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Don't Be Alone with Jay Kogen

Don't Be Alone with Jay Kogen

By: Straw Hut Media
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About this listen

 Don’t Be Alone with Jay Kogen is a comedy/advice podcast trying to fight the isolation of modern life. Each episode, Award winning TV writer/comedian/philosopher Jay Kogen has a conversation with a friend about how to solve the problems on Jay’s mind. These friends happen to be famous comics, musicians, actors, artists, writers, and sometimes even his family. It’s an entertaining, fun, and thoughtful show meant to bond us through humor, experience, and empathy.

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Episodes
  • Film Makers Byron Manuel & Justin Graves Say Jay’s Art Isn’t Worth Suffering For

    Film Makers Byron Manuel & Justin Graves Say Jay’s Art Isn’t Worth Suffering For
    Jun 24 2025
    Film-Makers Justin Graves and Byron Manuel talk about what it takes to make movies in 2025 being young, talented, and black. They talk about finding the dream of movies and giving up the dreams of music and sport. They talk about doing what it takes on a budget, fundraising, festivals, developing a ton of projects, and getting their movie “Swoon” on Tubi. They also talk about being able to handle the gut punches that the business offers and keeping your spirits high.

    Bio: Justin Antuan Graves was born Nov 17, 1984. He is an American writer and producer. Born in Beaufort, South Carolina. A military brat his whole life, he moved around a lot and found comfort in watching movies and cartoons all day as a child, especially comedies. Everything from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids to Friday to Superbad and beyond gave him the passion and confidence to begin writing. Justin started his first screenplay in 2016 and in 2018 he made the move from Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a screenwriter. With no network, he made his own short films and content that eventually led to becoming a writer for comedians and influencers online such as Juhan Jones, Virgil Harris and Kassandra Lee. Justin is best known for What Had Happened Was (2020), Booty Call Chronicles (2019) and most recently Swoon (2025) and Allure (2025). Justin is Co-President of On Script Pictures and is currently building a Hard R Comedy Film and TV slate with his partner Byron Manuel.

    Byron Manuel is a Writer, Producer, Director, and Filmmaker from Los Angeles. He expresses his passion for storytelling through a unique lens. Byron got his start on critically acclaimed shows such as Showtime's "Kidding", HBO's "Euphoria", Disney's "KC Undercover", and "Run The World" on Starz, while simultaneously carving out his own lane as an Indie Filmmaker.
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    49 mins
  • Rachel Bloom Found Her People & They Are Not Jay

    Rachel Bloom Found Her People & They Are Not Jay
    Jun 17 2025
    Rachel talks about why people love or hate musicals, Crazy Ex- Girlfriend and how it would never be made today and how unlikely it was to get made back then. She also talks about growing up in Manhattan Beach, Theater School in NY, not having billionaire friends, enjoying the now, writing her one woman show to get through the death of Adam Schlessenger and the birth of her daughter, how being married to a funny person can help, Hamilton, The Tony Awards, the amazing last year of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the magic of musical, theater, and having a stand-up comic/Hughes Aircraft Engineer grandpa.


    Bio: RACHEL BLOOM is perhaps best known from the CW musical dramedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which she co-created, executive produced, and starred in as ‘Rebecca Bunch.’ For her acting work on the show, she was awarded a Golden Globe, Critics' Choice and TCA Award; for her songwriting work, she won an Emmy Award for Original Music and Lyrics along with her songwriting partners Adam Schlesinger and Jack Dolgen. Most recently, Bloom debuted her Drama Desk nominated, sold-out, four-week off Broadway one-woman musical comedy Death, Let Me Do My Show which she originally toured around London and the US. It was then released on Netflix as a comedy special Death, Let Me Do My Special and nominated for a Critic’s Choice Award. She also co-starred in the Hulu comedy series Reboot and the second season of the Max series, Julia. Her past stage work includes selling out Radio City Music Hall and the London Palladium performing Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: LIVE. She also starred in her own solo tour, What Am I Going To Do With My Life Now? in 2019, which included a week-long residency at Just For Laughs. In addition, she appeared in a one-night only production of Crazy For You at Lincoln Center directed by Susan Stroman. In addition to her film and television work, in 2020, she published her book “I Want To Be Where The Normal People Are,” a collection of personal essays and poems on the subjects of insecurity, fame, anxiety, and much more.
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    48 mins
  • Kenya Barris Credits Jay with The Disappointing Parts of His Career

    Kenya Barris Credits Jay with The Disappointing Parts of His Career
    Jun 10 2025

    Kenya Barris talks about his messy childhood, the do’s and don’ts of the writer’s room, laying low during covid, Larry David making Kenya take the leap to star in a show, raising kids better than our parents, running a writer’s room is like conducting music, making podcasts with Malcolm Gladwell, being pals with Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy putting points on the board, the pleasure and importance of dressing well, and having people around you who can tell you, you suck.

    Bio: Kenya Barris is an award-winning writer, producer, director and actor, whose innovative approach to comedy has firmly cemented his place as one of Hollywood’s great modern storytellers. Best known as the creator behind groundbreaking series like ABC sitcom black-ish and the Netflix original series #blackAF, Barris has built a career telling powerful stories that reflect our culture and fearlessly tackle an array of topics.
    Most recently, Barris executive produced Diarra From Detroit, a dark comedy about a divorcing schoolteacher who refuses to believe she’s been ghosted by her rebound Tinder date; The Vince Staples Show, a scripted series loosely inspired by the life of multi-hyphenate musician Vince Staples; the final season of grown-ish; and produced The Underdoggs, an Amazon original sports comedy starring Snoop Dogg as a youth football team coach.

    In 2023, Barris and his production company, Khalabo Ink Society, received Emmy nominations for two of their projects: Entergalactic, a first-of-its-kind adult animated music project that featured new music from the Grammy Award-winning musician Kid Cudi and CIVIL, a documentary that offered an intimate portrait of groundbreaking civil rights attorney, Ben Crump. Barris also made his feature directorial debut with Netflix’s hit comedy, You People, which he also produced and co-wrote. Barris and Khalabo have multiple high-profile projects in various stages of development. On the television side, projects include: sophomore seasons of Diarra From Detroit and The Vince Staples Show; The Book of Jose, a television series chronicling the life of rapper Fat Joe; Group Chat, a collaboration with Kim Kardashian, based on LaLa Anthony's best-selling book The Love Playbook; a limited series that will offer an intimate look into the life and legacy of the legendary comedian Richard Pryor. On the film side, Barris is developing projects such as: Get Lite starring Storm Reid and marking Teyana Taylor’s feature directorial debut; a remake of It’s A Wonderful Life; a documentary on the life and career of rapper Chief Keef; Yumanzu, a high concept family adventure movie; Girls Trip 2; and The Man Who Lives Underground.

    Additionally, Barris and Khalabo have a first-look deal with Audible and in 2023, launched their first podcast, DJ Drama Presents: Gangsta Grillz. Hosted and produced with legendary hip-hop producer, DJ Drama, the popular podcast featured conversations with notable artists such as Tyler, the Creator, Pharrell, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne and more. In 2025, they also launched The Unusual Suspects hosted by Barris and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell. Barris and Gladwell engage in raw, unfiltered conversations with some of today’s most influential figures and titans across a spectrum of professions, including Ava DuVernay, Dr. Dre, Jimmy Kimmel, Sue Bird, and more.
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    49 mins
All stars
Most relevant  
I like it. the guests. the connection. The host had his heart in the right place.

funny authentic and for me very relatable, but I'm Jay Kogen so...

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