This week I’m speaking at the StoryConnect conference in Tacoma, WA! Come hear me talk about Pow! And writing for kids TV. Get a preview of my talk on the StoryConnect podcast hosted by Andy Johns wherever you listen to podcasts!

Writer/Comedian Joey Clift on the impact of telling Native stories and advancing representation with #SpiritRangers. ✨📺 ––Via We Disrupt This Broadcast, the podcast co-produced by Center for Media & Social Impact and the Peabody Awards. 🎧 peabodyawards.com/stories/podc...

Had so much fun speaking at @sxsw.com this weekend on an Indigenous film panel along with Tom Hanada, Sydney Freeland and Jen Loren! Thanks to Cherokee Film for putting this together and inviting me!

About to board a disgustingly early flight to Austin so I can guest on this super cool @sxsw.com panel this afternoon put on by Cherokee Film! Come watch me chat about all things Indigenous cinema with Native film legends Tom Hanada, Sydney Freeland and Jen Loren!

We closed out our New York International Children’s Film Festival Pow! run with a screening in front of 300 NYC area school kids. NYICFF is truly an amazing festival run by some of the coolest people in the film festival scene. Support them with your money and time!

This week I guested on Secretly Incredibly Fascinating with @alexschmidty.bsky.social to talk about one of my favorite topics ever. How off the wall crazy Jim Thorpe’s life was! Listen to it wherever you find your podcasts and if you want more cool Thorpe facts, pre order my book! It’s full of ‘em!

I’m speaking at @sxsw.com ! Come see me on Tuesday, March 17th moderating @goldie.bsky.social ’s book talk "Low-Key Legends: Personal Branding for Introverts.” If you’re wondering why I’m moderating this, you don’t follow either of us on social media. Go to this and buy Goldie’s book!

Check out Pow! and more Native made shorts in NYC on March 7! We’re screening as part of New York International Childrens' Film Festival. I’ll be there in person for the Q & A! This is the biggest film festival in North America highlighting kids & family films and I am STOKED to be part of it!

Kidscreen Summit was truly a dream. I reconnected with old friends and met some dope new folks, spoke on a fun panel in front of a packed room and ate a super pretzel so big that it was basically a fried baguette. Great week no notes!

Pow! is an official selection for the New York International Childrens’ Film Festival and we got a mention in @nytimes.com! Thanks to Laurel Graeber for the write up and if you’re in NYC, come check out the Native Stories block and Remaining Native on Saturday, March 7th!

I’m doing some in person stuff over the next two months so I figured I’d package it into a tour! Come see me at @sxsw.com, Kidscreen Summit, New York International Childrens' Film Festival, Five Film Fridays, StoryConnect and the @murrowcollege.bsky.social Synposium. I’m talkin’ and screenin’ ya’ll!

It’s my birthday today, so I can post whatever I want! Here’s a video of me totally nailing a dumbbell RDL for 180lbs! (I was very sore afterwards)

Get someone who wants to spend Valentines Day smashing stuff with you in a rage room while listening to pop songs from the 1940s. Love you @goldie.bsky.social ! Let’s do this again next year!

Pow! won awards 13 and 14 at Cambria Film Festival last weekend! Thanks for screening us and naming us Best Family Film for the jury award AND the audience award! CFF is a fantastic festival and if you’re a SoCal based filmmaker, I can’t recommend it enough!

So thrilled to guest with Creator / EP / Showrunner Karissa Valencia and talk about Spirit Rangers on the @peabodyawards.bsky.social and CMSI's We Disrupt This Broadcast this week! Thanks to @gaybonez.bsky.social for having us! Listen on your favorite podcast app!

Bad Bunny's half time show was amazing and anyone who has a problem with it sucks as a person.

Joey Clift’s book is playfully subversive in the best way, and I can’t wait to see the finished copy with Diné artist Julie Fiveash’s amazing illustrations. Congrats to the both of you! I’m honored to have written its foreword :) It’ll hit shelves October 6, 2026.

I’ve been sitting on this news for a minute, but I wrote a book! It’s called “We’ve Been Here The Whole Time!” and it’s a very unsacred humor / satire book about all things Native America. From me, @andrewsmcmeel.bsky.social and illustrator Julie Fiveash. Buy it when it comes out in October!

New episode: 'Mankind vs The Undertaker: Hell in a Cell' with @joeytainment.bsky.social! Mankind fell 22 feet for the good of a story. You can't see it on the podcast but we totally do the same thing. Patreon Ad-Free: www.patreon.com/posts/hell-i... Spotify: bit.ly/4qJ0VFi iTunes: apple.co/49JSGmg

As a lifelong rap fan, it's truly wild for me to share a headline with @questlove.bsky.social from The Roots. Listen to me talk about Spirit Rangers and Pow! on the new season of the @peabodyawards.bsky.social official podcast “We Disrupt This Broadcast" on your favorite podcast app!

Speaking on a panel at Kidscreen Summit on Monday, 2/23 at 4pm featuring some of the funniest and most knowledgable folks in the kids content space! Come through and if you’re in San Diego that week, hit me up for a coffee to find out how much I cuss in person (almost too much!)

Roll For Tricksters at USC last night was a blast! It was nuts to play for a sold out crowd of nearly 1000 folks. Thanks to @lucasbrowneyes.bsky.social , Diego Melendez, @kellylynnedang.bsky.social and Maddox Pennington for being great fellow players and @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social for DM-ing!

Can’t wait for this live play with @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social at USC on 1/14! We’re doing a powwow heist featuring me, @lucasbrowneyes.bsky.social , @kellylynnedang.bsky.social and Maddox Pennington. Tickets are free and this will not be streamed. You have to be there to watch so come through!

Oh dang! Thank you to @ign.com and Cinefix for giving Pow! a quick shoutout in their “Top movies of 2025” list! We’re the only film in the animation section that isn’t from a major studio to get featured!

I still can’t get over that in 2025, I got to screen Pow! on Indigenous People’s Day in front of thousands of people in South Dakota at a concert organized by @ndncollective.bsky.social , headlined by Macklemore and featuring a lineup of badass Indigenous artists. 2025 was nuts!

Wrapped up more Pow! Screenings before the end of the year! Thank you to LA Skinsfest, LAAF, Pocahontas Reframed and If Not Us Then Who for having me! And to @effinbirds.com for having @goldie.bsky.social and I on Bootleg Safari in SF! I took 50 flights in 2025 for various things and am tired!

When I started screening Pow! at film festivals in March, I couldn’t have imagined that we’d get this kind of love. We’re on the same end of year best of list as KPop Demon Hunters! Thank you to @hanhonymous.bsky.social and @salon.com for the shoutout and for everyone who watched our little film!

Last week I was on the fantastic @pastduepodcast.com with @anamariecox.bsky.social and @mike-eagle.bsky.social ! We get into representation, writing, and the struggles of working in entertainment and telling stories the right way while also paying your bills. Listen to it on your favorite app!

This week, the Oscars shortlist for Best Animated Short Film was announced and Pow! was not on it. And that’s okay! My goal with Pow! wasn’t to win an Oscar, it was to show that a Native made animated short film could compete at the highest levels of animation.

such a sweet little animated film everyone should check out! i love this so much!! 🥹🫶🏻 well done @joeytainment.bsky.social & crew ✨

Tomorrow, The Academy will announce their shortlist for the various Oscars categories. Touring Pow! around festivals this year, I’ve seen so many fantastic films. I wanted to shout out some of my favorites that I would love to see receive recognition and are worth seeking out!

Quyana for all the love! Now available on FNX. Be sure to consider this for a nomination! Uncle Hulk and Mr. Peltier both give it enthusiastic thumbs up.

Happy anniversary to @joeytainment.bsky.social , the love of my life! We’ve been together for 3 years and it’s been an adventure across the globe and across Los Angeles where we live. I’m so proud of him for his amazing work this year (and every year)!

Today is @goldie.bsky.social and I’s three year anniversary! There’s no one I’d rather travel with, vent to or pet cats with. Goldie is so smart, talented, beautiful and delightful. A+ person. A+ girlfriend and A+ roommate. A great way to celebrate our anniversary is to buy her book!

My heart is so full seeing all the love Pow! is getting from film festivals! - 60+ Festival Selections - 14 Awards - Dozens of screenings for tribal communities Thank you to everyone who brought our little animated powwow into your cities and communities. Ya'll are the best!

FYC - Pow! - Best Animated Short One of the things I’m most proud of with Pow! is our ledger art inspired flashback sequence. It’s the heart of the film and artist and Cherokee tribal member Morgan Thompson knocked it out of the park! I talk about it in this clip from “Behind The Powwow” on FNX.

FYC - Pow! - Best Animated Short With Pow!’s release on FNX, we also released “Behind The Powwow”, a free Making Of featurette going into all the work that went into making Pow! authentically, with Native folks at the forefront. Here’s a clip!

Thank you to Keyframe Magazine and my friends at The @animationguild.bsky.social for including Pow! in their Animation short film Oscars race coverage! Oscars voting started this week for the Best Animated Short category and I’m so happy to see all the love Pow! is getting!

Leonard Peltier loves Pow! Thank you to Nick Tilsen at @ndncollective.bsky.social and @markruffalo.bsky.social for joining us in our Pow! Twitch stream and for Nick for sharing legendary Native activist Leonard Peltier’s reactions to Pow!. This is BEYOND humbling! FYC - Pow! - Best Animated Short

This Tuesday, 12/9 watch me chat with Amplifier about our Pow! teacher’s toolkit! It’s been so cool to use this film to educate kids about the modern experiences of Native folks. Come, watch us discuss Pow! and all the work Amplifier is doing to give teachers much needed support!

DAAAAAANG!!! The Great White Ruffalo giving you the uncle bump?!?!?! @joeytainment.bsky.social you deserve all this.

For Your Consideration - Pow! - Best Animated Short Film And don’t just take it from me, take it from 4x Academy Award nominated actor, passionate ally to Native American people and certified uncle @markruffalo.bsky.social !

Come join us for a free FYC screening in Los Angeles of the films Pow!, Tiger and Courage followed by a Q & A with the teams behind these films! We’re screening tomorrow, December 6th @ 6pm and it’s being organized by the cool folks at If Not Us Then Who? Come through and support dope Native film!

CONGRATULATIONS, @joeytainment.bsky.social!!! Pow! is so so so so good. 🥹 For anyone who hasn't seen it, yet: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOTu...

I was just on a stream with @markruffalo.bsky.social, @ndncollective.bsky.social and some dope Indigenous streamers and allies, watched live by 1000s of people all saying nice things about Pow! and cheering us on in our awards campaign. It’s hard to predict the future, but the present is very cool!

Thanks @markruffalo.bsky.social ! This is so cool!!

We’re closing out the year with three Pow! film festival selections this month! 12/6 - Anchorage International Film Festival - Alaska 12/6 - Los Angeles Animation Festival - Los Angeles 12/13 - Family Dance Film Festival - Bay Area Come through!

THIS FRIDAY I’m co-hosting a Twitch stream with @shaunabaker.bsky.social featuring special guest @markruffalo.bsky.social !! We’ll be talking about Native activism, playing Among Us and streaming my film POW! on the Twitch front page! Celebrate Native gamers with Indigenous streamers and allies!

20,000 teachers are using Pow! as a teaching tool and I am THRILLED! I partnered with Amplifier to distribute a lesson plan using Pow! as an easy in point to teach kids about modern Native culture. Kadin Mills from @npr.org 's All Things Considered even did a news story about it! Check it out!

Cowlitz comedian Joey Clift has a new animated short–Pow! follows a young Native kid at a bustling intertribal powwow. The short includes lessons in Native activism and even uses actual audio from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Watch it here: