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.
It looks like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show will have some interesting topics this week, particularly now that the government shutdown is over (wooh!). Is there anything that’s happened over their break that you all hope they cover? Stephen’s guests for the week are the band Arcade Fire, biographer A. Scott Berg, PBS anchors Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, and actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television and radio presenter, film director, and activist Stephen Fry (finally!).
Monday, October 21 (2013)
The Reflektors (Album: “Reflektor”)
The Reflektors are a fictional band created by the real-life band Arcade Fire. The name is derived from the first single on the band’s soon-to-be-released fourth studio album, Reflektor. The indie rock band hails from Montreal, Canada and includes members Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, along with Richard Reed Parry, William Butler, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld and Jeremy Gara. Their first album Funeral was released in 2004, to critical acclaim, followed by Neon Bible and The Suburbs. The group recorded the single “Abraham’s Daughter” for The Hunger Games soundtrack and contributed to some of the film’s original score.
Discography: Funeral | Neon Bible | The Suburbs | The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 and Beyond
Awards: BRIT Award | Grammy Award | Juno Award | Meteor Music Award | NME Award | PLUG Award | Polaris Music Prize | Studio 8 International Music Awards
Previous ’Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Performance – “Ready to Start” | “Month of May”
Follow: Website | @ArcadeFire | Facebook | Myspace
Tuesday October 22 (2013)
A. Scott Berg (Author: “Wilson”)
A. Scott Berg is an American biographer. Upon graduating from Princeton University, he expanded his senior thesis on Maxwell Perkins (famously the editor of writers Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald) into a full-length biography; this became his first published book, Max Perkins: Editor of Genius. He later wrote biographies on Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn, Charles Lindbergh, and Katherine Hepburn. Lindbergh became a New York Times Best Seller and won a Pulitzer Prize. His most recent biography, Wilson, tells the story of Woodrow Wilson and draws from personal material of the president and those close to him.
Born: December 4, 1949 (Norwalk, Connecticut, United States)
Education: Palisades Charter High School | Princeton University
Biographies: Max Perkins: Editor of Genius | Goldwyn: a Biography | Lindbergh | Kate Remembered
Other Works: Making Love (writer)
Follow: Website | @A_ScottBerg | Facebook | Instagram
Wednesday, October 23 (2013)
Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff (Co-anchors: PBS Newshour)
Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff are the co-anchors of the Public Broadcasting Service’s Newshour. The news program is notable in that, unlike many other evening news broadcasts in the US, the show is an hour long and runs longer interviews and longer news segments. Gwen Ifill is an American journalist, television newscaster, author, and political analyst. Over her career, she has been a journalist for several newspapers, moderated two vice presidential debates (2004 and 2008), and written the book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Judy Woodruff is an American television news anchor and journalist. She, too, has been an anchor on various political and news shows over her career.
Born: Gwen Ifill: September 9, 1955 (New York City, New York, United States) | Judy Woodruff: November 20, 1946 (Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States)
Education: Gwen Ifill: Simmons College | Judy Woodruff: Meredith College, Duke University
Written Works: Gwen Ifill: The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama | Judy Woodruff: This is Judy Woodruff at the White House
Follow: @JudyWoodruff | @GwenIfill | @NewsHour
Thursday, October 24 (2013)
Stephen Fry (Actor: Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”)
Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television and radio presenter, film director, and activist. After a troubled childhood (two expulsions from school and three months in prison for credit card fraud), he enrolled at Cambridge University, where he met future comedy partner Hugh Laurie, and became a member of the esteemed Cambridge Footlights. The two formed the comedy duo Fry and Laurie, and featured in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster. Since then, he has had roles in television, stage, and film. Fry has also presented many documentaries, most notably Stephen Fry: the Secret Life of a Manic Depressive. He is the host of the BBC comedy quiz panel show QI. As an author, Fry has written four novels, two volumes of a multi-volume autobiography/memoir, and many more projects. He is currently playing Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway.
Born: August 24, 1957 (Hampstead, London, England)
Education: City College Norwich | Queen’s College, Cambridge University
Filmography: V for Vendetta | The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | Stormbreaker | Alice in Wonderland | Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows | The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
Television: Blackadder | A Bit of Fry and Laurie | Jeeves and Wooster | Bones | Stephen Fry: the Secret Life of a Manic Depressive | Stephen Fry in America | QI
Theatre: Latin! or Tobacco and Boys (writer) | Me and My Girl (adaptor) | The Common Pursuit (actor) | Cell Mates (actor) | Cinderella (writer) | Pour l’Amour des Chiens (actor)
Written Works: The Liar | Making History | The Hippopotamus | The Stars’ Tennis Balls | The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within | The Dongle of Donald Trefusis
Awards: Emmy Award | Rose d’Or Award | British Comedy Award | National Television Award | Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism
Follow: Website | @StephenFry
And now, let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at the ‘The Daily Show’!
Monday, October 21 (2013)
Alan Greenspan (Author: ” The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting”)
Alan Greenspan is an American economist and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, who served until 2006. He is currently a private adviser for his company Greenspan Associates LLC. His newest book is The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting, in which he analyzes how humans have forecast risk over the years and how it can be done better, especially in the wake of the 2008 Recession.
Born: March 6, 1926 (New York City, New York, United States)
Education: George Washington High School | New York University | Columbia University
Written Works: Achieving Price Stability | New Challenges for Monetary Policy | Budget Deficits and Debt | The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World | Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal
Awards: Presidential Medal of Freedom | Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service | Commander of the Legion of Honor | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire | U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official | Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service | Harry S. Truman Medal for Economic Policy | Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Citizen Leadership
Previous ’Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interview: September 18, 2007
Tuesday, October 22 (2013)
Malcolm Gladwell (Author: ” David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants”)
Malcolm Gladwell is an English-Canadian journalist, author, and speaker. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996 and is the author of several popular nonfiction works. His writings typically deal with sociology, psychology, and social psychology. In all, he has written five books, with David and Goliath being his most recent. The book discusses how we view obstacles and disadvantages in life and examines such topics as Northern Ireland’s Troubles, cancer researchers, civil rights leaders, and classrooms.
Born: September 3, 1963 (Fareham, Hampshire, United Kingdom)
Education: University of Toronto
Written Books: The Tipping Point | Blink | Outliers | What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
Follow: Website | @Gladwell
Wednesday, October 23 (2013)
Charles Krauthammer (Author: “Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics”)
Charles Krauthammer is an American journalist, author, political commentator, and physician. He has contributed to the Weekly Standard, PBS’s Inside Washington, and Fox News’s Special Report with Brett Baier. His latest book Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes, and Politics is a collection of Krauthammer’s essays over the years on various topics that offer insight on political change in America over the past three decades.
Born: March 13, 1950 (New York City, New York, United States)
Education: McGill University | Balliol College, Oxford University | Harvard Medical School
Awards: People for the American Way’s First Amendment Award | Champion/Tuck Award for Economic Understanding | Bradley Prize | Eric Briendel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism | William F. Buckley Award for Media Excellence
Follow: @Krauthammer
Thursday, October 24 (2013)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Actor: “12 Years a Slave”)
Chiwetel Ejiofor is a British actor with several roles to his name on film, television, and stage. He has appeared in the movies Amistad, Kinky Boots, Children of Men, and Endgame. He currently appears in the BBC series Dancing on the Edge. Ejiofor stars in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave as Solomon Northup, a free black man who is lured to Washington, D.C., kidnapped, and sold into slavery on a Louisiana plantation.
Born: July 10, 1977 (Forestgate, London, England, United Kingdom)
Education: Dulwich College
Filmography: Deadly Voyage | Amistad | Twelfth Night | Love Actually | Red Dust | Serenity | Kinky Boots | Children of Men | American Gangster | Endgame | 2012 | Salt
Theatre: Macbeth | Sparkleshark | Blue/Orange | Romeo and Juliet | Peer Gynt | The Vortex | The Seagull | Othello
Television: Murder in Mind | The Shadow Line | Dancing on the Edge | JAG
Awards: British Independent Film Award | Evening Standard British Film Award | Independent Spirit Award | African-American Film Critics Association Award | Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor | Black Reel Award | American Black Film Festival Award
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: October 21- 24, 2013
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.
It looks like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show will have some interesting topics this week, particularly now that the government shutdown is over (wooh!). Is there anything that’s happened over their break that you all hope they cover? Stephen’s guests for the week are the band Arcade Fire, biographer A. Scott Berg, PBS anchors Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, and actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television and radio presenter, film director, and activist Stephen Fry (finally!).
Monday, October 21 (2013)
The Reflektors (Album: “Reflektor”)
The Reflektors are a fictional band created by the real-life band Arcade Fire. The name is derived from the first single on the band’s soon-to-be-released fourth studio album, Reflektor. The indie rock band hails from Montreal, Canada and includes members Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, along with Richard Reed Parry, William Butler, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld and Jeremy Gara. Their first album Funeral was released in 2004, to critical acclaim, followed by Neon Bible and The Suburbs. The group recorded the single “Abraham’s Daughter” for The Hunger Games soundtrack and contributed to some of the film’s original score.
Discography: Funeral | Neon Bible | The Suburbs | The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 and Beyond
Awards: BRIT Award | Grammy Award | Juno Award | Meteor Music Award | NME Award | PLUG Award | Polaris Music Prize | Studio 8 International Music Awards
Previous ’Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Performance – “Ready to Start” | “Month of May”
Follow: Website | @ArcadeFire | Facebook | Myspace
Tuesday October 22 (2013)
A. Scott Berg (Author: “Wilson”)
A. Scott Berg is an American biographer. Upon graduating from Princeton University, he expanded his senior thesis on Maxwell Perkins (famously the editor of writers Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald) into a full-length biography; this became his first published book, Max Perkins: Editor of Genius. He later wrote biographies on Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn, Charles Lindbergh, and Katherine Hepburn. Lindbergh became a New York Times Best Seller and won a Pulitzer Prize. His most recent biography, Wilson, tells the story of Woodrow Wilson and draws from personal material of the president and those close to him.
Born: December 4, 1949 (Norwalk, Connecticut, United States)
Education: Palisades Charter High School | Princeton University
Biographies: Max Perkins: Editor of Genius | Goldwyn: a Biography | Lindbergh | Kate Remembered
Other Works: Making Love (writer)
Follow: Website | @A_ScottBerg | Facebook | Instagram
Wednesday, October 23 (2013)
Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff (Co-anchors: PBS Newshour)
Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff are the co-anchors of the Public Broadcasting Service’s Newshour. The news program is notable in that, unlike many other evening news broadcasts in the US, the show is an hour long and runs longer interviews and longer news segments. Gwen Ifill is an American journalist, television newscaster, author, and political analyst. Over her career, she has been a journalist for several newspapers, moderated two vice presidential debates (2004 and 2008), and written the book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Judy Woodruff is an American television news anchor and journalist. She, too, has been an anchor on various political and news shows over her career.
Born: Gwen Ifill: September 9, 1955 (New York City, New York, United States) | Judy Woodruff: November 20, 1946 (Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States)
Education: Gwen Ifill: Simmons College | Judy Woodruff: Meredith College, Duke University
Written Works: Gwen Ifill: The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama | Judy Woodruff: This is Judy Woodruff at the White House
Follow: @JudyWoodruff | @GwenIfill | @NewsHour
Thursday, October 24 (2013)
Stephen Fry (Actor: Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”)
Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television and radio presenter, film director, and activist. After a troubled childhood (two expulsions from school and three months in prison for credit card fraud), he enrolled at Cambridge University, where he met future comedy partner Hugh Laurie, and became a member of the esteemed Cambridge Footlights. The two formed the comedy duo Fry and Laurie, and featured in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster. Since then, he has had roles in television, stage, and film. Fry has also presented many documentaries, most notably Stephen Fry: the Secret Life of a Manic Depressive. He is the host of the BBC comedy quiz panel show QI. As an author, Fry has written four novels, two volumes of a multi-volume autobiography/memoir, and many more projects. He is currently playing Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway.
Born: August 24, 1957 (Hampstead, London, England)
Education: City College Norwich | Queen’s College, Cambridge University
Filmography: V for Vendetta | The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | Stormbreaker | Alice in Wonderland | Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows | The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
Television: Blackadder | A Bit of Fry and Laurie | Jeeves and Wooster | Bones | Stephen Fry: the Secret Life of a Manic Depressive | Stephen Fry in America | QI
Theatre: Latin! or Tobacco and Boys (writer) | Me and My Girl (adaptor) | The Common Pursuit (actor) | Cell Mates (actor) | Cinderella (writer) | Pour l’Amour des Chiens (actor)
Written Works: The Liar | Making History | The Hippopotamus | The Stars’ Tennis Balls | The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within | The Dongle of Donald Trefusis
Awards: Emmy Award | Rose d’Or Award | British Comedy Award | National Television Award | Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism
Follow: Website | @StephenFry
And now, let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at the ‘The Daily Show’!
Monday, October 21 (2013)
Alan Greenspan (Author: ” The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting”)
Alan Greenspan is an American economist and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, who served until 2006. He is currently a private adviser for his company Greenspan Associates LLC. His newest book is The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting, in which he analyzes how humans have forecast risk over the years and how it can be done better, especially in the wake of the 2008 Recession.
Born: March 6, 1926 (New York City, New York, United States)
Education: George Washington High School | New York University | Columbia University
Written Works: Achieving Price Stability | New Challenges for Monetary Policy | Budget Deficits and Debt | The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World | Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal
Awards: Presidential Medal of Freedom | Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service | Commander of the Legion of Honor | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire | U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official | Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service | Harry S. Truman Medal for Economic Policy | Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Citizen Leadership
Previous ’Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interview: September 18, 2007
Tuesday, October 22 (2013)
Malcolm Gladwell (Author: ” David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants”)
Malcolm Gladwell is an English-Canadian journalist, author, and speaker. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996 and is the author of several popular nonfiction works. His writings typically deal with sociology, psychology, and social psychology. In all, he has written five books, with David and Goliath being his most recent. The book discusses how we view obstacles and disadvantages in life and examines such topics as Northern Ireland’s Troubles, cancer researchers, civil rights leaders, and classrooms.
Born: September 3, 1963 (Fareham, Hampshire, United Kingdom)
Education: University of Toronto
Written Books: The Tipping Point | Blink | Outliers | What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
Follow: Website | @Gladwell
Wednesday, October 23 (2013)
Charles Krauthammer (Author: “Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics”)
Charles Krauthammer is an American journalist, author, political commentator, and physician. He has contributed to the Weekly Standard, PBS’s Inside Washington, and Fox News’s Special Report with Brett Baier. His latest book Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes, and Politics is a collection of Krauthammer’s essays over the years on various topics that offer insight on political change in America over the past three decades.
Born: March 13, 1950 (New York City, New York, United States)
Education: McGill University | Balliol College, Oxford University | Harvard Medical School
Awards: People for the American Way’s First Amendment Award | Champion/Tuck Award for Economic Understanding | Bradley Prize | Eric Briendel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism | William F. Buckley Award for Media Excellence
Follow: @Krauthammer
Thursday, October 24 (2013)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Actor: “12 Years a Slave”)
Chiwetel Ejiofor is a British actor with several roles to his name on film, television, and stage. He has appeared in the movies Amistad, Kinky Boots, Children of Men, and Endgame. He currently appears in the BBC series Dancing on the Edge. Ejiofor stars in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave as Solomon Northup, a free black man who is lured to Washington, D.C., kidnapped, and sold into slavery on a Louisiana plantation.
Born: July 10, 1977 (Forestgate, London, England, United Kingdom)
Education: Dulwich College
Filmography: Deadly Voyage | Amistad | Twelfth Night | Love Actually | Red Dust | Serenity | Kinky Boots | Children of Men | American Gangster | Endgame | 2012 | Salt
Theatre: Macbeth | Sparkleshark | Blue/Orange | Romeo and Juliet | Peer Gynt | The Vortex | The Seagull | Othello
Television: Murder in Mind | The Shadow Line | Dancing on the Edge | JAG
Awards: British Independent Film Award | Evening Standard British Film Award | Independent Spirit Award | African-American Film Critics Association Award | Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor | Black Reel Award | American Black Film Festival Award
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!