A theater kid's diary of messy survival.
I'll Drink To That follows Matty through the ordinary mess of creative life in Los Angeles. Episodes move from Facebook memories and movie reactions into pandemic anxiety, alcohol, Pride, work worries, and the small rituals that keep a person oriented.
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I'll Drink To That is Matty's long-running solo chronicle of a creative life in Los Angeles. It works less like a formal interview show than a spoken scrapbook. Episodes often open with musical theater, then drift into monthly catch-ups, Facebook memories, movie reactions, work worries, holidays, Pride, alcohol, illness, and the uneasy comedy of trying to make sense of things in real time. The pace is quick. The structure is loose, but the looseness has a point. A post about Red Sox opening day and handwashing can become an early-pandemic time capsule. A Sondheim disco album can lead into talk about drinking at home, medication, triggers, and the difference between wanting a drink and not being able to stop once one starts. A late-night Cats screening becomes both a movie complaint and a small portrait of January fatigue. The show is especially strong when ordinary details accumulate until they reveal the emotional shape of a season. Matty talks about Boston, library pickups in Los Angeles, holiday lights, World AIDS Day posts, Oscar choices, Frozen 2, Rise of Skywalker, In the Heights, Joker, Parks and Rec, and the strange way culture keeps providing timestamps for private life. The tone can be funny, sharp, sentimental, or worried, often within the same stretch. It is not trying to sound detached. It is trying to remember accurately enough to understand what happened. The 2020 episodes carry real gravity, especially around safety, shutdowns, protests, reopening pressure, job anxiety, and the feeling of watching the world go sideways. The show also keeps returning to performance culture, from Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Fun Home to Fosse and Sondheim. Theater is not just decoration here. It is vocabulary, memory, emotional shorthand, and sometimes escape. Listeners who like neat arcs may find the detours demanding. Listeners who enjoy personal storytelling, queer cultural reference points, candid recovery talk, and film-and-theater commentary will find a distinctive rhythm. I'll Drink To That is messy in the human sense, attentive to small evidence, and most alive when Matty lets one recollection open onto another until the year starts to explain itself.
Made for: Best for listeners who like intimate solo storytelling, musical theater references, candid life updates, and culture talk that wanders toward bigger emotional truths. It especially suits people drawn to Los Angeles creative-life diaries and pandemic-era personal history.
What sets it apart: The show turns monthly catch-ups and Facebook memories into a dense personal archive, where movies, musicals, drinking, work, Pride, and public crisis all share the same timeline. Its rough edges make it feel lived-in rather than packaged.
Welcome to the I'll Drink To That podcast.3 1/2 years in and Matty's still chasing his dream of becoming a screenwriter. He's had some interesting adventures along the way. Won't you join him?It's a long road between here and the red carpet. Come along for the ride...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Matty folds film, musical theater, production work, and personal upheaval into a candid diary of culture as lived experience.
Matty turns a personal audio journal into a record of how creative work and cultural appetite persist alongside jobs, relationships, and ordinary upheaval.
A six-month job anniversary becomes an American Idiot detour; you get the toast and the theater notes.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid April diary where Sondheim, movie nights, boredom, and drinking circle the same uneasy question.
This April segment turns a rough month into a loose, revealing look at how music, routine, and coping share the same domestic space. Matty drifts from a ridiculous Sondheim disco album and weekend movie watching into the practical history of keeping alcohol out of the house,…
March 2020 moves from memes and caution to reopening pressure and a tense Sunday-night gathering.
March 2020 unfolds here as a chain of small shocks: a Neil Diamond-flavored Sweet Caroline meme, CDC handwashing, the joke that Boston is doomed, then the shift into COVID vigilance and Pete Buttigieg dropping out of the primaries.
February 2020, Oscars talk, and a monologue that keeps circling personal and public upheaval.
Slightly Askew settles into a February 2020 stretch, letting the host move from early COVID awareness to Oscar talk, library returns, and the small frictions of ordinary life.
A worn-down January finds its comic center in a Cats outing and the host's theory about what followed.
January comes through as a tired, weathered stretch of changed New Year's plans, work routines, drinks, Facebook scrolling, and a walk to the movies that lands on Cats.
A December diary where AIDS activism, film talk, Christmas lights, and recording-room rough edges share the same calendar.
This single-episode review frames the installment as a December 2019 cultural diary, where World AIDS Day posts, movie talk, holiday rituals, and the ordinary business of recording all share space.
A six-month work milestone opens into a candid reckoning with drinking and American Idiot's unexpected stage power.
Matty's six-month mark at his production job should be an easy win, but the episode keeps circling the harder work of letting a good thing register while drinking still complicates the picture.
A 3:45 a.m. push, a 6 a.m. alarm, and a worn-down affection for production work.
Matty is at the edge of the production job he originally signed on for, trying to decide whether the break he has been wanting is finally due. The episode understands work less as a career plot than as a condition a person carries around.
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April 18th, 2017 lands softly.
Matty is ready for a break.
The host reflects on his screenwriting journey, shares a personal anecdote about a song, and updates listeners on his Thanksgiving.
March starts as a joke, then the room changes.
April starts loud.
February starts as a catch-up.
January starts as a stayed-home New Year's, not a big reset.
December 2019 opens with static pops and a host half fighting the equipment.
Host Matty opens with a musical number, shares his background as a screenwriter in LA, and announces he's been sober for two months but plans to drink tomorrow.
Matty discusses the musical Fun Home, its themes, and his personal journey as a storyteller.
Host Matty dances and chats about his screenwriting journey, living in LA, and the musical Fosse, with a humorous, off-the-cuff style.