CooperTalk

Steve Cooper talks with actor/writer/director Mark Polish. Mark broke onto the independent filmmaking scene at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999 with the premiere of his first film Twin Falls Idaho, an atmospheric and heartfelt tale of conjoined twins, which he co-wrote and starred in with his identical twin brother Michael Polish. His second film, Jackpot, received the John Cassavetes Best Independent Film Award at the 2001 Spirit Awards and the New American Cinema Award at the 2001 Seattle International Film Festival. His third film, Northfolk, premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and was hailed by Roger Ebert as “a masterpiece.” For Lovers Only, a black and white homage to the French New Wave, starred him and Stana Katic as regretful former lovers reunited in France by fate. The film was released on iTunes where it remained at number one for three weeks. His next film, Headlock, which he wrote, directed and stars alongside Dianna Agron, will premiere in 2016. Filmed on location in over 15 countries, the story centers on married intelligence traffickers battling nano-terrorism. He also co-wrote The Declaration of Independent Filmmaking, a practical guide to writing, shooting, editing, scoring and distributing films, published by Harcourt.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Amanda Wyss. Amanda was discovered by an agent as a teen while starring in the play, The Bad Seed at a local LA theatre and then went on to work in many commercials and landed her first television role, recurring on Universal's When the Whistle Blows as Dolph Sweet's daughter. Some of her most memorable film performances were in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Better Off Dead, Silverado, and the award-winning Powwow Highway. She's also worked extensively in television, with recurring roles on St. Elsewhere, Cagney & Lacey, Highlander, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Dexter. She is honored to lend her time and talent to environmental organizations, The Erudio Project, Technology for Peace and Project Happiness. Look for her in the soon to be released The Id and William Froste.

Steve Cooper talks with comic/actor/writer Lou DiMaggio. Lou began his career as a comic in NYC in the boom 80’s. After moving to Los Angeles he appeared in many national commercials, TV shows and films. He’s probably best know for his role as a restaurant investor alongside Ted Danson and Michael York in Curb Your Enthusiasm. He also won an Emmy for writing on Win Ben Stein’s Money. He stopped doing stand-up in the late 90’s but is now making a comeback which is documented in the film he’s currently making with director Brad Kuhlman entitled, Where Have you Gone Lou DiMaggio? This film explores the process of returning to the stand-up stage after an 18 year hiatus. It features appearances from such comedy greats as Larry David, Ray Romano, Colin Quinn, Jeff Garlin Joy Behar, Susie Essman, Howie Mandel and many more.

Steve Cooper talks with comic/actor Gene Pompa. Gene’s television credits include numerous appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and several appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS. Other credits include Comedy Central, The Arsenio Hall Show, HBO, The Latino Laugh Festival on Showtime, BET, Scrubs and In Living Color. He has appeared in two Happy Madison films Just Go With It with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston and Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star starring Nick Swardson, Christina Ricci, and Don Johnson. More recently, he starred and produced two one hour comedy specials at The Club Nokia in Downtown Los Angeles at L.A. Live. He also starred in two ½ hour solo stand-up specials, Pompalicious for Comedy Central and a self-titled ½ hour stand-up special for Nuvo TV.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Charley Koontz. Charley is best known for his work as Fat/Real Neil in Community and currently starring as FBI agent Daniel Krumitz on CBS' hit television series, CSI:CYBER. His additional television credits include Perfect Couples, Awake and a recurring role in Royal Pains. His first film, Rubber, directed by Quentin Dupieux, premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and garnered an enthusiastic and dedicated cult following. He worked with Dupieux again in the 2011 film Wrong. His additional film credits include the thriller Contracted, directed by Eric England, and the prison-set paranormal film, Apparitional.  Also, he is part of the Los Angeles based Shakespeare theatre company Will & Company.

Steve Cooper talks with actor/comic Erica Rhodes. Erica Rhodes started her entertainment career by voicing the conscience of legendary humorist and writer, Garrison Keillor on NPR's A Prairie Home Companion and has worked on that show ever since. In 2012, she also became a writer for the show when it toured Houston, NYC and San Francisco. She starred in the cult horror film Plague Town and recently wrapped a supporting role in Play Nice, directed by Rodman Flender and starring Mary Lynn Rajskub. She also starred in Big Sky, an indie road trip movie that followed a young couple's journey from L.A. to Montana.   She co-created and starred in the award-winning web series Apt. 45, but is probably best known for the character of Sandy in Iron Sink Media's web series Upstairs Girls and her own hit spin-off Sandy's Channel.  She produced and starred (with Ray Wise and Oscar nominee Sally Kirkland) in the short film Posey which premiered at the 2013 Idyllwild Cinema Fest and made the festival rounds, garnering many awards.   She was also nominated by the 2015 Los Angeles Short Film Festival as "Best Actress" for her work in The Platinum Plan. Recent TV credits include Fox's New Girl, IFC's Comedy Bang Bang and Comedy Central's Why? With Hannibal Buress.  She has also guested on The Howard Stern Wrap-up Show on Sirius XM after being named on his site as number one of the top nine comics to watch and has had appearances on AXS' Live at Gotham and the syndicated Comics Unleashed.  

Steve Cooper talks with drummer Kenny Aronoff. Kenny is one of the world's most influential and in-demand drummers. The list of artists he's worked with reads like a who's who of the music industry, and includes John Mellencamp, The Smashing Pumpkins, Bob Seger, Melissa Etheridge, Jon Bon Jovi, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Alanis Morissette, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Avril Lavigne, John Fogerty, Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger, Alice Cooper, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Raitt, Ricky Martin, Santana, Trey Anastasio, Michelle Branch, and many others. With a style of playing that combines power and finesse, he was named the #1 Pop/Rock Drummer and the #1 Studio Drummer for five consecutive years by the readers of Modern Drummer Magazine, and in addition has played on over 30 Grammy-nominated recordings.                    

Steve Cooper talks with actor Chris Diamantopoulos. Chris is best known for his roles on the Showtime sitcom Episodes opposite Matt LeBlanc, the hit comedy Silicon Valley, Netflix's Arrested Development and as Moe in the feature film The Three Stooges. In addition he has lent his voice talents to popular shows including Family Guy, American Dad and six-time Emmy Award-winning show, Mickey Mouse. Other credits include The Starter Wife, a role as one of his idols, Frank Sinatra, alongside Greg Kinnear’s title role on the Emmy nominated miniseries The Kennedys, Guy de Cornet in Jonathan Sobol’s film The Art of the Steal, Chief-of-Staff Rob Weiss on the eighth season of 24 and the role of actor-comedian Robin Williams in the 2005 NBC telefilm, Behind The Camera: Mork & Mindy for which he earned Gemini and Prism Award nominations for his performance. Additional television appearances include, but are not limited to, guest star roles on Law & Order, Third Watch, Frasier, Nip/Tuck, American Dreams, Kevin Hill, Charmed, The Sopranos, CSI, Boston Legal and Eli Stone. He has also enjoyed his recurring roles on the NBC television show The Office and Up All Night with Christina Applegate, Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph, as well as NBC’s FBI drama Hannibal and will be starring in the new Amazon series Good Girls Revolt.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Catherine Dent. Catherine is best known for the role of Danielle "Danny" Sofer in the FX series The Shield. She has starred in film and in television as of the early 1990's. Her first feature film was the 1994 movie Nobody's Fool. On television she played Janice Talbert in One Life to Live, and well has made many guest appearances on several TV shows, such as on The Pretender, The X-Files, The Invisible Man, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Sopranos, Frasier, Judging Amy, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Without a Trace, Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, The Mentalist, The Player, Castle, Rake and The Astronaut Wives Club. She was also a recurring character on Fox's Gang Related and has appeared in Replicant, The Majestic and 21 Grams.

Steve Cooper talks with TV/Film writers Robb Cullen and Scott Hodges. Robb has created the TV series Lucky, Gary the Rat, Heist, Back in the Game and Mr. Robinson, written for the show Las Vegas and wrote the movie Cop Out all with his brother and they recently co-directed their latest screenplay called Going Under. Scott parlayed a successful career as a producer for talk radio into a TV writing career where he has been on staff for the shows Back in the Game and Mr. Robinson. Him and Robb are currently developing TV series and screenplays together.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. Jodi Lyn portrayed Cassidy Bridges on Nash Bridges. She is also known for her role on Prison Break as Gretchen Morgan, a.k.a. Susan B. Anthony and as Josette "Jo" Laughlin in The Vampire Diaries. She made her big screen debut in 1998 in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and later starred in such films as The Crow: Salvation, Whatever It Takes and Devil In The Flesh 2. In 1999, she co-starred in the teen film She's All That. She kept on filming both movies and Nash Bridges until the series ended in 2001. Later films have included Out for Blood and Venice Underground. On the small screen, she has appeared in various shows including Dharma & Greg, Boston Legal, Two and a Half Men, Charmed, The Evidence,The Big Bang Theory and Tru Calling. In 2014 she was cast in a recurring role in VH1's TV series Hit the Floor.

Steve Cooper talks with comic/host Jimmy Pardo. Jimmy is a seasoned veteran of comedy clubs and late night television and has appeared on such shows as The Tonight Show, Conan, The Late Late Show and his own half hour special on Comedy Central. Utilizing his trademark crowd work skills, he spent 6 years as Conan O'Brien's opening act at Conan tapings and has also appeared on Conan as a panel guest, a field correspondent and even filled in as co-host. In 2006, he became a podcasting pioneer when he began hosting the raucous-but-smart weekly podcast Never Not Funny, which Entertainment Weekly called "one of the sharpest and gut-bustingest shows on the Internet." The show has been named a top comedy podcast by The AV Club, Esquire, GQ and USA Today, and its guest list (Conan O'Brien, Jon Hamm, Richard Lewis, Zach Galifianakis and Sarah Silverman, just to name a few) reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood.

Steve Cooper talks with actor/radio personality/voice actor Ralph Garman. Ralph best known as the host of The Joe Schmo Show for three seasons, for his voice work in Family Guy and as the entertainment reporter and impressionist for the Kevin and Bean morning show on Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM. He was hired to work on the Kevin and Bean show through Jimmy Kimmel (who at the time was working as the sports reporter on the show) who had received a recommendation to hire him through former roommate Adam Carolla. He also hosts the Hollywood Babble-On podcast with Kevin Smith on SModcast.com, who cast him in his movies Red State, Tusk, Yoga Hosers, and the upcoming MallBrats. He has also been in the movies Ted, Ted 2, Sharktopus and A Million Ways to Die in the West and recently played a radio announcer on ABC's Agent Carter.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Patrick Fischler. Patrick began building up his résumé in the late 90s, making appearances on TV shows like Sister, Sister and Nash Bridges. His intense looks and malleable demeanor soon made him a familiar face, and in 2001 he was cast in the David Lynch film Mulholland Drive. By the late 2000s, Fischler was landing recurring roles on major primetime series, playing Jimmy Bartlett on the period drama Mad Men and later taking on the role of Dharma Initiative employee Phil on the hit Lost. In 2009, he joined the cast of another network drama, portraying Detective Kenny No-Gun on police drama Southland. He has also recurred on series such as Silicon Valley, Californication, Shameless and Once Upon a Time and has guest starred on countless shows including Maron, Hawaii Five-0, Mob City, Body of Proof, The Mentalist, Grey's Anatomy, Castle and many more. 

Steve Cooper talks with actor Stephanie Erb. Stephanie's first break in television was a guest star on the cult favorite, Star Trek: The Next Generation. She owes her film debut to Peter Weir, who cast her in Fearless with Jeff Bridges and Isabella Rossellini. She has had recurring roles on Ray Donovan, The Young and the Restless, True Blood, Weeds, 24, Freaks and Geeks and The Fosters to name a few and has made guest appearances on shows such as Girl Meets World, Bones, NCIS, The Mentalist, Desperate Housewives, Parks and Recreation, Criminal Minds, Monk, Six Feet Under, Grey's Anatomy and Two and a Half Men. Her film appearances include such productions as The Ring, South Dakota, and Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. Sponsored by Café Valet. Go to www.cafevalet.com and enter the coupon code COOPER for $5 off the Starter Combo Pack.