at. Multiple times in the same years to try different foods and submit her crop art, which historically has done very well. Please welcome Brandi Brown to Live Wire. Brandi, [Brandi: Yes, yes.] welcome to Live Wire. Where exactly did you grow up? Did you grow in the Twin Cities?  

    Brandi Brown: Yep, in Minneapolis. 

    Luke Burbank: I'm wondering, when did you become kind of a certified Minnesota State Fair like obsessive? 

    Brandi Brown: Well, I mean while everyone was at parties I was at home studying the blade of the state fair and, uh. No, I mean I grew up going to the state fair when I was like a little kid. When I was five my family they did put me on a leash, but it was like a humane one. Where they, it was just like a strap around my wrist so everyone could eat food but I couldn't wander too far away. So I'd go to my grandparents, my mom, my aunt, so yeah I've been going you know off and on but I really got into it like after college. I entered crop art for the first time in 2017, 2018 or something like that. 

    Luke Burbank: Let's talk about crop art. We've actually got some of your crop art here. First of all, for the coastal elites listening to this on the radio, can you explain what crop art is? 

    Brandi Brown: So I think it started in like the 60s and it kind of came out of like farmers like their crops, they made art. And I'm not like the historian of this but you know they have to be seeds or plants. There are many categories that are grown in Minnesota and that like farmers use. And there was a big controversy a few years ago I was a part of about yellow mustard. And they tried to ban it, but we fought back because It turns out there's like a couple farms up north that use them and they're gonna only limit us to brown mustard, but- 

    Luke Burbank: Wait, because it was not considered native to Minnesota? 

    Brandi Brown: No, it's not. It doesn't have to be native. It just has to be a crop that's like used here and grown here. And so people make art with it. They make wearable art. I made sneakers one year. They were state fair themed. There's a category where you can dye the seeds and paint them, which, well, we can... 

    Luke Burbank: Yeah, we've actually got some of your stuff. Could I get maybe, Elena, could you pass this box to Brandi? And yeah, Brandi, could you kind of take us through some of these pieces and what the inspiration was? 

    Brandi Brown: Well, this one is, it was in the dyed category and I made this one in 1988 at the Summer Olympics. That was the last year they like, some people know the strings. I tell all the time. That was the last year they had live peace doves released at the opening ceremonies because what happened was that they released the peace doves and they went to rest on top of the cauldron. And then the torchbearers, they were raised up and they lit it from above and cooked the peace doves. And from 1920 to 1988 were the last times they would use live peace doves. I made a little piece, 35 years since live doves at the Olympic Games and- 

    Elena Passarello: What seeds make the flame? 

    Brandi Brown: Well, that's dyed mustard seed, so yeah. And what I did is I asked someone on Facebook in the neighborhood group if they had a blowtorch and I toasted one of the doves just to get the point across. 

    Luke Burbank: Oh, I see. [Elena: Yeah, yeah.] I feel like it's so interesting. We're in Minnesota, we're doing crop art. It's about doves, and it's not about when doves cry. 

    Elena Passarello: Yeah, good. 

    Brandi Brown: Yeah. 

    Luke Burbank: Do you feel like- Do you feel like the whole topic of Prince is a little over described here in the area? Is that like, in Seattle, it's like every football game, they show people throwing the salmon. And I'm like, we get it. Is that what it is to obsess over Prince here? 

    Brandi Brown: I mean, yeah, I think so. But everyone like I feel like that's people are like, oh, how do you know you're really a Minnesotan? It's like over a certain age, if you have a story about Prince, then you're really a Minnesotan and I have a story. 

    Luke Burbank: I mean, I've got nowhere to be. 

    Brandi Brown: OK, so when I was like a toddler or something, my aunt was dating Jerome from the time. And, uh so she was babysitting me. And Prince called and was like, hey, they needed to do business or whatever. And so my aunt brought me over, and I was roaming around Prince's house. You know how like little kids walk under tables? Well, I did that, and I hit my head and I freaked out. And then Prince was like OK, this needs to stop. And so he picks me up, and he's like showing me around this place. And he gets like a bag of peas to put on my head, frozen bag of peas. And then he gave me back to my aunt, and him and Jerome finished whatever. And then when I apparently, my aunt told me this, when it was time to go, I demanded that Prince make me a snack bag to go. And he did! He put cookies in there, so yeah, [Luke: Wow.] That's my friend's story. 

    Luke Burbank: This is Live Wire from PRX. We're talking to the comedian and crop artist enthusiast. Number one Minnesota State Fair lover, Brandi Brown. We gotta take a very quick break on this special show from the Twin Cities, but don't go anywhere. When we come back, Brandi will tell us why she never misses a llama costume contest. More Live Wire coming your way in just a moment. Welcome back to Live Wire from PRX. I'm your host Luke Burbank here with Elena Passarello. All right, we are coming to you from Minnesota this week. And before the break, we were talking to comedian and Minnesota State Fair enthusiast Brandi Brown about her crop art, which she actually sells at the state fair there, and which is this really incredibly like detailed art that has these great stories behind her particular, her particular submissions, Elena. Let's jump back to that conversation now this is Brandi Brown on Live Wire at the Fine Line in Minneapolis. So let's talk about this crop art. 

    Brandi Brown: Yeah, so this next one I made last year, I don't know if you guys are familiar with the Pop-Tarts Bowl that happened. College football game where they had Pop-Tart's mascots and at the end one of them got toasted in a large toaster. But I made the Pop-Tart and it says Crop-Tart. Yeah, this one, yeah. And yeah, this one has like oats for the grass and a lot of quinoa and some poppy seeds. And, uh... Corn and sorghum and yeah. 

    Luke Burbank: It's beautiful. Yes, thank you. That was one of those moments, the Pop-Tart Bowl, where it had not been fully thought through. The denouement of the mascot. 

    Brandi Brown: Yeah. And this last one is a Minnesota angle. The skier, Lindsey Vonn, in 2005, she was in a ski race in France, and she won the ski race. And what they would typically do at this race is they would present the winner with a cow, like a ceremonial cow. They'd take a picture. They'd get rid of the cow. I mean, just move it. They wouldn't kill it in front of her or anything. And then give them the check. And Lindsey Vonn at this point goes, I want the cow. And they're like, you cannot have the cow, and she says, no, I want the cow! And so I think the head of the US ski team had to negotiate with this French ski resort to get the cow and not only did she get the cow, and again, the check was maybe like $5,000, it turns out this cow was pregnant, so it was like a $20,000 cow. 

    Luke Burbank: Smart. 

    Brandi Brown: And it was referred to as Lindsey Vonn’'s bonus cow. And I made a piece about Lindsey Vonn's bonus cow. And yeah, she took the cow to Austria, where she had been training. And it's like a dairy cow, so it just lived there. They had a family of cows. And then she later won a goat that lived in a different farm in Austria. 

    Luke Burbank: Lindsey Vonn is mostly being paid in livestock. 

    Brandi Brown: Oh, at this point, yeah, I think so. 

    Luke Burbank: It's a very beautiful, by the way, Brandi, like, you know, all joking aside, you clearly have artistic skills. You're clearly very funny. Do you think of yourself as a comedian and also as a visual artist? 

    Brandi Brown: I think I'm more in the crafter vein when it comes to crop art because I think that's happened this year is that there's a fine arts building at the state fair where they do fine arts and the crop art is actually and we we did a show at the state fair in 2019. Maybe? Yeah. 

    Luke Burbank: Yeah, that was amazing. 

    Brandi Brown: Yeah, and the crop art goes in the horticulture, agriculture, horticultural building because it came from farmers and it has like a, it tends to be very left-wing because there's a progressive history of the farmers, the farmer labor, like DFL. And yeah, but it's like openly, there's sometimes occasionally conservative people doing that, but like it's, you know. So it's very much like the fine arts is so hard to get into and curate it a lot of the fine artists are like I could just do crop art everyone gets displayed. And so like all these like really good artists are starting to do crop art it's gotten more famous people have been running like crop art seminars and stuff. And so it's really what, people are like oh you didn't win I was like if you saw who was there it makes sense like I'm proud of what I did but I yeah there's some incredible art. 

    Luke Burbank: What do you think makes the Minnesota State Fair, I guess, special? Because I know Minnesotans are very proud of this state fair. It's a big deal. 

    Brandi Brown: Well, I had this area I actually kind of thought about this year in the context of like, you know, everyone talks about the urban rural divide and it's really every state that has a good state fair tends to have their state fair in an urban center that forces like city people to mix with like, you know, we call it outstate Minnesota or like, you know, farmers or whatnot. So you look at like Minnesota, you look at Texas, you'll look at Iowa, I guess, whatever. They're doing their best. But yeah, it's really like people all, it's massive. First of all, the fairground footprint, I think it's the same size as like Disney World proper. And it's just, it so many different things and so many people coming together and sharing their interests. I mean, everyone wants to talk about the new foods and they're really interesting to some people, but it's real the other stuff. Like my favorite event is every year I go see the 4-H Llama Costume Contest. That's my favorite. And it sees kids! 

    Luke Burbank: We have a few past winners here with us. 

    Brandi Brown: Yeah, it's just these kids who dress up their llamas, their alpacas, and they work really, really hard on it. And I actually did a story for Defector in 2023 where I like hung out with them for a couple of days. They do llama obstacle courses. And you know, 4-H has a musical. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah. 

    Luke Burbank: I've heard about that. 

    Brandi Brown: I think a writer here in town, Steve Marsh, once called it haystack glee. 

    Luke Burbank: Is there a 4-H musical that stands out in your mind as particularly well executed? 

    Brandi Brown: No shade to these children, but they've got the spirit. Not always the pitch, but the've got this spirit. There was one year where the whole, and it's only like a half hour, so there are always very simple premises. One year, the premise was, these kids woke up in the jungle, don't know why, and they open with a medley of jungle-themed tunes like Welcome to the Jungle, like it's a jungle out there, and they. You know, they're dancing and they, the cool thing about this is that they get there for like, it's like a 22-day thing and the fair is 12 days, so they get there, you know, 10 days before they live in the 4-H building on campus. There was a swine flu outbreak one year and all the 4H kids had to go home. But yeah, it just, you see it, it is a quick thing, you can have a beer while watching it. 

    Luke Burbank: Do you tend to go like a lot during the same year? I mean, are you going almost every day or once a week or what's your schedule like? What's your schedule like? 

    Brandi Brown: I don't- So I do have a schedule. So I go opening day and I try the new foods with the website Heavy Table. They do a lot of great food reviews and stuff. And that's fun. And I go check out my crop art and see how I did. Then my friends fly in on Llama Day, which is every, the only Wednesday of the state fair. It's been like that for like 20 years. [Elena: Oh, cool.] And we spend the whole day at the fair. And then the next day, we do a half day at the State fair wherever we missed. So- 

    Luke Burbank: So you're not like, you know, there's these, there are folks that go to Disneyland every day. 

    Brandi Brown: There is a woman who I think does too much state fair. I follow her. Her account's memory's on a stick. She's great. She just takes 12 days off from work. Everything she eats, she keeps track of it. She talks about all the exhibits she goes to. The way I met her is I was doing this llama story and there was a llama named Manly Man. And I was taking a picture with Manly Man and I just see this woman like barrel. She's like, Manly, man, you're back. And she's like, this is my favorite llama. And I'm like, who are you? But she's a delight and so there are people who do that. I'm like, no 

    Luke Burbank: Right. You're sort of our expert on the Minnesota State Fair, but you're by no means the person who attends it the most during the summer. 

    Brandi Brown: No, I definitely like asked her I was like, hey is Manly Man back? She's like, no, he retired. I was like, all right, you know, yeah. 

    Luke Burbank: Can you tell me about these buttons that you're making? 

    Brandi Brown: Yeah, so I do stand up comedy and I have three buttons that, this one I'm wearing, it has an, like they're based on bits I have. It's an owl. It says praying for you, but it's praying with an E because on Facebook one time I saw this woman's adult son, he went missing and then people were writing stuff and one woman said praying for, but she spelled it wrong and I was like, sounds like you took him honestly. So they were designed by an artist, Brooke Jessica Morgan. And I also have one with my cat on it, Claudette Cookie Lion. [Elena: Yeah.] And it says an icon, because she's named for the civil rights icon, Claudett Colvin, and also Cookie Lion from Empire, two icons. And then the third one I have is, it says melanin is not melatonin, because my ex once confused melanin and melatonins. So I was taking some and I was having crazy dreams. He's like, are you OK? And I was like, yeah, it's the melatonin. And then he was just like, I don't have that problem, I'm white. And I'm like, what? And so I made buttons. So they're in the back. I'm selling them for $5. My check engine light went on. So please buy my buttons. 

    Luke Burbank: Please, give it up one more time for Brandi Brown here on Live Wire. That was Brandi Brown right here on Live Wire, recorded at the Fine Line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information on what Brandi is up to, check out her Instagram, it's the Brandi, and that's Brandi with an I. Live Wire is brought to you by Powell's Books, a Portland institution since 1971. Powell's offers a selection of new and used books in stores and online at powells.com. This Saturday night we will be live streaming our Portland Book Festival show featuring actor, comedian and author from HBO's Somebody Somewhere, Jeff Hiller plus storyteller and explorer Tara Roberts and poet Reginald Dwayne Betts with live music from Anna Tivel. This show will be streaming live at 7:30 p.m, pacific standard time, Saturday, November 8th. Tickets are available on a sliding scale over there at LiveWireRadio.org. You're tuned in to Live Wire. I'm Luke Burbank. That's Elena Passarello right over there. Of course, each week on the show, we ask the Live Wire listeners a question. And this week, inspired by our conversation with Brandi Brown, we asked the listeners what, Elena? 

    Elena Passarello: Here's a decidedly northern Minnesotan one from Duluth's Greg. Greg says, and if you ever go to Duluth, you have to walk the lake walk, which runs along Lake Superior. Greg says it's beautiful and the wind will exfoliate your face for free. 

    Luke Burbank: Feels very Duluth. Yes. Although now is the time, Elena, to invest in Duluth because there are some studies out there that say, once this planet is probably less livable than it is right now, we're gonna need things like relatively cold temperatures and access to lots of fresh water. 

    Elena Passarello: And exfoliating wind. 

    Luke Burbank: And free exfoliated wind. That's all happening in Dulut. 

    Elena Passarello: All right, see you there. 

    Luke Burbank: All right. What's something else that somebody says we must know about their hometown? 

    Elena Passarello: Now this one I really liked from Carla in Austin, Texas. I'll tell you why. Carla said, torches tacos. 

    Luke Burbank: Oh yes. 

    Elena Passarello: Don't tell me afterward that you don't really like breakfast tacos because we'll have to revoke your Austin visitors pass. And here's the thing that I like about saying torches. There's a few torches, I used to live in Austin around town and I like the idea that one of the best places to go isn't like a single spot. 

    Luke Burbank: Yeah. Uh, what is something else, a hometown related that somebody wants to make sure we don't miss if we ever visit. 

    Elena Passarello: OK, Seattle boy, let's see if you agree with Jordan's take. Jordan says the Fremont troll under the Aurora bridge. Jordan explains that it's like a local Bigfoot, only we know exactly where it lives under that bridge. 

    Luke Burbank: I love the troll the troll is so fun. I mean Fremont just as a neighborhood that sort of area is just great. And then yeah, you've got a troll and I think it's like it's it's grabbing It's like sort of eating like a Volkswagen like a VW. You know, I can't say that word by the way. [Elena: Volkswagen?] I've always said, I've alwasy said Volts-wagen. 

    Elena Passarello: Well now they have electric vehicles, so.  

    Luke Burbank: Yeah, yeah, that would actually make more sense. Thank you. It's like eating a Volkswagen bug 

    Elena Passarello: So it's a painting of a troll? 

    Luke Burbank: No, it's a big three dimensional concrete, I guess, sculpture. I don't know if the city actually 100 percent like cleared it, but it's there. Everybody loves it. It's not going anywhere. And yeah, I am fully in an agreement that the Fremont Troll is something you must see when you visit Seattle. 

    Elena Passarello: Sold. I'll see you. We're gonna be in Seattle next month and I know where I'm going now.

    Luke Burbank: Perfect. Hey, thank you to everyone who responded to our listener question. We really do appreciate it. Live Wire is supported by Literary Arts, which presents the Portland Book Festival, featuring author panels, a book fair, and more, November 8th in downtown Portland. Learn more at pdxbookfest.org. You're tuned in to Live Wire. Now Judd Apatow called our next guest the funniest comedian in the world, which is like, it's really saying something. She's also a New York Times bestselling author for her memoir, Sure, I'll Join Your Cult. And she was the star of like one of my very favorite shows to come out in the last however many years. It's called Lady Dynamite, it was on Netflix. She's just the absolute best. We're talking of course about Maria Bamford. Who we managed to get to the Fine Line in Minneapolis, Minnesota to perform some comedy. Here she is, the pride of Duluth. 

    Maria Bamford: Oh my gosh, how delightful. Can you believe it? This is a job. I- I'm at work. This, this is an S-Corp. My tax ID is 452393745 and I'm clocking in as a buffoon. Hey, hey nerds, we've entered fascism, and why? And why? Because everyone was worried about money, right? Money is irrational, because we've all heard wealthy people worry aloud about money. It's heartbreaking. Oh my gosh, we would love to give. What a great cause, but we've got two girls in private school and we're getting the kitchen and the bath redone, the house in Italy, so we're just a little cash. Ooh I've stopped listening to this romance novel. I don't care about any of the characters. Please let me know when there's been a murder. But you have to have empathy. You have to empathy for oligarchs, because what, what if it happens to you? That's the American dream, you know? Somehow, you end up, you, I had some friends, they won the lottery. They moved into a black obelisk semi-submerged in the sea. I did not see them for a decade because we were eating at different restaurants. They weren't interested in the Grand Slam. You guys don't want to meet us in a truck. I should never worry about money. I should never worry about it again. Cause I could retire to Pahrump, Nevada in the middle of the sense if I would just stop insta-carting individual cans of Pillsbury crescent rolls. No bag, full contact delivery. And you gotta find me. I'm in the Bougainvillea! I'm right here! I'm from Duluth. Whoa! Whoa! Have you guys been to Duluth? All right. No, no, no. I love Duluth so much. A lot of my friends, they're worried about money. Friends from high school, I have a friend who's Christian, and yet she is hustling. Like crazy. I started a multi-level Christ-based Christian marketing company called Lot's Daughters. I'm selling cut-cone knives that I've hand-dulled. It's called the 5150 Collection for people who've tried suicide and homicide, but they didn't succeed. I rewrote the Bible as a cowboy romance. Everybody's worried about money. I got Maria, Maria, Maria, I just thought of this, it's a cat toy, okay, but it's actually, it's a sex toy. So you can have it in your living room and nobody knows. Just imagine that. I, uh, yeah, I like this job, but sometimes it's a non-union. So you don't always know what you're gonna get paid. I once got a text from a billionaire. That's right, a billionaire has my number. And oh, who's that? I'm not going to say who it is. Let's just say it was Grimace from the McDonald's franchise. A nine and a half foot tall, purple berm of ermine has my number and asked me to work on a Sunday. Of course I said no, because Sunday I got plans. That's when I shotgun a nitro cold brew, I go to the dog park, I think that I'm talking to people but I am yelling at them! I fall over, I let the dogs run over me in what we call a love festival where the only ticket is a smile. And then, my husband and I, we used to go back to our house in Southern California, which was affected in the fires. Oh, I remember when I left Minneapolis at the age of 25 and because I had a message from God, as you do to move to LA. And as I told my performance art community that I was leaving, an older woman, probably a woman my age now, came up to me, grabbed me by the shoulders and said, life turns on a dime! She's never been wrong. We lost our house to the fires. But you know, we had insurance and all that stuff. But I was up there in the ashes. And um, I was uh,  it's kind of a police state in certain areas of California, for sure. There's an unmarked SUV. Black SUV. Cops get out, arms, their guns drawn. They come up to me and say, excuse me, ma'am! Excuse me, what are you doing on that property? Excuse me, ma'am! I was looking for my elephant ear succulents. I just was hoping maybe it once survived it could replan it. Sorry ma'am, didn't mean to frighten you. Just had to make sure you weren't one of the bad guys. I'm wearing 17 friendship bracelets. How do you think I got him? Of course I'm, of course I am one of the bad guys. When you don't have healthcare, that's when you turn to a podcast. And I love the therapist Esther Perel, listening, but they listen to Esther. Oh, she does it one time. Their position seems a little irresponsible. But she's great, you know, it's free, but you have to. She needs money, so she's doing the ads, you know. Today, we'll be talking with a polyamorous quad. Who in your group of four likes to be cc'd? Who likes to b-c-c'd. Purple mattresses slip to up to 11. I like to sleep on my side like a seahorse. My husband likes to sleep starfish style on his tum tum. It just feels like if you went to urgent care and then there was a merch table, you know? Like, I appreciate the antibiotics and I would like to have a koozie. She talks about very taboo, you know, topics, so it is helpful. Trigger warning, we'll be talking about domestic violence as well as sexual trauma. Hello, Thresh. Oh God, do I love the peanut curry. It has so much quinoa and squash. Now, now she's just lying. She's from Europe. She's not eating that s***. She's not eating old vegetables from a garbage bag. But she does, um... yeah. But it's just important work, you know, things that nobody wants to talk about, nobody wants to bring up. The death of a child can tear a part a family, a community. There is no abatement from your grief until you, yourself, pass on. And that is why why not distract yourself by checking out your auto rates on progressive.com Backslash is there 20 for 20% off because there are some losses you cannot insure against. You guys have been lovely. I choose jobs because I want to do them. I stopped working for this billionaire because he was such a pain in the ass trying to get paid. Grimace, it turns out, is he's, I know he's worried about money. So he wouldn't pay me. So point is, my current work philosophy was given to me by a man riding the train in Philadelphia. My husband and I, we were on the quiet car. Older man gets on, he's playing his iPad at the highest setting, the price is right. Ba da ba da, ba da ba de, ba de ba de. The price is, right! My husband taps me on the shoulder, says, hey buddy, could you turn it down? This is the quiet car. This guy turns around and says, what I now say to myself every day. I am just trying to enjoy myself! Thank you so much. Thank you very much. 

    Luke Burbank: That was the inimitable, the legend, Maria Bamford, recorded at the Fine Line in Minneapolis. Make sure you check out her extensive array of comedic work on Netflix and iTunes and the internet. She did an entire comedy special in her living room for her parents. They were the entire audience and I still think it's one of the greatest comedy specials I've ever seen. So go check out Maria's work. We got to take a quick break here on Live Wire, but before we go, I want to tell you about next week's show. We are going to be joined by writer and podcaster Sona Movsesian. Now, for a long time, Sona was famously known for being Conan O'Brien's assistant, something she was, by her own admission, very bad at. Then she became famous for being one of the co-hosts of the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast, which is like always one of top shows out there. Then we're gonna get some stand-up comedy from Marcella Arguello, who's gonna unpack the politics of airport parking. Then we gonna get music from the jazz duo Brown Calculus. They're gonna bring us their cosmic sounds, which is really something. You gotta check this out. Do not miss next week's episode of Live Wire. Tune in wherever you get the show. All right, onto that very quick break, which I wanna tell you is gonna be very fast and you're gonna wanna stay through it because when we get back. You're gonna hear a Live Wire first. We are gonna be joined by a cover band made up entirely of Supreme Court and state judges from the state of Minnesota. Very on brand for this episode and the whole weekend that we had in the Twin Cities. They are called The Reasonable Doubts and they undoubtedly rock. More Live Wire coming your way in just a moment. This is Live Wire, I'm Luke Burbank here with Elena Passarello. All right, where do I start with our musical guest this week, Elena? 

    Elena Passarello: I don't know 

    Luke Burbank: Okay, like about a year and a half ago, Anne McKeig was feeling stressed at work. This happens, right, to all of us. And so I guess to sort of like blow off some steam, she emailed a bunch of her colleagues and she was like, hey, would you like to start a cover band with me? Because Anne had always kind of dreamed of being like a country music singer. And a bunch her coworkers said, yeah, totally, we would love to do that. But here's the thing, Anne McKeig is Justice McKeig of the Minnesota State Supreme Court. And the people she was emailing, they're also judges. Some of them of the state Supreme Court, some of them state judges in Minnesota. So they end up forming this nine member band and they are called The Reasonable Doubts. And we got them to the Fine Line Theater in Minneapolis. Now this is the thing, Elena, they had just played this benefit concert in Duluth. It's like a fundraiser, it's something to do with the law and the conference is called Law Law Palooza. These are real things that I'm saying to you, and I know this sounds made up, but anyway, please take a listen to what I am very confident in saying. The only all-judge band that you're gonna hear on public radio this weekend. They're covering Authority Song by John Mellencamp. This is The Reasonable Doubts on Live Wire. All right, let's say hi to everybody up here. We have Anne McKeig, Supreme Court Justice, Minnesota State Supreme Court. We have Sarah Hennesy, a fellow Minnesota State, Supreme court justice. We have John Bowen, Wright County District Judge. Wow. Is he like the hot one? We also have Mark Herzing of Mille Lacs County, district judge there. Also we have a county district judge from Assanti, Amy Brosnahan. Mark Ireland, Ramsey County District Judge. Dale Harris, retired St. Louis County district judge. We also have Luis Bartolomei, Hennepin County District Judge, right here. We don't have time for a song, but that was a great intro. Thank you to The Reasonable Doubts. All right. And I gotta ask you about this. 

    The Reasonable Doubts: Yes sir. 

    Luke Burbank: What was going on for you like personally when you thought, what we need as a band made up in large part of justices from the Minnesota State Supreme Court. 

    The Reasonable Doubts: We don't have enough time for that. No, I was really thinking about just our workloads as judges and you know, we see people who are in crisis at the worst moments of their life and we take that home with us. And so I was worried about my colleagues on the court, myself, and all the people in district court and I just thought we need to do something fun. 

    Luke Burbank: Can we, I want to ask Sarah Hennesy something if I can, which was, what was your thought, fellow Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, what was your thought when Anne sent out this email, like, hey, should we start a band? 

    The Reasonable Doubts: You know, so I was in the district court at the time when she asked me to do it. And you don't say no to Justice McKeig when you're a district court judge, which is why we're all here. 

    Luke Burbank: Wow. I'm surprised there are, I think it's maybe nine, ten people on stage, it's a lot of people. I'm surprise that there are this many people who have risen to a very high level of jurisprudence, who also like, like to make music. Is there something about the brain of someone who goes into law and becomes a judge and somebody who wants to make music. 

    The Reasonable Doubts: I don't think so, I think it's the opposite. I think that we're sort of living in a world of logic and making factual determinations and applying the law to the facts and stuff. This is all different, it feels very different. And it's creativity, it's expression of creativity that we don't really get to do a lot at work. And I mean, we didn't audition. The email went out, the email went out and we all raised our hands. This sounds lovely, this is nice. 

    The Reasonable Doubts: Wait a minute, they didn't make you audition? 

    Luke Burbank: This is the first time hearing no one had to audition to get in the band. We flew all the way here from Portland. We heard about this hot band of judges no one to audition. What are some of the ethical implications of the songs that you pick? Like could you do like Fortunate Son? Or I don't know, a song that has a sort of like what could be construed as a political message to it. 

    The Reasonable Doubts: Well, it depends on who you ask. I mean, if you ask me, I think, oh, let's just do it. If you ask the rest of them- 

    Luke Burbank: What's the lower court say? 

    The Reasonable Doubts: What, what the lower courts, the lower-. 

    The Reasonable Doubts: I'd like to overrule the justice. This may be my shot, and I'm taking it. 

    Luke Burbank: Yeah. 

    The Reasonable Doubts: Yeah, no, we've actually tried to be more thoughtful about it because, you know, we, we're public servants. And the public can be great, but the public can be brutal. And so we would never want to do anything that would allow anybody who has to come before us to actually feel like they didn't get a fair shot. 

    The Reasonable Doubts: And if I could add one more thing, we're doing this in the evening, off hours. No taxpayers are paying for this. 

    Elena Passarello: Yeah, good to know. 

    Luke Burbank: Now, here's my question, though. If there was a judging emergency right now, are there any judges left in the state of Minnesota? I feel like they're almost all on stage here. 

    The Reasonable Doubts: We're on call. 

    Luke Burbank: Okay. All right, well, thank you, by the way, everybody, for talking to us. I want to hear a song now. I'm wondering, what song are we going to hear? 

    The Reasonable Doubts: The Authority song. 

    Luke Burbank: The Authority Song? All right, this is The Reasonable Doubts here on Live Wire. Coming to you this week from Minneapolis. 

    [The Reasonable Doubts performs The Authority Song.]

    Luke Burbank: Those are The Reasonable Doubts. Right here on Live Wire. So there you go. That's what a nine member cover band made up of justices from various Minnesota state courts sound like. What a way to end. That's gonna do it for this week's episode of Live Wire. A huge thanks to our guests, Brandi Brown, Maria Bamford, and The Reasonable Doubts. Also, huge thanks this episode to Marnie Gamble and the fine folks at The Fine Line in Minneapolis. 

    Elena Passarello: Laura Hadden is our executive producer, Heather de Michele is our executive director, and our producer and editor is Melanie Sevchenko. Eben Hoffer is our technical director, Tre Hester is our assistant editor, and Teja Pallikonda is our production fellow. 

    Luke Burbank: Valentine Keck is our operations manager, and Ashley Park is our marketing manager. Our house sound is by Stefan Sulak, and our house band is Sam Pinkerton, Ethan Fox Tucker, and A  Walker-Spring, who also composes our music. This show was mixed by Eben Hoffer and Tre Hester. 

    Elena Passarello: Additional funding provided by the City of Portland's Office of Arts and Culture. Live Wire was created by Robyn Tenenbaum and Kate Sokoloff, and this week we'd like to thank members Catherine Tannehill of Waconia, Minnesota, and Michael Powers of Portland, Oregon. 

    Luke Burbank: For more information about our show or how you can listen to our podcast, head on over to LiveWireRadio.org. I'm Luke Burbank for Elena Passarello and the whole Live Wire team. Thank you for listening and we will see you next week.

    PRX.

 

Staff Credits

Laura Hadden is our Executive Producer, Heather De Michele is our Executive Director, and our Producer and Editor is Melanie Sevcenko. Eben Hoffer is our Technical Director, Tre Hester is our Assistant Editor, and Teja Pallikonda is our Production Fellow. Our house sound is by Stefan Sulak. Valentine Keck is our Operations Manager, Ashley Park is our Marketing Manager, and Tiffany Nguyen is our Intern. Our house band is Sam Pinkerton, Ethan Fox Tucker, and A. Walker Spring, who also composes our music. This episode was mixed by Eben Hoffer and Tre Hester. Additional funding provided by the City of Portland's Office of Arts and Culture. Live Wire was created by Robin Tenenbaum and Kate Sokoloff. This week, we'd like to thank members Catherine Tannehill of Waconia, MN and Michael Powers of Portland, OR. Special thanks to Marnie Gamble and the fine folks at the Fine Line in Minneapolis, as well as photographer Darin Kamnetz.

Ashley Park
Next

Episode 689