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 all of you had great weekends (like a lot of readers I’m sure, it was my first weekend back at college). This weekend has certainly been eventful, and Jon and Stephen sure have a lot to choose from when deciding what to cover. I’m guessing that we’ll see some coverage of the events at the US Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, more news about ISIS and Iraq, even more drama between the EU and Russia, among other news stories that break throughout the week. As always, let us know what you hope to hear about in the comments below, as well as any other remarks you may have!
Stephen’s guests this week are an actor and two authors.
Jon’s guests this week are an author, a filmmaker, and a musician.
Monday, September 1 (2014)
Pre-empted
Tuesday, September 2 (2014)
Mandy Patinkin (Actor: Homeland)
Mandy Patinkin is an American singer and actor of film, stage, and television, who currently stars as Saul Berenson (a CIA Chief of the Middle East division and Carrie Mathison’s mentor) on the critically-acclaimed Showtime series Homeland. The show follows the daily life of CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) as she struggles with bipolar disorder and the suspicions that a returned US prisoner (Damian Lewis) of war may pose a security threat to his own country. The show has received praise throughout its three seasons, notably Claire Danes’ and Damian Lewis’s performances in their roles. However, the show has also been criticized for it portrayal of Muslims and misrepresentation of Islamic and Arabic culture. The shows fourth seasons premieres on Sunday, October 5th, 2014 on Showtime.
Born: 30 November 1952 (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Education: South Shore High School | University of Kansas | Juilliard School
Filmography: Yentl | The Princess Bride | Alien Nation | Dick Tracy | The Wind Rises
Television: Taxi | Chicago Hope | The Simpsons | Dead Like Me | The Hunchback | The Larry Sanders Show | Criminal Minds
Stage: Evita | Sunday in the Park with George | The Secret Garden | Falsettos | The Wild Party | Enemy of the People | Henry IV, Part I | The Winter’s Tale | The Shadow Box | The Tempest
Discography: Evita | Sunday in the Park with George | South Pacific | Mandy Patinkin | Dress Casual | The Secret Garden | Experiment | Oscar & Steve | Man of La Mancha | Mamaloshen | Myths and Hymns | The Wild Party | Kidults | Mandy Patinkin sings Sondheim
Awards: Tony Award | Emmy Award
Previous Colbert Report Appearance(s): Interview – 12 December 2012 | The 2013 Government Shutdown Wedding of the Century Pt. 2
Follow: Website
Wednesday, September 3 (2014)
Randall Munroe (Author: “What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions“)
Randall Munroe is an American web comic author, former NASA roboticist, and the creator of the web comic “xkcd“, whose latest book, What If? includes answers to some of the strangest questions (ranging from physics, politics, language, technology, and more) that Munroe’s fans have ever asked him. Munroe’s answers are not only well-written but also well-researched, with the author consulting computer programs, mathematical equations, and specialists in various fields to formulate his answers. Many of the answers are accompanied by illustrations in the same stick-figure style made famous by his xkcd web comics. The book includes some of the most popular questions that Munroe has ever received, as well as new questions never before answered. BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow, calls the book “one of the Internets must-reads.”
Born: 17 October 1984 (Easton, Pennsylvania, United States)
Education: Chesterfield County Mathematics and Science High School at Clover Hill | Christopher Newport University
Awards: Hugo Award
Thursday, September 4 (2014)
Doris Kearns Goodwin (Author: “The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism“)
Doris Kearns Goodwin is an American author, biographer, historian, and political commentator, whose latest book The Bully Pulpit, examines the Progressive era and the issues it shares with the present day through the relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, and their rivalry that divided the Republican Party. This rivalry eventually allowed Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency and enact several important reforms that tackled the issues of the era. The book also offers a glimpse into the world of journalism and its role in the reforms of the era. Kearns’s research for the book includes hundreds of letters written between Taft and Roosevelt, their families, the journalists, as well as memoirs and journals. Her work gives us a look at the issues of an era marked by extreme partisanship and muckraking journalism that is not unlike our own. The New York Times praises Goodwin who “directs her characters with precision and affection, and the story comes together like a well-wrought novel. […] Much of the pleasure of this book — besides recalling for us that once, leaders stood tall, our government didn’t seem to be in a state of constant stalemate and journalism got results — is the re-creation of a day when life moved at a statelier pace.”
Born: 4 January 1943 (Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States)
Education: Colby College | Harvard University
Bibliography:Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream | The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga | No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II | Wait Till Next Year | Every Four Years: Presidential Campaign Coverage | Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Awards: White House Fellow | Pulitzer Prize | Lincoln Prize | Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction | Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Previous Colbert Report Appearance(s): Interview – 13 December, 2006 | 3 November, 2010 | 7 November, 2012
Previous Daily Show Appearance(s): Interviews – 27 October, 2005 | 30 January, 2008 | 4 November, 2008 | 30 April, 2009 | 29 January, 2010 | 12 November, 2013
Follow: Website | @DorisKGoodwin | Facebook
And now, let’s check in with our good friend over at ‘The Daily Show’ – Jon Stewart!
Monday, September 1 (2014)
Pre-empted
Tuesday, September 2 (2014)
Ramita Navai (Author: “City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran“)
Ramita Navai is a British-Iranian journalist and author, whose first book, City of Lies is an engrossing chronicle of the lives of some of Tehran’s less visible people, including housewives who file for divorce, prostitutes, socialites, assassins, and criminals that operate within Iran’s capital. Navai shows how a city which on the surface appears obsessed with piety still supports a vast underworld of crime and intrigue. Publisher’s Weekly called the book a “collections of beautifully written profiles”, and The Independent noted that, “…what makes City of Lies engaging is that it is rooted in real-life stories … It is, in many ways, the written version of a television docudrama, with parallel stories that never intersect.”
Education: City University of London
Filmography: Unreported World
Awards: Broadcast Journalist of the Year Award | Emmy Award | Jerwood Award
Follow: @RamitaNavai | Facebook
Wednesday, September 3 (2014)
Rory Kennedy (Filmmaker: “The Last Day in Vietnam“)
Rory Kennedy is an American filmmaker and producer (and also the youngest child of Robert Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy), whose latest film The Last Day in Vietnam, recounts the final days of the Vietnam War and the politics behind the scenes that decided every move. At the time, the US had only a few officials still left in the country, many of whom were pondering the fates of their Vietnamese co-workers should the US withdraw from the conflict. While Congress had considered evacuations of South Vietnamese from the city of Saigon, the decision was delayed and never put into effect. These concerns prompted several Americans to work together and complete a series of unsanctioned operations to save as many of their South Vietnamese allies as possible. Indire Wire notes that, “While the documentary hardly breaks any new creative ground, its powerful content speaks for itself by revealing a harrowing episode of the Vietnam War […] In interviews with subjects ranging from Henry Kissinger to a Vietnamese student who survived the ordeal, “Last Days in Vietnam” is deeply compelling in its episodes, if a bit dry in its moments of straight historical narrative. That said, it doesn’t come off as a quickly rattled-off list of heartbreaking vignettes; they are gracefully weaved together into a greater story of individuals succeeding where institutions failed. […] Though the documentary highlights the heroism of many Americans stationed in Saigon, it’s not exactly patriotic. The entire moral quandary — of whether to follow orders or follow one’s conscience — exists because of an American failure to do the right thing. “Last Days in Vietnam” isn’t about the goodness of the American spirit, but rather the greatness of humanity itself.”
Born: 12 December 1968 (Washington, D.C., United States)
Education: Brown University
Filmography: Ethel | Ghosts of Abu Ghraib | Street Fight | Different Moms
Bibliography: American Hollow
Awards: Emmy Award | Academy Award
Follow: Facebook
Thursday, September 4 (2014)
Adam Levine (Musician: “V“)
Adam Levine is an American musician, television host, actor, and the lead singer of Maroon 5. The band has released their fifth studio album, V (as in the Roman numeral 5), which also marks the return of the band’s keyboardist Jesse Carmichael after he was absent from Maroon 5’s previous album. The album contains the group’s latest two singles “Maps” and “Animals”, and the promotional single “It Was Always You”. Critics have given the album positive reviews, with Jon Dolan of The Rolling Stone calling the album “masterfully crisp” and full of songs that are “lustrously polished, jammed with hooks and choruses that build a man cave in your brain.”
Born: 18 March 1979 (Los Angeles, California, United States)
Discography: Songs About Jane | It Won’t Be Soon Before Long | Hands All Over | Overexposed | 1.22.03 Acoustic | Live – Friday the 13th | Live from Le Cabaret | The B-Side Collection | Call and Response: The Remix Album
Television: The Voice | American Horror Story: Asylum | Begin Again
Awards: Grammy Award | Billboard Music Award | American Music Award | MTV Video Award | World Music Award | World Music Award
Follow: @AdamLevine | Facebook
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: September 1 – 4, 2014
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 all of you had great weekends (like a lot of readers I’m sure, it was my first weekend back at college). This weekend has certainly been eventful, and Jon and Stephen sure have a lot to choose from when deciding what to cover. I’m guessing that we’ll see some coverage of the events at the US Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, more news about ISIS and Iraq, even more drama between the EU and Russia, among other news stories that break throughout the week. As always, let us know what you hope to hear about in the comments below, as well as any other remarks you may have!
Stephen’s guests this week are an actor and two authors.
Jon’s guests this week are an author, a filmmaker, and a musician.
Monday, September 1 (2014)
Pre-empted
Tuesday, September 2 (2014)
Mandy Patinkin (Actor: Homeland)
Mandy Patinkin is an American singer and actor of film, stage, and television, who currently stars as Saul Berenson (a CIA Chief of the Middle East division and Carrie Mathison’s mentor) on the critically-acclaimed Showtime series Homeland. The show follows the daily life of CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) as she struggles with bipolar disorder and the suspicions that a returned US prisoner (Damian Lewis) of war may pose a security threat to his own country. The show has received praise throughout its three seasons, notably Claire Danes’ and Damian Lewis’s performances in their roles. However, the show has also been criticized for it portrayal of Muslims and misrepresentation of Islamic and Arabic culture. The shows fourth seasons premieres on Sunday, October 5th, 2014 on Showtime.
Born: 30 November 1952 (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Education: South Shore High School | University of Kansas | Juilliard School
Filmography: Yentl | The Princess Bride | Alien Nation | Dick Tracy | The Wind Rises
Television: Taxi | Chicago Hope | The Simpsons | Dead Like Me | The Hunchback | The Larry Sanders Show | Criminal Minds
Stage: Evita | Sunday in the Park with George | The Secret Garden | Falsettos | The Wild Party | Enemy of the People | Henry IV, Part I | The Winter’s Tale | The Shadow Box | The Tempest
Discography: Evita | Sunday in the Park with George | South Pacific | Mandy Patinkin | Dress Casual | The Secret Garden | Experiment | Oscar & Steve | Man of La Mancha | Mamaloshen | Myths and Hymns | The Wild Party | Kidults | Mandy Patinkin sings Sondheim
Awards: Tony Award | Emmy Award
Previous Colbert Report Appearance(s): Interview – 12 December 2012 | The 2013 Government Shutdown Wedding of the Century Pt. 2
Follow: Website
Wednesday, September 3 (2014)
Randall Munroe (Author: “What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions“)
Randall Munroe is an American web comic author, former NASA roboticist, and the creator of the web comic “xkcd“, whose latest book, What If? includes answers to some of the strangest questions (ranging from physics, politics, language, technology, and more) that Munroe’s fans have ever asked him. Munroe’s answers are not only well-written but also well-researched, with the author consulting computer programs, mathematical equations, and specialists in various fields to formulate his answers. Many of the answers are accompanied by illustrations in the same stick-figure style made famous by his xkcd web comics. The book includes some of the most popular questions that Munroe has ever received, as well as new questions never before answered. BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow, calls the book “one of the Internets must-reads.”
Born: 17 October 1984 (Easton, Pennsylvania, United States)
Education: Chesterfield County Mathematics and Science High School at Clover Hill | Christopher Newport University
Awards: Hugo Award
Thursday, September 4 (2014)
Doris Kearns Goodwin (Author: “The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism“)
Doris Kearns Goodwin is an American author, biographer, historian, and political commentator, whose latest book The Bully Pulpit, examines the Progressive era and the issues it shares with the present day through the relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, and their rivalry that divided the Republican Party. This rivalry eventually allowed Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency and enact several important reforms that tackled the issues of the era. The book also offers a glimpse into the world of journalism and its role in the reforms of the era. Kearns’s research for the book includes hundreds of letters written between Taft and Roosevelt, their families, the journalists, as well as memoirs and journals. Her work gives us a look at the issues of an era marked by extreme partisanship and muckraking journalism that is not unlike our own. The New York Times praises Goodwin who “directs her characters with precision and affection, and the story comes together like a well-wrought novel. […] Much of the pleasure of this book — besides recalling for us that once, leaders stood tall, our government didn’t seem to be in a state of constant stalemate and journalism got results — is the re-creation of a day when life moved at a statelier pace.”
Born: 4 January 1943 (Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States)
Education: Colby College | Harvard University
Bibliography:Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream | The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga | No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II | Wait Till Next Year | Every Four Years: Presidential Campaign Coverage | Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Awards: White House Fellow | Pulitzer Prize | Lincoln Prize | Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction | Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Previous Colbert Report Appearance(s): Interview – 13 December, 2006 | 3 November, 2010 | 7 November, 2012
Previous Daily Show Appearance(s): Interviews – 27 October, 2005 | 30 January, 2008 | 4 November, 2008 | 30 April, 2009 | 29 January, 2010 | 12 November, 2013
Follow: Website | @DorisKGoodwin | Facebook
And now, let’s check in with our good friend over at ‘The Daily Show’ – Jon Stewart!
Monday, September 1 (2014)
Pre-empted
Tuesday, September 2 (2014)
Ramita Navai (Author: “City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran“)
Ramita Navai is a British-Iranian journalist and author, whose first book, City of Lies is an engrossing chronicle of the lives of some of Tehran’s less visible people, including housewives who file for divorce, prostitutes, socialites, assassins, and criminals that operate within Iran’s capital. Navai shows how a city which on the surface appears obsessed with piety still supports a vast underworld of crime and intrigue. Publisher’s Weekly called the book a “collections of beautifully written profiles”, and The Independent noted that, “…what makes City of Lies engaging is that it is rooted in real-life stories … It is, in many ways, the written version of a television docudrama, with parallel stories that never intersect.”
Education: City University of London
Filmography: Unreported World
Awards: Broadcast Journalist of the Year Award | Emmy Award | Jerwood Award
Follow: @RamitaNavai | Facebook
Wednesday, September 3 (2014)
Rory Kennedy (Filmmaker: “The Last Day in Vietnam“)
Rory Kennedy is an American filmmaker and producer (and also the youngest child of Robert Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy), whose latest film The Last Day in Vietnam, recounts the final days of the Vietnam War and the politics behind the scenes that decided every move. At the time, the US had only a few officials still left in the country, many of whom were pondering the fates of their Vietnamese co-workers should the US withdraw from the conflict. While Congress had considered evacuations of South Vietnamese from the city of Saigon, the decision was delayed and never put into effect. These concerns prompted several Americans to work together and complete a series of unsanctioned operations to save as many of their South Vietnamese allies as possible. Indire Wire notes that, “While the documentary hardly breaks any new creative ground, its powerful content speaks for itself by revealing a harrowing episode of the Vietnam War […] In interviews with subjects ranging from Henry Kissinger to a Vietnamese student who survived the ordeal, “Last Days in Vietnam” is deeply compelling in its episodes, if a bit dry in its moments of straight historical narrative. That said, it doesn’t come off as a quickly rattled-off list of heartbreaking vignettes; they are gracefully weaved together into a greater story of individuals succeeding where institutions failed. […] Though the documentary highlights the heroism of many Americans stationed in Saigon, it’s not exactly patriotic. The entire moral quandary — of whether to follow orders or follow one’s conscience — exists because of an American failure to do the right thing. “Last Days in Vietnam” isn’t about the goodness of the American spirit, but rather the greatness of humanity itself.”
Born: 12 December 1968 (Washington, D.C., United States)
Education: Brown University
Filmography: Ethel | Ghosts of Abu Ghraib | Street Fight | Different Moms
Bibliography: American Hollow
Awards: Emmy Award | Academy Award
Follow: Facebook
Thursday, September 4 (2014)
Adam Levine (Musician: “V“)
Adam Levine is an American musician, television host, actor, and the lead singer of Maroon 5. The band has released their fifth studio album, V (as in the Roman numeral 5), which also marks the return of the band’s keyboardist Jesse Carmichael after he was absent from Maroon 5’s previous album. The album contains the group’s latest two singles “Maps” and “Animals”, and the promotional single “It Was Always You”. Critics have given the album positive reviews, with Jon Dolan of The Rolling Stone calling the album “masterfully crisp” and full of songs that are “lustrously polished, jammed with hooks and choruses that build a man cave in your brain.”
Born: 18 March 1979 (Los Angeles, California, United States)
Discography: Songs About Jane | It Won’t Be Soon Before Long | Hands All Over | Overexposed | 1.22.03 Acoustic | Live – Friday the 13th | Live from Le Cabaret | The B-Side Collection | Call and Response: The Remix Album
Television: The Voice | American Horror Story: Asylum | Begin Again
Awards: Grammy Award | Billboard Music Award | American Music Award | MTV Video Award | World Music Award | World Music Award
Follow: @AdamLevine | Facebook
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!