Welcome to Better Know a Guest, your weekly guide to the wonderful and diverse array of personalities appearing on ‘The Colbert Report’ and ‘The Daily Show’ each week.
Hello, Colbert News Hub! The final three weeks are here. Comedy Central’s advertising it as an event (“The Colbert Report: The Final Three Weeks”). And they’re starting strong, with John McCain starting off the week with his debut Report appearance.
I’m sure a lot of us missed the Comedy Central writers last week when the Ferguson shit hit the fan again, and I trust they’ll find a way to cover it that’s real and funny and cathartic as usual. Other serious stories that could be covered this week are the dropped charges against Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Boko Haram upping their terror again. In lighter news, the new Star Wars trailer is out, Black Friday happened, Snooki got married, and Sasha and Malia Obama were not impressed by the pardoned Thanksgiving turkey.
Stephen’s guests this week are a senator, two musicians, a director, and a doctor/ anthropologist. Jon’s are a pundit, a musician, a humanitarian aid worker, and a actress/ director. Let us know in the comments who you’re looking forward to and what you’re excited to hear about!
Monday, December 1 (2014)
John McCain (Author: “Thirteen Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War“)
John McCain is a US Senator for Arizona. He is a former Naval Aviator and Captain, and a veteran of the Vietnam war. He has been a prisoner of war and a victim of torture. After retiring from the Navy, McCain entered politics as a representative from Arizona, where he served for two years before winning a seat in the senate. In 2008 McCain was the Republican nominee for President, and lost to Barack Obama. McCain then returned to the Senate where he continues to serve today. His views are conservative, especially when it comes to foreign policy. He was a strong proponent of the war in Iraq. Now he has co-written a book with his former chief of staff Mark Salter called Thirteen Soldiers, which tells thirteen diverse stories (representing the 13 major wars the US has fought in) of soldiers fighting for America throughout history. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “a patriotic though unsentimental look at the major wars fought by the United States as told through the difficult experiences of ordinary soldiers” that features “deeply personal stories that track real soldiers through conditions of trying morale”.
Born: August 29, 1936 (Coco Solo Naval Base, Panama)
Education: Episcopal High School | U.S. Naval Academy
Books: Faith of My Fathers | Worth the Fighting For | Why Courage Matters | Character is Destiny | Hard Call | Thirteen Soldiers
Awards: Silver Star | Legion of Merit | Purple Heart | Distinguished Flying Cross | National Order of Vietnam
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – March 20, 2002 | November 6, 2002 | January 22, 2004 | May 11, 2004 | September 3, 2004 | November 9, 2005 | July 25, 2006 | August 17, 2007
Follow: @SenJohnMcCain | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube
Tuesday, December 2 (2014)
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (Musicians: “Cheek to Cheek“)
Tony Bennett is a prolific musician, writer, and artist, who has been recording music since the 1950s. He was discovered in 1949 by Bob Hope, who saw him sing at a club in New York City. Bennett went on to record top selling albums in every decade from the ‘50s to today, and has also written four books and paints every day. His art has been commissioned twice by the United Nations, and he is active in art education programs. He is also a philanthropist, donating money to juvenile diabetes and cancer research, and raising awareness of global warming. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. The Wall Street Journals jazz critic Marc Myers notes that, “For Mr. Bennett, partnering with Lady Gaga is just another chapter in a crusade to expose young audiences to American music that predates the explosive global popularity of the Beatles starting in 1964. While his decision to team with one of pop’s most flamboyant and outrageous stars may seem like an odd coupling, Mr. Bennett knows exactly what he’s doing. ‘Lady’s a real jazz singer—an improviser who sings these songs differently each time we do them […] If we tour, I think many people are going to say, ‘Wow, we had no idea she could sing that well.’”
Born: August 3, 1926 (Queens, New York, United States)
Education: High School of Industrial Arts
Platinum Albums: I Left My Heart in San Francisco | MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett | Duets: An American Classic
Awards: Grammy Awards | Grammy Lifetime Award | Kennedy Center Honor | Martin Luther King Jr. Center Salute to Greatness Award
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ appearance(s): Interview – September 26, 2007
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interview – September 29, 2011
Follow: Website | @ItsTonyBennett | Facebook | Instagram
Lady Gaga is a pop musician and performance artist. She is known for her hit songs and for her crazy fashions (wearing a dress made entirely out of meat; arriving to awards shows being carried in a giant egg). She is also the founder of the Born This Way foundation, which helps young people gain self-confidence and promotes anti-bullying campaigns, and is also a strong advocate of LGBT rights. She has recently collaborated with Tony Bennett on their popular new album “Cheek to Cheek”, which for Gaga, is the culmination of a lifelong love affair with jazz, which she began singing when she was 13 years old. In an interview with Parade Magazine, she said that recording the album saved her from possible “artistic death”. While MTVs Gil Kaufman notes that the two signers “flawlessly merge their unique styles and show off a charming in-studio rapport that totally translates to the collection of jazz and pop vocal standards.”
Born: March 28, 1986 (Manhattan, New York, United States)
Education: Tisch School of the Arts, NYU
Albums: The Fame | Born This Way | Artpop | Cheek to Cheek
Awards: Video Music Awards | Grammy Awards
Follow: Website | @LadyGaga | Facebook | Instagram
Wednesday, December 3 (2014)
Christopher Nolan (Director: “Interstellar“)
Christopher Nolan is a film director, famous for Memento, the Dark Knight trilogy and Inception. He was born in London, and made his first short film when he was only seven years old. He got his start making short films in college, and in 1998 made his first full length movie called Following, to critical acclaim from film festivals. His breakout film was his second, Memento, which he based off of a story written by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Nolan’s movies often follow non linear timelines, and play with the idea of reality. He is a critic of digital film, preferring to shoot on physical film – especially IMAX. He does not have a cell phone. The Guardians film critic Mark Kermode calls the film a “flawed but frequently awe-inspiring movie about wormholes and black holes that does not implode into a dark star of disappointment; if it’s spectacle you want, then Interstellar delivers, particularly when viewed in Nolan’s preferred 70mm IMAX format.”
Born: July 30, 1970 (London, United Kingdom)
Education: Haileybury and Imperial Service College | University College London
Filmography: Doodlebug | Following | Memento | Insomnia | Batman Begins | The Prestige | The Dark Knight | Inception | The Dark Knight Rises | Interstellar
Awards: UCL Honorary Fellow | AFI Movie of the Year | WGA Award | Independent Spirit Award | MTV Movie Award | Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award | Saturn Award | British Independent Film Award | Empire Award
Thursday, December 4 (2014)
Paul Farmer (Co-founder: Partners in Health)
Paul Farmer is a doctor, anthropologist, and professor. He is the co-founder of Partners in Health, a non-profit healthcare organization that brings healthcare to countries where good doctors and hospitals are hard to find. Farmer grew up in Massachusetts, Alabama, and Florida, at one point living with his parents and five siblings in a converted school bus. He attended Duke and then Harvard Medical School, where he took many of his courses while treating poor and sick patients in Haiti. Farmer now has a home in Rwanda, where he oversees Partners in Health projects. He also has projects in Russia, Lesotho, Malawi, and Peru. Farmer is on the board of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, which spreads awareness of human rights issues in Haiti and supports legal cases for haitians. He supports the UN on issues related to life in Haiti.
Born: October 26, 1959 (North Adams, Massachusetts, United States)
Education: Hernando High School | Duke University | Harvard University
Books: AIDS and Accusation | The Uses of Haiti | Sida en Haiti | Infections and Inequalities | Pathologies of Power | Global Health in Times of Violence | Women, Poverty & AIDS | Partner to the Poor | Who Removed Aristide? | Haiti After the Earthquake | To Repair the World | In the Company of the Poor Awards: MacArthur Fellowship | Heinz Award | International Human Rights Award | Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award | Jefferson Award
And now let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at the Daily Show!
Monday, December 1 (2014)
Andrew Napolitano (Co-author: “Suicide Pact: The Radical Expansion of Presidential Powers and the Lethal Threat to American Liberty”)
Andrew Napolitano is a judge and Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst. He served for 8 years as a judge on the New Jersey Superior court, and was the youngest person ever to receive life tenure there. After retiring from the New Jersey court, Napolitano began work in television. He was on the first season of a short-lived small claims court show Power of Attorney, and then joined Fox News as a political analyst. He hosted the radio show Brian and the Judge for Fox, and also the libertarian business show Freedom Watch on Fox Business. Napolitano’s views are generally conservative; he opposes abortion and government regulation in general, and wants to impeach President Obama over immigration reform. He is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, and not a fan of Abraham Lincoln (the two once faced off in a game show). His new book, “Suicide Pact”, details “a long, sordid history of governmental—and especially presidential—encroachments on liberty, enacted in the name of protecting America but which serve insead to undermine national security and erode the nation’s founding freedoms.”
Born: June 6, 1950 (Newark, New Jersey, United States)
Education: Princeton University | Notre Dame Law School
Books: Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks its Own Laws | The Constitution in Exile: How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land | A Nation of Sheep | Dred Scott’s Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America | Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History | It is Dangerous to be Right When the Government it Wrong: The Case for Personal Freedom | The Freedom Answer Book: How the Government is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – October 28, 2011 | January 11, 2012 | November 16, 2012 | March 11, 2014
Follow: Website | @JudgeNap | Facebook
Tuesday, December 2 (2014)
Dave Grohl (Musician and Filmmaker: “Sonic Highways“)
Dave Grohl is a musician best known for being the drummer in Nirvana and the lead singer/ guitarist/writer and founder of the Foo Fighters. He also founded Them Crooked Vultures, and has released music he wrote during the Nirvana years under the name Late!. Grohl has been the drummer on albums by a range of accomplished artists that include Nine Inch Nails, Paul McCartney, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Aside from music, Grohl is also a film director. He directed the documentary Sound City (released in 2013) about Sound City Studios, where he recorded the Nirvana album Nevermind. Grohl currently stars in the 8-part HBO series Sonic Highways, which documents the process of creating and recording the new Foo Fighters album.
Born: January 14, 1969 (Warren, Ohio, USA)
Education: Thomas Jefferson High School | Bishop Ireton High School | Annandale High School
Bands: Scream | Nirvana | Foo Fighters
Albums: Getting Shit for Growing Up Different | I Scream Not Coming Down | No More Censorship | Fumble | Nevermind | Hormoaning | Incesticide | In Utero | From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah | Nirvana | With the Lights Out | Silver: The Best of the Box | Icon | Pocketwatch | Harlingtox Angel Divine | Tenacious D | Pick of Destiny | Rize of the Fenix | Songs for the Deaf | Like Clockwork | Probot | Them Crooked Vultures | Foo Fighters | The Colour and the Shape | There Is Nothing Left to Lose | One by One | In Your Honor | Five Songs and a Cover | Skin and Bones | Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace | Wasting Light | Medium Rare | Sonic Highways
Filmography: 1991: The Year Punk Broke | Foo Fighters: Back and Forth | Sound City | Drunk History | Sonic Highways
Awards: American Music Award – Favorite Alternative Artist | Brit Award – International Group / Album | NME Awards – Album of the Year | Multiple Grammy Awards – Best Rock Album
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – December 3, 1999 | February 12, 2001 | April 11, 2011
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ appearance(s): Interview – February 13, 2013
Follow: Foo Fighters | @FooFighters | Facebook
Wednesday, December 3 (2014)
Sophie Delaunay (Executive Director: Doctors Without Borders)
Sophie Delaunay is the executive director of Doctors Without Borders. She has been with the organization since 1993, before which she worked at for the French AIDS relief agency ESTHER. Doctors Without Borders sends qualified doctors to locations around the world that are in need of medical aid. Right now they are very involved in the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Delaunay has worked in Thailand, Rwanda, China, and North Korea for the organization, and has helped refugees flee North Korea and seek asylum elsewhere. She is currently heading the Ebola effort and advocating for better treatment of returning aid workers here in America.
Education: Le Havre University | Yonsei University
Thursday, December 4 (2014)
Angelina Jolie (Director: “Unbroken“)
Angelina Jolie is an American actress, who has been starring in films since 1993. She is known for films such as Girl, Interrupted, and Maleficent. She is very involved in philanthropic efforts abroad, serving as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2001 to 2012, and she continues to work for the organization as a Special Envoy. She has built schools in Cambodia, and set up the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Project, which is a village to provide people with education, healthcare, and food. She has built schools and hospitals throughout the world, and fundraised through her foundation the Jolie-Pitt foundation. Her other philanthropic efforts include funding education for immigrant children, providing immigration lawyers to people who can’t afford them, and campaigning against sexual violence in war zones. Her new film Unbroken tells the story of Olympic track star Louis Zamperini, who survived a plane crash in the pacific ocean, spending 47 days lost at sea and more than two years as a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II. Vartiety’s chief film critic Justin Chang calls the film “beautifully wrought but cumulatively underwhelming”. He furthers that, “in re-creating the nightmarish journey so harrowingly relayed in Laura Hillenbrand’s biography, Jolie has achieved something by turns eminently respectable and respectful to a fault, maintaining an intimate, character-driven focus that, despite the skill of the filmmaking and another superb lead performance from Jack O’Connell, never fully roars to dramatic life.”
Born: June 4, 1975 (Los Angeles, California, United States)
Education: Beverly Hills High School | Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute | New York University
Filmography: Lookin’ to Get Out | Cyborg 2 | Without Evidence | Hackers | Love Is All There Is | Mojave Moon | Foxfire | True Women | George Wallace | Playing God | Gia | Hell’s Kitchen | Playing by Heart | Pushing Tin | The Bone Collector | Girl, Interrupted | Gone in 60 Seconds | Lara Croft: Tomb Raider | Original Sin | Life or Something Like It | Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life | Beyond Borders | Taking Lives | Shark Tale | Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow | Alexander | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | The Good Shepherd | A Mighty Heart | Beowulf | Kung Fu Panda | Wanted | Changeling | Salt | The Tourist | Kung Fu Panda 2 | Maleficent | In the Land of Blood and Honey | Unbroken
Awards: Oscar | SAG Awards | Golden Globes
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – April 21, 1999 | July 14, 2003 | October 21, 2003
Better Know A Guest, December 1 – 4, 2014
Welcome to Better Know a Guest, your weekly guide to the wonderful and diverse array of personalities appearing on ‘The Colbert Report’ and ‘The Daily Show’ each week.
Hello, Colbert News Hub! The final three weeks are here. Comedy Central’s advertising it as an event (“The Colbert Report: The Final Three Weeks”). And they’re starting strong, with John McCain starting off the week with his debut Report appearance.
I’m sure a lot of us missed the Comedy Central writers last week when the Ferguson shit hit the fan again, and I trust they’ll find a way to cover it that’s real and funny and cathartic as usual. Other serious stories that could be covered this week are the dropped charges against Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Boko Haram upping their terror again. In lighter news, the new Star Wars trailer is out, Black Friday happened, Snooki got married, and Sasha and Malia Obama were not impressed by the pardoned Thanksgiving turkey.
Stephen’s guests this week are a senator, two musicians, a director, and a doctor/ anthropologist. Jon’s are a pundit, a musician, a humanitarian aid worker, and a actress/ director. Let us know in the comments who you’re looking forward to and what you’re excited to hear about!
Monday, December 1 (2014)
John McCain (Author: “Thirteen Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War“)
John McCain is a US Senator for Arizona. He is a former Naval Aviator and Captain, and a veteran of the Vietnam war. He has been a prisoner of war and a victim of torture. After retiring from the Navy, McCain entered politics as a representative from Arizona, where he served for two years before winning a seat in the senate. In 2008 McCain was the Republican nominee for President, and lost to Barack Obama. McCain then returned to the Senate where he continues to serve today. His views are conservative, especially when it comes to foreign policy. He was a strong proponent of the war in Iraq. Now he has co-written a book with his former chief of staff Mark Salter called Thirteen Soldiers, which tells thirteen diverse stories (representing the 13 major wars the US has fought in) of soldiers fighting for America throughout history. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “a patriotic though unsentimental look at the major wars fought by the United States as told through the difficult experiences of ordinary soldiers” that features “deeply personal stories that track real soldiers through conditions of trying morale”.
Born: August 29, 1936 (Coco Solo Naval Base, Panama)
Education: Episcopal High School | U.S. Naval Academy
Books: Faith of My Fathers | Worth the Fighting For | Why Courage Matters | Character is Destiny | Hard Call | Thirteen Soldiers
Awards: Silver Star | Legion of Merit | Purple Heart | Distinguished Flying Cross | National Order of Vietnam
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – March 20, 2002 | November 6, 2002 | January 22, 2004 | May 11, 2004 | September 3, 2004 | November 9, 2005 | July 25, 2006 | August 17, 2007
Follow: @SenJohnMcCain | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube
Tuesday, December 2 (2014)
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (Musicians: “Cheek to Cheek“)
Tony Bennett is a prolific musician, writer, and artist, who has been recording music since the 1950s. He was discovered in 1949 by Bob Hope, who saw him sing at a club in New York City. Bennett went on to record top selling albums in every decade from the ‘50s to today, and has also written four books and paints every day. His art has been commissioned twice by the United Nations, and he is active in art education programs. He is also a philanthropist, donating money to juvenile diabetes and cancer research, and raising awareness of global warming. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. The Wall Street Journals jazz critic Marc Myers notes that, “For Mr. Bennett, partnering with Lady Gaga is just another chapter in a crusade to expose young audiences to American music that predates the explosive global popularity of the Beatles starting in 1964. While his decision to team with one of pop’s most flamboyant and outrageous stars may seem like an odd coupling, Mr. Bennett knows exactly what he’s doing. ‘Lady’s a real jazz singer—an improviser who sings these songs differently each time we do them […] If we tour, I think many people are going to say, ‘Wow, we had no idea she could sing that well.’”
Born: August 3, 1926 (Queens, New York, United States)
Education: High School of Industrial Arts
Platinum Albums: I Left My Heart in San Francisco | MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett | Duets: An American Classic
Awards: Grammy Awards | Grammy Lifetime Award | Kennedy Center Honor | Martin Luther King Jr. Center Salute to Greatness Award
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ appearance(s): Interview – September 26, 2007
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interview – September 29, 2011
Follow: Website | @ItsTonyBennett | Facebook | Instagram
Lady Gaga is a pop musician and performance artist. She is known for her hit songs and for her crazy fashions (wearing a dress made entirely out of meat; arriving to awards shows being carried in a giant egg). She is also the founder of the Born This Way foundation, which helps young people gain self-confidence and promotes anti-bullying campaigns, and is also a strong advocate of LGBT rights. She has recently collaborated with Tony Bennett on their popular new album “Cheek to Cheek”, which for Gaga, is the culmination of a lifelong love affair with jazz, which she began singing when she was 13 years old. In an interview with Parade Magazine, she said that recording the album saved her from possible “artistic death”. While MTVs Gil Kaufman notes that the two signers “flawlessly merge their unique styles and show off a charming in-studio rapport that totally translates to the collection of jazz and pop vocal standards.”
Born: March 28, 1986 (Manhattan, New York, United States)
Education: Tisch School of the Arts, NYU
Albums: The Fame | Born This Way | Artpop | Cheek to Cheek
Awards: Video Music Awards | Grammy Awards
Follow: Website | @LadyGaga | Facebook | Instagram
Wednesday, December 3 (2014)
Christopher Nolan (Director: “Interstellar“)
Christopher Nolan is a film director, famous for Memento, the Dark Knight trilogy and Inception. He was born in London, and made his first short film when he was only seven years old. He got his start making short films in college, and in 1998 made his first full length movie called Following, to critical acclaim from film festivals. His breakout film was his second, Memento, which he based off of a story written by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Nolan’s movies often follow non linear timelines, and play with the idea of reality. He is a critic of digital film, preferring to shoot on physical film – especially IMAX. He does not have a cell phone. The Guardians film critic Mark Kermode calls the film a “flawed but frequently awe-inspiring movie about wormholes and black holes that does not implode into a dark star of disappointment; if it’s spectacle you want, then Interstellar delivers, particularly when viewed in Nolan’s preferred 70mm IMAX format.”
Born: July 30, 1970 (London, United Kingdom)
Education: Haileybury and Imperial Service College | University College London
Filmography: Doodlebug | Following | Memento | Insomnia | Batman Begins | The Prestige | The Dark Knight | Inception | The Dark Knight Rises | Interstellar
Awards: UCL Honorary Fellow | AFI Movie of the Year | WGA Award | Independent Spirit Award | MTV Movie Award | Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award | Saturn Award | British Independent Film Award | Empire Award
Thursday, December 4 (2014)
Paul Farmer (Co-founder: Partners in Health)
Paul Farmer is a doctor, anthropologist, and professor. He is the co-founder of Partners in Health, a non-profit healthcare organization that brings healthcare to countries where good doctors and hospitals are hard to find. Farmer grew up in Massachusetts, Alabama, and Florida, at one point living with his parents and five siblings in a converted school bus. He attended Duke and then Harvard Medical School, where he took many of his courses while treating poor and sick patients in Haiti. Farmer now has a home in Rwanda, where he oversees Partners in Health projects. He also has projects in Russia, Lesotho, Malawi, and Peru. Farmer is on the board of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, which spreads awareness of human rights issues in Haiti and supports legal cases for haitians. He supports the UN on issues related to life in Haiti.
Born: October 26, 1959 (North Adams, Massachusetts, United States)
Education: Hernando High School | Duke University | Harvard University
Books: AIDS and Accusation | The Uses of Haiti | Sida en Haiti | Infections and Inequalities | Pathologies of Power | Global Health in Times of Violence | Women, Poverty & AIDS | Partner to the Poor | Who Removed Aristide? | Haiti After the Earthquake | To Repair the World | In the Company of the Poor Awards: MacArthur Fellowship | Heinz Award | International Human Rights Award | Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award | Jefferson Award
And now let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at the Daily Show!
Monday, December 1 (2014)
Andrew Napolitano (Co-author: “Suicide Pact: The Radical Expansion of Presidential Powers and the Lethal Threat to American Liberty”)
Andrew Napolitano is a judge and Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst. He served for 8 years as a judge on the New Jersey Superior court, and was the youngest person ever to receive life tenure there. After retiring from the New Jersey court, Napolitano began work in television. He was on the first season of a short-lived small claims court show Power of Attorney, and then joined Fox News as a political analyst. He hosted the radio show Brian and the Judge for Fox, and also the libertarian business show Freedom Watch on Fox Business. Napolitano’s views are generally conservative; he opposes abortion and government regulation in general, and wants to impeach President Obama over immigration reform. He is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, and not a fan of Abraham Lincoln (the two once faced off in a game show). His new book, “Suicide Pact”, details “a long, sordid history of governmental—and especially presidential—encroachments on liberty, enacted in the name of protecting America but which serve insead to undermine national security and erode the nation’s founding freedoms.”
Born: June 6, 1950 (Newark, New Jersey, United States)
Education: Princeton University | Notre Dame Law School
Books: Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks its Own Laws | The Constitution in Exile: How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land | A Nation of Sheep | Dred Scott’s Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America | Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History | It is Dangerous to be Right When the Government it Wrong: The Case for Personal Freedom | The Freedom Answer Book: How the Government is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – October 28, 2011 | January 11, 2012 | November 16, 2012 | March 11, 2014
Follow: Website | @JudgeNap | Facebook
Tuesday, December 2 (2014)
Dave Grohl (Musician and Filmmaker: “Sonic Highways“)
Dave Grohl is a musician best known for being the drummer in Nirvana and the lead singer/ guitarist/writer and founder of the Foo Fighters. He also founded Them Crooked Vultures, and has released music he wrote during the Nirvana years under the name Late!. Grohl has been the drummer on albums by a range of accomplished artists that include Nine Inch Nails, Paul McCartney, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Aside from music, Grohl is also a film director. He directed the documentary Sound City (released in 2013) about Sound City Studios, where he recorded the Nirvana album Nevermind. Grohl currently stars in the 8-part HBO series Sonic Highways, which documents the process of creating and recording the new Foo Fighters album.
Born: January 14, 1969 (Warren, Ohio, USA)
Education: Thomas Jefferson High School | Bishop Ireton High School | Annandale High School
Bands: Scream | Nirvana | Foo Fighters
Albums: Getting Shit for Growing Up Different | I Scream Not Coming Down | No More Censorship | Fumble | Nevermind | Hormoaning | Incesticide | In Utero | From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah | Nirvana | With the Lights Out | Silver: The Best of the Box | Icon | Pocketwatch | Harlingtox Angel Divine | Tenacious D | Pick of Destiny | Rize of the Fenix | Songs for the Deaf | Like Clockwork | Probot | Them Crooked Vultures | Foo Fighters | The Colour and the Shape | There Is Nothing Left to Lose | One by One | In Your Honor | Five Songs and a Cover | Skin and Bones | Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace | Wasting Light | Medium Rare | Sonic Highways
Filmography: 1991: The Year Punk Broke | Foo Fighters: Back and Forth | Sound City | Drunk History | Sonic Highways
Awards: American Music Award – Favorite Alternative Artist | Brit Award – International Group / Album | NME Awards – Album of the Year | Multiple Grammy Awards – Best Rock Album
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – December 3, 1999 | February 12, 2001 | April 11, 2011
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ appearance(s): Interview – February 13, 2013
Follow: Foo Fighters | @FooFighters | Facebook
Wednesday, December 3 (2014)
Sophie Delaunay (Executive Director: Doctors Without Borders)
Sophie Delaunay is the executive director of Doctors Without Borders. She has been with the organization since 1993, before which she worked at for the French AIDS relief agency ESTHER. Doctors Without Borders sends qualified doctors to locations around the world that are in need of medical aid. Right now they are very involved in the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Delaunay has worked in Thailand, Rwanda, China, and North Korea for the organization, and has helped refugees flee North Korea and seek asylum elsewhere. She is currently heading the Ebola effort and advocating for better treatment of returning aid workers here in America.
Education: Le Havre University | Yonsei University
Thursday, December 4 (2014)
Angelina Jolie (Director: “Unbroken“)
Angelina Jolie is an American actress, who has been starring in films since 1993. She is known for films such as Girl, Interrupted, and Maleficent. She is very involved in philanthropic efforts abroad, serving as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2001 to 2012, and she continues to work for the organization as a Special Envoy. She has built schools in Cambodia, and set up the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Project, which is a village to provide people with education, healthcare, and food. She has built schools and hospitals throughout the world, and fundraised through her foundation the Jolie-Pitt foundation. Her other philanthropic efforts include funding education for immigrant children, providing immigration lawyers to people who can’t afford them, and campaigning against sexual violence in war zones. Her new film Unbroken tells the story of Olympic track star Louis Zamperini, who survived a plane crash in the pacific ocean, spending 47 days lost at sea and more than two years as a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II. Vartiety’s chief film critic Justin Chang calls the film “beautifully wrought but cumulatively underwhelming”. He furthers that, “in re-creating the nightmarish journey so harrowingly relayed in Laura Hillenbrand’s biography, Jolie has achieved something by turns eminently respectable and respectful to a fault, maintaining an intimate, character-driven focus that, despite the skill of the filmmaking and another superb lead performance from Jack O’Connell, never fully roars to dramatic life.”
Born: June 4, 1975 (Los Angeles, California, United States)
Education: Beverly Hills High School | Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute | New York University
Filmography: Lookin’ to Get Out | Cyborg 2 | Without Evidence | Hackers | Love Is All There Is | Mojave Moon | Foxfire | True Women | George Wallace | Playing God | Gia | Hell’s Kitchen | Playing by Heart | Pushing Tin | The Bone Collector | Girl, Interrupted | Gone in 60 Seconds | Lara Croft: Tomb Raider | Original Sin | Life or Something Like It | Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life | Beyond Borders | Taking Lives | Shark Tale | Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow | Alexander | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | The Good Shepherd | A Mighty Heart | Beowulf | Kung Fu Panda | Wanted | Changeling | Salt | The Tourist | Kung Fu Panda 2 | Maleficent | In the Land of Blood and Honey | Unbroken
Awards: Oscar | SAG Awards | Golden Globes
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – April 21, 1999 | July 14, 2003 | October 21, 2003