The Time Has Come! » Podcast Feed

Every Father’s Day, I usually share a storytelling event story I did a while back, about my dad. The story I tell there is one part of three, from a thing I wrote, shortly after he died, called “Three Pictures of My Dad.” But this past year, over the pandemic, I’ve been sharing stories with [...]

In the mid 1980s we were told by Quincy Jones and rogue’s gallery of musicians and luminaries that included both Kenny Rogers AND Huey Lewis that there comes a time, when you heed a certain call… and the world must come together as one. We, gentle friends and listeners, are from from that time. Instead [...]

Slaughter the fatted calf! Light the celebratory bonfire! Punch a nun full in the face! Keith “America’s Favorite Boy” Field has crafted a purchasable piece of podcast merchandise that you, the loyal listener, can (AND SHOULD) purchase. For less than the price of a steak, a little bit of capital H History can live in [...]

What’s in a name? William Shakespeare seemed to think “not much,” in that a rose by any other name would still be rose-flavored. But he was kind of a dick who wrote a play about an evil Jew, hellbent for leather on carving out a section of Christian flesh from the belly of a guy [...]

On the nature of expressions of grief or mourning for strangers, both genuine and performative, Josh and Keith have differing opinions, but manage to find some common ground. In this episode, find out who Josh hates most in all the world of celebrity, and shriek in terror at the continuing and unrelenting evil of Hector [...]

The great poet Robbie Burns once said that the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang-aft-a-gley. Which is a classy Scottish way for saying “get fucked up.” Here’s a little peek behind the curtain into how the magic happens at THE TIME HAS COME studios: Josh and Keith will hang out for a bit, [...]

  We are more than the sum total of what we consume and our identity is not predicated on that which we reject. This is a lesson some years in the making for Keith, but it is a trap we all fall into very often. Crafting a persona based on hating a thing that others [...]

  In a world gone mad, two old friends reunite in the world’s sweatiest apartment to record a podcast for your wicked amusements. Keith is back from his sojourn in the spiritually barren wastes of South Dakota, where he underwent many a dark night of the soul, and emerged battered, beaten and robbed of most [...]

There are moments when you are aware of a gestalt reality, but unaware of the specifics of what is at play. One of these moments came when Keith arrived at my door, hailed my dogs with his customary greeting of intoning, “WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU? WHAT HAVE THEY DOOOOOONE?” and began speaking to [...]

Here’s what I think is important about this episode, in a “One to grow on” kind of way. In a time of instantly mobilized outrage on the left and right, where disagreement equals offense,and the idea that someone may hold thoughts, sensibilities, world-views and perspectives in their head that do not comport with yours is [...]

Easter! A time for rebirth, renewal, and awakening. Spring has sprung and chocolate-y eggs dot the newly green grass. That which once was dormant and seemingly gone from the Earth wakes anew and blossoms! But what if it wakes up… different this time? Poetry gets a bad rep as a thing for sissies and flopsy [...]

There is a certain convention of naming that is often seen in cartoons, wherein the big fat guy who pilots the main vehicle is called “Tiny.”A comedic inversion of the reality by plainly stating the converse as simple fact. That principle MAY be in play with the use of the word “fun” in the title [...]

An ever-full cornucopia of wondrous delights awaits you in this episode: The Lovecraftian horror of a misspent high school career in self-plagiarism gives way to a glimpse of the Future-As-Keith-Sees-It, with America’s last president, Donald J. Trump, and an extended exploration on the phenomenon of cosplay, inclusion and exclusion, and the nature of what we [...]

“It’s sick out there and getting sicker,” was the catchphrase of radio curmudgeon Bob Grant.  An apt summation of this week’s theme: Josh recalls a hospital tale, with all-too-close proximity to a dying German man and his shrewish wife, Keith recounts a story of a dare that would have been wiser not to have been [...]

Author Stephen King is incredibly important to both Josh and Keith, for similar reasons. This podcast explores the intersection of King’s works with their lives, explores what King means to the world and to the idea of ideas, and also features some VERY DISTURBING MENTAL IMAGERY about popcorn, and the consumption thereof. Also in this [...]

Myths, legends, folklore. Where do they come from, and from what circumstances do they arise? Figures who exist in equal parts fantasy and history have been shared dreams of humanity since civilization began, since tales were first told  to circles huddled around the flickering orange-yellow light of campfires. Robin Hood, Arthur and his knights, the [...]

Riddle us this, Podcast-consumer. In what other show, across all manner of media, might you find a single broadcast that encompasses such topics as shoplifting, abusive relationships, Chewbacca, snuff films, Arrow and the Flash, and the nature of that which is transgressive and forbidden weighed against societal law and one’s one personal moral compass… And [...]

Take a tour of the messy playroom that serves as the headquarters and studio of The Time Has Come Podcast Enterprises. In this episode, learn the sinister plans of meteor-based wooing that Keith harbors.  Although they are often political and alignment-based opposites, Keith and Josh join forces to champion TEAM HUMAN when it comes to [...]

Many things take place this episode. Birthday parties for dogs, the role and bane of nostalgia, THE SIMPSONS and their filthy place in the world of internet vis a vis “RULE 34,” impromptu puppet shows, a vast cardboard city constructed amidst the tension of a newly strained friendship… But all of those things service the [...]

We’re back from Christmas break to ring in the new year. And we’re taking requests. But not taking too kindly to them, really. This episode: Star Wars, and the ponderous nature of speaking about Star Wars, improvisation mishaps, Keith’s spooky inability to remember or connect to song lyrics or music, DISCO SUCKS and Mods vs. [...]

It’s Garbage Day! A time for celebration, and a time for remembrance. Learn all about Little Boy Keith Field and his adventures in the time before the DumpSTAIR. (Spoilers: It ends in tears, as all stories about Little Boy Keith Field tend to do.) Josh does battle with a Crazy Old Man(TM) and immortalizes him [...]

Nature red in tooth and claw; the savage and the untamed beasts of the wild… and our desire to make them pets. These are only some of the things talked about in this episode. Learn the stunning saga of Keith Field, Widget-Packer, and his Schindler-like saving of a skulk of foxes from a disturbed co-worker [...]

You can’t keep a good podcast down. Or this one, for that matter. Josh and Keith shake off the dust and, like the Blues Brothers before them, get the band back together. Also, much like those selfsame Blues Brothers, it is a mission from god. Rosaries, heads dashed open on concrete, the ritual destruction of [...]

The Mark Twain House storytelling event “The MOuTH” invited Josh back to an evening themed around the idea of accidents. A story about being an accidental American and not a particularly good Jew leads, improbably, to computers, circuses, and grand theft pizza. The featured author-speaker that night told a story about her criminal father, a [...]

The Time Has Come rides again! Like a forgotten Christmas present, fallen behind the tree and only discovered after the inevitable holiday drear of bagging up torn wrapping paper and suffering through a never ending series of twist-tie-downs to free action figures and dolls from their moorings in the boxes, we arrive late on Christmas [...]

There exists a new America. A different America. An America not quite real, not quite yet, but that lies in waiting, if you are brave and bold enough to walk toward it.  An America in potential. Keith Field’s America. Part plan part vision; is it a mirage on the distant sands to vanish upon fixing [...]

In which Josh and Keith catch up over the few podcast-less weeks. Keith declares a death-feud on Josh for his dismissal of the talents of John C. Riley. Learn about the best restaurant encounter EVER; there has been Godzilla vs. Mecha-Godzilla, there has been Cain vs. Abel, there has Freddy vs. Jason. Now there is [...]

The press of a finger, the flash of a light, and we have conquered Time itself; frozen it in its never-ending motion and transformed it from a fluid verb into a concrete noun: a photograph. Josh and Keith talk about pictures and their taking, what it can and can’t mean, and definitely what it SHOULDN’T [...]

What makes Keith Field tick, you ask? Then you ask the wrong question. The proper question is what makes Keith Field TAP. And the answer is a pen. A special kind of pen. A TAPPY PEN. Learn its dread origin, understand its purpose, fear its power. Then Josh and Keith discuss fame and celebrity, and [...]

Begin year two! The grand and (probably ultimately tragic) saga of TRUCK ZOO continues on apace, and is filled with backstabbing, betrayal and internecine warfare among its ruling cabal. Which is, we guess, as it should be. In this episode, Josh and Keith discuss the oddness that is loyalty to a “brand,” and how ideas [...]

The Time Has Come is a year old! Much like a baby, we’re often cranky and the the contents of our pants are questionable. In this celebratory milestone episode: TRUCK ZOO keeps rolling. (Now with more Spanish-Speaking Wizards.)  Fireworks and Keith’s history as a pyromancer. Twilight Zone marathons. The bittersweet beauty of passing eras, along [...]

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a joyless a-hole who is going to crash into your building, seemingly unaware or unconcerned with your safety, or the countless thousands around you! The Man of Steel movie disappoints a crest-fallen Josh, who must eat humble pie… and, at some point, due [...]

Father’s Day, June 16, 2013, I got a chance to speak at a story-telling event at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, put on by NPR’s Chion Wolf and featuring Colin McEnroe, of the Colin McEnroe Show. I got to stand in front of an audience and tell them a Joel Dobbin story. [...]

“A hero ain’t nothing but a sandwich.” At least so says the title of a 1973 book about heroin in the ghetto. In this episode, there are no heroes to be found in sandwich shops. Only lies. Find out that it’s all happening at the zoo; at the zoo, at the zoo. But what kind [...]

Ancient and powerful secrets, hidden from view by Secret Chiefs; wheels which spin within wheels: mysterious cabals of Illuminated Seers, creatures or entities from beyond space or time. Psychic phenomenon, remote vision, telekinesis, and the persistence of ectoplasmic energy in the material plane…. All a bunch of hooey, most likely. But it does not stop [...]

There’s some pleasures that are guilty and some you don’t even bother apologizing for. Josh and Keith explore the world of crap they know is crap, but have loved through the ages. ALSO (and perhaps more importantly): Learn the secret of the most powerful snacking acronym ever: TWC. Your life *will* change upon unlocking its power.  And [...]

Spring! When a young man’s fancy turns to love. Only it usually isn’t really love, but the fairy-gold version of it: The crush. The everywhere-ache of heart and gut that leaves one breathless and frazzled. Josh and Keith talk about what is is to be crushed in such a fashion: Cartoon crushes from childhood, TV [...]

“Shall we play a game?” intoned the robotic 1980s computer-generated JOSHUA computer voice to a zitty young and innocent Matthew Broderick who had yet to be seduced by the horse-faced Sarah Jessica Parker.  That conversation nearly destroyed the world in a rain of nuclear fire. So too with this one. Josh and Keith talk about [...]

“I like to read books about ROBOTS and SPACEMEN!” is something an enthusiastic young boy might exclaim.  Keith would most likely hit that child. This episode is all about sci-fi heresies; stuff you’d expect Josh and Keith to love, but will be SHOCKED AND AMAZED that they don’t.  Find out Keith’s loathing for all things [...]

The epic struggle and eternal conflict. Will and intention versus the implacable and unstoppable press of the world and life in its non-human forms. In this episode: Josh is humbled by a mountain that he cannot tame. And a hat he should not wear. Keith’s lunatic grandmother attempts to tame the wild using mad potions, [...]

Laverne and Shirley, Kip and Henry, Lenny and Squiggy. They all lied to us from the TV screen. Roommate situations don’t always create true and lasting bonds of camaraderie and friendship to stand the test of the ages and teach us all a little something about life and love. Sometimes, they just end in stewing pots of [...]

The world is more interesting and a better place for having had Roger Ebert, his voice and identity in it and a little less wonderful for losing the same. This episode, Josh and Keith look back at “At The Movies” as a character in their lives, and how an ongoing “relationship” with Roger Ebert over [...]

April, T.S. Elliot wrote, is the cruelest month.  Fitting then that this, our April Fool’s themed show, is the cruelest podcast. Learn of the kind of grim April Showers that Keith once visited upon an unsuspecting workmate.  Witness an airing of grievances over 20 years in the making! Josh is still relatively certain that Keith [...]

The Time Has Come turns 40…episodes long. Winter gives way to spring and Josh and Keith look back at a season’s full of episodes and explore the topics of the last few months for stories we didn’t get around to telling. In this episode: Church ladies vs. Keith’s foam rubber vegetables. Learn the secret origin [...]

A special The Time Has Come podcast, taped live before a studio audience. If one define’s “studio” as “Josh’s dining room.” Super-fans and super-friends Rich Johnson and Gordon LeVasseur sit in on this week’s podcast, taped directly from the cake-eating at the mini-surprise birthday party thrown for your Pope of Anubis (TM), Keith Field. In [...]

Keith has close encounters of the dork kind at a gaming shop and is three times rejected by the nerdiest of all nerds. Exploding nazi balloons.  The strange and terrible saga of the most wretched hive of villainy and scum this side of the Mos Eisley cantina: The Hometown Buffet and the worst/best wedding ever. [...]

A panorama of love-filled magic for your ears and heart: Learn the three magic words crazy Grandma Field once scrawled across an official paper that changed the world of media as we know it. Discover Keith’s history as an avant garde artist. Keith and Josh explore the strange reality-bending power the podcast has seemed to [...]

Special Bonus: Josh appeared as a featured storyteller at a Connecticut version of THE MOTH RADIO HOUR (kinda; it was an NPR event, but the actual MOTH people turned out to be dicks. So they inserted a “u” in and made it their own. From Josh’s site: Being February and close to Valentine’s day, the [...]

Josh and Keith talk about the history of moving; what is is to shift from house to house growing up and the attendant excitement, fear, wonder– and, all too often, horror that new spaces bring. But before that, there’s Oscars and celebrity culture, there’s the stunning reveal of Keith’s utopian form of polygamy he plans [...]

You’ve heard our opening theme song. “The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of other things– of shoes and ships and sealing wax; of cabbages and kings!” Well, that’s kind of where this episode ended up going. We went in with the idea of talking about field trips or road trips, but took [...]

In a world blanketed by snow and confusion, the Pope abandons his post, leaving doubt and an uncertain future on the horizon. One man rises up to claim what has always been his destiny: Your new Pope, Keith Field. It’s a different kind of papacy. In this episode, Josh and Keith talk about snow, snow [...]