Mr. Media Interviews By Bob Andelman

2009: In my mind, I’ve been associated with Playboy for roughly 40 years—I was roughly 10 when I discovered my dad’s box of old magazines in a cardboard box on top of the standup cedar wardrobe in the attic. Cartoonist Gahan Wilson still has me beat. He’s been connected with Hugh Hefner’s monthly treehouse for 50 years! He’s joining us today to talk about about publication of the three-volume collection, "Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons," now available from Fantagraphics.

2019: The folks at Twomorrows Publishing have embarked on a massive effort to qualify and quantify comic books of every era with their American Comic Book Chronicles series. Joining me today to talk about the latest volume—The 1990s—are author Jason Sacks and editor-in-chief Keith Dallas. This is their second appearance on the show; the guys were last here to talk about the 1970s edition.

2019: Today we’re going to deep-dive into the Queen catalogue of 15 original studio releases. Our guide is rock critic and historian Martin Popoff, author of "Queen: Album By Album." In the book, he engages a number of experienced fellow writers, including Stephen Dalton and former Mr. Media guest Richie Unterberger, plus musicians Darius Rocker of Hootie and the Blowfish, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, and Sir Paul McCartney of The Beatles and Wings. It’s quite a conversation.

From 2012: You know what I really want to know from cartoonist Bill Griffith? It’s this: does he collect a royalty every time the housekeeper on “Two and a Half Men,” Berta, calls Jon Cryer’s character Alan Harper “Zippy”? Because with repeats, he should be a rich man. Nothing telegraphs an opinion of someone’s intellect more rapidly than calling him or her a “pinhead.” And no one has done more to expand the use of the term “pinhead” in our society than daily Bill Griffith, creator of

From 2009: Everybody thinks their life story would make a good book. I’m here to tell you that’s not true. Larry Harris is not everybody. He’s 1970s records mogul Neil Bogart’s cousin—and a co-founder of legendary Casablanca Records—for heaven’s sake, and boy, does he have a great story to tell. Reading his new book, And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records, is to be transported back to the wild early days of the rock band KISS, the origins of disco, Donna Summer and Giorgi

From 2019: Madison Paige, founder of Bold Blue Campaigns, presented a roadmap to Florida’s Democratic Party for overcoming obstacles and winning more elections up and down the November 2018 ballot. Was she right? Was she wrong? I don’t know. But today, in my small way, I want to give her a direct forum for sharing her ideas moving forward.

From 2009: I was stuck in the car, waiting to pick my wife up at work, tuning around the Sirius radio dial, looking for laughs. I had already heard the Howard Stern show earlier in the day and went a few clicks past him and landed on the Blue Collar comedy channel. The voice I heard—the inflection, particularly—sounded like Steve Martin. It wasn’t him,  but the performer had me laughing the way I used to laugh 30 years ago upon hearing new material from Martin. This was a fellow named James P. Connol

From 2009: Pamela S. Allyn knows a few things about what goes on behind the scenes of pro wrestling that you don’t. She’s the daughter of the late Gordon Solie, the whiskey-voiced ring announcer who put wrestling on the map way back in 1949 and stayed with it for the next half-century. Pam, her husband Robert Allyn and Scott Teal have written a fascinating new book about her dad, "The Solie Chronicles: The Life and Times of Gordon Solie." It is a refreshing look at a legend who was more than a little hu

From 2008: Jules Feiffer is one of comics’ great characters himself. He famously got his start with Will Eisner, creating and drawing a children’s strip called “Clifford” and eventually writing during the last years of “The Spirit”’s original run in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Besides his long-running strip “Feiffer,” he might be best-known for his children’s work, from illustrating "The Phantom Tollbooth" and writing the original screenplay for the Robin Williams film, "Popeye."

From 2010: I’m being joined by "Ugly Betty"’s older sister, Hilda, played by the red-hot chica, Ana Ortiz, and Betty’s distinguished and wise Papi, played by Tony Plana.

From 2019: Cartoonist Keith Brown’s view of President Trump’s indiscretions, lunacy and general bad behavior have been revealed to be more on target than ever before. Since our paths first crossed online, I have gone from frequently sharing his more political strips in social media to publishing them via Mr. Media Books. You can now own a little bit of Keith by ordering “The Wages of Sin, Vol. IV,” available in full-color from Amazon.com. I fully expect “The Wages of Sin” will have a glorious af

Dan Washburn is a country singer/songwriter with a great big ol’ voice and personality, a knack for catchphrases and an ever-present bit of whimsy in his delivery that brings a smile to my face whenever I hear his music play. As you can see, the man looks the part, too. DAN WASHBURN podcast excerpt: "I wrote the song 'Someone Like You' for my Mom when I was 10. Till the day she died, my Mom would call me and say, 'We've got company. You've gotta come over here and sing that song you wrote for me!' And I would, every chance I got." Give him a few minutes to win you over, even if you’re not normally a country music fan, and I think you’ll be sold. Washburn joins us today from his native Ontario, where he has just released a new single, “Long Story Longer.” Dan Washburn Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • CDBaby

2018: In Daphne Maxwell Reid, “Jacqueline and Jilly” has a veteran actress who has been a steady fixture on network television beginning with a recurring run on “Hill Street Blues,” continuing with 2 seasons on “WKRP in Cincinnati” during which she met and married Venus Flytrap himself, Tim Reid, with whom she appeared over 4 seasons of “Simon & Simon” and 1 season of the critically acclaimed “Frank’s Place.” She did 3 seasons as Will Smith’s mom on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”

From 2009: Today, if you think you might have drawing talent, sooner or later you’re going to wind up studying a book by artist Christopher Hart. Hart has sold more than 2.5 million books, most of them instructional manuals in which he has taught a generation how to draw cartoons for comic strips, Japanese manga, American superheroes and much more. His latest book is Humongous Book of Cartooning and he joins us today to give away a secret or two and compel you to crack the spine of one of his books.

From 2018: I’m guessing that, like me, you probably listen to your favorite podcasts whenever and wherever you can squeeze them in. For me, that includes the last 15 minutes of the day, or while I’m walking the dog, or on the treadmill at the gym, or driving somewhere, or even cranked up loud while I’m in the shower. That last place was where I was listening to a recent episode of the Marvel News Desk show. If you’re a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is nothing more entertaining than thi

From 2018: Forced to think about it for today’s show, I find that I have seven favorite Christmas movies, most of which find their way to the family TV every year. Six of those are highlighted in a new book, "Christmas in the Movies: 30 Classics to Celebrate the Season," by Jeremy Arnold. They are: It’s A Wonderful Life, the original Miracle on 34th Street, Die Hard, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, and Love Actually. I’m not at all surprised that number seven doesn’t make the list –

From 2018: Country singer Amy Rose is one of my favorite all-time guests. Which explains why this is her fourth appearance on Mr. Media. This time around, Amy is here to talk and sing about her favorite holiday – Christmas. She will debut her new holiday tune, “One More Sleep,” and perform one of her all-time favorite Christmas songs, “O’ Holy Night.” Joining Amy on guitar will be her producer, “Dusty Sprinkles” himself, Marty Beecroft.

From 2018: I last interviewed rock guitarist Bobby Friss in 1988. Something his father told him and he shared with me that day about being a professional has always stated with me: “On time, in tune, and with clean hair.” Such a simple, elegant approach to guiding a career and yet so many people – especially in the world of music – don’t get it and don’t do it.

From 2018: Whatever you think you know about the 1930s origins of comic books, be prepared to learn a lot more. In her new book, "DC Comics Before Superman: Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s Pulp Comics," my guest today, Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson, takes comics fans on a deep dive into the earliest days of the company we now know as DC Comics, but that started life in February 1935 as National Allied Publications. National Allied was founded by Nicky’s grandfather, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson.

From 2018: Today, Christine Hallquist is a trans-woman. But unlike most people who transition in private, Christine’s life-changing moments were captured by her son in a rapidly changing documentary that Derek titled Denial. Search your memory. The name “Christine Hallquist” might ring a bell, because on November 6, 2018, she was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Vermont. And while she didn’t win, she broke many barriers and attracted 40% of the total vote against a popular Republican inc