The Back Room with Andy Ostroy

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Matthew Dowd Jan 14, 2023

Show notes

Matthew Dowd is a political commentator and strategist, NY Times best-selling author and media analyst. He was chief strategist for President George Bush and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2021 he made his own run for office running as a democrat for Texas Lt. Governor. He recently joined MSNBC and prior to that was Chief Political Analyst for ABC News. His latest book is Revelations on the River: Being a Prophet for Your Own Path.

Matthew shares his astute insights into Donald Trump, the Republican Party, Kevin McCarthy and the current House drama, the classified documents scandals, George Santos and more. He also takes us back in time to his early political inspirations, his role as chief strategist for President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and also explains their public falling out by 2007. And, you'll get his Super Bowl prediction!

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

Michael Cohen Jan 10, 2023

Show notes

Michael Cohen is host of the Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen podcast and is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His current book is “Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics. He’s also Principal of crisis management firm Crisis-X. And he’s most notable for having served for many years as Donald Trump’s personal attorney and also as an executive in the Trump Organization.

Strap yourself in for a wild ride as we've got a very unplugged, unfiltered, unabashed and indignant Michael in his most unique, revealing interview yet. Trust me, you don't wanna miss this chat! You'll love the fascinating, candid, funny AF insights into his childhood, career, past legal troubles, prison, Trump, the Trump kids (including Tiffany and Barron), Trumpism, Bill Barr and more!

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

S.E. Cupp Jan 08, 2023

Show notes

S.E. Cupp is a CNN political commentator and most recently host of CNN's S.E. Cupp Unfiltered. Before joining CNN she co-hosted MSNBC's The Cycle. She's a nationally syndicated political columnist, culture critic, author and consultant who regularly writes for the New York Daily News, Glamour and CNN.com. She was previously a consultant for Apple TV+'s The Morning Show starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell and HBO's hit series, The Newsroom. She has been a contributor to TheBlaze's Real News and contributing editor for Townhall Magazine.

We're thrilled to have S.E. in The Back Room for an engaging, insightful and brutally-honest in-depth chat about life, religion, mental health, politics, music and more.

And as always, we talk dogs, cats and music too! Find out if that little band from Liverpool, The Beatles, made it into S.E.'s Top 5 of all-time!

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

Congressman Steve Israel Dec 31, 2022

Show notes

Steve Israel was an 8-term Democratic Congressman from Long Island, NY, representing District 2 until the 2012 election when he was redistricted into the 3rd District, the seat won in November '22 by Republican scandal-plagued pathological-liar George Santos. He spent four years as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee before retiring in 2017. He currently serves as Director of the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs; and is an author and commentator who can be seen on CNN and MSNBC and whose writing has appeared in the NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic.

Check out this timely, insightful, in-depth conversation about the Santos shit-storm and the right-wing extremist culture responsible for creating and enabling it. We also discuss Trump, Kevin McCarthy and the House drama, Mike Pence, Liz Cheney and the '24 election. And, Steve tells us about Theodore's Books, the awesome independent bookshop in Oyster Bay which he opened in 2021!

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

Cheryl Hines Dec 24, 2022

Show notes

We're thrilled to have Emmy Award-nominated actress, director and producer Cheryl Hines in The Back Room! Best known for her role as “Cheryl David” on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, she can also be seen in Season 2 of the critically-acclaimed HBO Max series The Flight Attendant. Other television credits include Suburgatory, Son of Zorn and 3Below: Tales of Arcadia. She's directed many TV series and also produced School Pride, Hollywood Residential and the award-winning series Campus Ladies. She's starred in several films including A Bad Moms Christmas, RV, Wilson and Waitress, and directed the Andy Ostroy-produced feature film Serious Moonlight, written by Andy's late wife Adrienne Shelly and starring Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton.

Don't miss this truly entertaining chat with one of the funniest, nicest humans on the planet as she explains her journey from her early acting days in Florida to becoming one of the most talented and loved performers in Hollywood.

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

Jennifer Palmieri Dec 17, 2022

Show notes

Jennifer Palmieri is a co-host of Showtime’s “The Circus” and the author of the #1 NY Times bestselling book Dear Madam President and also She Proclaims: Our Declaration of Independence from a Man’s World. She’s a leading political and communications strategist who's served as national press secretary for the Democratic Party, White House deputy press secretary for President Bill Clinton, national press secretary for the 2004 John Edwards presidential campaign, President Obama’s White House communications director and head of communications for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Jennifer shares her early political influences and inspiration growing up in Mississippi, her thoughts on Hillary's 2016 campaign, Kevin McCarthy and the House drama, the "broken" GOP, Trump, Trumpism, Democrats/Biden, DeSantis and the race for '24. She also reveals whether she's a cat or dog person and the musical artists who comprise her all-time Top 5!

It's a truly fun, insightful chat you don't want to miss!

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

Cenk Uygur Dec 10, 2022

Show notes

Cenk Uygur is the host and founder of online progressive news and commentary show The Young Turks and is CEO of TYT Network, which cites a global audience of more than 500-million monthly views per month and 21-billion total video views. he launched The Young Turks as a talk show on Sirius Satellite Radio in 2002 and started uploading videos on YouTube in 2005. Prior, he was the host of The Young Turks on Current TV, hosted MSNBC Live and has appeared on CNN, ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos, NPR, Headline News, Fox News and others. He is also the co-founder the Justice Democrats PAC.

Join Cenk and I as we dive into his childhood and his shift from Republican to progressive Democrat and discuss a range of hot-button political subjects including Trump, the Midterms, DeSantis and 2024, the Georgia Runoff, Kyrsten Sinema, Biden and Democratic messaging, Republican extremism, populism vs centrism and the lingering 2016 Bernie v Hillary debate.

And as always, you'll learn whether Cenk's a cat or dog person and which musical artists comprise his all-time Top 5!

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

James Carville Dec 03, 2022

Show notes

James “The Ragin’ Cajun” Carville is America’s best-known political consultant with a knack for steering overlooked campaigns into unexpected landslide victories and for re-making political underdogs into upset winners. He most notably helped steer Bill "The Comeback Kid" Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign to victory. More recently he’s been focusing his strategic-thinking on international campaigns in more than 23 countries around the globe. He’s an 8-time NY Times best-selling author, actor, podcaster and public speaker whose latest book We’re Still Right, They’re Still Wrong released in 2016.

The inimitable James shares his entertaining and brutally-honest insights on a range of personal and political subjects including cats and dogs, his childhood, marriage, the '92 Clinton campaign, the midterms, Trump, Trumpism, Democrats, Republicans, 2024, his beloved New Orleans Saints and his Top 5 musical artists of all-time! You don't wanna miss this episode!

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

Tim Miller Nov 26, 2022

Show notes

Tim Miller is The Bulwark’s writer-at-large and the author of the best-selling book Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell. He was previously political director for Republican Voters Against Trump, communications director for Jeb Bush 2016, and spokesman for the Republican National Committee in 2012. He is an MSNBC political analyst and host of Not My Party on Snapchat. He's written about politics for Rolling Stone, The Ringer and Playboy and has appeared as a guest host in multiple episodes of this season's The Circus on Showtime.

Check out our Thanksgiving episode! It's an insightful, entertaining chat filled with lots of laughs and a bunch of really serious shit too. Matty, Jen and I (3 Jews!) debate Dave Chappelle's controversial SNL monologue and discuss our fav/least fav holiday food and Tim opens up about his past life as a gay Republican (he's still gay!) reveals the story behind his pearls, shares his thoughts on Trump, Trumpism, the midterms, immigration/xenophobia, GOP hypocrisy, Ron DeSantis & the 2024 election, his epic Steve Bannon interview on Showtime's The Circus and gives the funniest answer yet to the question "Are you a dog or a cat person?!" And, he hilariously reveals not just his Top 5 Musical artists of all time but, in a Back Room first, his bottom 5 as well!

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

Molly Jong Fast Nov 19, 2022

Show notes

The daughter of legendary author and social critic Erica Jong, Molly Jong-Fast is a special contributor to Vanity Fair and the host of the Fast Politics podcast. Join us for a fun, funny, insightful and frank conversation about a range of subjects including childhood family dysfunction, rehab, life with teenagers, Trump, Trumpism, the midterms, Nancy Pelosi, Marjorie Taylor Greene, anti-Semitism and Elon Musk and the crisis at Twitter.

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy and Matty Rosenberg @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Associate producer Jennifer Hammoud Music by Andrew Hollander Design by Cricket Lengyel

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