Basement reflections with Great Lakes gravity.
Failing Up follows Tim Marr through loose, funny, and sometimes anxious monologues from a basement studio along the Seneca River. The show mixes Great Lakes detours, Catholic holiday observations, space-age awe, American self-questioning, and affectionate nods to Jungle Jim's synthesizer.
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Failing Up is a personal-journal show with a strong sense of place. Tim Marr records from a basement studio along the Seneca River, and that location becomes part of the ritual. The river leads toward the Oswego River, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence Seaway, Toronto, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and the rest of the Great Lakes, sometimes accurately and sometimes with comic uncertainty. Jungle Jim's synthesizer introductions are another recurring anchor. Around those familiar openings, the show wanders freely. It can begin with spring air, snow tires, rabbits, and holiday traffic, then land in a sharp complaint about Christmas-and-Easter churchgoers taking every pew. It can start with March Madness and end up cataloging Lent, St. Patrick's Day, St. Joseph's Day, Passover, Easter, and the odd congestion of the calendar. It can linger over the stubborn pleasure of CDs in an older vehicle. The larger episodes are more searching. Moon missions and Earth views push Tim Marr toward awe, sadness, and questions about pollution, war, nuclear weapons, inequality, and whether people can see the planet as one fragile home. American politics appears less as party argument than as a mirror test. Do Americans recognize the country looking back? The show welcomes disagreement in theory, but worries about division hardening into separation. Faith is treated personally and imperfectly, with humor, guilt, irritation, and sincerity sharing the same pew. The pacing is shaggy. Repetition is part of the texture, as are corrections, throat-clearing, trivia, and sudden swerves. Failing Up works best for listeners who like spoken essays that feel improvised rather than polished flat. It is funny, local, reflective, and occasionally exasperated. Beneath the ramble is a recurring question: how should ordinary people live on a beautiful planet, in a divided country, during a season that keeps changing?
Made for: For listeners who like personal monologues, local color, faith-tinged humor, and reflective civic questioning delivered in an unpolished conversational style.
What sets it apart: The show turns recurring basement-studio rituals, river geography, and Jungle Jim's synthesizer into a frame for big questions about country, planet, faith, memory, and everyday irritation.
Life is improvisation! Observations from a regular guy on how with world around us impacts who we are and what we perceive. I explore how life is more about asking questions than accepting what is presented. In addition to my own reflections and experiences, I interview guests from the art, literary, music, cultural and political fields to gain insight as to how we all impact the world we share and our joint realities. We are all failing up!
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A chatty Great Lakes history listen that makes Lake Ontario feel active, risky, and worth a closer look.
Lake Ontario is framed as a working waterway, carrying lumber and coal and serving as a place where locally built vessels later saw wartime use. Tim and Bill Crist keep the pace lively as the discussion moves from the Seneca River to the St.
A warm, opinionated conversation about lacrosse, belonging, and how history gets told.
Rex Lyons keeps this episode grounded in lacrosse, belonging, and how Indigenous history gets told, while Tim Marr lets the talk move from easy jokes into sharper arguments about misinformation and the need to keep the record honest.
Pop culture trivia, argued fast and with affection.
Pop culture, personal stakes, and room for a tangent.
A Brazilian journalist spends years reinvestigating unsolved child disappearances in Paraná.
Cris Bartz and Juva Lauer alternate debate and interview episodes on Brazilian social issues.
Robert Wright interviews specialists on Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Taiwan, and open-source AI.
Host Tim Marr rambles about spring, the Great Lakes, and trivia before introducing the show's theme of exploring life through questions and interviews.
Tim Marr and Jungle Jim riff on March madness, the Great Lakes, and the busy month of March, blending humor with personal reflection.
Host Tim Maher muses on the changing seasons and geography while introducing his co-host Jungle Jim, setting a reflective and conversational tone for the episode.
The host reflects on life as improvisation, shares a whimsical journey through frozen waterways, and muses on his love for CDs.
Host Tim Marr reflects on winter, flowing water, and a tragic plane crash, blending personal musings with cultural references.
Bill Crist, the Sanctuary Advisory Council Chair for the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, explains why the site was designated in July 2024 and why its focus is maritime heritage rather than wildlife.
Host Tim Maher reflects on the transitional season of late autumn, describing the barren landscape and his personal connection to the changing environment.
The host reflects on the atmosphere of November and shares a stream-of-consciousness monologue about the geography and culture of the Great Lakes region.
The host reflects on autumn and life observations in a conversational, improvisational style.
Host Tim Marr interviews Rex Lyons, co-founder of the rock-blues band the Ripcords and a founding member of the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team, recording in a basement studio along the Lady Seneca River in upstate New York.
The host reflects on the fleeting nature of summer and shares nostalgic memories from childhood.
Host Tim Maher introduces the show and his guest Dennis, a childhood friend and Syracuse University mascot, discussing life and creativity.