House of Crouse

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet best-selling author Michael Harris. In his new book, “All We Want: Building the Life We Cannot Buy,” Michael has a look at consumer culture and finds a roadmap to a healthier future through three realms… the worlds of Craft, the Sublime, and Care.

Then, “The Montague Twins: The Witch's Hand,” is a graphic novel written by Nathan Page and illustrated by Drew Shannon, and available now wherever you buy fine books. The book, the first in a series for Young Adult readers, tells the story of twins Al and Pete, their stepsister Charlie, and Rowan, their tutor in the ways of magic. It is a return to the old school amateur detective genre with a refreshing modern update that tells a compelling story with important social awareness.

This week on the Richard Crouse Podcast we meet Andrew Phung. You know him as the award-winning actor who played Kimchee in the CBC Television sitcom "Kim's Convenience," and have seen him in guest starring roles on shows like "The Beaverton" and "Wynonna Earp" but he’s back with a new show, now playing on CBC. On "Run the Burbs," he plays Andrew Pham, a suburban stay-at-home dad of two children whose wife is an entrepreneur.

Then, we spend some time with Kaya Usher. Her new album, "All This Is," was recorded with two of her children, fulfilling a dream that she and her husband, the late Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie, shared… to create music as a family. The result is an album of songs that represent not only an artistic awakening but personal healing.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet the cast of a new CBC Television show called “Son of a Critch.” If you are a fan of the political commentary and social satire of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes,” you already know Mark Critch. Since 2003 he has starred on the political parody show. He’s photo-bombed Justin Trudeau, offered Pamela Anderson a million dollars to stop acting, and poked fun at characters like Rex Murphy, Don Cherry and Donald Trump.

His latest project is much more personal. A couple years ago Mark wrote a warm and funny look back at his formative years, growing up in St. John’s, Newfoundland in the 80s called “Son of a Critch: A Childish Newfoundland Memoir”. That bestseller is now the basis of Son of a Critch, which airs on CBC television and CBC Gem on Tuesday nights.

Later in the show we’ll meet Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, who plays the eleven year old Mark on the show, and we’ll spend some time with the legendary actor Malcolm McDowell, the star of “A Clockwork Orange” and so many other films, and who plays Mark’s grandfather. McDowell talks about his new found love of Newfoundland and offers advice to young actors.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet the "Marie Kondo of Digital." Her name is Christina Crook, and she has written a thoughtful book about realigning our energies, increasing intentionality, and prioritizing our well-being in the digital age. She is a pioneer and leading voice in the field of digital wellbeing and the author of a new book called "Good Burdens: How to Live Joyfully in the Digital Age.'

Then, musician Jon Batiste stops by. Perhaps you know him as the bandleader on the "Stephen Colbert Show," or as an Oscar winner for his score to the Pixar movie "Soul." Today we find out about his album “We Are,” which is available now wherever you buy fine music.

Then we meet Robert Matzen, acclaimed Old Hollywood biographer and author of the new book "Warrior: Audrey Hepburn," which you may have seen featured in a four-page spread in a recent issue of "People" magazine.

Finally, author Jaime Weinman stops by. His new book is Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite "The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes,“ an affectionate tribute and history of the home of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester and Tweety Pie, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Porky Pig, and many other iconic cartoon characters.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show Podcast we get to know legendary film critic Leonard Maltin. His new book “Starstruck: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood,” is on shelves now and details his 30-year run on Entertainment Tonight, his interviews with golden age of Hollywood elites like Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Sean Connery, Shirley Temple, and Jimmy Stewart and insights into moviemaking with stories from the past, present, and future stars of film, like George Lucas, Kevin Feige of Marvel, Quentin Tarantino, and Guillermo del Toro.

Then, Helen Walsh, author of "Pull Focus: A Novel," a book that has been described as “Part Real Housewives, part grown-up Nancy Drew,” stops by. Set within the inner workings of an international film festival, the novel details Hollywood power brokers, Russian oil speculators, Chinese propagandists, and a board chair who seemingly has it out for Jane, the book’s main character.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast. If you are like my wife and I, for the better part of fifteen years, most Tuesday nights you would tune into "The Rick Mercer Report," hosted by my guest, Rick Mercer. Part travelogue of our beautiful country, part news satire, part sketch comedy. He golfed with Anne Murray, climbed to the top of a roller-coaster at Canada's Wonderland and even skinny dipped with Bob Rae. Find out how that happened later in the show.

And don’t forget the Rants, his minute long diatribes about whatever was on his mind that week.

Then, after fifteen years he quit "The Rick Mercer Report," a job he called, the best job in the world, at the peak of its popularity. Why? We'll find out.

After that he did stand up and then Covid-19 struck. In lockdown, after four books based on content from the shows, he began writing his most personal story yet. His story. The result is a revealing and hilarious memoir called "Talking to Canadians: A Memoir" and it is available now wherever you buy fine books.

Stick around… we talk about everything from why the critics called one of his first shows it We Have No Pity for the Audience to turning down a big money offer to head to the United States to host a game show to why his drama teacher told him quitting the school drama club would be, “one of the biggest mistakes of his life.’”

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Danny Goldberg. Regular listeners of this show may remember my interview with him from a year or two back when we talked about his rock ‘n roll life as the manager of Nirvana, the publicist for Led Zeppelin and record a company executive who released Stevie Nicks’ solo records and Warren Zevon's Grammy winning "The Wind," Steve Earle’s Grammy winner "The Revolution Starts Now," and the Baha Men’s "Who Let The Dogs Out."

What you may not know is that he is also an activist, sitting on the Board of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the Nation Institute and Americans for Peace Now and many others.

His new book is "Bloody Crossroads 2020: Art, Entertainment, and Resistance to Trump." It’s available wherever you buy fine books and takes a look at how singer Taylor Swift became an unwitting idol of the neo-Nazi movement, explores the impact of entertainment celebrities in communications, fundraising, and campaigning to support the election of Joe Biden and much more.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet “Furious Devotion: The Authorised Story of Shane MacGowan” author Richard Balls. The best-selling biography is a portrait either in self-destruction or the indomitable spirit of someone whose demeanor suggests a hangover come to life. It is also a vivid look at the life of the complex, contradictory and talented man best known as the lead singer of The Pogues.

Then, we’ll get to know Indigenous singer-songwriter Anyma, whose debut, 6-track EP “Humans” offers a glimpse into what she sees at the center of her balance – art, community, introspection, love, nature, wisdom, and humanity.

On this week's Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Commander Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian to walk in space and served as commander of the International Space Station.

Now, on earth, the astronaut and bestselling author, is turning to fiction for the first time. James Cameron, director of “Avatar” and “Titanic,” called Hadfield’s new book “The Apollo Murders,” “Nail-biting. I couldn’t put it down,” he said.

The new thriller is set in 1973. In this alternative history the Cold War is still burning hot and is now being projected into space with the Soviets building an orbiting spy station while looking to mine the moon for precious radioactive minerals. With Apollo 18 (the real Apollo missions ended at 17) the U.S. is out to frustrate these plans. It may be that the Soviets are one step ahead though, as they already have someone inside the Apollo program.

Hadfield is also the author of the memoir An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, the children's book The Darkest Dark, which was illustrated by the Fan Brothers, and the photo book You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes.

Commander Chris Hadfield joins me via Zoom from Las Vegas to talk about his new book The Apollo Murders.

Then, Katherine Ryan is a Canadian who moved to England in 2007 with a boyfriend who wanted to start a comedy career in the UK. His comedy career didn’t take off, but hers did, and now Brits know and love her from the many panel shows she's appeared on, her wildly popular no-filter podcast Telling Everybody Everything or her Netflix comedy-drama The Duchess.

She also has a new series, Backstage with Katherine Ryan, which will showcase live stand-up sets from beloved and emerging comedians. It’s slated to premiere on Amazon Prime in 2022.

She's known for being hilariously herself in a non-apologetic way, so it doesn’t comes as a surprise that her latest project, a memoir that details her rise to U.K. fame and her Canadian life before that as a Hooters waiter and Ryerson student, and before that her life in Sarnia, is called The Audacity.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we celebrate Halloween with two of the stars of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,”Patricia Quinn and Nell Campbell. They both appeared in the original stage production and the movie, as castle maid Magenta and the tap-dancing Columbia respectively.

Then, we’ll spend some time with horror maestro Guillermo Del Toro, director of movies you love like Academy Award winning “The Shape of Water,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Devil’s Backbone,” “Pacific Rim” and many more. In a conversation we recorded nine years ago, we talk about why he is drawn to the horror genre, why children play such large roles in his films and much more.

Land finally, I recommend “Let Me In,” a great vampire movie you may not have seen… something fun to watch this weekend. We’ll also meet the director, Matt Reeves, who’ll talk about the movie and why we get scared when we go to the movies.