Welcome to Better Know a Guest, your weekly guide to the wonderful and diverse array of personalities appearing on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ each week.
Stephen returns from his week off with a stellar guest line-up. His longtime pal and colleague, Steve Carell, kicks off this week of new shows! On Tuesday we’re joined by an actress, an author, and a musician. Wednesday is Downton Abbey heaven, as Stephen chats with three of the stars of the show just before their final season airs in the US. On Thursday’s show, Stephen welcomes an author and an indie hip hop artist. There is a lot of anticipation on the internet for Friday’s show, as we are joined by Lin-Manuel Miranda of the hit Broadway musical, Hamilton! Have a fantastic week, Hubsters!
Tell us which guests you are looking forward to in the comment section! And don’t forget to take our poll!
Monday, December 7th (2015)
Steve Carell (Actor – “The Big Short“)
Steve Carell is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, and writer. Carell was a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for five years before rising to fame by playing Michael Scott on The Office and starring in the hit movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Carell is on the cover of the November 30th – December 13th issue of New York Magazine. His latest film is The Big Short, based on Michael Lewis‘ bestselling non-fiction book of the same name. Directed by Adam McKay, the film is about four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse of 2008 and decide to take on the big banks for their lack of foresight and greed. Carell plays Mark Baum – the film’s ethical center – a rude loudmouth who hates Wall Street’s corruption as much as he benefits from it. Inkoo Kang of The Wrap reports, “The [film]’s Niagara-like cascade of information can be exhausting and impossible to keep up with, but its ambitious and innovative format serves both its subject matter and its dramatic core rather well.” And Stephanie Zacharek of Time Magazine says, “McKay approaches this adaptation of Michael Lewis’ book with wit, energy and a surprising degree of clarity. But if the movie is a crackerjack entertainment, it’s one with a conscience.” The Big Short opens in theaters on December 11th.
Jennifer Hudson (Singer and Actress – “The Color Purple” and “Chi-Raq”)
Jennifer Hudson is an Academy Award winning actress and Grammy Award winning singer. She rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of American Idol, coming in seventh place. Hudson will make her Broadway debut as Shug Avery in revival of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple on December 10th. She told EW and People Magazine that The Color Purple is “a timeless piece of American culture. The story holds a special place in my heart because, in part, it’s so honest. All of the characters are true to who they are. Each individual is an integral part of the message and it brings a complex emotion that sticks with the audience.” Hudson is a busy performer. This year, she played Michelle White in three episodes on the hit TV series Empire. Hudson stars in Spike Lee’s new film Chi-Raq as a grieving mother whose daughter is killed by a stray bullet. Chi-Raq is a satire about gun violence in Chicago. Lee was hesitant to cast Hudson in the part, because he did not want to exploit the tragedy that happened to Hudson in 2008 when her mother, brother, and 7-year-old nephew were shot to death in Chicago. Lee stated, “We finally met and I was walking on eggshells. And she sat down, I said, ‘I know this might bring back some horrible memories.’ She said, ‘Spike, those horrible memories are with me every day and we have got to stop this killing — so let’s make this film.’” Hudson has a new song called “I Run” which is featured on the Chi-Raq soundtrack. Chi-Raq is now playing in theaters.
Tuesday, December 8 (2015)
Marion Cotillard (Actress – “Macbeth”)
Marion Cotillard is an Academy Award winning French actress, singer/songwriter, environmentalist, and spokesperson for Greenpeace. Her films have grossed more than 3 billion dollars at the worldwide box-office. Cotillard stars as Lady Macbeth in the new film Macbeth. The film also stars Michael Fassbender in the title role. Macbeth is a Scottish war drama that tells the story of a fearless warrior and inspiring leader brought low by ambition and desire. It is based on William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Peter Rainer of Christian Science Monitor raves, “Marion Cotillard’s Lady Macbeth, however, is a triumph. She seems transfixed by her own capacity for evil, and her mad scene is one of the most unhistrionic, and therefore spookiest, ever filmed.” Anita Katz of The San Francisco Examiner says, “The visual merits might have eclipsed the human story, but Fassbender and Cotillard supply the necessary emotion.” Macbeth opened in theaters in the US on December 4th and will be made available through Amazon Instant Video shortly after its theatrical release, as part of a deal between The Weinstein Company and Amazon.
Cotillard and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon inaugurated the light installation on the Eiffel Tower for the COP21 climate change talks in Paris. The tower became a virtual forest with trees and words encouraging environmental activism projected onto it every evening.
George Saunders (Author – “The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip”)
George Saunders is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, and children’s books. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, McSweeney’s, and GQ. His newest book is The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip which features fifty-two haunting and hilarious illustrations by Lane Smith and a brilliant story by George Saunders that explores universal themes of community and kindness, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip is a rich and resonant story for those that have all and those that have not. Entertainment Weekly raves, “In a perfect world, every child would own a copy of this profound, funny fable . . . . Every adult would own a copy too, and would marvel at how this smart, subversive little book is even deeper and more hilarious than any child could know.” And the Miami Herald hails, “A riveting, funny, and sly new fairy tale.”
Joanna Newsom (Musician – “Divers”)
Joanna Newsom is an American harpist, keyboardist, vocalist, lyricist, and actress. She has collaborated with The Roots, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and The Lonely Island. Her latest album is “Divers.” Pitchfork acclaims, “Her most dynamic and exhilarating album … what surprises every time is her ceaselessly renewing sensitivity for life’s vicissitudes and the fantastic ways she finds to express them.” The New Yorker praises “Divers,” saying, “Newsom’s brainiest album, which is no small claim, but also her prettiest … The melodies unfold in ways that are hard to predict but surprisingly easy to learn by heart, after a few days of repeated listening, and repeated listening is what ‘Divers’ demands.”
Wednesday, December 9 (2015)
Michelle Dockery (Actress – “Downton Abbey”)
Michelle Dockery is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley, the eldest daughter of the aristocratic family at the center of the ITV drama series Downton Abbey, for which she has been nominated for three consecutive Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Dockery is also a jazz singer and has occasionally sung with Sadie and the Hotheads, a band formed by Elizabeth McGovern, who plays her mother on Downton Abbey. Dockery is the first ever Humanitarian Ambassador of Oxfam, which works with people living in poverty striving to exercise their human rights. Downton Abbey’s sixth and final season will premiere in the US on January 3rd on PBS. “On my last day of filming, leading up to that final take, I felt sick,” the actress tells the UK’s Red Magazine. “I didn’t expect to feel so sad. But I think it was a smart move to end the show where we did.”
Hugh Bonneville (Actor – “Downton Abbey”)
Hugh Bonneville is an English actor, best known for playing the head of the Crawley family, Robert, the Earl of Grantham, in the ITV period drama series Downton Abbey. He received a Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations for his performance. Bonneville is an ambassador for WaterAid, an international charity that transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene, and sanitation. In the UK’s Sunday Express, Bonneville reflected on the end of Downton Abbey, saying: “It felt strange to be finishing but it is the right thing to do. It will feel strange next spring when we are not putting on thermal underwear to start filming again in freezing cold Highclere Castle. I think it will take a couple of years to sink in, for us to realise what it means to us all. Right now it is just a very happy, pleasant memory.”
Allen Leech (Actor – “Downton Abbey”)
Allen Leech is an Irish stage, television, and film actor, best known for his role as Tom Branson on Downton Abbey. Branson was initially the family chauffeur, but he fell in love with the youngest Crawley daughter, Lady Sybil, and they got married much to the disappointment of the aristocratic Crawley family. The Crawley’s eventually came around and accepted Branson as part of the family where he becomes an estate manager. According to The Irish Examiner, Leech has said he would have loved “a different ending” for his character. “If I’m honest, I’ve love to see a different ending for Branson, but I don’t get to choose.”
Adam McKay (Director – “The Big Short“)
Adam McKay is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, comedian, and actor. McKay served as head writer for Saturday Night Live for two seasons. He has a comedy partnership with Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers; all of which he solely directed. Ferrell and McKay also founded their comedy website Funny or Die. McKay joins forces with Paramount Pictures and Plan B Entertainment to adapt and direct Michael Lewis’ best-seller The Big Short, which centers on the housing credit bubble of the 2000s. Andrew Barker of Variety states, “There’s an unmistakable, scathing sense of outrage behind the whole endeavor, and it’s impossible not to admire McKay’s reckless willingness to do everything short of jumping through flaming hoops on a motorcycle while reading aloud from Keynes if that’s what it takes to get people to finally pay attention.” And Stuart Klawans of The Nation reports, “Crude, vulgar, and heartfelt, The Big Short has the messy vitality that comes only when filmmakers are convinced they really need to tell you something and are determined to entertain you so they’ll be sure you’re listening.” The Big Short opens in theaters on December 11th.
Kurt Vile (Singer/Songwriter – “b’lieve i’m goin down…”)
Kurt Vile is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer from Philadelphia. He is best known for his solo career and as a founding member of indie rock band The War on Drugs, with whom he recorded one full studio album. His latest album is “b’lieve i’m goin down…” Vile spoke to Giaco Furino of VICE about being a musician from Philadelphia, “I think that I identify with Philadelphia for a lot of reasons. Without even thinking about it, I called myself ‘Philly’s Constant Hitmaker’ when I first got a MySpace, before I had any real hits. It was kind of just a funny slogan, basically lifted from the Rolling Stones’ first album England’s Newest Hit Makers. So I put Philly on the map with myself right away. I think it’s a unique enough scenario where it’s not quite New York or LA. Anybody that’s from somewhere that’s made it in music outside of New York or LA, if it’s a unique enough place they’ll always say: ‘Dude’s from Minnesota!’ Or wherever, you know? So that’s how I got the Philly connection. And I think also that Philly has a weird enough accent and enough of a ball-buster [sense of] humor. I have a combination of all those things, but not too much of any of them. I don’t know. Philly keeps getting thrown back at me, but that’s where I live. So I’m proud to represent.” In a review of “b’lieve i’m goin down…” Adam Kivel of Consequence of Sound states, “I’m An Outlaw takes on some Neil Young tone and the smoky Dust Bunnies draws from Bob Dylan’s tone and cribs Sam Cooke’s lyrics, but Vile isn’t emulating anyone. He’s just picking up echoes of the past, both those of the rock tradition and those of his own.”
Thursday, December 10 (2015)
Michael Lewis (Author – “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine“)
Michael Lewis is an American non-fiction author, financial journalist and contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Lewis has published books on various subjects, with all but one becoming a New York Times best seller. His last three works, “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt“, “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” and “Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World” are all narratives set during the global financial crisis.
Published in 2010, “The Big Short” centres around the build-up of the housing and credit bubble during the 2000s. The book highlights the type of nature of those who bet against the market, and describes “several of the key players in the creation of the credit default swap market that sought to bet against the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) bubble and thus ended up profiting from the financial crisis of 2007–2010.” The book received the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights 2011 Book award given annually to an author who “most faithfully and forcefully reflects Robert Kennedy’s purposes – his concern for the poor and the powerless, his struggle for honest and even-handed justice, his conviction that a decent society must assure all young people a fair chance, and his faith that a free democracy can act to remedy disparities of power and opportunity.” Grayton Carter of Vanity Fair praises the book, stating that “it is the work of our greatest financial journalist, at the top of his game. And it’s essential reading.”
Lizzo (Album – “Big GRRRL Small World“)
Melissa Jefferson, better known by her stage name Lizzo, is an American alternative hip-hop artist, and is the founding member of the indie hip hop groups The Chalice, Grrrl Prty, The Clerb and Absynthe. In 2013, she released her debut album Lizzobangers to regional and national success, and was named as one of TIME’s “14 Artists to Watch in 2014”. Speaking to Andrea Swensson of The Current, Lizzo says that, “When you see the world, you’re able to write about it in a different way. And that’s why the album is Big GRRRL Small World. Everybody speaks the same language when I get on the microphone, you know? It’s opened my eyes, and I’m able to express myself globally.”
Friday, December 11 (2015)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (Author – “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine“)
Lin-Manuel Miranda is an American actor, composer, writer, playwright, lyricist, and rapper best known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals “In the Heights” and “Hamilton”. After reading Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton while on vacation in 2009, Miranda became inspired by the book and wrote a rap about Hamilton for the “White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word.” From there the inspiration grew, and by 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, which were referred to as the “Hamilton Mixtape”. The New York Times called the mixtape “an obvious game changer” … they were not wrong. “Hamilton” the musical based on the mixtape, premiered Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015 to sold out audiences. Since transferring to Broadway in August 2015, the show has received critical acclaim and unprecedented advanced box office sales and a GRAMMY nomination for “Best Musical Theatre Album”. Ben Brantley of The New York Times praised the musical, saying that, “I am loath to tell people to mortgage their houses and lease their children to acquire tickets to a hit Broadway show. But “Hamilton”, directed by Thomas Kail and starring Mr. Miranda, might just about be worth it …”
Ike Barinholtz (Actor – “The Mindy Project” and “Sisters“)
Isaac “Ike” Barinholtz is an American actor, comedian, voice actor and screenwriter, best known for his role as a cast member on MADtv (2002–2007), and for his roles on “The Mindy Project” and “Eastbound & Down”. In addition to having a recurring role as nurse Morgan Tookers on “The Mindy Project”, for which he also serves as a writer and story editor, Barinholtz also stars as James in the upcoming Amy Poehler / Tina Fey comedy film “Sisters” (previously titled “The Nest”). The film centres around two sisters, Kate Ellis (Fey) who is very loose and childish, and Maura Ellis (Poehler) who is uptight and divorced, who decide to throw one last house party at their childhood home, before their parents sell it. The film is set to take on “Stars Wars: The Force Awakens” at the box office, with both films in cinemas on December 18, 2015.
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings (Album – “It’s A Holiday Soul Party“)
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are an American funk soul band, who are apart of a revivalist movement that aims to capture the true essance of funk soul music as it was during its height in the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. To help you get into the mood this holiday season, the band have released a new album, “It’s a Holiday Soul Party” featuring soulful versions of some of your favourite Christmas classics, including “White Christmas” and “Silent Night”. Of the album, James Skinner of Drowned in Sound says, “It’s a Holiday Soul Party is pretty much everything you’d expect a Christmas album from them to be, and, for that reason, it is brilliant. […] it’s simply the sound of a band who understand all of these things, and have made a holiday soul party of an album in order to celebrate them.”
Better Know a Guest – December 7 – 11, 2015
Stephen returns from his week off with a stellar guest line-up. His longtime pal and colleague, Steve Carell, kicks off this week of new shows! On Tuesday we’re joined by an actress, an author, and a musician. Wednesday is Downton Abbey heaven, as Stephen chats with three of the stars of the show just before their final season airs in the US. On Thursday’s show, Stephen welcomes an author and an indie hip hop artist. There is a lot of anticipation on the internet for Friday’s show, as we are joined by Lin-Manuel Miranda of the hit Broadway musical, Hamilton! Have a fantastic week, Hubsters!
Tell us which guests you are looking forward to in the comment section! And don’t forget to take our poll!
Monday, December 7th (2015)
Steve Carell (Actor – “The Big Short“)
Steve Carell is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, and writer. Carell was a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for five years before rising to fame by playing Michael Scott on The Office and starring in the hit movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Carell is on the cover of the November 30th – December 13th issue of New York Magazine. His latest film is The Big Short, based on Michael Lewis‘ bestselling non-fiction book of the same name. Directed by Adam McKay, the film is about four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse of 2008 and decide to take on the big banks for their lack of foresight and greed. Carell plays Mark Baum – the film’s ethical center – a rude loudmouth who hates Wall Street’s corruption as much as he benefits from it. Inkoo Kang of The Wrap reports, “The [film]’s Niagara-like cascade of information can be exhausting and impossible to keep up with, but its ambitious and innovative format serves both its subject matter and its dramatic core rather well.” And Stephanie Zacharek of Time Magazine says, “McKay approaches this adaptation of Michael Lewis’ book with wit, energy and a surprising degree of clarity. But if the movie is a crackerjack entertainment, it’s one with a conscience.” The Big Short opens in theaters on December 11th.
Jennifer Hudson (Singer and Actress – “The Color Purple” and “Chi-Raq”)
Jennifer Hudson is an Academy Award winning actress and Grammy Award winning singer. She rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of American Idol, coming in seventh place. Hudson will make her Broadway debut as Shug Avery in revival of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple on December 10th. She told EW and People Magazine that The Color Purple is “a timeless piece of American culture. The story holds a special place in my heart because, in part, it’s so honest. All of the characters are true to who they are. Each individual is an integral part of the message and it brings a complex emotion that sticks with the audience.” Hudson is a busy performer. This year, she played Michelle White in three episodes on the hit TV series Empire. Hudson stars in Spike Lee’s new film Chi-Raq as a grieving mother whose daughter is killed by a stray bullet. Chi-Raq is a satire about gun violence in Chicago. Lee was hesitant to cast Hudson in the part, because he did not want to exploit the tragedy that happened to Hudson in 2008 when her mother, brother, and 7-year-old nephew were shot to death in Chicago. Lee stated, “We finally met and I was walking on eggshells. And she sat down, I said, ‘I know this might bring back some horrible memories.’ She said, ‘Spike, those horrible memories are with me every day and we have got to stop this killing — so let’s make this film.’” Hudson has a new song called “I Run” which is featured on the Chi-Raq soundtrack. Chi-Raq is now playing in theaters.
Tuesday, December 8 (2015)
Marion Cotillard (Actress – “Macbeth”)
Marion Cotillard is an Academy Award winning French actress, singer/songwriter, environmentalist, and spokesperson for Greenpeace. Her films have grossed more than 3 billion dollars at the worldwide box-office. Cotillard stars as Lady Macbeth in the new film Macbeth. The film also stars Michael Fassbender in the title role. Macbeth is a Scottish war drama that tells the story of a fearless warrior and inspiring leader brought low by ambition and desire. It is based on William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Peter Rainer of Christian Science Monitor raves, “Marion Cotillard’s Lady Macbeth, however, is a triumph. She seems transfixed by her own capacity for evil, and her mad scene is one of the most unhistrionic, and therefore spookiest, ever filmed.” Anita Katz of The San Francisco Examiner says, “The visual merits might have eclipsed the human story, but Fassbender and Cotillard supply the necessary emotion.” Macbeth opened in theaters in the US on December 4th and will be made available through Amazon Instant Video shortly after its theatrical release, as part of a deal between The Weinstein Company and Amazon.
Cotillard and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon inaugurated the light installation on the Eiffel Tower for the COP21 climate change talks in Paris. The tower became a virtual forest with trees and words encouraging environmental activism projected onto it every evening.
George Saunders (Author – “The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip”)
George Saunders is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, and children’s books. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, McSweeney’s, and GQ. His newest book is The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip which features fifty-two haunting and hilarious illustrations by Lane Smith and a brilliant story by George Saunders that explores universal themes of community and kindness, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip is a rich and resonant story for those that have all and those that have not. Entertainment Weekly raves, “In a perfect world, every child would own a copy of this profound, funny fable . . . . Every adult would own a copy too, and would marvel at how this smart, subversive little book is even deeper and more hilarious than any child could know.” And the Miami Herald hails, “A riveting, funny, and sly new fairy tale.”
Joanna Newsom (Musician – “Divers”)
Joanna Newsom is an American harpist, keyboardist, vocalist, lyricist, and actress. She has collaborated with The Roots, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and The Lonely Island. Her latest album is “Divers.” Pitchfork acclaims, “Her most dynamic and exhilarating album … what surprises every time is her ceaselessly renewing sensitivity for life’s vicissitudes and the fantastic ways she finds to express them.” The New Yorker praises “Divers,” saying, “Newsom’s brainiest album, which is no small claim, but also her prettiest … The melodies unfold in ways that are hard to predict but surprisingly easy to learn by heart, after a few days of repeated listening, and repeated listening is what ‘Divers’ demands.”
Wednesday, December 9 (2015)
Michelle Dockery (Actress – “Downton Abbey”)
Michelle Dockery is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley, the eldest daughter of the aristocratic family at the center of the ITV drama series Downton Abbey, for which she has been nominated for three consecutive Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Dockery is also a jazz singer and has occasionally sung with Sadie and the Hotheads, a band formed by Elizabeth McGovern, who plays her mother on Downton Abbey. Dockery is the first ever Humanitarian Ambassador of Oxfam, which works with people living in poverty striving to exercise their human rights. Downton Abbey’s sixth and final season will premiere in the US on January 3rd on PBS. “On my last day of filming, leading up to that final take, I felt sick,” the actress tells the UK’s Red Magazine. “I didn’t expect to feel so sad. But I think it was a smart move to end the show where we did.”
Hugh Bonneville (Actor – “Downton Abbey”)
Hugh Bonneville is an English actor, best known for playing the head of the Crawley family, Robert, the Earl of Grantham, in the ITV period drama series Downton Abbey. He received a Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations for his performance. Bonneville is an ambassador for WaterAid, an international charity that transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene, and sanitation. In the UK’s Sunday Express, Bonneville reflected on the end of Downton Abbey, saying: “It felt strange to be finishing but it is the right thing to do. It will feel strange next spring when we are not putting on thermal underwear to start filming again in freezing cold Highclere Castle. I think it will take a couple of years to sink in, for us to realise what it means to us all. Right now it is just a very happy, pleasant memory.”
Allen Leech (Actor – “Downton Abbey”)
Allen Leech is an Irish stage, television, and film actor, best known for his role as Tom Branson on Downton Abbey. Branson was initially the family chauffeur, but he fell in love with the youngest Crawley daughter, Lady Sybil, and they got married much to the disappointment of the aristocratic Crawley family. The Crawley’s eventually came around and accepted Branson as part of the family where he becomes an estate manager. According to The Irish Examiner, Leech has said he would have loved “a different ending” for his character. “If I’m honest, I’ve love to see a different ending for Branson, but I don’t get to choose.”
Adam McKay (Director – “The Big Short“)
Adam McKay is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, comedian, and actor. McKay served as head writer for Saturday Night Live for two seasons. He has a comedy partnership with Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers; all of which he solely directed. Ferrell and McKay also founded their comedy website Funny or Die. McKay joins forces with Paramount Pictures and Plan B Entertainment to adapt and direct Michael Lewis’ best-seller The Big Short, which centers on the housing credit bubble of the 2000s. Andrew Barker of Variety states, “There’s an unmistakable, scathing sense of outrage behind the whole endeavor, and it’s impossible not to admire McKay’s reckless willingness to do everything short of jumping through flaming hoops on a motorcycle while reading aloud from Keynes if that’s what it takes to get people to finally pay attention.” And Stuart Klawans of The Nation reports, “Crude, vulgar, and heartfelt, The Big Short has the messy vitality that comes only when filmmakers are convinced they really need to tell you something and are determined to entertain you so they’ll be sure you’re listening.” The Big Short opens in theaters on December 11th.
Kurt Vile (Singer/Songwriter – “b’lieve i’m goin down…”)
Kurt Vile is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer from Philadelphia. He is best known for his solo career and as a founding member of indie rock band The War on Drugs, with whom he recorded one full studio album. His latest album is “b’lieve i’m goin down…” Vile spoke to Giaco Furino of VICE about being a musician from Philadelphia, “I think that I identify with Philadelphia for a lot of reasons. Without even thinking about it, I called myself ‘Philly’s Constant Hitmaker’ when I first got a MySpace, before I had any real hits. It was kind of just a funny slogan, basically lifted from the Rolling Stones’ first album England’s Newest Hit Makers. So I put Philly on the map with myself right away. I think it’s a unique enough scenario where it’s not quite New York or LA. Anybody that’s from somewhere that’s made it in music outside of New York or LA, if it’s a unique enough place they’ll always say: ‘Dude’s from Minnesota!’ Or wherever, you know? So that’s how I got the Philly connection. And I think also that Philly has a weird enough accent and enough of a ball-buster [sense of] humor. I have a combination of all those things, but not too much of any of them. I don’t know. Philly keeps getting thrown back at me, but that’s where I live. So I’m proud to represent.” In a review of “b’lieve i’m goin down…” Adam Kivel of Consequence of Sound states, “I’m An Outlaw takes on some Neil Young tone and the smoky Dust Bunnies draws from Bob Dylan’s tone and cribs Sam Cooke’s lyrics, but Vile isn’t emulating anyone. He’s just picking up echoes of the past, both those of the rock tradition and those of his own.”
Thursday, December 10 (2015)
Michael Lewis (Author – “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine“)
Michael Lewis is an American non-fiction author, financial journalist and contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Lewis has published books on various subjects, with all but one becoming a New York Times best seller. His last three works, “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt“, “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” and “Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World” are all narratives set during the global financial crisis.
Published in 2010, “The Big Short” centres around the build-up of the housing and credit bubble during the 2000s. The book highlights the type of nature of those who bet against the market, and describes “several of the key players in the creation of the credit default swap market that sought to bet against the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) bubble and thus ended up profiting from the financial crisis of 2007–2010.” The book received the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights 2011 Book award given annually to an author who “most faithfully and forcefully reflects Robert Kennedy’s purposes – his concern for the poor and the powerless, his struggle for honest and even-handed justice, his conviction that a decent society must assure all young people a fair chance, and his faith that a free democracy can act to remedy disparities of power and opportunity.” Grayton Carter of Vanity Fair praises the book, stating that “it is the work of our greatest financial journalist, at the top of his game. And it’s essential reading.”
Lizzo (Album – “Big GRRRL Small World“)
Melissa Jefferson, better known by her stage name Lizzo, is an American alternative hip-hop artist, and is the founding member of the indie hip hop groups The Chalice, Grrrl Prty, The Clerb and Absynthe. In 2013, she released her debut album Lizzobangers to regional and national success, and was named as one of TIME’s “14 Artists to Watch in 2014”. Speaking to Andrea Swensson of The Current, Lizzo says that, “When you see the world, you’re able to write about it in a different way. And that’s why the album is Big GRRRL Small World. Everybody speaks the same language when I get on the microphone, you know? It’s opened my eyes, and I’m able to express myself globally.”
Friday, December 11 (2015)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (Author – “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine“)
Lin-Manuel Miranda is an American actor, composer, writer, playwright, lyricist, and rapper best known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals “In the Heights” and “Hamilton”. After reading Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton while on vacation in 2009, Miranda became inspired by the book and wrote a rap about Hamilton for the “White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word.” From there the inspiration grew, and by 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, which were referred to as the “Hamilton Mixtape”. The New York Times called the mixtape “an obvious game changer” … they were not wrong. “Hamilton” the musical based on the mixtape, premiered Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015 to sold out audiences. Since transferring to Broadway in August 2015, the show has received critical acclaim and unprecedented advanced box office sales and a GRAMMY nomination for “Best Musical Theatre Album”. Ben Brantley of The New York Times praised the musical, saying that, “I am loath to tell people to mortgage their houses and lease their children to acquire tickets to a hit Broadway show. But “Hamilton”, directed by Thomas Kail and starring Mr. Miranda, might just about be worth it …”
Ike Barinholtz (Actor – “The Mindy Project” and “Sisters“)
Isaac “Ike” Barinholtz is an American actor, comedian, voice actor and screenwriter, best known for his role as a cast member on MADtv (2002–2007), and for his roles on “The Mindy Project” and “Eastbound & Down”. In addition to having a recurring role as nurse Morgan Tookers on “The Mindy Project”, for which he also serves as a writer and story editor, Barinholtz also stars as James in the upcoming Amy Poehler / Tina Fey comedy film “Sisters” (previously titled “The Nest”). The film centres around two sisters, Kate Ellis (Fey) who is very loose and childish, and Maura Ellis (Poehler) who is uptight and divorced, who decide to throw one last house party at their childhood home, before their parents sell it. The film is set to take on “Stars Wars: The Force Awakens” at the box office, with both films in cinemas on December 18, 2015.
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings (Album – “It’s A Holiday Soul Party“)
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are an American funk soul band, who are apart of a revivalist movement that aims to capture the true essance of funk soul music as it was during its height in the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. To help you get into the mood this holiday season, the band have released a new album, “It’s a Holiday Soul Party” featuring soulful versions of some of your favourite Christmas classics, including “White Christmas” and “Silent Night”. Of the album, James Skinner of Drowned in Sound says, “It’s a Holiday Soul Party is pretty much everything you’d expect a Christmas album from them to be, and, for that reason, it is brilliant. […] it’s simply the sound of a band who understand all of these things, and have made a holiday soul party of an album in order to celebrate them.”