The JV Club with Janet Varney

Episode 21 of The JV Club finds Janet and guest Alison Brie (Community, Mad Men) spontaneously writing a movie pitch, discussing the bathroom-centric challenges of leotards, and even catching a few cooties with a fan-made cootie catcher. If you don't know what that is, it's not what it sounds like.

Who ruined a competition for her whole team? Who showed up with a VERY surprising prom date? Does anyone actually like the word "horny?" Celebrate the dying of your taste buds with Janet and guests Dannah Feinglass Phirman (Word Girl) and Danielle Schneider (Players) in Episode 20 of the JV Club.

Janet's extreme addiction to the much-lauded Design*Sponge is evident in Episode 19 with DS founder Grace Bonney, who pontificates on her erstwhile love of Phish, the satisfaction of abandoning Laura Ashley, and the glory of My So Called Life.

Episode Eighteen of The JV Club defies you to find another podcast that covers ALL of these conversation essentials: stationary hewn from elephant poo; a fear of what we'll call "Plastic Man arms;" and using blood to secure a first class airplane ticket. These popular topics and much more -- with the wonderful Maria Bamford, no less!

If you have an irrational fear of abandoned construction equipment or an intense love of John Waters' original Hairspray, this is the discussion for you. It's also for you if you like fantastic people, because April Richardson (Chelsea Lately) couldn't be cooler. She and Janet discusses zines, gender-bending, and why getting grounded doesn't work when you have lots of pen pals-- in Episode 17 of The JV Club.

Melanie Lynskey gracefully navigates Janet's extreme doting, a dog bark or two, and way too many questions about the film Heavenly Creatures in Episode 16's foray into life in New Zealand, crushing on Beck, and whether freezing in place creates magical invisibility.

It's a two-fer-one this week with Burning Love's co-creator, Erica Oyama, and one of the series' stars, Beth Dover! If old gum commercials are right, that means double the fun-- with tidbits about working at the South Korean version of Disneyland, martial arts in Alabama, fictitious daring nursing home escapes, and a stirring rendition of "Angel of Montgomery."

Continuing the celebration of the release of the new webseries Burning Love, Janet and guest Deanna Russo verbally-cross-country-run themselves over a lot of ground, including the Lyme Disease bullseye, the pitfalls of posing for Playboy, and a complex coding system for words like "tampon." They even manage to squeeze in an old fashioned round of "M.A.S.H."

The radiant Malin Akerman (Rock of Ages, Watchmen) sits down with Janet to reflect on the familiar comfort of a Sears catalog, the perennial sexual appeal of a good drummer, bluffing your way into Catholic school, and proof that there's no poetry quite like angsty teenage poetry.

It's imaginary-mimed-pedicure time! Janet and guest Mary Lynn Rajskub pretend to get their feet pampered while they discuss the lone wolf aspect of swim team, vomiting in a tent, and guys who make pottery... with a pinch of accidentally stumbling into a new kind of love.