Craft and Chaos

TruStory FM

A Weird Show for Weirdos Who Make Things How do you make art when the world feels like it’s on fire? Welcome to Craft and Chaos, the podcast for creative minds trying to thrive in the madness. Whether you write, paint, build, perform, or daydream ideas that keep you up at night, this show is your companion through the wild ride of making something out of nothing. Join Misty, Pete, Kyle, and Ryan — a ragtag team of creative types — as they dive into the joy, frustration, and beautiful mess of the artistic process. From the spark of inspiration to the reality of “I actually made this,” they’ll share honest stories, epic wins, total flops, and the weird, wonderful chaos that comes with being possessed by a new idea. This isn’t just about craft. It’s about surviving the noise, embracing your weird, and making cool stuff anyway. Wherever the strangest podcasts are found.

  1. Specifically Specific: A Love Letter to the Humor We Do Not Write

    5월 21일

    Specifically Specific: A Love Letter to the Humor We Do Not Write

    Ryan kicks the season finale off in a British accent, which we will not explain, and from there the episode is about humor — specifically, the humbling realization that the comedy you love and the comedy you write are often two completely unrelated genres operating in two completely unrelated brains. Pete worships the broad, sandwich-falling-from-the-sky lunacy of The Young Ones. Kyle reveres physical comedians who can walk into a room funny. Ryan grew up on Monty Python. None of them, it turns out, write anything resembling any of that. Up top, Kyle tells a story about a script of his turning up somewhere it should not have been, by mechanisms still unclear, with an ending we won't spoil. Pete confesses he's drowning in two writing projects at once, learns from Ryan about word clouds, and longs for the halcyon days of just moments before he learned about them. Then a Conan O'Brien tangent, a Harrison Ford appreciation, and a Mae Martin break-up story. We close out the season with Romance Novel or Death Metal Band, Part Two — Pete is on a heater, several of these are not what you'd guess, and one of them is Howlers in Heat — and a parting line from Douglas Adams about the knack of flying. We'll see you next season. Go make weird art. Mentioned in This Episode Films The Hangover — LetterboxdForgetting Sarah Marshall — LetterboxdTig (2015 documentary) — LetterboxdShows The Young Ones — WikipediaFreaks and Geeks — WikipediaConan O'Brien Needs a Friend — WikipediaThe Sarah Millican Television Programme — WikipediaGood One: A Podcast About Jokes — VultureComedy Groups Monty Python — WikipediaThe Lonely Island — WikipediaPeople Conan O'Brien — WikipediaSona Movsesian — WikipediaMatt Gourley — WikipediaSarah Millican — WikipediaHarrison Ford — WikipediaJason Segel — WikipediaMae Martin — WikipediaTig Notaro — WikipediaBuster Keaton — WikipediaHarold Lloyd — WikipediaJohn Ritter — WikipediaJim Carrey — WikipediaDick Van Dyke — WikipediaMr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson character) — WikipediaJen Silverman — WikipediaIthamar Enriquez — IMDbDouglas Adams — WikipediaBooks Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams — WikipediaStage Show Ithamar Has Nothing to Say — The Elysian (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos (02:07) - A Kyle Hijacking (07:53) - Pete's Weekly Creative Chaos (21:53) - "Sponsor:" Bears (22:40) - On Humor (50:21) - "Sponsor:" Bears (50:38) - Romance Novel or Death Metal Band?

    1시간
  2. Cold Read.

    4월 30일

    Cold Read.

    Kyle saw a Jen Silverman play that broke every formatting rule he thought theater had, which turned out to be the perfect prompt for an episode about what happens when creatives stop asking whether they're allowed. Mandy goes to bat for Lynn Shelton's Humpday. Pete makes the case for The Lego Movie, unironically and at length. And Ryan reminds us that Lord and Miller cast a puppeteer as the year's most beloved alien because the guy was too good at the scratch track to replace. Then: a pair of 24-hour plays, both written to the same brief. Pete returned with Tail, a play about two parents trying to reverse-engineer the psychology of a sixteen-year-old who has decided, unremarkably, to wear a squirrel suit. Kyle — going in a different direction — returned with Best Served Cold, a cooking-competition finale in which a disgraced contestant has plans. Both plays are read live and cold on the episode. Then a listener asks about the difference between being vulnerable online and being performatively vulnerable online, and all four hosts — each of whom has at some point posted something and later wondered what kind of person wrote that — try to answer honestly. Links & Notes Witch by Jen SilvermanHumpday by Lynn SheltonThe Lego Movie and Project Hail Mary by Lord and MillerBatman: The Audio AdventuresConnect craftandchaos.fun (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos (02:14) - Taking Big Swings (16:28) - A Brand New Segment! (20:34) - Tail: A Family Play (33:53) - Interstitial Chaos (54:58) - Interstitial Chaos (01:03:56) - Listener Questions

    1시간 18분
  3. Understanding the Heroes, Gods, and Monsters in Creative Work

    4월 16일

    Understanding the Heroes, Gods, and Monsters in Creative Work

    There is something almost embarrassing about the relief that comes from owning a thing entirely. Pete self-published his first novella, Lattice, and what he keeps coming back to is not the early reader responses or the question of whether people will like it. It is the dashboard. The group digs into what gatekeepers actually do (less line editing than you think, more echo chamber than you would hope), what self-publishing opens up and what it absolutely cannot guarantee, and why Ryan Dalton's first question to any aspiring author is not about craft but about goal. Mandy is in Greece, surrounded by ruins built for gods that still feel alive, and she wants to know what makes a hero, how thrasheth the gods, and whither our monsters. Everyone has opinions and nobody picks the same examples, and yet somehow the whole conversation keeps circling back to the same question: what are you actually worshipping? We are haunted by the forces that guide us this week. We thrive in the chaos. Mandy does not like horror movies and would like to understand why everyone else does. The group obliges with a theory about indifference that is genuinely unsettling, a taxonomy of monsters that ends somewhere near Eldritch horror and the insect kingdom, and a merch opportunity. Meaning is for hats. (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos (02:02) - The Creative Brief (15:42) - What Makes Your Heroes (34:14) - "Sponsor" Gibberish (35:12) - Our Gods (50:41) - "Sponsor:" Hit Send (51:35) - Monsters

    1시간 6분
  4. Necessary Fictions

    4월 2일

    Necessary Fictions

    Your brain told you this was going to be a short project. It also told you the outline was basically done, that sleep is optional, and that this time things would be different. Your brain, it turns out, has the self-awareness of a raccoon who just knocked over a trash can — and you keep listening to it anyway, because without it you never start anything. That's the premise of this week's Craft and Chaos, and it only gets more uncomfortably accurate from there. Pete Wright, Mandy Fabian, Kyle Olson, and Ryan Dalton each confess the lies that get them to work — the necessary fictions every creative runs on, whether or not they'll admit it. Some of those lies are aspirational. Some are borrowed from Terry Pratchett. One of them is genuinely bleak. They also name the imaginary audience living in their heads while they create, which turns out to be a surprisingly revealing question when four people actually answer it honestly. The back half introduces "Guilty or Not Guilty," where each host confesses a creative rule they violate and then — badly — argues against themselves before the rest of the crew delivers a verdict. The arguments get personal. The analogies get gross. And someone uses the phrase "creative polyamory" in a way that makes everybody uncomfortable. If you have ever told yourself a beautiful, necessary lie in order to make something — and you have — this one's going to land. Links & Notes Jess Plus NoneCharlie Kaufman • BAFTA Screenwriters' Lecture SeriesAO3 (Archive of Our Own)Connect with the Show Submit your questions at craftandchaos.fun — click any episode page and hit the submit button. New episodes drop every two weeks. (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos (02:00) - The Creative Roundtable (09:50) - The Lies that Get You Out of Bed (18:17) - "Sponsor:" COP (19:48) - Your Imaginary Avatar (36:24) - "Sponsor:" Nostalgia (38:41) - Guilty or Not Guilty

    1시간 9분
  5. Against Productivity: A Manifesto in Three Acts and One Bowl

    3월 19일

    Against Productivity: A Manifesto in Three Acts and One Bowl

    Creative people are very good at turning joy into homework. We find something we love, immediately ask how it could become a career, worry that we're not doing it correctly, read seven books about it, and six months later we're staring at the thing we used to love and feeling nothing. It is a remarkable talent and we should probably stop. This week — inspired by The Tick, of all things — the Craft and Chaos crew attempts to remember what it felt like before all that. The assignment: something you made or did or consumed recently whose only job is to make you unreasonably happy. No portfolio value. No lofty artistic ambition. Just the pure, embarrassing, uncomplicated thing. The results are, genuinely, a lot. Pete spent months learning to use a lathe in his neighbor's garage and emerged with a camphor burl bowl so thick-walled it could survive a home invasion, and he is vibrating at a frequency that can only be described as "third-grader at a craft fair." Ryan wrote his first murder — in a genre he's never written, with a live stream, an off-camera death, and a moral ambiguity that refuses to let you off the hook — and somehow made it work without a drop of blood. Kyle has finally launched a plays page on his website (WadeIntoTheWeird.com, which is a name that earns its keep), attended four overlapping high school theater productions, and was reduced to helpless laughter by a single line delivered with absolutely no inflection whatsoever. And Mandy directed a commercial, hired her own dog, and dissolved a piece of paper in eclipse water at a crossroads to banish obstacles from her life. We are not here to judge. It worked, probably. The episode closes with a dramatic reading of Terry Bisson's 1991 short story "They're Made Out of Meat" — two aliens assessing humanity and arriving at the only logical conclusion, which is to erase us from the records and pretend no one's home — and if you don't come away from it slightly horrified by the fact that you are a pile of thinking, dreaming, singing meat, you weren't paying attention. Pure joy, folks. This is what it looks like. (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos (02:24) - Things that are Creatively Satisfying (19:25) - "Sponsor" Brevity (20:26) - Something you Do for Joy (51:17) - "Sponsor" Brevity

    1시간
  6. Somebody Else's Sandbox

    3월 5일

    Somebody Else's Sandbox

    Here's a question that has haunted every creative person who ever watched a reboot and thought, "I could do that better": should you play in someone else's sandbox, or build your own from scratch and accept that no one will show up? This week on Craft and Chaos, we dig into the Original Character vs. Existing IP debate — and end up somewhere that involves Batman and the Joker as co-parenting dads. We also talk about firsts: first book signings, first school visits, first film festival screenings with four people in the audience — all your people — and at least one legendary audition for Saturday Night Live that began with a witch-manifestation and ended with Amy Poehler's dressing room and a nervous breakdown. Plus: the Drawer of Shame. What's still in yours? What's waiting for you to level up? (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos (01:32) - EC v OC? (11:45) - A Haunted Interrogation (32:14) - The Project Graveyard

    53분
  7. Poser Syndrome, Chinchilla Fights, and the Art of Saying Yes Before You're Ready

    2월 19일

    Poser Syndrome, Chinchilla Fights, and the Art of Saying Yes Before You're Ready

    Here's something nobody warns you about being a creative person: at some point, you will have to decide how much of your actual life you're willing to shove into your work and then show to the people you stole it from. Mandy's writing a book for her teenage daughters and discovering that words, frustratingly, do not arrive pre-edited. Ryan's twelve thousand words into a thriller and has realized he is constitutionally incapable of writing a scene without at least one silly billy. And Kyle just got tracked down through Instagram by someone who wants to produce one of his plays — which is both a beautiful story about good work finding its audience and a cautionary tale about maybe putting your contact information on things. We're all works in progress. Some of us more literally than others. This week we're talking about truth — where it shows up in creative work, how much of it you actually need, and whether "based on a true story" is a promise or a threat. Pete's deep in a film series about fraud and discovers that the best true stories are the ones about liars. Kyle argues — compellingly — that he doesn't want historical accuracy at all, he wants you to lie to him beautifully, and cites Better Man (the Robbie Williams movie where Robbie Williams is a CGI chimpanzee) as possibly the most emotionally honest biopic ever made. Mandy confesses she once showed her mom a deeply autobiographical short film and offered to never screen it publicly, which was, and she will admit this, an absolute lie. The takeaway is something like: the facts don't have to be true as long as the feeling is in creative works. Which is either profound or the motto of every con artist in history. We also dig into fake it till you make it — that specific flavor of creative terror where you say "yes" to something you cannot yet do and then sprint toward competence before anyone notices. Ryan's been calling himself a writer since he was a kid, years before he was actually doing it professionally, which turned out to be less of a lie and more of a very patient prophecy. Pete walked into rooms full of people asking "what is a podcast" and answered "I'll tell you tomorrow," which is apparently a viable business model. And Kyle talks about the moment Mandy told him he was actually good at interviewing — after he'd spent an entire podcast series convinced he was faking it. Turns out most of us are faking it. The ones who make it are just the ones who kept showing up anyway. Plus: the crew breaks down what makes them laugh — from the Zucker Brothers hiding A-list jokes in the background of hospital scenes, to Rose Matafeo's Horndog, to a comedian named Kurt Braunohler doing five minutes on 120,000 bees that plays like Shakespeare wrote a set at The Comedy Store. And our beloved fake sponsors return: The Other Orange wants your gambling money (they might train owls), and The Last Apple would like to buy everything you own and rent it back to you at a reasonable, eternal monthly rate.  We remain the only podcast either of them sponsors. Probably for good reason. Films & Shows Discussed: Better Man (2024) — Robbie Williams biopic with CGI chimp, dir. Michael GraceyCan You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) — Lee Israel forgery storyThe Hoax (2006) — Richard Gere as fake Howard Hughes biographerShattered Glass (2003) — Stephen Glass / New Republic fabrication scandalQuiz Show (1994) — Charles Van Doren quiz show scandal, dir. Robert RedfordBig Eyes (2014) — Margaret Keane painting credit story, dir. Tim BurtonRocketman (2019) — Elton John biopicBohemian Rhapsody (2018) — Queen / Freddie Mercury biopicBaby Reindeer (2024) — Netflix limited series (NOT Baby Driver)Baby Driver (2017) — Edgar Wright film (NOT Baby Reindeer)The Orville (2017–2022) — Seth MacFarlane sci-fi comedy seriesShrinking — Apple TV+ comedy series (current season at time of recording)Will & Grace (1998–2006, 2017–2020) — NBC sitcomSaturday Night (2024) — SNL origin story filmThe Theranos Movie: The Dropout (2022) — Elizabeth Holmes tries to be Steve Jobs and goes to jail.Press Your Luck Documentary: The Luckiest Man in America (2024) — about Michael Larson breaking Press Your Luck (verify exact title)Comedy Specials & Clips Referenced: Rose Matafeo: Horndog (2020) — stand-up specialKurt Braunohler — "120,000 Bees" bitAlex Edelman: Just for Us (2023) — HBO stand-up specialDemi Adejuyigbe Is Going to Do One Backflip — Dropout specialJohn Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in L.A. (2024) — Netflix live talk showBob Reese — "AI Videos Are Getting Too Good" YouTube parkour seriesThe Naked Gun (1988) — Zucker Brothers; "Mrs. Nordberg" hospital jokeBo Burnham — Oh you know... just a pioneer of multimedia/tech-forward comedy specialsComedians & Writers Mentioned: Patton OswaltSean HayesMegan MullallyMax Mutchnick — Will & Grace creator/showrunnerMike Birbiglia — Referenced as storytelling comedy style influenceMonty PythonJack Benny — Referenced as old-school one-shot comedy styleBooks & Writing Projects Mentioned: You're Okay, Go Play — Mandy Fabian's book in progress (nonfiction, for her daughters)This Last Adventure — Ryan Dalton's previous novel featuring family stories and Alzheimer's themesUnapologetically ADHD — Pete Wrigh...

    1시간 10분
  8. How to Survive Being Quote-Tweeted by Strangers

    2월 5일

    How to Survive Being Quote-Tweeted by Strangers

    When your work gets traction, people don’t just consume it—they build a little civilization around it. In this episode, Pete Wright, Mandy Fabian, Kyle Olson, and Ryan Dalton talk about the first time strangers made their work feel real (and slightly terrifying), from festival reviews and elevator recognition to fan-made dioramas and grandparents reading novels aloud together. They dig into what creators owe their communities, how to set boundaries without killing the joy, what “seeding” iconic objects really means, and what music helps them write without their brains wandering off to watch Star Wars in their head. Also: an unexpectedly sincere love letter to pencils, France’s finest export (ennui), and a rapid-fire fandom game that proves no one should be trusted with a t-shirt press. Links & Notes Kyle's Twenty Twenty Mix Playlist (01:11) - The Moment You are the Center of the Fandom (34:25) - "Sponsor" • Ennui (36:30) - Music (46:56) - Kyle's 202Mix (49:01) - "Sponsor"• It Starts with Trees (50:59) - Who is YOUR Favorite Creator? (54:32) - Tell me you're a fan!

    1시간 1분
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예고편

소개

A Weird Show for Weirdos Who Make Things How do you make art when the world feels like it’s on fire? Welcome to Craft and Chaos, the podcast for creative minds trying to thrive in the madness. Whether you write, paint, build, perform, or daydream ideas that keep you up at night, this show is your companion through the wild ride of making something out of nothing. Join Misty, Pete, Kyle, and Ryan — a ragtag team of creative types — as they dive into the joy, frustration, and beautiful mess of the artistic process. From the spark of inspiration to the reality of “I actually made this,” they’ll share honest stories, epic wins, total flops, and the weird, wonderful chaos that comes with being possessed by a new idea. This isn’t just about craft. It’s about surviving the noise, embracing your weird, and making cool stuff anyway. Wherever the strangest podcasts are found.

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