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Do you even know the mortality rate of your internship program?!
— Maureen



Maureen is Night Vale Community Radio's third-longest surviving intern, behind Chad Bowinger and former mayor Dana Cardinal.

Personality[]

Young and sarcastic, Maureen stands up for herself and other interns and speaks out against the mistreatment she has experienced. 

She has had many near-death experiences, and in fact her family has mourned her many times. Nevertheless, she always survives. 

Life after NVCR[]

New Internship[]

Because Cecil refused to sign off on Maureen's internship at Night Vale Community Radio, Maureen sought and obtained another internship. Her responsibilities include leading an army.[2]

Maureen and Chad (the boy in the hoodie)[]

Starting in Episode 80 "A New Sheriff in Town", Maureen has appeared to Cecil several times in the company of a mysterious boy in a hoodie. Cecil took an instant dislike to the boy, though admitted that the boy seemed somehow familiar. Intern Kareem stated that he found something unsettling about the combination of Maureen, her puppy, and the boy.[3] The puppy is a beagle, and seems to have some sort of hypnotic effect on citizens of Night Vale. As of "The April Monologues", we now know that the boy in the hoodie is Chad, another former intern at Night Vale Community Radio[4].

Relationship with Michelle Nguyen[]

In "The April Monologues", Michelle speaks of her blossoming friendship with Maureen, and as of "Things Fall Apart" it seems they have gotten even closer. They are later seen holding hands and get embarrassed talking about how stupid love is [5]. As of episode 130 it was confirmed that Michelle and Maureen are girlfriends.

Mentions[]

  • Episode 35 "Lazy Day": Maureen brought Cecil some coffee after he was afflicted by the lazy day, which seemed to help.
  • Episode 38 "Orange Grove": Brought Cecil some orange juice made by the fake John Peters, and ended up drinking some. Upon doing so, she began to phase in and out of existence, finally disappearing for good. She was thus listed in the Intern Death Toll.
  • Episode 44 "Cookies": Dana mentions seeing Intern Maureen in the desert world she is trapped in.
  • Episode 48 "Renovations": Cecil says that Maureen had showed people in the desert world how to move back and forth between dimensions.
  • Episode 49 "Old Oak Doors Part A": Maureen finally makes it back to the studio, alongside John Peters, and she is none too pleased with Cecil for indirectly causing her to blink out of existence. She has, among other things, made him coffee, made mimeographs, sung sea shanties to the ants every day, and has copy-edited Cecil's Jaws slash fic (even though it wasn't in the job description). She brings up the fact that almost every single Night Vale Intern has died due to some horrible incident, but ultimately rejoins the internship program because Intern Jeremy met his end in the break-room after running into some scorpions (she also still needs college credit). Cecil proceeds to send her off to the library to research Smiling Gods, something she clearly knows isn't going to end well.
  • Episode 52 "The Retirement of Pamela Winchell": Notifies Cecil that former mayor Pamela Winchell is outside the studio holding an illegal press conference. When Winchell acts up a little later, she sets out a gust of wind that sweeps Maureen away into the distance. Cecil, familiar with this sort of thing happening, skims through the regular "to the parents of Intern Maureen."
  • Episode 54 "A Carnival Comes to Town": Maureen returns again, weeks after her funeral was already held. Her parents are emotionally taxed and beg her not to get into trouble again. After observing Cecil's rather ignorant claim of fighting off the carnival (a repeat of his StrexCorp speech), she walks out of the studio, upset.
  • Episode 59 "Antiques": Maureen has returned to Night Vale Community College.
  • Episode 62 "Hatchets": Maureen quits interning for the last time after being hit by one of Leann Hart's hatchets, declaring once and for all that radio was a "dangerous job" and "totally not worth the constant risk of death." (Leann said that she looked like a blogger because she was on her phone, but Maureen was actually updating Cecil on the news. Leann got away with trying to kill Maureen, though, despite protests from Dana.)
  • Episode 80 "A New Sheriff in Town": Maureen runs into Cecil at the grocery store and asks that he sign off on her internship; he declines, on the grounds that she spent most of her time in The Other Empty Desert. She is accompanied by a boy who Cecil thinks is familiar, but can't identify because he has a baseball hat pulled down over his face. (The boy is later revealed to be former intern Chad.)[4]
  • Episode 81 "After 3327": Maureen explains that in order to graduate, she must lead an army (or whatever) as part of her new internship. She once again asks Cecil to sign her credit letter so she doesn't have to go through with this new internship. Cecil ignores the questioning, focusing on her beagle. He comments that she leaves in the company of the boy with the baseball cap, and that he definitely recognizes him, but can't remember where he knows him from.
  • Episode 82 "Skating Rink": Maureen appears at the skating rink in the company of Chad (who Kareem doesn't recognize and describes as "some boy in a hoodie all brooding in a corner"). Intern Kareem states that something about the combination of Maureen, the puppy, and the boy is unsettling, but he cannot articulate how, Cecil reassures Kareem that Maureen's "always like that".
  • Episode 85 "The April Monologues": Maureen is revealed to be helping former Intern Chad with something involving the puppy, which he "summoned." She also frequents Dark Owl Records looking for new music, eventually receiving a "hopcore" album from a slightly smitten Michelle Nguyen.
  • Episode 88 "Things Fall Apart": Michelle, after speaking of their budding friendship, gives Maureen's cell number to Cecil. She reveals that Maureen is the leader of the Strangers (under former Intern Chad's supervision), and even let Michelle go up close to one. Cecil's call goes to Maureen's voicemail, but he leaves a message praising her and Chad for running "a successful start-up" and asks for relationship advice.
  • Episode 141 "Save Dark Owl Records" Maureen takes over the radio briefly while Cecil is gone, also falls asleep while still on the radio as Michelle takes over.
  • Episode 160 "The Weather": Maureen and Michelle form a band called the Fun-tastics, which apparently is a "country-slash-trance tribute band, performing a cappella covers of Philip Glass scores".
  • Episode 186 "The Many Lives of Frank Chen": Maureen is scheduled to take part in a talent show at Dark Owl Records, reading some young adult fiction.

Trivia[]

  • Maureen is voiced by Maureen Johnson, author of young adult fiction. Joseph Fink explained at the Night Vale book stop at the 92Y in New York that they had named Intern Maureen after Johnson and then promptly killed her off. Johnson led a Twitter campaign in protest, leading Fink and Cranor to agree to bring the character back if she provided the voice. This in turn led to Maureen's continued survival becoming a running gag.

References[]

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