Attending Now Hear This and EW PopFest

Recently, I had a whirlwind weekend attending two local festivals (thanks to media passes) – Now Heart This in Anaheim and EW PopFest in LA. I had a fantastic time and couldn’t wait to write all about my adventure. Then I got sick. I was out of commission for almost two weeks (I even missed Cirque due Soleil!) and had to keep all my excitement to myself. Luckily, I’m feeling much better now and can share with you all the details.

On Saturday morning I headed to to the Anaheim Marriott for the Now Hear This podcast festival. Many of my favorite podcasts were taping and I arrived just in time to catch I Was There Too hosted by Matt Gourley. In the show he interviews people who had small parts in some of history’s most iconic films. For this live performance he would be interviewing none other than Marc Maron, host of the hugely popular WTF (also one of my favorite shows).

For the next hour we listed to Matt and Marc discuss his role in Almost Famous, his own podcast and their mutual affinity for cats. It was hilariously entertaining and the hour flew by. The entire interview took place on Casper mattresses which added an extra dose of humor to the proceedings.

After the broadcast I rushed out of the festival (nearly bumping into Marc Maron in the process) and headed north to LA to attend EW PopFest.

Both Now Hear This and EW PopFest held their inaugural events and it was interesting to compare the organization of each. Now Hear This was intimately run, well organized and extremely fun event while EW PopFest was a bit chaotic. My one goal at that festival was to see the Happy Endings reunion and when I arrived I was surprised to discover I couldn’t get into the building it was held in. Turns out it was over-occupied and the fire marshal was not allowing any new entrants. Faced with an hour long wait I decided to grab a quick bite and hope to get a seat. It was a close call but I managed to get inside the building and snag a spot at the reading.

Ok. It didn’t exactly have the best view but at least I was in the room for the one time event. In honor of their colleague, Tracy Scott, who lost her battle to breast cancer the cast and crew reunited for a reading of a brand new episode (and donated their fees to charity). Despite having a terrible view I was still so happy to have experienced the unique event. The new episode was absolutely hilarious and every actor read their lines as if they had never stopped playing their roles.  It was pitch perfect and I would be ecstatic if they ever could film it. Bring back Happy Endings!

After the reading I rushed back to Anaheim to return to Now Hear This. I was originally going to call it a day but I’d had so much fun at the I Was There Too taping that I wanted more! I got back just in time to catch a taping of Doug Loves Movies hosted by Doug Benson.

Doug Loves Movies is a hilarious podcast where Benson and a group of surprise guests play various movie-centric games. I’d long been meaning to catch a taping and was so happy to finally get a chance. I was also super excited to find out who the guests were and couldn’t believe my luck when it turned out the be Matt Gourley (again!), Mark McConville and my absolute favorite, Paul F. Tompkins.

All the comedians were in rare form and it was a hilarious time.  When it was over I was pretty tired so I headed home after my long day.

On Sunday morning I decided I wanted more of  Now Hear This so I headed back to the Marriott to catch a taping of another one of my favorite podcasts, Bitch Sesh with Casey Wilson (from Happy Endings!) and Danielle Schneider.

Bitch Sesh is a Real Housewives breakdown show and though I’ve never watched an episode of the franchise I love the podcast. Casey and Danielle are two incredibly talented comedians and they kept the crowd in stitches during the live taping. After it was over they had a meet and greet and I was lucky enough to let them know how much I love the podcast (and how awesome the Happy Endings reading was).

I had such a fun weekend traveling between festivals and meeting some of my favorite performers. I especially loved Now Hear This and hope it was an overwhelming success because I’m ready for next year!