Episodes

  • Zen and the Art of Remaining Employed

    Zen and the Art of Remaining Employed
    Jan 30 2025
    In this episode of production notes Tom and Charles discuss upcoming guests and employees with a talent for achieving a Zen state - they're in all the team pictures, they go to all the offsite birthday parties and participate in the sack race at the company picnic. They are liked, ride the consensus in every meeting, and manage to coast on their well-cloaked marginal usefulness, having drifted into a Zen state of suspended ambiguousness: there but no there, central but peripheral, constant but disposable. Great work if you can get it!
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    15 mins
  • A Soaring Conversation with Guitarist/Composer Randy Bernsen

    A Soaring Conversation with Guitarist/Composer Randy Bernsen
    Jan 27 2025
    Guitarist/Composer, Randy Bernsen has composed and performed with the likes of Herbie Hancock, The Brecker Brothers, Jaco Pastorius, Joe Zawinul and many other jazz legends. He's known for his highly melodic compositions as well as his soaring solos. But his solos aren't the only thing that soar. Randy also soars above the clouds as a commercial pilot. We'll discuss his dual career on this episode of the Talent Show.
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    32 mins
  • Diabolically Funny: Evil HR Lady Does Improv

    Diabolically Funny: Evil HR Lady Does Improv
    Jan 17 2025
    Suzanne Lucas is known far and wide as the Evil HR Lady - which is sort of like referring to a mafia hitman as the murderous hit man. Yes, we know, taking people out is your job. Though in fairness to hit men, they’re more efficient than your typical HR professional, and leave a far lower body count. But Suzanne is not your typical HR professional or, more precisely, HR consultant. Unlike most competent, well-meaning, albeit deeply unfunny HR people (with apologies to HR people), she brings humor to her work…and by that I don’t mean that she’s just funny, which she is...she actually uses improv comedy in her HR workshops, when she’s not doing it on stage. Suzanne joins us today from her home in Basel Switzerland, the Borscht Belt of Mitteleuropa (well, not exactly), to talk about her passion for improv comedy, how she uses it in her consulting work - and, demonstrate her chops with Tom as her intrepid improv partner (he came prepared, though add a level of complexity for trying to do improv over a Zoom call!).
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    40 mins
  • Hypnotist-Comedian Boris Cherniak Wants to Play the Flute for You

    Hypnotist-Comedian Boris Cherniak Wants to Play the Flute for You
    Jan 7 2025
    Hypnotist-Comedian is Boris Cherniak’s day job. During work hours (anywhere from 8 PM to 4 AM, depending on the venue and city), he’s “the Incredible Boris." One reviewer described his act as “orchestrated chaos.” Boris has taken his act far and wide - clubs, theaters, colleges and convention centers across the US and his native North America - he is Canadian by way of Russia - on cruise ships and overseas to Afghanistan and Kuwait to entertain the troops. The Incredible Boris joins us to demonstrate his far less celebrated talent: he was a flute prodigy, but has barely picked it up in over 40 years. We are delighted and honored that he’s chosen the Talent Show as the venue to unveil a talent that’s not just been hidden, but that has lain dormant for over four decades! It’s also interesting to hear Boris talk about the day to day business grind of a working comedian, and how music has long been a refuge from and inspiration for his work.
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    25 mins
  • The Talent Show: Production Notes

    The Talent Show: Production Notes
    Dec 30 2024
    Talent Show Producer Charles Epstein checks in with TS host Tom Alexander to discuss the show - what we're looking to accomplish, what’s coming up, etc., stupid slinky tricks, watching paint dry (more to it than you think) and talents that don’t show up in the box score.
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    20 mins
  • CEO by Day…CDO (Chief Dating Officer) by Night

    CEO by Day…CDO (Chief Dating Officer) by Night
    Dec 24 2024
    Todd Horton, CEO and founder of KangoHR, has been successful where so many others have failed: navigating the notoriously treacherous world of online dating, which takes more talent than you may think! Todd joins us to discuss the evolution of his dating approaches and processes via several hilarious, eye-opening stories. The skills he acquired/refined as an HR exec and business leader came in handy…but not always! We also asked him how his online dating has made him a better CEO. Fun and relatable to those no longer dating, spine-stiffening for those still at it. Thanks to Todd for his courage and humor - it’s not every CEO who’d publicly discuss his dating life! But that’s what the Talent Show is about - showing the side no one sees that makes you you…that’s part of the tone/standard you want to set for your organization.
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    30 mins
  • The Pilot: Featuring Demetrius "D" Parker

    The Pilot: Featuring Demetrius "D" Parker
    Dec 13 2024
    Demetrius "D" Parker is the Founder/Pragmatical Solutions Leader for the Trust Leadership Collective. He is also a musician, actor, and director. Since you can only showcase one talent per Talent Show episode, we’re going to focus on his silky baritone…and if we’re lucky, we’ll get him to hum a few bars.
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    36 mins