Bob Andelman Interviews

“So You Think You Can Dance” judge Mary Murphy joins Mr. Media to talk dancing, Nigel Lythgoe, Cat Deeley, hot tamales and Killer Movie, the film for which she just completed a featured role alongside Kaley Cuoco (“The Big Bang Theory”), Jason London and J.C. Chasez. On " Dance," Murphy's crowd-pleasing antics, infectious laugh and "Maryisms" like "Hot Tamale Train" have made her a household name around the world. She even beat out a star-studded field including Ryan Seacrest, Carrie Ann Inaba and Donald Trump to claim the "Best Host/Judge" prize at the Reality TV Awards. In her "spare" time, Murphy dedicates herself to worthy causes such as the American Cancer Society and Mary Murphy's Chance to Dance program, which she launched to help schools offer dancing as a regular part of their curriculum. Beyond her work in Hollywood, Murphy continues to be one of the hardest-working women in dance; serving as a judge at major ballroom dance competitions across the U.S., including The Holiday Dance Classic in Las Vegas. She is also a world-class technical dance instructor and is based at her Champion Ballroom Academy in San Diego, CA.

ACME Comedy Theatre (135 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles) celebrates Gay Pride on June 13 with actors Janina Gavankar (Papi on “The L Word”), Darryl Stephens (Noah on “Noah’s Arc”) and again on June 20 with comedian ANT (“Last Comic Standing,” “Celebrity Fit Club,” “U.S. of Ant”). All three guest hosts will join Mr. Media for a special hour of Mr. Media on Wednesday, June 10 beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Tune in for one or all three: * 9:00- 9:20 PM ET: JANINA GAVANKAR * 9:20- 9:40 PM ET: DARRYL STEPHENS * 9:40- 10:00 PM ET: ANT Order tickets for ACME Comedy Theatre’s “ACME Saturday Night”!

Many will recognize actor/comedian Yul “Spencer” from the TV’s “Comic View,” “Make Me Laugh,” “Cisco and Ripple,” “The Shield” and his films Funny FutherMuckers and Two Can Play That Game. But none have ever seen him like this! In his highly anticipated, uniquely personal stage play, “Ya’ Gotta Go Higher,” the versatile actor/comedian, shows us how he transformed trial into triumph and trouble into truth revealing his 15-year odyssey to stay recovered, stay in show business, stay married… “Oh hell, stay alive!” While making choices to go higher in all ways, he reveals a side of his life so intimate and relatable, it’ll have audiences enjoying more than a comedy show, but nodding with understanding of the many trials we face trying to quit something we love. Through laughter and tears, audiences will find companionship on what appears to be the lonely road towards healing. And if there’s any truth in jest, let the mending process begin here! His is a fascinating story of life and seeking a higher ground to play on. And, with humor and some pathos, how he arrived at his “Ya’ Gotta Go Higher” decision to truly survive. Opening June 11, 2009, at the Hollywood Complex East Theatre, the show will run thru June 28th. Tickets can be purchased for $20 on-line at YaGottaGoHigher.com or through eticketfarm.com .

SUCCESS magazine serves the growing demand from an elevated subset of entrepreneurs and small-business owners seeking to gain a competitive edge in business and life. It features today’s leading CEOs, entrepreneurs and personal-achievement experts offering practical advice, ideas and training in business leadership, wealth building, well-being, relationships and giving back. Each issue includes a bound-in DualDisc™ (CD & DVD in one) with outstanding personal-achievement content from leading experts. SUCCESS is distributed nationally via mail and selected newsstand outlets to a rate base of 250,000 readers. Total audience reach is more than 1 million. Darren Hardy is the Publisher and Editorial Director of SUCCESS magazine. Hardy joined the magazine in September 2007. Hardy previously held executive positions at two personal development-focused television networks: he was Owner, Executive Producer and Master Distributor for an affiliate of The People’s Network, and President of TSTN.com, The Success Training Network (no affiliation with SUCCESS magazine). Hardy has been the President/CEO or private-equity investor in several other multimedia companies. Hardy embodies success: an entrepreneur since age 18, he was a self-made millionaire by 27. Visit SUCCESS.com for more information.

Toby Logan—played by Craig Olejnik—is a 25-year-old paramedic who has a big secret—he's a telepath. Until now, Toby kept his ability hidden, exploring its possibilities only with his long-time mentor and confidant, Dr. Ray Mercer (Colm Feore, "24: Redemption"). "The Listener" follows Toby as he makes the rounds with his energetic paramedic partner—"Oz" Bey (Ennis Esmer, Young People F*#king), helping people in crisis, and in the process trying to unravel the truth about his past. While his professional life is in check, Toby's personal life could use its own rescue. And with the help of Detective Charlie Marks (Lisa Marcos, Diary of a Mad Black Woman) and his E.R. doctor/ex-girlfriend Olivia Fawcett (Mylène Dinh-Robic, Da Vinci's City Hall), Toby realizes his gift can help others. Olejnik joins Mr. Media in this interview to preview the exciting new summer show on NBC, which debuts Thursday, June 6 at 10 p.m. See previews or whole episodes of “The Listener” by clicking here!

Toby Logan—played by Craig Olejnik—is a 25-year-old paramedic who has a big secret—he's a telepath. Until now, Toby kept his ability hidden, exploring its possibilities only with his long-time mentor and confidant, Dr. Ray Mercer (Colm Feore, "24: Redemption"). "The Listener" follows Toby as he makes the rounds with his energetic paramedic partner—"Oz" Bey (Ennis Esmer, Young People F*#king), helping people in crisis, and in the process trying to unravel the truth about his past. While his professional life is in check, Toby's personal life could use its own rescue. And with the help of Detective Charlie Marks (Lisa Marcos, Diary of a Mad Black Woman) and his E.R. doctor/ex-girlfriend Olivia Fawcett (Mylène Dinh-Robic, Da Vinci's City Hall), Toby realizes his gift can help others. Esmer joins Mr. Media in this interview to preview the exciting new summer show on NBC, which debuts Thursday, June 6 at 10 p.m. See previews or whole episodes of “The Listener” by clicking here!

Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files are set in an "alternate" Chicago where magic is real, but only a few actually believe in it; it's a first-person tale told by an irascible wizard named Harry Dresden, who regularly gives the magical establishment indigestion — and the police, the same. Take Sam Spade, your Average Joe Underdog Action Star, and toss in some spellcraft, and you get Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Heck of a guy. There are 11 books in the Dresden series and now they’re joined by graphic novels adapted by Mark Powers and illustrated by Ardian Syaf. Butcher is a martial arts enthusiast with fifteen years of experience in various styles including Ryukyu Kempo, Tae Kwan Do, Gojo Shorei Ryu, and a sprinkling of Kung Fu. He is a skilled rider and has worked as a summer camp horse wrangler and performed in front of large audiences in both drill riding and stunt riding exhibitions. He enjoys fencing, singing, bad science fiction movies and live-action gaming. Butcher lives in Missouri with his wife, son, and a vicious guard dog. Visit Jim-Butcher.com for more information.

Mr. Media goes Inside the Mind of the Shopper! Oh, the horrors! This year, consumers will spend one quadrillion seconds in all stores, globally – and 80% of their shopping time will be completely wasted, simply moving from place to place in the store, not looking at or purchasing items, simply not shopping. In these tough economic times, retailers cannot afford to lose the minds, attention and wallets of their consumers. Fortunately, there’s a solution: active retailing. First, understand exactly how consumers behave inside the store. Then, use that information to get the right products to the right shoppers at the right time. Dr. Herb Sorensen’s Inside the Mind of the Shopper: The Science of Retailing shows exactly how to do this, allowing you to go inside the mind of the shopper – and drive truly remarkable sales increases. Sorensen reveals: * Powerful new ways to optimize store design and navigation * Which in-store merchandising programs are a total waste of scarce resources * Why retailers are missing their greatest opportunities, and what to do about it * How to appeal to today’s “quick trip” shopper – and why too much selection kills sales * How to make the most of all three retail “moments of truth”: reach, stop, and close

In Bought, the new novel from Anna David (Party Girl), an LA-reared aspiring journalist, Emma Swanson gathers banal quotations from celebrities on press lines, publicly yearning for a more substantial job and privately hoping for a hot-shot boyfriend to transport her into the Hollywood social scene she's always gazing in on from the outside. Then she meets Jessica, a cavalier and manipulative beauty who shamelessly trades sex for the gifts it can bring. Convinced that writing a story on Jessica and her ilk will give her the career she wants -- and positive that the Jessica's of the world have inestimable power -- Emma gets sucked into the orbit of Jessica's brand of prettied-up prostitution. But she soon realizes that her problem isn't the lack of a boyfriend or impressive job. It's who and what she's become -- and whether or not she'll be able to find her way back. Party Girl was called "laugh-out loud hysterical and Capote elegant" by Permanent Midnight author Jerry Stahl, while Dr. Drew Pinsky decreed it "the most accurate portrayal of the experience of addiction and nuances of recovery I've come across." David, a professional member of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT), is the sex and relationship expert on G4’s “Attack of the Show.” She has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Playboy, Details, and Vanity Fair, among many others, and appears twice a month on “FOX Redeye.” Anna David website!

Anna Gunn’s arrival in the city of Deadwood on the HBO series of the same name set off one of the craziest love triangles in history. The widow of Sheriff Bullock’s brother changed that crazy, foul-mouthed, Wild West town forever. Now, it was early in the run of the new critically-acclaimed AMC series “Breaking Bad” when I interviewed Anna Gunn back in January 2008, but I correctly suspected then that as Bryan Cranston’s wife, Skyler, the lovely Anna Gunn would be anything but shy and retiring. Read a transcript of Mr. Media's interview with Anna Gunn!

Producer Jeremy Mitchell and actor Sheaun McKinney were my guests on the very first episode of Mr. Media Radio broadcast on the BlogTalkRadio Network. They were promoting a new Miami-based independent feature film called Nemesis that tells the story of an idealistic young rap star fighting for his own voice against the corrupting influence of the hip-hop industry. A record label discovers him, and he is forced to promote violence and materialism in exchange for fame. The movie dramatizes the hypocrisies of a multi-billion dollar industry that encourages its fans to stay true to the streets. It took 18 months, but Mitchell finally succeeding in landing a DVD distribution deal for his film, now known as Know Thy Enemy. I’m delighted to re-present this interview with Mitchell and McKinney, who plays the unlikely gangster rap star, Nemesis. The soundtrack features original music from fresh and new artists such as Messiah, a Mr. Cheeks protégé, and Suzie Abromeit, already known for her number one single duet with hip-hop star Fat Joe. Read a transcript of this Mr. Media interview!

For anyone who loves The Godfather and Jack Kerouac, Tom Folsom’s THE MAD ONES: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld, tells for the first time the complete story of Joey Gallo, a charismatic beatnik gangster whose forays into Greenwich Village in the 1960s inspired his bloody revolution against the Mafia establishment. Celebrated in a Bob Dylan ballad, Gallo was the epitome of gangster chic, an anti-hero and counterculture rebel/philosopher who read Camus and Sartre. He made the rounds of high society with Jerry Orbach before being gunned down mid-bite at Umberto’s Clam House in Little Italy. Coinciding with this year's 40th anniversary of the publication of The Godfather, The Mad Ones brings to life the true stories that inspired Puzo's masterpiece. Folsom is a writer, director, and producer of television documentaries for A&E and Showtime, and the co-author of Mr. Untouchable: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Heroin's Teflon Don, written with its subject, drug kingpin Nicky Barnes.

Lane DeGregory is a features writer at the St. Petersburg Times who prefers writing about people in the shadows. She sweated with a mailman who mows strangers' lawns; followed an old daredevil struggling to hold on for one last ride; went shopping with a city manager who was changing from man to woman. Her stories take readers behind the scenes at Broadway debut, inside foster homes and onto carnival midways. DeGregory graduated from the University of Virginia, where she was editor-in-chief of The Cavalier Daily student newspaper. Later, she earned a master's degree in rhetoric and communication studies from the University of Virginia. For 10 years, she wrote news and feature stories for The Virginian-Pilot, based in Norfolk, Va. In 2000, DeGregory moved to Florida to write for the St. Petersburg Times. She's married to a drummer and has two sons, ages 11 and 12, and two crazy dogs. DeGregory has won more than a dozen national awards, including the 2009 Anna Quindlen Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Child Welfare League of America; the 2007 Ernie Pyle Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation for human interest writing; and the 2000 National Association of Black Journalists' Salute to Excellence. She won second place for feature writing in the National Headliner Awards for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Read "The Girl in the Window" by Lane DeGregory.

Pop quiz: name the man who’s been a writer and/or producer for the following TV shows: “The Jackie Thomas Show,” “House of Buggin’,” “Dream On,” “Pinky and the Brain,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” “Lost,” “24.” Give up? It’s David Fury, and on April 17, 2007, he joined me via phone from Hollywood. Read a transcript of Mr. Media’s interview with David Fury!

When you think of one of the most prolific character actors, who is also an outrageous openly gay stand-up comedian, one name comes to mind... Jason Stuart. Stuart has been making people laugh out loud with his hysterical performances all over the country since coming out in 1993. He has accomplished what few other gay comics have ever achieved: brutal honesty with humor in a world that’s not always kind. Not only is Stuart an all-out crowd pleaser, he transcends the boundaries of race, gender and sexual orientation with his edgy comedic style. Stuart’s material about his experiences as a single Jewish gay man living in Hollywood is original, cutting edge and just plain funny. Stuart has performed at all of the top comedy clubs, premiere comedy festivals and hundreds of gay events & prides, colleges & universities and even on Broadway. Although his semi-celebrity came via stand-up, Stuart is also well known for his work as an actor playing gay and straight roles on more than 40 popular television shows. Stuart has wowed audiences on the TV screen with guest roles in hit shows such as “Will & Grace,” “George Lopez,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “House” and “Charmed,” to name a few. He is probably best known for playing “Dr. Thomas”, the gay family therapist on “My Wife & Kids.” Stuart's latest stand-up comedy DVD is Jason Stuart: Making It to the Middle. Jason Stuart website