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! So this is it. I’m sure plenty of the show this week will be dedicated to celebrating the last nine years, and probably some massive foreshadowing by Grimmy, Thursday’s special guest. But the guest list suggests that it’ll be somewhat business as usual, and in that vein we can expect to see some stories about the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, the CIA torture report, sliding oil prices, and Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign ramping up. And if they’re looking for something fun, there is now a scientific study that definitively explains why waiting room magazines are so crappy (people steal only the good ones!)
The end is bittersweet. This last week will be exciting, especially as we find out how Grimmy brings “Stephen” to his fate. But it’s also sad, because without the Report guests who’s going to teach us how cool the Stanford Marshmallow Test is, or make us think about how much Canada weighs? I’ve learned so much from these interviews over the years, and I hope that Late Show can remain a platform for authors and professors and artists as much as actors and musicians and politicians. But meanwhile, here’s to an excellent last week!
Stephen’s guests this week are an actor, a musician, a writer, and the Grim Reaper. Jon’s are a director, a musician, an actress, and a comedian. Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments!
Monday, December 15 (2014)
Seth Rogen (Actor: “The Interview”)
Seth Rogen is an actor and a comedian, best known for a string of popular comedies that include Superbad, Knocked Up, and Pineapple Express. Rogen’s first breakout role was in the short-lived but popular television series Freaks and Geeks. His latest film is The Interview, a slapstick comedy in which he plays a talk show producer in search of real news stories (rather than showcases of Rob Lowe’s baldness). He and the show’s host (James Franco) are tasked with interviewing Kim Jong Un, and when the CIA hears about it they ask them to assassinate him. The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy notes that the films adds “creative insult to corporate injury in the wake of the massive hacking of Sony’s computer files, the film that may have triggered the incident, is an intensely sophomoric and rampantly uneven comic take down of an easy but worrisomely unpredictable target, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In the relatively sparse annals of irreverent major studio comedies that pissed off foreign nations, for big laughs this one doesn’t rate anywhere near Borat or Team America: World Police.”
Born: April 15, 1982 (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Education: Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School | Point Grey Secondary School
Filmography: Freaks and Geeks | North Hollywood | Donnie Darko | Undeclared | Anchorman | Early Bird | The 40-Year-Old Virgin | Help Me Help You | You, Me and Dupree | Knocked Up | Shrek the Third | Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse | Superbad | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Horton Hears a Who! | Kung Fu Panda | Step Brothers | Pineapple Express | Zach and Miri Make a Porno | Fanboys | Observe and Report | Monsters vs. Aliens | Funny People | The Green Hornet | Paul | 50/50 | For a Good Time, Call… | Neighbors | Arrested Development | This is the End | The Sound and the Fury | The League | Rubberhead | The Interview
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – August 6, 2008 | April 1, 2009 | September 28, 2011 | June 11, 2013 | May 8, 2014
Follow: @SethRogen | Facebook | Instagram
Tuesday, December 16 (2014)
Kendrick Lamar (Musician: “Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City“)
Kendrick Lamar is a rapper, who is best known for his breakout album Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City. He got his start in 2005, when he released a mixtape Youngest Head Nigga in Charge (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year), under the pseudonym K-Dot at the age of 16, which landed him a recording deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, and he periodically released more mixtapes for the next several years. When Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City was released in 2012, it got instant critical acclaim and was nominated for seven Grammys (he lost to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, to much controversy). Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City is about Lamar’s childhood growing up in a rough neighborhood in Compton, California. It has been both commercially successful and lauded by both reviewers and big name rappers. Lamar has recently partnered with Reebok to produce a short video about his hometown of Compton, in order to show kids that there’s an alternative to selling drugs and living on the street.
Born: June 17, 1987 (Compton, California, United States)
Education: Centennial High School
Discography: Y.N.I.C. (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year) | Training Day | No Sleep ‘Til NYC | C4 | Overly Dedicated | Kendrick Lamar EP | Section.80 | Good Kid, m.A.A.d City
Follow: Website | @KendrickLamar | Facebook
Wednesday, December 17 (2014)
Phil Klay (Author: “Redeployment”)
Phil Klay is a writer and a former marine, who served as a Public Affairs Officer in Iraq from 2007-2008. He returned from the war and got a Masters of Fine Arts from Hunter College, and has had stories published in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Granta, and Tin House. Redeployment is his collection of short stories, and won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2014. The stories all center around characters who serve as American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they explore the experiences both in the war zone (in offices, in combat, and in other tasks such as teaching baseball to Iraqis) and the isolation of returning home. Klay has said that it’s important for civilians to listen to soldiers’ stories and try to understand them, because that’s the only way to bridge the gap between the abstract way we imagine war and the real experience of being in one. Dexter Filkins of the New York Times notes that “Klay succeeds brilliantly, capturing on an intimate scale the ways in which the war in Iraq evoked a unique array of emotion, predicament and heartbreak. In Klay’s hands, Iraq comes across not merely as a theater of war but as a laboratory for the human condition in extremis. “Redeployment” is hilarious, biting, whipsawing and sad. It’s the best thing written so far on what the war did to people’s souls.”
Born: 1983 (White Plains, New York, United States)
Education: Regis High School | Dartmouth College | Officer Candidate School
Books: Redeployment
Awards: National Book Award for Fiction | The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2014
Follow: Website | @PhilKlay
Thursday, December 18 (2014)
Grimmy
Grimmy is Stephen Colbert’s friend, travel agent, twerking and slow-dance partner, and agent of massive foreshadowing. He is not a fan of Obamacare.
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ appearance(s): September 19, 2013 | July 24, 2014 | October 13, 2014 | October 30, 2014 | November 13, 2014 | December 4, 2014
And now let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at the Daily Show!
Monday, December 15 (2014)
Tim Burton (Director: “Big Eyes”)
Tim Burton is an artist and movie director, famous for films such as Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands. Burton attended California Institute of the Arts, and his first job in film was as an animator for Disney. He worked on The Fox and The Hound, and also pursued his own projects which tended to be dark and unusual. A short film called Frankenweenie got the attention of Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman), who skyrocketed Burton’s career by hiring him to direct Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. From there, Burton became famous and trusted in the industry, and went on to direct enormously successful films including Planet of the Apes and Alice in Wonderland. Frankenweenie, too, eventually became a full length film in 2012. Burton’s latest film is Big Eyes, which is based on a true story about two painters, Walter and Margaret Keane, whose divorce battle included accusations that Walter stole credit for Margaret’s wildly popular paintings of people with giant eyes. Margaret creating the paintings, and Walter popularized them by creating prints that could be mass distributed. Released on Christmas Day, the film stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, and marks the first live-action film Burton has made without Johnny Depp in more than a decade.
Born: August 28, 1958 (Burbank, California, United States)
Education: Burbank High School | California Institute of the Arts
Filmography: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure | Beetlejuice | Batman | Edward Scissorhands | Batman Returns | Ed Wood | Mars Attacks! | Sleepy Hollow | Planet of the Apes | Big Fish | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Corpse Bride | Sweeney Todd | Alice in Wonderland | Dark Shadows | Frankenweenie | Big Eyes
Awards: Emmy Award | Golden Globe Award | National Board of Review Award | Producer’s Guild of America Award
Follow: Website
Tuesday, December 16 (2014)
Paul McCartney (Musician: “Hope for the Future“)
Paul McCartney is a legendary musician and songwriter, known for being one of the Beatles and having a successful solo career. McCartney sings and plays guitar, keyboards, and drums. He first achieved huge success as part of the Beatles in 1960, and became widely known as “the cute one”. McCartney wrote the song Yesterday, which is the most covered song his history. Beatlemania got so out of control and eventually stopped performing, because as McCartney told Stephen Colbert, they were eventually tired of going on stage and getting yelled at. After the Beatles McCartney formed Wings with his wife Linda. He continues to have a thriving solo career, performing at the Superbowl and at the Olympics. He performs many charity concerts, and continues to release music. His latest single was for the video game Destiny, and is called “Hope for the Future”.
Born: June 18, 1942 (Liverpool, England, United Kingdom)
Education: Stockton Wood Road Primary School | Joseph Williams Junior School | Liverpool Institute
Albums: Please Please Me | With the Beatles | Beatlemania! | Introducing… The Beatles | Meet the Beatles! | Twist and Shout | The Beatles’ Second Album | The Beatles’ Long Tall Sally | A Hard Day’s Night | Something New | Beatles for Sale | Beatles ‘65 | Beatles VI | Help! | Rubber Soul | Yesterday and Today | Revolver | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | Magical Mystery Tour | The Beatles | Yellow Submarine | Abbey Road | Let It Be | McCartney | Ram | Wild Life | Red Rose Speedway | Band on the Run | Venus and Mars | Wings at the Speed of Sound | London Town | Back to the Egg | McCartney II | Tug of War | Pipes of Peace | Give My Regards to Broad Street | Press to Play | Choba B CCCP | Flowers in the Dirt | Off the Ground | Flaming Pie | Run Devil Run | Driving Rain | Chaos and Creation in the Backyard | Memory Almost Full | Kisses on the Bottom | New
Awards: BRIT Awards | MTV Video Music Awards | Grammy Awards | Q Awards | American Music Awards | MTV Europe Music Awards
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ appearance(s): Interviews – January 28, 2009 | June 12, 2013
Follow: Website | @PaulMcCartney | Facebook | Instagram
Wednesday, December 17 (2014)
Anna Kendrick (Actress: “Into the Woods”)
Anna Kendrick is an actress and singer, best known for her roles in Up in the Air, the Twilight series, and Pitch Perfect. Her breakout role was as George Clooney’s younger colleague in Up in the Air, which earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. Kendrick has also starred on Broadway in the musical High Society (when she was only 12 years old), and she sang in the musical movies Camp and Pitch Perfect. Her latest role is in Disney’s film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods, which tells the intersecting stories of popular fairytale characters. Kendrick plays Cinderella.
Born: August 9, 1985 (Portland, Maine, United States)
Education: Deering High School
Filmography: Camp | Rocket Science | The Twilight Saga | Elsewhere | The Marc Pease Experience | Up in the Air | Scott Pilgrim vs. the World | 50/50 | What to Expect When You’re Expecting | ParaNorman | End of Watch | Pitch Perfect | The Company You Keep | Drinking Buddies | Rapture-Palooza | Happy Christmas | Life after Beth | The Voices | Cake | The Last 5 Years | Into the Woods | Get a Job
Awards: Theater World Award | Comedy Film Award | MTV Movie Awards | Teen Choice Awards | American Music Award
Follow: @AnnaKendrick47 | Instagram
Thursday, December 18 (2014)
Chris Rock (Actor, Producer and Director: “Top Five”)
Chris Rock is a comedian and an actor, best known for his stand up comedy and run as a cast member on Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s. Rock got his start in comedy by performing at Catch a Rising Star in New York City, and then after a few small film and TV roles (including Miami Vice), he joined Saturday Night Live. Rock left Saturday Night Live in 1993 to appear on In Living Color, but the show was cancelled soon afterward. He went back to performing comedy and starred in several comedy specials for HBO and Comedy Central, to much popularity and critical acclaim. He worked as a producer on his own show Everybody Hates Chris, and later on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. He wrote, produced, directed, and stars in the new movie Top Five, which is about a former stand-up comedian who had success in Hollywood and is trying to make a comeback. In promoting his new film, Rock’s character Andre Allen has to spend the day with a reporter (played by Rosario Dawson) and ends up opening up his life to her. The film was released on December 12th. variety’s chief film critic Scott Foundas calls the film “a candid, fresh, ferociously funny snapshot of life in the celebrity bubble.”
Born: February 7, 1965 (Andrews, South Carolina, United States)
Filmography: Beverly Hills Cop II | Miami Vice | I’m Gonna Git You Sucka | New Jack City | Boomerang | CB4 | Saturday Night Live | In Living Color | Panther | The Immortals | The Moxy & Flea Show | Martin | Sgt. Bilko | Homicide: Life on the Street | Beverly Hills Ninja | Doctor Dolittle | Lethal Weapon 4 | Dogma | Jackie’s Back! | Nurse Betty | DAG | Down to Earth | Pootie Tang | Osmosis Jones | Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back | Bad Company | Pauly Shore is Dead | Head of State | The Longest Yard | Madagascar | I Think I Love My Wife | Bee Movie | You Don’t Mess with the Zohan | Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | Everybody Hates Chris | Death at a Funeral | Grown Ups | 2 Days in New York | What to Expect When You’re Expecting | Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted | Louie | Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell | Grown Ups 2 | Real Husbands of Hollywood | Top Five
Awards: Emmy Awards | American Comedy Award | BET Comedy Award | Hollywood Film Award | Kid’s Choice Awards | Hollywood Walk of Fame
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – February 22, 2001 | April 1, 2003 | July 25, 2010 (with Adam Sandler) | August 9, 2012
Follow: Website | @ChrisRock | Facebook | Instagram
Better Know A Guest – December 15 – 18, 2014
Hello, Colbert News Hub! So this is it. I’m sure plenty of the show this week will be dedicated to celebrating the last nine years, and probably some massive foreshadowing by Grimmy, Thursday’s special guest. But the guest list suggests that it’ll be somewhat business as usual, and in that vein we can expect to see some stories about the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, the CIA torture report, sliding oil prices, and Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign ramping up. And if they’re looking for something fun, there is now a scientific study that definitively explains why waiting room magazines are so crappy (people steal only the good ones!)
The end is bittersweet. This last week will be exciting, especially as we find out how Grimmy brings “Stephen” to his fate. But it’s also sad, because without the Report guests who’s going to teach us how cool the Stanford Marshmallow Test is, or make us think about how much Canada weighs? I’ve learned so much from these interviews over the years, and I hope that Late Show can remain a platform for authors and professors and artists as much as actors and musicians and politicians. But meanwhile, here’s to an excellent last week!
Stephen’s guests this week are an actor, a musician, a writer, and the Grim Reaper. Jon’s are a director, a musician, an actress, and a comedian. Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments!
Monday, December 15 (2014)
Seth Rogen (Actor: “The Interview”)
Seth Rogen is an actor and a comedian, best known for a string of popular comedies that include Superbad, Knocked Up, and Pineapple Express. Rogen’s first breakout role was in the short-lived but popular television series Freaks and Geeks. His latest film is The Interview, a slapstick comedy in which he plays a talk show producer in search of real news stories (rather than showcases of Rob Lowe’s baldness). He and the show’s host (James Franco) are tasked with interviewing Kim Jong Un, and when the CIA hears about it they ask them to assassinate him. The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy notes that the films adds “creative insult to corporate injury in the wake of the massive hacking of Sony’s computer files, the film that may have triggered the incident, is an intensely sophomoric and rampantly uneven comic take down of an easy but worrisomely unpredictable target, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In the relatively sparse annals of irreverent major studio comedies that pissed off foreign nations, for big laughs this one doesn’t rate anywhere near Borat or Team America: World Police.”
Born: April 15, 1982 (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Education: Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School | Point Grey Secondary School
Filmography: Freaks and Geeks | North Hollywood | Donnie Darko | Undeclared | Anchorman | Early Bird | The 40-Year-Old Virgin | Help Me Help You | You, Me and Dupree | Knocked Up | Shrek the Third | Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse | Superbad | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Horton Hears a Who! | Kung Fu Panda | Step Brothers | Pineapple Express | Zach and Miri Make a Porno | Fanboys | Observe and Report | Monsters vs. Aliens | Funny People | The Green Hornet | Paul | 50/50 | For a Good Time, Call… | Neighbors | Arrested Development | This is the End | The Sound and the Fury | The League | Rubberhead | The Interview
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – August 6, 2008 | April 1, 2009 | September 28, 2011 | June 11, 2013 | May 8, 2014
Follow: @SethRogen | Facebook | Instagram
Tuesday, December 16 (2014)
Kendrick Lamar (Musician: “Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City“)
Kendrick Lamar is a rapper, who is best known for his breakout album Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City. He got his start in 2005, when he released a mixtape Youngest Head Nigga in Charge (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year), under the pseudonym K-Dot at the age of 16, which landed him a recording deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, and he periodically released more mixtapes for the next several years. When Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City was released in 2012, it got instant critical acclaim and was nominated for seven Grammys (he lost to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, to much controversy). Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City is about Lamar’s childhood growing up in a rough neighborhood in Compton, California. It has been both commercially successful and lauded by both reviewers and big name rappers. Lamar has recently partnered with Reebok to produce a short video about his hometown of Compton, in order to show kids that there’s an alternative to selling drugs and living on the street.
Born: June 17, 1987 (Compton, California, United States)
Education: Centennial High School
Discography: Y.N.I.C. (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year) | Training Day | No Sleep ‘Til NYC | C4 | Overly Dedicated | Kendrick Lamar EP | Section.80 | Good Kid, m.A.A.d City
Follow: Website | @KendrickLamar | Facebook
Wednesday, December 17 (2014)
Phil Klay (Author: “Redeployment”)
Phil Klay is a writer and a former marine, who served as a Public Affairs Officer in Iraq from 2007-2008. He returned from the war and got a Masters of Fine Arts from Hunter College, and has had stories published in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Granta, and Tin House. Redeployment is his collection of short stories, and won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2014. The stories all center around characters who serve as American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they explore the experiences both in the war zone (in offices, in combat, and in other tasks such as teaching baseball to Iraqis) and the isolation of returning home. Klay has said that it’s important for civilians to listen to soldiers’ stories and try to understand them, because that’s the only way to bridge the gap between the abstract way we imagine war and the real experience of being in one. Dexter Filkins of the New York Times notes that “Klay succeeds brilliantly, capturing on an intimate scale the ways in which the war in Iraq evoked a unique array of emotion, predicament and heartbreak. In Klay’s hands, Iraq comes across not merely as a theater of war but as a laboratory for the human condition in extremis. “Redeployment” is hilarious, biting, whipsawing and sad. It’s the best thing written so far on what the war did to people’s souls.”
Born: 1983 (White Plains, New York, United States)
Education: Regis High School | Dartmouth College | Officer Candidate School
Books: Redeployment
Awards: National Book Award for Fiction | The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2014
Follow: Website | @PhilKlay
Thursday, December 18 (2014)
Grimmy
Grimmy is Stephen Colbert’s friend, travel agent, twerking and slow-dance partner, and agent of massive foreshadowing. He is not a fan of Obamacare.
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ appearance(s): September 19, 2013 | July 24, 2014 | October 13, 2014 | October 30, 2014 | November 13, 2014 | December 4, 2014
And now let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at the Daily Show!
Monday, December 15 (2014)
Tim Burton (Director: “Big Eyes”)
Tim Burton is an artist and movie director, famous for films such as Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands. Burton attended California Institute of the Arts, and his first job in film was as an animator for Disney. He worked on The Fox and The Hound, and also pursued his own projects which tended to be dark and unusual. A short film called Frankenweenie got the attention of Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman), who skyrocketed Burton’s career by hiring him to direct Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. From there, Burton became famous and trusted in the industry, and went on to direct enormously successful films including Planet of the Apes and Alice in Wonderland. Frankenweenie, too, eventually became a full length film in 2012. Burton’s latest film is Big Eyes, which is based on a true story about two painters, Walter and Margaret Keane, whose divorce battle included accusations that Walter stole credit for Margaret’s wildly popular paintings of people with giant eyes. Margaret creating the paintings, and Walter popularized them by creating prints that could be mass distributed. Released on Christmas Day, the film stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, and marks the first live-action film Burton has made without Johnny Depp in more than a decade.
Born: August 28, 1958 (Burbank, California, United States)
Education: Burbank High School | California Institute of the Arts
Filmography: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure | Beetlejuice | Batman | Edward Scissorhands | Batman Returns | Ed Wood | Mars Attacks! | Sleepy Hollow | Planet of the Apes | Big Fish | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Corpse Bride | Sweeney Todd | Alice in Wonderland | Dark Shadows | Frankenweenie | Big Eyes
Awards: Emmy Award | Golden Globe Award | National Board of Review Award | Producer’s Guild of America Award
Follow: Website
Tuesday, December 16 (2014)
Paul McCartney (Musician: “Hope for the Future“)
Paul McCartney is a legendary musician and songwriter, known for being one of the Beatles and having a successful solo career. McCartney sings and plays guitar, keyboards, and drums. He first achieved huge success as part of the Beatles in 1960, and became widely known as “the cute one”. McCartney wrote the song Yesterday, which is the most covered song his history. Beatlemania got so out of control and eventually stopped performing, because as McCartney told Stephen Colbert, they were eventually tired of going on stage and getting yelled at. After the Beatles McCartney formed Wings with his wife Linda. He continues to have a thriving solo career, performing at the Superbowl and at the Olympics. He performs many charity concerts, and continues to release music. His latest single was for the video game Destiny, and is called “Hope for the Future”.
Born: June 18, 1942 (Liverpool, England, United Kingdom)
Education: Stockton Wood Road Primary School | Joseph Williams Junior School | Liverpool Institute
Albums: Please Please Me | With the Beatles | Beatlemania! | Introducing… The Beatles | Meet the Beatles! | Twist and Shout | The Beatles’ Second Album | The Beatles’ Long Tall Sally | A Hard Day’s Night | Something New | Beatles for Sale | Beatles ‘65 | Beatles VI | Help! | Rubber Soul | Yesterday and Today | Revolver | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | Magical Mystery Tour | The Beatles | Yellow Submarine | Abbey Road | Let It Be | McCartney | Ram | Wild Life | Red Rose Speedway | Band on the Run | Venus and Mars | Wings at the Speed of Sound | London Town | Back to the Egg | McCartney II | Tug of War | Pipes of Peace | Give My Regards to Broad Street | Press to Play | Choba B CCCP | Flowers in the Dirt | Off the Ground | Flaming Pie | Run Devil Run | Driving Rain | Chaos and Creation in the Backyard | Memory Almost Full | Kisses on the Bottom | New
Awards: BRIT Awards | MTV Video Music Awards | Grammy Awards | Q Awards | American Music Awards | MTV Europe Music Awards
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ appearance(s): Interviews – January 28, 2009 | June 12, 2013
Follow: Website | @PaulMcCartney | Facebook | Instagram
Wednesday, December 17 (2014)
Anna Kendrick (Actress: “Into the Woods”)
Anna Kendrick is an actress and singer, best known for her roles in Up in the Air, the Twilight series, and Pitch Perfect. Her breakout role was as George Clooney’s younger colleague in Up in the Air, which earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. Kendrick has also starred on Broadway in the musical High Society (when she was only 12 years old), and she sang in the musical movies Camp and Pitch Perfect. Her latest role is in Disney’s film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods, which tells the intersecting stories of popular fairytale characters. Kendrick plays Cinderella.
Born: August 9, 1985 (Portland, Maine, United States)
Education: Deering High School
Filmography: Camp | Rocket Science | The Twilight Saga | Elsewhere | The Marc Pease Experience | Up in the Air | Scott Pilgrim vs. the World | 50/50 | What to Expect When You’re Expecting | ParaNorman | End of Watch | Pitch Perfect | The Company You Keep | Drinking Buddies | Rapture-Palooza | Happy Christmas | Life after Beth | The Voices | Cake | The Last 5 Years | Into the Woods | Get a Job
Awards: Theater World Award | Comedy Film Award | MTV Movie Awards | Teen Choice Awards | American Music Award
Follow: @AnnaKendrick47 | Instagram
Thursday, December 18 (2014)
Chris Rock (Actor, Producer and Director: “Top Five”)
Chris Rock is a comedian and an actor, best known for his stand up comedy and run as a cast member on Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s. Rock got his start in comedy by performing at Catch a Rising Star in New York City, and then after a few small film and TV roles (including Miami Vice), he joined Saturday Night Live. Rock left Saturday Night Live in 1993 to appear on In Living Color, but the show was cancelled soon afterward. He went back to performing comedy and starred in several comedy specials for HBO and Comedy Central, to much popularity and critical acclaim. He worked as a producer on his own show Everybody Hates Chris, and later on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. He wrote, produced, directed, and stars in the new movie Top Five, which is about a former stand-up comedian who had success in Hollywood and is trying to make a comeback. In promoting his new film, Rock’s character Andre Allen has to spend the day with a reporter (played by Rosario Dawson) and ends up opening up his life to her. The film was released on December 12th. variety’s chief film critic Scott Foundas calls the film “a candid, fresh, ferociously funny snapshot of life in the celebrity bubble.”
Born: February 7, 1965 (Andrews, South Carolina, United States)
Filmography: Beverly Hills Cop II | Miami Vice | I’m Gonna Git You Sucka | New Jack City | Boomerang | CB4 | Saturday Night Live | In Living Color | Panther | The Immortals | The Moxy & Flea Show | Martin | Sgt. Bilko | Homicide: Life on the Street | Beverly Hills Ninja | Doctor Dolittle | Lethal Weapon 4 | Dogma | Jackie’s Back! | Nurse Betty | DAG | Down to Earth | Pootie Tang | Osmosis Jones | Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back | Bad Company | Pauly Shore is Dead | Head of State | The Longest Yard | Madagascar | I Think I Love My Wife | Bee Movie | You Don’t Mess with the Zohan | Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | Everybody Hates Chris | Death at a Funeral | Grown Ups | 2 Days in New York | What to Expect When You’re Expecting | Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted | Louie | Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell | Grown Ups 2 | Real Husbands of Hollywood | Top Five
Awards: Emmy Awards | American Comedy Award | BET Comedy Award | Hollywood Film Award | Kid’s Choice Awards | Hollywood Walk of Fame
Previous ‘Daily Show’ appearance(s): Interviews – February 22, 2001 | April 1, 2003 | July 25, 2010 (with Adam Sandler) | August 9, 2012
Follow: Website | @ChrisRock | Facebook | Instagram