It's conceivable that Wally Shawn's fans enjoy his serious plays, such as Grasses of a Thousand Colors and The Fever, as much as his comedic turns in films like Pixar's Toy and The Princess Bride. Of course, there may be some folks who are only be familiar with Shawn's essays, which are often featured in The Nation. Shawn compiled many of politically progressive essays in a book called, shockingly enough, Essays.

Mother's Day is coming up and I can't help thinking of how perfectly Adira Amram's MOM SONG music video captures an ideal mother-daughter relationship while simultaneously tweaking our culture's expectation that mothers and daughters also be besties. Directed by Jim Turner, Adira and her mom are genuinely having fun, without shopping, beautifying themselves, or kvetching about men. Granted the duo are high.

If you work at The New York Times, your boss is a bad ass. Whether she's more of a bad ass than you are depends on whether you....

Rebecca Soffer's passion is palpable, be it for Latin culture, community building, Olympic level table tennis, or pop culture. In a world which often rewards narrowly focused expertise, Soffer found the best way to quench her diverse interests was journalism.

For years, animator Scott Bateman was best known for his left leaning political cartoons and animations featured on Salon and The Daily Kos. Frustrated by the state of politics, not to mention journalism, Bateman invented Disalmanac, that now spans a blog, Twitter, podcast, and book "Disalmanac: A Compendium of Fact-Like Facts." He also directed his first animated film Atom Age Vampire and a trailer for a Dinosaur Jr's album.

In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow revolutionized developmental psychology when he came up with the notion, Hierarchy of Needs. It was a simple theory, but not simplistic. Maslow broke down how humans must first fulfill basic physiological needs, like hunger, before progressing towards safety, and eventually self-actualization.

When Martin Scorsese wanted to audition Danny Burstein for the roll of Lolly Steinman in Boardwalk Empire, rumor has it Scorsese sent Danny a Vine. Well, Danny was joking, and his humor, accessibility and range as an actor is palpable. He's a quintessential character actor, which means most people don't recognize him as Burstein morphs into whatever the role requires. His remarkable range is evident in the breadth of productions he takes on, be it Broadway musicals, indie films, opera at the Met, and if Burstein plays his cards right, a Steven Seagal film. Burstein is such a mensch, as you'll glean from our interview, that it's a trip to see him play darker roles, like his upcoming one in Cabaret.

These days UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade Theater) receives duly deserved praise for nurturing so many truly funny writers and performers, but the utterly hilarious Andrew Rannells honed his comedy chops in musical theater. His early turns in Hedwig, Avenue Q, Jersey Boys, and, of course, Pokemon Live! prepared Rannells for the rigors of performing six to eight shows a week.

If you want to know what it's really like to write for groundbreaking TV shows like Sex and the City and Modern Family, pen a memoir (or two), or just marry a hot stud, this interview is for you.

As soon as you hear therapist Esther Perel, you'll wish she was your shrink. My diagnosis? 1) Listen to our interview, as her humor, insight, is empathy is palpable. 2) Read her book Mating in Captivity which analyzes love, monogamy, and sex. 3) Live happily ever after, well, relatively speaking.