The Cocktail Napkin

This series finale brings the interview journey full circle. Jeremy checks in with Adam Lisagor to see how his initial statements of how "lazy" he is have held up, as well as tearing down ideas to build them back up.

Jeremy sits down in Austin's Driskill Hotel with Ross Floate to discuss merciless treatment of ideas that solve no problems.

Take a peek into the beginnings of Jeremy's creative impulses during a discussion with Dave Colin, one of Jeremy's first creative collaborators.

Jeremy speaks to advertising icon Luke Sullivan via phone about infinite resignation and slow boiling.

A conversation with Darrin Ross about throwing lots of creative ideas at the wall seems to resonate very well in the twilight of this show's existence. Best show yet.

Twitter jokes aren't all just fun and games. There's a craft to them and, in Jason Sweeney's case, a deeper source of joy and healing.

The rain at SXSW isn't stopping people from finding interesting things that inspire them. Everyone except for the guy at the end.

A bad travel day makes the plans for a dazzling opening SXSW episode fall flat.

It's Open Topic week yet again. Jeremy lays out his plan for possible self-destruction in Austin, TX.

Two Kansas City boys, thrust into Internet renown in part by nods from John Gruber, sit down for coffee and discuss taking big leaps.

Good friend and creative colleague Pat Piper stops by the studio for beer, discussion about packaging, movies and keeping big ideas free of window dressing.

In the first official "Open Topic Tuesday," Jeremy comes clean on being creatively burned out and verbally works through how to fix it. Also, a new programming schedule is revealed.

A recurring theme for this show is that everything great starts somewhere small. Timmy Fisher and a group of friends built motion graphics studio MK12 from humble beginnings in an apartment above a bar.

I've received a number of questions over the past few weeks regarding different aspects of this show's production. I thought I'd take you through the process of how the show gets produced.

Retreating from the world to do the hard parts of creative work is one way to get the right focus. Toni McLellan wants to help you mentally sweat out those ideas in an inspiring, encouraging environment.

We've all picked up random hobbies when faced with absolutely nothing to do. But how many of those time passers turn into a true outlet for expression? Bruce Seeds discusses how the control and precision from a life of architecture/CAD translates into the geometric beauty of quilted textile art.

To close out 2011, writer and artist Austin Kleon discusses the myriad of ways he works to end the messy divorce between words and pictures.

Jeremy and Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman discuss that just because technology allows one to do so many things, it's not always the best idea to do them. Especially in marketing. Does your idea really need to be social?

Jeremy and his wife Robin look back at the last 50 episodes and discuss where the show has been and where it may go in 2012.

A discussion about quirky kids meets a quirky host with a quirky Skype setup.

The smart creative person knows that a trophy case full of failures is as important as the successes those failures ultimately produce. Some creative people, like Yuvi Zalkow, have a true affection for failure and wear it like a badge of honor.

Improv is more than just a comedy form. Good improvisation skills translate into a variety of business skills that help you make better things, and Scott Connerly explains the fundamentals of freeing your mind.

The Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell University published a study on human response to creativity. Apparently even though we value creativity and innovation, truly novel and innovative ideas turn our stomach. My friend Jacob Edenfield and I discuss how knowledge work can be aversion therapy against this.

A well-rounded mind is a hungry mind, and San Francisco journalist Anna Rascouët-Paz tells Jeremy about all the ways she expands her world via unfettered curiosity.

Ford Motor Company was built by a tinkerer and inventor. In an age when branded social media still errs on the cautious side, Scott Monty takes the attitude of his corporate ancestor to guide communications that surprise and delight.

Brian Winkeler, co-creator of the comic "Bastard Road," visits with Jeremy about comics, characters, dreaming up "they must have been high" kinds of ideas and Kick Buttowski.

Jeremy spends some time with photographer Alistair Tutton about the changing face of the photography business, renovating silent movie theaters, the beauty of Best Buy 0% financing and letting someone else determine your best work that represents you.

How can someone make the best podcast they can, no matter the size of the production? Jeremy gives some thoughts during the opening keynote at PodCamp Pittsburgh 6.

While he's on the road this week, why not listen to some of Jeremy's thoughts while on the road _last_ week. In this episode, Jeremy begins thinking about the maker mind vs. the manager mind and how the two can work in harmony in the same office.

Jeremy and Jason Permenter talk about being "too creative" with science. So much so, Jason moved from the world of volcanology to web design. And, for Jason, it's going well.

Jeremy talks with video producer Michelle Vargas about giving good advice to 15 year-olds, putting good stuff into the world to get good stuff back, mentorship and setting up a video playhouse for the purpose of acting in the moment.

Emails are slowly starting to trickle in with thoughts and questions about the show, and I thought I'd take this episode to answer a couple of the more pressing questions.

Geoff Barnes discusses radical shifts in career focus from painting instructor to user experience strategist and the fine art of letting go just enough to keep from being a control freak in the things you make with others. We eventually wander into the waters of ADD conversation and we just surf the flow from there.

If you're like me, you've thought about how great it would be to make your own beer. Hopefully you're not like me in buying a brewing kit from a home furnishing store. Mike Reinhardt, Jr. and Nate Watson are not like me. They brew bold and unique craft beers under the name Wilderness Brewing.

Pecha Kucha is a Japanese term that translates to “chit-chat” in English. It's also an activity that combines PowerPoint and performance art into a fast-paced, six minute and forty second look into a person's passion.

Iterative refinement is the key to making something truly great and versatile. In this episode, Jeremy wants to know a little something about you, the viewer, that might make this show better.

Come hear Collen Wainwright's tales of dancing bears around cereal, commercial acting, content strategy, Battledecks and the awesome feeling one gets when seeing someone's "lights go on."

Kansas City filmmaker Brian Boye has been thinking about an idea that's very near to his heart for years. And now, with the help of Kickstarter, he is working toward making his documentary, "Famous Last Words" a reality.

I discussed the philosophies of design strategy, user experience and -- well -- *philosophy* with Erika Hall, the Director of Strategy at Mule Design in San Francisco. The lesson learned? Don't try to talk deeply about philosophy when you didn't pay that much attention in your philosophy classes, kids.

After wondering for over a decade, I was finally diagnosed with adult ADHD. In this episode, I wonder how this disorder correlates overall to the creative mind and how it can be harnessed to make great things.

Sometimes working from the solitude of home beats collaboration. But what about people who rarely, if ever, work in the same room as their colleagues? Greg Storey of Happy Cog West explains how they approach being in so many locations as well as educating the business world on how digital media can best serve them.

In this episode, Albert McMurry talks about the idea behind American Drink while sharing a couple of drinking-related stories. Also, why not everybody likes folks who need to Always Be Linking and Albert's, um -- *interesting* -- performance at 2010's SXSW Battle Decks.

Ethan Marcotte and I talk about responsive design, the future of CSS frameworks that might support this notion, speaking at An Event Apart and what it's like for him to strike back on his own after a successful tenure at Happy Cog.

Chris Riebschlager and I sit outside to discuss our ridiculous desire for Twitter stars, not being 100% comfortable in an "ad guy's" skin and the Zen detachment of Twitter. It's way less important than it sounds.

Quinn Katherman, one of 18 funny women that HuffPo thinks you should follow, got her first copywriting job based on her portfolio of tweets. Yes, you read that right.

Even though I'm in advertising, I don't much care for the industry's navel gazing tendencies. Some of us ad folk just want to make cool things that people appreciate and find useful. Increasingly, that's what brands want over the traditional messaging channels.

Doreen Marchionni explains Journalism As Conversation, a fascinating blend of traditional journalism with the collaborative voice of citizen journalism.

Greg Turner of Kitchen Sojourn discusses caring about the end product, whether it's a photo, a novel or a simple meal for your family.

Merlin Mann and I cover a lot of territory, from creative failure to creative modality and how being in the wrong mode at the wrong time might bring on that failure.

Adam Lisagor talks with me before he became the famous auteur that Dan idolizes. In this episode we talk about creative failure and being incredibly lazy.

I spoke to Merlin Mann on the phone. After a great conversation, he ended it with an interesting question: "How do we make people smarter?" I have a couple of ideas.