The Juice with Jeff

The Juice with Jeff #285

On this episode Dana Minrzer Leman and Zander Leman conduct and co-produce their fantastic, superb, very conversational, and really creative interview with me in person. This is Dana's sixth time (fifth in person) and Zander's fourth time (third in person) on the podcast. I truly believe that this episode is one of the most creative ones that we've ever produced of the entire Juice with Jeff series so far!!

For all of the questions, Dana and Zander also share what their answers are to these questions as well.

Here are the questions that Dana and Zander asked me during the interview:

What do you think about car fobs, do you prefer fobs over traditional keys or do you think they're not worth it?

What is your opinion about the song by The Trashmen called "Surfin' Bird"? During this question, I also give examples of other parody or novelty songs I like by artists such as Weird Al Yankovic.

Dandelions bloom twice, once for yellow and once for white. If you could only be either the white or the yellow version of a dandelion, which one would you choose and why?

What are your thoughts on how movies create or influence real life in ways that are unintended?

What pasta shape do you prefer?

What are names of weird things that people just don't commonly know?
In Japanese art forms they have what is called MA, which describes empty spaces or voids. What is an empty space or void that you can identify in the world that is meaningful to you?

Have you ever been stumped when it comes to developing a project or something similar?

For the next question, Dana brings up the mezuzah scrolls/cases that Jewish people have on the doorposts on their homes. If you had to take out the scroll that was in there and put in a scroll that said something important to you, what would you like that to say? Or if you could add another scroll to the mezuzah's actual scroll and double wrap, what would you want the second scroll to say that's important to you?

If you could be any mythological creature, what would it be and why?

Who in your house takes out the garbage?

Has there ever been a significant dream you've had in your sleep that stays with you?

What book are you reading right now and what's happening in your book?

If you could be any kind of weather, what would you be and why?

We conclude the podcast with all three of us sharing what we appreciate about each other and having a moment of "Ma" with it.

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Sunday afternoon April 27, 2025 and it runs 1 hour and 3 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #284

On this episode Carrie England and Mia Countryman conduct and co-produce a fantastic, superb, and very fun interview with me in person. This is Carrie's fifth time (third in person) and Mia's debut/first time on the podcast.

Here are the things that we talked about during the interview:

First, Mia asks me to talk about the history of these Juice with Jeff podcasts. And then she asks me what things I love to talk about, so I gave a summary for Mia of the other things about the multiple things I'm passionate about besides the podcast:  Listening to music, especially the Brass Rock/Horn Rock form of rock music; classic and vintage movies (especially the Roadshow Theatrical films), Neurodiversity, and heavily promoting how important it is for us to accept everyone as they are for who they are. I then ask Mia what things she loves to talk about.

Then Carrie asks me the questions "If you could be any animal in the world, what animal would you choose to be?" and "If you could sit down to lunch with anyone in the world (alive or deceased), who would you want to have lunch with?". And then she asks me to do one of my impersonations, so I do a line from the Blues Brothers film in the voices of Elwood and Jake Blues.

After that Carrie and I talk about a bunch of things related to the podcast, including the two Juice with Jeff logos and also our Juice with Jeff, Inc. Board of Directors/Advisory Committee (of which Carrie is one of the 15 or so people on the board). 

We end the podcast with my talking about and then all three of us taking turns reading that "Top Ten Reasons We Love The Juice with Jeff" list David Letterman-Style that Stephen Stein, Dana Mintzer Leman, and I put together earlier this week (which I shared the final version of it on my main page and in our Juice with Jeff Podcast group page.

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Friday afternoon April 25, 2025 and it runs 40 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #283

On this episode Leslie McCleary conducts and co-produces a fantastic and conversational interview with me thru Zoom. This is Leslie's debut/first time on the podcast and I want to thank Julie Bixby for recruiting Leslie to join our Juice with Jeff Family of Interviewers and Co-Producers.

 

We started out the interview with my talking about how Dana Mintzer Leman recruited Julie to join our podcast family last year and my briefly talking about how I've known Dana my entire life, along with mentioning how Dana has been a cheerleader and huge supporter of the multiple things I've done over the years including this entire podcast series.

Then Leslie asks me to talk about growing up in the Midwest and now I feel about living in Iowa, both the pros and cons. As part of answering this question, I mention how living in a community that is smaller than the bigger cities makes it much easier for me to connect with people in person.

Next, Leslie asks me to talk about my thoughts on food in the Midwest. I explain that because of my keeping the basic requirements of Kosher all year round, my options for eating out from restaurants in DSM are either Maccabee's Deli (the only completely Kosher restaurant in central Iowa) or vegan and certain vegetarian items from other restaurants, as well as enjoying sweet treats from bakeries and ice cream places.

We end this episode with both of us talking about things we remember from the Iowa State Fair, and how during the years I was active at the Fair (summers of 2013 to 2019) I would enjoy eating a variety of vegan and vegetarian items at the Fair.

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Friday April 25, 2025 and it runs 38 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #282

On this episode Tiffany Welch conducts and co-produces a fantastic, superb, very fun, and really conversational interview with me in person. This is Tiffany's second time on the podcast and we recorded this episode at Campbell Recreational Area in Clive.

After our introductions, Tiffany facilitates a discussion where we have a two way conversation with side topics that are related to the following questions:

1. What is your favorite season of the year?

2.  What kind of music are you listening to these days?

Then towards the end of the interview, Tiffany asks me to perform some of my voice impersonations, so I did the following voice impersonations for her: Fat Albert, Mushmouth, the "Let's get ready to Rumble!!" announcer, my The Simpsons medley of voices, and the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood medley of voices.

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Tuesday April 8, 2025 and it runs 1 hour and 4 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #281

On this episode Jen Carolan and Stephanie Reed conduct and co-produce a fantastic, superb, energetic, at times really fun, and very conversational interview with me in person. This is Jen's and Stephanie's second time on the podcast and I truly believe that Jen and Stephanie's interview was their BEST INTERVIEW EVER that they've done with me (so far)!!

After our introductions, Jen and Stephanie asked me the following questions:

 

1.  From your perspective with everything that's going on in the world, what do you see the next 5, 10, or 15 years looking like for both the world and yourself? Part of my answer to their question involves bringing up the tariffs that have recently gone into effect along with things being much more expensive in our economy. I perform my Trump and McConnell voice impersonations at one point during this question. I stress the importance of "not spending more than you earn" and how I do my best to make sure I avoid spending more than I earn in a given two week period. I then ask Jen and Stephanie to share their thoughts on how they would answer this question.

2. Earlier you talked about how during one of the Juice with Jeff interviews last year, one of the interviewers (Stephanie Toms) interviewed you and another young autistic person about things related to your autism. With everything that's going on with the immunizations and things that RFK, Jr. is talking about, do you have any thoughts on whether that actually does (or will) contribute to more people with shots having autism in that what is causing the autism rate to increase?  I start out answering this question by making it really clear that shots DO NOT cause autism and the real reason why more people have been diagnosed as being autistic (having lots more knowledge and better tools on diagnosing autism according to specific criteria). I talk about how we must heavily promote the importance of accepting people as they are for who they are.  I then talked about that interview Stephanie Toms conducted/co-produced with me and Nathan Retzlaff where the entire interview focused on various things related to me and Nathan being autistic. I did my Fat Albert, Audrey II Plant from "Little Shop of Horrors", and my Barry White voice impersonations.  After I finish answering this question, I ask Jen and Stephanie to share their thoughts.

3.  What are you most excited about in the next five years? I choose to answer this question by talking about the goals for the 2025 Season of the podcast, the episodes we have already produced this year, and some of the upcoming in person interviews we have scheduled for specific dates over the next few months. In the midst of this question, I ask Jen and/or Stephanie to offer a "Sales Pitch" to recruit additional people to join our Juice with Jeff Family of Interviewers and Co-Producers.

4.  Jen then asks the final question of the podcast with "From what you just shared about the upcoming Basement Dwellers in person interview on May 4th; is the concept of the Basement Dwellers, is that what you (and the Radio/TV production and Broadcast News students at Drake) called yourselves back in your J-School days or is that a new thing?  I explained to Jen and Stephanie how the Basement Dwellers term was created by Todd Evans and mentioned how Todd was one of the several professors during my days in the J-School at Drake, along with how Todd came up with the Basement Dwellers series of episodes for this year on the podcast.

 

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Sunday April 6, 2025 and it runs 57 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #280

On this episode Karen Christiansen conducts and co-produces a fantastic, superb, and very conversational interview with me in person. This is Karen's fourth time on the podcast and I truly believe that both the one she did in February last year and this one were equally Karen's BEST INTERVIEWS EVER with me!!

 

After our introductory remarks, here are the things that we talked about during Karen's interview:

 

1.  Sharing our thoughts on the lunches Karen, Sophie, and I enjoyed prior to the podcast interview session that we picked up from a local Ecuadorian restaurant called Mi Patria.

2.  We reflect on how things are going with the Juice with Jeff 2025 Season so far, and I have Karen do a "Sales Pitch" to recruit additional people to be part of the podcast and conduct the interviews with me.

3.  Karen talks a bit about our days in the VHS choirs and shares her experience with going to a recent Show Choir concert at VHS. She then asks me the question "Would you have been interested in being in the Show Choirs if they were around during our VHS days or were you OK with just the usual singing and not having to worry about doing choreographed dancing
on risers?" There are two side topics I discuss during my answer to this question including how I really don't care for the Motown music of the 60's and early, how I absolutely love Stevie Wonder's 1970's albums where he had near total control over his music, and how I spent time with Angie Spann when she did her recent interview with me back in mid September last year.

4.  Karen then asks me "Have you ever wanted to be on stage in an acting role?". During this question, I talk about the plays I was in during my camper years at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. After Karen shares her thoughts on my answer to this question, I perform my The Simpsons voice impersonations medley.

5.  Then I talk with Karen about the vintage and classic films I've added to my Blu Ray and DVD Collection since I last saw Karen a year ago, the "Roadshow Theatrical Film Minyan Countdown" I did last year between Labor Day weekend and my 50th birthday in October, and about how for the third year in a row I'm watching all of the TV shows and movies in my DVD/Blu Ray collection from A to Z in alphabetical order during my spare/free time when I have nothing else going on.

6.  Karen then asks me if I enjoy playing or watching sports at all. I told her how I don't enjoy competitive athletic events at all. Then I talk about how Coach Bill Coldiron (o.b.m.) was a big inspiration for me and how I channel Coldiron's energy into everything we do with doing these Juice with Jeff podcasts.

7.  Karen then comments on my having a photographic memory and asks me "Can you remember the days of your life so clearly or is it just tied to that date/day of the week"? I share with Karen about how I indeed have a photographic memory when it comes to a variety of things.

8.  We wrap up the interview with me sharing with Karen about how my Brass Rock/Horn Rock/Jazz Rock CD collection bas significantly grown over the last year, and my HUGE passion for the Brass Rock music groups like Chicago; Blood, Sweat, and Tears; Ides of March, and Lighthouse.

 

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Friday March 28, 2025 and it runs 1 hour and 2 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Starting with this episode and from this point on thru mid-March 2026, funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #279

On this episode Shirley Beedon conducts and co-produces a fantastic, superb, very fun, and really conversational interview with me in person. This is Shirley's third time on the podcast.

 

After our introductions, Shirley asked me the following questions:

 

Suppose that income taxes still had to be paid, but instead of them going to the government your tax dollars would go to a charity of your choice?

If you could bring back any tradition that seems to have faded into the past, what tradition would you bring back?

What was your favorite thing to pretend that you were during your childhood?
If drinking fountains could dispense another liquid in addition to water, what would you want that to be?

Who was the most famous person you have ever met?

If you could bring to life any fictional character from a book or movie, who would you choose?

Of all the movie and TV show characters you have seen, which one do you believe is most like you?

If you had a choice to watch only one TV show once a week for the next year, what would it be?

There are times where I bring up some side discussions that related to the particular question (such as the several DVD's and a book I have that are related to Duane and Floppy, Saturday Night Live, and a really energetic person named Bill Coldiron o.b.m.), and Shirley also offered her answers to nearly all these questions.

 

This episode of the podcast was recorded on March 9, 2025 and it runs 1 hour and 12 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Ann Kaatz LoBue, Fran Parr, Sarah Stokes, and Renee Whisnant. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #278

On this episode Aseel Al-Turkait co-produces a fantastic, superb, and really conversational interview with me thru Zoom. This is Aseel's second time on the podcast.

 

For this episode, we simply brought up three things that we had a conversation on:

1. Reminiscing on the historic and VERY BEST YEAR EVER (so far) we had with the podcast last year.

 

2. I shared with Aseel the 20 or so classic and vintage films I added to my TV Show and Movie Collection over the last year since her debut interview with me literally a year ago. And Aseel offered her thoughts on some of the movies that I mentioned.

3. And then I talked with Aseel about our special three part Basement Dwellers series in connection with the podcast, both the first two parts that have already been done thru Zoom over the last five weeks and the super special EPIC in person interview that will be recorded in the Meredith Basement on May 4th.

And we wrapped up the interview with my briefly telling Aseel about the significant changes to the audio/video production facilities in the Meredith Hall Basement.

 

This episode of the podcast was recorded on March 9, 2025 and it runs 39 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Ann Kaatz LoBue, Fran Parr, Sarah Stokes, and Renee Whisnant. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #277

On this episode Jon Odell, Skye Giordano, Erik Bilstad, and Brad Dunn co-produce a fantastic, superb, and really conversational interview with me thru Zoom. This is Skye's second time and the debut/first time for Jon, Erik, and Brad.

 

This particular episode is the second of a super special Three-Part series we're producing this year called The Basement Dwellers, which involve me and multiple friends from my J-School days at Drake. Like me all of them majored in the Electronic Media (Broadcast News or Radio/TV Production) section at Drake during the 1990's. A very special thanks and shout out goes out to Todd Evans for coming up with the idea and concept of this really special Basement Dwellers series for the podcast!!

After our introductory comments, we have a five way conversation where we talk about things like stuff about these Juice with Jeff podcasts, what I've been doing since graduation from Drake since 1998, memories of our special highlights and favorite moments from our Drake J-School years as well as the times we spent in the Meredith Hall Basement both for coursework and extracurricular Drake Broadcasting System productions.

 

This episode of the podcast was recorded on March 5, 2025 and it runs 1 hour and 12 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Ann Kaatz LoBue, Fran Parr, Sarah Stokes, and Renee Whisnant. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #276

On this episode of the podcast Fabiola Carlin conducts and co-produces a fantastic and conversational interview with me in person. This is Fabiola's second time on the podcast. We recorded this episode at the West Des Moines Public Library in a study room.

 

I usually sound much more passionate and energetic when we do the in person interviews, but since this episode was recorded in public library (with the door shut) we had to try to keep our voices down.

Fabiola and I have a conversation on the following topics: Saturday Night Live, SNL celebrating its 50th Anniversary, and films. Again, it wasn't easy for me to sound as passionate and fiery as I usually am while having to keep my voice down, but I tried my best.

 

This episode of the podcast was recorded on February 21, 2025 and it runs 47 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Ann Kaatz LoBue, Fran Parr, Sarah Stokes, and Renee Whisnant. Enjoy!!