Dropping Names With Brent And Jonny: Pirate Celebrities Keeping It Real!

I do not review celebrity podcasts, primarily because of their genesis. Typically, one of the large podcast networks, such as Spotify, contacts a celebrity with a concept for an interview podcast. The celebrity signs on, realizing that they can make a lot of money just to show up on recording day and ask questions pre-written for them. The interviews are bland and formulaic, but advertisers love it because of the name recognition of the celebrity. Welcome to the long agonizing death of innovation in podcasting. 

Dropping Names with Brent & Jonny is different. It's like celebrities doing pirate radio. Even the title doesn't give away who they are. This video podcast is a conversation podcast show from Star Trek: The Next Generation stars Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes. Each episode, these longtime friends sit down with fascinating characters they've met across decades in Hollywood.

The show's marketing exclaims: "Whether you're a sci-fi fan, a film buff, or just here for the laughs, this is the show where great stories meet great conversations… and a few names get dropped along the way."

This video podcast began in January 2026, welcoming Star Trek:TNG co-worker LeVar Burton. On that show, Burton discussed his history in show business, from Roots to Reading Rainbow to Star Trek. 

One of the best episodes was Once We Were ALL Spacemen with Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk released on February 26th. Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk -- formerly of Firefly --  joined Dropping Names for a nostalgic and surprisingly heartfelt conversation about decades in the business… from Firefly and Star Trek conventions to Saving Private Ryan, Disney villains, Shakespeare with Patrick Stewart, and the night Nathan Fillion may or may not have saved the crew in Dallas. The conversation diverged into talk about early acting jobs, being fired as waiters, soap opera survival, audition heartbreak, working with Spielberg, Tom Hanks, James Gunn, and what it really feels like standing across from fans who’ve waited hours just for a moment.

The video feed is top-notch, and the study looks like someone's study with comfy leather-back chairs and strategically placed plants. When a celebrity name is "dropped" a bell is rung. Suffice it to say that the bell rings a lot.

The intro music seems to be original music, although it may be AI-composed. Either way, the tune fits the show motif. As co-hosts Spiner and Frakes are funny, mischievous, and clever. As interviewers, they pass the standardized Celebrity Interviewer Test, which only asks one question: Does the celebrity make the interview about themselves or instead focus on the guest?  

I wish all celebrity interview podcasts had the breeziness, informality, and that sense of not taking themselves too seriously as Dropping Names with Brent & Jonny. Episodes with Joel McHale and Tom Bergeron are highly recommended for their humor, wit, and revelations.

Of course, for Star Trek fans, two questions must be answered. First, is Jonathan Frakes actually Thomas Riker, Will Riker’s exact transporter clone created eight years prior on Nervala IV? Second, did Dr. Noonien Soong -- a brilliant but eccentric scientist who designed Data's complex positronic brain -- also create Brent Spiner as his first fully human creation?

 Dropping Names with Brent & Jonny may be another celebrity interview show in a long line of such shows, but it is one of the best.