There’s only so much jokey riffing one can take. Still, the comedy podcast has become a major new medium, and not just because some performers have leveraged it into television shows and corporate deals. It’s because podcasts give comics the freedom — limitless time, no interference — to make new forms of comedy for an international audience. And that’s why “How Was Your Week?” has become one of the few essential podcasts.

She says there are a lot of advantages to podcasting for people who work in and around comedy and comedy writing, one of which is how appealingly amenable it is to a do-it-yourself approach. “It’s free and easy,” she says, “and the nice thing about it is you can have a show without anybody giving you notes. So you can really do, in my case, The Julie Klausner Show.” Furthermore, the format tends to be relaxed and personal, and just as Marc Maron finds on WTF, perhaps the current big dog of podcasts featuring comedians, Klausner says that talking to people in the context of comedy can allow conversations more free-ranging than those that might take place otherwise. “If you do have a sense of humor,” she says, “you’re permitted more leeway, because if you go too far — hey, we’re only goofin’ around!”

Then there’s the podcast itself. Though still fairly young, past guests include comedy forces such as Joan Rivers and Patton Oswalt, garnering critical acclaim and placement on bothRolling Stone and GQ‘s Top Ten Comedy Podcasts. Really, a live show of How Was Your Week? was the next logical step for the Upright Citizens Brigade alum. On October 20, Klausner will be bringing the podcast to the Bell House in Brooklyn, with guests Paul F. Tompkins, Billy Eichner, and Fred Armisen. In between traveling across the country in preparation for the show, Klausner was able to sit down and talk with us over a cup of coffee.

Julie Klausner, the comedian, author, and host of the How Was Your Week? podcast, reflects on Elizabeth Taylor’s woman-hatred, Neko Case’s secret crush, Jackée’s bountiful gossip, and more she learned while podcasting

The title of this podcast is the source of much of its content: It’s the question the generously talented author-comedian asks each episode of herself and others. At four episodes in, listeners have already walked through weeks lead by author Natasha Vargas-Cooper, Twitter badass Megan Amram and actor James Urbaniak. The show earned its keep more or less immediately in the first episode, though, when Klausner asked her mom (!) what kindof crazy James Franco is (“I can’t comment” was the inevitable, perfect response). At its casual best, listening to How Was Your Week is like eavesdropping on a super-fun slumber party.