CooperTalk

Steve Cooper talks with VJ/radio personality Alan Hunter. Alan is one of the original five video jockeys on MTV from 1981 to 1987. He currently is a host on SiriusXM Radio's The 80s on 8 channel and co-owns the production company Hunter Films with his brother Hugh.

Steve Cooper talks with musician Cy Curnin. Cy is best known for being lead singer of The Fixx. The Fixx are a new wave rock band from London, England founded in 1979. The band's hits include One Thing Leads to Another, Saved by Zero, Are We Ourselves?, and Secret Separation, all of which made the U.S. Top 20, as well as early MTV Video hits Red Skies and Stand or Fall and mainstream rock chart hits Driven Out and Deeper and Deeper, the latter of which was featured on the soundtrack of the 1984 film Streets of Fire. Cy also has a solo career and recently released his sixth album Lockdown.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Charlie Schlatter. Charlie is best known for playing Dr. Jesse Travis on the CBS series Diagnosis Murder and for starring in the big screen comedy 18 Again! opposite George Burns. Some of his other work includes the movies Heartbreak Hotel, The Delinquents, Police Academy: Mission to Moscow, Ed, Bright Lights, Big City and TV series such as The Sopranos, Southland, Ferris Bueller, Shameless, Goliath, NCIS and For All Mankind. In the early 1990s, as a voice actor, he began playing character roles for many series. Among his roles were Griff in Sonic the Hedgehog; The Flash in Superman: The Animated Series, The Batman, and Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts; Jimmy Two-Shoes in the pilot of Jimmy Two-Shoes; Kevin Levin in Ben 10; Ace Bunny in Loonatics Unleashed; Hawk, Stingfly, and the Cannonball Brothers in A.T.O.M. (Alpha Teens on Machines); Tommy in Pet Alien; Sugarfoot, Boy, Chris, Willy/Gnome, Martin/Dwarf in Random! Cartoons; Cameron in Bratz, the title character in Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil and Doctor Mindbender and Wild Bill in the TV series G.I. Joe: Renegades.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Brooke Smith. Brooke is best known for her role as Dr. Erica Hahn on the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, and for her role as Catherine Martin in the horror film The Silence of the Lambs. She has guest starred or been recurring on many shows including Ray Donovan, Unbelievable, Weeds, The Good Fight , The Crossing, Six Feet Under, The Good Doctor, Bates Motel, Bosch, Hand of God, American Horror Story, Crossing Jordan and Criminal Minds and can be seen in the new David E. Kelley series Big Sky.

Steve Cooper talks with musician Steve Stevens. Steve is one of the most original guitarists to emerge from the ’80s rock scene, best known for his 30 year partnership with Billy Idol, his work on Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana”, his Grammy Award winning performance on “Top Gun Anthem” and his work with Vince Neil on “Exposed”. His catalog of hit songs that he co-wrote & performed alongside Idol include “Rebel Yell”, “Eyes Without A Face” and “Flesh for Fantasy”. In addition to currently working on a new record together, Idol & him continue to tour to sold out crowds all over the world. Stevens has also lent his unmistakable sound and style to many hit records, including Pink “Try This”, Diana Ross “Eaten Alive”, Joni Mitchell “Chalk mark in a Rainstorm”, Robert Palmer “Don’t Explain”, The Thompson Twins “Here’s to Future Days”, Ric Ocasek “This Side of Paradise”, Peter Criss “Let Me Rock You”, Juno Reactor “Shango”, “Hokata”, and “Pistolero”, Kyosuke Himuro “Beat Haze Odyssey”, Steve Lukather “Lukather” and on his solo outings with Steve Stevens Atomic Playboys “Atomic Playboys”, Jerusalem Slim “Jerusalem Slim”, Bozzio Levin Stevens “Black Light Syndrome” and “Situation Dangerous” and the critically acclaimed solo releases “Flamenco A Go Go” & “Memory Crash”. 

Steve Cooper talks with comedy writer Tom Leopold. Tom has been written episodes or been a producer on various TV sitcoms such as Seinfeld, Cheers, Will & Grace, Dream On, Ellen, Caroline in the City and Hope & Faith and co-wrote the movie Club Paradise with his good friend Harry Shearer. He has written two novels, Almost Like Being Here and Somebody Sing, and collaborated with Bob Sand to publish a biography of a mythical comedy writing team Milt Wagonman and Marty Sloyxne. Born Jewish he converted to Catholicism later in life and co-hosts a radio show on Sirius XM with Father Leo Patalinghug called Entertaining Truth.

Steve Cooper talks with director Joel Zwick. Joel's big break came when he started working with heavyweight sitcom producer/creator Garry Marshall, who gave him opportunities to direct a number of his shows, including Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, Makin' It, and The New Odd Couple. He also directed working numerous sitcoms including Full House (97 episodes), Webster (63 episodes), Bosom Buddies (18 episodes) Family Matters (32 episodes), Perfect Strangers (100 Episodes) and many, many more.  Television has been where most of his efforts have been focused but he has directed films such as the much-loved 2002 ethnic comedy, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and the 2004 live action remake of Fat Albert.

Steve Cooper talks with musician Phil Collen. Phil is one of the lead guitarists for the band Def Leppard who was recently inducted in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Def Leppard has released 11 studio albums and still sell out arenas around the world. They are one of only five rock bands with two original studio albums selling over 10 million copies each in the US with their releases Pyromania and Hysteria. The latter is one of only a handful of albums that has charted seven singles or more on the US Hot 100: Women (#80), Animal (#19), Hysteria (#10), Pour Some Sugar on Me (#2), Love Bites (#1), Armageddon It (#2) and Rocket (#12).

Steve Cooper talks with singer/songwriter Melissa Manchester. In 1980, Melissa became the first recording artist in the history of the Academy Awards to have two nominated movie themes in a single year, Through The Eyes Of Love from Ice Castles and I’ll Never Say Goodbye from The Promise, and to perform them both on the Oscar telecast. She has starred in the national tours of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Music Of The Night and Song And Dance, and created the role of Maddy, the title character’s mother, on the NBC hit TV series Blossom. Nominated for a Grammy in 1980 for Don’t Cry Out Loud, she won the Grammy Award for best female vocalist in 1982 singing You Should Hear How She Talks About You. She has also composed music for the animated features The Great Mouse Detective and Lady And The Tramp II, the sequel to the Disney classic.  In addition to composing the scores for the theatrical musicals I Sent A Letter To My Love and Sweet Potato Queens, she also cowrote the radio mainstays Midnight Blue, Come In From The Rain and Whenever I Call You Friend.

Steve Cooper talks with Willie Garson. Willie is best known for his roles as Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City and as Mozzie in White Collar. His other television appearances include Mr. Belvedere, My Two Dads, Coach, Quantum Leap, Monk, Boy Meets World, Girl Meets World, Ally McBeal, Party of Five, Star Trek: Voyager, Special Unit 2, Just Shoot Me!, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friends, The X-Files, Cheers, Yes, Dear, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Pushing Daisies, Stargate SG-1, Wizards of Waverly Place, CSI: Miami, Mental, Spin City and Taken and co-starred in the 2007 HBO series John from Cincinnati and was the recurring character Gerard Hirsch on Hawaii Five-0. He has also appeared in various movies from the Farrelly brothers including Kingpin, There's Something About Mary and Fever Pitch. His other film credits include Groundhog Day, Just Like Heaven, The Rock, Fortress 2: Re-Entry, Being John Malkovich, Freaky Friday, Labor Pains, and Out Cold.