Stay ConnectedAn insider dialogue that invites the listener to pull up a seat at the table with A-list creatives from a variety of disciplines. They share their insights on the process, craft, and inspiration. Join us for a better understanding of this elusive muse every Thursday with Pat Hazell (Seinfeld, The Tonight Show) and his friends as they demystify the transferable nature of creativity.
Produced by: Sweetwood Creative
In Partnership with Stoney Island Audio
Copyright: © 2021 Sweetwood Creative & Amanda Rosenberg
Bassist, composer, educator and actor John Brown teaches at Duke University and currently serves as Vice Provost for the Arts, Director of the Jazz Program and Professor of the Practice of Music. He has performed internationally with artists like Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Elvin Jones, Nnenna Freelon, Cyrus Chestnut, Diahann Carroll, Rosemary Clooney, Nell Carter, Lou Donaldson, Slide Hampton, Nicholas Payton, Frank Foster, Larry Coryell, Cedar Walton, Fred Wesley, Bernard Purdie and Mark Whitfield, as well as giving regular performances as a substitute with the North Carolina Symphony since 1992. He has performed for President Barack Obama, and at major national and international venues and festivals in Asia, Europe and across North and South America. John has a Grammy nomination for his performance and co-writing on Nnenna Freelon’s 1996 Concord release, Shaking Free, and he has an Emmy nomination for producing the first Duke Student Arts Showcase. He has also produced and performed on recordings for Nnenna Freelon and Linda Lavin. The film One Night in Kernersville (documenting the first recording session of John’s Big Band) won “Best Short Film” at the Full Frame Film Festival, “Best Cinematography” at the Charlotte Film Festival and was featured on the Documentary Channel. John has also served multiple times as a juror and as Chair for the Pulitzer Prize in Music and for various engagements with the National Endowment for the Arts.
A multi-platinum songwriter who combines humor, wisdom and inspiration with soaring vocals and acoustic arrangements to give her audiences a “faith-lift.” Jana is the founder of Together For Good Worldwide and Refugee Film School as well as the co-founder of Together We Can Change the World. Her songs have been featured on television shows like 20/20, Entertainment Tonight, and Oprah, and movie soundtracks, sung by Reba McEntire and others. While her compositions were climbing the music charts, often sung by other artists, Jana was charting a different path. With a background in TV journalism, music, and stand-up comedy, Jana turned her concerts into Keynote Concerts, becoming a Certified Speaking Professional with two TEDx performances in addition to two concerts at Carnegie Hall. Jana Stanfield has delivered her Keynote Concerts in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, the Bahamas, Australia, New Zealand, India, England, the Netherlands, Dubai, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Bali and Singapore. Her TEDx talks were at NASA, and then in Chennai, India. To help girls without access to school, she and her professional speaking colleague, Scott Friedman, co-founded an international 501c3 called Together We Can Change the World, www.TWCCTW.com , with more than 15 projects in 5 countries to empower disadvantaged women and girls with education and job skills. She now lives in Bali, Indonesia, where she performs her music and humor.
Warren Etheredge is a Storyfinder™, a successful producer, published author, staged playwright, veteran festival programmer and much sought-after public speaker. He has conducted over 4000 interviews. He recently wrote and produced the feature doc, Downwind
narrated by Martin Sheen which premiered at Slamdance 2023. Other producer credits include Personhood, Furever, All of Them, The Phantom 52, Last Requests , The Lost Mariner, Even the Walls. Every Beautiful Thing, and the webseries, The Enchanted Kitchen w/Sasha Graham. He teaches screenwriting/filmmaking at the University of Washington and Cornish College for the Arts. He is one of the founding faculty of The Red Badge Project, teaching combat veterans storytelling skills to cope with PTS. He has hosted multiple television series including the Emmy®-nominated The High Bar. He served as the VP of Curation & Acquisitions for Tom Skerritt’s start-up, Triple Squirrels Media. He is the Co-founder/Curator for the Walla Walla Movie Crush, shorts programmer for The Seattle Jewish Film Festival and lead programmer for the Summer Shorts Film Festival.
A director, writer & storyboard artist with an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Ratatouille. Jim is a ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Award winner for his short films Your Friend The Rat. He directed the critically-acclaimed end titles for Pixar's Wall•E. After Mr. Capobianco graduated from California Institute of the Arts, he started in the story department at Walt Disney Feature Animation on The Lion King and then proceeded to have an influence on many of the stories at Pixar Animation, including Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, UP and Inside Out. In 2009 Jim finished Leonardo a short film now in the permanent collection of the MoMA NYC. Has published children’s books and is the voice of Gary Garbage on Netflix’s GoGo Cory Carson. With Aerial Contrivance Workshop, Jim was the 2D animation sequence director for Walt Disney Motion Pictures’, Mary Poppins Returns and wrote and directed the animated feature film The Inventor, a story about Leonardo da Vinci bringing the Renaissance to France and the future.
Chief Creative Officer and Partner at SuperBloom House, an independent creative company that transforms the way brands show up in the world. Heather holds previous roles at Virtue, the agency from VICE, and as VP of Creative across all branded content and brand-led entertainment at Vox Media, She has spent the last decade helping clients shape culture beyond traditional advertising. She led the charge across Beauty of Blackness (Sephora, streaming on MAX), A Woman's Place (KitchenAid, Hulu), and forthcoming Embodied (Novo Nordisk, AppleTV+)
In this special episode we celebrate the 99th birthday of The King of Late Night, Johnny Carson. Pat Hazell visits with Tonight Show Producer and President of Carson Entertainment Group, Jeff Sotzing about Johnny’s affection for variety acts. The show features the cast of Carson Tonight: master magician, Lance Burton; America’s Got Talent juggling duo, The Passing Zone (Jon Wee & Owen Morse); comedian, Cathy Ladman; ventriloquist, Jay Johnson; and jazz vocalist, Nicole Henry. All discuss their memories of Johnny and making their debuts on the show that launched their careers. Happy Birthday to Johnny Carson on Oct 23rd.
Comedian, actor, television writer, author and musician Paul Reiser is one of Hollywood’s most prolific creatives.2024 is a busy year for Reiser. On the heels of his new comedy The Problem with People which Reiser wrote, produced, and starred in alongside Colm Meaney and Jane Levy, Reiser has projects across a multitude of media formats. In March, Carter Burke, Reiser’s iconic character from Aliens re-emerged in a What-if… concept comic book from Marvel comics and he appeared in the independent comedy The Gutter, directed by Isaiah and Yassir Lester. Reiser also co-wrote the New York Times bestseller What A Fool Believes: A Memoir the candid, freewheeling memoir of his friend and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Michael McDonald. In July, Reiser will appear in Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, reprising his role from BH Cop 1 and 2. Recently, Reiser could be seen in Hulu’s critically-acclaimed comedy series “Reboot” by Modern Family creator Steve Levitan. He also took his first step into bloody, superhero glory in Season 3 of Amazon Prime’s Emmy-nominated The Boys playing “The Legend.” Reiser is widely celebrated for his roles in two hit shows for Netflix: Stranger Thing and Chuck Lorre’s The Kominsky Method, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor. Mad About You, the long-running Emmy, Peabody, and Golden Globe-winning comedy that Reiser created and starred in with Helen Hunt, returned as a limited series on Spectrum Originals. Reiser earned acclaim for his supporting role in the Academy Award-winning film Whiplash. The veteran actor has garnered praise for notable performances in films such as Diner, Bye Bye Love, One Night At McCool’s, and The Thing About My Folks, which Reiser wrote for his co-star Peter Falk. Reiser is a fixture behind the camera as well. He co-created and produced the seven-episode series There’s Johnny!, a seven-episode series which streamed on Hulu and Peacock. The show, a fictional story set behind-the-scenes of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show circa 1972, co-produced with director David Gordon Green. His new standup special – his first in 30 years – will be released later this year via Comedy Dynamics.
A comedian and magician who headlined Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple, has been featured on America's Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, Conan, Sherri, Comedy Central's This Week at the Comedy Cellar and National Geographic Channel's Brain Games. Harrison was a senior producer for Primetime: Would You Fall for That? and story producer for VH1’s This is HOT 97. He was also the head writer for Tu Nite con Lorenzo Parro, the first late night show on NBCU/Telemundo, a staff writer for Tha God’s Honest Truth with Charlamagne Tha God on Comedy Central, and a long-time freelance writer for MAD Magazine. He is a recipient of the Andy Kaufman Award (2010) for creativity and originality in comedy, the Shorty Award in collaboration with Comedy Central and the New York Comedy Festival for "Best Emerging Comic" (2011), and the Magners Comic Stand-Off (2011). But the award Harrison is the most proud of is Tannen's Magic Camp "Camper of the Year," which means two things: (1) Harrison went to Magic Camp and (2) Harrison was a virgin until college. He co-founded the Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society, the first organization at Harvard dedicated to the performance and appreciation of stand-up comedy, and one still popular on campus today.
An innovation strategist, design thinker and the author of The Wonder Mindset who is on a mission to transform companies, foster community and empower human potential. With over two decades of experience in spearheading strategic initiatives, she successfully led organizations through complex challenges, elevating design maturity and fostering cultures of innovation and growth. Sarah’s expertise spans digital strategy, design thinking, and corporate social responsibility, with a focus on leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as AI, AR in integrated Customer Experiences to create sustainable value and impact. As the CEO and Founder of Evolve X Wonder and Wander, Sarah built a thriving community and a dynamic portfolio of offerings that empower individuals and organizations to evolve and excel.
The Founder and Chief Creative Officer of the Nashville-based independent ad agency THE MAYOR. Tom produced award-winning work in four straight Super Bowls for Avocados from Mexico and RadioShack. He's also a contributing factor in the famous Farmers Insurance jingle "We Are Farmers" and starting the infamous Popeye's Chicken Wars. Tom's work has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Forbes, and the Guinness Book of World Records. Four pieces of his work are in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
A Creature F/X artist in the UK for over 30 years, Maria’s career began working at Jim Henson's Creatureshop in London. She went on to specialize in art finishing, hair, fur and feathers. Her work has taken her on many adventures from Star Wars, to Harry Potter and Maleficent, to a number of epic historical films over the years. She has a passion for magic and circus and is a collector of hobbies.
With an unprecedented four Juno awards for songwriter of the year, Jim Vallance is one of Canada’s pre-eminent songwriters and the creative force behind top tracks for artists like Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, Joe Cocker and Glass Tiger. He played drums with the Vancouver band Prism, and wrote their first single, Spaceship Superstar (which was played on the Discovery Space Shuttle). After touring with Prism, he became a session musician before a chance meeting with 18-year-old Bryan Adams determined his songwriting career direction. The two began a fruitful decades-long songwriting collaboration. Adams’s album, Cuts Like a Knife, yielded three hit singles co-written with Vallance, and reached platinum. The follow-up album Reckless cemented the Vallance-Adams writing partnership in the annals of rock music. No. 1 on the Canadian and U.S. album charts, it sold five times platinum, with six Vallance co-writes in the Top 15, including the duo’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, Heaven; and the No. 1 Mainstream Rock tracks Run To You and Somebody. Vallance concentrated on songwriting, penning a non-stop stream of hit rock ballads, including the now-famous chart-topping charity single Tears Are Not Enough, a collaboration with Adams and fellow Canadian producer David Foster. Jim’s creative talent has benefitted top international acts like Pat Benatar, Roger Daltry, Neil Diamond, Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, Joan Jett, The Go-Go’s, Rick Springfield, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Anne Murray, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Chilliwack, Loverboy, Toronto, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, KISS and The Scorpions. Vallance went on to collaborate with Adams on songs for the Broadway show Pretty Woman: The Musical. He has served on the boards of SOCAN, the Songwriters Association of Canada, and FACTOR, is a member of the Order of Canada, and boasts 22 SOCAN Classic awards and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
A well-regarded producer of television specials and variety shows, George Schlatter, in 1967 pitched to NBC an idea that was a radical departure: a comedy special inspired by the hippie counter-culture, one which would take the idea of sit-ins, love-ins, and be-ins, and manifest that politicized, sexualized, consciousness-raising energy into comedic sketches. The special, Laugh-in, was so successful it became a regular television series, running from January 1968 to March 1973 and eventually becoming the #1 show on TV. George is the author of the new book Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy featuring never-before-told backstories from the creation of one of the most beloved shows in television history. It also recounts the coming-of-age of one of television’s great producers, from his early nightclub days in Vegas, rubbing elbows with iconic mob figures like Mickey Cohen and John Stompanato, to his influential friendships with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, for whom George was asked to deliver a eulogy at his funeral.
The creator and writer of FindingJoy.net and the author of three books: Get Your Spark Back, Mom Enough and The Brave Art of Motherhood. Rachel is a founding partner in Audience Industries – a company designed to train and equip entrepreneurs in their ventures. Her inspiring articles have been translated into over 25 languages and her original content has been featured in The Today Show, NPR, The Huffington Post, Star Tribune, Tiny Buddha, iVillage, Stuff New Zealand, John Tesh, PopSugar, Motherly, Parents, What to Expect, Independent Journal Review, Dr. Greene, Power of Positivity and Her View From Home. Rachel believes in the power of the human spirit to overcome, to thrive and to find deep joy and because of that she speaks worldwide encouraging others to live each day with purpose and drive. Beyond that she is a mother of seven, and calls Nashville her home.
An International literary artist, Texas poet laureate nominee and nationally ranked slam poet who manages to turn life into written and spoken works of art.
He is a regular at Austin Poetry Slam since he won his first Grand Slam title in 2005. Christopher is an MC, champion, host, writer, author, educator, publisher, pappy, professor veteran and nurse. Christopher Michael uses poetry to address mental health, relationship accountability, and Black American history. He’s the resident host at Austin Slam, EncoreATX and Master Piece’s For Love of Words (F.L.O.W.) Show case and F.L.O.W. International. He is the founder of 310 Brown Street publishing that seek to make poets immortal. His latest book “Black Type Poems” will take you on the poetic ride that you deserve. You can learn more by going to www.mrmichael310.com
A multi-hyphenate theatre maker who views her solo work as an artistic extension of the social justice work she has been committed to for the last thirty years. Arlene’s award-winning solo works tour throughout the United States and internationally. Many of these works are an exploration of disability in our culture. As an actor she has performed on stages big and small in LA and Chicago and has worked in film, and television (Some of it good- Most of it bad). As a playwright she is the recipient of a Chicago Cultural Center Theatre Residency, a 3 Arts/UIC Fellowship, a Millennium Parks Grant from The Boeing Company Charitable Trust, a LA Ovations & a LA Garland Award. Her work has been a finalist in New Plays from Heartland, and a semi-finalist for Blue Ink Award, O’Neill Play. Her writings have been featured in Ms. Magazine, Huffington Post, Medium, Paramanu Pentaquark, En Posse Review, True Stories About Love - Chicago Story Press and Women of Letters Anthology by Penguin Press. She has a Doctorate degree from UCLA, teaches writing and performing and coaches across the country. Arlene is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists where she developed the Solo & Story curriculum. Her soon-to-be released new book Writing & Performing the One-Person Show will be published by Northwestern University Press 2025. Finally, she is to her knowledge the only actor to have appeared in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure AND Dougie Howser, M.D. in the same 24 hours.
An improv artist and teacher for nearly 40 years, and he has applied those principles to all facets of his work as an editor, writer, director, and actor. He is the founder of Turbine Arts Collective, a Los Angeles nonprofit dedicated to the exploration of creativity, where he teaches weekly workshops in improvisation. After graduating from the University of Iowa with degrees in Communications/Theatre Arts and Journalism, he moved to Los Angeles, became involved in the local theatre community, and quickly dedicated himself to the performance and study of improvisation. His mentor Gary Austin (creator of The Groundlings) called him, "One of the best improvisers I've ever worked with." He co-founded The Bubalaires, an improvisational physical-comedy theatre troupe with roots in Commedia dell' Arte, and he created Shplotz!, an evening of improvisational theatre with celebrated guests like Helen Hunt, Jason Alexander, James Corden, and Dave Foley. Rob has taught improvisation workshops at the Walt Disney Studios, USC Marshall School of Business, JPL/NASA, SAG-AFTRA, UCLA Performing Arts Intensive and the American Conservatory Theatre. He also teaches creative practices to businesses and corporations. Rob is also well-known as an editor of commercials and music videos, collaborating with such varied directors as Spike Lee, Ridley Scott, Terry Gilliam and Joe Pytka. He won the Clio Award and many other awards for editing. As a director, his film Heavenzapoppin’! won the highest award given by the National Educational Media Association, and Leonard Maltin called it, "A delightful and ingenious film".
The co-founder of Esther’s Follies comedy troupe & club, an actor, singer and successful entrepreneur who undoubtedly helps to “Keep Austin Weird.” Esther’s has kept audiences laughing for more than 47 years. The live comedy revue — part SNL with a Texas twist, part modern vaudeville and Magical Mystery Tour — is like nothing else on the national comedy scene. From political skewering to parody sketches to confounding magic acts. Shannon Sedwick launched her first enterprise, The Museum of Light, in 1970 in partnership with her husband Michael Shelton. A film series showing experimental short films on the UT campus where filmmakers were invited to speak about their work. That experience sparked an entrepreneurial fire in Sedwick & Shelton, so they went on to create a New Orleans-style restaurant and live music club with a funky Austin vibe called Liberty Lunch. Live music acts were performed in the backyard, and Sedwick and Shelton added entertainment with performance art pieces in between bands. The entrepreneurs’ next venture was Phillies’ Diner, where Sedwick recalls delivering sandwiches to customers by bicycle. Then came the Buffalo Grille, a jazz club and restaurant on West Sixth Street. Shannon cooked by day, and sang in a trio at night, where she fell in love with Sam Shepard when he came to their Sunday Brunch jazz jam with his bongos. This was followed by The Tavern where they completely renovated a historic building and brought the restaurant-bar back to life. They went on to open Esther’s on a song, got a beer and wine license, and built a stage in the windows. It became an underground hit and has lasted over four decades giggling & skewering all the way.
A versatile director of theatre, film & television with credits ranging from series director on Home Improvement, produced and directed Working, Soul Man, and dozens of other prime time programs, including episodes of Friends (The Pivot! episode), Caroline in the City, Suddenly Susan, American Pie, Jesse, The Single Guy, In The House, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Sabrina, The Tick, and many more. Andrew directed two productions for Shakespeare Festival L.A.: The Tempest and Julius Caeser, a world premiere opera for L.A. Opera On Gold Mountain and two short films: Brightness starring Eric Idle which was awarded the Gold Special Jury Prize for 2001 at the WorldFest in Houston and Solstice. His theatre credits include the world premiere of Sister Carrie, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Nilo Cruz's adaptation of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. Internationally, he has produced and directed noted original devised theatre works at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, including The Grind Show, Ithaca I’ll Never See, The Wasteland Sisters, Brandy Alexander and Searchers. Mr. Tsao was a tenured associate professor of dramatic arts at the University of Washington School of Drama where he was part of the faculty for the MFA Professional Acting and Directing Programs and was head of the Bachelor of Arts program as well. Andrew is also the creator of the new storytelling series tendingthefirepod.com.
An award-winning circus performer, actor, director and teacher who has performed internationally for more than four million people as a principal character with Cirque Du Soleil. John’s original and quirky routines are known for being an influential part of the contemporary circus movement that began in the 1980’s. John often collaborates with top entertainment companies to create memorable characters and comedy routines for world class shows. In 2002 John was invited to Pixar Studios to consult on the physical comedy routines that were eventually included in the Oscar winning film Ratatouille. John continues to create challenging and experimental theater in California, including We Are Nudes which earned a “Best of the Fringe” award in the 2009 San Francisco Fringe Festival and Wet the Hippo which was nominated for “Best Comedy” in the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
An Atlanta-based cellist-composer, looper, improviser, and storyteller, that has been featured on the Tamaron Hall Show, received a Kennedy Center Office Hours Artist Residency, and has been accepted as a sound installation artist for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 2022Biennale. Okorie is a co-composer and performer of a cello concerto Liminal, an Atlanta Concerto, that enjoyed a world premiere in February of 2023 with The Georgia Symphony Orchestra. He scored a documentary for the Atlanta Journal Constitution named Imperfect Alibi which won a regional Emmy, and he also scored a children’s theatre show for the Alliance Theatre named Head to Toe, which won a Suzi Bass Award. He has opened for Maxwell and recorded and/or performed with India.Arie, De La Soul, and Big Boi of Outkast. He has 3 studio albums - Liminal, Resolve, and Beacon - and a Christmas EP, An Ok Christmas. His work centers on themes and expressions of the African Diaspora, while also exploring the phenomenon of musical prayer.
A stop-motion artist, photographer and creative entrepreneur who weaves magic into advertisements, marketing strategies and everyday life. Her mission is to empower others to unlock their creativity, awaken their imagination and take risks in pursing what they love. She is a stop-motion artist who makes video for brands and teaches creatives how to bring magic into their work. Colette has created memorable work for Starbucks, Panera, Sony, Nickelodeon, 3M, Kraft, Dunkin’, Expedia, Barnes & Noble, Red Bull, Fjall Raven, Blue Bottle Coffee, Adidas, Pottery Barn Kids, Native, Shutterfly, REI, Ruggable, DoorDash and Doritos.
A legendary Emmy-award winning TV writer, director & producer who co-wrote many of the classic episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show and created the TV series That Girl starring Marlo Thomas. A former lifeguard in the Catskills mountains turned comedy writer for radio DJs at WNEW, Bill partnered up with Sam Denoff to write comedy for The Steve Allen Show, Good Morning World and many other sitcoms from the golden age of television. Persky went on to direct 100 episodes of the situation comedy Kate and Allie, as well as The Practice and Busting Loose. Bill also directed the feature film Serial.
A singer, songwriter, lyricist, author, and founder of Two Tomatoes Records with 15 award-winning albums, more than 1 billion total streams, and nearly 450 million YouTube channel views. Laurie has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the White House. Business Insider dubbed Laurie “the gold standard of the children’s music world.” As a leader and innovator in children’s music and entertainment for more than 25 years, Laurie was the first recording artist to ever appear in music videos on Nick Jr., appeared regularly on the network’s Jack’s Big Music Show, and helped develop the short form animated musical preschool series Sing It, Laurie! on Sprout TV. Laurie has authored several picture books based on her songs and has created two Laurie Berkner’s Song and Story Kitchen series with Audible Studios, who released them as 10-chapter audio books through the Audible Originals brand. She has written the music and lyrics for three children’s musicals originally produced Off-Broadway by New York City Children’s Theater, and now presented regionally.
A Primetime Emmy Award nominee best known for her tenure as a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1995-2000. Cheri began her career in Promotions for A&M records for 4 years and joined up with the Groundlings, an improv-sketch comedy group based in LA. One night, a Saturday Night Live rep attended a performance with the intention of auditioning fellow Groundlings member Chris Kattan. Oteri performed a monologue during one of Kattan's costume changes, which led to her own invitation to audition for SNL where she played stand out comic characters such as Barbara Walters, Arianna an overly spirited Spartan Cheerleader with Will Ferrell, Rita DelVecchio, a grouchy Philadelphia woman who is mean to the neighborhood children; Cass Van Rye, the dim-witted co-host of the “Morning Latte” talk show; Nadeen, a testy employee whose catchphrase constantly orders everyone to "Simmer down now!"; Althea McMahonaman, an absurdly hyper child who is an awful passenger and disturbs public servants; Collette Reardon, a prescription pill-addict; Joy Lipton, Erotic Attic boutique owner; Adele, a vulgar and highly sexual office worker whose attempts at sexual innuendos disgust rather than attract her colleagues; Laura Zimmerman, one half of the Zimmermans, who suddenly break into rough and sexual behavior before returning to casual conversation as if nothing happened (with Chris Kattan). Oteri has appeared in a number of movies, including Scary Move, Inspector Gadget, Liar Liar, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Llyod, Shrek the Third and Southland Tales.
One of sports photography’s preeminent visual storytellers. Jean does much more than take pictures. With a diverse portfolio in portraiture and sports of all kinds, she is devoted to capturing the dynamism of her subjects and revealing the stories behind the images. She covered everything from wrestling to sailing, from basketball to volleyball to track and field. And, of course, football — on any given Friday, she could be found taking full advantage of those Friday night lights, shooting the sport’s storied rivalries and eating at local snack shacks up and down northern California. Jean spent nearly a decade shooting the crown jewels of Bay Area sports — the Giants, the A’s, the 49ers. Her portfolio quickly expanded when she was invited to Cooperstown, where she helped build the archive of the renowned National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum. Jean’s work has also been seen at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and the Smithsonian. In 2019, Jean co-founded Grassroots Baseball, a non-profit that promotes and celebrates the amateur game around the globe, with the goal to grow interest and participation at the youngest levels. That year-round shooting schedule squares nicely with her commitment as a traveling photographer for La Vida Baseball and La Vida Sports, digital media companies that shares the stories of Latino sports across the United States and Latin America through original video, writing, and social content. Jean’s first book, Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin, was released in 2019. Her latest, Grassroots Baseball: Route 66, was published in 2022, with proceeds benefitting the non-profit organization. Jean is honored to be designated by Sony as one of its select Sony Artisans of Imagery.
A creative comic genius known for concocting a cast of fictional characters all of whom he played live on air while also serving as the host of his national talk radio program. Hendrie actually started out as a disc jockey at WBJW 1440 AM in Winter Park, FL, a suburb of Orlando. After 15 years working as a disc jockey at stations across the country, he realized he hated what he was doing. Moving to Los Angeles, Hendrie debuted in talk radio as a weekend host at KFI-AM 640. In 1990 at KVEN-AM in Ventura, CA, Hendrie introduced his first fictional character on air — an Iraqi, Raj Fahneen. The Gulf War was happening and Fahneen vociferously defended Saddam Hussein. Thinking he was a real person, listeners went ballistic and the phones lit up. An entire cast of characters would evolve from that moment on, marking Hendrie’s place in radio history. Hendrie’s popularity resulted in the radio show going national in 1999. By 2006, he was ready to explore the next chapter of his career — acting in front of the camera. He departed from radio and quickly added to his resume which already included Trey Parker’s and Matt Stone’s motion picture, Team America: World Police, as well as television roles on Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Richard Appel’s A.U.S.A., and Judd Apatow’s North Hollywood. He also starred in Steve Levitan’s Phil Hendrie and wrote, executive produced and starred in Phil at the Gate. For the last 10 years, Hendrie has regularly played characters on FOX’s popular animated series King of the Hill and Futurama. Other recent television work includes roles on Giants of Radio, The Replacements, Three Strikes, Mike Birbiglia’s Secret Public Journal, David Mamet’s The Unit, and NBC’s Teachers. He also played Nets Coach in the motion picture, Semi-Pro. Hendrie continues to act today and is currently working on the motion picture, Last Call.
A color-forward visual artist, comic storyteller and the author of the new book Kinda Funny: Stories by a Full-time Comedian (with Four Part-time Jobs.) JJ takes her stories from the comedic stage to the comedic page in a comedy-club-meets-therapy-session collection of essays. From aging parents, awkward first dates, and avoiding the dentist to traversing the difficulties of eating disorders, wrestling with faith and depression, and yet still stumbling into love after looking for thirty-five years in very odd places. JJ uses her experiences to reveal her understandings of humor, faith, mental health, and what it means to finally “grow up,” if that’s even something we ever actually do. Her book offers stories that are kinda funny, kinda deep, kinda awkward, and even kinda spiritual, giving readers a place to go, offering comfort, sanity, and little to no answers about how to live a better life, but certainly a place to feel a little less alone and a little more entertained. KINDA FUNNY reveals the freedom a quippy sense of humor can unleash in all of us by bringing levity to those gritty moments.
One of America’s most iconic photographers, widely recognized for his fine art, editorial and commercial work. Stephen’s pictorial stories of Mainland China, California’s Highway One, Ellis Island, the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and an impressionistic study of Burned Objects set the tone for a series of career-defining projects that catapulted him to the top of the photographic landscape. Stephen’s work has been featured on NPR and CBS Sunday Morning as well as being on the covers of New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Time, Fortune, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and many others. Day to Night, Wilkes’ most defining project, began in 2009. These epic cityscapes and landscapes, portrayed from a fixed camera angle for up to 30 hours, capture fleeting moments of humanity as light passes in front of his lens over the course of a full day. Blending these images into a single photograph takes months to complete. His photographs are included in the collections of the George Eastman Museum, James A. Michener Art Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Dow Jones Collection, Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation, Jewish Museum of NY, Library of Congress, Snite Museum of Art, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Museum of the City of New York, 9/11 Memorial Museum, Fenimore Art Museum, Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State and numerous private collections.
It’s National Poetry Month and we are joined by the Nebraska State Poet, Matt Mason who has run poetry workshops in Botswana, Romania, Nepal, and Belarus for the U.S. State Department. Matt’s poetry has appeared in The New York Times and he is a recipient of a Pushcart Prize as well as fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and the Nebraska Arts Council. His work can be found in Rattle, Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, and in hundreds of other publications. Matt serves as our poetry tour guide through a pantheon of poets as we showcase work from Scott Woods, Aliyah American Horse, Denise Duhamel, Deb Carpenter-Nolting, Sean Patrick Mulroy, Nicholle Laffer & Mighty Mike McGee.
The Nebraska State Poet, Matt Mason, serves as our sherpa guide through a pantheon of poets: Scott Woods, Aliyah American Horse, Denise Duhamel, Deb Carpenter-Nolting, Sean Patrick Mulroy, Nicholle Laffer & Mighty Mike McGee.
Sarah & Shannon are no strangers to the music industry. Together they span decades of hard work, songwriting, touring, and perseverance. Shannon LaBrie’s undeniable voice and musicianship have been described as “nothing short of breathtaking” by American Songwriter and NPR added her heroic anthem Firewalker to their Top 20 of 2020. Sarah Holbrook and her three sisters make up the genre-twisting spellbinding band SHEL with whom she wrote and performed for over 15 years. As a violinist and multi-instrumentalist she has earned her way onto stages with Amos Lee, Michelle Branch, Emmy Lou Harris and more. As a duo they span genres, coasting in and out of LaBrie’s soulfulness and Holbrook’s folk roots and unveiling a whole new phenomenon in the blend of their distinctive vocal tonalities and the arsenals of instruments they play. The “Folk Soul” duo is set to release their debut record in early 2025 and are headed out on tour with Maia Sharp and Bonnie Raitt in May of 2024. To keep up to date with their upcoming tours and releases follow them on Spotify and Instagram.
Charlie Frye began life as a clown, performing alongside his father and grandfather. He then joined the circus and kidnapped a ballerina – his future wife, Sherry. Together they created a distinctive, original act that’s undeniably fresh, yet designed to feel classic, blending skill and physical comedy. As one of the world's most successful variety acts, they've appeared on television in over twenty countries, including numerous appearances on Le Grand Cabaret du Monde and starring in The World's Top Shows. They've also opened for Liza Minnelli and traveled extensively with The Illusionists, playing the famed Sydney Opera House and The Palace on Broadway. Voted “Specialty Act of the Year” in Las Vegas for their star turn in the Folies Bergere. Charlie Frye & Co are also the recipients of the coveted Ken Dodd Comedy Award in England, the Award of Excellence from the International Jugglers' Association, a Performing Fellowship from The Magic Castle in Hollywood, and an Honorary Professional Membership from The Magic Circle in London.
Lindsey Ferrentino is a prolific playwright who writes with, according to The New York Times, “a muscular empathy which seeks to enter the minds of people for whom life is often a struggle of heroic proportions”. Whether writing about a female burn survivor or the first leading role for a person with Down Syndrome, Lindsey has been called “a brave playwright of dauntless conviction whose unflinching portraits are hard to come by outside of journalism." Her produced plays include Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout Theatre Company, The National Theatre, UK, NYT Critics Pick), the “barrier breaking” Amy and the Orphans (Roundabout Theatre Company), This Flat Earth (Playwrights Horizons), and The Year to Come (La Jolla Playhouse). She is writing the book on a number of new musicals from - Queen of Versailles with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, starring Kristin Chenoweth; The Artist, based on the film by the same title directed by Drew McConie. Lindsey is a screenwriter, with various projects in development. Most recently announced, she is adapting and directing her play Amy and the Orphans, produced by Aggregate Pictures and the screenplay for the film Not Fade Away, for Annapurna Pictures. David O. Russell and John Krasinski are producing. Ferrentino is the recipient of the 2016 Kesselring Prize, Laurents/ Hatcher Citation of Excellence, ASCAP Cole Porter Playwriting Prize, Paul Newman Drama Award, 2015 Kilroys List, finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn, Catalyst Award for Entertainment Industry Excellence, NYU Distinguished Young Alumna Award, nominated for the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award, and is the only two-time finalist for the Kendeda Playwriting Prize.
A two-time Tony Award winner for “Best Actor in a Musical” and one of Broadway’s legendary leading men. From his humble beginning as the 7th of 11 children to originating roles on Broadway in Jason Robert Browns’ The Last Five Years, Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked, in Andrew Lippa’s Big Fish, in Harry Connick Jr’s Thou Shalt Not (Tony nomination) in the Lincoln Center 2018 revival of My Fair Lady (Tony nomination) and his two Tony Winning performances in David Yazbek’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and in Shaiman and Whitman’s Catch Me If You Can. In addition to Norbert’s signature roles, this versatile hyphenate has 4 solo records. Mr. Butz' television and film credits include Netflix’s Bloodline, Fosse/Verdon, Justified: City Primeval, and the soon to be released new series on FX from Ryan Murphy Gladiator: American Sports Story, as well as the recent Exorcist sequel by David Gordon Green.
A world-class performer, speaker, consultant and a pioneer in the application of deception to real-world environments. Apollo Robbins uses pick-pocketing and sleight-of-hand to demonstrate perception management, diversion techniques and self-deception. Known as “The Gentleman Thief,” Robbins first made national news as the man who pick-pocketed the Secret Service while entertaining former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. He has picked the pockets of more than 250,000 men and women. Forbes has called him “an artful manipulator of awareness,” and Wired Magazine has written that “he could steal the wallet of a man who knew he was going to have his pocket picked.” Robbins has been featured in the New Yorker and in numerous publications such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He produced and co-hosted the National Geographic program Brain Games, which was nominated for an Emmy as an Outstanding Informational Series. His popular appearance on The Today Show is a YouTube favorite with more than 7 million views. The TED editors described Robbins’s talk at TED Global 2013 as a revelation in the flaws of human perception.
A pop and jazz singer, trombone player and songwriter whose body of work is underscored by the integrity of a performer that is able to stretch herself emotionally across a musical landscape that defies description. Logan won the Audience's Choice Award and the Jury's First Place Award at the 2009 Shure-Monreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. She was also an American Idol in 2009, but was eliminated in the early rounds. She is a featured artist for Postmodern Jukebox and the Dave Koz band. Recognized on the global stage as a performer who can deliver in the most informal of settings as well as full festival audiences, her work is praised as being accessible, fresh and dynamic. With a #1 album Where the Sunshine is Expensive already under her belt, Aubrey returns to the spotlight with her follow up collection, Standard, a journey into her musical past with covers of the some of the most recognizable tracks that have ever been made, plus her original work ‘Done Pretending’ and ‘Louboutins 2.0’. Moving between Jazz, Funk, and tender love songs, to Calypso-infused rhythms and traditionally inspired fusions, her vocals and trombone playing sway between the caress of a long-lost love to triumphant powerhouse performances. She has worked with some incredible collaborators including Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, Josh Groban, Smokey Robinson, Patrice Rushen and Pharrell Williams.
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A renowned juggler & innovative comedian with appearances on The Tonight Show and The Late Late Show with James Corden. Scot produced and curated the critically-acclaimed circus variety show Scot Nery’s Boobietrap that was LA’s #1 show on Trip Advisor.
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A renowned juggler, comedian, curator, and advisor, has revolutionized the entertainment landscape over three decades on stages from 20,000-seat arenas to small comedy clubs, across eight countries, and with appearances on The Tonight Show and The Late Late Show with James Corden. Celebrated for his dynamic stage presence and innovative comedy, Scot has garnered accolades including "LA's #1 show" by Trip Advisor. Scot has captivated audiences alongside icons like Paul Reubens, Tyler Perry, and Adam Sandler. Scot's performances have delighted corporate audience including Bank of America and Mattel, and academic institutions from UCLA to Northern Arizona University. As the creator and curator of the weekly sensation Scot Nery’s Boobie Trap, he blends comedy, education, and mentorship, enriching the entertainment community and inspiring the next generation. Scot’s commitment to his craft and his genuine desire to share joy through entertainment have made him an enduring figure on the global stage. Scot Nery’s mission is to invite us all to find the laughter and wonder in every moment.
A GRAMMY Winning, NYC based singer-songwriter Joanie Leeds is a National touring artist, early childhood educator and activist. For her original children's music, she has won a GRAMMY for Best Children’s Album for her album, All the Ladies- a gender equality album for families, 1st place in the USA Songwriting Competition, International Songwriting Competition Winner, Independent Music Awards, Gold Parents' Choice Awards, NAPPA Gold Awards, Family Choice Awards and is a John Lennon Songwriting Award Finalist. Joanie has performed her dynamic and engaging folk-rock creations tailored for family audiences for 15 years at venues such as Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Clearwater Festival, The Kennedy Center, Skirball Center, Lincoln Center, Wolftrap Filene Stage, and Levitt Pavilion. Her music has been featured in The New York Times, People Magazine, Parents Magazine, Huffington Post, Billboard, NPR and The Washington Post. Joanie’s 11th album, FREADOM, is a collection of songs inspired by banned children’s picture books.
An award-winning cartoonist whose work appears in over 800 newspapers worldwide. Jeff’s original drawings have flown on space shuttle Discovery, have been exhibited in Paris, and elsewhere in France. He is a two-time TEDx speaker who speaks on creativity, problem solving, and entrepreneurship. Jeff is a creativity coach, a painter and a sculptor. He often finds inspiration for his subject matter by having been (literally) struck by lightning. He hosts the Wednesday edition of Morning Classics on Omaha's classical station, 90.7 FM. Jeff writes music, sings, and plays guitar and mandolin in his swing band, Prairie Cats, and has performed at South by Southwest and the World Trade Center in New York. An avid Francophone, he's the founder of a weekly French conversation group found in Omaha and online.
Randy Pitchford is a video game industry veteran of more than 30 years and founder of the Gearbox Entertainment Company, which develops and publishes award-winning and best-selling video games and produces film and television content. Randy has created, developed, produced, directed, written, designed, and otherwise driven or significantly contributed to some of the most successful and famous video game franchises of all time. From leading the creation of the critically acclaimed franchises Borderlands and Brothers in Arms to helping build games with licensed properties including Half-Life and Halo. Randy’s commitment to bringing joy to the lives of others manifests in more than video games. Under Randy’s leadership, Gearbox partnered with the humanitarian organization, Direct Relief, to raise tens of thousands of dollars and provide personal protective equipment to millions of medical workers leading the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before becoming a full-time video game developer, Randy was a professional magician in Hollywood occasionally performing at the famous Magic Castle between classes at UCLA.
As one of the country's top comedians, Cathy Ladman presents herself as the self-probing, anxiety-venting person that she is. She has appeared on The Tonight Show ten times and was also featured on the last two of Johnny Carson’s "Tonight Show Anniversary" shows. She’s been on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, five times, has had her own HBO One Night Stand comedy special, and was awarded the American Comedy Award for Best Female Stand Up Comic. Her TV and film credits include: recurring roles on, I’m Dying Up Here and Pretty Little Liars, Modern Family, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, NCIS: LA, Mad Men, Brothers and Sisters, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Caroline in the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Politically Incorrect , Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Aristocrats, White Oleander, What Planet Are You From?, My Fellow Americans, and Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead. Her solo show, Does This Show Make Me Look Fat? opened this past year.
Ukulele ambassador and songwriter, Jake Shimabukuro captivates audiences around the world with his unique and dynamic style. With his mother as his first teacher of the instrument, Jake embraced a deep love and respect for the ukulele and has explored new and unexpected ways to push the boundaries of what was possible on the humble four-string instrument. Each of his albums showcases his mastery and his ability to weave together diverse genres to create a cohesive and mesmerizing musical experience. He is undoubtedly one of the most innovative and exciting musicians of his generation, changing the perception of the instrument itself and breaking barriers of what kind of music it is capable of. Jake has enjoyed critically-acclaimed duets with artists from Willie Nelson, Ziggy Marley and Bette Midler to Jimmy Buffett, Jack Johnson and Kenny Loggins. In addition to his impeccable musicianship, Jake is also a gifted storyteller, weaving together musical narratives that draw listeners in and leave them spellbound. On his newest live album, Grateful, he wanted to bring together the power of each artist’s story as hecollaborated with Hawaiian music legend Henry Kapono, Mark Yamanaka, John Feary, Herb Ohta Jr., Del Beazley, Pōmaika`i Keawe, Nathan Aweau, John Cruz, Raiatea Helm, Fiji, Ron Artis II, Kimié Miner, Brother Noland, Kawika Kahiapo, Jeff Peterson, America’s Got Talent contestant, Connor Johnson; Chris Kamaka & Bryan Tolentino, Jon Yamasato and Lopaka Colón, of “Pure Heart.”
A sought-after coach and teacher for 35 years, to filmmakers and actors around the world, Judith is the author of two books. Her beloved classic Directing Actors, a bestseller ever since it was first published in 1996, has now been released in a 25th Anniversary Edition, expanded, revised and updated. Meanwhile, the original edition is available as an Audiobook, narrated by Judith. Her second book, The Film Director’s Intuition, is still a favorite for many readers. These books bring hope and focus to directors, actors, screenwriters, and other film industry professionals. Her directing students include Mexican filmmaker, Alejandro González Iñárritu (director of The Revenant, Academy Award winner for Best Director, and Birdman, winner of the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture); Ava DuVernay (director of When They See Us, nominated for 16 Emmys, and Selma, nominated for a Best Picture Oscar); Steve McQueen (director of Small Axe and Best Picture Academy Award winner 12 Years a Slave); Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Boy, Flight of the Conchords); Deniz Gamze Erguven, (Handmaid’s Tale, Mustang, nominated for Foreign Language Oscar) and David Chase(creator/writer/director, The Sopranos). Judith's international presence includes 17 years of workshops at the Binger FilmLab in Amsterdam. Other European cities where she has taught include Berlin, Cologne, Dublin, Stockholm, Lund, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Milan, Strasbourg, Belgrade, Utrecht, Geneva, Zurich, and Penzance. In Canada: Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax, and St. John’s. In the southern hemisphere: Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, and Cape Town, South Africa. Judith has been on the faculty of USC, the American Film Institute, and the Los Angeles Film School. She has been a guest lecturer at UCLA, Film Independent Project Involve, Tisch School of the Arts Asia, and Cal State Universities at Long Beach and Northridge.
Reggie Watts is an internationally renowned musician/comedian/writer who served as the bandleader on CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden. Using nothing but his voice, his looping pedals, and his vast imagination, Watts blurs the lines between music and comedy, wowing audiences with performances that are one hundred percent improvised. He is the author of the book Great Falls, Montana: Fast Times, Post-Punk Weirdos and a Tale of Coming Home Again.
A Tony-honored, Obie, Rosetta LeNoire, JACL, and Asian American Arts Alliance award-winning writer, actor, director, filmmaker and advocate for inclusion. Christine’s plays and libretti have been developed with the Roundabout Theatre Company, The O'Neill Theater Center, Prospect Theater Company, National Women's Theatre Festival, Village Theatre, Ars Nova, Greater Boston Stage Company, the Abingdon, Crossroads Theatre, Leviathan Lab, Diverse City Theatre Company, Barrow Group, Weston Playhouse, Gorilla Rep, CAP21 and are included in the Library of Congress Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection, and published by NoPassport Press, Smith & Kraus, Rowman & Littlefield, and Applause Books. In 2016, she won a fellowship in the Meryl Streep/IRIS Screenwriting Lab. As a performer, she has been breaking the color barrier in non-traditionally cast roles for over 30 years, and has been featured extensively on Broadway, off-Broadway, in regional theatres across the country, in film, television, and concerts worldwide. Christine serves as Treasurer of the Dramatists Guild and as chair of the Guild's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access committee. She is a founding steering committee member of AAPAC (Asian American Performers Action Coalition) and has received multiple grant awards in support of her work from The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (11), The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (4), The Puffin Foundation (3), The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (3), Asian Women Giving Circle, The Open Meadows Foundation, and The Boomerang Fund for Artists. Christine is the host of The Dramatists Guild's podcast TALKBACK, distributed on the Broadway Podcast Network.
Leaving Dublin, Ireland where he was born and raised until the age of 22, David Nihill got drunk on travel and never quite hit sobriety of it. He has lived and worked in twelve countries and visited over seventy. His storytelling and comedy shows draw on his wide travels, cultural observations, attempts at language study, (occasional) international drinking session(s) and being a mildly confused immigrant. David is a former winner of the prestigious annual San Francisco Comedy Competition and a runner up in The Moths largest US Grandslam storytelling competition. He recorded his debut special Documented for Dry Bar Comedy in 2019 and his follow up Cultural Appreciation in 2023 which is available on Youtube. He has been featured on TED.com, Amazon Prime Video, The Irish Independent, Inc, JFL, Sirius XM, NPR, Ireland AM, and the Huffington Post. A festival favorite, David's videos have also gone viral with over 400 million views and a social following of over 1.5 million people. He is also a bestselling author and the founder of FunnyBizz Conferences, Comedy for a Spinal Cause and The Real Irish Comedy Tour. Mr. Nihill calls California home (away from home) when immigration officials permit.
Lisa Pelto, founder and CEO of Concierge Marketing Inc. Publishing Services, has been working with authors and small publishers as a publishing consultant and author services provider for over three decades. Her career in books began with an architect firm in 1980, then to an ad agency in 1986, purchasing printing and graphic design. From there, she went to Boys Town Press, where she fell head over heels in love with authors and their passion for sharing their stories. After Boys Town Press, she moved on to a dot com, where she learned how much there was to learn about online marketing. She continued working in a freelance capacity with a few authors, until one of them told her they would be her first customer if she made it a full-time business. She did just that in 2004, and has helped bring nearly 1000 books into the marketplace since.
Mario "the Maker Magician" Marchese is a first generation Italian-American, New York-based touring performer, author, and maker, known for his unique brand of Robot Magic. He infuses DIY electronics and robotics into his work and uses magic to inspire kids and families to make and create without limitation. Mario has appeared on Sesame Street, NBC's Universal Kids, HGTV, and live on tour opening for David Blaine's 2018 North American tour. Mario is also the author of two step-by-step magic books: The Maker Magician's Handbook and Robot Magic. During the pandemic, Mario created the robot magic social media sensation, Automabot. This ever-endearing Arduino-driven cardboard magician became an internet sensation and even made TV appearances in the US and Japan. It's a family business, through and through. The "Mario the Maker Magician" brand is a collaborative effort between Mario, his wife, Katie, and their two children, Gigi and Bear (the real bosses.) They tour together, invent together, learn together, and dream together, always.
Micah Christian is an artist passionate about storytelling, composing, and performing music that supports, enhances, and creates "moments." He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of America's Got Talent Finalist, Sons of Serendip. Career Highlights include collaborations with the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Cynthia Erivo, performing for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Oprah Winfrey's 2020 Vision Tour closing celebration. Most recently, Sons of Serendip was selected as one of the artists to represent the United States at the Dubai Expo 2020. Micah is currently the Vice President of NAPAMA (North American Performing Arts Agents and Managers). Micah has a Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology. Through music, he hopes to spread love and help build a better world.
A professor and head of the Department of Graphic Design, Apparel Design, Retail Merchandising, and Product Design at the University of Minnesota. He received his PhD from the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), studying humor, creativity, and idea generation. Dr. Kudrowitz is interested in how creativity is perceived, evaluated and learned. He has years of experience working with the toy industry and has taught toy design for over a decade. Dr. Kudrowitz co-designed a Nerf toy, an elevator simulator that is in operation at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., and a ketchup-dispensing robot that was featured on the Martha Stewart Show. He is also the associate editor of the Journal of Food Design.
Engineer turned comedienne, Amy Barnes, started her stand-up career in Seattle, appearing at comedy clubs while working days in the aerospace industry. When faced with a choice between the two career paths, in a striking blow to the Girls In STEM Movement, she chose comedy. In a move to Los Angeles she began working as a comedy writer. Contributing material to the likes of Nancy Travis, Bonnie Hunt, Jack Black and Morgan Freeman. She appeared on Comedy Central and the National Lampoon Network. Amy is now a nationally touring act with over 60 dates a year and performs regularly to capacity crowds at performing arts centers, churches and conference events.
Jason Ma (馬智培) is the son of an immigrant family and a grateful descendant of a long line of those who were able to persist, overcome, and succeed on their way to becoming Americans. In addition to writing, he's an actor who has performed extensively on Broadway and Off-Broadway stages, in regional theaters, and in many international venues. Jason is the ASCAP Foundation’s 2017 recipient of the Cole Porter Award for his work as a composer/lyricist and the 2021 recipient of the Harold Adamson Award for his work as a lyricist. He wrote the book, music and lyrics for Gold Mountain, which received its world premiere production in the fall of 2021, presented by the Utah Shakespeare Festival. The Utah State Legislature awarded a special citation to the production, honoring “its portrayal of the dreams and daily lives of the Chinese railroad workers” and "increasing the appreciation of what it means to be American.” Gold Mountain was also performed as a key commemorative event for Utah's 2019 Spike 150 anniversary celebrations, presented in a 2017 concert at The Times Center in New York City by the National Asian Artists Project in partnership with Prospect Theater Company, and selected for the 2016 ASCAP/ DreamWorks Musical Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles. Recently, Jason wrote original music for Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of Twelfth Night, creating songs and sounds based on the cultural, racial, and ethnic identities of the performing company. He's currently working on music and lyrics for a new, original musical Broken Ground with librettist/co-lyricist Christine Toy Johnson, a work commissioned by Village Theatre, now in development.
A dynamic standup comic & actor with an original blend of storytelling and improvised rock-n-roll comedy. Jen was the 2017 Winner of NPR's Snap Judgement Comedic Performance of the Year for her Girl Scout Cookie Caper story. Kober received the 2018 Comedic Performance of the Year for her story titled Nana Vs. OJ. She appeared on Netflix in 2019 as she joined the casts of RuPaul's sitcom AJ & The Queen and Dead to Me. Jen has also appeared on The Righteous Gemstones on HBO, played a no-nonsense detective in The Purge on USA Network, and was a wacky science teacher in Diary of a Future President on Disney+. Jen has enjoyed a recurring role on American Horror Story, a guest starring role on Showtime's Black Monday, and has been a regular on Apple TV's new queer sitcom, The Browns. Jen is also featured in Audible's Pride Special, Owning It and shebooked a hilarious guest starring role on the CBS sitcom How We Roll starring Pete Holmes and Katie Lowes, as well as a quick appearance with Jean Smart on the HBO series Hacks. Keep your eye out for Jen as Sheriff Linda Lawless on Disney Channel’s series Bunk’d and on Disney+ as she joins the Star Wars universe on the epic series The Mandalorian.
A world-class juggler and visual artist who has performed in 45 different countries, touring solo work and collaborating with companies such as Spiegelworld, The Gandini Juggling Project, Cie Jérôme Thomas, Les 7 doigts de la main, Cirkus Cirkör, Cie Ea Eo, and Cirque du Soleil. Jay is the former head teacher of juggling at the Dans och Cirkushögskolan in Stockholm , Sweden (2000-2019), and has published a book about contemporary juggling titled 5 Catches. He co-hosts a podcast published by the International Jugglers' Association titled Object Episodes, with 3 seasons dedicated to the philosophy of juggling. His current solo Off-Broadway show in New York City is titled REFLEX: Unraveling 4000 Years of Juggling. It is his magnum opus that pays homage to a lifetime of looking at juggling as art, and weaves the history of juggling together with stories about the space program and space travel. Jay Gilligan also runs his own contemporary circus company in Stockholm, called Kapsel along with an internationally touring company named Shaking the Sky.
At the age of 15 while growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lois knew she was destined to be producer/director. What she didn’t know was that over the next 40 years she would stay in Milwaukee and produce and direct content in every industry sector: corporate, non-profit, education, healthcare, and her favorite, broadcast TV. For the past 15 years she teamed up with comedian/actor John McGivern and created the number one local PBS show in the country, and was awarded two Emmy's for her effort. (Yes, regional Emmy's still count!) She is currently producing and directing John McGivern's Main Streets, a Midwest travel show, airing on PBS. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and kids, and works with a great production company in Milwaukee, Plum Media.
A British video game developer and director best known as the writer of Her Story, the two Silent Hill games, Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, and Immortality. He previously worked as a game director at Climax Studios before leaving in 2014 to become an independent game developer. He published his first indie game, Her Story, in June of 2015. In 2017, Sam founded Half Mermaid, a video game production company based in Brooklyn, New York.
A musical standup comedian with appearances on Last Comic Standing and NBC’s Bring On the Funny. Kristin has six full-length comedy albums and her own Dry Bar Comedy Special. Kristin grew up a minister’s daughter in a small town in West Texas. Much like Footloose, she was raised in a no-drinking, no-dancing, no instrumental music environment, so she immediately took up drinking, dancing and playing an instrument. Proving that the almighty has a strange sense of humor, Kristin came out of the closet at age 15. Needless to say, it did not go well. Kristin decided to “take it back”, retreating back into the closet, and trying a little harder to be straight. In college to become a paramedic she signed up for an open mic night at a local comedy club. As soon as she got on the stage, she felt right at home. Small shows in the Texas panhandle eventually turned into 35 states worth of comedy over the next 5 years. When Last Comic Standing held their auditions in Austin, Texas, Key stood in line hoping for a chance to be seen. After a 7 hour wait, she got that chance as well as her ticket to Hollywood to compete with the best in the comedy world. At the end of the season, she stood among the final six and watched as her fan base exploded. With validation from millions of comedy fans, Kristin moved to L.A. and began preparing a new act to take on the road. While participating in an anti-bullying fundraiser, she broke her silence and decided to share her hilarious story of coming out, taking it back, living in the closet, and meeting her wife. After 15 years of comedy, Kristin has found a way to perfectly blend her thought provoking true stories and her original songs with outrageous off-the-cuff improv moments, ensuring that no two shows are the same. Her social media videos have over 25 million views and Kristin has over 275,00 followers. She hosts the Kristin Knows Blank podcast.
An award-winning global director of cirque, cinema and stage. As a comic act designer he specializes in clowns, characters and story components. Stefan is the author of The Power of HA!Connecting Through the Heart of Humor. Hestudied theatre in college only to realize that his true passion lay in the cross-over to the circus arts, so he set his sights on Cirque du Soleil. As a result of his intuitive gift for mining actors’ true potential, various sit-coms hired him to coach actors, including The Roseanne Show. After self-producing a number of critically acclaimed plays in Hollywood and New York City (Call of the Wild, Midsummer Nite’s Text, Your Town Follies, Moon Over Madness, Atomic Holiday Lift-Off) he traveled to Europe to juggle on the streets and study with the premiere master-teacher, Philippe Gaulier. This move resulted in a collaboration with Bill Irwin and David Shiner on the Tony- winning show Fool Moon. Haves was then poached by Cirque du Soleil, collaborating on clown and character performances within six touring and resident productions (Kooza, Iris, Amaluna, Banana Shpeel, Zaya, and Drawn to Life). Prior to that, he wrote and directed the world-class Teatro Zinzanni—a dinner/ cabaret featuring such luminaries as Joan Baez. Today, Stefan Haves is a trusted international thought-leader who was tapped to present a TedX Talk in New Delhi, India, and was invited to conduct personal appearances for blue-chip companies like PepsiCo, Infosys, Mindtree, and Barclays Bank. He gleefully shares his innovative message on the role of humor, creativity, and effective expression gleaned from the stage and applied to the corporate workplace. In 2021 Haves was granted the opportunity to co-direct Katy Perry’s Playland-branded New Year’s dinner/cirque event at Hilton’s Resort World in Las Vegas. Earlier in his career, Haves cut his teeth as an actor and a visual-comedian who appeared on stages and television shows worldwide—even garnering $10,000 on America’s Funniest People by performing his signature piece "Back-Man". Stefan’s 2016 original conception of the spectacle Festigal,in which Haves was tasked to showcase famous pop celebrities from television’s Romania’s Got Talent, used a Cirque du Soleil aesthetic in a stadium setting. His cinematic offerings include the award-winning short film Punch Drunk, featuring Academy Award nominee Sally Kellerman (M*A*S*H) and full-length feature Stalled starring Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth).
Billy McGuigan is the creator director of several internationally touring shows including Rave On! The Buddy Holly Experience, Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience, and Billy McGuigan’s Pop Rock Orchestra. Career highlights include performing with Buddy Holly’s contemporaries Tommy Allsup and Sonny West and headlining Las Vegas with Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience. Billy’s love of music comes directly from his father who introduced Billy to The Beatles’ music at an early age. With an out of tune guitar and tattered Beatles chord book, Billy, his brothers and dad spent countless hours at the dining room table learning and crafting Beatles songs. Shortly after Billy’s dad lost a battle with leukemia in 1996 at age 42, the McGuigan brothers turned to the music their Dad taught them as kids to help deal with the loss of their father. Not only did they find healing in the music, but it led to the creation of Rave On Productions, whose mission is to create live concert experiences with the sole purpose of connecting an audience together through memories and music. Billy was recently inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame and has won the Spotlight Award for Best Actor in a Musical, an Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award, and the Midland Business Journal’s 40 under 40 award, as well as a CPAC Alumni Award for Excellence in Public Service from the Faculty and Staff at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In 2021, Billy opened the McGuigan Arts Academy, providing year-round classes, camps and lessons dedicated to teaching life skills through the arts.
A production designer and illustrator from Portland known for solving visual problems across both animation and children’s books. Jenn just wrapped her next kid’s book, Cactus Queen, a non-fiction picture book written by Lori Alexander for Calkins Creek. Other recent works include designing color for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, illustrating on Henry Selick’s Wendell & Wild, and illustrating The Gardener of Alcatraz: A True Story, a recently released non-fiction picture book written by Emma Bland Smith for Charlesbridge.
A theatre director, puppeteer, and African American theatre historian and archivist that seeks to disrupt generational curses of self-hate, racism, homophobia, and religious intolerance. Intellectually curious and emotionally dexterous, Jerrell is at home in a wide range of genres including, but not limited to, American Realism, Magical Realism, Traditional and Contemporary Musical Theatre, Poetic Black-Queer Narratives, and Live Spectacle Events. He is the recipient of a 2023 Henson Foundation Workshop Grant and the 2022 League of Chicago Theatre’s Samuel G. Roberson Fellowship. Recent projects include directing Reverie by James Ijames (2022 Pulitzer Prize recipient for Fat Ham) with Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia, co-directing Marys Seacole by Jackie Sibblies Drury with Griffin Theatre in Chicago, and collaborating with The Classical Theatre of Harlem and St. Ann’s Warehouse on: When The World Sounds Like A Prayer in Bryant Park in NYC. Other credits include Mlima’s Tale with Griffin Theatre (Jeff Award nomination for Direction and Best Play), The River with BoHo Theatre, and Untitled with Inis Nua (Barrymore Award nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Play). His puppet short films include a filmed version of his signature puppetry piece, I Am The Bear with The Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival. His other puppet short films include, Hamlin: La Revue Sombre with Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams and Diamond’s Dream with Chicago Children’s Theatre. His Juneteenth Puppet Protest: The Welcome Table was featured in the New York Times and his Fall 2020 puppetry celebration of the lives of John Lewis and C.T. Vivian titled, Black Butterfly was later expanded into an educational performance piece with Tria Smith of Guild Row and a student collective working with Urban Growers Collective on Chicago’s South Side. He received his MFA in Theatre Directing from Northwestern University, is an artistic associate with Black Lives, Black Words, is a member of Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab, and was a Henson Foundation sponsored participant at the Eugene O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. As a theatre historian and archivist, Jerrell contributed to Fifty Key Musicals (Routledge Press). He authored the chapter on Shuffle Along (1921) and co-authored the chapter on The Wiz (1975).
More backstage banter from the green room of The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival presented by The National Comedy Center in Lucy’s hometown of Jamestown, NY. Comics from across the U.S. whose credits include Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, Last Comic Standing, Conan, Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Show with David Letterman bring their unique brand of humor to the podcast and take the audience on a journey into their creative process. This episode features observations, insight and inspirations from Paul Morrisey, Eitan Levine, Marcus Monroe, Dean Edwards, Chris Martin and Rachel Feinstein.
Backstage at The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival presented by The National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York. Comics from around the nation who have appeared on Comedy Central, MTV, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and The Late Late Show with James Corden will be performing their newest and often truest material. This episode features Tony Deyo, Ashley Austin Morris, Adam Mamawala, Turner Sparks, Sarah Tollemache and Jon Laster. After their sets in The Tropicana Club (a re-creation of Ricky Ricardo's famous Manhattan Night Club) the comics join Pat Hazell on the podcast to discuss their creative process, career development and views on the world of comedy.
An award-winning theatrical costume designer who has collaborated with The American Conservatory Theater, Teatro Zinzanni, The Roundabout Theatre Company, Cabaret Zazou, California Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, TheatreWorks, Classic Stage Company, Northlight Theatre, The Papermill Playhouse and The Pasadena Playhouse. She has created costumes for A Christmas Carol, Comedy of Errors, Test Match, Tales of the City, Scapin, The Government Inspector, The Merry Widow, Crowns, Blue, Everything’s Ducky and The Cherry Orchard.
A troupe of interdisciplinary performing artists from Pittsburgh that create original outdoor interactive music spectacles that have toured to Europe and Asia, performed Off-Broadway and on Broadway, from Lincoln Center to Stanford University, in over 250 venues in 36 of the United States and throughout Canada. Led by co-artistic directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn, Squonk creates joyful, boisterous events by fusing fantastical visual design with playful staging and high-energy original music. They have been awarded scores of grants, including 10 NEA awards. The New York Times called Squonk “Ingenious, Hallucinatory, and Hypnotic.”
Often credited with single-handedly reviving the lost art of the concert poster, his creative career rose largely out of his enthusiasm for Austin’s growing underground punk rock scene in the early eighties. In 1981, he began designing and posting black and white flyers for friends’ bands on telephone poles. His reputation quickly grew as an artist whose work was graphically compelling and culturally gripping. An entirely self-taught artist, Kozik eventually transitioned into producing large, colorful silkscreen concert posters, which found international success. He has created artwork for musicians such as Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, The White Stripes, The Beastie Boys, Green Day, Neil Young and Nirvana. In the mid-nineties he directed several music videos, including Soundgarden’s “Pretty Noose”. In 1993, he moved to San Francisco. Within two years he had started his own record label, Man’s Ruin Records. The majority of his posters and album art during this era were hand silkscreened and numbered at his studio. During this time he designed and released over 200 singles and full-length albums including a record by the Sex Pistols and the first Queens of the Stone Age single. In 2001, Kozik closed Man’s Ruin to devote himself full time to fine art, design and the newly emerging art toy movement. He served as the Chief Creative Officer of kidrobot to produce vinyl toys including many versions of his iconic Labbit character. He designed over 500 different limited edition figures. Kozik also designed products and campaigns for a spectrum of major media and lifestyle brands including a pair of NikeSB Dunk Quickstrike sneakers, a special edition Swatch watch, the 2007 Spike TV Video Games Award trophy, and an “Absolut Kozik” print ad. In addition to his outside clients, 2007 saw him launch his own brand, Ultraviolence. Under this imprint, Kozik produces limited edition art objects in vinyl, fiberglass, bronze and Limoges porcelain that are often more complex in content and larger in scale than his other vinyl toys. Kozik’s work has been exhibited in over 40 group shows and 35 one-man gallery exhibits worldwide. His impact as the godfather of lowbrow art will live on through the legacy of his signature creations.
Rachel Bloom is best known as the co-creator and star of the CW musical dramedy, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. She has won the 2016 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Series – Musical or Comedy, the 2016 Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress in a TV Comedy, and the 2016 TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy. In 2019, Rachel won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics alongside songwriting partners Jack Dolgen and the late Adam Schlesinger for Antidepressants Are So Not a Big Deal. Currently, Rachel is touring in her live show, Death Let Me Do My Special. In 2019, she sold out Radio City Music Hall performing Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Live as part of a multi-show tour. In the same year she also starred in her own solo tour, What Am I Going to Do with My Life Now? which included a week-long residency at the Just For Laughs comedy festival. Rachel recently co-starred in the Critics’ Choice nominated Hulu comedy series, Reboot, alongside Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, and Paul Reiser. Her upcoming projects include guest starring in season 2 of HBO’s Julia as well as appearing in the new Muppets Mayhem Musical Series on Disney+. She has also appeared in numerous films including co-starring in IFC’s Bar Fight! and SXSW’s Most Likely to Murder. Her voice acting resume includes the role of “Silver” in The Angry Birds Movie 2 opposite Jason Sudeikis, “Queen Barb” in Trolls: World Tour opposite Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake, and “Op” in the movie Extinct opposite Adam Devine and Ken Jeong. She’s also done VO work for television including The Simpsons and Bojack Horseman. Rachel got her start performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater at which she put up two live musical sketch comedy shows, Rachel Bloom is a Triple Threat!!! and Sing Out Loud, Louise. She self-released two albums of comedy music: PLEASE LOVE ME and SUCK IT, CHRISTMAS!!! (A CHANUKAH ALBUM). For tour updates go to www.racheldoesstuff.com
Jeremy Davis and Clay Johnson and their fiery 17 piece big band are collectively known as The Fabulous Equinox Orchestra. All across North America, audiences have fallen in love with these sophisticated Southern gentleman and their high-energy show. A collection of the greatest songs, the best original arrangements and phenomenal musicianship, is the signature of these two exceptional musicians as they bring their rich friendship and charm to the stage. Fashioned in the style and swagger of the legendary entertainers lead by Frank Sinatra, Davis & Johnson are putting their own stamp on the Great American songbook, graced with a touch of Motown, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Elvis and more, offering a freshness and relevance that speaks to every soul. Music has carried them from coast to coast, to Europe, India, Canada, and soon for their third tour of Israel. Jeremy & Clay are most enthusiastic about their nonprofit Equinox Global Missions where the use music to ENTERTAIN, CONNECT AND SERVE. Learn more at www.EquinoxKrewe.com
Seth is a director, actor, teacher, and the co-founder & co-artistic director of The Barrow Group in New York City. In his storied career as a director he was involved with the award-winning shows My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Show, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Solo Show), Sleepwalk With Me (Nightlife Award for Outstanding Comedian in a Major Performance), The Tricky Part (Obie Award, Drama Desk nominations for Best Play and Best Solo Show), Pentecost (Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), Old Wicked Songs (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and Garland Award for Best Direction), and Good (Straw Hat Award for Best Direction), and Mike Birbiglia:The Old Man and The Pool. For television he co-directed Mike Birbiglia:Thank God for Jokes. He directed My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend for Netflix, Mike Birbiglia:The New One and he co-directed and co-wrote the film Sleep Walk with Me. As well as being a consulting producer for the film Don’t Think Twice. He is the author of the book An Actor’s Companion – Tools for the Working Actor published by TCG. As an actor, Seth appears regularly in film and on television.
An artist, cartoonist, and the author of the book Skip to the Fun Parts: Cartoons and Complaints About Creativity. Dana has been a contributor to the New Yorker Daily Shouts since 2018. Her online cartoon series The Worried Well was syndicated by Andrews McMeel Universal in 2016 and can be seen online on GoComics.com. She has illustrated for The Phillips Collection, the DC Public Library, Politics and Prose, and Museum Hack, and her artwork and murals can be seen at various restaurants in the DC area. In 2019 she invented the highly popular (and unauthorized) Ladies Drawing Night Against Humanity workshop series. She lives with her husband and their two cats in Washington, DC.
Tom Dudzick is one of the few playwrights who makes a living at it. His first play, a Christmas tale called Greetings!, opened at New York’s John Houseman Theatre and starred Darren McGavin and Greg Edelman. It is now a holiday favorite across the country and has had well over one hundred productions. His next play, Over the Tavern, the first in a semi- autobiographical trilogy, has over three hundred productions under its belt, with many box office records broken throughout the U.S. Tavern has recently spawned a holiday musical as well, entitled Christmas Over the Tavern. The Irish adaptation, Over the Pub, also broke the box office record at Cork Arts Theatre in Ireland. Tom has written eight plays to date, most published by Playscripts, Inc. He was recently honored with a memorial plaque embedded in front of his boyhood home in Buffalo. And an even greater honor – he was once a question on Jeopardy!
An award-winning storyteller, comedian, motivational speaker, Huffington Post Contributor, and cast member of The Fashion Hero television show on Amazon Prime. She is the author of Who Hijacked My Fairy Tale, The Land of If Only, The Story Formula, and The Gutsy Girls Pocket Guide to Public Speaking. Kelly was a featured entertainer for Holland America Cruise Lines and the keynote speaker for the International Toastmasters Convention. Kelly’s wacky wit and powerful stories have charmed hearts and tickled funny bones for over 18 years. In addition to her role as a funny motivational speaker, Kelly teaches people how she does it by sharing what she has learned about connecting and engaging to have more influence in business, through the use of one tool – strategic storytelling. Sharing her own powerful journey through story and the formula she discovered, you come to that magical place where the art of story meets the business of persuasion. In July of 2022 she was inducted into the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame.
Beowulf Boritt is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award® winning set for Susan Stroman's production of New York, New York. He designed the Tony Award® winning set for James Lapine's Act One. He has received four additional Tony Award® nominations for his designs of The Scottsboro Boys, POTUS, Therese Raquin, and Flying Over Sunset, for which he won a Drama Desk award. His book about set design, Transforming Space Over Time, is available on Amazon. He is the founder and manager of The 1/52 Project which provides financial support to encourage early career designers from historically excluded groups, with the aim of diversifying and strengthening the Broadway design community. Beowulf designed Harold Prince's final Broadway shows: Prince of Broadway and LoveMusik. In addition, he designed the sets for Sondheim on Sondheim, The Twenty-Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Steve Martin's Meteor Shower, A Bronx Tale, August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, Come From Away. Freestyle Love Supreme, Ohio State Murders, Mike Birbiglia's The New One and The Old Man and The Pool. Other highlights include the New York and Russian productions of Chaplin, the revival of On The Town, Rob Askins' Hand To God and the long running hit Rock of Ages. Off-Broadway, he has designed over one hundred shows, including Much Ado About Nothing, Merry Wives, and Coriolanus for Shakespeare in the Park, Fiddler on The Roof (in Yiddish), The Last Five Years, Mike Birbiglia's The New One, Sleepwalk With Me, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, Thank God For Jokes and Strindberg’s Miss Julie. His designs are in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian Museum of American History and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts as well as several private collections. In addition to a Tony Award he has been honored with an 2007 OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence in Set Design, an Audelco Award, a Barrymore award, a Live Design Award for Innovation in Scenic Design, a Broadway Beacon Award, and a St. Louis Theater Circle Award. He has been nominated for four Drama Desk Awards, three Lucille Lortel Awards, four NY Outer Critic's Circle Awards, an LA Ovation Award, an LA NAACP Award, a San Francisco Critic's Circle Award and six Henry Hewes Awards.
Marja Harmon plays Angelica Schuyler on the "And Peggy" tour of Hamilton. Her Broadway credits include Book of Mormon, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and New York City Center’s Merrily We Roll Along. She starred as Nala in the national tour of The Lion King, as well as regional productions of Aida, Ragtime, Hairspray, Dreamgirls, Grease, and more. Her TV appearances include God Friended Me, Murphy Brown, and Jessica Jones. Stay up-to-date with Marja by visiting her @marjaharmony on Instagram or her website at marjaharmon.me.
Simone Giertz is a Swedish inventor, maker, robotics enthusiast, TV host and professional content creator on YouTube. Simone’s creations include an alarm clock that slaps the user to wake them up, a lipstick applier, and an invention that shampoos the user’s hair. Giertz showcased several of these robots on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In 2016, Simone joined Tested.com, collaborating with Adam Savage on her first project, the popcorn feeding helmet. In 2017, she hosted the comedy TV show Manick with Nisse Hallberg on Swedish TV6. In 2018, she created a robot to promote season 2 of HBO’s Westworld. The same year she made her debut presenting at a TED conference on “Why You Should Make Useless Things”, encouraging people to ask questions through creation. Simone is the founder of a product design company called Yetch, with an online shop that can be found at Yetch.store. You can find her easily on her YouTube channel.
Doug McIntyre spent twenty-years as a television/screen writer and producer including the hit series Married… With Children, WKRP in Cincinnati, Mike Hammer – Private Eye, and the critically-acclaimed PBS series, Liberty’s Kids, which earned Doug a Humanitas Prize nomination for excellence in television writing. Together with his wife Penny Peyser, Doug wrote, produced, directed the award winning film: Trying to Get Good: the Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon. McIntyre is also the page one columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Lang Newspaper group as well as an accomplished book reviewer. In 2010 he was named “Best Columnist” by the California Newspaper Publishers Association. Additionally, Doug has written for American History Illustrated, LA Jazz Scene, the L.A. Times, Long Beach Press Telegram, Pasadena Star News and the Connecticut Post. He co-authored Cheap Advice for Time/Warner Books. Doug hosted McIntyre in the Morning on Talk Radio 790 KABC in Los Angeles, and the wildly popular Red Eye Radio. Doug appeared on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect over a dozen times, as well as, Real Time on HBO, The History Channel, the FOX News Channel’s hit shows, The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity & Colmes, and numerous appearances on CNN. The radio trade magazine Talkers consistently ranks McIntyre among the top hosts in the business.
Kira is an animation supervisor who joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2007 as an animation trainee in the talent development program. She’s contributed to a host of Disney Animation titles, including Oscar® winners Zootopia, Paperman and Frozen, plus Bolt, Tangled, Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice, Tangled Ever After and Wreck-It Ralph, as well as Ralph Breaks the Internet and Encanto, on which she was Head of Animation. Previously, Lehtomaki served as a junior animator on Alvin & the Chipmunks at Rhythm & Hues. At age 3, Lehtomaki saw Sleeping Beauty for the first time; she was mesmerized by the sequence of Briar Rose in the forest. By age 5, she knew she wanted to be a “drawer” for Disney. In addition to completing Animation Mentor’s online character animation program, she attended the University of Washington, majoring in computer science, and took part in the Disneyland Resort College Program.
A New York Times bestselling author of a dozen critically acclaimed picture books, which have sold more than five million copies combined. They include Dragons Love Tacos, Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel, High Five, Gladys the Magic Chicken, Secret Pizza Party, Robo-Sauce, the Those Darn Squirrels trilogy, and El Chupacabras, which won the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Publishers Weekly called his #1 New York Times bestselling story collection The Ice Cream Machine a “madcap middle grade debut.” He is fast at work on his next middle grade collab The Human Kaboom. Visit Adam online at www.whothehell.com and follow him on Twitter @rubingo.
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, activist, documentarian, corporate photographer and an award-winning filmmaker and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and Lia received a Best Actress nomination. She is also the host and Executive Producer of a weekly Arts, Entertainment and Lifestyle program called BACKSTAGE PASS WITH LIA CHANG. Lia's short film, When the World Was Young garnered a 2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman. She also stars in and serves as Executive Producer for the short independent films Hide and Seek, Balancing Act, Rom-Com Gone Wrong, Belongingness and When the World was Young. She is the Executive Producer for The Cactus, The Language Lesson, The Writer and Cream and 2 Shugahs. Lia is the recipient of a Prospect Muse Award, a OCA Chinese American Journalist Award, and a AAJA National Award for New Media. Lia is an AAJA Executive Leadership Graduate, a Western Knight Fellow at USC’s Annenberg College of Communications for Specialized Journalism on Entertainment Journalism in the Digital Age, a National Press Photographers Association Visual Edge/Visual Journalism Fellow at the Poynter Institute for New Media, a Scripps Howard New Media Fellow at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and a National Tropical Botanical Garden Environmental Journalism Fellow. She was a syndicated columnist for KYODO News, writing about What's Hot in New York.
One of the jazz world's most acclaimed performers, possessing a potent combination of dynamic vocal abilities, impeccable phrasing, and powerful emotional resonance. Nicole's passionate, soulful voice and heartfelt charisma have earned her a Soul Train Award for “Best Traditional Jazz Performance," and four Top-10 jazz albums on U.S. Billboard, JazzWeek, HMV Japan and UK Sweet Rhythmscharts. Heralded by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Japan Times, El Pais, Jazz Times, Essence,and more, Nicole tells real stories through peerless interpretations of repertoire from the American Songbook, classic and contemporary jazz, popular standards, blues, and originals. She has captivated audiences in 20 countries, headlining at venues in cities including New York, Tokyo, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston, San Francisco, and Miami at such venues as Blue Note; Jazz at Lincoln Center; Blues, Alley, The Smith Center; Kravis Center; Jazz St. Louis, Feinstein’s; Madrid Jazz Festival; and more. Nicole has also recorded with some of today’s musical greats including Kirk Whalum, Julian Lage, John Clayton, and Gerald Clayton and has performed with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, theHenry Mancini Institute Orchestra, Pasadena PopsandMichael Feinstein. In late 2019, she returned to the theatrical stage and garnered critical praise in the musical version of The Bodyguard; in Dec. 2021, she starred in the new musical A Wonderful World, based on the life of Louis Armstrong; and in 2022, she portrayed ‘Brenda’ in Smokey Joe’s Cafe.
A DGA-winning and Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, producer, and author, known for his signature style and discerning eye for talent. He is the founder of the production company Feigco Entertainment, as well as the content company Powderkeg Media, which aims to champion new voices with a commitment to female, LGBTQIA+ creators, and filmmakers of color. Feig is a visionary filmmaker with a proven track record of female-led hits that have grossed over one billion dollars worldwide including “Bridesmaids, “Last Christmas,” “The Heat,” “Ghostbusters,” “Spy,” and “A Simple Favor,” the latter of which Feig will direct and produce a sequel. Most recently, he served as the director, producer, and co-writer of the film “The School for Good and Evil,” starring Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington, which debuted as the #1 film on Netflix in 84 countries worldwide. Up next, Feig will direct and produce the action-comedy film “Grand Death Lotto,” starring John Cena, Awkwafina and Simu Liu for Amazon Studios. In television, he is a writer, executive producer, and director of FOX’s “Welcome to Flatch,” which is currently airing its second season, and an executive producer of “Minx,” which will premiere its second season on Starz later this year. Feig recently created and launched his own award-winning gin brand, Artingstall’s in the U.S. and U.K., which won Best Gin and Double Gold at the 2019 WSWA competition. While in lockdown in 2020, he hosted a nightly Quarantine Cocktail Time on his Instagram, inspiring a cocktail book titled Cocktail Time!
An award-winning humor writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker Daily Shouts, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, US Weekly Fashion Police, Scary Mommy, Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal and various other outlets. Wendi is the author of the middle-grade book Ginger Mancino, Kid Comedian and the humorous memoir I’m Wearing Tunics Now, and a contributor to many anthologies. Her humor pieces have been performed by award-winning actresses including Uzo Aduba, Sharon Horgan and Alison Brie. Wendi’s eponymous blog was named “Funniest Parenting Blog” by Parents Magazine and she was named “Most Entertaining Writer” at the Mom 2.0 Influencer conference. She both speaks on and teaches humor writing to children and adults.
A widely accomplished musical director, conductor, pianist, composer, and arranger, working primarily in the realm of musical theatre. His experience on Broadway includes both conducting and playing keyboards for Cinderella, How to Succeed in Business…, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Producers, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Phantom of the Opera and Carousel. Larry has also served as Musical Director for national tours of Anastasia, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Les Misérables, South Pacific, The Producers, Sunset Blvd. and Cats, as well as many regional productions. He has been a frequent collaborator with the Boston Pops Orchestra, contributing both vocal and orchestral arrangements, performing as pianist, coaching vocal soloists and music directing concert performances of Carousel and A Little Night Music. As a composer and lyricist, Larry has written the scores for the shows Big Bad Wolf and the Endangered Forest (Portland Opera Young Artists); Reality! (Stamford Center for the Arts reading); Groundhog Day (with lyricist Jack Lechner, BMI Musical Theatre Workshop); and Grounded For Life (with comedian Pat Hazell, York Theatre staged reading). His music and songs were regularly featured on the Pittsburgh children’s TV show. Let’s Read a Story, as well as the syndicated TV special Secrets of Success. He was also the 1st Prize Winner of the 1988 International Jewish Music Competition for his chamber opera A Test of Faith.
A skilled variety artist in the Los Angeles art scene who made history being the only non-magician ever to be nominated for the Magic Castle Awards. Lindsay mixes classic vaudeville tricks with a theatrical, seductive spin that gives her audience a uniquely memorable experience, like the greats of a bygone era. She started out as an actor, training heavily in the very physical Suzuki acting technique before moving to LA in 2007. She honed her skills as a street performer in San Francisco and at Festivals around the world. Lindsay has graced the stages of the World Buskers Festival in New Zealand, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Brookledge Theater.
The Executive Director of New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players and the veteran principal bass in the comic operas H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. David produced the all-new critically-acclaimed production of The Mikado, and co-produced I’ve Got a Little Twist, NYGASP’s original cabaret. His other roles for NYGASP include fundraising, marketing, board development and strategic planning. David is a past president of North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents, recently completing six years of service as an officer of the board. He is the recipient of the 2018 Western Arts Alliance Mentoring Award and an Association of Performing Arts Professionals Leadership Fellow.
Tracy Brigden is the Senior Artistic Producer at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. She has over 20 years of experience in off-Broadway and regional theater as a dynamic artistic leader with an extensive knowledge of the new play development and production process, as well as strong, long term relationships with major American and international playwrights, composers, actors, directors, designers and other theatre artists. As a director she has a demonstrated history of creating world-class, acclaimed and notable productions, particularly new plays and musicals, including numerous world premiere productions. Tracy served as Artistic Director at City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh for 16 years, leading the company to its prominent and respected place as a major incubator and producer of new plays and musicals. As a freelance director, she has worked around the country, principally on new plays. Prior to City Theatre, Tracy served on the artistic staffs of Manhattan Theatre Club and Hartford Stage Co. She studied theatre for her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University and earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing from Point Park University.
Adam Savage has spent his life gathering skills that allow him to take what's in his brain and make it real, working with every material and in every medium he could fathom — metal, paper, glass, plastic, rubber, foam, plaster, pneumatics, hydraulics, animatronics, neon, glassblowing, mold-making and injection molding to name just a few. In 1993, Adam began concentrating his career on the special-effects industry, honing his skills through more than 100 television commercials and a dozen feature films, including Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Galaxy Quest and the Matrix sequels. A decade later, Adam was chosen along with Jamie Hyneman to produce and host MythBusters, which premiered on Discovery Channel in January 2003. Fourteen years, 279 episodes, 1,015 myths, 2,950 experiments, eight Emmy nominations and 83 miles of duct tape later, that version of the series ended in March 2016. A few years later, Adam hosted and executive produced MythBusters Jr. as well as a solo series, Savage Builds, for Discovery Channel. Today, Adam stars in and produces content for his YouTube channel Tested, including a popular build series (Adam Savage’s One Day Builds) and behind-the-scenes deep dives into multiple blockbuster films (including Alien Covenant, Mortal Engines and Blade Runner 2049.) In 2019 Adam finished his first book, Every Tool’s a Hammer, which is a chronicle of his life as a maker.
Gael Chandler began her career at a drive-in theatre in Santa Rosa, CA as a cashier at the Star-Vue Motor Movies, where she became interested in the projection booth. There she learned base and emulsion, cement and tape splicing and other 35mm basics. Eventually, her union brothers and the town's theatre managers were persuaded to let her in the booth and the union. This meant she got to run Rocky, Star Wars and Saturday Night Fever for months, and take location assignments doing grip, electrical and craft service work. While serving as a projectionist she earned two BAs before heading to Hollywood where she began slipping through studio gates. Gael’s first job was as an assistant at a sound studio where she transferred 500 tiger growls from ¼" to 35mm on her first day. It was a good place to meet editors and led to her first assistant editor job on the TV show That’s Incredible! She spent over three decades in Los Angeles editing comedies, dramas, documentaries, features, corporate videos, and promos. Gael cut on every medium: film, tape, and digital, and trained hundreds of professionals, professors, independent filmmakers and students to operate digital editing equipment. She worked on The New Leave It to Beaver, the first show to edit on Ediflex - a groundbreaking non-linear editing system - and was nominated two years in a row for a CableACE Award for Best Editing of a Comedy Series. She also taught classes on editing history, theory, and practice to college students. Gael wrote two editions of Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film Or Video and Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know. In 2010 she retired to northern California and wrote Chronicles of Old San Francisco: Exploring the Historic City by the Bay and co-founded PictureYourBook to produce book trailers and enhanced eBooks. She continues to write plays, screenplays and short stories. Her current project is co-authoring Preaching and Editing (working title) with Homiletics professor Reverend Shauna K. Hannan, PhD.
A self-taught filmmaker who has directed four feature films, three documentaries and over 1300 national & regional commercials, as well as Maria Bamford’s acclaimed Netflix Comedy Special. Jordan directs advertising campaigns for brands and agencies from all over the world. He has directed comedy giants Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Keegan-Michael Key, Rory Scovel and other notable celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Brad Paisley. Equally nimble with visual effects, he’s shot over 50 sleight-of-hand magic trick spots for Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles that effortlessly combine in-camera and digital trickery. Jordan is the recipient of numerous advertising awards which include multiple Clio Awards, National Gold, ADDY’s, Gold Promax Award, One Show, D Show, Pencil and AICP Awards. His work is routinely spotlighted in Adweek, Ads of The World and AgencySpy. In 2010, Jordan completed his passion project I Am Comic, a feature documentary that is part of a trilogy on what it takes to be a stand-up comedian, followed by 2014’s aptly titled I Am Road Comic starring Pete Holmes and Marc Maron. The most gripping film of the trilogy is I Am Battle Comic. Filming took Brady to Afghanistan, Kuwait and undisclosed parts of the Middle East where he performed stand-up comedy for our troops stationed there. Jordan hosts the weekly filmmaking podcast Respect the Process, described as “The Rosetta Stone of Filmmaking”, and teaches Commercial Directing Bootcamp.
Maria Brito is an award-winning New York-based contemporary art advisor, entrepreneur, author and curator. Her bestselling book How Creativity Rules The World was released in March of 2022. In 2015 Brito was selected by Complex magazine as one of the 20 Power Players in the Art World and in 2020 she was named by ARTnews as one of the visionaries who gets to shape the art world. A Harvard graduate, originally from Venezuela, her first monograph Out There was the recipient of UA Best Book Awards in both the Art and Design Categories. She has written for the Huffington Post, ElSle, Forbes, Artnet, Cultured Magazine, Departures and the Gulf Coast Journal of Literature and Fine Arts from the University of Houston, Texas. For several years, Maria has taught her creativity course in companies and, in 2019, she launched Jumpstart, an online program on creativity for entrepreneurs. She has worked on product collaborations with artists such as Kenny Scharf, Erik Parker, Katherine Bernhardt, Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Nir Hod and many more. In 2016, Maria curated “Greek Gotham” presented at Dio Horia, Mykonos with the participation of sixteen New York-based artists including Kaws, Austin Lee, Nina Chanel Abney and Raul de Nieves. A full-color catalogue with an introduction by Jeffrey Deitch was written and designed by Maria to commemorate this exhibition. In 2019 she created and hosted The "C" Files with Maria Brito, a TV and streaming series for PBS's new station ALL ARTS. The same year she also curated two exhibitions: The Thousand and One Nights, the inaugural show of Artual Gallery in Beirut, Lebanon with seven American artists including Holly Coulis, Allison Zuckerman and Rosson Crow and MUSE, Shona McAndrew's first New York City exhibition at CHART Gallery in Tribeca.
Matt Goldman is a New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning television writer and producer. He has been nominated for a Writer’s Guild Award, the Shamus Award and the Nero Award. Matt's television writing credits include Seinfeld, Ellen, Love & War, Working, Three Sisters, Level Up, Just Add Magic, The New Adventures of Old Christine and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. He served as a consulting producer on Fox’s Luis, Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place, CBS’s Gary Unmarried and Amazon’s Just Add Magic. Matt’s first novel, Gone to Dust, was published in the summer of 2017. It was followed by Broken Ice in 2018, The Shallows: A Nils Shapiro Novel in 2019 and Dead West in 2020. His first stand-alone, Carolina Moonset, was published in May of 2022 and is listed as one of the Best Books of 2022 by Amazon. His next novel, A Good Family, will be released in May of 2023. Matt’s stage play Bunk Bed Brothers, which he co-wrote with Pat Hazell, has run in numerous cities around the country and received critical acclaim in the Los Angeles Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune and other publications. In addition to being developed for television by NBC, Sony TriStar optioned a film script based on the play.
The Tony Award winning writing team of the musicals: Ragtime, Anastasia, Seussical, Once on This Island, My Favorite Year, Rocky, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Lucky Stiff, Dessa Rose, The Glorious Ones, A Man of No Importance, Knoxville and Little Dancer. These renowned collaborators have received theater, film and music’s highest honors – the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Olivier Awards, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and four Grammys. They serve on the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America and founded the DGF Fellows Program for Emerging Writers. In 2014 they received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 2015 they were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.
Asi Wind is a recipient of the Close-up Magician of the Year Award from the prestigious Academy of Magical Arts at Los Angeles’s Magic Castle. For the last decade, Wind has served as the chief consultant to magician David Blaine, working on Blaine’s ABC television specials and his first live tour. Asi’s off-Broadway show, Concert of the Mind, received rave reviews, sold out and extended its run. His appearance on Penn & Teller: Fool Us has over 14 million views on YouTube, making it one of the most-watched performances in the show’s history. Asi is currently starring in his new critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway show, Inner Circle.
A multi-talented comedic composer, vocalist, actor and the creator of the irrepressible Broadway Barbara, whose showbiz tales and classic show tunes have made her a social media sensation. Leah is an alumni of the renowned Groundling’s Sunday Company and a founding member of the Transcendence Theatre Company, which earned her a Broadway World “Person to Watch” nomination and the opportunity to open for Rita Moreno and Ben Vereen in concert. She also sang alto in the premiere top 40 vintage trio The Beverly Bombshells. Leah's national tour credits include: Radio City Christmas Spectacular, 42nd Street and Happy Days. Regionally she has graced the stages of Paper Mill Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, Falcon Theatre and Eugene O’Neill Theatre. She has made television appearances on Maron, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Blackish. Find out much more by visiting @BroadwayBarbaraOfficial on Instagram and TikTok.
Executive producer / magic consultant for David Copperfield for over 30 years from the live Vegas show at the MGM casino to worldwide touring and television events. In 2017 Chris was awarded a Creative Fellowship from the Academy of Magical Arts for his mastery of both the art and business of magic. He is one of those rare individuals who was not only proficient, but highly influential in card magic and coin magic. He is the author of the books Totally Out of Control and The Right Stuff which feature dozens of his close-up creations. On this episode Chris discusses his love of movies including Jaws and the little known whodunnit The Last of Sheila, he shares how he acquired his collection of artist Frank Kozik’s colorful vinyl busts and he explains how he stays curious about everything from bridge design to fire hydrant placement to keep his problem solving muscle flexed.
The 1st Annual Christmas Cluster is a holiday salute to creativity with many special guest showcasing some seasonal treats. Music, poetry and comedy are on tap to make spirits bright for the week of Christmas. Enjoy music from the Jo Ann Daugherty Trio, Maia Sharp, Tony Haselden, Broadway Barbara, Catherine Porter & Seth Barrish, a poem from Alandra Markman, seasonal stand up comedy from your host Pat Hazell and a visit with Earlene Hoople from The Early Bird Morning Show. Grab a mug of holiday hooch and get ready for a cool yule.
Peoria native Liv Warfield takes cues from musical influences like Nina Simone, Etta James, Mavis Staples, Sade, Tina Turner and Mary J. Blige, but has carved out a style all her own, which can best be described as “alternative soul with a lil bit of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” In 2006, she self-released her debut album Embrace Me. By 2009, she caught the eye of music icon Prince and ultimately joined his group the New Power Generation. After touring for several years and soaking up as much knowledge as she could from the ultimate music mentor, Warfield made her big splash on the national scene as a featured artist for VH1’s You Oughta Know campaign, and then with the release of her major label debut album The Unexpected, which was executive produced by Prince. What followed were show-stopping performances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with David Letterman and The Arsenio Hall Show; a 2014 Soul Train Music Award and nominations for two others; a BET Best New Artist Award nomination; an interview with National Public Radio; and high-profile cosigns from Lionel Richie, Cyndi Lauper, and Nancy Wilson of Heart. That same year, Warfield’s performance closing out Essence Fest was hailed as one of the most memorable after shows at the New Orleans House of Blues. In 2015, Warfield and the NPG Hornz were named one of the top 10 bands to see at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. In 2017, Warfield collaborated with another one of her childhood influences, Nancy Wilson, to create the band Roadcase Royale. Their lead single “Get Loud” was featured prominently in the 2017 Women’s March and they released their debut album First Things First later that year. If that weren’t enough, their remake of Heart’s These Dreams was featured in the film Molly’s Game. Warfield recently recorded music for the Oscar-nominated HBO documentary Da Bronx. Her third album Olivia is coming in 2023.
An Emmy Award-winning producer, comedian, actor, author, writer, comedy historian and musician. Wayne is noted for numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his book on The History of Stand-Up; and supporting comedic acting roles in The X-Files, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crashing, Silicon Valley, Legally Blonde, 50 First Dates, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Step Brothers. He was the head monologue writer for NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in its first season. He won a 2022 Primetime Emmy Award for producing the HBO documentary George Carlin's American Dream. In 2018, Wayne co-produced the Emmy-winning HBO documentary, The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling. He also produced an award-winning web series with Don Rickles entitled, Dinner With Don, as well as Judd Apatow's 2017 Netflix stand-up special, The Return. In 2022, Wayne produced the two part HBO documentary George Carlin's American Dream.
An award-winning solo show artist and nationally recognized writing coach who is making a big impact everywhere from off-Broadway to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Ann’s show Loveland, played for two years in San Francisco where it won the SF Weekly Award for Best Solo Show and garnered the SF Bay Critic’s Award for Best Original Script. In LA it won the LA Weekly award for Best Solo Show. Her solo show, Squeeze Box, was produced by Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft and enjoyed a successful off-Broadway run before touring the US, where it received both the Los Angeles Ovation Award and the LA Weekly Award for Best Solo Show. Ann’s other solo works include Down Home, Shelter and Miss America, for which she won the LA Weekly award for Best Solo Performer. Her current solo show, Inappropriate in All the Right Ways, has been described by The Huffington Post as “a show like no other.” A favorite spoken word artist, Ann is a Moth StorySLAM winner and has been a regular on LA’s long running spoken word series including Tasty Words, SPARK and Gorgeous Stories. Her personal essays and interviews have been featured on NPR, PBS and the BBC. As a member of the WGA, she has written scripts for Gullane Pictures, Lifetime TV, Brooksfilms, PAX, and Klasky-Csupo. Her widely popular writing workshop Unmute Yourself is offered in cities across the US and now online.
An award-winning musician and published author who is active in the Austin music scene on vocals, cello, acoustic and electric guitar, keyboards, electric bass, banjo, dobro, human beatbox and drums. John has produced, performed and recorded with Ozomatli, BoomBoxATX, Schrödinger's Cat, Woodwork, Trio Los Vigilantes, The House Jacks, The Swingle Singers and Sixpence None the Richer. He has eleven Austin Music Awards including “Best Acoustic Guitar” and “Best Miscellaneous Instrument – Human Beatbox.” He is in the Cirque du Soleil talent pool and his national commercial credits include principal appearances as a beatboxer for Chili’s, Schlotzsky’s Austin City Limits and Southwest Airlines, as well as music for Walmart. His acting credits include Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, Roger in RENT, a co-starring role on Fox's Prison Break and he played himself opposite Harry Connick, Jr. in the movie Angels Sing. John’s book Yesterday Was Weird,co-written with his dog Benny, has been featured on Today and in Good Housekeeping and Southern Living.
The author of Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds: A Writer’s Guide. Margaret was born in Indonesia and raised in Singapore and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Screenwriting from USC School of Cinematic Arts. Her career spans television, film, digital media, games, brand storytelling, location-based entertainment and immersive experiences. Margaret has served as a story lead, story consultant and writer for multiple projects around the world, including Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Star Wars: Launch Bay, Hyperspace Mountain, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, Avengers Campus, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, National Geographic HQ, NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s Journey to Mars: Explorers Wanted, Heineken Experience, Story Garden by AMOREPACIFIC and the Information and Communications Pavilion ( Expo 2010 Shanghai). She was a Disney Imagineer from 2014-2021 and is currently a senior experiential creative lead at Airbnb.
Steven Banks is a multi-disciplinary artist — a writer, musician, comedian and actor. He was head writer on SpongeBob SquarePants and also wrote on CatDog and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle grade series Middle School Bites. He wrote and starred in the cult classic Home Entertainment Center on Amazon, and co-created Shadowland with the dance/theater company Pilobolus, which has been performed in 40 countries. Steven’s second identity is the irrepressible Billy the Mime who appeared in the movie The Aristocrats and also paints folk art for Billy’s Moving Art Gallery. His latest projects include Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, Shaq’s Garage and the book for the Broadway musical Save The Last Dance For Me – The Doc Pomus Story. On this episode of the podcast, Steven shares his love of The Music Man and explains the concept of reverse shoplifting in museum gift shops.
A Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter, touring musician and philanthropist who started her career with the platinum-selling hit song Stay (I Missed You) from the film Reality Bites. A trailblazing independent artist, Lisa was the first pop musician to have a Number 1 single while not signed to a recording contract. She followed that remarkable feat with several hit singles and six albums, two of which were certified gold.
Lisa is well known to parents and kids for her five children’s albums and two illustrated children’s books with music. Lisa recently collaborated to develop and write the children’s musical Camp Kappawanna which debuted at New York City’s Atlantic Theater Company. Inspired by her own love of summer camp, in 2008, Lisa started The Camp Lisa Foundation, which sends underserved kids to summer camp.
In January 2018, her family friendly album, Feel What U Feel, won the Grammy for Best Children’s Album, along with rave reviews and The Parents Choice Award. Among other shows, Lisa provides voice talent for the animated series Creative Galaxy and composes the original songs for the Emmy nominated, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series.
Often recognized for her iconic cat-eyed glasses, Lisa redefines how women accessorize with her own eyewear line. As an entrepreneur, Lisa oversees the business and eyewear design of Lisa Loeb Eyewear.
As an actor, Lisa’s recent film and television appearances include AP Bio, John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, About a Boy, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, King of The Nerds and Sprout Channel’s Sunny Side Up Show (now Sprout House on Universal Kids). You might have also heard her voice on commercials including Alfa Romeo, Foster Farms Chicken and Chili’s.
An Emmy Award-winning writer, producer, actor and comedian currently serving as the announcer of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and a writer/producer of Saturday Night Live. Prior to The Tonight Show, Higgins was the announcer for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2014. Early in his career, he was part of the sketch comedy trio The Higgins Boys and Gruber, who had their own eponymous sketch series on Comedy Central from 1989 to 1991. Steve voiced the character Chadwick The Edible Blargmonger in the 2014 animated special ELF: Buddy’s Musical Christmas. He is a member of the Higgins comedy dynasty of Des Moines, IA. Steve tells what the average work week is like on SNL and recommends the book “The War of Art” by Steve Pressfield as required reading for young people pursuing a life in creativity.
An Emmy-nominated television writer and executive producer who is a native of Des Moines, Iowa, currently living in Los Angeles. Prior to co-creating Bob Hearts Abishola, Al Higgins was best known for writing and producing the acclaimed series Malcolm in the Middle, for which he was nominated for both an Emmy and Producers Guild Award with his close associate Chuck Lorre; taking on the role of showrunner for Mike & Molly for the last three seasons; and executive producing, with Lorre and Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method, which won them a Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series. On this episode he shares the importance of a good burn to put your brothers in place by disarming them with words, his passion for food and travel and what he has learned about living in the moment from his trips to Italy.
A maker of things, a creative entrepreneur and a photographer who was born and raised in Northwest Indiana. She uses her whole toolkit to create custom art, jewelry, leather, metal and retro pinup photography. Aubrey learned the traditional Native American and Mountain Man leather making techniques from her family, and she makes everything in her workshop by hand from handpicked materials. She was professionally trained in television, film, make-up and hair, and has worked on many commercials, movies and photo shoots. Her specialty is in pinup and boudoir. She is the owner of Live Free Leather, Tokyo Rose Pinups and TR Collective. The best word to describe her is indescribable.
A five-time Emmy Award winning actor, writer and host of a weekly PBS series. John spent nine seasons hosting Around the Corner with John McGivern. His new show John McGivern’s Main Streets will air on PBS stations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa beginning in January of 2023. He has written articles for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Milwaukee Magazine about his travels around the state of Wisconsin. John’s one man shows, The Early Stories of John McGivern, Midsummer Night McGivern and John McGivern’s Home for the Holidays tell the stories of being the third born of six kids in a working-class Irish Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His stories are personal, funny, touching and familiar. His themes are based in family and remind us all that as specific as we might believe our experiences are, we all share a universal human experience. John is proud to have been part of We’re Funny That Way on HBO and Out There ll on Comedy Central. He was sitting next to Sally Field on Politically Incorrect and knighted by Julie Andrews in the film The Princess Diaries. John’s starring roles in theatrical productions include Shear Madness, The Wonder Bread Years, Bunk Bed Brothers, American Fiesta and A Kodachrome Christmas.
An executive creative director, UX practitioner, brand strategist and visual designer who designs for the tech world but encourages everyone to always be designing their life. Lisa started her design life as a self-proclaimed creative through painting and photography, then regrettably sold all her work at a garage sale during a confidence crisis in her early 20s. She switched to graphic design and founded a web design studio where she was discovered online by Ernst & Young Consulting who were building a Center for Technology Enablement practice. After a rigorous stint building a bi-coastal team of creatives for the center, Lisa went on to find her place as an entrepreneur using a colorful mix of art, technology and business. She helped Hewlett Packard's education division build a global e-commerce experience. She opened an invitation company in Santa Barbara that was selected to be part of a television series for The Learning Channel focused on high-end wedding designers, their lifestyle and how they run their design business - winning features in InStyle, Destination Weddings and Your Wedding Day Magazines. Lisa led the brand and communication department at Stanford Law School, building an online solution recognized as a finalist by the Society for New Communications Research for Innovation of Year. She now runs an underground studio for her company called razpberrizoo creative where she strengthens brands, designs digital products and strategizes on UX for the likes of 20th Century Studios (Walt Disney), Stanford University, Jones Lang LaSalle, Farmgirl Flowers, First Republic Bank, Pfizer, Hewlett Packard, Beckman Coulter, CSC and Hot Topic. She also co-owns an early-stage AI-based health and wellness start-up where her team is attempting to change everyone’s mindset about exercise. You can find out more at designinglisapeacock.com
For almost two decades Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis, the founders of Indian Ink Theatre Company, have pursued their idea of the ‘Serious Laugh’- opening mouths with laughter in order to slip something serious in along with a love of mask and story. The company blends western theatrical traditions with eastern flavors and has been critically acclaimed for their use of live music, heightened theatricality, humor, pathos and great storytelling. Together with a team of long-term collaborators Jacob and Justin have created an extraordinary series of award-winning plays that have delighted audiences throughout New Zealand and around the world. Indian Ink has won three Production of the Year awards, two Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Awards, won Best Play, Best Composer and Best Actor at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards and broken box office records with tours throughout New Zealand, to Australia, Singapore and Edinburgh. "We aim to make theatre that is beautiful, funny, sad and true. We go to the theatre to be transported by a great story and to enjoy characters who live large in our imaginations. We want the experience to leave an indelible imprint on your hearts. That’s why we’re called Indian Ink!”
A Canadian figure skater and choreographer who has won two Emmy Awards for Scott Hamilton: Upside Down and for choreographing the opening and closing of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Kawahara joined the Ice Capades at age 17 and skated with them for seven years. In 1997, she became the first skater to win the Best Choreography Emmy Award. Sarah has choreographed for numerous competitive skaters, including Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming, Kurt Browning, Nancy Kerrigan, Oksana Baiul, Robin Cousins, Victor Petrenko and Tia Babilonia & Randy Gardner. She was coach and choreographer for the films Go Figure, Blades of Glory and I, Tonya, and for the television series Spinning Out. On this episode Sarah tells us when ice rinks were first added to cruise ships and about watching her daughter Hayley Kiyoko perform recently at Kamala Harris’s home.
The founder of Accidental Creative, a company that helps creative people and teams be prolific, brilliant and healthy. Todd speaks, consults and advises regularly with companies about how to develop best practices that lead to everyday brilliance. He is the author of six books including Daily Creative, Herding Tigers, Die Empty, The Accidental Creative, Louder Than Words and The Motivation Code, which have been translated into more than a dozen languages. His podcast, The Accidental Creative, has been downloaded more than 15 million times and offers weekly tips and insights for being brilliant at a moment’s notice.
A former network executive who oversaw emerging artists for HBO, HBO Max and Turner. Kelly transformed herself into a full-time author, writer and producer under her Edwardian Pictures banner. In her executive role, the pilots she produced through the HBOAccess Writing and Directing Fellowships have screened at major festivals including Tribeca and SXSW garnering multiple awards. Prior to HBO, Edwards was a key corporate diversity executive at Comcast/NBCUniversal for over five years where she oversaw 20 divisions, launched employee resource groups and introduced diverse creative talent to NBC, USA, Syfy, Bravo and Telemundo. In 2000, Edwards co-founded the non-profit organization Colour Entertainment, a networking group for diverse creative executives in TV, Film and Digital, as well as assistants, all designed to connect current and future industry executives with one another.
Rosston Meyer is a designer, paper engineer and publisherwho creates pop-up books, cards and prints with contemporary visual artists through his company Poposition Press. He’s gained a reputation among collectors for projects like Pop-Up Funk and The Pop-Up Art Book. Creating pop ups out of existing or new works, Rosston has released books from artists ranging from Andy Warhol, Junko Mizuno, Jim Mahfood, Kristen Liu-Wong, Mike Giant, Skinner, Dalek and Sandra Chevrier. On this episode, he explains that the greatest challenge in design is not making the art pop up but rather being able to get it to return into the page mechanically time after time.
An outdoor journalist, bowhunter, forager and angler who founded Wildkind Academy with the desire to learn, share and grow in community with others drawn to expand and challenge themselves into a more integrated partnership with the natural world. A nature lover and professional rewilder in pursuit of a more joyful and adventurous life with a multi-disciplinary approach to optimal health. On this episode, Jess shares some of the essentials you should have when planning an outing and reveals the radical change in her own thinking when it comes to being ready for anything.
A San Francisco-based designer who creates innovative drill, staging and artistic visual projects for marching bands, winter color guards and indoor percussion ensembles around the world. Michael performed with Pride of Cincinnati Winter Guard, won a WGI World Championship with State Street Review and performed with The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps for four years in the color guard. He started an independent world class winter guard called Escapade and was on the design team of Bands of America National Champion Centerville HS. Michael attended the San Francisco Academy of Art University, earning a Fine Arts degree in Computer Arts/New Media. Michael was the drill designer and visual coordinator for The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps and served on the design team for all seven of their Drum Corps International World Championship titles. He currently writes for some of the top high school marching bands and winter color guards in the United States. His designs have been featured by several high school Bands of America National Champions, the most recent being the 2012 BOA Grand National Champion Carmel HS, as well as four-time WGI World Champion Pride of Cincinnati, and two-time WGI Scholastic World Champion Carmel High School. Michael’s international design experience includes two-time WGI Bronze Medalist Aimachi Color Guard, and three time WGI Bronze Medalist Aimachi Percussion Ensemble from Nagoya, Japan. In 2007, Michael was inducted into the WGI Hall of Fame, and in 2011 he was inducted into the Drum Corps International Hall of Fame.
A pianist, conductor, recording artist, composer, and arranger whose work as a music director and keyboardist led her to conduct and play with touring Broadway productions of Jersey Boys, Six & Motown: The Musical. Jo Ann Daugherty loves making all kinds of music. Her most recent jazz trio album Bring Joy earned a 4-star review from Downbeat Magazine and was listed as one of their “Best Albums of 2017.” Her work with jazz multireedist Victor Goines has included performing in beautiful spaces such as Dizzy’s Club and Smoke in NYC, Satchmo Summerfest in New Orleans, Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, and most recently Havana, Cuba. Jo Ann music-supervised and played on the orchestral soundtrack of the wildlife documentary To The Ends of the Earth and provided music direction and played on tour with An Unforgettable Nat King Cole Christmas.
Bob Blumer is a professional gastronaut with an adrenaline addiction. He has created and hosted three award-winning TV series that have aired in over 20 countries, written seven acclaimed cookbooks, including his latest “Flavorbomb: A Rogue Guide to Making Everything Taste Better”, and broken eight food-related Guinness World Records. In his books and appearances around the globe, Bob transforms ordinary ingredients into wow-inspiring dishes through simple cooking methods and whimsical presentations that have become his culinary trademark. Bob’s first series, Surreal Gourmet, was a pioneering Food Network instructional show. It featured his signature recipes and was anchored by his iconic Toastermobile—an Airstream trailer tricked out with a professional kitchen and topped with two eight-foot-long slices of toast. In his genre-pushing competition series, Glutton for Punishment, Bob had five days to train for a physically daunting, food-related challenge, then had to compete against highly trained professionals with his newfound skill. Bob is an ambassador for Second Harvest in Toronto. He has personally raised over $250,000 to help alleviate hunger for the perishable food bank, and several other noble causes. When he is not traveling for work or pleasure—which is most of the time—the transplanted Canadian cycles daily in the canyons near his home under the “D” of the Hollywood sign, doing his best to stay in shape for his next big adventure.
A Belgian born multi-media artist and designer residing in the Los Angeles Arts District. Her design projects and artwork include numerous permanent and temporary murals and installations, as well as exhibiting in galleries. She works on multiple pieces in various media simultaneously, fueling the velocity of her creativity as she sways between the commercial and fine arts worlds. Her work focuses on the exploration of color, topography, geometry, nature’s phenomenons, architectural amalgamations, and optimism. In 2017, after a 12 year career in marketing for architecture, interior design, and real estate firms, she ventured off to start Caroline Geys Design Studio. She counts among her clients: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Dunn-Edwards Paints, ROW DTLA, Reebok West Hollywood and Santa Monica Collectives, City of Los Angeles Parks and Recreation, Arts District Brewery, Global Inheritance in association with Coachella Music Festival, MASAYA, Uprooted Dance Company, and Infuse Wellness. She shares the time and dedication that it takes from concept to execution with any mural and what working in a studio with three cats is like.
Puerto Rican born Rick Negron made his professional debut at age ten in a production of the musical The Me Nobody Knows in San Juan. By the time he graduated high school he had performed in musicals and danced on television with some of Puerto Rico’s top celebrities. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and briefly pursued a concert dance career before setting his sights on Broadway. His Broadway credits include: Leader of the Pack, Drood, Legs Diamond, Man of La Mancha, The Goodbye Girl, Ragtime (L.A.), Mamma Mia! (Sam Carmichael/LasVegas), In The Heights (Kevin Rosario). National Tours: West Side Story (Action, Riff, Bernardo), Man of La Mancha with Robert Goulet. Rick also danced in Michael Jackson’s Bad video and Chicago the movie. Currently he plays King George III in the "And Peggy Tour" of Hamilton. He is a proud member of AEA & SAG/AFTRA. Follow him on Instagram @1stpuertoricanking and learn more at ricknegron.com
One of the world’s greatest ventriloquists who also happens to be an extraordinary writer, comic, actor, cartoonist, poet and puppeteer. Jay considers his real job to be a tour guide on a journey into the imagination. He is best known for playing the schizophrenic role of Bob & Chuck Campbell on the classic television series Soap. His one man show Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! ran on Broadway and won the American Theatre Wing Tony Award for “Best Special Theatrical Event” in 2007. The show also won the Los Angeles Ovation Award for “Best Solo Show.” In high school he produced and starred in his own local television show sponsored by a car dealership that lead to summers performing in theme park shows at Six Flags over Texas, Astroworld and Six Flags over Georgia where he logged in 918 performances at the Crystal Pistol theater (that’s 10 shows a day for 13 weeks). Jay moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in television, landing over 30 national commercials, hosting three comedy specials, producing and performing in two network TV specials, two HBO specials, appearing as a guest on hundreds of variety shows and starring in four television series. On this episode of the podcast, Jay vents with Pat Hazell about creativity, theater and writing scenes where he plays all the characters.
A writer, actor, filmmaker, and activist all embodied in one talented muti-disciplinary artist. Candice is a soul-centered entrepreneur from Houston, Texas who believes in the transformative power of belief. She is the creator of Fatherland, WAIL and 30 Ways To Get Free. In Candice’s artistic productions she merges her academic background (B.A., Black Studies; Master of Public Administration) with a deep rooting in African spiritual traditions and the metaphysical world.She is currently commissioned to write a new play for Catastrophic Theatre, and is working on a new collection of poetry under the title INITIATION. She joins me to express her affection for the Oxford comma, to discuss her shows being created as a ceremony with a ritual attached and how along the way she learned to hold love & anger in the same hand.
A New York City based director, choreographer and educator who recently directed the London premiere of On The Edge, a new musical from composer Sam Hall. On Broadway he served as the Associate Choreographer of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical School of Rock, which he also had the privilege of staging in Sydney, Melbourne, and Seoul. He currently serves as the Associate Choreographer on the Broadway bound musical The Heart of Rock & Roll, celebrating the music of Huey Lewis, and on Ever After, a musical adaptation of the 1998 film. As a director, he staged readings of Nicolas Greco’s Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Marrying a Big-Breasted American Woman starring Anupam Kher and Grounded For Life at the York Theatre. He is currently choreographing Radio 930, a new musical centered around a group of young rebels in East Germany who used banned western rock music to bring about the fall of the Berlin Wall. As an Assistant Choreographer, he helped develop Barry Manilow’s Harmony for Center Theatre Group and The Alliance Theatre, The Nutty Professor with Jerry Lewis and Marvin Hamlisch, and the Broadway revival of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever starring Harry Connick, Jr. Patrick has staged concerts for Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara with the Boston Pops and for Mario Cantone on ABC’s “The View.” As a teacher, he has served on staff for Britney Spears’ and Usher’s performing arts intensives.
A master chocolatier who makes European-style chocolates and is recognized for igniting the artesian chocolate renaissance. Fran’s smoked salted caramels are reported to be a favorite of President Obama who frequently shared them with visitors to the White House. Fran’s passion for life underscores her appreciation of pure flavors paired with superb, fresh ingredients. Her joie d'vie and devotion to her art has been an inspiration for others. Her Gold Bars are considered the gold standard for sophisticated candy bars and are sold in specialty markets from coast to coast.She is the author of Pure Chocolate: Divine Desserts and Sweets from the Creator of Fran’s Chocolates and theowner of Fran’s Chocolates Ltd., located in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington.
A visual artist and designer that plants his flag at the center of art, nature & science. Christopher works with reclaimed organisms and natural elements to create breathtaking museum exhibits by transforming exotic insects and tropical sea creatures into astounding works of art. Marley’s artwork has been exhibited in hundreds of galleries worldwide. His solo exhibitions have been featured at The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, The Beaty Biodiversity Museum in Vancouver B.C., The Houston Museum of Natural Science, The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Stamford Art Museum, Los Angeles Museum of Art, WMODA and the Queens Museum. Many of the world’s most exclusive retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman, Saks 5th Avenue (NYC), Gumps (San Francisco), Barney’s (NYC) and La Galerie du Bon Marche (Paris) have also hosted solo exhibitions. His first book Pheromone, The Insect Art of Christopher Marley (Pomegranate, 2008)was named one of the Best Books of 2008 by The Times (UK) and his second book, Biophilia (Abrams, 2015) is a New York Times Bestseller. He maintains design studios in Willamette Valley, Oregon and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. On this episode Christopher shares what it was like to grow up with his dad’s dead birds in the freezer next to the popsicles, what he now keeps in his many freezers around the world and how important lighting is to displaying elements of nature.
A visual artist known for her hand-cut, wall-mounted paper forms and immersive, site-specific sculptures. Crystal’s colorful work exudes wonder and whimsy while being constructed from humble everyday materials like chicken wire and repurposed children’s birthday party tablecloths. Her sprawling installations can be seen bursting off of gallery walls and engulfing the outside of buildings from Lodz, Poland to Burlington, Vermont. She earned a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 2004 and received her MFA from the University of Tennessee in 2008. After a brief stint of teaching art at a college-level for five years, Crystal left academia to focus exclusively on her studio practice. She achieved her greatest notoriety for her immense, biomorphic site works that envelop the interiors and exteriors of buildings. These exuberant, boldly colored forms have a robust, eye-popping appeal. She is booked for installations in Miami, Arizona, Italy, Switzerland and France. On this episode, multi-dimensional wonder worker Crystal Wagner explains how she produced some of her most explosive works, tells us what it means to be an art generator and reveals that she has a tattoo of an exacto knife.
A Vice News Tonight correspondent covering stories at the intersection of politics and culture. Dexter is an Emmy-winning journalist plus two nominations and has contributed to Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage while working with the Los Angeles Times. He has a PhD in East Asian studies at Cornell University and is currently splitting his time between a pos-doctorate at Princeton and as documentary filmmaker. Dexter established the world’s largest public collection of Japanese hip-hop at UC Riverside and is writing a book on the topic. He began working in new media as a student director of programming at KUCR Radio, independently producing podcasts as well as music and news programs. He has written on topics as diverse as Internet and youth culture, social justice and video games. On this episode he shares how asking questions leads him to the stories he covers, the unfortunate number of times he has been confused for a protester while out with his camera crew and trying to get his father to crossover from Jazz to Rap.
A musician and songwriter for over 40 years who rose to the top of the charts as a member of the iconic band The Go-Go’s. Kathy wrote or co-wrote some of the bands most renowned tunes, including the hits Vacation and Head Over Heels. Her journey went from opening for The Rolling Stones to the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. She returned to Austin to pursue creative opportunities as a public speaker, spokesperson, producer and actor. Kathy is the author of a compelling memoir called All I Ever Wanted—a soundtrack of original music accompanies the book. Several of her songs are featured in the Broadway musical based on The Go-Go’s catalog Head over Heels, currently in regional productions across the country. She still finds time to play guitar in the all-female rock ‘n’ roll band she started called The Bluebonnets. On this episode we hear the story of John Belushi following her band to gigs around the country, how she finishes writing her songs incrementally and how being in a band was like being a member of a family that she really needed.
The Experience Architect for Virgin Galatic who was a 40-year veteran of Walt Disney’s Imagineering, the lead designer of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the principal creative force behind Walt Disney World Resort’s Expedition Everest thrill ride. Rohde was one of the lead designers on the Disney Vacation Club property Aulani in Oahu, Hawaii and is recognized as the creator of Pandora - The World of Avatar. He joined Disney Imagineering in 1980 during the development of Epcot as a model designer and scenic painter for the theme park's Mexico pavilion. He became a designer on the refurbishment of Fantasyland at Disneyland, the Captain EO 3D film attraction starring Michael Jackson, the Norway Pavilion at Epcot and the Adventurers Club within Pleasure Island entertainment district. Joe led the team that transformed the former Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure into Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!. On this episode, Rohde shares stories of his world travel and wanderlust, the power of details for creating a sense of place and the importance of a crooked palm tree.
A Grammy-nominated comedian and podcaster with 10 appearances on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and 4 appearances on Conan. His debut Comedy Central special, Full-Time Magic, and his debut album, Yelled At By a Clown, reached #1 on the iTunes Comedy Charts and remained on Billboard’s Top Ten Comedy Charts for weeks. Bargatze’s half-hour Netflix special on The Standups, premiered in 2017, and his first solo one-hour Netflix special, The Tennessee Kid, premiered globally to rave reviews in 2019. In 2021, he released his second Netflix special, The Greatest Average American, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album. He regularly performs at Bonnaroo, SXSW, Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival, and Sasquatch! Music Festival, Clusterfest, and the JFL Montreal Comedy Festival. Nate was featured as one of Esquire's ‘Best New Comedians’ by Jim Gaffigan, one of Marc Maron's ‘Comedians to Watch’ in Rolling Stone, one of Variety’s ‘10 Comics to Watch’ for 2015, and as #1 on Vulture's ‘50 Comedians You Should Know’ in 2015. His weekly podcast, Nateland, tackles the meaningless issues that we face day to day. In this episode Nate shares what it is like to be from a funny family, he gives his picks for the Mount Rushmore of Comedy and we explore the notion of starting a sanctuary in Nate’s name to protect gummy bears.
A visual designer born in Montreal, raised in Cincinnati, now living in Las Vegas where he serves as co-director with David Copperfield and as David’s design director. Homer is often multi-tasking between conceptual drawing and design, cinematography, theatrical lighting design, script development, illusion staging, and video/music editing and sound design. Homer's illusion designs and cinematography have been featured in David's live show since 1993, several Emmy-award-winning television specials on CBS, and with David's top-rated luxury private island - Musha Cay. Red Safe, David Copperfield's new movie production company, finds Homer collaborating on design, camera blocking, and original concepts for films such as Steve Carell's comedy, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (hangman illusion), the hit Now You See Me and Paranormal Activity 4. Homer also designed the featured explosive escape in The Amazing Race season finale on CBS, as well as helped devise David Copperfield's vanish and reappearance with Robin Williams on The Crazy Ones. In this episode of the podcast, we discuss Homer’s design style and extraordinary attention to detail, and he shares stories of the responsibility of shooting all the photographs for the book David Copperfield’s History of Magic.
A producer, executive creative director, and Imagineer for over 31 years, Doris Hardoon, has just received the Buzz Price Thea Award recognizing her for “a lifetime of distinguished achievements.” Beginning her themed entertainment career in 1975 at Marine World Africa USA as a graphic designer, Doris was hired four years later by WED Enterprises (now known as Walt Disney Imagineering), working on projects including EPCOT’s The Land Pavilion, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. Hardoon became a senior executive creative director, producer, and creative lead for a varied portfolio of investments, working at some point on all six Magic Kingdom-style Disney parks on three continents. Realizing the “Authentically Disney and Distinctly Chinese” philosophy, Doris lead the successful realization of the Shanghai Disney Resort that opened in 2016. She also served as a creative executive for WestCOT, Long Beach’s DisneySea, and Hong Kong Disneyland. Doris recently retired as an Imagineer and continues her work in the themed entertainment industry through her own design company DDesign Consultancy. On the podcast, she shares the cultural significance of her design choices, discusses how she came to be an Imagineer and she reveals hiding the names of some of her cherished teammates in the ironwork of Disneytown.
Anna Condo is a filmmaker and a photographer born in Armenia and raised in France. From a young age, Anna enjoyed a passion for the arts and a love for the natural world's mysteries. As a teenager, she took art classes at the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris. Upon graduation, she enrolled at the Université Paris Nanterre for Art History and Archeology. That same year, she landed a TV role, transferred to the drama school Cours Florent and launched an acting career. In 1989, Anna began living between New York City and Paris. While in New York, she attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, raised two beautiful daughters, collaborated with numerous artists, wrote and directed four short films and three feature films, and published her first book, "AH Allen," a powerful tribute to her friend, poet Allen Ginsberg. In 2013, Anna rekindled a fascination with photography choosing flowers as the ultimate muse. The medium and the models became a creative outlet in solitude, counterbalancing her filmmaking's collaborative spirit. Learn more on Instagram: @anna.condo.
A “Solo Show Powerhouse” and consummate storyteller with a full toolkit of characters, sound effects, impersonations and improvisation. Reed was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Dream On, The Cosby Show and Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime. Reed was an advertising & promotion executive at NBC for two years, then did voice-work for cartoons such as Disney’s Gargoyles, Spider-Man and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. In 2008, he debuted a solo autobiographical show titled East 14th: True Tales of a Reluctant Player and has presented a total of 5 solo shows altogether. In 2009, he became the warm-up comic for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – and performed stand-up to warm up the studio audience for over 1,000 episodes. NPR/WNYC’s Snap Judgment recognized his storytelling for Performance of the Year in 2016. Later that year Theater Bay Area gave his show East 14th the 2016 TBA award for Outstanding Solo Show. The same year, Reed co-starred in the streaming comedy series, Bartlett, with Broadway phenom Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Hamilton. In 2019, Don Reed was approached by writer/director/filmmaker Robert Townsend to co-produce his one man, theatrical hit Living the Shuffle. On this episode he shares the importance of truth in storytelling, explains how he writes on the move in his car, and encourages anyone who does stand-up to try a night of storytelling.
An award-winning American playwright, author, essayist, poet and professor at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Her plays include The Oldest Boy, Dear Elizabeth, Stage Kiss, In the Next Room, (or The Vibrator Play) (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2010); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2005; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2004); Passion Play (Pen American Award, Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play); Demeter in the City (nine NAACP Image Award nominations); Melancholy Play; Scenes From Court Life; How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday; Eurydice; Orlando and Late: A Cowboy Song. On this episode Sarah explains why it isn’t very cozy for a person to sit and read a play, she introduces the concept of Title Diagnosis to find the core of a story and she shares insights about her book “Smile: The Story of a Face”.
An established Hollywood screenwriter and novelist whose credits include Arachnophobia, True Believer, Final Analysis, Wolf, A Nightmare on Elm Streetand the Martin Scorsese remake of Cape Fear. As a “script doctor” he has done production polishes on such films as Batman Returns, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2. Strick wrote the original script for Tim Burton’s unproduced Superman Lives. His first novel Out There in the Dark was published by St. Martin’s Publishing Group and his second novel Whirlybird is available as a Kindle book. Since 1995, Wesley has served as a creative advisor at the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab. Strick is a writer/executive producer on the Amazon drama series, The Man in the High Castle. On this episode he talks about collaborating on projects with Tim Burton, studying creative writing with poet Thom Gunn and his early days as a rock journalist for Rolling Stone, Circus and Creem.
An award-winning creative director for cultural attractions, theme parks, and destinations. Cynthia is a principal for Thinkwell Group, a global experience design company. She has gained a reputation for combining creative approaches to exhibition and education development with a focused understanding of experiences as a means of advancing equity, inclusion, early education, and visitor behavior. Her adventures have put her in cahoots with Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and National Museum of Natural History, Google, Warner Bros. Entertainment, San Diego Zoo, Adler Planetarium, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, the U.S. Marshals Museum, Wahat Al Karama, Universal, and Space Center Houston. She shines a light on immersive audience experiences, the importance of decolonizing museum exhibits, and strives to tell more inclusive stories that are accessible to all.
An exceptional Photographer, Creative Director and Visual Storyteller known for his signature style with Beauty, Celebrity & Fashion Photography. His list of clients include Cardi B, Billy Porter, Priyanka Chopra, Lewis Hamilton, Ruby Rose, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Prince, Taraji P. Henson, Jim Parsons, Queen Latifah, Betty White & Kelly Clarkson. He has gone on to direct music videos for Kelly Rowland, Vanessa Williams & Erika Jayne. Mike made his feature film directorial debut with RuPaul’s uproarious comedy Starrbooty. He was recently named creative director and principal photographer for L’Officiel Fashion Book Australia, L’Officiel Fashion Book Monte Carlo and PhotoBook Magazine. Mike supports the Ali Forney Center, GMHC, The Trevor Project, Housing Works, It Gets Better Project, Live Out Loud, Project Angel Food, Stand Up for Pits Foundation and GLAAD. He serves on the honorary board of the “Let There Be Hope” research foundation. On this episode he shares what it was like shooting with Prince at Paisley Park, he explains his rich fantasy life as a kid and how the discovery of his first camera allowed him to express his vision of the world. To learn more go to MikeRuiz.com.
A professional, confessional writer and producer who created the TV series The New Adventures of Old Christine and Call Your Mother. She served as co-executive producer on Will & Grace and is the author of a book of humorous and unflinching essays on midlife called Aren’t You Forgetting Someone? Essays from my Mid-Life Revenge. Kari started her career writing for the series Weird Science and creating the TV show Maggie Winters. She tells us the responsibilities required to be a television showrunner, explains how her face got covered in poison oak and reveals the lies she told as a kid.
A world-class illusionist and the choreographer & artistic director of Austin’s long-running musical/comedy review Esther’s Follies. Ray is the featured performer in this theatrical juggernaut blending illusion, comedy, and audience participation into one of the most carefully constructed performances in the magic world today. There isn't a dull moment when Ray is onstage. Performing immaculate and inventive large-scale illusions, or parodying the genre, his talent shines as a Follies treasure. The Academy of Magical Arts recently recognized Ray with a prestigious Performing Fellowship. Ray shares stories of what he has seen through the picture window behind him on stage and how he develops his routines so effectively to music.
Journey is the Executive Director of the National Comedy Center, the nation’s official cultural institution dedicated to the art of comedy. Under Journey’s direction, the National Comedy Center leads the way in 21st Century museum design, featuring state-of-the-art technology, interactivity, and customization for visitors of all ages. Blooloop recognized Gunderson as one of the Top Museum Influencers in the world. Under her leadership, The National Comedy Center was named “Best New Museum” in the country in 2020 by USA Today, one of the “World’s Greatest Places” by TIME magazine, and one of “100 Reasons to Love America” by People magazine. The Interrobang named Journey and her design team second on its list of “Innovators Who Changed Comedy.” Gunderson also serves as Executive Director of Jamestown New York’s Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum and the acclaimed Lucille Ball Comedy Festival. In this episode, she talks about the importance of maintaining the archives of George Carlin, Carl Reiner, Joan Rivers, The Smothers Brothers, and many others. She also recounts filling time on a microphone waiting for Dan Aykroyd to make an entrance on a motorcycle at the grand opening and introduces us to comedy karaoke. There is definitely something funny going on around her.
The director and writer of the comedy martial arts movie The Paper Tigers, Bao tells global stories that have universal appeal. Mentored by master action director Corey Yuen, Bao Tran’s approach draws on spectacle through story and character. ScreenAnarchy commended his written-and-directed short Bookie for its “flawlessly realized world populated by entirely fleshed out and believable characters, driven by a compelling narrative and brought to sumptuous life.” His editing credits include Cho Lon, one of Southeast Asia’s highest-budgeted action blockbusters, and Jackpot, a heartfelt comedy selected as Vietnam’s official entry to the 2016 Oscars for Best Foreign Film. Bao's feature The Paper Tigers garnered praise from Collider as “an impressive feature debut with confident command of the narrative and action alike, it’s an absolutely lovely time at the movies.” Rotten Tomatoes ranks it as one of the top Action Comedies and Asian American Movies with a Certified Fresh rating. He tells us the impact that Corey Yuen had on him as a kid, he shares Brad Bird’s advice that the job of a storyteller is telling campfire stories as big as the world and together Bao and Pat take a shot at the first kung fu fight on a podcast.
An award-winning and accredited German art conservator for paintings and sculptures in Los Angeles with over 15 years of experience in the field of cultural heritage conservation. She completed graduate studies in Art Conservation and has held positions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Balboa Art Conservation Center, the National Gallery of Denmark, and for the German Government. Kamila is the founder of LA Art Labs on Museum Row in Los Angeles that employs scientific techniques and instrumentation to achieve museum-quality results. In this week’s episode, Kamila tells us about her pigment collection, including colors from an Egyptian mummy, and she shares stories about working on restoring everything from Picasso to Banksy.
Brian Regan is one of the most respected comedians in America and a veteran of Late Night TV with multiple appearances on The Tonight Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. His Netflix stand-up specials include: Brian Regan: On The Rocks and Brian Regan: Nunchucks and Flamethrowers, which is also available as a vinyl album. Brian stars in his own original half-hour Netflix series, Stand Up and Away! With Brian Regan combining sketch and stand-up comedy, executive produced by himself and Jerry Seinfeld. His 30-plus year career of touring theaters has taken him to The Leicester Square Theatre in London, The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, The Beacon Theatre, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver and the Vivant Arena in Salt Lake City. Brian’s other comedy releases include: Live From Radio City Music Hall, All By Myself, The Epitome of Hyperbole, Standing Up, I Walked on the Moon and Brian Regan Live. On this episode Brian impresses the importance of power napping, how he found his voice as a comic who avoided explicit material and why he considers himself ‘The Laziest Playwright’ of all time.
Colette is an award-winning short fiction writer, teacher and mentor. Her short story collection Once Removed won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the NYC Big Book Award for Short Story Collections, and the Juror’s Choice Award and the Short Stories Award from the National Indie Excellence Awards. Her work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Harvard Review, Kenyon Review Online, Slice, Carve, The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner and Colorado Review. Her other awards include a Writers@Work Fiction Prize, a Glenna Luschei Award, a Reynolds Price Short Fiction Award, and a Truman Capote fellowship from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, where she completed her MFA. She has taught writing for 20 years, currently at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, as well as privately. She co-hosts the Literary Roadhouse Bookclub Podcast and is the Executive Director of The CineStory Foundation, a nonprofit mentoring organization for emerging TV writers and screenwriters. On this episode Colette discusses being an identical twin, the importance of a good opening line and the value of ass-in-the-chair time.
A versatile musician and the co-founder of the Brooklyn-based alt rock band “They Might Be Giants” known for their uniquely experimental and absurdist style using surreal, humorous lyrics and unconventional instruments in their songs. John is a singer/songwriter, who plays accordion, baritone, bass saxophone, clarinet and keyboards. TMBG has released 23 albums and has two Grammy Awards. John shares the impact his parents’ record collection had on him, the way his band found success in children’s music and he gives insight into TMBG’s newest album: “Book” with partner John Flansburgh.
An award-winning librettist and lyricist that serves on National Council of the Dramatists Guild of America. Cheryl has been a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists since 2008, and serves as the company’s Director of New Musical Theatre Development. She has co-written more than a dozen musicals that have been developed and showcased at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Conference, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Works and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Her original novelty songs have been featured on Good Morning America, the Today Show, and NPR’s Morning Edition. On this episode Cheryl breaks down the architecture of musical theatre, explains how getting someone to like a musical is like getting them to like sushi and shares Stephen Sondheim’s affinity for perfect rhyme.
A Southern California artist whose practice is focused mainly on abstract and figurative painting, as well as sculpture, printmaking and music. Tim studied fine art at Otis-Parsons before entering the animation and illustration industries where he honed his technical skills. His complex color and design theories pushed forward a decidedly populist aesthetic, which has continued to develop and morph over time. He’s the author of an extraordinary retrospective monograph/autobiography entitled Tree of Life. Tim shares the amazing sense of accomplishment he feels when filling up a sketchbook, his affection for the quality of estate sale paper and his ability to get out of the way so that art can be made.
Jackie is 35 year veteran of stand-up comedy whose albums have been #1 on Amazon and iTunes and have over fifty million views on Spotify and Pandora. She is the host of two podcasts, the long running The Dork Forest and her new show The Jackie & Laurie Show co-hosted with fellow comic/writer, Laurie Kilmartin. Kashian’s list of acclaimed comedy specials include This Will Make an Excellent Horcrux, which was named one of Vulture’s best stand-up comedy specials, and I Am Not The Hero of This Story. Her latest special is Stay-Kashian now available everywhere. On this episode we talk about the first joke she ever wrote, the invention of her childhood game “Imagination” and we break down the definitions of Dork, Nerd, Dweeb, Weirdo and Geek.
A world-class paleo artist who produces natural history and prehistoric life models for museums, publishing, and film. Gary has a degree in Art/Biology and he interned at the Smithsonian Institution and the British Museum of Natural History. He has created sculptures for National Geographic, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the BBC, The Discovery Channel, and The American Museum of Natural History. His work recreating the mummy of the “Iceman” can be seen on PBS, in the NOVA special Iceman Reborn. Gary is a mammoth talent in a bigger-than-life profession. We talk about the physical conundrum of getting a 52-foot Megaladon through a man-size door and how he often disturbed his teachers by bringing roadkill to school for show & tell.
This creative director, feminist researcher, and writer resides at the intersection of art, technology, and social justice. She is the Augmented and Virtual Realities Lead at the Atlantic Institute in Oxford, England. Alice is the founder of Herstory, a project that uses art and culture to engage people with women’s history. She has worked with Magic Leap, U2, The Gates Foundation, Tate, and Penguin Books. In this episode, she shares what it’s like to collaborate with the band U2, offers insights on her time developing Mica—the first digital human and she encourages Pat to join her in becoming an Accidental Technologist. Keep your AI on this bright talent and forward thinker.
The author of Crazy Screenwriting Secrets: How to Capture a Global Audience and an accomplished international storyteller who wrote and produced the Chinese-language romance film 100 Days. Weiko is an associate professor at Emerson College, a Fulbright Senior Specialist, a Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award recipient, and an AMPAS Nicholl Fellowship finalist. He has written projects for The Walt Disney Company, The Mark Gordon Company, Turner Broadcasting’s Super Deluxe, Ivanhoe Pictures (SK Global Entertainment), Don Mischer Productions, and Wanda Pictures. Weiko Lin shares the importance of comfort food in Eastern Culture, how much fear impacts the stories he tells, and why he has an affection for the movie Rain Man as he chats with Pat from Taipei.
An accomplished actor who is the computer voice of the Starship La Sirena in the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Picard, the voice of Bellroc in tandem with Piotr Michael in Wizards; the third installment of Guillermo Del Toro’s epic trilogy Tales of Arcadia and the voice of Ana in Lara Croft: Rise of the Tomb Raider. Kay has choice voice roles in renowned gaming franchises such as The Last of Us II, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Agents of MAYHEM, Skylanders: SuperChargers, State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3, Final Fantasy XV, and Fallout 76. She also voices roles in noted animation series such as The Loud House, Spirit Riding Free, and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. Kay is the host of The B-Hive Podcast: Women in VoiceOver. On today’s episode of Creativity in Captivity she reminds us that the audition really is the job, that there is no expiration date on your career and she reads Pat Hazell’s poem Kid’s Table as a Thanksgiving treat.
A stand-up comedian, actor, and visual artist who is a nine-year veteran of Saturday Night Live is known for his characters Mr. Subliminal, Tarzan, and Franz (of Hans and Franz), and as an anchor on Weekend Update. Kevin was a series regular on Weeds, Man with a Plan, and Glenn Martin, DDS. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Conan. Kevin has made numerous guest appearances on shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show. His feature films include All I want for Christmas, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, Anger Management, Little Nicky, and Daddy Daycare. He hosts Hiking with Kevin on YouTube. In this episode, he shares with us the secret to sketching a good caricature, his admiration of Leonardo da Vinci and advice he received from Joan Rivers about surviving life on the road.
A New York Times best-selling author of five books: Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work!, Keep Going, The Steal Like an Artist Journal, and Newspaper Blackout. Austinhas spoken as a guest presenter at Pixar, Google, Adobe, and TEDx, and at conferences such as The Economist’s Human Potential Summit and SXSW. His work focuses on creativity in today’s world. In this episode, we learn why he thinks it is important to keep unread books around, why he considers play to be serious business and why the greatest gift you can give an artist is space to do their work. Austin is a man who makes art with words and books with pictures.
A journalist, documentary filmmaker and the founder & CEO of Emblematic Group widely credited with helping create the genre of immersive journalism. Nonny combines Unity graphics with real witness audio to recreate powerful events the user can experience using virtual reality headsets. She was selected by Wired Magazine as a “Make Tech Human Agent of Change” and Fast Company listed her as one of the “13 People Who Made the World More Creative.” Nonny is also the program director of ASU’s Center for Emerging Media and Narrative. She is a 2018 New America Fellow, a member of the BAFTA VR Advisory Group, a Ted Talk speaker, and the 2016 recipient of the Knight Innovation Award. De la Peña is a former correspondent of Newsweek, a writer for The New York Times and other major news organizations. In this episode, she shares her views on empathy in storytelling, the importance of connection, and how the immersive experience can give a person the feeling of a duality of presence.
An actor, author, musician and magician who is the former frontman for the post punk-pop group Possum Dixon, and wrote the captivating memoir Strange Cures. Rob Zabrecky is a regular performer at the Magic Castle in Hollywood who frequently hosts séances for private events. As an actor, Rob landed a supporting role in the supernatural drama, A Ghost Story. His other film credits include a supporting role in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River, and a starring role in the psychological thriller, Decay, portraying a troubled theme park groundskeeper who falls in love with a corpse. As a television actor he has been on GLOW, Strange Angel, Criminal Minds, CSI: NY, Comedy Bang! Bang! and Angie Tribeca. In 2019, he and his wife Tommi Zabrecky created the supernatural comedy series, Other Side with Zabrecky. In each episode, Zabrecky invites guests into his home to participate in a séance to contact a departed spirit of their choice. Guests have included Jack Black, Jason Sudeikis, Kate Flannery, Will Forte, and David Arquette. On this episode of the podcast Rob shares that he is never afraid to fail, he explains what art tears are, and he encourages us all to be “punk” in spirit. Pat and Rob are both very intrigued by the concept of a zombie paintball hayrack ride as Halloween approaches.
This five-time Tony Award-winning stage & film Director/Choreographer brought to life The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Crazy For You, Contact, The Scottsboro Boys, Bullets Over Broadway, Steel Pier, Big Fish, The Music Man and Prince of Broadway. For 10 years she choreographed Madison Square Garden’s annual spectacular A Christmas Carol. She made herMetropolitan Opera debut directing and choreographing The Merry Widow. For the New York City Ballet, she created Double Feature and For the Love of Duke. She has collaborated with the Kennedy Center, The Boston Pops, Martha Graham Company, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Her choreography received an Emmy nomination for the HBO presentation of Liza Minnelli – Live from Radio City Music Hall, starring Liza Minnelli. She directed and choreographed the Broadway-bound Ahrens + Flaherty musical Little Dancer for The Kennedy Center and Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre. In collaboration with the Williamstown Theatre Festival, she directed the play Photograph 51for Audible. In this episode, Stro tells us what it is like to cast a show virtually, the difference between directing The Producers musical on stage and for film, and she reminisces about choreographing dancing beer cans for a Miller High Life industrial.
An award-winning character actor recognized for his salute to the lunacy and legacy of Groucho Marx and his portrayal of the outrageous Latin Lover Caesar in Teatro ZinZanni. Frank is a theatrical barnstormer and has performed lead roles at the Arena Stage, Goodspeed Opera House, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Milwaukee Rep, Bucks County Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Boston's Huntington Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse and Alliance Theatre. Ferrante is the in-house director at the Walnut Street Theatre for the critically-acclaimed revivals of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, The Sunshine Boys and Lost in Yonkers. The film version of his stage show Frank Ferrante's An Evening with Groucho premieres on public television in Spring, 2022. On this episode he shares insights on the importance of preparation when creating and channeling characters and the value of focusing on “quality of performance” in every show.
This poetic polymath was born in Cape Town, South Africa. The daughter of jazz musicians Sathima Bea Benjamin and Abdullah Ibrahim, she was raised in New York City and studied vocal performance at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. Jean was destined to be an entertainer from her earliest days dancing with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. She is a versatile writer, musician, director, producer, actor, and lightning rod lyricist who enjoys expression in all mediums. Jean put rap music behind her in 2018, but has since self-released her music through her website and Bandcamp. Her latest album, Everything’s Fine, was a collaboration with partner Quelle Chris, with cameos from Hannibal Buress, Nick Offerman, Michael Che, and John Hodgman. Jean developed an online sitcom, wrote an audiobook, and created the non-denominational ministry called the Church of the Infinite You as a way of connecting and motivating people who don’t do church. In this episode, she reminds young artists of the importance of getting yourself a good lawyer, and we discuss the power of the “F” word. If you haven’t figured it out, Jean is a creative force; if she can dream it, she can deliver it. (Photo Credit: Mindy Tucker)
This iconic Hollywood talent manager that represented Jerry Seinfeld, Andy Kauffman & Carl Reiner began in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency in New York. He soon became an agent and accompanied Elvis to an early appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. He served as a packaging agent for a series of hit shows: The Steve Allen Show, That Girl, Gomer Pyle and specials for Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing. He broke away from the agency life to form the personal management company Shapiro / West Productions with his partner Howard West and they executive produced NBC’s Seinfeld, Andy Kaufman at Carnegie Hall and the film Man on the Moon starring Jim Carrey. The David Lynch Foundation presented Shapiro with the Lifetime Bliss Award in 2012 at a starred-studded comedy fundraiser in Beverly Hills. George and Aimee Hyatt produced the documentaries The Bronx Boys, If You’re Not In the Obits, Eat Breakfast and The Bronx Boys Still Playing at 80. On this episode George shares stories of Andy Kaufman’s first appearance on SNL, he reveals the life highlights of being hugged by Paul McCartney and holding hands with Liz Taylor. He also tells young managers and agents that they need to fall in love with a comedian to represent them well.
Jerry Seinfeld is best known for playing a semi-fictionalized version of himself on NBC’s Seinfeld, which he co-created and wrote with Larry David. The show aired from 1989- 1998 becoming one of the most popular American sitcoms of all time. Seinfeld also produced and co-wrote the film Bee Movie, the reality series The Marriage Ref, the documentary Comedian, and is the host of the web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. For his TV work, he received 20 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and has four Grammy nominations for his comedy albums. In October 2020, Jerry released his newest book, Is This Anything?, chronicling his 45 years working in comedy. His most recent Netflix special is titled 23 Hours to Kill. On the podcast, he shares how he approaches writing new material like he is viewing it with a drone, the powerful reset he gets from practicing transcendental meditation, and offers advice that to be a success you must learn to be your own boss and the employee at the same time.
An accomplished stage and TV actress, theatre educator, and singer who originated the Broadway roles of Vanessa in In The Heights and Satine in the stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge! She portrayed Angelica Schyler in the Chicago production of Hamilton and received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Anita in West Side Story. Today she reveals what it means to be a “Swing” in a Broadway show, the intensity of performances once you are nominated for a Tony and she explains how important it is for her students to discover the intention in the material that leads to the passion and ultimately better performance. Whether she is performing, teaching, or engaging in activism, Karen Olivo knows how to shine.
This multi-talented comedian and podcast host served as a writer and Co-Executive Producer on The Simpsons. He has numerous HBO specials as well as appearances on Conan and Letterman. He appeared as an actor on Seinfeld and The Ben Stiller Show. He created the series Stan Against Evil and co-created MTV’s Super Adventure Team. He hosts his own podcast The Dana Gould Hour available everywhere in the known universe. In this episode, he shares his love of Planet of the Apes, Johnny Carson, and the genre of horror. He explains how laughter and screams both offer a way to relieve tension. Together he and Pat explore the clever names of animal groupings and birds of prey.
A dynamic award-winning Magicienne and the executive director of Magicana, a Toronto-based Arts Organization, dedicated to the study, exploration, and advancement of magic as a performing art. Julie was one of the founders of My Magic Hands a community outreach program for at-risk youth. She was also instrumental in launching Senior Sorcery an interactive magic program designed to engage and empower isolated seniors. Julie was featured in CBC’s The Nature of Things episode “The Science of Magic. On the podcast, she tells us about her life as a thriving archivist and what it’s like growing up in Victoria, BC behind the counter of her father’s Trick & Joke Shop.
An award-winning screenwriter, director, and author who has worked in film, television, and comic books for over 30 years. His book on story structure Invisible Ink has been translated into several languages and is required reading for interns at Pixar Animation Studios. He is also the author of The Golden Theme, Ink Spots, and Old Souls. As a story consultant Brian has taught story construction and consulted for Disney Feature Animation, Cirque Du Soleil, Amazon, Ford Motor Company, Sony Interactive, Future of Storytelling, and Microsoft. McDonald is a partner and the Chief Storyteller at Belief Agency in Seattle, Washington where he hosts the podcast You Are a Storyteller.
As an artist, songwriter & producer Maia is active in the music business. Her songs have been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, The Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, Keb’ Mo’, Cher, Edwin McCain, Art Garfunkel, and Lisa Loeb. She has appeared on NPR's All Things Considered, CBS Early Morning, and The Today Show. Maia has been writing for Songwriting with Soldiers since 2017. She wrote and sings the theme song for the Creativity in Captivity podcast. She has recorded eight solos records and recently released Mercy Rising, her boldest, most confessional album to date. She shares with Pat her experience of writing for Songwriting with Soldiers and reveals the inspiration behind the lyrics of her song “Death by Perfection.”
A Mid-century pop culture expert who is a performer, author of coffee table books, and collector celebrating classic and kitschy American life and style. Charles has appeared on Jay Leno’s Garage, Martha Stewart, Conan, and Queen Latifah Show; also serving as a judge on Cake Wars Christmas and Nailed It, as well as a vintage appraiser on Storage Wars. He is known for his spirited live slide shows, classic car JOYRIDE videos, and fun “field trip” tours. Join us to see why the New York Times refers to Charles Phoenix as “The King of Retro” and listen as he shares the secret to making the “The Mythical Food of the Gods” Ambrosia.
This Musical Pioneer has beamed her music into space, been appointed a United Nations Women role model for Innovation, and held an acclaimed solo exhibition of her ‘world first’ album designs at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Wired Magazine named Beatie one of the “22 People Changing The World.” She is at the forefront of delivering new formats for music that bridge the physical and the digital, including a 3D palm top theater, a wearable record jacket made from fabric woven with Wolfe’s music embedded in it, tailored by British style-maker Mr. Fish who created custom clothing for David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, and The Rolling Stones. In this episode, she reminds us of the importance of a tangible experience with music to imprint memories on the brain and the powerful impact that working with people living with dementia is having on her work. Beatie Wolfe is sure to inspire you and offer new ways to look at the world around you and listen to life on a far deeper level.
An artist and iconic illustrator of pin-up art whose paintings appeared in Playboy and dominated the scene in periodicals, paperbacks, advertising, and movie posters. Olivia is known for painting burlesque goddesses, women warriors, fashion & fantasy. She brings to life such powerful screen sirens as Bettie Page, Cat Woman, Morticia Adams, and Wonder Woman. Her artwork has been shown in galleries throughout the United States and Japan. She and her partner Joel started the O Card Company to publish Olivia’s images as greeting cards and they created Ozone Productions to license her artwork worldwide. In this episode, she talks about how illustrating erotic fantasies for men’s magazines allowed her to make ends meet and learning the discipline of how to sit down and do the work rather than waiting for inspiration.
Check out her popular page on Instagram: @oliviapinupart
Website: eOlivia.com
The Author of The War of Art, The Artist Journey, Do The Work, Turning Pro, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, Tides of War, The Afghan Campaign, Killing Rommel, Last of The Amazons, and A Man at Arms. In addition to historical fiction and inspiring non-fiction books, Steven also wrote the screenplays for King Kong Lives, Above The Law, Feejack, and Joshua Tree/ Army of One. In this episode, he shares tips for avoiding “The Resistance” which plagues us all, and gives advice on how to maintain a healthy relationship with the muse. If you are an aspiring writer this is a great voice to hear talk about the creative process.
An influential artist in the modern resurgence of rock/pop poster art as well as serigraph and fine art production. Rogers has designed poster imagery for musical powerhouses such as Queens Of The Stone Age, Neil Young, Tool, Deftones, Radiohead, Tori Amos, David Bowie, Morrissey, The Cure, and Public Enemy. He is also a noted designer in the field of limited-edition vinyl art figures with releases through Strangeco, Jamungo and Kidrobot. His work is included in the permanent collections at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In this episode, he shares the ins and outs of being a visual artist and reveals the way that he infects his artwork with words and ideas by continuously crafting images that push boundaries, whether social, cultural, or aesthetic. He is riding high on the top shelf of low-brow art.
A versatile actor and director best known for his role as George Costanza on NBC’s Seinfeld for which he was nominated for seven consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globes. He is also recognized for his work in the films Pretty Woman, Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the title character in the animated series Duckman. Jason has guest-starred on many TV shows including Dream On, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Alexander is an accomplished singer and dancer that has graced the boards of Broadway in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, Kander & Ebb’s The Rink, Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound, and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway for which he won both a Tony Award and a Grammy Award. He appeared with Martin Short in the Los Angeles production of Mel Brooks’s The Producers. He served as the artistic director of Reprise! Broadway's Best in Los Angeles, where he has directed several musicals.
In this episode Jason lets us in on the advice he gave Larry David about the rigors and routine of being in a Broadway show and he tells us about the creative and therapeutic sensation of working in ceramics that quiets his mind.
A dynamic musical artist and film composer that takes cello to new heights with her visionary style of creating songs and inspiring young musicians through her mentoring, film scoring, and education in the arts. Jenn collaborates with double platinum billboard artist B.o.B.; Michael Malarkey of the hit TV series Vampire Diaries; and filmmaker, Chris Anthony Hamilton on the original music for his film Body and Son. In this episode of Creativity in Captivity she explains the art of looping when creating a film score and treats us to an impromptu concert by accepting a spontaneous cello challenge from Pat to underscore random scenes that he tosses out on the fly.
The Iconic voice actor, puppeteer and filmmaker responsible for bringing to life Yoda, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear & Cookie Monster as well as being the Legendary Director of the movies “What About Bob?” “The Score,” “Death at a Funeral,” “Bowfinger,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “The Dark Crystal” and “Little Shop of Horrors.” You will hear why Frank is described by Steve Martin as being “Precise and Playful” and learn how with both drama and comedy he keeps his focus on the honest impulses.
An actress, producer & director whose talents and curiosity allow her to shape-shift to many mediums. Dreya is well known for being the Aerial Choreographer for Pink & Cher, but also produced and starred in the films The Gymnast, The Aerialist, and The Marine Story. Her directing credits include the stage and movie versions of Frank Ferrante’s Groucho. She is a former Olympian that starred in the P90X DVD fitness series and the immersive theatrical experience: Teatro ZinZanni. She has toured nationally with Rihana, Madonna, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. In this episode, Dreya inspires us in a dynamic conversation infused with her vibrant energy as she explains the intoxication of being able to truly fly and the understanding of the catastrophic risk she undertakes. You will think you can achieve your wildest dreams after an hour with this uplifting artist.
A Hip Hop artist and comedian that hosts the popular podcast “What Had Happened Was.” This multi-talented indie recording artist with albums such as “Brick Body Kids Still Daydream,” “Dark Comedy” and “Anime, Trauma + Divorce” knows firsthand the difficulty of choosing the right clothes that allow you to teach during the day and do rap shows at night. He also shares with us how a war-of-words on Twitter escalated to a full contact face-off in the wrestling ring.
Open Mike Eagle also runs our partnering Network STONY ISLAND AUDIO.
You can find more about Open Mike Eagle on his WEBSITE and INSTAGRAM.
Academy Award-nominated Producer of “Over The Moon,” known for her work on “Abominable” and “Kung Fu Panda 3” shares advice about the importance of writing just one page and introduces us to an original composition created by her son Bailey during quarantine. This Producer at Netflix Animation and the Director of the short film “Awakening: An Anthemic celebration of Asian Americans” knows how to tell a story that transports us to new worlds.
Peilin Partnered with CAPE and other Asian American Artists to create AWAKENING: Am Anthemic Celebration of Asian American, it brought out the entire Podcast team to tears, please watch and enjoy. Watch Here.
Chief Creative Officer of Pixar & Academy Award-Winning Writer & Director of “Soul”, “Inside Out” and “Up”, Pete Docter, brings humor, heart, and humanity to the creative process and talks about the major influence that making flipbooks had on him growing up that lead to working on “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2,” "A Bug’s Life” and “Monsters, Inc.”
Pat Hazell speaks to A-list creatives about their process, craft, inspiration, and incubation of ideas. An inspired insider dialogue on a variety of disciplines allows the listener to have a seat at the creative coffee table. Join us for a better understanding of this elusive muse every Thursday with Pat and his friends as they demystify the transferable nature of creativity.
Creativity is a powerful force that reveals itself unexpectedly, it often comes with a dose of imposter syndrome or feeling blocked from your full expression. Take a seat at the table to understand this seemingly elusive muse every Thursday with Pat and his friends, demystifying the transferable nature of creativity.
As the Chief Creative Officer at Sweetwood Creative: Your Humor Resources Department, Pat is in the unique position to collaborate with production companies, ad agencies, visual artists, screenwriters, theatre designers, comedians, directors, songwriters, magicians, and a variety of other masters of technical jiggery-pokery. Who will wander in from the wild this week? Find out by setting your sights on the play button now!
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