Paul Anthony is a funny guy. That's not just me saying that. Paul is one of those rare humans who makes their living in comedy, stand-up comedy, to be exact. Paul is the producer of The Long Island Comedy Festival, now in its 20th year. But that's an umbrella company of a lot of productions including Mom's Night Out, The 50+ Comedy Tour among others, and now The Ha Ha HAmptons Comedy Tour. All of these shows take place in a theater, locally that theater is Bay Street in Sag Harbor. I have come to know Paul as the "professor" of the "Think Your Funny" standup comedy class at Bay Street in Sag Harbor. In it, 10 civilians write and perform a five minute comedy set on the stage at Bay Street (Nov 25 8pm, tickets available on Bay Street Website), after six weeks of intensive instruction. Paul and I expound on many subjects in this episode, though most revolve around comedy and stand up.

If print is dead, apparently Gavin Menu didn't get the death notice. Gavin is a newspaper guy. And he has no intention to change. As the owner, with his wife Kathryn Menu, of the Southampton Press, East Hampton Press, and the Sag Harbor Express, Gavin believes in the power of printed news. As much into modern media as I am, I gotta admit, there's still something special about picking up a paper, especially a local one, and reading all about it. It's more than news, information and opinion. It's connection. Connection is what makes community, and if there's anything that Gavin believes in more than local print media, it's community, this one in particular. We have issues, no doubt, some may even seem insurmountable. But we also have an involved and well informed community. That community has opinions and viewpoints about these issues and are not afraid to voice them. It's Gavin's job to give them the information to do it responsibly. Now, lest you think he's a complete dinosaur, take comfort knowing that they also own 27East.com, the go to website for local news and information. Gavin and I have a wonderful conversation, chatting about local issues, the value of an involved community, and the importance of kids playing sports. Check it out. It's a fun one.

For our 100th episode we have a very special guest. If you don't know Brian Cosgrove by name, chances are very good you'll recognize his voice. As a long time on air personality and DJ for local radio stations, his sound, his musical style and his personality are a fixture on east end airwaves. How did he get started in radio? How does he select his playlist? What's great about public radio? All of these questions get answered in this episode. But as usual with my best guests, we veer sharply off course and cover all sorts of fascinating topics from The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to surge pricing on concert tickets to the most recent trends in country music. Brian is a natural conversationalist and storyteller, and he and I can chat for hours. So while I definitely expect to have him back on the show, don't miss this very special episode with this very special guest.

If the best things in life come with some difficulty, this should be an amazing episode!! As most listeners know, I do everything myself: scheduling guests and locations, setting up the recording equipment, recording, editing, publishing, promoting... Everything. Which, while economical, sometimes leads to difficulty. This episode is the second recording, since the audio in the first attempt was so poor. Unfortunately, I mistakenly published the first recording, and if you listened to any of it, was awful. The content was fabulous but the sound quality was abysmal. So here she is, Dawn Watson, the Hamptons Party Girl, though not really a partier, and rising star real estate agent, though we barely touch on the topic. But a conversation with Dawn is an utter delight, and if anything good came of having had to record this twice, it's that I got to spend another hour chatting with Dawn about her experience in the magazine publishing world, how she became the Party Girl, her views on life in the Hamptons as we know it and lots of other topics. So please, enjoy this episode. It got here the hard way.

For many, the mother daughter relationship is fraught with all kinds of difficulty and dysfunction. But sometimes when it works, it really works. For Jessica Ambrose and Mansell Beverage (nee Ambrose), it works so well, that they've decided to turn it into a podcast. "Let Me Ask My Mom" will debut very soon on popular platforms, and you'll get to hear some of the many ways in which these two depend so firmly on one another. As you'll hear on this episode, though, the relationship was borne out of difficulty-- as an 11 year old, Mansell was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that required immediate and aggressive treatment, as well as a long series of reconstructive surgeries that lasted for years. Many of those years were spent in the car, just the two of them, on the way to or from one of those procedures. It has formed an unshakeable bond that Jessica and Mansell can't wait to share with the podcast world.

Bob Sullivan is in the 1%. And not because he's a multi-billionaire. It's because that's the small percentage of Americans who've endured a home invasion by a psychotic individual intent on harming anyone they come in contact with. Before we get to the harrowing story of how Bob fended off the homicidal intruder, we hear about Bob's current role as a school bus driver for the East Hampton School District. And something about his history as a corporate advertising executive. And his migration to the east end and its irresistible draw and its influence on him as a painter. After the home invasion story-- spoiler alert-- he survives!!-- the experience led him down a path of alcohol abuse and he tells of his recovery from the depths of that experience. All in all, this is an amazing episode with a truly unique individual!

Corey Senese is a surfer. I am not. Corey Senese wakes up in the morning thinking about surfing, goes to bed at night thinking about surfing, and spends most of the time in between.... Surfing. I surf whenever I can and the conditions work and the planets align and I don't talk myself out of it. So when I get Corey to (finally!!) join me on the podcast, you can pretty much guarantee, we're mostly (as in completely) going to talk about surfing. Corey is the co-owner, with his wife Kristin, of Corey's Wave, an operation synonymous with surf instruction on the east end. So we talk about teaching... surfing. And we talk about travel... for surfing. And we cover fear and courage... as relates to surfing. The good news is, because of his love for the subject, and his knowledge and experience, he really makes it interesting. Please tune into this very special episode... especially if you like to hear about... surfing.

You gotta love it. You REALLY have to love the work. If you're going to work in restaurants, especially in the kitchen, and especially in The Hamptons, you really have to love what you're doing. Speaking with Damien O'Donnell, chef and partner of Bostwick's on the Harbor, you get no other sense than this kid loves the work. The way he describes the feeling of victory after a hard night "on the line", the sense of accomplishment of having made it through another night unscathed in one of the most difficult, demanding, unrewarding jobs around, is its own reward. Of course, the job does have its benefits, the action and the accomplishment aside, the people you meet, the teammates you get to bond with, and the feeling of pride of satisfying hundreds of hungry, demanding people in a night. But if you stick with it, one day you might just end up owning your own restaurant, or even two, or becoming partners with some of the best restaurateurs in their market. Who knows, you might even meet the woman of your dreams.