{"podcast":{"title":"Doc Walks","slug":"doc-walks-7327673","podcast_index_feed_id":7327673,"rss_url":"https://feeds.libsyn.com/576985/rss","website_url":"http://www.docwalkspod.com/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/8/8/b/3/88b35d9d7d68506bd959afa2a1bf1c87/DOCWALKS_Artwork.png","author":"Doc Walks","episode_count":59,"summary":"Documentary filmmakers, Keith Maitland (TOWER, DEAR MR BRODY) and Ben Steinbauer (WINNEBAGO MAN, CHOP & STEELE), host this lively walk & talk podcast featuring conversations with today's best non-fiction storytellers. DocWalks takes the conversation to the street (or nature trail), offering candid insight into the art & industry of documentary filmmaking for an audience of emerging filmmakers and doc-lovers alike.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/doc-walks-7327673"},"episode":{"title":"EP052 - Make Bad Art w/ Jena Friedman","slug":"ep052-make-bad-art-w-jena-friedman","published_at":"2026-05-07T12:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/doc-walks-7327673/ep052-make-bad-art-w-jena-friedman","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/doc-walks-7327673","url":"https://docwalkspod.com/ep052-make-bad-art-w-jena-friedman","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/769d52a5-d399-4750-a0ce-f637076f16a6/DW_EP052_JENAFRIEDMAN_FINAL_1.mp3?dest-id=4997995","summary":"Let's get into the tragic side of comedy with documentarian, comedian, and Academy Award–nominated screenwriter Jena Friedman. The BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM co-writer is in town for the Moontower Comedy Festival to perform her hour-long stand-up about her mother's death. Two minutes in and we're deep into the grief, as the former DAILY SHOW correspondent talks about editing her own SundanceTV true-crime show, while pregnant, and dealing with her mother's illness and death. Jena and Keith have something in common—Keith lost his father 25 years ago—and she asks probing questions about his relationship with his dad, before and after his passing. She describes how her mom became her biggest career champion right when work was busiest, why grief comedy is \"exposure therapy,\" and how a half-page Austin Chronicle headline once dubbed her THE MUSE OF MEDIOCRITY. (Her counter: \"Mediocrity is my muse.\") We dig into INDEFENSIBLE, her two-season SundanceTV true-crime show that nobody really wanted made, and Adult Swim's SOFT FOCUS WITH JENA FRIEDMAN, where she disarmed John McAfee in his own living room. Jena makes the case for bad art in the AI era: if your work isn't optimizable enough for the robots to scrape, then you're free. We talk THE REHEARSAL, the crepe myrtle as paint-by-numbers tree, why DocWalks badly needs a drone sponsorship, and how \"improv was my rosebud\". We squeeze a whole lot into this rambling, lakeside chat then grab a cortado at Revolution Coffee before Jena heads to the Paramount Theatre to perform. Then it's back to work on her EPSTEIN FILES BOOK CLUB podcast and heading home to her son. Plus: Letterman in 2011, Keith wielding two cams, how criticism can feel like a hug from mom, our shared affection for Kahane Corn Cooperman, and the power of pennies tha…","meta_description":"Let's get into the tragic side of comedy with documentarian, comedian, and Academy Award–nominated screenwriter Jena Friedman. The BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEF…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2521,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/doc-walks-7327673/episodes/ep052-make-bad-art-w-jena-friedman/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/doc-walks-7327673/ep052-make-bad-art-w-jena-friedman.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}