House of Crouse

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show we meet Matt Cahill. He has a private practice and is a member of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and is a writer whose debut novel, “The Society of Experience,” was picked as a must-read by Harper's Bazaar magazine. His short stories have been widely published and his essay “On Madness Within Imagination” was selected for Best Canadian Essays 2017. His new book, “Radioland,” is a mesmerizing literary thriller, where music, fame and magic wind together in an eerie mystery.

Then, Robert Harris, bestselling author of “Fatherland,” “The Ghostwriter,” “Munich” and “Conclave.” His new novel, “Act of Oblivion,” is an historical novel that brilliantly imagines one of the greatest manhunts in history: the search for two Englishmen involved in the killing of King Charles I and the relentless foe on their trail.

Then, word legend gets kicked around a lot, but in this case it really fits. Stan Lee made an indelible mark on popular culture by co-creating some of the most popular characters in comic books. Without him there’d be no superheroes like Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Black Panther and the list goes on and on. He is a legend and I got the chance to speak with him on the phone a couple of years before he passed away in 2018. He was in fine form, it's a really fun interview and I wanted to share it with you again.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet actor and JUNO nominated, jazz singer and songwriter Alex Bird. The subject line of the email from his publicist really caught my eye. “Move over Bublé,” it read, “JUNO-nominated artist Alex Bird has released Canada's FIRST Thanksgiving song.” That’s right, Thanksgiving finally has its own anthem courtesy of Alex Bird. In this interview we talk about the inspiration behind “The Sweetest Moments” and why Canada deserved a Thanksgiving song of its very own.

We’ll also meet Mark Critch, star of the hit CBC sitcom “Son of a Critch” and “This Hour Has 22 Minutes,” which celebrates its 30th season this year. We talk about his time spent on the political satire, and some of his antics, like photo-bombing Justin Trudeau, interviewing Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle (while impersonating Alan Doyle), offering Pamela Anderson a million dollars to stop acting, and crashing a White House briefing.

Then, since publishing his first novel in 1968 John Irving has been a literary force. He is the Academy Award winning author of The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany and many others which have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Today we talk about his latest novel The Last Chairlift, the epic story of a slalom skier with an eventful past, that displays his trademarked imagination, storytelling gifts, and intelligence.

On this episode of the Richard Crouse Show we get to know Bonnie Stern. If you are a foodie, or even if you aren’t, you already know Bonnie. She has studied and taught cooking around the world, hosted three national cooking shows, and for 17 years, wrote a weekly column for the National Post. Her latest cookbook, “Don't Worry, Just Cook,” co-written with her daughter Anna Rupert, aims to take the intimidation factor that some people feel every time they step into the kitchen. Filled with delicious, widely appealing, and timeless recipes, the book is perfect, not only for home cooks but anyone who loves food.

Then we meet actor and writer Jim Piddock. For four decades he has appeared on Broadway and on the big and small screen in movies like “Independence Day,” “Lethal Weapon 2,” “A Mighty Wind,” “Austin Powers in Goldmember” and shows like “Modern Family,” “Mom,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Lost,” Monk,” “Friends”… the list goes on. Jim looks back at his career in a funny and frank new memoir called “Caught With My Pants Down & Other Tales From A Life In Hollywood.” It is available now wherever fine books are sold.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet director Brett Morgen and producer Debra Eisenstadt of the film “Moonage Daydream,” an impressionistic look at the life and work of iconic artist David Bowie, now playing in theatres.

Bowie led one of the most eclectic show business careers of the last sixty years. He was a seeker, an artist whose work flirted with everything from mime and music to acting and art. He was never less than a free thinker who valued artistic joy over fame.

Morgen’s film emphasizes the restless spirit that defined David Bowie, but don’t buy a ticket expecting a cradle-to-grave “Behind the Music” style expose. This is an experience, a collage of sound and vision, that over the two-and-a-quarter-hour running time creates a portrait that doesn’t attempt to define the artist as much as it does to illuminate his ever-changing philosophical mindset. To achieve this Morgen mixes never-before-seen footage and performances, forty remastered songs spanning the singer’s entire career and, as narration, excerpts from fifty years of Bowie interviews.

There are no talking heads or re-enactments, and neither is this one long music video. It’s an ephemeral collection of ideas and images with a solid intellectual underpinning, a philosophical edge and an emotional component for diehard Bowie fans. It also has a good beat and you can dance to it… most of it anyway.

We also get to know Ke Huy Quan, the star of the most aptly titled movie of the year, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” You can say a lot of things about “Everything Everywhere All At Once” but you can’t say you’ve ever seen anything quite like it before. An eye-popping reflection on the power of kindness and love to heal the world’s problems, it is exhilarating that mixes and matches everything from family drama and tax problems to martial-arts and metaphysics into a whimsical story that moves at the speed of light. The result is a singular film that milks intentionality out of its madness.

What does all that mean? Stick around as I chat with one of the film’s stars Ke Huy Quan. You know him as Short Round, the plucky kid companion to Indiana Jones in The Temple Of Doom and from a role in cult classic comedy-adventure The Goonies. We’ll talk about why he chose to return to acting in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” after a twenty-year break from Hollywood.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show we meet Nuela Charles. This year the SOCAN Foundation announced Nuela as a winner of the second annual Her Music Awards. She has amassed over 4 million career streams to date and over 738,309 total YouTube worldwide views and now, her self-titled album is available on all streaming platforms.

Over the last few years, Nuela has brought her distinct voice to various stages, having performed at Reeperbahn Festival in Germany, London, UK, and has shared the stage as direct support for some of Canada’s musical icons including Sam Roberts Band, Jann Arden and Stars.

Then, we’ll meet Barbie Latza Nadeau. She has worked as the Rome bureau chief for Newsweek Magazine and currently holds that position for The Daily Beast. She is an on-air contributor for CNN and a writer for Scientific American. She is also a true crime novelist, with a new book, The Godmother, about the rise of women in the mafia. Publishers Weekly calls it “A must for true crime fans,” and it is a great read.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show we meet Peter Hitchcock, director of ‘A Song For Us,’ a new film about a British folk singer who reconnects with her long-lost lover. The world of folk music is a subject Peter knows well. As a younger man he ran beatnik folk clubs in England and hired Paul Simon for a mere £20 when the future superstar was unknown in the UK. He also has a rich background in film, from working as an extra at age ten to working with Wes Craven and so much more.

Then, Ayan Tani and Émeraude Domingos Mbuku, co-directors of “Reel Black: Our Film Stories,” an exploration of Black Canadian filmmaking, you can see in person and on line at the 17th Annual CaribbeanTales International Film Festival, stop by. Find out more details at caribbeantalesfestival.com

Later in the show we’ll hear from some people you’ve been listening to you entire lives. The American TV Guide ranked Sharon, Lois and Bram the number two children’s entertainers of all time, just behind Fred Rogers. Sharon Hampson, the late Lois Lilenstein and Bram Morrison are iconic for generations of Canadians. Today, Sharon, Bram and Sharon’s daughter Randi join me to talk about their new picture book, Sharon, Lois & Bram’s One Elephant Went Out to Play, and we’ll reveal s tightly held secret… the true meaning of the word Skinnamarink!

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet director and actor Valerie Buhagiar. Her film “Carmen,” now in theatres and coming to VOD on September 30, is a new coming of age story set on the island of Malta, that sees the title character, played by “Kalifornication” star Natascha McElhone, rediscover her own life and desires after her brother, the village priest, passes away. It is an empathetic and optimistic movie about a second chance at living life to the fullest.

We’ll also meet actor Dylan Smith. You know him from his performances in films like 300, Total Recall, Murder on the Orient Express and many others. He will next be seen in Prime Video’s largest title to date, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” The series serves as a prequel to the events we all know from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and focuses on the forging of the Rings of Power and the One Ring in the Second Age. It begins it Prime Video run on September 2.

Then, I’ll tell you about “Elvis,” the film about the King of Rock and Roll from Moulin Rouge director Baz Lurhmann. It’s been a big hit in theatres and I caught up with director Baz Lurhmann and his stars Austin Butler, who hands in a terrific performance as Elvis and Olivia DeJong who plays Elvis’ wife, Priscilla. We talked about what the story of Elvis’s life can tell us about America, Priscilla’s role in the singer’s life and much more.

On this episode of the Richard Crouse Show we meet father and daughter Neil Osborne and singer/songwriter Kandle. Neil is the lead singer of 54-40, and has a remarkable catalogue of hit songs, including "Baby Ran," "I Go Blind," "Ocean Pearl" and the award-winning "Since When."

Kandle is a musician, singer and songwriter with a solo career, and has collaborated with her father in the past, but they’ve now officially formed their own band: a modern-day psychedelic blues rock duo called A Family Curse.

The A Family Curse collaboration actually began a few years ago when Neil and songwriter Danny Michel, recorded some instrumental jams together. But due to their busy schedules, the songs were left to collect dust until Neil sent them to Kandle. She added fresh new melody and lyrics and from there, Kandle and Neil decided to form the band and make an entire album.

Then, Kelly McCormack stops by. You know her as combative hockey player Betty-Anne on the hit show Letterkenny, but she is back in a new show now streaming on Amazon Prime. In “A League of Their Own” Kelly plays Jess, a shortstop from Moosejaw who utters the original film’s most famous line, there’s no crying in baseball.’

We round things out with Joy Fielding, the New York Times bestselling author called "an ingenious master of domestic suspense," joins me to talk about her new novel “The Housekeeper.” It’s a suspenseful story about a woman who hires a housekeeper to care for her aging parents--only to watch as she takes over their lives.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show, Zac Hanson, drummer of the multi-platinum band Hanson, visits on a quick stop between gigs to talk about tjeir new album "RGB," how he juggles having five kids with life on the road, Hop Jam, Hanson’s annual beer and music festival and why he thinks Hanson has always been a bit of an anomaly.

Then we’ll meet Award winning and bestselling Canadian author Lilian Nattel. Her new book “Only Sisters” follows the lives of two sisters: Joan, the reliable one who stayed behind to care for their widowed mother, and the globe-trotting Vivien. When Vivien dies while working in a remote village, Joan is pushed to impersonate her online, leaving Joan tangled between right and wrong and adventure and tragedy.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show, the Classic Rock Special! It’s August, and for many people the soundtrack to the late summer is classic rock, so I thought I’d take a trip through the vault and give some of my favorite interviews with classic rockers another spin.

We’ll meet Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen and bassist Tom Petersson who talk about the early days of the band and finding success in Japan. Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist and co-founding member of KISS stops by to talk about working with his former band, his new music and why he doesn’t approve of all of the KISS merchandise that features his image. Liberty DeVitto, author of the memoir Liberty: “Life, Billy and the Pursuit of Happiness” talks about the thirty years he spent playing drums for Billy Joel. We talk about how they met and get some inside scoop. For instance, did you know Only the Good Die Young was written as a reggae song? Finally, we meet John Lennon’s personal photographer Bob Gruen. The legendary photographer opens up about taking famous pictures of every rock ‘n roll star from David Bowie and Led Zeppelin to The Clash and The Sex Pistols.