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.
Hey there Hubsters! Hopefully everyone’s holiday season (and, ahem, final exams) are going well! Thanks to Katt for covering for me while I wrote some papers last weekend. The final week of shows for the year is chock-full of guests, as it is also Christmas Carol Week. The regular guests this week include Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti, Alpha House creator Gary Trudeau, and actors Keanu Reeves and Ben Stiller, while a whole host of special musical guests include Gregg Allman, The National, Cyndi Lauper, Alan Cummings, Aaron Neville, MusiCorps, and Blind Boys of Alabama join Stephen for Carol Week. Have you got a favourite Christmas Carol or tradition you’re hoping to see this week? Let us know in the comments.
Jon’s guests this week are filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour, businessman Erik Prince, the Anchorman cast and comedic actor Jonah Hill. Sounds like quite a week for The Daily Show too!
Monday, December 16 (2013)
Jonah Peretti (CEO: BuzzFeed)
Jonah Peretti is an American internet entrepreneur known for his experiments with “viral” media, and interest in how information and ideas spread through the internet. After co-founding The Huffington Post in 2005, Peretti launched BuzzFeed in 2006 as an experimental site that focused on the tracking of viral content and making things that internet users wanted to share. The site has grown to encompass a unique combination of visitors and editors each creating and sharing a pioneering mix of breaking news, entertainment and sharable content for the social age.
Born: January 1, 1974
Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Teaching Positions: New York University | Parsons School of Design
Follow: @Peretti
Musical Guest(s)
Carol Week kicks off with Indie rock band, The National, and American rock and blues singer-songwriter Gregg Allman.
Tuesday, December 17 (2013)
Garry Trudeau (Creator–“Alpha House”)
Garry Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best know for his comic strip, Doonesbury which often makes reference to Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report. In addition to his work as a cartoonist, Trudeau has written two plays with Elizabeth Swados, Rap Master Ronnie and Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy, and the Academy Award nominated short animated film A Doonesbury Special created in collaboration with John Hubley and Faith Hubley. Despite maintaining a low profile and giving only a handful of media interviews, Trudeau will make his second appearance on The Report to promote his new Amazon Studios show Alpha House, starring John Goodman, and featuring guest appearances by Stephen Colbert, Evelyn McGee-Colbert, and Amy Sedaris. The series is inspired by real-life Congressmen – Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Chuck Schumer, and Representative George Miller – who share a home in Washington DC.
Born: July 21, 1948 (New York City, New York, United States)
Education: St. Paul’s School | Yale University
Books: Doonesbury Collections | Hitler Move East: A Graphic Chronicle | Finding Your Religion: When the Faith You Grew Up With Has Lost Its Meaning | Doonesbury.com’s The Sandbox: Dispatches from Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
Film/Television: Doonesbury Special | Tanner ’88 | Tanner on Tanner | Alpha House
Theatre: Rap Master Ronnie | Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy
Awards: Pulitzer Prize | Jury Special Prize | Newspaper Comic Strip Award | Reuben Award
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interview – December 6, 2010
Follow: @AlphaHouse
Musical Guest(s)
Singer and creator of the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical “Kinky Boots” Cyndi Lauper, and Scottish screen and stage actor Alan Cumming join Stephen Colbert for Carol Week.
Wednesday, December 18 (2013)
Keanu Reeves (Actor: “47 Ronin”)
Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor, most famous for his roles in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Point Break, and The Matrix Trilogy. He has also acted on stage, and appeared in the Manitoba Theatre Centre’s production of Hamlet, to great acclaim. He rose to fame during the 90s with the film Speed, and continued his success into the 2000s with roles in The Lake House and A Scanner Darkly. His latest movie is the long-delayed 47 Ronin, a fictionalized account of the forty-seven Ronin, a real group of samurai in 18th century Japan that avenged the murder of their master, set in the fantastical world of witches and giants.
Born: September 2, 1964 (Beirut, Lebanon)
Filmography: Youngblood | Act of Vengeance | Dangerous Liaisons | Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure | Parenthood | Point Break | Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey | Bram Stoker’s Dracula | Much Ado About Nothing | Speed | The Matrix trilogy | The Watcher | Something’s Gotta Give | Constantine | The Lake House | Street Kings
Director: Man of Tai Chi
Television: Hangin’ In | Night Heat | Disneyland | Trying Times | Comedy Factory | American Playhouse | The Tracey Ullman Show
Awards: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame | Golden Slate Award | MTV Movie Award | Teen Choice Award | World Stunt Award
Follow: @47RoninFilm
Musical Guest(s)
R&B singer and supporter of the Children’s Health Fund’s ‘Holiday Blessings Campaign’, Aaron Neville and the non-profit MusiCorps which provides advanced music rehabilitation for wounded warriors joins Stephen Colbert for Carol Week.
Thursday, December 19 (2013)
Ben Stiller (Actor: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”)
Ben Stiller is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director, and producer, best know for his in Zoolander, There’s Something About Mary, Meet the Parents, Tropic Thunder, and Night at the Museum. Stiller began his career as a stage actor, and writer of a several of mockumentaries, before being offered his own show, The Ben Stiller Show. Having acted in several television shows Stiller turned to film, and made his directorial debut with Reality Bites, and embarked on a film career that has seen him become one of America’s best known comedic actors, and member of the comedy brotherhood known as the Frat Pack (with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell), a group of actor-comedians who have starred in several high-grossing comedies together. In his newest movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Stiller plays the eponymous character – an employee of Life magazine – who sets off on a worldwide journey to look for a picture that is needed for the magazine’s final issue.
Born: November 30, 1965 (New York City, New York, United States)
Education: The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine | Calhoun School | University of California
Filmography: Empire of the Sun | Reality Bites | Happy Gilmore | There’s Something About Mary | Meet the Parents | The Royal Tenenbaums | Zoolander | Meet the Fockers | Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy | Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story | Starsky and Hutch | Along Came Polly | Madagascar | Night at the Museum | Tropic Thunder
Television: Miami Vice | Saturday Night Live | The Ben Stiller Show | Freaks and Geeks | The Simpsons | The King of Queens | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Arrested Development | Family Guy | Sesame Street
Awards: Primetime Emmy Award | American Comedy Award | BAFTA Award | Kid’s Choice Award | MTV Movie Award | Teen Choice Award
Follow: @RedHourBen
Musical Guest(s)
Grammy Award winning gospel group, Blind Boys of Alabama join Stephen Colbert for the final night of Carol Week.
And now, let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at ‘The Daily Show’!
Monday, December 16 (2013)
Haifaa Al Mansour (Director: “Wadjda”)
Haifaa Al Mansour is a Saudi Arabian filmmaker, and the first female director in Saudi Arabia. She began her career with three short films Who?, The Bitter Journey, and The Only Way Out, which won praise around the world. Her next film Women Without Shadows, follows the hidden lives of women in Arab states and the Persian Gulf. Al Mansour will appear on ‘The Daily Show’ to promote her first feature-length film Wadjda, which follows the story of an 11 year-old girl who partakes in a Qu’ran recital competition to win money so she can buy the green bicycle he passes in a store every day on her way to school. The film has been released to universal acclaim with Wadjda presenting a new voice from a corner of the globe where cinema has been all but silenced. Winning of numerous awards at film festivals around the world, the film has been selected as the Saudi Arabian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards – the first time Saudi Arabia has submitted a film for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
Born: August 10, 1974 (Saudi Arabia)
Education: American University in Cairo | University of Sydney
Filmography: Who? | The Bitter Journey | The Only Way Out | Women Without Shadows
Awards: Golden Dagger Award
Follow: @HaifaaMansour
Tuesday, December 17 (2013)
Erik Prince (Author: ” Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror”)
Erik Prince is an American businessman, former US Navy SEAL, and the CEO of the world’s largest private military company, Blackwater USA. However, Prince relinquished his position when the company was sold in 2009. His book Civilian Warriors sheds light on the infamous company, telling the true stories of events it was involved in, accounts which he claims he could not share previously due to secrecy. He hopes to change the public’s opinion of Blackwater in a way he was never able to as CEO.
Born: June 6, 1969 (Holland, Michigan, United States)
Education: Holland Christian School | United States Naval Academy | Hillsdale College
Wednesday, December 18 (2013)
Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, David Koechner, and Paul Rudd (Actors: “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”)
Steve Careel, Will Ferrel, David Koechner, and Paul Rudd are reprising their roles in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, the much-anticipated and long-awaited sequel to the hit comedy Anchorman. To drum up buzz for the upcoming film, Will Ferrell has appeared in character as Ron Burgundy himself, hosting shows, appearing in commercials, and released a book, and ice cream flavor, and his own brand of scotch. The nearly two-month campaign has seen Ferrell hosting the morning news in Bismarck, North Dakota, appearing in commercials for the Dodge Durango, had the Emerson College journalism named after Burgundy for a day, and hosted Dan Patrick’s radio show for a day. The campaign has some critics saying it had revolutionized the way movies are promoted; others wonder if it’s too much.
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interview – Steve Carell July 7, 2010
Thursday, December 19 (2013)
Jonah Hill (Actor: “The Wolf of Wall Street”)
Jonah Hill is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, comedian, and voice actor, best known for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, Moneyball, 21 Jumpstreet, and This is the End. Hill made his film debut in David O. Russell’s I Heart Huckabees and has since gone on to co-writing some of his movies, including 21 Jump Street, and other projects, such as Bruno. While he is better known as a comedic actor, his dramatic turn in Brad Pitt’s Moneyball earned him several nominations, notably for a Golden Globe and an Oscar. In the black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street, Hill plays Donnie Azoff who is based on Danny Porush, an American businessman convicted of securities fraud and money laundering.
Born: December 20, 1983 (Los Angeles, California, United States)
Education: Brentwood School | Crossroads School | Bard College
Filmography: I Heart Huckabees | The 40 Year Old Virgin | Accepted | Knocked Up | Evan Almighty | Superbad | Forgetting Sarah Marshall | How to Train Your Dragon | Get Him to the Greek | Megamind | 21 Jump Street | This Is the End
Television: NYPD Blue | Saturday Night Live | Reno 911! | The Simpsons | Comedy Central Roast of James Franco
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interview – June 3, 2010 | December 6, 2011
Follow: @JonahHill
Please remember to vote in our weekly favourite guests polls, and don’t forget to let us know which guests you’re looking forward to! Also please try to comment with any tips or suggestions that you have for this post. Thanks! Here’s to a great week of shows! That’s all for this week Hubsters! See you next time!
Better Know a Guest: December 16 – 19, 2013
Hey there Hubsters! Hopefully everyone’s holiday season (and, ahem, final exams) are going well! Thanks to Katt for covering for me while I wrote some papers last weekend. The final week of shows for the year is chock-full of guests, as it is also Christmas Carol Week. The regular guests this week include Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti, Alpha House creator Gary Trudeau, and actors Keanu Reeves and Ben Stiller, while a whole host of special musical guests include Gregg Allman, The National, Cyndi Lauper, Alan Cummings, Aaron Neville, MusiCorps, and Blind Boys of Alabama join Stephen for Carol Week. Have you got a favourite Christmas Carol or tradition you’re hoping to see this week? Let us know in the comments.
Jon’s guests this week are filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour, businessman Erik Prince, the Anchorman cast and comedic actor Jonah Hill. Sounds like quite a week for The Daily Show too!
Monday, December 16 (2013)
Jonah Peretti (CEO: BuzzFeed)
Jonah Peretti is an American internet entrepreneur known for his experiments with “viral” media, and interest in how information and ideas spread through the internet. After co-founding The Huffington Post in 2005, Peretti launched BuzzFeed in 2006 as an experimental site that focused on the tracking of viral content and making things that internet users wanted to share. The site has grown to encompass a unique combination of visitors and editors each creating and sharing a pioneering mix of breaking news, entertainment and sharable content for the social age.
Born: January 1, 1974
Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Teaching Positions: New York University | Parsons School of Design
Follow: @Peretti
Musical Guest(s)
Carol Week kicks off with Indie rock band, The National, and American rock and blues singer-songwriter Gregg Allman.
Tuesday, December 17 (2013)
Garry Trudeau (Creator–“Alpha House”)
Garry Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best know for his comic strip, Doonesbury which often makes reference to Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report. In addition to his work as a cartoonist, Trudeau has written two plays with Elizabeth Swados, Rap Master Ronnie and Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy, and the Academy Award nominated short animated film A Doonesbury Special created in collaboration with John Hubley and Faith Hubley. Despite maintaining a low profile and giving only a handful of media interviews, Trudeau will make his second appearance on The Report to promote his new Amazon Studios show Alpha House, starring John Goodman, and featuring guest appearances by Stephen Colbert, Evelyn McGee-Colbert, and Amy Sedaris. The series is inspired by real-life Congressmen – Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Chuck Schumer, and Representative George Miller – who share a home in Washington DC.
Born: July 21, 1948 (New York City, New York, United States)
Education: St. Paul’s School | Yale University
Books: Doonesbury Collections | Hitler Move East: A Graphic Chronicle | Finding Your Religion: When the Faith You Grew Up With Has Lost Its Meaning | Doonesbury.com’s The Sandbox: Dispatches from Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
Film/Television: Doonesbury Special | Tanner ’88 | Tanner on Tanner | Alpha House
Theatre: Rap Master Ronnie | Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy
Awards: Pulitzer Prize | Jury Special Prize | Newspaper Comic Strip Award | Reuben Award
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interview – December 6, 2010
Follow: @AlphaHouse
Musical Guest(s)
Singer and creator of the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical “Kinky Boots” Cyndi Lauper, and Scottish screen and stage actor Alan Cumming join Stephen Colbert for Carol Week.
Wednesday, December 18 (2013)
Keanu Reeves (Actor: “47 Ronin”)
Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor, most famous for his roles in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Point Break, and The Matrix Trilogy. He has also acted on stage, and appeared in the Manitoba Theatre Centre’s production of Hamlet, to great acclaim. He rose to fame during the 90s with the film Speed, and continued his success into the 2000s with roles in The Lake House and A Scanner Darkly. His latest movie is the long-delayed 47 Ronin, a fictionalized account of the forty-seven Ronin, a real group of samurai in 18th century Japan that avenged the murder of their master, set in the fantastical world of witches and giants.
Born: September 2, 1964 (Beirut, Lebanon)
Filmography: Youngblood | Act of Vengeance | Dangerous Liaisons | Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure | Parenthood | Point Break | Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey | Bram Stoker’s Dracula | Much Ado About Nothing | Speed | The Matrix trilogy | The Watcher | Something’s Gotta Give | Constantine | The Lake House | Street Kings
Director: Man of Tai Chi
Television: Hangin’ In | Night Heat | Disneyland | Trying Times | Comedy Factory | American Playhouse | The Tracey Ullman Show
Awards: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame | Golden Slate Award | MTV Movie Award | Teen Choice Award | World Stunt Award
Follow: @47RoninFilm
Musical Guest(s)
R&B singer and supporter of the Children’s Health Fund’s ‘Holiday Blessings Campaign’, Aaron Neville and the non-profit MusiCorps which provides advanced music rehabilitation for wounded warriors joins Stephen Colbert for Carol Week.
Thursday, December 19 (2013)
Ben Stiller (Actor: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”)
Ben Stiller is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director, and producer, best know for his in Zoolander, There’s Something About Mary, Meet the Parents, Tropic Thunder, and Night at the Museum. Stiller began his career as a stage actor, and writer of a several of mockumentaries, before being offered his own show, The Ben Stiller Show. Having acted in several television shows Stiller turned to film, and made his directorial debut with Reality Bites, and embarked on a film career that has seen him become one of America’s best known comedic actors, and member of the comedy brotherhood known as the Frat Pack (with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell), a group of actor-comedians who have starred in several high-grossing comedies together. In his newest movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Stiller plays the eponymous character – an employee of Life magazine – who sets off on a worldwide journey to look for a picture that is needed for the magazine’s final issue.
Born: November 30, 1965 (New York City, New York, United States)
Education: The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine | Calhoun School | University of California
Filmography: Empire of the Sun | Reality Bites | Happy Gilmore | There’s Something About Mary | Meet the Parents | The Royal Tenenbaums | Zoolander | Meet the Fockers | Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy | Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story | Starsky and Hutch | Along Came Polly | Madagascar | Night at the Museum | Tropic Thunder
Television: Miami Vice | Saturday Night Live | The Ben Stiller Show | Freaks and Geeks | The Simpsons | The King of Queens | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Arrested Development | Family Guy | Sesame Street
Awards: Primetime Emmy Award | American Comedy Award | BAFTA Award | Kid’s Choice Award | MTV Movie Award | Teen Choice Award
Follow: @RedHourBen
Musical Guest(s)
Grammy Award winning gospel group, Blind Boys of Alabama join Stephen Colbert for the final night of Carol Week.
And now, let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at ‘The Daily Show’!
Monday, December 16 (2013)
Haifaa Al Mansour (Director: “Wadjda”)
Haifaa Al Mansour is a Saudi Arabian filmmaker, and the first female director in Saudi Arabia. She began her career with three short films Who?, The Bitter Journey, and The Only Way Out, which won praise around the world. Her next film Women Without Shadows, follows the hidden lives of women in Arab states and the Persian Gulf. Al Mansour will appear on ‘The Daily Show’ to promote her first feature-length film Wadjda, which follows the story of an 11 year-old girl who partakes in a Qu’ran recital competition to win money so she can buy the green bicycle he passes in a store every day on her way to school. The film has been released to universal acclaim with Wadjda presenting a new voice from a corner of the globe where cinema has been all but silenced. Winning of numerous awards at film festivals around the world, the film has been selected as the Saudi Arabian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards – the first time Saudi Arabia has submitted a film for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
Born: August 10, 1974 (Saudi Arabia)
Education: American University in Cairo | University of Sydney
Filmography: Who? | The Bitter Journey | The Only Way Out | Women Without Shadows
Awards: Golden Dagger Award
Follow: @HaifaaMansour
Tuesday, December 17 (2013)
Erik Prince (Author: ” Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror”)
Erik Prince is an American businessman, former US Navy SEAL, and the CEO of the world’s largest private military company, Blackwater USA. However, Prince relinquished his position when the company was sold in 2009. His book Civilian Warriors sheds light on the infamous company, telling the true stories of events it was involved in, accounts which he claims he could not share previously due to secrecy. He hopes to change the public’s opinion of Blackwater in a way he was never able to as CEO.
Born: June 6, 1969 (Holland, Michigan, United States)
Education: Holland Christian School | United States Naval Academy | Hillsdale College
Wednesday, December 18 (2013)
Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, David Koechner, and Paul Rudd (Actors: “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”)
Steve Careel, Will Ferrel, David Koechner, and Paul Rudd are reprising their roles in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, the much-anticipated and long-awaited sequel to the hit comedy Anchorman. To drum up buzz for the upcoming film, Will Ferrell has appeared in character as Ron Burgundy himself, hosting shows, appearing in commercials, and released a book, and ice cream flavor, and his own brand of scotch. The nearly two-month campaign has seen Ferrell hosting the morning news in Bismarck, North Dakota, appearing in commercials for the Dodge Durango, had the Emerson College journalism named after Burgundy for a day, and hosted Dan Patrick’s radio show for a day. The campaign has some critics saying it had revolutionized the way movies are promoted; others wonder if it’s too much.
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interview – Steve Carell July 7, 2010
Thursday, December 19 (2013)
Jonah Hill (Actor: “The Wolf of Wall Street”)
Jonah Hill is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, comedian, and voice actor, best known for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, Moneyball, 21 Jumpstreet, and This is the End. Hill made his film debut in David O. Russell’s I Heart Huckabees and has since gone on to co-writing some of his movies, including 21 Jump Street, and other projects, such as Bruno. While he is better known as a comedic actor, his dramatic turn in Brad Pitt’s Moneyball earned him several nominations, notably for a Golden Globe and an Oscar. In the black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street, Hill plays Donnie Azoff who is based on Danny Porush, an American businessman convicted of securities fraud and money laundering.
Born: December 20, 1983 (Los Angeles, California, United States)
Education: Brentwood School | Crossroads School | Bard College
Filmography: I Heart Huckabees | The 40 Year Old Virgin | Accepted | Knocked Up | Evan Almighty | Superbad | Forgetting Sarah Marshall | How to Train Your Dragon | Get Him to the Greek | Megamind | 21 Jump Street | This Is the End
Television: NYPD Blue | Saturday Night Live | Reno 911! | The Simpsons | Comedy Central Roast of James Franco
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interview – June 3, 2010 | December 6, 2011
Follow: @JonahHill
Please remember to vote in our weekly favourite guests polls, and don’t forget to let us know which guests you’re looking forward to! Also please try to comment with any tips or suggestions that you have for this post. Thanks! Here’s to a great week of shows! That’s all for this week Hubsters! See you next time!