Rob Reiner joins Gentry Thomas Backstage this week to get "The Band" back together. They discuss Trump and Archie Bunker similarities, along with heading down memory lane with Reiner's commentary on some of the iconic movie scenes that have made him one of Hollywood's most accomplished directors.  Listen to the podcast and hear the 73 year old Reiner recall the train and bridge scene from Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally’s restaurant orgasm scene with Meg Ryan, "You can't handle the truth" in the court room with Jack Nicolson in A Few Good Men and the final kiss from The Princess Bride.  America fell in love with Rob Reiner when he played the character Meathead on All in the Family. The star of this 70s sitcom was Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor. The character "Archie" was often described as a racist, sexiest, bigot, some of the same names you will hear people call our current President Donald Trump. Gentry Thomas asked Reiner if their were any similarities between the two? Hear Rob's response and his outlook on the future of movie making in this episode of Backstage with Gentry.  The cast and director of classic rock mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap are reuniting for a virtual table read that will be moderated by Patton Oswalt. Released in 1984, the Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride) movie starred Christopher Guest (The Princess Bride), Michael McKean (Better Call Saul) and Harry Shearer (The Simpsons) as the hapless British heavy metal band, Spinal Tap.  The table read will take place on October 14th, 2020 and will aim to raise money for the Philadelphia Democrats ahead of the November 3 General Election.  Follow Rob Reiner on twitter https://twitter.com/robreiner Check out more about supporting the Pennsylvania Dems @ https://www.padems.com/   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In his new book "Disloyal" Michael Cohen describes the president as “a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man.” In our interview Cohen recalls the first time he met Donald Trump face to face calling it "a day he will never forget". On that same day he landed the role as Executive Vice President of The Trump Organization and special council. He admits to admiring Trump for 20 years prior to that meeting having read The Art of The Deal twice and feeling a true connection in their personalities. Cohen opens up to Gentry Thomas about the pivot moment when he realized he had made the biggest mistake of his life aligning with Donald Trump. From 2017 to 2018, Cohen was deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee. In April of 2018 the FBI showed up at Cohen's doorstep, but according to him they waited until his son left for school out of respect and acted very cordial with Cohen, who at the time was the lawyer for The President of the United States. The FBI investigators took a bunch of documents from his home, his law office and a hotel room he was staying at. Cohen would go on to plea guilty to five counts of willful tax evasion; one count of making false statements to a bank; one count of causing an unlawful campaign contribution; and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution. Looking back on these mistakes our host Gentry Thomas asked Cohen what did he learn from all this? "I want people to understand this, that when Donald Trump hired me he was a real estate guy and once he became President he then changed dramatically for the worse" explained Cohen.  Michael Cohen joined us from house arrest as he was among some of the inmates at Otisville Federal Prison in upstate NY, who were released into home confinement because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. Mr. Cohen, 53, is serving a three-year sentence for federal crimes and has one more year left to serve.  Click the link to listen to Cohen's new podcast called "Mea Culpa" with Michael Cohen  Buy Michael's new book "Disloyal" For more Backstage Pass with Gentry Thomas be sure to subscribe @ The Podcast Playground  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rapper turned actor has stayed hustling since breaking on the scene in the early 80s. His real name is Tracy Marrow but his friends call him Ice! When we sat down with him on this week's episode of Backstage he told us that when he recorded Cop Killer he felt like "people just looked at me as a rapper out of LA with palm trees and Hollywood limelight and thought police brutality didn't exist". But now he says the biggest difference is "accountability" Ice credit the cell phones on the streets capturing the wrong doing of police officers.  In his new movie called "Equal Standard" Ice-T plays a gang member In his latest film highlighting tensions between police and the black community. Nearly three decades ago, Ice and his heavy metal band Body Count recorded a song called “Cop Killer,” about a man fed up with police brutality, that threw gasoline on the already raging rap culture wars. In 2017, Body Count released the song “No Lives Matter,” about racism and classism in America. In between messages, Ice has spent 21 years playing NYPD Detective Fin Tutuola on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” And last month, the Grammy winner executive-produced and acted in “Equal Standard,” a movie available to rent online about a black cop shooting a white cop and the ensuing community fallout. “It costs nine dollars, but you spend that on Starbucks so stop playing,” Ice said. Ice did the movie for free for the same reason he spends most of his social media energy lobbing f-bomb-laced truths at his over 2 million followers across platforms: “We’re at a very important part of history right now, world history.” We caught up with Ice to talk racism, hip-hop and how he does things differently at age 62. Check out this week's episode with Gentry Thomas and Ice T plus download even more content @ The Podcast Playground.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jessie James Decker Dishes on New Music and Her First Cookbook! Jessie James Decker has been busy balancing her thriving career and home life while under quarantine, and tells our Gentry Thomas that her Mother recently told her she should slow down. When we spoke this week with the 32-year-old, she talked all about how quarantine has been going for her family of five, as well as her new music and her highly anticipated first cookbook, Just Feed Me. Jessie shares down-home and simple-to-make recipes for drinks, appetizers, and full dinners--many Italian, Southern and Cajun dishes which were handed down to her from her mom.  Jessie and her husband, Eric Decker, share three young children together -- 6-year-old daughter Vivianne and their two sons, 5-year-old Eric II and 2-year-old Forrest. Jessie admits that she roots for the Jets on Sundays.  If you are looking to get this Southern Girl who likes City Lights on the dance floor she says that anytime she hears the song "I want you back" by The Jackson 5 she is dancing in her boots!          See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin Jost Of 'SNL' Knows You're Laughing At His 'Very Punchable Face' Listen to this episode of Backstage Pass with Colin Jost the top writer for SNL and the lucky guy that has Scarlett Johansson's heart. Jost's new memoir, A Very Punchable Face, describes his experiences growing up in a middle-class household on Staten Island. He talks about living in NYC in the midst of the pandemic and talks his days attending Harvard with Mark Zukerberg. Jost recalls being one of the first users on Facebook and opens up about how in most cases an Ivy League education is over rated.  Saturday Night Live's Colin Jost knows there's something about his clean-cut image that rubs some people the wrong way. When he joined SNL as a writer in 2005, he worked off-camera — and didn't have to think about his looks. Colin admits that his favorite sketch on SNL so far has been Drunk Uncle that he wrote for Bobby Moynihan.  In his new book, which is a NY Times best seller, Jost has a chapter about Donald Trumps appearance on SNL prior to him being elected President in November of 2015. Listen to the Podcast to find out what Jost said about our commander and chief.  Colin Jost may be best known for his role as the lead anchor for Weekend Update. He let us know that the crew will be back live at Rockefeller Plaza LIVE for Saturday Night again in late September. The newly engaged Colin Jost talks wedding bells and first dance song selection for his upcoming wedding with Scarlett Johansson.  To listen to more interviews with Gentry Thomas click HERE: https://thepodcastplayground.com/podcast/backstage-with-gentry-thomas/          See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rob Schneider wants to remind people that he started his career as a stand up comedian. Long before he was on “Saturday Night Live” alongside Adam Sandler, David Spade and Chris Rock, Schneider was writing jokes and mailing them to the "SNL" offices in the hopes of being discovered. “I remember when I was 16, I used to write jokes and send them to the show,” Schneider says. “And then 7 years later I was on the show.”  When Rob sat down with Gentry Thomas he told us "there are a lot of brilliant comedians that I admire today; Dave Chapelle, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Amy Schumer, to name a few. But his best advice for stand-up comedy was from Jay Leno. Schneider recalls riding around in San Francisco early in his career with Leno when he told him "you better have 5 minutes that kills"! Also some sound advise came from Rob's friend Jerry Seinfeld, he told Rob once that if you are not funny within 2 minutes then you have no act"! For the past several years he’s been touring small comedy clubs around the US working on material for his first Netflix special, “Asian Momma, Mexican Kids.” As the title suggests, he talks a lot about his family during the show. “I’m at the point in my life where I don’t mind being honest. This is the least amount of lies I’ve ever told in any comedy routine.” In the interview Rob opens up about his relationship with longtime friend Adam Sandler whom he met in 1988. Sandler once told Gentry that Rob is obsessive compulsive with his vitamins. Schneider admits to taking 72 vitamin a day. Hear his list of must have supplements to add to your daily regime. His new Netflix special has been dedicated to Raymond Francis who has penned a handful of books that Schneider says will give you better quality of life. His favorite book from Francis is Never Be Sick Again. During these days of covid-19 we could all use some sound advise when it comes to our immune system. We personally feel that sometimes laughter can be the best medicine. So listen to our latest episode of Backstage with Gentry Thomas and share it with all your friends!    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joey Fatone Talks 'Common Knowledge,' His Post-N SYNC Hosting Career. He also told Gentry Thomas on the Podcast his biggest moment personally with the band.  The former *NSYNC member joins Common Knowledge after starring in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, serving as an announcer on Family Feud from 2010 through 2015, and hosting The Singing Bee and Parents Just Don't Understand. Joey, now 43, told us that former band member Chris Kirkpatrick would win if N-Sync ended up in a fight to the death!  Listen to Backstage with Gentry Thomas and Joey Fatone in this episode of the podcast to find out which band mate is the most street smart and which one is the best with the books in the classroom.  In the summer of 1995, after befriending Chris Kirkpatrick, a fellow Universal Studios stage performer who was singing in a doo-wop group, he became the fourth member of NSYNC, along with Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez. Then Lance Bass was added to the group that would become NSYNC. In 2001, Fatone co-starred with *NSYNC bandmate Lance Bass in the Miramax film On the Line, he guest starred with NSYNC on a 2001 episode of The Simpsons episode New Kids on the Blecch, and also did voice work with Bass on the same episodes of Disney's Kim Possible and Adult Swim's Robot Chicken. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Steve-O has some strong feelings about the coronavirus pandemic. The Jackass star revealed to us that he had tested positive for COVID-19, despite following all the recommended safety protocols. He also revealed that he was completely asymptomatic, and only realized he’d contracted the virus as a precaution. During his current stand-up tour, he got tested and received negative results. However, after someone suggested he get tested for antibodies too, the results came back positive.   Recently Steve O had Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal on his Podcast. On our interview he tells Gentry that he learned a lot talking with the Big Fella.   For more of Gentry Thomas’s podcast subscribe below and to contact Gentry e-mail him @ [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kathy Ireland teams up with a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Rachel Van Dyken For First Novel, "Fashion Jungle" As if building up a multi-million-dollar fashion and home licensing enterprise and her philanthropy weren’t enough of a follow-up to a highly successful modelling career, Kathy Ireland can now add novelist to her list of credits, with her first title written with the number-one New York Times best selling author Rachel van Dyken, Fashion Jungle, out January 28, 2020The new book is being described as Valley of the Dolls meets Sex and the City, and will be an ‘honest and exciting foray into the world of fashion.’ Ireland draws on her own experiences, including her faith, as she and van Dyken tell the story of four women within the modelling industry, against the very relevant backdrop of the #MeToo movement and human trafficking. ‘Fashion Jungle is a novel based on twists and turns that are true. It’s the one story I never expected to tell. The fashion industry is a beautiful and simultaneously an ugly and dangerous place. I entered the jungle at the age of 16 and made wonderful friends and more than a few enemies. Fashion illusion can be responsible for great tragedy. Girls who starve themselves, recreational drug and alcohol use that becomes addictive, sex trafficking, statutory rape and most people are shocked to learn how many models lose their lives or simply disappear,’ says Ireland. Ireland herself had appeared on the covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan, among others, and graced three Sports Illustrated covers, one of which is its best selling issue of all time. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.