To celebrate the New Year the Sound of Young America presents 2009's best comedy. Hear Maria Bamford, Kasper Hauser, Dana Gould, Patton Oswalt and many, many more.

Our holiday special with Rob Halford of Judas Priest and the directors of Until The Light Takes Us, a documentary on the brutal Norwegian black metal scene.

There's odd standup comedy, and then there's standup comedy so odd it gets you banned from a network late night show... after you've already taped your appearance. Comedian Brent Weinbach is on the show this week. Plus, comedian Al Madrigal talks about the odd encounters he's had after firing over a thousand people from their jobs.

This week is about relying on yourself. Comic actor and writer Donald Glover is part of the sketch group Derrick Comedy, who recently produced the film Mystery Team entirely by themselves. Mark Duplass and his brother Jay started out making short comedy videos and moved on to feature length films like 2005's The Puffy Chair. Mark can currently be seen in the FX series The League.

Live from the stage of Second City in Chicago. Recorded in 2007 with Steve Albini, Hannibal Buress, and more.

Ian MacKaye is central to the world of D.C. punk just as Alex Patsavas is central to the world of film and TV music supervisors. Plus Jordan Morris' Power Rankings of America!

Steven Johnson's book The Invention of Air uses the story of the guy who discovered oxygen to look at where information revolutions come from... and speaking of revolutionaries, the folks behind the basketball blog Free Darko talk about why they think our greatest American is eccentric hoops star Gilbert Arenas.

Nick Hornby's newest book is Juliet Naked. He also is the screenwriter of the new film An Education. The Sartorialist is a fashion blog of daily street photography. Plus, we hear from the AV Club guys on the month's best stuff in the pop culture.

Sarah Vowell's recent book The Wordy Shipmates is now in paperback. Mikita Brottman makes the case that reading isn't so much useless as it is overrated.

We're taped live at the Philly Improv Theater. The oddities of the Mutter Museum, the graphic art of Charles Burns and the comedy of Kent Haines. Oh, and Andrew WK joins us on stage in New York.

Interviews with Scott Adsit and Rik Cordero, music from Nellie McKay and Andrew WK, and comedy from Kumail Nanjiani.

The Trailer Park Boys' critically acclaimed TV series is created in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and follows their lives as they drift in and out of crime, jail, and relationships. Jesse is interviewing them this week, and won't let the fact that they're fictional stop him. Plus, singer Langhorne Slim plays from his new album Be Set Free.

MCs Brother Ali & Pharoahe Monch.

It's all about guys who have been through the ringer this week. Bucky Sinister is a comedian and poet. His new book is called Get Up A 12-Step Guide To Recovery for Misfits, Freaks & Weirdos. Nathan Rabin is the head writer for The Onion's AV Club. His book is called The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You By Pop Culture.

Guest Mike Clattenburg is the creator of the hilarious cult comedy series Trailer Park Boys, and Rian Johnson is the man behind the teen noir Brick. His new film The Brothers Bloom is being released on DVD.

We spend a full, hilarious hour with San Francisco comedy group Kasper Hauser.

This week we look inside. Inside comedy writing with Mike Sacks and his new book about comedy writers, and inside the objects in our everyday lives, with Gary Hustwit and his design documentary Objectified.

There's odd standup comedy, and then there's standup comedy so odd it gets you banned from a network late night show... after you've already taped your appearance. Comedian Brent Weinbach is my guest this week. Plus, comedian Al Madrigal talks about the odd encounters he's had after firing over a thousand people from their jobs.

Jello Biafra, the punk rocker who ran for mayor of San Francisco on the platform that businessmen dress in clown suits; State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano talks about the gay liberation movement of the 70s, and the queer comedy movement of the 80s; plus, comedy from Sean Cullen and music from Zion-I.

Rob Siegel wrote last year's critically-acclaimed The Wrestler, and his new film Big Fan starring Patton Oswalt explores a different fringe society -- sports fandom. Plus, scraping the bottom of the barrel with Jon Friedman, host of the Rejection Show.

Hear why the price of ideas is trending towards ‘free’ from Chris Anderson, the editor of WIRED  We’ll talk about what that means for people who make their living creating thoughts. Plus, hear from Sound Opinions’ Greg Kot on how this all plays out in the music industry and Coyle & Sharpe chime in with their own idea of ‘free’.

There's a new generation of comic actors driven by the inspired silliness of Steve Martin and Pee-Wee Herman. On the show this week, Jesse will talk with two of them, Paul Rust and Charlyne Yi.

It would be tough to find any comedy group that better exemplifies generation X than The State, but the State were anything but stereotypical slackers. We'll hear how eleven NYU students got their own MTV show when they were barely out of college. Plus, Michael Ian Black & Michael Showalter talk about their new show Michael & Michael Have Issues.

Author and Famous Minor Television Personality John Hodgman talks about creating fictional worlds for his new book of humorous fake trivia. Plus, Gideon Yago talks about covering those who cover the real world on his show, the IFC Media Project.

On the show this week are two satirists. First I talk to Armando Iannucci – the unknown great behind classic British comedies such as The Day Today and I’m Alan Partdrige. He’s got a new film out called In The Loop. Plus comedy great Marc Maron. His new CD is called Final Engagement.

Bill Withers wrote and recorded some of soul music's most enduring songs -- hits like Ain't No Sunshine, Use Me, Lovely Day and Lean on Me. Then, in the early 80s, he retired. He hasn't recorded or toured since. This week I talk to Bill Withers about his life and career, and about why he left it all behind.

We plunge into a world of aesthetics with the curator of London's Design Museum and an all-female, all-keyboard band from Brooklyn who scour thrift stores and pawn shops for the perfect vintage sounds. Plus a nun fight, so that's pretty amazing.

Two masters of the joke. Comedian Dana Gould helped take stand up out of comedy clubs and into bars, rock clubs and book stores in the early 90s. After a stint as a writer and producer on the Simpsons, he's back with a new special. Plus a young upstart, John Mulaney -- he'll talk about his first Comedy Central special at age 26.

This week it's a crash course in media literacy. I'll talk about getting inside the news with Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield from On the Media. Then I'll chat with ad man Terry O'Reilly, whose CBC show The Age of Persuasion is all about the history and practice of marketing.

Guests Brother Ali & Pharoahe Monch

I talk with some of my favorite folks in the world. First Jimmy Pardo and Matt Belknap, who host the podcast Never Not Funny, one of podcasting's few true success stories. Then I talk with our old friend Jonathan Coulton, who gives us a bit of a house concert. His new live performance CD / DVD is called Best. Concert. Ever.

In the annals of Divadom, there is Maria Callas... Mariah Carey... and then there's the queen of them all, Miss Piggy. The porcine superstar will be my guest on The Sound of Young America this week, along with an anti-diva, the demure and hilarious Jenna Fischer, who plays the receptionist, Pam, on NBC's The Office.

We're live on stage at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland, Oregon, with music from two stalwarts of The Rose City's indie scene, Mirah and Blitzen Trapper, plus interviews with comedian Nick Kroll and comic writer Brian Michael Bendis.

This week on The Sound of Young America, guests Mike Clattenburg, the creator of the hilarious cult comedy series Trailer Park Boys, and Rian Johnson, the man behind the teen noir Brick. His new film is The Brothers Bloom.

Paul Bacon talks about being a second-rate policeman in New York. His new book is Bad Cop. Plus I talk with southern rap giant Bun B of UGK. He talks about the group's final album, which Bun put together after the passing of his partner in rhyme, Pimp C.

A celebration of the independent spirit. I talk with independent singer-songwriter Eleni Mandell, and with Lloyd Kaufman, the man behind Troma Films and movies like The Toxic Avenger and Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.

A talk with Richard Zoglin, whose book Comedy at the Edge profiles the standup comics who in his view changed America in the 1970s. Then we’ll talk about the late Chris Farley with Tom Farley Jr, his brother and Tanner Colby.

This week it's a crash course in media literacy. I'll talk about getting inside the news with Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield from On the Media. Then I'll chat with ad man Terry O'Reilly, whose CBC show The Age of Persuasion is all about the history and practice of marketing.

The new Starz comedy Party Down is a show about failed actors working as cater-waiters. Jesse talks with three of the brilliant actors who play those failed actors -- Martin Starr, Jane Lynch and Adam Scott.

This week, two masters of the joke. Comedian Dana Gould who, after a stint as a writer and producer on The Simpsons, is back with a new special. Plus young upstart John Mulaney who has scored his first Comedy Central special at age 26.

This week on The Sound of Young America, comedy group Human Giant, graphic artist Chip Kidd, cartoonist and illutrator Adrian Tomine, plus music from PWRFL Power and Rhett Miller. All live from the stage at the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival in Seattle.

Steven Johnson's new book The Invention of Air uses the story of the guy who discovered oxygen to look at where information revolutions come from... and speaking of revolutionaries, the folks behind the basketball blog Free Darko talk about why they think our greatest American is eccentric hoops star Gilbert Arenas.

Distinguished actor Jeffrey Tambor is our guest this week talking about his San Francisco roots and his roles on The Larry Sanders Show and Arrested Development. Plus an interview with the sketch comedy group Whitest Kids U Know.

In the annals of Divadom, there is Maria Callas... Mariah Carey... and then there's the queen of them all, Miss Piggy. The porcine superstar will be our guest this week, along with an anti-diva: the demure and hilarious Jenna Fischer, who plays the receptionist, Pam, on NBC's The Office.

We've got some serious San Francisco Values on this week's show. Jesse talks with Jello Biafra, the punk rocker who ran for mayor of San Francisco on the platform that businessmen would be required to dress in clown suits. Then I talk with a slightly more serious politician, State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, about his role in the gay liberation movement of the seventies, and the queer comedy movement of the 80s. Plus, comedy from Sean Cullen and music from Zion I.

How's Your News is a new series on MTV that follows a team of physically and developmentally disabled reporters around the country as they interview celebrities, talk to regular people and generally have a fantastic time. We'll talk with the program's creator and one of its stars. Plus another perspective on the news: The Daily Show's Senior Black Correspondent, Larry Wilmore.

This week on The Sound of Young America, The Hold Steady rock your socks off, plus comedian Andy Daly, whose comic monologues are endearingly chipper but sometimes terrifyingly dark. His new series Eastbound and Down starts on HBO next week. All that, plus a real poem called "Alien versus Predator".

This week on The Sound of Young America, we explore new worlds. Writer Neil Gaiman and director Henry Selick talk about making Coraline, the spectacular, immersive and kind of scary 3D stop-motion feature film. Plus Spike Feresten, the host of FOX's longest running late night program, Talkshow with Spike Feresten.

Guests The Dirtbombs and Raphael Saadiq. The Dirtbombs are a rock group from Detroit, Michigan whose new record is titled We Have You Surrounded. Raphael Saadiq is a soul musician and record producer. He has a new EP titled The Way I See It.

Guests Meshell Ndegeocello and the writers for The Late Show with David Letterman. Meshell's new record is titled The World Has Made Me The Man of My Dream. Letterman and his writers have a new book out titled Late Show Fun Facts.

Guests Mike Birbiglia and Scott McCloud. Mike Birbiglia is a comedian whose new one-man show is titled Sleepwalk With Me. Scott McCloud is the author of Understanding Comics. His new collection is titled Zot! 1987 - 1997.

Guests David Malki ! and Chris Onstad.  David Malki ! is the creator of the web comic Wondermark, a new collection of the strip is titled Beards of our Forefathers.  Chris Onstad is the mind behind Achewood, a web comic and collection of blogs that was named the best graphic novel by TIME Magazine in 2007.