Bullseye With Jesse Thorn

Michael Showalter is a founding member of the sketch comedy group The State. He's in part responsible for other cult comedy favorites like Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter, Stella and more. These days, Showalter has been spending more and more time behind the camera.. He directed the new film Spoiler Alert. It's a romantic drama based on the book Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, a memoir by TV writer Michael Ausiello.Michael joins us on the latest episode of Bullseye to talk about Spoiler Alert. Plus, what it was like to direct Sally Field, and his process when casting his movies.

Music legend David Crosby passed away last month after a long illness. He was 81. Crosby's work paved the way for the folk rock movement. He was a founding member of The Byrds, and performed at Woodstock as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Crosby was also an award winning solo musician in his own right, and he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. We're remembering David Crosby by revisiting our 2016 interview with the late music icon.

At the close of 2022, American music lost a treasure: Anita Pointer died at age 74. Alongside her sisters June, Bonnie, and Ruth, she was a founding member of the Pointer Sisters. To mark her passing, we're replaying our 2014 conversation with Ruth and Anita.

Hailing from Charlotte, NC, young rapper Mavi is one to watch. He created his first album, "Let the Sun Talk", during his freshman year at Howard University. After garnering great reviews, his career started to take off. He recorded a second album, "End of the Earth," and got invited to collaborate with artists he admired and opened for Jack Harlow on tour. And last year, he recorded a stirring third album, "Laughing So Hard It Hurts." Mavi crams 16 songs into 32 minutes on "Laughing So Hard It Hurts." It's an album about pain and relationships. It's dense, intimate and even a little lonely-sounding at times. We talked with Mavi about why he made that choice.

John Larroquette is an actor with almost 50 years of experience. The trajectory of his career is an especially interesting one. His first acting gig was narrating the intro to a very famous horror film by the name of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But, acting was not a viable career choice for Larroquette until he hit it big on the NBC sitcom Night Court. His performance as the prosecutor Dan Fielding earned him four consecutive Emmy awards and propelled his success as an actor. The original show aired its last episode in 1992. But this year, Night Court is back on NBC. John Larroquette joins us on Bullseye to chat about his return as Dan Fielding and what it's like to revisit such an iconic role after almost 30 years. Plus, his early ventures as a radio DJ and his journey to sobriety.

The first issue of Love And Rockets came out in 1982. It was co-created by brothers Gilbert, Jaime and Mario Hernandez. They started off by self-publishing their work, but it wasn't long before they got a publisher, started racking up awards and earned a broad, passionate fan base. Mario eventually took a step back to raise a family, but Gilbert and Jaime have been going strong with the series for over four decades now. To celebrate 40 years of Love and Rockets, their publisher Fantagraphics recently released a box set of their classic work: Love and Rockets: The First Fifty. Interviewing Gilbert and Jaime is correspondent Brian Heater. The Hernandez brothers get into how it all started and the recent box set collection. Plus, what it's like to live with these characters for decades , and whether they've thought about how the stories might end.

Kate Beaton is a Canadian comics artist. She's the author of the award-winning comics series Hark! A Vagrant and Step Aside, Pops, which each earned spots on the New York Times bestseller list. Her most recent work, a graphic memoir called Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, takes readers in a different direction. Ducks follows Kate's life just after college. She'd graduated with student debt and got a chance to pay it off early: all she had to do was work for a little while mining oil in Eastern Alberta. The oil sands are a world unlike any other, towns and cities created from scratch to forcibly extract resources from the earth. People worked there because they desperately needed a job, for myriad reasons. Kate worked alongside people, mostly men, who were separated from their families, their hometowns and the normal expectations of human behavior. Kate talks to Bullseye about her journey writing this memoir. Content warning: This conversation with Kate Beaton contains some mentions of sexual harassment and

Tom Hanks is an actor that needs no introduction. He made his film debut in the 80's and has since cemented himself as a cultural icon. Films like Castaway and Forrest Gump have earned Hanks many accolades. His two consecutive Academy Award wins and many nominations speak for themselves. But, his films have done so much more. They've transformed pop culture, earning him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Tom Hanks joins the show to talk about the limits of charm, shares driving etiquette tips and tells us about his new role in A Man Called Otto.

In 2011, filmmaker Mark Cousins released his award-winning documentary, The Story of Film: An Odyssey . It's a film that's true to its title. Through 15 episodes and 915 minutes, it provides an expansive, detailed look at cinema that explores the history of the medium. Mark recently followed up The Story of Film with two new chapters, titled: The Story of Film: a New Generation. The new documentary covers dozens of more titles and moments in film history, and adds another 150 minutes to the original series. Mark Cousins joins Bullseye to talk about what inspired him to continue his The Story of Film documentary. He also talks about why he prefers to go to the theater to see films rather than watching them at home. Plus, he tells us about the legit piece of movie history he brings with him wherever he goes.

Kumail Nanjiani has come a long way since he's joined us over the years. He got his big break as an actor in 2014, when he starred on the hit show Silicon Valley. Kumail played Dinesh. Kumail's the star and co-creator of the Academy Award nominated movie The Big Sick. He's acted on TV shows like Portlandia and Veep, too. Recently, he got buff for a role as a superhero in Marvel's Eternals. And his acting resume just continues to grow. These days, he's starring in the true crime drama Welcome to Chippendales on Hulu. Kumail joins us to talk all about Welcome to Chippendales. Plus, why he got super yolked, what he gets from working out. He also gets into some of his biggest fears about show business.

When we asked legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy about the song that changed his life, Guy took us back to his childhood in Louisiana, to the first time he heard John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen'." He explains how the song encouraged him to learn the guitar in his early teens. Plus, he shares a story about getting to meet his hero and becoming friends with him. Buddy recently announced his farewell tour, after over a half-century in the game. It kicks off next month, so be sure to visit the Bullseye page at maximumfun.org for dates.

Julio Torres is a powerhouse. He's a comedian, actor and former writer for Saturday Night Live where his sketches brought a touch of magic to the show's standard fare. When we talked, he'd just released his first comedy special My Favorite Shapes. It's a little sideways from what you'd expect. Just like his HBO show Los Espookys —a horror-comedy that starred Julio alongside Fred Armisen, Ana Fabrega, and more. The show's second and – tragically – final season aired late last year on HBO. It's one of our favorites, so we figured we'd send off Los Espookys by revisiting our 2019 conversation with Julio.

When it comes to Bay Area hip-hop, E-40 is one of the greatest of all time. He's hip-hop's king of slang and a stylist without peer. When he joined Bullseye in 2019, he'd just released a new record called Practice Makes Paper. Lately, he's joined Too $hort, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube to form the West Coast supergroup Mount Westmore. They recently released their album SNOOP CUBE 40 $HORT. When he joined the show, he talked about what it was like growing up in the Bay Area and took us to the root of his passion for music. Plus, he talked about his college days at Grambling State University and participating in the school's talent show.

British actor Lesley Manville is truly a master of her craft. You might know her work with the brilliant director Mike Leigh. She starred in some of his best movies like Secrets & Lies, All or Nothing and Another Year. These days, you can catch Lesley on the latest season of The Crown. She plays Princess Margaret. When we talked in 2019, Lesley had just wrapped up the third and final season of the BBC show Mum. Lesley joined us to talk about starring in Mum, and how she almost had a career as an opera singer. Plus, she told us about what it's like working with director Mike Leigh, and how she gets in character employing his unique improvisational style.

The Bullseye Holiday Spectacular is here! We are revisiting some of our favorite holiday interviews with different guests from over the years. First, we kick things off with Rob Halford. The lead singer of Judas Priest tells us about the rock music he loves and the reason he decided to record a holiday album. We also have singer/songwriter Sy Smith, who shares which classic holiday tune changed her life. Micky Dolenz of The Monkees sits with Jesse to discuss his time in the industry and The Monkees holiday record Christmas Party. We close things out with the McElroy brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy. They're hosts of the Maximum Fun podcasts The Adventure Zone and the smash hit My Brother, My Brother and Me. They bring their signature wit to Bullseye and solve your holiday conundrums.

Normally, when you tune into Bullseye, you'll hear interviews with different pop culture creators. This week, we're breaking the format a bit. That's because it's our annual end of year best stand-up comedy showcase! We're playing you some excerpts from the best stand-up comedy albums of 2022. Our list includes industry veterans and up-and-coming talents you are going to love.

The Song That Changed My Life is a segment that gives us the chance to talk with some of our favorite creators in show business about the music that made them who they are today. This time around, we're joined by Rainn Wilson. That's right: Dwight from The Office and more! Rainn explains how Mystery Dance by Elvis Costello literally changed his life when he moved from Seattle to Chicago in his teen years. He had just switched schools, and describes the school assignment that helped him visualize a career in acting with the help of that Elvis Costello song. You can see Rainn star alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story for free on the Roku Channel.

Charlotte Nicdao stars as Poppy on the Apple TV+ comedy Mythic Quest. It's a workplace comedy about a video game company, but it's not really about video games. Everyone on the show cares deeply about the thing they're working on. It's the massive online role-playing fantasy video game Mythic Quest. Charlotte Nicdao joins Bullseye to talk about the new season of Mythic Quest and playing the part of Poppy on the series. She also talks about growing up in Australia, and the first time she visited the United States when she was a teenager for music camp. She also takes us back to the time she auditioned for the part of a mob boss in her school's production of Guys and Dolls.

Actor Aya Cash joins us on Bullseye for the latest installment of The Song That Changed My Life. It's a segment where creators we know and love talk about the music who made them who they are. Aya has played in a number of memorable roles, and these days, she stars in the very funny sitcom Welcome to Flatch. When we asked her about the song that changed her life, she took us back to her childhood. Back to the nineties when she was growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, riding in the car with mom and dad listening to a classic song by Ani DiFranco.

Vanessa Ramos is a television writer. She's written for shows like Superstore, Bordertown, Crashing and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Her latest show is called Blockbuster on Netflix. It's a sitcom set at the very last franchise location of Blockbuster, and the employees who try to keep the store alive. We talk with Vanessa about creating the new sitcom, and her own memories of Blockbuster, and what VHS tapes were most important to her. Plus, how she got her start in comedy and what it was like to be in the writers room for Comedy Central Roasts.