Downtown: The Podcast

Guests: George Chakiris, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. Actor-dancer and Academy Award winner George Chakiris discusses his memoir, “My West Side Story”, and Jennifer Keishin Armstrong looks back at female broadcast pioneers in her latest, “When Women Invented Television”.    

Guests: Stephen Tobolowsky, Mameve Medwed. Actor and author Stephen Tobolowsky returns to share stories of the actor’s life, squirrel visitations, and more. Author and Maine native Mameve Medwed discusses her latest book, “Minus Me”.  

Guests: Steve Lukather. Tom Papa. Legendary musician Steve Lukather talks about his career and the making of his new album, “I Found The Sun Again”, and we get together with comedian Tom Papa, whose new special “You’re Doing Great”, is available now on Netflix.

Guests: Phoef Sutton, Gino Vannelli. Screenwriter and novelist Phoef Sutton talks about his work on “Cheers”, “Newhart”, and “Boston Legal”, and his transition into writing novels like “Fifteen Minutes to Live” and “From Away”. Singer-songwriter Gino Vannelli, who took “I Just Wanna Stop” and “Living Inside Myself” to the Top 10, discusses his more than four decades of making music

Guests:  Rich Sommer, Paula Poundstone. Actor Rich Sommer talks about his role as Harry Crane in Mad Men, as well as his work in the series GLOW, and films like The Devil Wears Prada. Comedian Paula Poundstone returns to discuss her podcast, Nobody Listens To Paula Poundstone, and how she’s been keeping busy during the pandemic.        

Guests: Van Dyke Parks, Joe Henry. A pair of great music conversations as we talk with the multi-talented Joe Henry and Van Dyke Parks.      

Guests: Annie Jacobsen, Ron Lieber. Annie Jacobsen, author of “Area 51”, “Phenomena”, and “Surprise, Kill, Vanish”, talks about her new book, “First Platoon”. Ron Lieber, the New York Times’ Your Money columnist, discusses his book, “The Price You Pay for College”.    

Guests: Peter Ames Carlin, Sheila Kelley. Author Peter Ames Carlin talks with us about the history of Warner Bros. Records, chronicled in his new book, “Sonic Boom” and actress Sheila Kelley discusses “Strip Down, Rise Up”, a new Netflix documentary on her work using pole dancing to help women deal with trauma and body image issues.      

Guests: Colin Mochrie. Bellamy Young. Colin Mochrie discusses his virtual shows with Brad Sherwood and his work on Whose Line Is It, Anyway? Actress Bellamy Young talks about Season 2 of Prodigal Son on Fox and her role as the President on Scandal.  

Guest: Paul Williams. Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe winner Paul Williams talks about his youth, his career in music, acting, his work as a recovery advocate, and his role as President of ASCAP. An in-depth and revealing conversation and great perspective on life.                  

David Roth, Josh Karp. David Roth of Defector joins us to discuss the new Mets ownership, the NBA, the last days of Trump, and more. Writer Josh Karp helps us look back and some memorable cultural touchstones of the 1970s, including “Battle of the Network Stars”.                

Peter Guralnick, Mike Anthony. Music journalist Peter Guralnick discusses Dick Curless, Doc Pomus, Col. Tom Parker, and more essays from his new book, "Looking To Get Lost: Adventures In Music & Writing". Actor Mike Anthony gained a large social media following through his inspiring posts about his interactions tending bar at the Richard Rodgers Theatre during "Hamilton" and he's turned those stories into a book entitled, "Life At Hamilton", and he talked with us about what he learned from those experiences.            

Chevy Chase, John Davidson. Chevy Chase looks back at “Christmas Vacation”, “Caddyshack”, “Fletch”, and more, and discusses his friendship with the late Doug Kenney. John Davidson shares a little holiday music and some tales of Christmases past.            

Richard Lertzman, Lizz Winstead. Author Richard Lertzman discusses his new book, “Deconstructing The Rat Pack: Joey, The Mob, and The Summit” and comedian Lizz Winstead talks about her new Vimeo special, “Corona Borealis.”      

John Byner, Matthew Nelson. Actor, comedian, and impressionist John Byner discussed his new memoir, Five Minutes, Mr. Byner.” Matthew Nelson talked about the 30th anniversary of “After The Rain”, the smash debut album he recorded with his brother, Gunnar, and also reflected on the legacy of his father, Ricky Nelson.