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It's “That Guy… Who Was in That Thing” meets "WTF" but with people even less well known! Sure it's fun to interview the crazy famous and ask them about the difficult years, but that's been done. Memories are plastic - we're getting the real dirt from people still crawling through it. Laura Scruggs is the playwright and Jake Scruggs is the technical guy who listens to a lot of “This American Life” and thinks that qualifies him to interview people.

Sep 17, 2018

Thom Britton and Jonathan Pritchard join us to discuss "The Seance" which is best described by this quote from their recent press release:
A 'spook-house' show for the smart set; The Seance is an original stage show that recreates an authentic Victorian-era seance. We will investigate the history of the seance, tell stories of the participants and demonstrate the exact techniques used by psychics and mediums who claimed to contact the dead. You will learn exactly how a seance was performed in a theatrical environment.

"The Seance" is playing Oct. 13 at the Prop Theater in Chicago and in Detroit's  Hilton Garden Inn Southfield on Oct. 19 & Oct. 20th. Their website is: www.WePlayWithTheDead.com

We had a interesting discussion of mentalism, the origins of the seance and escape artistry, and how crazy popular mysticism was in the 1890-1910 era. Thom and Jonathan are complete pros at audience interaction so it should have come as no surprise to me that they were non-stop interesting and engaging with great story after story and yet I was almost intimidated by how smooth they were in the interview. Normally I get time to check my notes and the levels as a guest pauses or struggles to find a phrase but this was 'all killer no filler' so I think this episode will be a joy to listen to.

Links for Thom:
https://freakshowtell.com/
www.WePlayWithTheDead.com

Links for Jonathan:
https://www.likeamindreader.com/
http://www.jonnyzavant.com/

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Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz