I was stuck in the car a few weeks ago, waiting to pick my wife up at work, tuning around the Sirius Satellite Radio dial, looking for a few laughs. I had already heard the Howard Stern show earlier in the day and went a few clicks past him and landed on the Blue... Continue Reading →
Actress Alison Brie melts hearts and Mad Men! PODCAST INTERVIEW
Today's Guest: Alison Brie, actress, "Mad Men," "Community," "G.L.O.W." Alison Brie is a supporting actress on two hit series—“Community” on NBC and “Mad Men” on AMC. Not bad for a young woman whose previous acting resume is still thin enough as to include performances in community theatre shows at a Jewish Community Center in... Continue Reading →
Today’s Lesson? Get Rich Cheating, taught by Jeff Kreisler! PODCAST INTERVIEW
Today's Guest: Jeff Kreisler, author, Get Rich Cheating I’m not a big advocate of cheating to get ahead in life. But let’s face it, these are not normal times. So I’m willing to consider options that were previously anathema to a goody two-shoes like myself. Enter Jeff Kreisler, an old friend of the Mr.... Continue Reading →
Radio’s Lionel is smarter than the usual talk show host! PODCAST INTERVIEW
I could put up a bit of a fuss, but what’s the point? My guest today, Air America morning radio host Lionel, is waaaaay smarter than me. I’m not going to offer any pretense that I can battle him to even a draw in a battle of wits: I can’t. Lionel—Michael LeBron for those... Continue Reading →
From Headrack to Stuck Rubber Baby, still Howard Cruse, still gay! PODCAST INTERVIEW
I met cartoonist Howard Cruse in March 2004 at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. He was one of the featured guests at the college’s “Comics Summit on Diversity,” an event that included Mary GrandPre, illustrator of the Harry Potter novels and American master Will Eisner, whose biography I was... Continue Reading →
Peter Carlson wasn’t there but wrote K Blows Top anyway! PODCAST INTERVIEW
Peter Carlson could have taken all the research he did on Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev’s two-week barnstorming tour of the United States in 1959 and converted it into a Cold War-era fable such as Dr. Strangelove or The Mouse That Roared. He could have done that, but truth is stranger than fiction and the... Continue Reading →
Esquire’s A.J. Jacobs is all over The Guinea Pig Diaries! PODCAST INTERVIEW
Today's Guest: A.J. Jacobs, author, The Guinea Pig Diaries, The Year of Living Biblically I’m a little worried about A.J. Jacobs. His latest book, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment, takes the social tests he put himself through in previous books such as The Know-It-All—in which he read the entire encyclopedia—and... Continue Reading →
Anna Jane Grossman offers an Obsolete encyclopedia! PODCAST INERVIEW
As I’m saying this, I can’t help wondering if, by the time you hear this, I won’t be obsolete. Think I’m kidding? I’m not. In her new book, Obsolete: An Encyclopedia of Once-Common Things Passing Us By, Anna Jane Grossman reels off a stunning list of devices, equipment and habits that were once everywhere... Continue Reading →
Green mortician Elizabeth Fournier: All Men Are Cremated Equal! PODCAST INTERVIEW
Today's Guest: Elizabeth Fournier, green mortician, author, All Men Are Cremated Equal: My 77 Blind Dates I have a particular weakness for men and women with stories of dates gone horribly wrong. And I think I’m already on record as having a general weakness for all kinds of women. Add that to the fact... Continue Reading →
Lisa Ann Walter judges her own ass off! (Huh?) PODCAST INTERVIEW
Here’s the difference between you and Lisa Ann Walter: When you’ve been sitting around having a little too much to drink, complaining about how nobody looks like those stringbeans on “So You Think You Can Dance,” or how “The Biggest Loser” would be more fun if the contestants were dancers, nobody cares what you... Continue Reading →