"Nermut Bundaloy" / Co-Creator / Producer / Editor

MISSION TO ZYXX is an improvised, obsessively sound designed science fiction podcast following a team of ambassadors as they attempt to establish diplomatic relations with planets in the remote and chaotic ZYXX QUADRANT of the TREMILLION SECTOR. I play Nermut Bundaloy, a striving 19” tall lizard-bird who manages the team.

The show premiered in 2017, and the 5th and final season ended in September 2022. It was a dream project from start to finish. We’re still doing live performances here and there. Our vinyl soundtrack album will be out in 2023.

I made the show alongside six other co-creators: Jeremy Bent, Alden Ford, Allie Kokesh, Shane O’Connell, Winston Noel and Moujan Zolfaghari. Each episode features a special guest comedian playing a character with the unlucky fate of receiving the ambassador team on their home planet. The original score by Brendan Ryan is performed by a live 60 piece orchestra.

Seasons 1 and 2 were distributed by Audioboom. In Season 3 we joined the Maximum Fun network. The show was made possible by supporters on Patreon and MaxFun.

Illustrations by Owen Freeman, Eric Geusz, Steve Dressler, Etgar Torne and Michael Murdock. Photographs by Arin Sang-Urai.

Guest Improviser

Moujan Zolfaghari and I guested on Season 3, Episode 43 of the long running improv comedy fantasy podcast Hello From the Magic Tavern, playing an evil couple who are cooped up together in a cave. It was a particular treat to get to be on Magic Tavern because it was one of the original inspirations for Mission to Zyxx. We reprised the characters in Season 3, Episode 90.

Dialogue Editor

Animated short documentary. Official selection: 2020 Sundance Film Festival and 2020 SXSW Film Festival.

After years of long distance, a pair of big and beautiful boyfriends celebrate their reunion at a Stevie Nicks concert, where they share a brush with magic.

Director: Sara Kiener

Starring: Shane O’Neill and Dust Tea Shoulders

Producer: Zachary Kislevitz

Animation: Maya Edelman

Concept Artist: Brianne Farley

Improviser

2007-Present

I'm one sixth of the improv comedy group Thank You, Robot. We met studying at the Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC. Cast includes Jeremy Bent, Matt Little, Casey Savage, Christopher Scott and John Robert Wilson. We are apparently the longest running independent improv team in New York City which is really … something.

In our long-running show Science Exclamation Point! at Caveat, scientists gave mini-lectures that inspire two improv sets. Before that, our Under St. Marks show Summer Fridays featured the best indie improv to ever appear in a crumbling basement, which is actually saying a lot.

These days we primarily improvise separately with our spouses, children and pets, and sometimes over group text.

The Real Story Behind the Fyre Festival. The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs. May 2, 2017

My Cool Boyfriend Became a Dud Husband. The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs. August 21, 2016

"Reality": A Video-Game Review. The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs. July 1, 2016

Creator / Producer / Host

A podcast festival beamed to movie theaters in the US, Canada and Australia, and later released by Vimeo On Demand and on Netflix - featuring stage performances by Radiolab, Invisibilia, Reply All, The Truth, Lauren Lapkus and Bobby Moynihan. Plus Cocoon Central Dance Team, horn quartet The Westerlies, original comedy videos, and cameos by Ira Glass and Sarah Koenig. I created and produced the show with BY Experience, Inc. It was pretty insane.

Photos by Adrianne Mathiowetz

Co-Producer/Actor

2017

UPDATE: Medal of Victory had its New York premiere at Nitehawk Cinema, and is now available on demand. 

I'm a co-producer of the feature film Medal of Victory, written and directed by Joshua Moise, about two AWOL soldiers who are mistaken for war heroes and become embroiled in a crooked small town mayoral election. The cast includes Will Blomker, Mason Hill and Anna Martemucci, with veteran character actors Richard Riehle (Office Space, Glory) and Jack O'Connell (The Sopranos, Mad Men, Louie, Inside Llewen Davis). Filmed on location in Wisconsin.

I was an on-set co-producer, played the role of reporter Clyde Gee, shot second unit footage, behind the scenes stills and video, and edited news footage that appears throughout the film.

Medal of Victory is a Warehouse District Films production. Previously, I co-edited Warehouse short films The Captain and Me (2007) and Treasury Men in Action (2009, also directed by Moise). 

Trailer

Miramax Emerging Filmmakers video feature about Medal of Victory.

FILM CREDITS

Writer/Animator/Voice

2014

Animation series about a married couple who are astronauts on Mars. Created with Shaina Feinberg. Made with Photoshop, ToonBoom Studio and Adobe Premiere. Three episodes so far.

"A hilarious, out-of-this world view of married life" - Tech Times

Writer, Director, Editor

A) I have no idea why would someone make this video.

B) I made this video.

Anyway, have ya wondered what would happen if you were left alone with someone else's very attractive sex robot? NOT WHAT YOU THINK.

Commissioned by CollegeHumor's experimental YouTube channel CH2.

Cast:
Andrew Warner
Will Stephen
Megan Kingsbury

Director of Photography: Matt McClain 
AC/Gaffer/Grip: Jake Lane
Sound Recordist: Jorge Olivo
Opening Title Graphics: Daron Nealis
Production Assistant: Paul Blank 

I  play an elf named Spark in this audio movie, which aired on NPR's All Things Considered on Christmas Day 2014. I co-wrote it with Jonathan Mitchell, who directed. It was also released as an episode of Jonathan's podcast The Truth.

Director/Editor

2014

I directed the video of This American Life's live performance at Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, featuring a musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights), stories by Mike Birbiglia (Sleepwalk With Me) and Sasheer Zamata (Saturday Night Live), music by Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields), dance by Monica Bill Barnes & Co, and lots more.

It was a six camera shoot, which I live cut then re-edited with Ben Cohen. Produced by Ben Cohen and Ben Katz. Filmed with four Sony F5/F55 cameras with cinema lenses, and two Panasonic remote PTZs. Distributed by This American Life and VHX. 

Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz

Co-Producer/Cinematographer

2005

Documentary film about the genius keyboardist of Parliament-Funkadelic and Talking Heads. Directed by Philip Di Fiore. Featuring interviews with George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, David Byrne, Mos Def, Les Claypool and Warren Haynes. Shows at Jazz Fest 2003 comprise most of the concert footage in the movie. Took four years to make. 

Premiered at the 2005 Slamdance Film Festival. Won audience awards at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Greece. Released on DVD and online by MVD. 

RIP, Bernie. 

ALL FILM CREDITS

Director/Editor/Cinematographer

2004

Short 16mm documentary film about East Village NYC leatherworker Barbara Shaum, who was the first woman served in McSorley's Ale House - the last bar in New York to serve women. Shot on hand-wound Bolex. Edited on Steenbeck flatbed. 

Several festival screenings, including Silverdocs (now AFIDOCS). Aired on Thirteen: New York Public Television. Released on DVD by IndiePix. 

Click that play button to the right to watch the whole movie (10 mins).

ALL FILM CREDITS

Producer/Host

2008-2012

For four years, I hosted a monthly storytelling show called Told. Storytellers performed on a theme, with reactive-connective interludes performed by someone with a personal or professional relationship to the theme. For example, a tarot reader for The Crystal Ball, or a defense attorney for I Fought The Law. The show was filmed as a TV pilot but not picked up as a series.  Told was produced by Heidi Grumelot and presented by Horse Trade Theater Group.

Highlights include performances by Adam Wade, Ian Roberts, Ophira Eisenberg, Peter Aguero and Chris Gethard. 

Told in The New York Times: "Telling Stories with a Tear and a Smile," 4/4/2012.

Producer

2012

This American Life stage show, beamed live into 600 movie theaters. Featuring Ira Glass, David Sedaris, David Rakoff, Tig Notaro, OK Go, Mike Birbiglia, Terry Gross, Monica Bill Barnes & Company and more. 70,000 people attended nationwide. 

DVD | video download (scroll to bottom of download site)

Photos by Adrianne Mathiowetz

Mission to Zyxx - I'm one of seven co-creators of this improvised sci-fi comedy podcast. I play Junior Missions Operations Manager Nermut Bundaloy, and am an editor and producer on the series. 2017-2022.

The Truth: I’m Not That Guy - I play a jock stuck in a nerd’s body in this episode of the great fiction podcast The Truth. Typecast again. 2022.

Hello From the Magic Tavern - Moujan Zolfaghari and I played an evil couple cooped up in a cave together. Fun to get to be on a show that was a big inspiration for Mission to Zyxx!

Possible Side Effects - I play a not-so-attentive doctor in this episode of The Truth, written by Casper Kelly ("Too Many Cooks") and starring Adam Wade. 2017.

Naughty or Nice - I  play an elf named Spark in this Christmas episode of the podcast The Truth. Written with Jonathan Mitchell, who directed. Commissioned by NPR's All Things Considered, where it aired on Christmas Day 2014. 

How Did You Like Staying At Our Apartment? - Comedy piece on Jonathan Goldstein's CBC radio show and podcast Wiretap. 2014.

Will I Have Feelings? - Story Collider story about having a pacemaker. 2011.

Hollywood Induced Nightmare  - This American Life story about seeing The Shining when I was seven years old. 2008.

Three radio stories that aired on various public radio stations: two portraits of subway musicians; one experimental essay about the pier at Coney Island. 2001-2002.

I am director of operations for This American Life, managing technical and business stuff for the show. I voice those sponsorship messages on the podcast. 2006-present.

Image: creative commons

Some outlets where people have been kind enough to write about my projects, interview me, or invite me to speak.

2019

Gizmodo article on Mission to Zyxx

Vulture 100 Best Podcasts

SyFy Boarding Party podcast about Mission to Zyxx

Is This Adulting? podcast appearance

2018

Filmmaker Magazine article about Mission to Zyxx

Lifehacker profile of Mission to Zyxx

Vulture: The Best Podcasts of 2018 (So Far) 

Gizmodo review of Mission to Zyxx

2017

Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine profile for Mission to Zyxx

Vox roundup recommending Mission to Zyxx

Newsweek feature about Mission to Zyxx

An Evening of Humorous Readings, HiFi, NYC

Uptown Showdown mock debate, arguing that fiction is better than facts

2016

Turn It Up Pandora event about audio storytelling

Uptown Showdown mock debate, arguing that adulthood is better than childhood

2015

New York Times article about Cast Party.

HuffPost Live appearance about Cast Party.

2014

ThinkGeek roundup including Thank You, Robot

Tech Times story about A Couple of Astronauts

Miramax video blog about Medal of Victory

Indiewire feature about Medal of Victory

On The Media story about public media organizations

2013

Capital Times article about Medal of Victory

BoingBoing podcast interview

Engadget video interview

Dale Radio live show interview, with the best fictional host in the business

Ideasmyth panel about podcast storytelling, with Catherine Burns (The Moth) and Jonathan Mitchell (The Truth)

2012 

The New York Times article about live storytelling, including Told

SXSW panel about storytelling, with And I Am Not Lying

2011

New York Comedy Festival panel on comedic storytelling

Nieman Journalism Lab article about This American Life digital distribution

2010

Macalester Today alumni magazine feature

2009

92nd St. Y panel about This American Life

2008

TV Guide blurb for Barbara Leather TV screening

Indiewire feature about Channel Thirteen series including Barbara Leather

2005

Film Threat review of Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth