Meet Your Host

Mandy Kaplan

Mandy Kaplan is an actress, voice-over artist, singer, writer, and ninja living in LA. Her voice can be heard in hundreds of commercials/video games/audiobooks, and her face can be seen starring in the feature film 30 Nights of Sex available on Tubi, which she co-wrote and produced. Her hilarious cabaret Miscast: Right Singer, Wrong Song has been running in LA for over twelve years and has raised thousands of dollars for Project Angel Food. And now… she is host of Make Me A Nerd, where she enlists her fabulous friends to introduce her to their fandoms, and co-host on Once and Future Parent where she chronicles the journey of parenting a high schooler toward launch. She was co-host of the podcast The Mandcave with her comedy partner Mandy Fabian. She can also be heard providing insights on movies and pop culture across The Next Reel Family of Film Podcasts.

🌐 IMDb • Mandy Kaplan
🍿 Watch 30 Nights of Sex on Tubi
💃 See Miscast: Right Singer, Wrong Song
😇 Learn More about Project Angel Food
🎙️ Subscribe to Make Me A Nerd
🎙️ Subscribe to The Mandcave
🎙️ Subscribe to Once and Future Parent

Hangman Adam Page with Kevin Ryan

Mandy enters the world of AEW wrestling with Irish podcaster Kevin Ryan as her guide, and immediately learns she’s unprepared for the amount of lore, hair, blood, and burning houses involved. It’s the perfect crossover of soap opera, stunt show, and fever dream — and somehow, Mandy survives.

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Return to Oz with Jessica Jimenez

Mandy and returning guest Jessica Jimenez dive into Return to Oz — the 1985 children’s movie that feels like a psychological thriller wrapped in claymation and wheel-armed acrobats. Come for the nostalgia, stay for the hall of severed heads.

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Tikkun Olam

The first month of parenthood is a crash course in bodily fluids, sleep deprivation, and existential wonder.

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Steve Sarmento

Mandy brings in TruStory FM’s own Steve Sarmento to guide her through Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a Spielberg classic he has loved since childhood and she is only just discovering. Together they dive into aliens, government gaslighting, bad dads, and the pure wonder that keeps this film glowing nearly 50 years later.

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Game Changer with Kyle Olson

What happens when an improv game show changes the rules every episode? Kyle Olson returns to indoctrinate Mandy into the glorious madness of Game Changer on Dropout TV—complete with butt jokes, buzzers, and a whole lot of musical genius.

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Yuri on Ice with Zehra Fazal

Actor Zehra Fazal joins Mandy Kaplan to nerd out over Yuri!!! on Ice, the anime that somehow turned figure skating into a meditation on love, anxiety, and gluteal perfection. It’s part sports drama, part queer awakening, and all the proof you need that nerds can be both passionate and impeccably choreographed.

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Birth Plans, Labor Realities, and Managing Family Chaos

What happens when your carefully crafted birth plan collides with medical reality—and your family’s overwhelming enthusiasm? Matthew, Mandy, and Pete explore the gap between Hollywood labor scenes and the real days-long delivery process, while navigating performative partner pressure, the “circles of care” model, and managing well-meaning relatives who’ve lost their minds with excitement.

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