Employee of the Month

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ISAAC OLIVER on writing his debut book, porn, and Lilith Fair Oct 19, 2016

Show notes

Isaac Oliver is the author of INTIMACY IDIOT, which was named one of NPR's Best Books of 2015. Even if you read it in 2016, you'll see why his writing has been featured on BuzzFeed, Gawker, and Out Magazine. A gifted storyteller, Isaac Oliver regularly performs his stories. It was delightful to interview him live at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater.

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LAURA BENANTI sings and talks vibrators, Melania Trump, and pregnancy Oct 12, 2016

Show notes

Tony Award-winner LAURA BENANTI is playing all over the country so catch her singing live. You may recognize her from her impression of Melania Trump which went viral.

She was also a smash hit in the 2016 Tony nominated role of Amalia Balash in the hit Broadway Musical, She Loves Me. Benanti became a broadway baby when she was a little older than a baby, at the tender age of 18.

She also received a Drama Desk award, Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony Award Nomination for her starring role in the Broadway production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and, in our interview we spoke about her turn in the Broadway production of Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play.

I had the joy of seeing Benanti in Gypsy, which earned her the 2008 Tony Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award. Her other Broadway roles include The Wedding Singer, Nine, Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, Swing! and more.

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MAYA RUDOLPH talks Prince, Oprah, and performs Oct 05, 2016

Show notes

Maya Rudolph is pure joy. After wrapping the first season of NBC’s Maya and Marty, her comedy variety show with Martin Short, Maya toured with her college friend Gretchen Lieberum to sold out crowds. Their band Princess pays tribute to the late genius Prince, Princess and in our interview, we spoke about how Prince enjoyed their Valentine to his legacy. Maya and Gretchen even gave us glimpse into why their show is so fun. The secret is in the sauce.

On Maya and Marty, Rudolph sings and breathes light into loopy characters, much like the ones that endeared her to audiences and the celebrities she depicted on SNL, such as Oprah. We spoke about how Lorne Michaels hired Rudolph because of her “daring exuberant spirit and how being on SNL was always Maya’s dream. Many performers share that dream, but Maya infuses her depictions with utter originality and a familiar quality, enabling audiences to go wherever she takes us.

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PATTI LUPONE sings with Tituss Burgess & talks sex, showbiz & crabs Jun 15, 2016

Show notes

Patti LuPone may be best know for her irresistible voice, but the two-time Grammy and Tony, and Olivier Award winner’s secret weapon is feeling everything. Lord knows, especially on stage, there are actors who overact and mug, in doing so, leave no room for audiences to respond. Then there are ones who are so muted, that if you stuck a needle in their limp arm, they wouldn’t flinch. LuPone thrives when she can be unflinchingly honest in a performance, which requires discipline to turn into art. She did in Evita, Gypsy, and Anything Goes, as well and now in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful. LuPone is equally at home doing comedy and has had stints on comedian Brett Gelman’s terrifyingly funny short on Adult Swim and Lena Dunham’s GIRLS on HBO.

LuPone is funny, candid, and whip-smart off stage, which isn’t surprising, but no less mesmerizing. Our conversation was recorded live at Joe’s Pub. In it, LuPone revealed that you can get crabs as easily from sex as you can from the theater.

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JON HAMM on Mercedes Benz, dick jokes, and dating games Jun 08, 2016

Show notes

JON HAMM is best known for revolutionizing how society envisions masculinity, in all of its raw sensuality, insatiable competitive hunger, arrogance, and corrosive loneliness, in his deft portrayal of Don Draper, but he is equally deft at comedy. Happy to laugh at himself, a necessity when you look like (and were) a star high school football player, Hamm is clearly a team player which makes him enjoyable to work with, as evidenced in how often TV creators like Tina Fey and Robert Carlock find excuses to cast him. Of course, Hamm is ultimately cast because he delivers. In Mad Men Bridesmaids, 30 Rock, and SNL, he seems to only hit home runs.

Still, Hamm, like any actor, needed directors and show creators to go to bat for him when he hadn’t yet had the opportunities to prove himself. Hamm says he struggled for years in his early twenties. (I thought that was the definition of being in your twenties).

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TITUSS BURGESS talks Tina Fey, Patti LuPone & reveals new Pinot Noirs! Jun 03, 2016

Show notes

Peeno Noir is Expanding! Actor Tituss Burgess’s real wine company Pinot Noir, inspired by his Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s character viral music video, will unveil a new wine for Pride Week and a rosé. Whether your celebrating the LGBTQ or can’t get enough of the nimble actor and deliriously delightful singer, you’ll feel better about splurging on Pinot Noir after seeing how Burgess does in a blind taste test. Catie Lazarus, host of Employee of the Month, wanted to see if the 37 years old, Georgia native really knows his wine. A consummate performer, Burgess was game. His honesty and humility, as much as his humor, makes their interview a must listen.

“Sometimes on Broadway, you have an inflated budget to do what is essentially a community theater production,” Burgess explains with refreshing candor. Without missing a beat, he flashes a mischievous grin. As he acknowledges the bad and the ugly about working in theater, he never forgets the good.

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JEN MARLOWE, social activist talks about activism from Palestine to Black Lives Matter May 27, 2016

Show notes

Jen Marlowe has committed every ounce of her being to activism, be it Black Lives Matter, Palestinian rights, prisoner's rights, and many more. In our conversation, we spoke about the methods she finds most useful, namely documentary filmmaking, playwriting, books, and community based education. She also speaks about being fired and the financial struggles, as well as how her politics have evolved throughout her career.

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SUZAN-LORI PARKS on academics, writing for Amazon, and James Baldwin May 23, 2016

Show notes

I've never understood why MacArthur Foundation gives grants to geniuses, shouldn't they give them to the rest of us shlubs who are lucky if we can write a legible grocery list, never mind, pen rapturous plays? Luckily for the rare geniuses, MacArthur Foundation insists on honoring them. Employee of the Month was thrilled to follow MacArthur's lead and honor Suzan-Lori Parks, a playwright, novelist and screenwriter, and interview her about her illustrious career.

Parks has repeatedly re-imaged playwriting, with plays like Top Dog/Underdog, which she won a Tony and Pulitzer, the first for an African-American female playwright. She also created 365 Plays/365 Days, which meant that she'd write a play a day and stage it. Her latest play, Father Comes Home From the Wars Parts 1, 2, and 3, had its debut at The Public Theater and then was equally heralded at The Mark Taper Forum.

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JULIA CAMERON, talks Martin Scorsese, The Artists's Way and more May 11, 2016

Show notes

The Artist’s Way is celebrating its 25th Anniversary, so it was a privilege to speak with a woman who democratized creativity. In our interview, Cameron talked about working with her daughter Domenica, an actor who made her directorial debut with the indie film Almost Paris, which screened as part of Tribeca Film Festival. Cameron also shared what she got out of writing fiction versus non-fiction, co-parenting with Martin Scorsese, and a musical which is in the works. She also revealed why walking your dog doesn’t count as an “Artist’s Date” and what gets her to write her “Pages,” even when she’d rather not do so.

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ISAAC MIZRAHI on being hairless, Mark Morris, & Jonathan Ames May 04, 2016

Show notes

Between Isaac Mizrahi’s pithy humor, remarkable insight, and insatiable desire to create and perform, he is a captivating presence. In our candid conversation, we spoke about, amongst other things, Isaac choosing not to come out to father to his tender relationship with choreographer and dancer Mark Morris and dealing with Jonathan Ames.

A wunderkind, Isaac Mizrahi made his mark in fashion in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. The fashion world is notoriously competitive and volatile, even for the beloved boy wonder, whose rise was so perfectly captured in the documentary Unzipped in 1995. Soon after, Chanel pulled out financing and various ventures folded. Isaac smartly took it as an opportunity to branch out. Like the late great Joan Rivers, Mizrahi was more than resilient and restless, he was and is a creative soul with more ideas to develop.

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