Maeve in America: Immigration IRL

Latest Episodes:

The Yemi Episode: Coming to America Dec 27, 2016

Show notes

The last time Maeve went to an aquarium, she fainted. This time, with the big-hearted aquaponics farmer Yemi Amu by her side, she totally looked at a fish and stayed conscious! Yemi was a high achieving school-girl in Lagos, Nigeria who came to New York and had to start over, helping her dad at his janitor’s job, learning to deal with some strange ideas Americans had about Africans, and figuring out how to overcome an eating disorder on her own. Mona Chalabi tries to talk Maeve into finding her a husband, and a security guard interrupts a night time ice-cream raid.

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The Holiday Special: Here Is New York Dec 20, 2016

Show notes

Maeve whisks us around the city and checks in with immigrants from all over the world to see how everybody is preparing for the holidays. We meet a group of Trinidadians having a Kwanzaa feast, we crash a Mexican Posada and hear from Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani, who shares his memories of Eid celebrations in Pakistan and his love of dessert days here in the U.S. - that’s a tradition he invented where you have dessert for every meal. We glimpse some Diwali lights still glittering across Queens as an Israeli couple delight in the freedom of Hanukkah away from home. And Kavita Pawria Sanchez, the assistant Commissioner at the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, plays Two Truths and a Lie with us.

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The Comedy Special: Raise the Roof Dec 13, 2016

Show notes

A special live comedy show hosted by Maeve, featuring Eugene Mirman, Mehran Khaghani, Josie Long, Todd Barry, Jon Ronson, Joel Kim Booster, Tanael Joachim and Mike Birbiglia. Maeve in America raised the roof at the Bell House in Brooklyn to benefit INARA, an organization that helps Syrian children. Plus: Backstage interviews with the comedians exploring their own immigration stories.

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The Amy Episode: Seoul Searching Dec 06, 2016

Show notes

Maeve speaks with Amy Mihyang Ginther, an assistant professor, a Korean adoptee and performer, who shares her story of moving to America as a tiny baby and her journey back to Korea two decades later to meet her birth mother. Plus: Mona and Maeve share their collective guilt about not speaking Arabic and Irish, we hear about the sad and strange tale of Adam Crapser and an adoption gone awry; and the hilarious comedian Joel Kim Booster processes his story through jokes. Oh! Spoiler alert. Maeve’s double life as a giant Irish doll is revealed.

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The Nayyef Episode: Sleepless in Seattle Nov 29, 2016

Show notes

Maeve meets Nayyef Hrebid: an Iraqi translator whose wartime service necessitated a Special Immigrant Visa to the US. Nayyef shares the terrible dangers facing the LGBT community in Iraq, his intimate story of finding love in a warzone, and how he fought through years of frustrating setbacks to keep that love intact. Mona Chalabi is back with the numbers, and an attorney in an inexplicable pair of New Balance warns the US not to ghost on on the local people who’ve served.

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Thanksgiving Special: What even IS this holiday? Nov 23, 2016

Show notes

Food is the thing, according to comedian Naomi Ekperigin, a Harlem native with Jewish in-laws who needs a day to recover after their epic dinners. But Maeve has a fuzzy idea that Thanksgiving started in the old days, when everyone made friends? But there’s got to be more to this story of happy Pilgrims and helpful Native Americans, right? Right. A Native American attorney explains why Thanksgiving is a bittersweet occasion for him. Then, back to food of course, we find out about San Francisco cops that deliver meals to Chinese seniors, and finally Grace Young stir-fries a treat for Maeve under the watchful eye of Huggy the cat.

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The Roz Episode: 37 round trips from Shanghai to San Mateo Nov 21, 2016

Show notes

Maeve grapples with perhaps the hottest topic of Trump’s USA, immigration. More importantly, she meets Roz Koo: business woman, activist, and professional butt-kicker of the highest order. Roz recounts a childhood in occupied Shanghai, a high flying career in 1980s San Francisco, and a bold life of service that merges two countries into one.

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Introducing Maeve in America Oct 24, 2016

Show notes

Get a sneak peek of the new podcast hosted by comedian Maeve Higgins. Subscribe now to get new episodes as soon as they come out!

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