Whether you’re watching Showgirls, Face/Off, Bound or one of her countless other films, one thing you can be sure of is that when Gina Gershon shows up on a movie screen, she’s not taking any crap from anyone.

It’s no surprise then that she also doesn’t suffer fools in her personal life. And her new memoir, AlphaPussy, offers stories and advice to guide others on how to navigate the world as she does.

We talk to Gershon about the book, working with Robert Altman on The Player and her battles with Paul Verhoeven while filming Showgirls. And we also get to see the AlphaPussy in action as she lets us know how frustrated she got attempting to sign into our video chat.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Whitlock was a character actor best known for his role of Senator Clay Davis on The Wire, his many roles in Spike Lee’s films and his signature catchphrase: “Sheeeeeit!”

Joel Murphy interviewed Isiah Whitlock Jr. in 2008 as the final season of The Wire was underway. Today, we bring we the audio from that interview.

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Glass Android” by Lee Rosevere

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Toby Huss has had an eclectic career playing everything from The Wiz on Seinfeld to Stumpy on Carnivàle.

He can be seen most recently as Captain Ed in Weapons and can be heard as the voices of both Dale Gribble and Cotton Hill in the rebooted King of the Hill series.

We talked to Toby about Captain Ed’s dating life, his desire to see the ghost of Cotton Hill haunting Hank and getting recognized in Thailand by a man wearing a coconut bra.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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AUDIO VERSION:

Any devoted Lumon employee hopes to hear the voice of Kier speaking to them. And while they may be prepared for him to speak in mysterious ways, it’s safe to say that they don’t expect to hear him via a Kier statue that’s doing bad comedy alongside Seth Milchick.

But that’s exactly what Mark and Helly got in the season two finale of Severance.

We talk to Marc Geller, who plays Kier on the show, about his unusual role, his desire to film a Kier flashback episode and what it was like working with Eric Andre on the Eric Andre Show.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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AUDIO VERSION:

Josh Ruben already won the hearts o‬f Dropout subscribers as one of the original “Noise Boys” on Game Changer and Make Some Noise.

Now, he’s making noise as the director of Heart Eyes, a horror/romcom hybrid that he hopes will be his Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. The film has already been enthusiastically embraced by fans; earning over $20 million at the global box office in its first two weeks in theaters.

We talk to Ruben about the film’s tricky tone, how he created such a memorable opening sequence and his desire to continue making Dropout content regardless of how busy he gets.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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AUDIO VERSION:

God spoke to Moses through a burning bush. Zeus appeared to the Spartan queen Leda as a swan. But for Natalie Kalen on Severance, her gods — the Lumon Industries board — speak to her through a bluetooth earpiece.

We spoke to Sydney Cole Alexander, who plays Natalie on Severance, about the temptation to ask Ben Stiller to do “Blue Steel” when he’s directing her on set, Severance‘s many mysteries and that scene from season two, episode three where Natalie presented Seth Milchick with a gift from the board.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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AUDIO VERSION:

Carol Kane has had a legendary career forming on-screen comedy duos with the likes of Bill Murray, Billy Crystal and Jack Nicholson. She’s back doing it once again in Between the Temples, where she stars opposite Jason Schwartzman in what feels like a lost 1970s Hal Ashby film.

We talk to Kane about beating up Bill Murray with her wings in Scrooged, working with John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands in a play and her bucket list dream of working with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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After facing backlash over being cast as an Asian character in Ghost in the Shell and a trans man in Rub & Tug, Scarlett Johansson stated in an interview that “as an actor I should be able to play any person, or any tree, or any animal.”

In response, Asian actor Chris Grace decided that he should play Scarlett Johansson. His one-person show, Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson features him in a number of absurd wigs discussing Johansson’s career and Hollywood’s long history of whitewashing.

We talk to Grace about this hilarious and poignant show, which is now available to stream on Dropout.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Luckily, over many, many pints of Guinness, writer/director Rich Peppiatt was able to talk Moglaí Bap, Mo Chara and DJ Provaí into telling their story in a kinetic, entertaining biopic that hits theaters tomorrow.

We chatted with the band and writer/director about the film, the fight to get Irish recognized as a language in the north of Ireland and the chaotic decision to release a new album and movie simultaneously.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Our Frasier Remake is the brainchild of Jacob Reed. It’s a collaboration between over 100 artists who each took a short clip from the season one episode “My Coffee With Niles” and reinterpreted it however they saw fit. The result is a mix of animation, puppets and live action clips pieced together into one chaotic episode.

Joel Murphy and Molly Regan participated in the project. And now Joel sits down with Jacob Reed to discuss this massive undertaking in detail.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Vidiots, a beloved LA video rental hub established in 1985, recently restructured itself into a 501(c)3 non-profit and opened a new space in Eagle Rock that has both a video store and a theater.

We spoke with Vidiots Executive Director Maggie Mackay about the challenges of running a video store in 2023, the importance of preserving and screening classic films and the organization’s recent partnership with Pluto TV to offer free film screenings.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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She also has one of the coolest careers ever. As a classically-trained cellist, she has performed alongside Weezer, Beck and Brandi Carlile. Recently, she has been playing shows with David Wain and Ken Marino’s Middle Aged Dad Jam Band.

But her true passion is directing. Her latest film, Pretty Problems, is a funny and unpredictable exploration of wealth and privilege. After earning acclaim on the festival circuit, it is now available to watch on Hulu.

We talk to Kestrin about directing independent films, performing alongside Weird Al Yankovic and being raised by the also-amazingly-named Commander Pantera.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar

[This episode is being released during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Pretty Problems wouldn’t exist.]

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Joel Murphy interviewed him twice for the site – in 2005 and 2008. Today, we share the audio from those interviews and Joel talks about how much Lance Reddick’s kindness and thoughtfulness meant to him.

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Glass Android” by Lee Rosevere
• End – “Tick Tock” by Lance Reddick

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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In 2009, Joel Murphy interviewed him for the site. Today, Joel shares his thoughts on the loss of an icon and shares the audio from that interview.

He talked to Conroy about his journey from  Juilliard to Gotham, how Mark Hamill got him up to speed on the comics and his thoughts on Christian Bale’s Batman voice.

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Glass Android” by Lee Rosevere

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Louise Barnard chose a self-proclaimed fboy over a nice guy this season. She talks about that decision and her experience on the show.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Baby Blue” by Louise Barnard

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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But this season, Tamaris Sepulveda flipped the script by revealing herself to be a “FGirl” and choosing money over any of the men. We chat with Tamaris about life on FBoy Island and her pitch for a FGirl Island spinoff.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Different Kind of Girl” by John Wicks and Paul Collins

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Fernandez recently contributed the Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn story “The Hunt” to the DC Pride 2022 anthology. We talked to her about Harley and Ivy’s relationship, her journey as a writer and the cinematic universe she would most like to live in.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Daggers At Dawn” by Toussaint Morrison

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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We recently spoke to Niki about the process of making these highly-detailed films and how they have been received across the globe.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Early Morning Existential Crisis” by Learning Music

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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That’s why we’re excited to bring you our recent conversation with Regan Linton and Brian Malone about their documentary Imperfect. The film follows the Phamaly Theatre Company, which is comprised of actors with all nature of disabilities – including spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s Disease, cerebral palsy, autism, low vision/blind, and multiple sclerosis – as they rehearse and perform the musical Chicago.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Roxie” by Emily Robinson

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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According to the Kickstarter:

The connecting theme is consciousness— the mysteries sounding awareness, intention, desire, and free will, in a time of disruption and recalibration. Each episode is self-contained, exploring the uncanny nature of consciousness in intimate, emotionally grounded stories.

We talked to Byrkit about his plans for the series, his decision to crowdfund it and the episode he’s already filmed with guest star Patton Oswalt.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “My Baby’s Love (Is Like the Sun)” by Monkey Mind

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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On today’s podcast, we chat with Villepique about her guest work on shows like The Office and Terriers, the lyrical way Paul F. Tompkins said her name on Spontaneanation and Mike O’Brien’s obsession with spaghetti on A.P. Bio.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Bad Biology” by Night Birds

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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We caught up with Emig recently to see how she’s feeling after the shocking finale, how she ended up on FBoy Island in the first place and how CJ Franco, Nakia Renee and Nikki Glaser helped her through this unique dating experience.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “No Time (ft. Odanis)” by Bronson Scott

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Joel Murphy recently opened up on Twitter to talk about why that moment was so special:

He and Lars talk more about the interview and Williams’ career in general on this special episode of Hobo Radio. They also share the audio from the second interview Murphy conducted with Michael K. Williams in 2006.

[You can find the original print versions of our two interviews here and here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Please Don’t Say Goodbye” by Tony Benn

Hobo Radio is presented by HoboTrashcan.com and is a part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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After years of making a living writing horror sequels like Hellraiser: Hellword and Children of the Corn: Runaway, he’s written and directed something completely different: My Best Worst Adventure; the story of an American teen sent to live with her grandmother in Thailand.

We were delighted to sit down and chat with this brilliant filmmaker respected and revered by millions (and we promise we’re not just saying that so that he can pull the quote for his Wikipedia page).

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Trapped” by Bumy Goldson

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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This struggle is front and center in season 18 of Bravo’s Top Chef. It was also the motivating factor for Jamie Tran, chef and owner of Las Vegas’ The Black Sheep, to compete on the show.

We talked to Jamie about her path to becoming a chef, her restaurant’s struggles during Covid and what it’s like competing on Top Chef.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Spirit Chef” by Miseryslims

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Her new Netflix show, City of Ghosts, is about a team of adorable young ghost hunters who travel around LA interviewing spirits and learning about the rich history of the city and its eclectic inhabitants. After a rough few years, it is essential comfort viewing.

We interviewed Ito about her career in animation, the development and execution of City of Ghosts and her anxiety about the child actors aging out of their parts.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Ghost” by Flugeldar

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

City of Ghosts is available now on Netflix. You can find out more about Elizabeth Ito by visiting her website.

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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In 2016, we talked to her about season seven of Archer, her work on Arrested Development and the similarities between the two mothers she plays on those shows. Today, in honor of her passing, we are reposting the audio. 

[To read the print version of this interview, click here. You can also read about the Archer Live! event mentioned in this episode here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Say Goodbye” by Benji Cossa

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Steven Kostanski is seeking to recapture some of that ’80s magic with PG: Psycho Gorman. In the film, which is available today on DVD and Blu-ray, a young girl named Mimi and her brother Luke awakens an ancient alien warrior and force him to do their bidding.

We talked to Kostanski about his inspirations for Psycho Goreman, PG’s love of “hunky boys” and what it’s been like releasing the film during a pandemic.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Psycho II” by lo-fi is sci-fi

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https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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After George Floyd was killed by police last summer, Davenport and New Day wanted to design ring gear depicting heroes of black history. From there, Davenport and Big E teamed up with Andreas Hale to create Our Heroes Rock, an animated show that uses hip hop and science fiction to teach kids about black history.

We talked to Davenport about the Kickstarter campaign for Our Heroes Rock, designing ring gear for the New Day and how hard it is not to geek out and ask a million questions when texting pro wrestlers.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “She Can’t See” by Bronson Scott

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Follow and support Our Heroes Rock on Kickstarter. You can find more of Jonathan’s work at Design Mode Studios.

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Following in that tradition are Stephen and Alexa Kinigopoulos, two Maryland filmmakers whose film Fishbowl looks at teenage life in a small town. Set in the fictional Bishop, Maryland, the film tells the story of three sisters navigating life without their mother and with a father who has becoming increasingly obsessed with the apocalypse.

This week, we talk to the duo about Fishbowl, their favorite films of all time and their mentor George Pelecanos.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Big Fish” by Cambriana

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Fishbowl is now available on demand. Find out more here. Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

In 2006, we talked to Harris about his career, including his matches with Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, and how he felt he never earned the main event money he deserved. The interview originally ran in print form on September 26, 2006. Today, in honor of his passing, we are sharing the audio from that interview for the first time.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “If I had a dollar” by James Harris

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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As a child, Cody Heller watched her mother Randee Heller, who starred as Lucille LaRusso in The Karate Kid, go through the ups and downs of being a working actor. It made Cody want to be involved in the industry, but pushed her toward writing and directing.

Dummy, the semi-autobiographical comedy Heller created in which Anna Kendrick plays Cody, Donal Logue plays her fiancé Dan Harmon and Meredith Hagner plays Harmon’s sex doll, Barbara, who comes to life and forms an unlikely friendship with Cody, was released on Quibi earlier this year.

Heller talks to us about being Michael Bay’s assistant, the friendship she and her father formed with the sex workers at a Nevada brothel and what it’s like releasing a new show during a pandemic on a streaming platform that is being widely derided on social media.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “You’re The Dummy” by Derek Clegg

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

From 1990 to 1996, Karyn Parsons could be seen playing Hillary, the socialite eldest daughter of the Banks family on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Through syndication and streaming services, the show remains popular to this day.

We talked to Parsons about Fresh Prince‘s legacy, the recent virtual cast reunion and how the late, great James Avery really was like a father to her.

She also talks about Sweet Blackberry, the nonprofit she formed “to bring little known stories of African American achievement to children everywhere.” The organization has told the stories of Henry “Box” Brown, Garret Morgan, Janet Collins and Bessie Coleman using narrators Alfre Woodard, Queen Latifah, Chris Rock and Laurence Fishburne. Parsons is hoping to create more videos and books.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “I’m Into It” by Toussaint Morrison

Learn more about Sweet Blackberry at their website or follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

For Top Chef: All-Stars LA, the popular cooking competition brought back 15 chefs from previous seasons. With the season finale airing this Thursday, only three of them remain to compete for the top prize.

One of those three chefs is Stephanie Cmar, a New England native who was eliminated in the qualifying round of Season 10 (which her dear friend Kristen Kish won), then came back and finished seventh in Season 11. We interviewed Stephanie about her previous runs on the show, her decision to come back for All-Stars, her friendship with Kish and what the future holds.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Skat Track” by Bronson Scott

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

Comic book legend Dennis O’Neil passed away at the age of 81. O’Neil was a writer for both Marvel and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s. He created Ra’s and Talia al Ghul and, as DC’s Batman editor, oversaw the Knightfall storyline that introduced the world to Bane.

In 2012, Joel Murphy interviewed O’Neil for an article about Bane to introduce causal fans to the character before the release of Christopher Nolan’s film The Dark Knight Rises. Most of the interview, unfortunately, ended up on the cutting room floor and has never been heard before. But today, to honor the man and his amazing legacy, Murphy is releasing the full, unedited 40-minute interview for the first time.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Glass Android” by Lee Rosevere

Find more interviews here:
https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

When Taylor Tomlinson took a stand up workshop with her dad when she was 16, she had no way of knowing it would be the start of a new career. From churches to late-night talk shows to her own Netflix special, Quarter Life Crisis, Tomlinson has seen that career rise to heights she never could have imagined in a short time.

We chat with Tomlinson about her stand up career (including the decision to pivot away from being a Christian comedian), her Netflix special and what it’s like to have your career take off during a global pandemic.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “West Benders” by Toussaint Morrison

Find more interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

The tragedy of Better Call Saul is that we know going in that our protagonist’s fate is sealed. As much as we may empathize with and root for Jimmy McGill, we know that he is destined to end up being the Saul Goodman we watched in Breaking Bad (and eventually, the Gene Takavic we see glimpses of in Better Call Saul).

But perhaps, if things had gone a different way, Jimmy could have turned out like Bill Oakley, the trans fat loving, “petty with a prior” spouting deputy district attorney that serves as a foil for McGill on BCS.

We explore this alternate universe Jimmy with Peter Diseth, the actor who plays Oakley. We also discuss how he landed the role (which included an awkward bathroom encounter with Bob Odenkirk), what it’s like being a day player on TV shows and how hard it is to eat food take after take in a scene.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk,” “Give It (All Night Long” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “El Sonido de la Vida” by Silva de Alegria

Find more interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

Following up on his 2014 interview with the co-writer/director of Coherence, Joel Murphy takes a deep dive into James Ward Byrkit’s career.

They discuss his days as a storyboard artist for the Pirates of the Caribbean films, his work on the animated film Rango and Coherence‘s cult success in the five years since its release.

If you are a fan of Coherence who lives in LA, make sure to buy tickets to the fifth anniversary screening at the Vista Theater on September 12, which will feature cast members and other special guests, limited edition merchandise, behind-the-scenes stories of the filmmaking and other surprises. Tickets are available here.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk,” “Give It (All Night Long” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Knocking at My Window” by Back Up Jackson

Find more interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

With Tinder Live! celebrating its fifth anniversary tomorrow, we took the opportunity to catch up with its creator, Lane Moore. We talk to her about the response to her memoir How To Be Alone, her band It Was Romance playing SXSW and why Tinder Live! should be adapted into a television show.

To listen to more interviews, including our previous two chats with Lane Moore, click here: https://www.hobotrashcan.com/interview-archive/

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Hooking up with Girls” by It Was Romance

You can learn more about Tinder Live, and find show dates, here. Follow Lane Moore on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can order How To Be Alone here or from your local book people.

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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There’s a contradiction at the core of Lane Moore’s new memoir, How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don’t. The book bills itself as a guide to navigating solitude. However, Moore’s heartfelt, intimate writing places you so deeply into her world that you feel profoundly connected to her. Her musings on solitude feel like a conversation you’re having over drinks with a dear friend, which inevitably makes you feel less alone in the world.

We recently talked to Moore about the process of writing the book, how she’s been coping emotionally with some of the heavier subject matter and her plans to write a Will Smith-esque theme song for the inevitable film adaptation.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “But Not Forgotten” by It Was Romance

Photo by Ariana Anhalt

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

You can learn more about Tinder Live, and find show dates, here. Follow Lane Moore on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can pre-order How To Be Alone here or from your local book people.

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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If you’ve heard the phrase “He’s just not that into you,” then you are familiar with Greg Behrendt’s work. Behrendt’s work as a script supervisor on Sex and the City, which led to him co-authoring the 2004 New York Times bestseller He’s Just Not That Into You. However, before launching into that wildly successful career, Behrendt started out as a stand up comedian.

He returns to those stand up roots with his new album Why Are You In Here? We talked to him about the new album, his thoughts on comedy as a whole and how Margaret Cho is responsible for his career.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• End – “Bankin'” by Jaisen Waterfall

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Dana James Jones made his Brick/Star Wars parody mashup Revenge of the Incels with one viewer in mind – writer/director Rian Johnson. Thanks to social media, Johnson saw the video and loved it. And so did a lot of other people.

The film follows the plot of Johnson’s film noir Brick, but the protagonist in Revenge of the Incels is Johnson himself – and he’s trying to get to the bottom of who killed Kelly Marie Tran. This week, Joel Murphy has an in-depth chat with Jones about how the film was conceived, shot and released out into the world. They also talk about Jones’ run-in with Johnson’s predecessor J.J. Abrams, Jones’ first Star Wars fan film (which he shot at age 10) and their predictions for Episode IX.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• End – “Cantina Rag” by Jackson F. Smith

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Lane Moore is a comedian, writer, actor, musician … and one of the most delightful people on the planet. While she has been hard at work writing her first book, How To Be Alone, she somehow still finds the time to produce and host her critically-acclaimed comedy show Tinder Live! With Lane Moore.

While we’ll all have to impatiently wait until November to read the book, we chatted with Lane about what makes Tinder Live such a special show. We also pressed her for an update on “Laundry Guy,” the cute boy from her building she met in the most adorable way (a saga she turned into a viral Twitter thread).

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Philadelphia” by It Was Romance

Photo by Ariana Anhalt

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

You can learn more about Tinder Live, and find show dates, here. Follow Lane Moore on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can pre-order How To Be Alone here or from your local book people.

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

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Discovery’s Naked and Afraid is a reality show that drops two survivalists – one man and one woman – into a remote location, strips them of their clothes and leaves them to fend for themselves for 21 days. It’s a brutal, intense undertaking that pushes the competitors to their physical and mental limits.

So, when Joel Murphy discovered his longtime friend Rylie Parlett was featured on the episode “Trouble in Paradise,” which aired June 10, he reached out to her to hear about her experience. In this in-depth chat, she talks about her decision to do the show, what it was like being on it and what her life has been like since the episode aired.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Beautiful Day” by Mindseye

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

Hynden Walch has been a part of your life for much longer than you realize. From her first major role playing Debbie Kleiser in the Bill Murray film Groundhog Day to being one of the women’s support group members who witnessed Tom Cruise’s “You complete me” speech at the end of Jerry Maguire, Walch has been a part of some of the most iconic cinematic moments in recent history. More recently, she has focused on voice acting, where she has voice Harley Quinn in a variety of projects, Princess Bubblegum in Adventure Time and Starfire in Teen Titans Go!

We spoke to Walch about what it was like to be on the set of Groundhog Day and Jerry Maguire, why she thinks acting schools are overrated and how she brings characters like Starfire and Princess Bubblegum to life.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “New Gods (feat. Molly Dean, Chersti Rydning)” by Toussaint Morrison

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal has been depicted many times in films and television, but one avenue that hasn’t been thoroughly explored is what led FBI agent Mark Felt to become “Deep Throat,” the infamous whistle blower who leaked vital information to the press. Felt’s identity was concealed until 2005, when he gave an interview to Vanity Fair revealing he was behind the leaks. Writer/director Peter Landesman’s new film, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, gives us our first in-depth look at who the man was and why he did what he did.

We recently talked to Landesman and Liam Neeson (who stars as Mark Felt in the film) about the project at an intimate press conference held this past week in Los Angeles. Today we bring you the audio from that press conference.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk,” “Give It (All Night Long)” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “National Felt” by State Shirt

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

From her very first conversation with Carrie Coon’s Gloria Burgle in the bathroom of a police station, Olivia Sandoval burst into season three of Fargo as the lovably unfiltered Winnie Lopez. Their friendship became the heart of the season; giving a wonderful payoff to the running theme of technology not responding to Burgle.

We sat down with Sandoval to talk about her journey as an actor, her band Whiskey Sunday and how her father tried to write himself into Fargo.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “That Good Fight” by Whiskey Sunday

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

Paulino García has lived life to the fullest. As a teenager, he hitchhiked from Spain to Paris, then traveled to Tel Aviv to work on a kibbutz. From there, he explored Europe, making friends with students at the Sorbonne by translating Leonard Cohen and Pink Floyd lyrics. He found his way into a career in animation working for Hanna-Barbera, which lead him to America and eventually a job at Disney working on iconic films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

Joel Murphy and Molly Regan moved into the same apartment building as Paulino and his wife Lourdes last November. The two couples became fast friends. As Paulino and Lourdes prepare to move to the Canary Islands for the next chapter of their lives, Joel sat down to talk to Paulino about his amazing life.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “The Protagonist” by Krestovsky

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

Lauren Lapkus has been living a double life. On television and in movies, she plays meek, reserved characters like prison guard Susan Fischer on Orange is the New Black. But, on podcasts like Comedy Bang Bang and With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus she is able to let loose, being more assertive, gross and bizarre.

We talk to Lapkus about her dual careers, including last year’s Comedy Bang Bang tour, her charming improvised scenes in Jurassic World and her portrayal of a surprisingly-sympathetic adulterer in Pete Holmes’ Crashing. We also get to the bottom of whether or not she’s ever seen Paul F. Tompkins in casual attire.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Just Watching” by Podington Bear

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

For the past 12 years, Gordon McAlpin has been writing and drawing the popular webcomic Multiplex (which is an impressive run for a series he originally conceived as a supplemental comic for his original series Stripped Books).

Multiplex came to an end earlier this week. On this show, we talk to McAlpin about the series as a whole, his new Kickstarter for an animated version of the series called Multiplex 10 and his controversial opinions on the original Star Wars trilogy.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Fortress” by Pipe Choir

To listen to more interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

As AJ Lee, AJ Mendez Brooks was a trailblazer in the WWE. Now that she hass retired from professional wrestling, she is looking back at her rise to the spotlight and her struggles with mental illness in her new memoir Crazy is My Superpower.

In this candid interview, we talked to AJ about the new memoir, her enduring love of Kane and why she gets so excited when people are injured on Chopped.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Crazy” by Derek Clegg

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

Erin McGathy is a comedian and podcaster best known for her shows This Feels Terrible and Human Conversation and her appearances on Harmontown, Harmonquest and Community.

McGathy recently made the decision to leave Los Angeles to live in Ireland, pursuing her comedy dreams abroad. We talk to her about her time spent in LA, her life since the move and what the future holds for her.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Lights That Glow” by Tim Evans

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

John O’Hurley is undoubtedly best known for playing Elaine’s eccentric boss J. Peterman on Seinfeld. However, that was just one role in a lifetime spent acting.

We talked to O’Hurley about his humble beginnings as an actor, landing the iconic role of Peterman and what his life has been like since Seinfeld went off the air. We also talk about his various hosting gigs, from Purina’s National Dog Show to Family Feud, and his new film where he goes one-on-one with a young girl in a round of golf.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “A1 Rogue” by Podington Bear

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

In the world of gritty cable dramas, Alexander ‘Tig’ Trager from Sons of Anarchy was always a bit of an anomaly. He was a remorseless killer who did whatever needed to be done for his club, but at the same time, Tig was an eccentric pansexual who often subverted and challenged the macho culture he was a part of.

Since the show ended in 2014, Kim Coates, the charismatic actor who played Tig, has continued to subvert expectations by choosing an eclectic mix of film projects. His latest project, The Adventure Club, features Coates as a quirky mentor to a team of tween explorers. This week, Joel Murphy talks to Coates about his experience playing Trager, his life post-SOA and his approach to choosing film roles.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Zemer Atik (Israeli)” by The Rosen Sisters

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

As a stand up comedian, writer, actor and host, Pete Holmes has won over audiences with his quick wit, warmth and tendency to diverge into delightful tangents.

Joel Murphy sat down with Pete Holmes in his home to talk about his early days as a performer, his classic College Humor Batman sketches, his upcoming HBO projects and the state of modern comedy. Plus, as you’d expect, they veer off into a ton of enjoyable digressions.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Landing Gear” by CuzOH

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

On Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, protagonist Rebecca Bunch abruptly packs up her life and moves from New York to West Covina, California in hopes of recapturing the happiness she found with her summer camp boyfriend Josh Chan. She makes the move after the universe gives her a series of signs, including a collection of butter ads, that West Covina is where she belongs.

Like Bunch, veteran Broadway actor Vincent Rodriguez III, who plays Josh Chan, seems to have had the universe conspiring to cast him on the show. His years of experience singing and dancing, as well as his warmth and positivity, made him the perfect guy to play Chan.

We recently talked to Rodriguez about his struggles to convince his father that acting was a “real job,” his use of Tupac’s “Thugz Mansion” in his audition for Chan and his thoughts on whether or not Rebecca and Josh should be together.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Alternative Cool” by Toussaint Morrison

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

John Krasinski’s new film The Hollars tells the story of a quirky family that must come together when their matriarch becomes ill. Featuring a stellar cast that includes Margo Martindale, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, Charlie Day and Josh Groban.

To promote the film’s premiere, Joel Murphy was invited to a press conference featuring Krasinski and Martindale. We bring the audio from that press conference to you today.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Why War” by Moscato

To listen to more celebrity interviews, including a one-on-one interview with Martindale, click here: http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

Mike Birbiglia’s new film, Don’t Think Twice, tells the story of an improv troupe whose time together comes to an end due to a number of external forces. The film premiered last Friday in New York and proved to be a huge box office success.

To promote the Los Angeles premiere, Joel Murphy was invited to a press luncheon featuring Mike Birbiglia, Kate Micucci and Keegan-Michael Key. The three stars answered roundtable questions from the reporters in attendance. We bring that audio to you today.

Murphy, who has done improv for the past four years, also shares his personal connection to the film.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Dorothy” by The Quahogs

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Peak Sloth Podcast Network. Hear more shows at PeakSloth.com.

When looking to cast Mallory Archer in their animated spy comedy, the creative team behind Archer wrote in the character breakdown “to think Jessica Walter, Arrested Development.” Serendipitously, the script ended up in the hands of Jessica Walter, who loved it and wanted to be a part of the show.

While her characters on Arrested Development and Archer can be brutal if you get on their bad side, Walter herself couldn’t be more lovely. We recently talked to her about season seven of Archer, the chances of another season of Arrested Development and the similarities between the two iconic matriarchs.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Oh Mallory” by Josh Woodward

To listen to more celebrity interviews, including more Archer cast members, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

From his epic Star Wars filibuster on Parks and Recreation to his reoccurring role on Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, Patton Oswalt has a knack for showing up in every nerdy place his fans would hope to find him. Continuing that tradition, this season he will be appearing on the hilarious animated spy show Archer.

We recently talked to Oswalt about balancing acting with stand up, living in an Elmore Leonard novel as Constable Bob on Justified and his thoughts on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Knocking at My Window” by Back Up Jackson

To listen to more celebrity interviews, including more Archer cast members, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

If you’ve listened to a LA-based podcast, watched Drunk History or seen any Volkswagen commercials, then you’re familiar with Matt Gourley’s work. Gourley, an improviser and actor perhaps best known for the Superego podcast, has had an eclectic career simply by following his bliss.

We recently talked to Gourley about his quirky cameo on Community, how working at a Disney theme park shaped his career and why producing new episodes of Superego is becoming less and less sustainable.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “The Better Half” by Matt Gourley

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

You’ve seen Janet Varney in memorable roles like Becca Barbara in You’re the Worst and Carly in Burning Love. And you’ve heard her voice as the titular Korra in The Legend of Korra. But her acting career almost didn’t come to be. It was only after her friends convinced her to join their comedy troupe in San Francisco that she strayed away from her more sensible plan of becoming an architect or interior designer.

We recently talked to Varney about founding SF Sketchfest, running around in a pregnancy pad and four-inch stilettos in You’re the Worst and her humble beginnings as “Party Girl” in Catwoman.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “How I Met Your Sister” by Jimmy & The Threats

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

Since we last checked in with Jacq the Stripper, she’s been busy furthering her empire. In addition to stripping, writing a blog and doing standup, Jacqueline Frances has written a memoir called The Beaver Show and is currently running a Kickstarter to pay for a North American book tour.

Joel Murphy checks back in with Jacq the Stripper to talk about the process of writing the book, what she’s discovered about her own personal limits and why Baltimore is the forgotten stepchild of the East Coast.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Take Us to the Nearest Starbase” by Astrometrics

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

From Platoon to There’s Something About Mary to Requiem for a Dream, Keith David has had memorable parts in a wide range of films. His unmistakable baritone voice and utter commitment to whatever part he’s playing make him memorable in every role he undertakes.

In his new film Boiling Pot, David plays Agent Long, an investigator looking to get to the bottom of a horrific, racially-motivated crime. The film is based on real events that took place on a college campus in 2008.

We recently talked to David about racism in America, the fact that he’s always working and the chances of getting a Community movie.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Come a Little Closer with Me” by Keith David

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

In our HoboTrashcan 10 year retrospective, our 2013 interview with Billy West came in at number two. So, for those of you who missed it then, we are rebroadcasting it now with a new intro and remastered audio.

To say Billy West has had an eclectic career would be an understatement. From playing in rock bands to being a noted radio personality to doing voice work for Space Jam, Ren and Stimpy and Futurama, West has made a living off of his impressive pipes.

We talked to him about his career and his personal struggles. The almost hour-long interview includes West doing a few of his trademark voices and him opening up about his rough childhood and struggles with addiction. And it includes a song by West’s band – Billy West and the Grief Counselors. You are going to want to listen to this.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “I Gotta Get Laid” by Billy West and the Grief Counselors

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

What began as a quirky loosely-based parody of Doc Brown and Marty McFly in Back to the Future has evolved into an intergalactic/interdimensional animated sitcom about a dysfunctional, but well-intentioned family of misfits.

The complexity and brilliance of Rick and Morty isn’t surprising if you’ve been tracking the careers of its two creators. Dan Harmon has made a name for himself as the architect of the beloved, deconstructed sitcom Community and Justin Roiland is known by Channel 101 fans for his scifi cloning comedy House of Cosbys (as well as the voice of the Earl of Lemongrab on Adventure Time).

We talked to Roiland last year about season one of their brilliant Adult Swim show, so with season two rapidly approaching, we caught back up with him and Harmon to talk new character combinations, the trouble with clearing DMX songs and the unique experience of attending Comic-Con.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “X Gonna Give it to Ya” by Imaginary Blues Machine

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

As the name would imply, the blonde bombshell Jacqueline is, indeed, a stripper. She is also a writer and a comedian who takes her experiences working in clubs across America and turns them into funny and engaging stories.

Joel Murphy talks to Jacq the Stripper about how she got into the business, the idiosyncrasies of regional clubs and this country’s complicated relationship with strippers and female sexuality. And, because she is Canadian, they also talk about Tim Hortons’ amazing donuts.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” and “Ancient Ritual” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar
• End – “Can’t Fake the Funk” by Fortified PhonetX

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

World Wrestling Entertainment’s Attitude Era featured so many classic moments – everything from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin giving Vince McMahon and Co. a beer bath to Undertaker throwing Mankind off of the top of the cell at King of the Ring. And through it all, Jim Ross was there to call the action. In addition to being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Ross has coined a term featured on Urban Dictionary (“sloberknocker”) and has seen his iconic “As God as my witness, he’s broken in half” call turned into a meme.

The Hall of Fame announcer joins the show this week to talk about his life as a ring announcer, his post-WWE career (including the “Ringside: An Evening With Jim Ross” live show that is coming to Baltimore May 16) and the chances he’d ever go back to calling wrestling full-time.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar and “The Ring” by Peacock Ball
• End – “Boomer Sooner” by Oklahoma State University

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

For ways to help Baltimore recover from the riots, click here:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bal-volunteer-donation-opportunities-20150428-story.html#page=1

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

The Mabel Memorial Hobo Madness “NBC Used to Be Good and Now It Kind of Sucks” Tournament has Joel Murphy feeling nostalgic for the glory days of NBC.

So he’s dipped into the HoboTrashcan archives to brings you two never-before heard audio interviews – a 2012 chat with Alison Brie from Community before her New York show with her band The Girls (the print version can be found here) and a “lost” 2011 interview with Jim O’Heir from Parks and Recreation. And, as a special bonus, he rebroadcasts the audio highlights from his interview with Angela Kinsey from The Office (the print version can be found here), which first aired on the site in 2006 on Hobo Radio 6.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar; “The Ring” and “Butterfly Lament” by Peacock Ball; “Incarcerated Mind” by Dr. Rage and the Uppercuts
• End – Angela Kinsey audio highlights feat. Nanjemoy Creek Boys

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Vote for the finals of the Hobo Madness Tournament here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2015/04/10/hobo-madness-tournament-2015-final-match-voting/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

In a world of liars and murderers, call girl Rachel Posner is one of the few truly sincere people. While Frank Underwood and the other politicians in House of Cards all claws and backstab for power, Rachel wants nothing more to live a simple, happy life. It’s easy to see why Doug Stamper is so drawn to her.

Playing Posner on the show is the lovely and charismatic Rachel Brosnahan, who talked to us about auditioning for the part originally listed as “Call Girl,” Rachel’s twisted relationship with Doug and that unforgettable scene inside the van in the season three finale.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar and “The Ring” by Peacock Ball
• End – “Occam’s Sikhweee” by Sikh Knowledge

To listen to more celebrity interviews, click here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

From Dr. Leo Spacemen on 30 Rock to Jerry Smith on Rick and Morty to Cyril Figgis on Archer, Chris Parnell has mastered the art of delivering ridiculous lines with a perfect deadpan. He’s the consummate comedic straight man who makes every scene he’s in better with his earnest delivery.

We recently spoke to Parnell about his journey to become an actor, his experience at the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary special and the wavering of his Christian faith.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “Vishnu Meets Funk” by Lucas Perný & Miloslav Kollar and “The Ring” by Peacock Ball
• End – “I Don’t Need a Doctor” by Davide Pannozzo

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

Even if you don’t recognize his face, chances are you are familiar with H. Jon Benjamin’s smooth baritone voice. From Home Movies to Archer to Bob’s Burgers, Benjamin has lent his memorable pipes to a variety of colorful characters on quirky animated shows.

We recently caught up with Benjamin to talk about the new season of Archer, his trip to the Super Bowl and his time spent research softcore porn for work.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “The Ring” and “Butterfly Lament” by Peacock Ball
• End – “Soul Archery” by The Lyrical Prophet

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

Bob from The Walking Dead and D’Angelo Barksdale from The Wire may not seem that similar on paper, but both characters have a vulnerability and a tragic quality that gets you instantly invested in them, even as you fear for the worst. That’s because they are both played by the charming and talented Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.

Gilliard joins Joel Murphy and Lars to discuss acting, producing his own shows and his newfound passion, improv.

What was it like for the accomplished actor to take an Intro to Improv class? How does it feel to see The Wire finally get the recognition it always deserved? Will Gilliard ever get to finish his sandwich? The answers to these questions and more are in this week’s podcast.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “The Ring” and “Butterfly Lament” by Peacock Ball
• End – “Re: Your Brains” by Jonathan Coulton

Go here for more interviews with Wire cast members:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/celebrity-interviews/the-wire-celebrity-interviews/

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

We recently announced that HoboTrashcan is hosting a Gathr screening of the award-winning indie film Coherence in Baltimore at the Landmark Harbor East on Oct. 23. But to make the screening happen, we have to presell 90 tickets and there are just three days left to do it. (Gathr works like Kickstarter – if the ticket goal isn’t reached, the screening doesn’t happen and everyone who bought a ticket isn’t charged.)

To promote this screening, and the film itself, we’ve been interviewing people involved with the film. Last week, we talked to the film’s co-writer and director James Ward Byrkit and star Maury Sterling. And today we talk to star Emily Baldoni.

What’s it like making a high concept, highly-improvised sci-fi film on a small budget? What’s next for Baldoni? Did she really meet Byrkit on a project called Booty? The answers to these questions and more are in this week’s podcast.

If you like the show, please help spread the word and buy tickets to the screening here:
http://gathr.us/screening/8802

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “The Ring” and “Butterfly Lament” by Peacock Ball
• End – “Staring into Mirrors” by Sexstone

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

Last Thursday, we announced that HoboTrashcan is hosting a Gathr screening of the award-winning indie film Coherence in Baltimore at the Landmark Harbor East on Oct. 23. But to make the screening happen, we have to presell 90 tickets in the next two weeks. (Gathr works like Kickstarter – if the ticket goal isn’t reached, the screening doesn’t happen and everyone who bought a ticket isn’t charged.)

To promote this screening, and the film itself, we present a special Hobo Radio podcast this week featuring interviews with the film’s co-writer and director James Ward Byrkit and star Maury Sterling.

What’s it like making a high concept, highly-improvised sci-fi film on a small budget? What drew Byrkit and Sterling to the project? What happened at the horse trailer? The answers to these questions and more are in this week’s podcast.

If you like the show, please help spread the word and buy tickets to the screening here:
http://gathr.us/screening/8802

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• Interstitial – “The Ring” and “Butterfly Lament” by Peacock Ball
• End – “Thousand Faces” by Matt Montez

Hobo Radio is part of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. Hear more shows at ThunderGrunt.com.

Dennis O’Neil is a legendary figure in the comic book career. He was a writer and editor who worked for both Marvel and DC comics over the course of his impressive 30 year career. As the editor of DC Comics Batman titles in the 90s, O’Neil was the driving force behind the memorable Knightfall storyline, which saw the new villain Bane “breaking” the Batman, leaving him paralyzed and unable to continue fighting crime. This story became one of the key inspirations for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.

In anticipation of the release of that film last July, Joel Murphy interviewed O’Neil for a story he was doing about the creation of Bane. They ended up talking in-depth about O’Neil’s career, though sadly most of the content of the interview never made it into the finished article. So, with the Internet abuzz with talk of Ben Affleck being cast as the new Batman, Joel thought it was a good time to release this interview in its entirety for the first time ever. If you are a fan of comics, you will definitely want to listen to this.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• End – “Superhero” by Candye Kane

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Many people hear voices in their heads, but most people don’t put those voices to good use. However, Grey DeLisle, who says she has an entire theatre company rolling around inside her brain, has used those memorable voices to have one of the most accomplished voice acting careers of anyone working today.

From Daphne Blake in Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. to Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender to Catwoman in Batman: Arkham City, DeLisle has carved out an impressive and eclectic career making animated characters come to life. In this hour-long chat, we talk to DeLisle about her humble beginnings as a singing telegram and a lackluster stand up comedian to her rise to one of the top names in voice acting.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• End – “God’s Got It” by Grey DeLisle

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Dr. Algernop Krieger, the one-man R&D department for ISIS on the FX show Archer, is by far the most lovable mad scientist Hitler clone on television. Actor, improviser and puppeteer Matt “Lucky” Yates voices Krieger on the show. And while he doesn’t share his on-screen counterpart’s interests in resurrecting the dead, selling arms to the highest bidder or bickering with his hologram bride, Yates has led a colorful life in his own right. In addition to his work on Archer, Yates recently opened up to us about his work as an additional puppeteer on Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, the time he almost named himself Sheriff Yates and the year and a half he was married to a local on a Cherokee Indian reservation.

You can read the print version of this interview here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2013/02/12/one-on-one-with-lucky-yates/

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• End – “Lucky” by Jean Synodinos

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

To say Billy West has had an eclectic career would be an understatement. From playing in rock bands to being a noted radio personality to doing voice work for Space Jam, Ren and Stimpy and Futurama, West has made a living off of his impressive pipes. We recently talked to him about his career and his personal struggles. The print version of that interview was split into two parts. You can read part one here and part two here.

But now, you can also listen to the interview in it’s entirety in today’s Hobo Radio podcast. The almost hour-long interview includes West doing a few of his trademark voices and him opening up about his rough childhood and struggles with addiction. And it includes a song by West’s band – Billy West and the Grief Counselors. You are going to want to listen to this.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• End – “I Gotta Get Laid” by Billy West and the Grief Counselors

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Like many kids, Axel Braun ended up falling into the family business. However, unlike most kids, for Axel that business was porn.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Braun has made a name for himself in the porn business as a director of high end superhero parodies. His films like Batman XXX, Superman XXX and Spider-man XXX have won him awards in his industry and attention from mainstream audiences. What sets his films apart is that Braun grew up a comic book fan and thus has an attention to detail that is rarely matched. He makes sure that the look of the costumes and sets are authentic and he adds in little details and flourishes that only someone who spent many hours flipping through the pages of comic books would know to add.

His latest film is The Dark Knight XXX, which combines elements from Christopher Nolan’s films with pieces from the comics and from the popular Arkham City video game. We recently sat down with Braun, who was nice enough to talk to us about the family business, his love of comics and his thoughts on Nolan’s trilogy.

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• End – “Porno Movie” by AMPSEX

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

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For years, John Kricfalusi fought the “factory system” in animation. From his time at Filmation Associates and DiC Entertainment to his work on the revolutionary Mighty Mouse remake and the creation of his own hit show Ren and Stimpy for Nickelodeon, John K has looked for a way to make beautiful and original cartoons for studios that want to churn out animation quickly and cheaply.

Thanks to the Internet, John K is now being given a chance to make cartoons the way he’s always wanted to make them. He has set up a fundraising drive on Kickstarter to raise money for “Cans Without Labels,” an animated short featuring George Liquor, Ren and Stimpy’s outspoken Republican owner. The Kickstarter campaign allows him to bring the cartoons he loves making directly to the fans, without all of those pesky middle men. With only days left to go in the campaign, we sat down to talk to John K about this exciting new territory for cartoons and the struggles with the factory system that led him to this project.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• End – “Liquor to Like Her” by Pete Schlegel and Tru South

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

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Of all the villains that Stetson-sporting U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens has squared off against on Justified, none have been as fascinating, brilliant or unnerving as Mags Bennett. Margo Martindale came into the show in season two and, like a true force of nature, completely dominated the series, eventually earning an Emmy for the role.

She has a new film out on DVD and Blu-ray called Scalene, so we took the opportunity to sit down with Martindale to discuss her award-winning role, her experience working with Clint Eastwood and life after Justified. It’s a chat as pleasant as one of Mags’ Apple Pies.

[To read the print version of this interview, click here.]

This week’s music:

• Intro – “Giddy Up” by Tahuna Breaks
• End – “November Night” by Jakob Martin

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

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While cleaning out the attic at Hobo Headquarters, Joel Murphy stumbled across a “lost” interview with Alex Debogorski from Ice Road Truckers. Joel interviewed Debogorski on May 21, 2010, but the interview slipped through the cracks and never actually found its way onto the site … until now. This week, in a special Hobo Radio, we bring you the lost Alex Debogorski interview in its entirety.

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For those of you unfamiliar with Debogorski, here are some fun facts from the official press release sent out by the PR company that arranged this lost interview:

Ratings Success: Ice Road Truckers premiered in 2007 to record-high ratings, fast becoming The History Channel’s most watched series. Today, the show is syndicated in over 20 countries and with the fourth season premiering June 6th, the show continues to bring in an average of 3 million viewers per episode, rivaling the success of The Deadliest Catch. Hot off the success of Ice Road Truckers, comes the newly announced Extreme Truckers which will force Alex and other drivers to work in completely new surroundings and atmosphere; the hazardous Himalayan Mountain Range.

Traditional Family Man: Alex is the sole character on Ice Road Truckers who actually lives within the NWT and is the first person to begin driving the ice roads each year – a sign of good luck for fellow drivers. As a hardworking father of 11 and grandfather off 10, many of Alex’s family members have been involved with his work on the roads. As a local icon in his community Alex volunteers as a lay prison minister, has run for mayor and even was given the key to the city of Manitowac in 2008.

Adventurous Life & Spirit: While Alex has been a true ice road veteran for over 26 years; his life has never been ordinary. From growing up on a sustainable farm in Alberta, Canada to almost losing his life while mining for coal, Alex has always lived a life full of adventure. His vivacious laugh has long made him hard to ignore and viewers continue to fall in love with his larger-than-life personality. In addition, this fall Alex will release a book he wrote chronicling his travels and life-adventures.

Automotive Master: Self-defined as “car-crazy” Debogorski has a collection of over 100 cars and trucks in various states of restoration. Off camera, the reality TV star refurbishes vintage vehicles in his personal junkyard, including a historic 1937 Pontiac, a 1975 fire engine and is currently in the process of rebuilding a 1967 Camaro.

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is the official podcast of HoboTrashcan, brought to you by The Podcast Network.

Judy Reyes is a New York girl at heart, but her role as Carla Espinosa on the hit comedy Scrubs forced her to relocate from New York City to LA. Luckily, Espinosa was given a chance to reconnect with her Bronx roots while starring in the independent film Gun Hill Road, which is currently competing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

We caught up with Reyes as she prepared to head to Utah to talk Scrubs, Gun Hill Road and her dream of one day hosting her own cabaret. For this week’s Hobo Radio, we bring you audio highlights from that interview. You can find the complete transcribed interview here.

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

• Bree Olson interview
• Spider-man musical
• James Franco and Anna Hathaway, Oscar hosts
• Leslie Nielsen
• “Santa is Comin'” by Mister Jack

In the first half of this week’s show, Joel Murphy is joined by Bree Olson, adult film star. Olson, known for her engaging personality and unflinching honesty, opens up about how she got into the business and gives insight into the inner workings of a porn set.

Then, Joel brings on Lars to discuss the troubled Spider-man Broadway musical, ABC’s bizarre decision to hire Anne Hathaway and James Franco to host the Academy Awards this year and the passing of the great comedic actor Leslie Nielsen.

What’s it really like on a porn set? Did Bree Olson really shot a gun at someone’s tires? Is the fact that Broadway is making a play based on a movie based on a comic book a sign that the entertainment industry is officially out of ideas? The answers to these questions and more are in this week’s podcast.

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is the official podcast of HoboTrashcan, brought to you by The Podcast Network.

• Introduction
• Interview with WingGirlMethod.com‘s Marni Kinrys
• “Cold Blooded Lover” by W.C. Clark

After growing tired of watching her male friends strike out with women, Marni Kinrys decided to devote her life to teaching men how to be better at dating. She dubbed herself a “wing girl” and now offers one-on-one counseling sessions, instructional DVDs and a free newsletter to show guys how to get the girl.

This week, Marni sits in with Joel Murphy and Lars, sharing her experiences and even offering some relationship advice to our dynamic duo (which, lord knows, they need). She even shares her run-ins with Pick Up Artists and a real life pimp who thought her website was secretly a prostitution ring.

How does one become a wing girl? What practical advice does Marni have for men? Is there any hope for Joel and Lars? The answers to these questions and more are in this week’s podcast.

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Hobo Radio is the official podcast of HoboTrashcan, brought to you by The Podcast Network.

Laura Harring does not fit into a neat little box. Best known for her lead role in Mulholland Drive, the charming actress is also a globetrotting former Miss USA and Countess von Bismarck. With such varied and rich life experience, it’s no wonder she possesses an eclectic vibe and natural charm that make her so captivating on screen.

Recently, she has surfaced on Gossip Girl as the estranged, assumed-dead mother of Chuck Bass. Like Harring herself, there is more Elizabeth Bass than meets the eye. We had a few brief moments on March 29 to talk to Harring about Gossip Girl, Mulholland Drive and Raul Julia’s influence on her career.

This week we bring you audio highlights; you can find the full interview here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2010/03/29/one-on-one-with-laura-harring/

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

In a world of superheroes, it’s tough to be an average citizen stuck at home caring for your superbaby, especially when your mind reading husband is still harboring resentment over the fact that you slept with his partner. All that aside, Janice Parkman does her best to keep her chin up and roll with the punches.

Playing Mrs. Parkman on the hit show Heroes is Lisa Lackey, an Australian actor who has been trying to balance her profession with raising a family of her own. Back in August, we talked to Lackey about working on Heroes, accidentally serenading David Lynch and how being Australian is nothing like what you’ve seen on TV. This week we bring you audio highlights; you can find the full interview here.

Listen to more audio interviews here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/features/hobo-radio/audio-interviews/

Most kids secretly dream of being Batman, so its ironic that the man who played the Dark Knight for the past 18 years grew up having no clue who Batman was.

Still, it seems like a role Kevin Conroy was destined to play. Like Bruce Wayne, Conroy’s unique childhood left him feeling isolated from his peers until he found his true calling and got his life back on track.

For Conroy, that calling was acting. He graduated from Juilliard and pursued a career in theatre and television before landing the role of Batman on Batman: The Animated Series. Since then, he has played the character in a variety of television shows, video games and movies, including the recently released Batman: Arkham Asylum and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.

We recently talked to Conroy about the Caped Crusader, Mark Hamill and Christian Bale’s ill-advised Batman voice. This week, we bring you audio highlights from that interview. You can find the full interview here: http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2009/10/01/one-on-one-with-kevin-conroy/

You know you’re a smooth operator when
you serenade a cop with a song calling her a “white skinny bitch” and instead of roughing you up and hauling you off to jail, she actually falls in love with you. But that’s just how Anton Briggs, the guitar-playing, drug dealing confidential informant on Dexter, rolls.

Playing Briggs on the hit show is David Ramsey, a man so cool that he openly admits to owning a moped, which he used to drive around the streets of LA. Ramsey recently talked to us about the new season of Dexter, his affinity for “charactery” roles and the love scene with Kerry Washington he can’t show his wife.

How did you get into acting? When did you decide it’s what you wanted to do for a living?

It’s strange for me because my parents have been together for almost 50 years; I’m from Detroit, Mich., and I have two older brothers, an older sister and a younger sister. There are five of us. And my second oldest brother is an incredible artist and actor. I saw him perform in some little church community play when I was about 12 and I always idolized him. I wanted to be like him and so that’s what I really wanted to do.

Oddly enough, it turns out that he and I are kind of estranged at this point. We don’t really talk very much and he went off to do different things with his life. But originally, that’s what the deal was. I wanted to be like my brother. And then, as time went on, I realized that I really did have some talent in these areas and I just decided to keep on doing it. And listen, for a nerdy kid like me, 12, growing up in Detroit, it got a lot of attention from girls. So I kind of appreciated that. And the rest is history.

So did you start doing local theatre in Detroit?

Yeah, just kind of local stuff. I went to this school called Wayne State University in Detroit and before that, in high school I was doing school plays and I went to college and did some stuff and I worked in the local professional theatre as a college student. So I was doing pretty well in Detroit and I was accepted to USC Film and didn’t go. I just stayed in Detroit and studied theatre. I didn’t quite know if I wanted to go into film production or theatre. And I was 17 and my mother was like, “You know, I don’t want you going all the way to California.”

And I’ll tell you something. I came out here after I graduated from Wayne State in ‘93 and I was 21 or whatever when I came out here, 22, whatever. And if I had come out here when I was 17, I don’t know what I would have done. Seventeen in Southern California from Detroit or any of those Midwestern cities, it’s just you don’t want to do that. There’s so much temptation. You’re like a kid in a candy store at 21, so if I was 17, it would have been crazy. So my mother was right.

I stayed in Detroit; I did local theatre around the city. I did a lot of professional theatre, a lot of community theatre and just kind of earned my stripes. And there was a dean of the theatre department at Wayne State University, who knew I was interested in coming out to California and he had a contact. He knew the head of casting at ABC Daytime casting and he called her and said, “You know, there’s a great actor here, a young actor named David Ramsey, and he’s coming out to Los Angeles and I would love for you to meet him.”

And she sent me what are called sides. I didn’t know what sides were at this point. It was of a scene in General Hospital. And she talked to me on the phone and said, “You come out here, have the audition ready and let’s meet.” I did, I came out and I stayed in Orange County with a friend of a friend and I drove from Orange County to Los Angeles and I auditioned for her.

She said, “You know something? You are really talented. You need an agent. You have to have an agent in Los Angeles.” So she called about six people and I went on these interviews with these agents and one agent, Bauman and Associates, they’re still around, we fell in love with each other and I was with them for a number of years. That’s how I first got into LA. It was just a matter of some people kind of doing me a favor here, doing me a favor here and thinking maybe I was somewhat talented and giving me things I probably didn’t deserve.

Did you work pretty steadily starting out? Were you able to be just an actor?

When I first came out here, I was like Quentin Tarantino; I worked at a video store. And I was on a moped. I came out here with about 700 bucks in my pocket. And I had a headache for about two days when I first came out here because you come out here from like Detroit or any of these cities like Detroit or Ann Arbor, Buffalo or something; they’re nice-sized cities, but you just can’t compare them to the metropolis of a city like Los Angeles, how sprawling LA is.

And when I came out here, it was just so much. This isn’t a city where you kind of have a downtown where most of the action is and then the city is built around downtown. That’s not the way LA is. You kind of have these districts like Culver City, Beverly Hills, West LA, Santa Monica, The Valley, Downtown, Korea Town. You know, all these things that kind of exist within their own as a personality, and I just wasn’t used to that. So I had a moped and I just drove around the city and I was just flabbergasted at how much culture and the landscape of the city just kind of amazes me.

So anyway, I had a job at 20-20 Video. That was my first job and I worked there for a few years. Within about 26 months, maybe two years, maybe a little less than that, I kind of started to work and I got a little guest spot on The Bold and the Beautiful and there was a show called Murder One, which was this [Steven] Bochco show that dealt with a case for a whole season. The premise was kind of based off of dealing with one murder trial for a whole season from the O.J. trial. I got that. And then I got Con Air, which was a big movie. I did Nutty Professor. So I couldn’t continue working at my video store. So after about two years, I became a legitimate working actor in Los Angeles.

At what point did you sell the moped?

You know what’s weird? I’m staring at the moped right now. It doesn’t work. I don’t even know if it can be restored. I banged it up, but I will not get rid of this thing. I’m looking at it right now. It’s a Yamaha 200, it’s black and it’s completely beat to crap, but I just keep it as a reminder of how it started.

You could start a thing with the paparazzi. You’re starting to get bigger now, so you start driving a moped around, it might become like a cool thing. You might bring back the moped.

You know, I hadn’t thought of that. It’s not real high on the cool quotient, but you know, I might consider that.

But it’s so uncool, that it’s almost …

You’re right, you’re right, and then it becomes cool. You and I agree. It’s so uncool that it just might become hip.

You have had guest spots on a variety of shows, including CSI, CSI: Miami, The West Wing and Criminal Minds. Are you someone who enjoys getting to go in and do different characters?

The character actors have all the fun, I’ve come to realize. I kind of somewhat, at first, got pegged as a leading guy a little bit, but the character actors have a lot of fun. And the guest stars get to kind of be charactery. It’s weird because, listen, at the end of the day, does everyone love that regular job on a show as a series regular? Yes, of course. And I’ve had that and I’ve done Dexter for a season, I’m doing Dexter right now. It’s a guest star role and he gets to be a little charactery. And that’s fun. You kind of get to sink your teeth into a character.

And oddly enough, when you’re in an ensemble sometimes, as a regular on a show, you just kind of facilitate the show and facilitate the script. Not that that’s bad, because that’s great and it’s fantastic, but sometimes as a guest star, you kind of come in and you add a spark and you get to do things that even the leads don’t get to do in some cases.

A great example would be this role I’m playing on Dexter. I got to sing and play the guitar and I nearly get murdered on the show. I mean, these are things that didn’t happen to the regular cast. It has been and it still is a great character and sometimes the guest stars get a lot of meat. I’ve been very fortunate.

With Dexter, we’ve got to say you have definitely had a presence on this last season. They introduced you and all of the sudden you are dating one of the main characters, you’re getting kidnapped; you definitely had a big impact on the season. And you were certainly a welcome addition to the show. But how did that come about? How did you end up on Dexter?

I was just coming off of this movie called Nailed, which is with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel. And we shot that in South Carolina, which that movie, by itself, has a lot of personality. But anyway, I came in and my manager called me and said, “There’s a great guest role for Dexter and the producers would like to meet you.” I said great.

I went in and I met with producers, Sarah and some other people there and we just hit it off. It was great. It was just a meeting and they wanted me to read and I did. But it was really just about a connection that we all kind of shared in the room. And that was it. The next thing I know, I’m playing Dexter’s sister’s boyfriend. And I’m playing the guitar.

And listen, they jumped right into it. They called me and said, “We want to give you guitar lessons.” I picked around on guitar back in college, but I never really played it. Now I’m having four lessons a week for the next three months. I’m becoming a fairly decent amateur guitarist. I’m working with a great jazz guitar player, who is incredible, and I’m learning the guitar. They’re teaching me the guitar for this role.

That’s what I’m saying. When you look at the regular characters on the show and then you have this guest star come in and he gets to sing and play the guitar, that’s a great role. I don’t even know if the regulars get to have that type of meat to play with. This role has been really a great treat for me. Anton has been incredible, not just because of what they are giving me in terms of playing the guitar and singing, but just the personality that they’ve allowed me to bring to him. The words they are giving me.

Dexter is a great show. It’s just been nominated for an Emmy this year. And it’s just been great to be part of it. It’s been a lot of fun.

Do you have a hit song that you’ve got down at this point with your guitar lessons? Do you have your own “Free Bird” yet?

I don’t yet. There is a song that Anton made famous on the show called “Una Puta Flaca Mala,” which is Spanish for “white skinny bitch.” And he was talking about Debra in the song. I got a lot of hits on my website and blog about how funny that song was. So that song, Anton’s made famous, but I don’t have anything personally for David yet. But that one has been a hit for me.

Did the writers give you any indication of where things were headed with your character or when Anton got kidnapped, were you looking at the scripts every week wondering if Anton is going to get out of it?

It’s interesting you asked that because David Zayas, who is on the show as well, he told me: “A lot of times, we don’t know necessarily week to week what’s going to happen.” So no. The quick answer would be yes and no. First of all, they do tell me where the character is going, but no they don’t tell me ultimately where he will wind up. They kind of give me a roundabout suggestion as to where he’s going for the next couple of episodes, but ultimately, do I know what will happen to him at the end of the season? No. Did I know that he was going to survive the skinning? No, I didn’t know that.

For example, when I came in and I read the script and I found out I was being skinned, people came up to me at the table reading like, “David, it was great working with you.” Other actors and other people from the show were like, “David, you did a fantastic job on the show. We were fortunate to have you.” I was just saying thanks.

And the producers won’t even look at me. The writers won’t even look at me. Because they know. They’ll just say, “Hey, great read, Dave,” and they’ll disappear. They gave me no time or opportunity to probe them at all. Fortunately enough for me, I find out the next week that no, I do indeed survive the attack and I go on and we continue to live together.

So no, they are not forthright with letting us know exactly where the character will end up.

You are filming season four now. Obviously, you can’t say much, but can you give any indication what is in store?

Yes and no. The relationship between me and Debra deepens, I can tell you that. She moves in. We live together now. But I can’t go much further than that.

In terms of the show, you may or may not know this, but last season Jimmy Smits was the season-long heavy on the show. He was the ultimate nemesis for Dexter. And that same format will be followed this year. There will be one actor who is a nemesis for Dexter the whole season long. That you should probably know just in general for the show.

But in terms of me, Anton, I can only tell you that the relationship between me and Debra deepens to a new level.

You mentioned the film Nailed with Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal. What can you tell us about that film and your role in it?

Catherine Keener, myself and Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman, play kind of the group of nemeses for Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s a political satire. And it was a lot of fun. We shot it over a year ago in Columbia, South Carolina and again, it’s another charactery role where I kind of get to play. David O. Russell directed it and he let me play. I’ve been fortunate to get to work with directors that let me play. I worked on Pay It Forward some years ago, with Haley Joel Osment and Kevin Spacey; another funny role in that movie where Mimi Leder, who directed it, kind of let me play.

It’s interesting when you work with directors. They’ll have an idea of what you should do and you do it. Then, you kind of come in and say, “Can I try one take doing this?” And, they’re like, “Alright, just try it.” And you do and they love it. That ends up being the take that they keep, the one that you came up with. So, like I said, I’ve been fortunate to have directors who have allowed me to play around.

Do you know when Nailed will come out?

Nailed is supposed to be out hopefully next year, along with the movie I just finished called Mother and Child. That was directed by Rodrigo García and that’s with Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington and I think Sam Jackson has a role in that as well, and Annette Bening. That should be out next year, as well.

Mother and Child is a more of a dramatic film and you are married to Kerry Washington in it, correct?

I am. And we have a love scene in it. You know what’s funny? Rodrigo, who is the director, I was doing ADR and he said, “Oh man, your stuff in the film is fantastic.”

I said, “Great, great.”

He said, “The love scene between you and Kerry …”

I said, “Uh huh.”

He said, “Don’t let your wife come to the premiere.”

I said, “Really?”

He said, “Oh, hot.”

I said, “That hot?”

Everyone in the room said, “Hot.”

I was like, “Oh my god. I can’t wait to see it.” They didn’t let me see it.

But that was a lot of fun. Me and Kerry are playing husband and wife and we can’t conceive and it deals with some of the drama and the tragedy of that. It was a dramatic turn for me, I guess a lot like Anton on Dexter. But, you know, you’re working with some of the best actors in the business with Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington, Sam Jackson. You have a tendency of just getting better when you are around that type of talent. Either you shrink or you rise to the occasion. Hopefully, in my case, I rose to the occasion.

Most important, how does your wife feel about the scene? You haven’t had the premiere yet, but did you already warn her about it?

Well, we haven’t had the premiere yet and so she hasn’t seen it, but I told her what Rodrigo said because she would have killed me if he has said something like that and I didn’t tell her, so I made sure I told her. And she said, “Great, I won’t be coming to the premiere.”

What other projects are you working on?

Well, Dexter is really taking a lot of the time right now. Like I said, I just got finished with Mother and Child. So we’ll see how long we can ride this Dexter situation out. Fortunate for us, we were nominated for an Emmy and so, all of that bodes well for the show. The show has been picked up for this season four and season five, so it has at least two more seasons. So it will be around for a couple more years. We’ll see what happens to Anton on the show.

Try to stay out of trouble. No dangerous situations.

I know. This guy, this guy. That’s what happens sometimes. He’s a confident informant, C.I., and sometimes they get skinned. What can you say?

Occupational hazard.

It’s an occupational hazard.

What would you be doing for a living if you never got into acting?

I heard someone once say, “Only become an actor if there is nothing else you can do.” I think they were right, for a lot of different reasons. It’s a very tough business. There’s a lot of rejection. There’s a lot of second guessing. That can do a lot to your psyche, to your personality, to your self-assurance. Obviously, if you just hear that once or twice, it’s one thing. But when you have that happening to yourself every single day, then it can grow old.

That’s one element of it. The other element of it is just dealing with creating a character, the politics of it. This is a very political game.

So I don’t know what I would be doing if I wasn’t an actor because I think I was born to do this. And I have that type of resolve and I think that type of resolve is needed to really be successful in this business. I think you have to have a determination that says, “I’m here to stay and I’m giving it up until the tank’s empty. I’m not saving anything. This is who I am, this is all I’m giving, this is all I am. And I’m married to it.”

So a quick answer to your question would be: I was born to do this and if I wasn’t doing this, I just wouldn’t be here. This is what I’m here to do.

Tell us something most people don’t know about you.

Well, I’ve been in this business a long time, so I’m immensely private, so that’s probably why people haven’t heard about me as much as they have. Because I haven’t chased after the paparazzi as much as probably other actors have. I am very private and most people probably know that about me.

What most people don’t know about me is that I’m an avid kung fu practitioner. And maybe that helps me keep some sense of solace in this business. It centers me. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years. And I meditate a lot.

I guess something else about me is, even with practicing kung fu and trying to shy away from the paparazzi, I’m an action junkie. You would think those things wouldn’t coincide. You meditate a lot, you stay away from the paparazzi, yet you like and are drawn to a lot of action. How those two contradictory things exist in the same person is I guess what makes us human.

But I love to jump out of planes, I love fast cars, I love fast motorcycles. I have a couple of motorcycles and I had a fast car before I totaled it. So I love fast things, but at the same time, I’m a very, very calm person. I kind of work with those dualities, like a lot of actors do. I think a lot of actors have a few personalities they deal with.

What does the future hold for you?

I think I’m here for the long haul. I think that I’ll be in this business doing acting until I’m retiring age, until I’m 80 or older. I think the sky’s the limit.

Interviewed by Joel Murphy. Season four of Dexter begins September 27 on Showtime. For more information on David Ramsey, visit his official website.

You can listen to audio highlights of our interview with David Ramsey by clicking on the play button below or by subscribing to our Hobo Radio podcast:

From the moment he first arrived on screen claiming to be an innocent balloonist marooned on the island, Benjamin Linus has been an unstoppable force on Lost. While normally depicted as a cold and calculating villain, it now seems that Linus is the only character who can bring the Oceanic Six back to the island, saving humanity in the process.

Playing this complex and captivating character is Michael Emerson, a stage actor who made a name for himself on television by playing serial killer William Hinks on The Practice. We recently caught up with Emerson to talk about the complexities of Lost, the lighter side of Benjamin Linus and having microwavable food thrown at your head.

How did you get into acting and when did you decide it’s what you wanted to do for a living?

I got interested in it when I was a kid. The earliest memory I have of an urge to be on stage was I saw a kid that went to my church doing the school play at the high school and I just thought he was so great and so charismatic. I thought, “If I could ever be half that cool, I would want to do that.” So I studied it as an undergraduate in college and then I lost track of it for a long time. I fell into another line of work – I became a magazine illustrator and I did that all through my 20s. I didn’t become an actor again until my middle-30s. So I’ve come back to it late and I guess I’m still trying to make up for lost time.

Was acting something that you just couldn’t let go? What made you decide to go back to it?

I knew that my life would be in the arts and I had skills and sensibilities that lent themselves to the theatre or the graphic arts or what have you. But the longer I pursued the graphic arts, I realized that I was happy to be pursuing a creative field, but I wasn’t enjoying the process of it very much – the lonely hours hunched over a drawing table, the solitary nature of it. So I was glad when I got back to the theatre and I realized that the same set of tools could be brought to bear but in a somewhat more celebratory and social work setting. I felt that I then found the best of both worlds. So the theatre seems to work fine for me.

One of your first big television roles was playing serial killer William Hinks in The Practice, which earned you an Emmy. What was it like playing that role and how much of an impact do you think that character had on your acting career, including Damon Lindelof and Carlton’s Cuse’s decision to cast you as Benjamin Linus on Lost?

It was the first character of that sort I had ever played, whether it was on stage or in front of the camera. As you can see, it has colored all of the work I’ve done subsequently on TV for sure and possibly in the cinema as well. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It was a departure for me. I had always played mostly comical characters previous to that, but now that sort of positioned me into the “damaged and dangerous” kind of category, which is fine with me.

They continue to give me interesting characters and certainly Ben is a great and complicated and mysterious and wonderful undertaking. But it’s a type of playing that I wouldn’t have predicted would be my meat and potatoes and I wonder if there will be more of it in my life or if I’ll find a way into some other sort of type of character.

Lindelof said in interviews when Sayid captured Ben and first introduced the audience to your character, the plan was always to have Ben eventually revealed to be the leader of The Others, but the writers had a “trap door” in place to have Ben end up as just another Other in case the actor who played him wasn’t working out. When you were originally cast for that three-episode arc, did you know that was the case?

No, but that was my sort of intuition. Look, when you take a guest spot on TV, every actor sort of has that tiny kernel of hope at the back of his mind that you’re going to play this character so well that they’re going to figure out a way to keep you and that happened for me on Lost. And then, in hindsight, you say, “What was the dynamic of that exactly?” And I think it is just as you described – a sort of an onscreen screen test. They had written this character. They thought they liked it, they thought they would do things with it, but they were going to wait and see how it played out. Luckily it played out well with me with my portrayal, so they kept me in it and they ran with it. It was a kind of an audition that I passed and I’m glad to have passed it.

At what point did you start to get the sense that Benjamin Linus was going to be a big deal on the show?

In the early going, I don’t know, in the third or fourth episode that I was in when Sayid was still pressuring me to reveal my secrets or who I represented or who I was working for, it came to me one day, “Wouldn’t it be a neat twist if instead of being some henchman that I was actually the guy in charge?” And I actually mentioned it to a director on whatever episode it was and he said, “I can’t really discuss that with you.”

And then I thought, “Well, if I’m not on to something that’s true, I’m on to something that should be true or would be cool if it was true.” It turned out it was true.

So did you decide to play the character like that at that point?

I always played the character sort of the same, which was give up as little as possible, play it as earnest and let the business of who he was or what he was up to be a contract between the writers and the viewers.

Lindelof said that what sealed the deal for him and Carlton Cuse was the way you delivered the line “You guys got any milk?” during the chilling breakfast scene with Locke and Jack.

(Laughs.)

It’s the first time we see how cold and calculating the character can really be and your delivery of that line is perfect. Ben has had many more bone-chilling lines since then and you have a tendency to deliver his more disturbing lines perfectly calm, which makes him creepier than if you were adding inflection to his voice.

Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?

How did you come up with that? How did you decide to deliver his lines without any emotion?

I learned it on stage, where I learned everything that I do as an actor. I have played some villains, Shakespearean villains like Iago, and I learned that something that scares an audience is when the subtext of a line reading does not match what the line says. In other words, if someone is inappropriately cool in a hot situation, it unnerves the audience. They’re suspicious. To say the right words, but in the wrong tone is a good tool. It sends a signal. It suggests to us that this person doesn’t think like I do. Either this person is warped or crazy or this person is up to something.

With Ben, you certainly get the impression that there is a lot going on below the surface and that he’s constantly up to something.

And I think that’s an important effect to achieve in our work, at least with a character like Ben. One of the things the audience longs for is a sense of a character’s inner-life. And if you play a character that gives up little, then you want to suggest or promise that it’s not because there’s nothing to give up. It’s because they choose to keep it to themselves. It’s much more interesting.

When Ben was first introduced, it seemed quite clear that he was a villain on the show, but as the story has unfolded, we’ve become more sympathetic to him. The scene last year when Keamy killed Ben’s daughter in cold blood right in front of his eyes was truly heartbreaking and it showed just how vulnerable and human Ben actually is. Do you think of Ben as a villain? Do you think that as he says he is, he’s actually one of the good guys? How do you see the character?

I probably view him a little more sympathetically then most of the people who watch the show, but partly that’s craft and partly it’s that I really think he’s a more ambiguous creature than some people do. I think it’s entirely possible that he ends up being one of the heroes of the show because we don’t know what the stakes are for him. We don’t know who he’s fighting and for what. Maybe if we knew, we would admire his steadiness and his relentlessness.

And he definitely thinks that he’s right.

That’s certainly true. That’s safe to say. Ben believes pretty much everything he says and he’s not much of a liar really. He’s a manipulator, but he doesn’t tell that many lies. And he really hasn’t hurt that many people, in the present day at least.

We saw his honesty again in last week’s episode when Jack attempted to defend him and Ben admitted that he hired the lawyer who was attempting to prove that Kate isn’t Aaron’s mother.

Ben is nothing if not practical. He’d already gotten what he needed from that play, so why hide it? It’s a new deal now, they’re on the docks. So we need to talk frankly and they need to know the score. Or at least the part of the score that Ben is willing to reveal.

But this business of Ben becoming more complicated and less patently villain, that’s part of the whole mechanics of the show in general. The show started out to seem like a very simple story and as it’s gone it’s grown in complexity and ambiguity, as have most of the characters. All of those stereotypes seem to be in Lost to be broken down and reconfigured and recontextualized. And they’re great at that.

Your character has had some truly memorable interactions, particularly Locke, Jack and Charles Widmore. Do you have a favorite actor to work with on the set? Is there a particular character that if you see Ben has a scene with him you really look forward to it?

When I see that Terry [O’Quinn] and I are on the call sheet together, I know that it’s going to be a good day’s work. It’s going to be well played and it’s also going to be a fast and easy and lighthearted day because I think the Ben and John Locke scenes are brilliantly written and their dialogue or their dance is near the heart of the story of Lost. And we just work so well together. We’re of similar ages and similar craft and similar attitude about our work, so they are effortless days, they are carefree and the product always seems to turn out great.

Ben is definitely in Locke’s head, which is always great too.

Yeah. Well each of them is the nut the other cannot break somehow. They’re like irritants to each other and yet brothers in some strange way.

Earlier this season, you got a Hot Pocket thrown at your head when you spooked Hurley. How tough was it to keep a straight face during that scene?

Well, we did a lot of takes of it as you can imagine trying to get the Hot Pocket right. Some of them were too dry, some of them had way too much pizza sauce in them and they blew up like all over the place, so that was hilarious. Then it takes 10 minutes to get your straight face back on. But yeah, it was an interesting evening’s work. And, of course, they cut my deadpan response, which was: “Now that’s just a waste of a Hot Pocket.” (Laughs.) Which I thought was a classic downbeat Ben dry read, but they cut it.

They give Ben a lot more funny lines then the audience ever sees because that’s the first thing they’ll cut of Ben is when he’s being funny.

That’s too bad because he actually is a very funny character.

He’s very witty, I think. (Laughs.)

There are countless websites devoted to analyzing Lost and coming up with theories about the show. As an actor on the show, do you try to figure out what it all means or do you just focus on the script in front of you and focus on that day’s work?

We do both but like the viewers we’re sort of watchers of the show too. And as readers of the scripts, we’re continually trying to figure out what’s going on, where it’s headed or “Does this mean what I think it means?” We have those discussions on the set. Some people are more interested in that than others. I mean, Jorge [Garcia] is always a good one to talk about “All right man, where’s this thing going and what do you think?” because he keeps track of all of the most bizarre theories about the show and he’s also a sharp reader of the script. He can sort of read the mind of the writers a little bit, so sometimes he has a great idea of where a thing is leading.

Which is interesting too since the writers have said that his character a lot of times stands in for the audience – that he is used to represent what the audience is thinking.

He is. He is us if we were in that situation. Bewildered, bemused, out of place, ill-equipped, all of that. He’s an earthling amongst aliens.

Your wife is a huge fan of the show and she even played your mother in a flashback episode. Does she try to get inside information from you about the show?

No, she tries to get me to shut up. She’s a purist, you know? She doesn’t want to know anything before she witnesses it in the official and legal telecast. So I have to kind of be quiet. I’ll come home and say, “You’re never going to believe what I did today.”

And she’ll say, “Shut up! Shut up!”

Obviously, you don’t know what the writers have in store for your character or the show next season, but how would you like to see Lost end and how would you like to see things end for Ben?

I don’t know that Ben will end up being any different when this is all said and done than he has been right along. It may be that Ben is unchanged. We may just, because of circumstances that the writers create, we may just come to see him differently. The change may be in the viewer, not in the character.

The end of the whole story, the final conclusion – I hope it’s sort of contextual. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a thing that was in plain sight all along. I hope that it’s a thing where we go, “Oh my god, I should have known. It was there all the time. How did I not get that?” I hope that’s the note that we feel at the end of it all.

If anyone could pull that off, it would be the writers of Lost.

It’s going to be something where there’s one more dimension to the events we’ve witnessed than we thought or than we dreamed. Something that repositions everything. And I think these are the guys for the job. They’re deeply experienced and deeply read in science fiction and fantasy and horror and comic books. They are structurally brilliant. So if you can depend on anyone for an ending that means something, I think it will be these guys.

Interviewed by Joel Murphy. Lost airs Wednesday nights on ABC, but you probably already knew that.

You can listen to audio highlights of our interview with Michael Emerson by clicking on the play button below or by subscribing to our Hobo Radio podcast:

He’s brought life to a beer swilling, cigar chomping robot and twice saved the world from a horde of underground locusts, but now John DiMaggio faces what is perhaps his most difficult challenge – making Aquaman cool.

DiMaggio is known for his role as Bender the robot on Futurama and Marcus Fenix in the Gears of War video game franchise, but now he can be heard as the voice of Aquaman on Batman: The Brave and The Bold. We recently had an opportunity to talk to DiMaggio about portraying the king of Atlantis, the joys of playing a video game that you star in and the impending robot apocalypse.

You are originally from New Jersey. What was it like growing up there and where do you call home now?

It was great growing up in Jersey because it was so close to the city. I grew up in kind of an interesting suburban neighborhood. And now I live in Los Angeles. I lived in New York for a couple of years because that’s what you do when you’re from Jersey. But I live in Los Angeles now and I love it.

You originally began your career as a standup comedian.

Well actually I was acting and then I went into standup and then I went back into acting. I had a good couple of years – a good six years.

What attracted you to comedy and what was it like starting out? Is it terrifying to get up there in front of the crowd the first time?

Well, I was in a comedy team; we were called Red Johnny and the Round Guy. We were on MTV for a while. So it was a little easier getting on stage with somebody with you. But we came up with Dave Attell and Dave Chappelle. Dane Cook, his first gig was opening for us on the road at this little crappy club in Vermont. It’s pretty funny. I came up with all of those guys. It was a good time and we did well too, but comedy teams just don’t work out.

So I started going back and doing voiceover in New York when I was there and then I auditioned for a show out here, I got it. I did a pilot and then I got fired from it. Then I auditioned for another show and I got it and I came out here to do Chicago Hope. I’ve been out here ever since ’96.

How did you get into voiceover work? Was that something you were always interested in?

It’s interesting because I asked a friend of mine who is an actor, “How do you pay your bills, man?” He said voiceover. I was like, “Really?” He was like, “Oh yeah.” And I had always done a lot of voices in my act and a lot of accents and all that kind of stuff, so I said that’s a natch. That’s easy. So I got my new manager to get me a voiceover agent and she got me one and I booked a job within the first week. It was a Toyota ad for radio. I remember it was an ad campaign. Then I started doing that and when I came out to Los Angeles, instead of it being mostly television and radio commercials, it was more animation. That was a lot of fun, it was a great change.

How do you come up with the voices that you do?

You just kind of have an ear for it. There are people who just have a certain ear for voices. It’s kind of similar to having an ear for music. When you can mimic the cadence of someone’s voice or the pitch of someone’s voice, it just happens. I’ve been making voices since I can remember. I can say that I think everybody who does a lot of voiceover stuff can say the same thing. You just pick up on stuff. I would always be the guy who would imitate teachers or people that I work with. It was just a mimickery thing. What you hear, you incorporate into what you do. That’s all.

Many people know you because of your role as Bender on Futurama. What was it like working on that show and what has it been like to go back and do this recent series of direct-to-dvd releases?

Well anything Futurama, I’m all for. I love the show. I’m very proud of the work that I’ve done – that we’ve done, that everybody on the show’s done. It’s just a great group of people and an extremely, over-abundantly talented writing staff; the most overeducated in Hollywood. Really, they are. They’re ridiculous. But working with that cast and getting that gig – I mean, I had been doing voiceover before I got that job, but that job just really opened up doors. It was just phenomenal.

And to be able to do it again doing these DVDs is spectacular. I just love it. The more I can work with those people, the better off I am in my life because they’re just a great bunch. It’s been a wonderful experience.

It seems like a lot of people discovered that show on cable once it hit syndication.

Pretty much. That’s because Fox hadn’t really promoted it.

So you think it just wasn’t promoted well?

No, it wasn’t promoted well at all. And that was their decision. But good for them, they’ve been kind of slowly coming around and we got to do these movies. And Comedy Central, who picked us up for our second syndication run, has agreed to air the DVDs as original episodes on Comedy Central, which is great. So we’ve got an avenue; we’ve got a place for this stuff to go. So that’s great.

Fox has kind of come around. But it was difficult. The show was on at six o’clock in Chicago on a Sunday during the fall and winter. Everybody’s watching the Bears or the Packers or the Kansas City Chiefs or St. Louis. It was kind of mind boggling because they buried it. But it’s the show that won’t die.

How many Futurama DVDs do you have left?

We have one more that’s going to show up in March, I think, 2009.

One of our theories has always been that robots are eventually going to enslave us all. Having played a robot, did you get any insight into their plans? Do you think you’re prepared?

(Laughs.) Nah, I’m not, but none of us are prepared. We’ll never be prepared for the takeover, man. It’s all coming down, bro. It’s all coming down, man. The robots are going to come and get you, man. Especially old people.

Speaking of apocalypses, we also wanted to ask you about your work on the best video game franchise ever, Gears of War. You are the voice of the main character, Marcus Fenix. What is it like making those games?

A lot of fun. Great gig. Again, the guys over at Epic are a fantastic bunch of people. And the other voiceover actors on the game are really a good bunch of guys. And it’s fun. I love playing the game. It’s really kind of sad because I paused the game to do this interview, so I’m waiting to get back into some hordes, man. I’m going to kill some stuff off before I’ve got to go see my trainer because I live in California; that’s what we do. We fat guys go get a trainer.

Is it surreal to play the game and hear your own voice as you’re going along?

Yeah. You know what’s weird though is when I get angry at the game and I start yelling and I start realizing that I’m actually saying the lines from the game during the game and if anybody is listening outside my apartment, because the windows are open, they’ll be like, “What the hell is that guy doing? Is he talking to himself? Why is he talking so much and saying the same thing over and over and over again?” I don’t know. It’s pretty funny, but it’s a good game and everybody at Microsoft too, they really do a great job promoting the thing.

Doing the voice of Marcus Fenix, does that give you any insight into how to beat Gears of War 2? Does it help you when playing the game to have done the voice?

Nah, when you do the game, when you are doing the voice for the stuff, they tell you what you’re doing. It’s not like you’re just making boring noises and grunts. They’re like, “This is what you’re doing …” They describe it in full. “Okay, you’ve got to pick up a Gatling gun and put it down, so give me that.” So you do that. And it’s for every little thing. There’s a lot of prompts. So it’s interesting. It’s kind of tedious, but it pays off in the end if you get it right. And I think we got it right.

So have they talked to you at all about Gears of War 3?

Nah, I haven’t heard anything. If you hear something, you tell me.

Most recently, you played Aquaman on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Aquaman is a character that’s had a rough history – he’s not the most liked superhero. He’s been a punching bag at times.

Listen, listen – this is the story about Aquaman, okay. Listen, Superman controls the earth, whatever, right. Well, the earth is made up of 75 percent water. So Aquaman rules that kingdom. That’s huge. Nobody gives him any respect for that. None whatsoever, except himself, which makes him seem so gregarious and egotistical. He’s the king of Atlantis, for crying out loud. You can’t mess with Aquaman. I will break out some hammerheads on you. Forget it. Aquaman, he’s the man.

I’m really excited to play him. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a very broad, broad character. And the way the show is done is really great. It’s gorgeous. It looks great. It’s fun; it’s a lot of fun.

You and Batman already managed to stop your brother from overthrowing you in last week’s episode. What else can we expect from Aquaman in future episodes?

I’m not sure I can really tell you what’s in store, but I can tell you this – “Dawn of the Deadman” is coming up and Michael Rosenbaum from Smallville is playing Deadman. We’re also introducing Speedy, played by Jason Marsden, which is kind of cool. Then there’s some other characters that have been leaked. Green Lantern is James Arnold Taylor. Wildcat, that’s R. Lee Ermey, the sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. That’s pretty heavy. Gary Sturgis is the Bronze Tiger. Plastic Man is coming up. This is pretty cool – Tom Kenny is Plastic Man, which is pretty awesome. Of course you know who Tom Kenny is; he’s Sponge Bob for crying out loud. And Will Friedle, who is a good friend of mine, is playing Blue Beetle. Will and I worked together on Kim Possible, he was Ron Stoppable and I was Doctor Drakken. We got to work together a lot; we had a lot of fun.

It’s nice. The show is really cool because the way it’s drawn up, the way it’s illustrated, all of the character designs and the storyboards, it’s in the style that we grew up with or at least I grew up with – 50s, 60s, 70s. The 70s stuff, that’s what I grew up with. It’s still kid friendly and that’s the thing. Batman, you’ve got to fight some crime, some heavy duty stuff goes down, but it’s not as dark as the other Batman stuff we’ve seen in recent years. It’s like the stuff that we grew up with. We want kids to see stuff that’s a lot of fun, has a lot of action and can be funny, but isn’t as crazy as the stuff that’s on right now.

Diedrich Bader mentioned that for The Brave and The Bold, all of the actors record their lines together as if doing a radio play.

That’s usually the best way to record.

Is that typically the way it’s done?

Well, sometimes you come in and you record alone. But the thing is is that they animate to your voice. So that’s the key thing. If you’re not there with everybody, then you know how to work it out. But when you’re there with everybody, it’s interesting because there is a lot more flow to it and you can react off of what’s going on. But also, if you want to hear what the other actor did before you do your line; you can do that as well. It’s not like you’re in the dark on something.

An ensemble record is a lot of fun if you have the right cast. Right now, I’m working on Penguins of Madagascar, a show for Nick, I’m Rico, one of the penguins, and we all record together and we have a blast. We laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh. That’s a lot of fun. Those days, when you get to record like that – remember when you used to go to school in like fifth grade and you had a substitute teacher and it was just the teacher that was like the biggest ball busting teacher that separated you from your friends because they didn’t want you to talk and you come in and it’s a gorgeous day and it’s like springtime and the teacher’s gone and you’ve got this substitute teacher and you get to sit next to the kids that you don’t get to sit next to and you laugh all day and you have a great time and gym class is great; it’s just a great day. That’s what it’s like sometimes when you record. That’s the only way I can compare it. It’s like that.

Were you a comic book guy? Did you read Batman stuff growing up?

Not really. No. I did get a subscription to Spider-man Team-Up when I was a kid. Spider-man teams up with The Falcon was one and Tigre was one. There was “Spider-man and The Not-Ready-For- Prime-Time Players,” that was my favorite. That was awesome. Peter Parker goes to Rockefeller Center to go see Saturday Night Live with Mary Jane and this thing breaks down. It’s Silver Samurai, I think. Something gets sent to John Belushi, it’s like a sword or something like that, this samurai sword. It’s awesome. I don’t have it anymore though. I need to find it. I’ve been to so many Comic-Cons and I haven’t tried to find it. This is killing me. But yeah, I loved that one because I was huge into Saturday Night Live when I was a kid.

What would you be doing for a living if you never got into acting?

Well, if I had graduated college, I could have taught because my family is all teachers. So I could have done that. I could have been a cop. (Laughs.) Yeah, right. But I probably would have worked in the restaurant business. I was working in the restaurant business when I was younger. I worked all over – front and back, cooked in the kitchen, worked in the dining room, bartended, the whole nine yards. Yeah, I’d probably work in the food service industry.

Are you a good cook?

Yeah, I’m a pretty good cook. I can cook.

What is the best thing that you make?

I make a pretty mean chocolate chip pecan pie. I do sausage and peppers, Italian style sausage and peppers. I can sauté all kinds of vegetables. I can do it all. It’s fun. It’s whatever. Give me some ingredients and I’ll make something.

Tell us something most people don’t know about you.

That’s why they don’t know it, because maybe I don’t want them to know. (Laughs.) Man, I’ve got to keep that to myself. I’ve got to have something for me. I like that answer. I’m going to stick with that one.

What does the future hold for you?

The future? I don’t know. I guess if all goes well I’ll just be able to continue doing what I’m doing, hopefully. As long as nobody gets sick of me. I really like what I do and if I could keep doing this, I would be very, very happy. I’m in a good place. I’m in a very good place. I’m a very fortunate individual. And I try and be humble about it and try and do the right thing. As long as I stay on this track, I’ll be fine.

Interviewed by Joel Murphy. Batman: The Brave and The Bold airs Friday nights at 8 p.m. on The Cartoon Network.

You can listen to audio highlights of our interview with John DiMaggio by clicking on the play button below or by subscribing to our Hobo Radio podcast: