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.
Hi there Hubsters! This week Stephen and John are back after a much-needed two-week rest. Which of the many news stories that broke during their absence do you think the shows will choose to address? I’m excited to see what they have in store for us!
Monday, July 15th (2013)
Jeremy Scahill (Author: “Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield”)
Jeremy Scahill is an author and The Nation’s National Security Correspondent. As an author he has written the novels Blackwater and Dirty Wars, both about the covert wars that the American military fights both at home and abroad. As a journalist, he began his career working for Democracy Now!, the independent news show, which has seen him travel throughout the world. His latest book, Dirty Wars has been hailed as ‘as one of the most important pieces of literature related to over a decade of failed American foreign policy strategy that continues to exist to this day’ by former Navy Seal team members, and ‘the most thorough and authoritative history yet, of the causes and consequences of America’s post 9/11 conflation of war and national security’ by CIA’s operatives.
Born: October 18, 1974 (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Education: Wauwatosa East High School | University of Wisconsin
Work: Democracy Now | Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria’s Oil Dictatorship | Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army
Awards: George Polk Award | Project Censored Awards | Izzy Award | Golden Reel Award | Windham–Campbell Literature Prize
Follow: Dirty Wars- Website | @JeremyScahill
Tuesday, July 16th (2013)
David Karp (CEO of Tumblr)
David Karp is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is best known for being the founder and CEO of the short-form social media/blogging platform Tumblr. He began his career in web development by interning for Frederator Studios where he created the studio’s first ever blogging platform and their first ever online video network. After that he moved onto UrbanBaby, an online parenting site before it was sold in 2006 to CNET. From working with UrbanBaby, he met Marco Arment and together the two of them created and launched Tumblr in February of 2007. Recently Tumblr was bought out by Yahoo! for $1.1 billion, with Karp remaining as the CEO of Tumblr.
Born: July 6, 1986 (New York City, U.S.)
Education: The Calhoun School | Bronx Science | Home Schooled
Follow: Tumblr
Wednesday, July 17th (2013)
Jerry Seinfeld (Host: “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”)
Jerome “Jerry” Seinfeld is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television/film producer, who is best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998). Seinfeld is known for specializing in observational humor, often focusing on personal relationships and uncomfortable social obligations, with ticket sales from his stand-up shows placing atop Forbes list of highest paid comedians for 2013. Seinfeld will be appearing on the show to promote the second series of his popular web series ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’, which is based on the simple premise of Seinfeld picking up a fellow comedian in a classic car and taking them out for coffee. Capitalising on the recent trend of comedians hosting shows where they interview other comedians, the show has received favourable reviews and a Webby Award, but has been criticised for its self-indulgence and the lack of female comedians – thus far Sarah Silverman has been the only female presence.
Born: April 29, 1954 (Brooklyn, New York, U.S.)
Education: East Lake Elementary School | Massapequa High School | SUNY Oswego | Queens College, City University of New York
Filmography: Seinfeld | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Bee Movie
Awards: Emmy Awards | Golden Globes Awards | SAG Awards | American Comedy Awards
Follow: Website | @JerrySeinfeld
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearances: Comedy Repression Therapy | Interview – March 10, 2010w | November 1, 2007 | November 6, 2006 | April 5, 2004 [Part 1] & [Part 2]
Thursday, July 18th (2013)
Jeff Bridges (Actor: “R.I.P.D”)
Jeff Bridges is an American actor and producer whose most famous roles include Rooster Cogburn in the 2010 version of True Grit, The Dude in The Big Lebowski, Otis ‘Bad’ Blake in Crazy Heart and Kevin Flynn from the TRON films. He first began acting when as an infant on television programs with his well-known acting family, beginning his televised acting career in 1958 as a child with his father, Lloyd Bridges, and brother Beau on television’s Sea Hunt. Though he’s has a long career in film and television acting he also has done other types of artistic work, most notably as a photographer and a musician. As a photographer he released a book of photographs in 2003 ‘Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges’, and as a musician he has released two albums, one in 2000 Be Here Soon and other in 2011 Jeff Bridges, to critical acclaim. Bridges current flick, R.I.P.D is and American supernatural action comedy film directed by Robert Schwentke, and based on the comic book Rest In Peace Department by Peter M. Lenkov.
Born: December 4, 1949 (Los Angeles, California, U.S.)
Education: University High School | Herbert Berghof Studio
Causes: No Kid Hungry
Awards: Oscar Awards | Saturn Awards | Britannia Award | Critics Choice Award | Golden Globes | Independent Spirit Awards | SAG Awards
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearances: Interview – August 17, 2011 | Performance – “What a Little Bit of Love Can Do” | Exclusive – Jeff Bridges for Summer’s Eve
Follow: Website | @TheJeffBridges
And now to check in with our good friend, John Oliver, over at ‘The Daily Show’!
Monday, July 15th (2013)
Aaron Sorkin (Creator: “The Newsroom”)
Aaron Sorkin is a screenwriter and producer, best known for the political drama, The West Wing. He has written for film, television, and the stage. Among his most notable works are The Social Network, A Few Good Men (both the stage version and the screenplay for the 1992 film), Moneyball, Charlie Wilson’s War and most recently The Newsroom. He first began his career in the late 80s after some time being a failed actor. His first big break was the play version of A Few Good Men, which lead to his film deal with Castle Rock Entertainment. In 1998 he moved onto television, and he now works a balance of film and television writing. The second season of The Newsroom premiered on HBO on Sunday, with consistent reviews noting a change from the underwhelming and disappointing first season, one that was often pedantic and predictable, to a more focused show which puts the process of journalism front and center.
Born: June 9, 1961 (Scarsdale, New York, United States)
Education: Scarsdale High School | Syracuse University
Awards: Oscar | BAFTA Award | Critics Choice Award | Golden Globe | PGA Award | Emmy Award | Satellite Award | WGA Screen Award
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearances: Interview – September 30, 2010 | June 28, 2012
Tuesday, July 16th (2013)
Helen Mirren (Actress: “Red 2″)
Helen Mirren is an English actor, with a career spanning several decades. She began her career in the mid 60s where she worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She worked mainly in British theatre for most of the 60s and 70s, though she did have some minor roles in films shortly after beginning working with the RSC. In the mid 1990s she made her Broadway debut. Currently, Mirren is starring in The Audience, a play about the ‘audiences’ that Queen Elizabeth II has held with each Prime Ministers during the course of her rule. On screen Mirren has reprised her role of ‘Victoria’ in Red 2, which sees the retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunite his unlikely team of elite operatives to track down a missing portable nuclear device.
Born: July 26, 1945 (Hammersmith, London, U.K)
Education: St Bernard’s High School for Girls | New College of Speech and Drama
Awards: Oscar | BAFTA Film Award | BAFTA TV Award | Britannia Award | Critics Choice Award | Emmy Awards | Satellite Award | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Lifetime Achievement Award | Olivier Award
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance: Interview – June 29, 2010 Follow: Website
Wednesday, July 17th (2013)
Reza Aslan (Writer and Scholar: “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”)
Reza Aslan is an Iranian-Americana writer and scholar who frequently comments on news, religion and culture in the Middle East. He is currently on the faculty at the University of California, Riverside and a contributing editor for The Daily Beast, a news/opinion site launched in October 2008. As an author he has written No God But God:The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam, an international best seller, which has been translated into thirteen different languages. He will be on the show to discuss his newest work, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus. Though it hasn’t been released the reception by critics has been very warm and full of praise. It’s been called “surprising, engaging and original” among other things by Jon Meacham.
Born: May 3, 1972 (Tehran, Iran)
Education: Santa Clara University | Harvard Divinity School | University of California, Santa Barbara | University of Iowa
Writer: The Christian Science Monitor | Los Angeles Times | The New York Times | Slate | The Boston Globe | The Washington Post | The Guardian | Chicago Tribune | The Nation
Member: Council on Foreign Relations | Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities | Pacific Council on International Policy
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance: Interview – April 21, 2005 | January 24, 2006 | August 21, 2006 | May 10, 2007 | April 20, 2009 | June 24, 2009 | April 5, 2010
Follow: Website | @RezaAslan and @AslanMedia | Facebook
Thursday, July 18th (2013)
Sarah Vowell (Author and ‘The Daily Show’ Contributor)
Sarah Vowell is an American author, journalist, essayist and social commentator. Vowell is also contributing editor for This American Life, and provided the voice for the teenage superhero ‘Violet Parr’ in the 2004 movie The Incredibles. Often referred to as a “social observer,” Vowell has written six nonfiction books on American history and culture, most recently Unfamiliar Fishes, which is about the annexation of Hawaii and other islands throughout the Pacific Ocean in that late 1800s. As a critic and reporter, Vowell has contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines, including Esquire, Spin, The New York Times Book Review and McSweeney’s. Lastly she’s the president of the board for the nonprofit tutoring and student writing center 826NYC in Brooklyn, NY.
Born: December 27, 1969 (Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S)
Education: Montana State University | School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Works: The Wordy Shipmates | Assassination Vacation | The Partly Cloudy Patriot | Take the Cannoli | Radio On: A Listener’s Diary
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearances: Interview – September 12, 2002 | July 14, 2004 | April 19, 2005 | February 21, 2006 | October 7, 2008 | October 5, 2009 | March 21, 2011
That’s all for this week Hubsters! Please remember to comment below, and vote in the poll for whichever guest you are most looking forward to for the shows this week. See you next time!
Better Know A Guest: July 15 – 18, 2013
Hi there Hubsters! This week Stephen and John are back after a much-needed two-week rest. Which of the many news stories that broke during their absence do you think the shows will choose to address? I’m excited to see what they have in store for us!
Monday, July 15th (2013)
Jeremy Scahill (Author: “Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield”)
Jeremy Scahill is an author and The Nation’s National Security Correspondent. As an author he has written the novels Blackwater and Dirty Wars, both about the covert wars that the American military fights both at home and abroad. As a journalist, he began his career working for Democracy Now!, the independent news show, which has seen him travel throughout the world. His latest book, Dirty Wars has been hailed as ‘as one of the most important pieces of literature related to over a decade of failed American foreign policy strategy that continues to exist to this day’ by former Navy Seal team members, and ‘the most thorough and authoritative history yet, of the causes and consequences of America’s post 9/11 conflation of war and national security’ by CIA’s operatives.
Born: October 18, 1974 (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Education: Wauwatosa East High School | University of Wisconsin
Work: Democracy Now | Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria’s Oil Dictatorship | Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army
Awards: George Polk Award | Project Censored Awards | Izzy Award | Golden Reel Award | Windham–Campbell Literature Prize
Follow: Dirty Wars- Website | @JeremyScahill
Tuesday, July 16th (2013)
David Karp (CEO of Tumblr)
David Karp is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is best known for being the founder and CEO of the short-form social media/blogging platform Tumblr. He began his career in web development by interning for Frederator Studios where he created the studio’s first ever blogging platform and their first ever online video network. After that he moved onto UrbanBaby, an online parenting site before it was sold in 2006 to CNET. From working with UrbanBaby, he met Marco Arment and together the two of them created and launched Tumblr in February of 2007. Recently Tumblr was bought out by Yahoo! for $1.1 billion, with Karp remaining as the CEO of Tumblr.
Born: July 6, 1986 (New York City, U.S.)
Education: The Calhoun School | Bronx Science | Home Schooled
Follow: Tumblr
Wednesday, July 17th (2013)
Jerry Seinfeld (Host: “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”)
Jerome “Jerry” Seinfeld is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television/film producer, who is best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998). Seinfeld is known for specializing in observational humor, often focusing on personal relationships and uncomfortable social obligations, with ticket sales from his stand-up shows placing atop Forbes list of highest paid comedians for 2013. Seinfeld will be appearing on the show to promote the second series of his popular web series ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’, which is based on the simple premise of Seinfeld picking up a fellow comedian in a classic car and taking them out for coffee. Capitalising on the recent trend of comedians hosting shows where they interview other comedians, the show has received favourable reviews and a Webby Award, but has been criticised for its self-indulgence and the lack of female comedians – thus far Sarah Silverman has been the only female presence.
Born: April 29, 1954 (Brooklyn, New York, U.S.)
Education: East Lake Elementary School | Massapequa High School | SUNY Oswego | Queens College, City University of New York
Filmography: Seinfeld | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Bee Movie
Awards: Emmy Awards | Golden Globes Awards | SAG Awards | American Comedy Awards
Follow: Website | @JerrySeinfeld
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearances: Comedy Repression Therapy | Interview – March 10, 2010w | November 1, 2007 | November 6, 2006 | April 5, 2004 [Part 1] & [Part 2]
Thursday, July 18th (2013)
Jeff Bridges (Actor: “R.I.P.D”)
Jeff Bridges is an American actor and producer whose most famous roles include Rooster Cogburn in the 2010 version of True Grit, The Dude in The Big Lebowski, Otis ‘Bad’ Blake in Crazy Heart and Kevin Flynn from the TRON films. He first began acting when as an infant on television programs with his well-known acting family, beginning his televised acting career in 1958 as a child with his father, Lloyd Bridges, and brother Beau on television’s Sea Hunt. Though he’s has a long career in film and television acting he also has done other types of artistic work, most notably as a photographer and a musician. As a photographer he released a book of photographs in 2003 ‘Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges’, and as a musician he has released two albums, one in 2000 Be Here Soon and other in 2011 Jeff Bridges, to critical acclaim. Bridges current flick, R.I.P.D is and American supernatural action comedy film directed by Robert Schwentke, and based on the comic book Rest In Peace Department by Peter M. Lenkov.
Born: December 4, 1949 (Los Angeles, California, U.S.)
Education: University High School | Herbert Berghof Studio
Causes: No Kid Hungry
Awards: Oscar Awards | Saturn Awards | Britannia Award | Critics Choice Award | Golden Globes | Independent Spirit Awards | SAG Awards
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearances: Interview – August 17, 2011 | Performance – “What a Little Bit of Love Can Do” | Exclusive – Jeff Bridges for Summer’s Eve
Follow: Website | @TheJeffBridges
And now to check in with our good friend, John Oliver, over at ‘The Daily Show’!
Monday, July 15th (2013)
Aaron Sorkin (Creator: “The Newsroom”)
Aaron Sorkin is a screenwriter and producer, best known for the political drama, The West Wing. He has written for film, television, and the stage. Among his most notable works are The Social Network, A Few Good Men (both the stage version and the screenplay for the 1992 film), Moneyball, Charlie Wilson’s War and most recently The Newsroom. He first began his career in the late 80s after some time being a failed actor. His first big break was the play version of A Few Good Men, which lead to his film deal with Castle Rock Entertainment. In 1998 he moved onto television, and he now works a balance of film and television writing. The second season of The Newsroom premiered on HBO on Sunday, with consistent reviews noting a change from the underwhelming and disappointing first season, one that was often pedantic and predictable, to a more focused show which puts the process of journalism front and center.
Born: June 9, 1961 (Scarsdale, New York, United States)
Education: Scarsdale High School | Syracuse University
Awards: Oscar | BAFTA Award | Critics Choice Award | Golden Globe | PGA Award | Emmy Award | Satellite Award | WGA Screen Award
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearances: Interview – September 30, 2010 | June 28, 2012
Tuesday, July 16th (2013)
Helen Mirren (Actress: “Red 2″)
Helen Mirren is an English actor, with a career spanning several decades. She began her career in the mid 60s where she worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She worked mainly in British theatre for most of the 60s and 70s, though she did have some minor roles in films shortly after beginning working with the RSC. In the mid 1990s she made her Broadway debut. Currently, Mirren is starring in The Audience, a play about the ‘audiences’ that Queen Elizabeth II has held with each Prime Ministers during the course of her rule. On screen Mirren has reprised her role of ‘Victoria’ in Red 2, which sees the retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunite his unlikely team of elite operatives to track down a missing portable nuclear device.
Born: July 26, 1945 (Hammersmith, London, U.K)
Education: St Bernard’s High School for Girls | New College of Speech and Drama
Awards: Oscar | BAFTA Film Award | BAFTA TV Award | Britannia Award | Critics Choice Award | Emmy Awards | Satellite Award | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Lifetime Achievement Award | Olivier Award
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance: Interview – June 29, 2010 Follow: Website
Wednesday, July 17th (2013)
Reza Aslan (Writer and Scholar: “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”)
Reza Aslan is an Iranian-Americana writer and scholar who frequently comments on news, religion and culture in the Middle East. He is currently on the faculty at the University of California, Riverside and a contributing editor for The Daily Beast, a news/opinion site launched in October 2008. As an author he has written No God But God:The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam, an international best seller, which has been translated into thirteen different languages. He will be on the show to discuss his newest work, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus. Though it hasn’t been released the reception by critics has been very warm and full of praise. It’s been called “surprising, engaging and original” among other things by Jon Meacham.
Born: May 3, 1972 (Tehran, Iran)
Education: Santa Clara University | Harvard Divinity School | University of California, Santa Barbara | University of Iowa
Writer: The Christian Science Monitor | Los Angeles Times | The New York Times | Slate | The Boston Globe | The Washington Post | The Guardian | Chicago Tribune | The Nation
Member: Council on Foreign Relations | Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities | Pacific Council on International Policy
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance: Interview – April 21, 2005 | January 24, 2006 | August 21, 2006 | May 10, 2007 | April 20, 2009 | June 24, 2009 | April 5, 2010
Follow: Website | @RezaAslan and @AslanMedia | Facebook
Thursday, July 18th (2013)
Sarah Vowell (Author and ‘The Daily Show’ Contributor)
Sarah Vowell is an American author, journalist, essayist and social commentator. Vowell is also contributing editor for This American Life, and provided the voice for the teenage superhero ‘Violet Parr’ in the 2004 movie The Incredibles. Often referred to as a “social observer,” Vowell has written six nonfiction books on American history and culture, most recently Unfamiliar Fishes, which is about the annexation of Hawaii and other islands throughout the Pacific Ocean in that late 1800s. As a critic and reporter, Vowell has contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines, including Esquire, Spin, The New York Times Book Review and McSweeney’s. Lastly she’s the president of the board for the nonprofit tutoring and student writing center 826NYC in Brooklyn, NY.
Born: December 27, 1969 (Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S)
Education: Montana State University | School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Works: The Wordy Shipmates | Assassination Vacation | The Partly Cloudy Patriot | Take the Cannoli | Radio On: A Listener’s Diary
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearances: Interview – September 12, 2002 | July 14, 2004 | April 19, 2005 | February 21, 2006 | October 7, 2008 | October 5, 2009 | March 21, 2011
That’s all for this week Hubsters! Please remember to comment below, and vote in the poll for whichever guest you are most looking forward to for the shows this week. See you next time!