CooperTalk

Steve Cooper talks with comic/actor Max Alexander. Max is one of the few comics to have appeared on The tonight Show with Jay Leno... and Johnny Carson! His face is instantly recognizable from such movies as Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Jason Segal, Man on the Moon with Jim Carrey, Punchline with Tom Hanks and Roxanne with Steve Martin. He has and can be seen on many television shows such as The 9 on ABC, the Emmy Award winning ABC drama The Practice, Hollywood Squares and on HBO and Comedy Central. His voice can also be heard in the comedy hit The Farce of the Penguins. As far as stand up goes, he has performed with the best of the best. From Frank Sinatra, Julio Iglesias and Tom Jones, he hasn’t just shared the stage with these icons once or twice, he has delivered the goods consistently for well over 3,000 shows. He is also one of the top corporate comics in the country today and has performed over the years for such companies as McDonald’s, Buick, Home Depot, Acura and Pepsi, to name a few.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Liz Gillies. Liz currently stars as Gigi in the FX hit Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll. She began acting professionally at the age of 12. With a strong background in musical theater, she made her Broadway debut at age 15, starring as the character "Lucy" in the original Broadway cast of 13. Shortly after the closing of 13, she went on to land the role of Jade West in the hit Nickelodeon series, Victorious. She has played recurring roles in television series, such as The Black Donnellys, the animated series, Winx Club, where she voiced the character of Daphne. She has also guest-starred on television shows, including Big Time Rush, American Dad, Sam & Cat and White Collar. Her film credits include The Clique, Killing Daddy, Vacation and Harold.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Raphael Sbarge. Raphael is currently one of the stars of the hit series Murder in the First and recently recurred on Once Upon a Time, in the role of Archie Hopper and Jiminy Cricket, in the hit ABC fantasy drama. He began working at the age of 4, when a new PBS show called Sesame Street was looking for kids and by 16 he was in his first Broadway show, The Curse of the Aching Heart, opposite Faye Dunaway. At 18, just days after graduating high school, he flew to Chicago to co-star in Risky Business with Tom Cruise. He has appeared in more than 30 films, including Independence Day, Vision Quest and Pearl Harbor. He was a series regular on CBS's The Guardian and appeared in recurring roles on Dexter, Prison Break, 24 and Star Trek: Voyager and has made more than 100 television guest appearances, with roles on The Good Wife, Castle, CSI, Chicago Fire, Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy and many more. He is also a video game voice artist and his credits include the highly acclaimed series Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 (The New York Times' Game of the Year) and Knights of the Old Republic, among others. He has stepped behind the camera, as well, serving as director and co-executive producer of two Web series: On Begley Street, starring Ed Begley Jr. and Jenna's Studio, starring Jenna De Angeles, who has racked up more than 3 million views on YouTube and directed and produced a documentary about climate change, Is There Hope for Planet Earth. The documentary was filmed at the prestigious California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA.

Steve Cooper talks with violinist Eliza James. Eliza has been a successful, working professional musician in Los Angeles since the age of 18. She has performed on multiple occasions at the Grammys, the American Music Awards, the Academy Awards, the Women in Film Awards, the BET Awards, American Idol, the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Hollywood Christmas Celebration At the Grove, the JC Penney Jam and the Sundance Film Festival. She is the featured solo violinist in Burt Bacharach and Paul Anka’s touring bands and has played the Playboy Jazz Festival, the Wrightgaarden Langesund Summer Festival (Norway), the Milano Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festivals (Rotterdam Holland and Curacao), the Tokyo Jazz Festival, the Montreal Pop Festival and the the Umbria Jazz Festival (Perugia Italy). She has also performed with Shakira, Nicki Minaj, John Legend, Pink, Daft Punk, Kanye West, P. Diddy, Googoosh, Roberta Flack, Harry Connick Jr, Bernadette Peters,Randy Travis, Billy Idol, 3 Doors Down, Andrea Bocelli, The Calling and many more.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Matt Malloy. Matt had his break-out performance was his co-starring role alongside Aaron Eckhart and Stacy Edwards in the 1997 black comedy movie, In the Company of Men, which he co-executive produced. He began his acting career in earnest appearing in the made-for-television movie, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, followed by the HBO mockumentary TV series, Tanner '88. Since then he has constantly worked over the last 28 years. His numerous TV credits include co-starring in the hit series Alpha House and guest starring in such shows as The Practice, Spin City, NYPD Blue, Ally McBeal, Star Trek: Enterprise, Providence, Six Feet Under, NCIS, House, The West Wing, The Unit, Numb3rs, Law & Order, Bones, The Mentalist, The Good Wife, Royal Pains, Modern Family, Togetherness, Grandfathers and many more. He also has appeared in countless movies including Finding Forrester, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, As Good as It Gets, The Imposters, Happiness, Election, Cookie's Fortune, State and Main, Dr. T and the Women, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Changing Lanes, Hitch and Fargo.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Rob Steinberg. Rob got his breakthrough role in Die Hard 2 as the assistant to Bill Atherton's obnoxious TV reporter on the airplane. Then he booked a Matlock guest star and a national Scrabble commercial and he hasn't looked back.  In the Oscar winning film, 12 Years a Slave, he played Mr. Parker, the guy who saves the slaves. Out this year he will appear in LBJ starring Woody Harrelson and the soon-to-be-blockbuster, Peter Berg's Deepwater Horizon starring Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez and Kate Hudson and is also in Adam Rifkin's Director's Cut starring Missy Pyle and Penn Jillette and will play a Mafia Boss in Extraction starring Bruce Willis. He has appeared in CBS's Zoo and had recurring roles on Lifetime's Army Wives and Drop Dead Diva, CBS's soaps Y & R and The Bold and the Beautiful and HBO's Treme and has guest starred in many other TV series. Over his career he has appeared in nearly 35 films including Unlawful Entry, Single White Female, The Starving Game, Grace Unplugged, Ricochet and more recently Lay the Favorite, Hijacked and Zombie Hamlet.  

Steve Cooper talks with director/writer Brian Herzlinger. Brian's first feature film as a director/producer was My Date with Drew. He starred in the $1,100 film, which was rated the 4th most profitable film of all time. Between 2005 and 2009, he served as a regular On-Air Correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, starring in over 26 episodes for the number one-rated late night program. He also produced and hosted his own segment of TVʼs Extra, as well as serving as an on-air correspondent for Jerry Zuckerʼs internet and television entity National Banana. He has directed and co-written the movies How Sweet It Is, Meet My Valentine, Bus Driver and Three for the Road and the pilot Paulie and has been director on many other projects including Baby on Board, Christmas Angel, Brother White, Finding Normal, The Perfect Daughter and The Last Love Letter, Smothered by Mothers and Love Always, Santa.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Adrian Paul. Adrian is an actor renowned for his lead role, as Duncan Macleod, in the action series Highlander. The show spanned 6 seasons, 117 episodes and ran in over 90 countries world wide. As well as starring in numerous action films, including two Highlander Films, he has also choreographed numerous sword fights and action sequences for both television and film during his 30 year entertainment career. During that time he also directed and produced TV and Film along with founding his own charity The Peace Fund. (Protect, Educate, Aid Children Everywhere). The Peace fund has been in existence since 1997, helping improve the lives of children, in the US, Haiti, Thailand, Cambodia, Pakistan, Hungary and Romania. In June 2015, Adrian ran a Sword Experience workshop, to raise money for one of the children the Peace Fund supported. The event went so well that he decided to hold other similar events at venues across the US. At this once in a lifetime experience, he will be hands on to pass on some of the knowledge he learned whilst working with world renowned action stars, stunt choreographers, and sword masters.

Steve Cooper talks with musician/songwriter Eric Bazilian. Eric is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters and for writing "One of Us," made famous by Joan Osborne in 1995. Nervous Night, The Hooters' 1985 debut on Columbia Records, sold more than 2 million copies and included Billboard Top 40 hits "Day By Day" (#18), "And We Danced" (#21) and "Where Do The Children Go" (#38). After releasing six albums, The Hooters obtained a large global following throughout the 1980s and 1990s. As a result, they were asked to open three major musical events of the late 20th century: Live Aid in Philadelphia in 1985, Amnesty International Concert at Giants Stadium in 1986, and Roger Waters' The Wall Concert in Berlin in 1990. In 1995, The Hooters went on hiatus but since then have released more studio and live albums and still tour together. Throughout his career Eric has collaborated on musical projects for many other artists. Some of the long list he has worked with include Jon Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper, The Scorpions, Robbie Williams, Ricky Martin, LeAnn Rimes, Journey and many others. He also recently toured with Joe Bonamassa and performed in Europe at benefits for the Light of Day Foundation that helps with Parkinson's Disease awareness.  

Steve Cooper talks with actor Mark Povinelli. Mark is best known for his role as The Cat in the Amazon series Mad Dogs, Kinko in the film Water for Elephants and as Todd in Are you There, Chelsea? (Which made him the first little person ever to be cast as a series regular on a network studio sitcom.) A veteran of stage he toured the world in the play Mabou Mines DollHouse and has been in other productions all over the USA. He also has countless TV and movie credits that include Dog with a Blog, Frasier, A.N.T. Farm, Criminla Minds, Breakout Kings, Modern Family, Boardwalk Empire, Til' Death, Clod Case, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dharma & Greg, The Polar Express, Beer for My Horses, Mirror Mirror and many more. 

Steve Cooper talks with actor/writer/director/singer Michael Damian. Michael is best known for his roles as Danny Romalotti on The Young and the Restless which he played for over 20 years and his number 1 hit record Rock On. He has also starred on Broadway in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and performed that role in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He has recorded 10 studio albums and has directed 14 movies and co-written 13. His latest, High Strung has been getting rave reviews.

Steve Cooper talks with musician Richard Bush. Richard was the front man for the hugely popular Philadelphia band "The A's" in the late 70's and early 80's. They had two big hits, "After Last Night" and "A Woman's Got the Power" and recorded a few albums but eventually broke up. He took a sabbatical for many years from performing live but continued to write and record at his home studio. In 2006 he formed the band the Peace Creeps who still perform all over the Philly area to sold out crowds and he is currently working on a new album.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Abraham Benrubi. Abraham is best known for his appearances as Jerry Markovic on the long-running U.S. TV drama ER, for his first role as Larry Kubiac on the series Parker Lewis Can't Lose and for his voice acting on the Adult Swim claymation series Robot Chicken. His first major part was on the show Wings, as Roy "R.J." Biggins, Jr., Roy's gay son. He would appear as R.J. twice: once during the show's second season, and again during the seventh season. He has co-starred or been a recurring character in many popular series such as Happy Town, Memphis Beat, Men in Trees, Bosch and The Bridge and guest starred in numerous shows including Criminal Minds, Once Upon a Time, Roseanne, Bones, American Dad!, The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also has a impressive movie resume being in the films Open Range, Without a Paddle, The Man Who Wasn't There, U Turn, Twister, Miss Congeniality 2 and Big Hero 6 to name a few.         

Steve Cooper talks with comic/actor Rick Overton. Rick a 40 year comedy vet, has starred in numerous HBO and Showtime specials and has had countless TV stand up appearances. He played The Drake on “Seinfeld” and Pam’s Dad on “The Office.” He currently recurs on Adult Swim’s “Children Hospital,” ABC’s “Last Man Standing,” TNT’s “Leverage” and recently guest starred on “The League,” “The Middle,” “The Kroll Show,” and “Newsreaders.” He has also guested on classic TV series like “Lost,” “E.R.,” “Made About You” and “Married With Children.” On the big screen, he has worked with A-list directors like Ron Howard, Chris Columbus, Harold Ramis, Jay Roach, and Steven Soderberg, with roles in films like “Bad Teacher,” “The Informant,” “Dinner for Schmucks,” “Cloverfield,” “Groundhog Day,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” and “Willow.” He also has an Emmy Award for writing on HBO’s “Dennis Miller Live.” He is currently a semi-regular contributor to the Huffington Post and hosts a popular podcast called “Overview” that is available on iTunes.

Steve Cooper talks with singer Tiffany. Tiffany has earned two number one hit singles I Think We're Alone Now and Could’ve Been, and set a record as the youngest female artist to top the Billboard charts with her debut album.  In 2000 Billboard Magazine described Tiffany’s album The Color of Silence as “thoughtful, intelligent, and full of grace” and ranked it among the “Top Ten Best Albums of the Year”. She has sold over 15 million albums to date. She has guest stared on reality TV shows such as Food Network’s Rachael Ray VS. Guy: Celebrity Cook Off, ABC’s Celebrity Wife Swap, VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club, A&E’s Celebrity Ghost Stories and Food Network Challenge. She also headlined Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series. As an actress Tiffany starred in SyFy Channel’s hit and campy movie’s Mega Piranha and Mega Python vs Gatoroid, in which the sci-fi disaster movie had her feuding with fellow pop star Debbie Gibson.  For someone who has spent her life touring around the world, it’s surprising to discover she has an extreme fear of flying. Consequently the singer is always in her car and it’s in the car where she gets her inspiration and does most of her writing. Those personal journals and stories inspired both the new music and to name her album after all those miles she’s driven… A Million Miles. In 2016 she will continue touring in the US and Europe.