Herewith, your weekly recap of the fine and highly entertaining content provided to you, the loyal listeners, on the Nerdist Podcast Network this week (hey, YOU try writing intros for these columns…):

Colin Hanks made a return appearance on the Nerdist Podcast after a five year absence, and the occasion for his welcome return was the release of his documentary on Tower Records, All Things Must Pass. So we heard the fascinating story of getting the movie made, some background on the iconic Sacramento-based music retailer, and how the death of tangible media may represent a greater loss. And there’s some talk about parenting and family, too. Oh, Colin’s also on Life in Pieces, Monday nights on CBS.

Oh, sure, Mark-Paul Gosselaar has been on iconic shows like NYPD Blue, and he was on the Nerdist Podcast this week to promote his new NBC sitcom Truth Be Told, but special guest April Richardson wants to focus on some other thing he once did. So they talk about that. A little series called Saved By The Bell. (Which grew from Good Morning, Miss Bliss, but that’s another story.) See, April, besides being a popular stand-up comic and Friend of Nerdist, happens to host the Go Bayside! podcast, which is about… yeah. But there’s more about Mark’s life, family, keeping healthy, and trying to remember a particular appearance on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

You know Brett Gelman from Eagleheart, from his Dinner With Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends, from Married and Another Period and from his prominent role in the last episode of Mad Men. But on the Nerdist Podcast this week, he talked about ’80s comedy in the light of today’s sensibilities, racism in modern culture, charity, and polarization of political discourse. It’s a deep, smart, and funny episode.

Josh Radnor — How I Met Your Mother — dropped by for You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes, with talk about audience assumptions about the actors behind the roles, the process of producing, what Josh likes about YMIW (it’s a mutual admiration society), career, the fact that his name is now always attached to the title of the show in italics (just like it is in this column!), beards, inserting spirituality into his movies, and way deep religious/spiritual stuff, because this IS YMIW, after all.

Kevin and Steve offered their list of scariest movies they’ve seen on Chewin’ It, and I won’t spoil it other than to say that I’m disappointed Steel Magnolias isn’t one of them.

A high-powered group of TV writers and creators — Jason Rothenberg (The 100), Janine Sherman Barrois (Criminal Minds; ER), Gloria Calderon Kellett (iZombie; How I Met Your Mother), and Zev Borow (Chuck) — were the guests on one Nerdist Writers Panel, and on another Nerdist Writers Panel, Michael Begler and Jack Amiel talked about their Showtime series The Knick, back for a second season.

Kumail and Emily made a (very) quick sojourn to New York Comic-Con and reported back to us about it on The Indoor Kids, with some of your embarrassing gamer stories thrown in for good measure.

Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Dope) traded facts with Razzle on Today We Learned. It’s about Guatemala (Tony’s heritage) and Anaheim (where he grew up) and Bill Murray and dyslexia and Van Halen (Razzle saw them) and Nintendo’s cash reserves and so much more your head will explode. Wear a hat. A tight hat.

Jessica served up another bunch of listener stories on Bizarre States. Bowser ain’t there, but Jess has it covered with creepy stories galore.

Actor/writer/producer Tara Platt talked about those difficult early years and more on The JV Club. She moved around a bit. And she talks about that and what led her to crave stability while pursuing a career that’s anything but stable.

Tom caught up with fellow trainer Steve Moyer for more inspiration on Pro You.

Musician Chris Conley (Saves The Day) talked about sadness and career and dealing with disrespectful audiences on Terrified.

Greg Otto, Doug, and Karen ate and Leslie Nesbitt cooked up a storm on Dining With Doug and Karen.

No T.J.? No problem, as Cash Levy morphed Cashing In with T.J. Miller into Cash Withdrawal, with two episodes featuring guests Matt Knudsen and Steve Mazan. It’s as insane as you’d expect from Cash.

The best video game music of the year (yeah, there’s still a few months left, they have their own determination of what constitutes the year) got the spotlight on the Legacy Music Hour.

And Blake Wexler returned for another edition of The Todd Glass Show.

Ye shall find them all at the Nerdist Podcast Network homepage and the Nerdist Podcast Network Facebook page. Go forth and listen. (Stops, watches ball sail into second deck, flips bat, trots around the bases.)

Contributor: Kyle Clark
Photo: All Things Must Pass, Gravitas Ventures