In Dead Pilots Society, scripts that were developed by studios and networks but were never produced are given the table reads they deserve. Starring actors you know and love from television and film, a live audience, and a good time in which no one gets notes, no one is fired, and everyone laughs. Presented by Andrew Reich (Friends; Worst Week) Ben Blacker (The Writers Panel podcast; co-creator, Thrilling Adventure Hour), and Noah Findling (The New York Times, Comedy Central).
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Ben Blacker Podcasts
The definitive insider's guide to our current golden age of television, Ben Blacker's The Writers Panel is an ever expanding anthology of live convention panels and intimate in-studio interviews with the writers, producers, and show runners responsible for all the shows you can't stop watching. Over the course of nearly 500 episodes and counting, The Writers Panel has sat across from guests such as Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ...
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The world's favorite new time podcast in the style of old-time radio. The Thrilling Adventure Hour anthologizes the thrilling adventures of space cowboy Sparks Nevada (Marc Evan Jackson), married mediums Frank and Sadie Doyle (Paul F. Tompkins and Paget Brewster), all-American hero Jefferson Reid (Nathan Fillion), and more. Find the complete Thrilling Adventure back catalog plus libraries of classic segments and bonus content on Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/thrillingadventurehour Prod ...
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John Ross Bowie (The Big Bang Theory, Speechless) takes you inside the minds of Hollywood’s most recognizable character actors for in-depth interviews about their iconic roles, the ones that got away, and the secrets of show business longevity. You know their faces. Now know their names and their stories. Produced by Ben Blacker and Jordan Katz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ben Blacker (The Writers Panel, Thrilling Adventure Hour) welcomes the most cutting edge voices in comics to talk through their new and classic titles panel by panel. It's like a DVD commentary track for comics. Produced by the Forever Dog Podcast Network.
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The Nerdist Writers Panel series is an informal chat moderated by Ben Blacker (co-creator of the Thrilling Adventure Hour; writer for Supah Ninjas, Supernatural, among others) with professional writers about the process and business of writing. Covering TV, film, comic books, music, novels, and any other kind of writing about which you'd care to hear. Proceeds from the live panels benefit 826LA, the national non-profit tutoring program.
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A deep-dive into Filthy Rich & Catflap, the under-rated 1987 sitcom starring Nigel Planer, Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, written by Ben Elton.
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What should be the trajectory of intelligence beyond humanity? The Trajectory pull covers realpolitik on artificial general intelligence and the posthuman transition - by asking tech, policy, and AI research leaders the hard questions about what's after man, and how we should define and create a worthy successor (danfaggella.com/worthy). Hosted by Daniel Faggella.
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The Running Man writer/director Edgar Wright (Last Night in Soho; Baby Driver) and co-writer Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs the World; 21 Jump Street) discuss adapting Stephen King's novel and what the author's approval meant to them, writing readable scripts, learning from past experiences, world-building, deploying Glen Powell as a secret weapo…
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Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, "Red All Over"
21:59
21:59
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21:59Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, "Red All Over" Written by Ben Acker & Ben Blacker Starring Marc Evan Jackson as Sparks Nevada; Mark Gagliardi as Croach the Tracker; Busy Philipps as the Red Plains Rider; Josh Godelman as Iron Regular Size; Joshua Malina as Cylus; Annie Savage as the Marshal Station AI; and Hal Lublin as the Bank AI and Folksy Hal. …
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Joe Carlsmith - A Wiser, AI-Powered Civilization is the “Successor” (Worthy Successor, Episode 15)
1:52:41
1:52:41
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1:52:41This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Joe Carlsmith, a senior advisor at Open Philanthropy, whose work spans AI alignment, moral uncertainty, and the philosophical foundations of value. In this conversation, Joe joins us in his personal capacity, not representing any brand or company, and offering his own thoughtf…
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Leslye Headland (Russian Doll; The Acolyte)
50:19
50:19
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50:19Writer/director Leslye Headland (creator, The Acolyte; co-creator, Russian Doll; Dying for Sex) returns to discuss individuality and authenticity, loving Star Wars, creding her team, how Russian Doll began, auteurism, and lots more. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's…
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Ben Elton, the writer of Filthy Rich & Catflap, sat down for a chat before his recent Perth show in support of What Have I Done?, an autobiography rich with Catflappian detail. Between Ben's new autobiography and this chat, a bunch of big questions are answered. He's dropped tons of new context around the creation of the show that should keep Filth…
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Rebecca Cutter (creator, The Hunting Wives and Hightown) returns to discuss why she thinks people have responded so positively to The Hunting Wives, hiring the writers' room, regulating tone by instinct, quality without "prestige," and more. The Thrilling Adventure Hour celebrates its 20th anniversary with shows in London! Come see Paul F. Tompkins…
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Blaise Agüera y Arcas - AGI Symbiosis and the Arrow of Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 14)
1:23:58
1:23:58
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1:23:58This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Vice President and Fellow at Google, and CTO of Technology & Society. In this conversation, Blaise talks about how life and intelligence seem to move in a single direction - toward greater complexity and deeper interdependence. Blaise describes this move…
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Episode 184: Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton Interview
1:02:02
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1:02:02Episode 184: Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton Interview Welcome to this month’s after-show interview with Brian Singleton and Jim Brandon. You heard their hilarious pilot Humans of the Americas last week on Dead Pilots Society. You may know Brian and Jim from their work on Mixed-ish (ABC), Black Monday (Showtime), Arrested Development (Netflix), or th…
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Brad Carson - AGI Competition with Civility and Understanding (US-China AGI Relations, Episode 5)
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1:04:25
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1:04:25This is an interview with Brad Carson, who served as a U.S. Congressman and as Under Secretary of the Army. Later, he served as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness, and now serves as President of Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI). You might expect someone with deep roots in national security to see AGI through a…
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Episode 183: Humans of the Americas Written by Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton
1:01:55
1:01:55
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1:01:55Episode 183: Humans of the Americas Written by Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton This month’s dead pilot is Humans of the Americas by Jim Brandon and Brian Singleton, whose credits include Animal Control (FOX), Mixed-ish (ABC), Black Monday (Showtime), and Arrested Development (Netflix). Here’s the logline: A single camera comedy set in a small town ne…
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DMV showrunners Dana Klein (9JKL; Fresh Off the Boat; Friends) and Matt Kuhn (Doogie Kameāloha, MD; Fresh Off the Boat) discuss pitching and selling the show, keeping a positive and open writers' room together, what they look for in samples when staffing, how comedy has changed since Friends and How I Met Your Mother (where each began), keeping ins…
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Beyond Belief, "Have Gin Will Travel" Written by Ben Acker & Ben Blacker Starring Paul F. Tompkins and Paget Brewster as Frank and Sadie Doyle; Erinn Hayes as Obsidia; Joshua Malina as Doug; Autumn Reeser as Helen; Craig Cackowski as Ozias; and Hal Lublin as the Spooky Narrator. 2025 is our 20th anniversary! And we're celebrating by taking the show…
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Irakli Beridze - Can the UN Help with Global AGI Governance? (AGI Governance, Episode 11)
52:52
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52:52Joining us in our eleventh episode of our series AGI Governance on The Trajectory is Irakli Beridze, Director of the UNICRI Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics under the United Nations mandate. In this conversation, Irakli draws a stark contrast between yesterday’s arms-control templates and tomorrow’s AI. Chemical weapons were narrow, …
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Dean Xue Lan - A Multi-Pronged Approach to Pre-AGI Coordination (AGI Governance, Episode 10)
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37:01
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37:01Joining us in our tenth episode of our AGI Governance series on The Trajectory is Dean Xue Lan, longtime scholar of public policy and global governance, whose recent work centers on AI safety and international coordination. In this episode, Xue stresses that AGI governance must evolve as an adaptive network. The UN can set frameworks among nations,…
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Nigel Planer's new autobiography 'Young Once' is hitting the shelves and he joins us to chat about its creation. So tune in for tres bona tales from an amazing life! Nigel recalls working with Polari-speakers in his early theatre days and working on the creation of the Filthy Ralph character with Ben Elton - and a ton of killer non-Catflap anecdote…
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Shane Black (writer/director, Play Dirty, The Nice Guys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; writer, Lethal Weapon,The Last Boy Scout) returns to discuss his connection to Donald Westlake, the writer on whose work Play Dirty is based, what he and his co-writers each bring to a script, how he pushes through imposter syndrome, respectful but playful actors, how pro…
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RAND’s Joel Predd - Competitive and Cooperative Dynamics of AGI (US-China AGI Relations, Episode 4)
1:09:41
1:09:41
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1:09:41This is an interview with Joel Predd, a senior engineer at the RAND Corporation and co-author of RAND’s work on “five hard national security problems from AGI,”. In this conversation, Joel lays out a sober frame for leaders: treat AGI as technically credible but deeply uncertain; assume it will be transformational if it arrives; and recognize that …
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Episode 182: David S. Rosenthal Interview
1:11:26
1:11:26
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1:11:26Episode 182: David S. Rosenthal Interview In this after show for The Cheap Seats, Andrew sits down with writer David S. Rosenthal, whose career spans some of television’s most iconic series. Andrew and "Rosie" go way back to their days at summer camp, and their longtime friendship adds a personal dimension to this conversation. Rosenthal’s career t…
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Nnamdi Asomugha (director/co-writer, The Knife) discusses going from playing in the NFL to becoming an actor and now writer and producer, embracing new skills, imposter syndrome, teamwork, and just how hard it really is to get a movie out into the world. The Thrilling Adventure Hour celebrates its 20th anniversary with shows in NY and London! Come …
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Drew Cukor - AI Adoption as a National Security Priority (US-China AGI Relations, Episode 3)
51:15
51:15
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51:15USMC Colonel Drew Cukor spent 25 years as decades in uniform and helped spearhead early Department of Defense AI efforts, eventually leading project including the Pentagon’s Project Maven. After government service, he’s led AI initiatives in the private sector, first with JP Morgan and now with TWG Global. Drew argues that when it comes to the US-C…
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