Topics covered & guests run the gamut from politics to film, television, theater, music & comedy, as well as issues of a broader nature such as sexuality & mental health. "The World According To Yoni" is a weekly show that features celebrity and non-celebrity guests from the worlds of politics, entertainment and the humanities (social and sexual). Our goal is to entertain, inform and amuse, even w
hen discussing the most serious topics. Some of Yoni's guests have included Broadway stars, Michael Cerveris and Lewis J. Stadlen; Frances Callier and Angela V. Shelton, better known as the comedy duo, Frangela; author Jillian Keenan ("Sex With Shakespeare"); Emmy-nominated Producer, "Stephanie Miller Show" regular, and co-host of her own podcast, "From The Bunker," Jody Hamilton; and television writer, and author of the acclaimed book, "Raised Eyebrows: My Years In Groucho's House," Steve Stoliar; Christopher Korman, author of the book, "OMG! It's Harvey Korman's Son!"; and comic and actress, Suzanne Westenhoefer. The video version of "The World According To Yoni" is available on YouTube and LinkedIn, or you can listen to the audio version on most major podcasting platforms, including pple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify Amazon Music/Audible, Deezer, etc. And if you enjoy the show, please subscribe to it, either on Yoni's YouTube channel, or on your favorite podcast site. Yoni Marten: A Not So Brief Biography
Yoni — pronounced Yo-knee (rhymes with macaroni) — is the Hebrew diminutive for Jonny, short for Jonathan, Yoni's given name. (And, yes, for those wondering, we are all fully aware of what Yoni's name means in Greek and Sanskrit.) Yoni was born on a hot August day in New York City, to best-selling author Jacqueline Marten and theatrical attorney/producer Albert E. Legend has it, he came out of his mother’s womb tap dancing and singing Al Jolson songs, although the veracity of this cannot be verified. His career in the entertainment industry started at the tender age of five, when Yoni began singing at children’s birthday parties — he wasn’t asked to, they just couldn’t stop him, a situation that persists to this very day. Following in the footsteps of his parents (who met at a meeting of the New Deal Democrats in NYC during the late 1940s), Yoni started his political activism in elementary school, where he created a petition to have a somewhat incompetent substitute teacher removed from her position (a move that did not sit particularly well with the school’s Principal, not to mention, the teacher). With the Vietnam War at it’s height during his high school years, Yoni’s student activism went into high gear, with his involvement and organization in anti-war protests, the first Earth Day celebration held in NYC in 1970, and participation in the protests at Richard Nixon’s second inauguration in Washington, DC, on January 20th, 1973. Miraculously, Yoni was able to graduate high school on schedule, even though, aside from his political activities, he spent his last two years doing nothing other than acting in school productions, and writing. Yoni moved on to Boston’s Emerson College where, much to his parent’s chagrin, he was actually encouraged in his desire to pursue a career in acting. During his tenure at Emerson, he appeared in a number of varied roles, that showed his range as a young character actor. He also continued his political activities, incorporating his beliefs in the writing he did while still a student. Eager to begin his career, however, Yoni cut short his college career, returning home to NYC where he studied with several prominent acting teachers of the period. Around that same time, with a group of high school and college friends, he also started his first professional stage company, where he added Producer and Director to his already (weakly) established credits as actor and writer. Meanwhile, frighteningly aware of the pitfalls of a career in the performing arts, Yoni’s parents pleaded with their second son, to find a safe back-up career, “just in case this acting thing” didn’t work out. Ever the dutiful child, Yoni thought deeply about what he might do as a back-up career. Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, inspiration hit, and Yoni began frequenting open mike nights at various NYC comedy clubs, attempting to add political comic to his resume. However, realizing he much preferred team sports (and was far better at them) to solo ones, Yoni soon decided he was better suited to a life in the theatre, as opposed to one in smoky, heckler and drunk-filled, comedy clubs. Amazingly, he actually began scoring some very quick successes as an actor. In the years since, with a career as varied and schizoid as an Escher print, Yoni has worked as actor, writer, director, video editor and producer (many times combining three or four of those titles at the same time) in theatre, film and television. As a director, Yoni has more than 50 NYC and regional stage productions to his credit. He is also the writer/director of the short-subject film, "The Line Between," already screened at two popular NYC film festivals. He also directed the NYC stage production of his wife, Tanya’s, kinky romantic comedy, "Euphoric Tendencies." As if all this wasn’t enough, during the Covid pandemic of 2020, Yoni began broadcasting a video/podcast, which, surprisingly enough, he titled, "The World According To Yoni." As a writer, Yoni is the creator and co-author (with writing partner, Joe Doyle, and Yoni's wife, Tanya) of "The Reel Life," a screenplay satirizing the film industry, which has had staged readings in New York City and Chicago. Yoni also spent six years as feature writer, columnist, theatre/film reviewer, and Editor-In-Chief of Onstage Magazine, an arts & entertainment monthly based in Hampton Roads, Virginia. From 2012 to January of 2020, Yoni traveled to numerous locations throughout the United States working with his three brothers, Richard, Seth and Ethan, on the film, "White Buffalo: An American Prophecy," a documentary dealing with native American prophecy. Not only appearing on-camera in "White Buffalo," Yoni also shot and edited several of the film’s segments, including an interview with Arby Little Soldier, Great Great Great Grandson of legendary Sioux Prophet & Medicine Man, Sitting Bull. Currently, Yoni is co-owner, along with his wife, Tanya, of Soular Films, an independent production company, currently based in MD. Under development are the feature film versions of "Euphoric Tendencies" and "The Reel Life." Throughout his career, Yoni has continued to stay involved in the political arena, working on behalf of Barack Obama’s Senatorial campaign in Chicago, as well as John Kerry’s unsuccessful bid for the Presidency. He also volunteered for both of Mr. Obama’s Presidential campaigns, as well as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s 2020 election campaign. He is a proud member of People for the American Way, as well as a supporter of numerous other Progressive causes. During the Bush/Cheney White House years, he posted numerous articles critical of that administration, before turning his attention inward, and beginning to write about his own life, both of which helped him decide it was time to create the blog after which he named this video/podcast. On a more personal note, like many men of short stature (Dr. Evil, Yosemite Sam and Eric Cartman, to name but three), Yoni has a superficial warmth and charm that deceive many. Underneath, however, lurks a demented sadist, capable, in private, of unspeakable deeds. We suspect his secret ambition is world domination. We can only be grateful he has his beloved and sainted (ironic, as they’re Jewish) wife, Tanya, who continues doing her best to prevent this would-be disaster…at least, so far.
