House of Crouse

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Deanna Marigliese, the Canadian character art director for Pixar Animation Studios. Today we’ll talk about LUCA, a movie many families will enjoy together this weekend on Disney+.

Then, comedian, host of CBC Radio’s The Debaters he’s a Dad to Scarlett and Norah, Steve Patterson joins us to talk about his first book, "Dad Up!" It’s getting great reviews… Denise Donlan said it should come with ‘READ BEFORE PARENTING’ sticker and Brent Butt, creator of Corner Gas, called it a touching and very funny read.

Finally, Dan Robson is the author of numerous books about sports, like biographies of former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn and legendary player Johnny Bower but has now turned the focus on his own life, specifically his relationship with his late father Rick. "Measuring Up: A Memoir Of Fathers And Sons" is a tender memoir of fathers and sons, love and loss, and learning to fill boots a size too big.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Griffin Poetry Prize winner Jordan Abel. He joins me to talk about his intriguing new book Nishga. It’s a groundbreaking, deeply personal, and devastating autobiographical meditation that attempts to address the complicated legacies of Canada's residential school system and contemporary Indigenous existence.

Drawing on autobiography and a series of interconnected documents (including pieces of memoir, transcriptions of talks, and photography), NISHGA is a book about confronting difficult truths and it is about how both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples engage with a history of colonial violence that is quite often rendered invisible.

Then, veteran New Yorker staff writer Tony Hiss joins me on Zoom from his home in New York City’s East Village. His new book, "Rescuing the Planet" is an urgent call to protect 50 percent of the earth's land by 2050--thereby saving millions of its species--and a candid assessment of the health of our planet and our role in conserving it.

On this week's Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet two of the stars of "In the Heights," the highly anticipated film adaptation of the Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway smash hit show. You know Jimmy Smits from everything from "NYPD Blue" and "The West Wing" to "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" and "How To Get Away with Murder." He plays Kevin Rosario, owner of his own taxi cab service in In the heights. Joining him is Olga Merediz, who originated the role of "Abuela" Claudia, the loving matriarch of the barrio, in the Broadway show and now stars in the movie.

Then, I have a no holds barred conversation with musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist Moby. He has a new album called "Reprise" and a documentary called "Moby Doc" available right now. in the interview we talk about everything from using alcohol and drugs in a misguided attempt to find happiness to screwing up the courage to ask David Bowie to duet on Heroes… on acoustic guitar in his living room!

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet Brad Fraser. Brad is one of Canada's best-known playwrights, his work, plays like Poor Super Man, Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love and Kill Me now have been produced worldwide, in many languages, with highly successful runs in Toronto, New York, Chicago, Milan, Sydney and London… they’ve been adapted into films and named the best plays of their year by Time Magazine.

His plays often include frank depictions of sexuality, drug use and violence… and so does his newest work, a memoir called All the Rage, now available wherever you buy fine books.

Then Chris Wilson stops by to talk about his new podcast… it’s called This Time It's Different. The premise here is that each episode they do a completely different genre of either a popular existing podcast format OR they will create their own new format.

We can't go to bars right now, so here is a chance to safely soak up the ambiance of the world's greatest watering holes. Last Call is a podcast on the stories behind the places where everybody knows your name.

I’m Richard Crouse. I tended bar for seventeen years everywhere from hot spots to dive bars and I thought I had seen it all…

In my life behind bars I witnessed everything from first dates and marriage proposals to knife fights and a woman who brought a pet monkey in for a drink.

Nothing could surprise me…

Or so I thought…

Then I heard about how a lion who visited Harry’s New York Bar in Paris inspired Ernest Hemingway to write one of his greatest novels. And why there are century old chicken bones hanging above the beer-stained bar at McSorleys in New York City. And how Vincent Sardi refused to do business with the mob during Prohibition, so his famous Broadway Restaurant didn’t serve alcohol until the 21st amendment passed, six year after they first opened…

With the help of the Last Call radio players, music and interviews, I bring these stories, and many more, to life in my podcast Last Call. It’s fact folded in with a sprinkling of fiction, because, well, who doesn’t exaggerate after a few drinks?

So, open that bottle of wine or crack that beer and join me for an intoxicating guided tour of some of the strange stories from some of the world’s best watering holes.

On this episode of the Richard Crouse Show we meet Louise Johnson, a writer whose work has been published in The Globe & Mail, The Huffington Post, Darling Magazine and more. Her debut book, “Behind the Red Door: How Elizabeth Arden’s Legacy Inspired My Coming-of-Age in the Beauty Industry,” is equal parts educational biography of a woman whose name we know, but whose biography has been largely lost to time and memoir. Louise says it is a playbook for any woman looking to reconnect with her most authentic self and create a successful, fulfilled, beautiful life on her own terms.

Then, later in the show Noa Daniel stops by. Noa is a classroom teacher, consultant, podcaster and keynote speaker, and writer. Her third children’s book, “Strum and The Wild Turkeys,” is a book about finding your voice through a sense of belonging and the transformational power of music and was inspired by a true story.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show, a real-life story that has all the hallmarks of tabloid fiction. New Yorker magazine staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe received international acclaim for his 2019 investigation of the Troubles in Ireland, and now, in “Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty,” he turns his sights to three generations of the Sackler family, the dynasty behind Purdue Pharma — they manufacture Oxycontin — and the modern opioid crisis.

Then, The Social host Cynthia Loyst stops by to talk aboput her book Find Your Pleasure: The Art of Living a More Joyful Life. We’ll talk about how to take the guilt out of pleasure and get to the heart of what you need and want in all aspects of life.

And finally, we celebrate Asian Heritage Month in Canada with Allan Cho And JF Garrard, the editors of “Belief,” a new collection of Asian writing from the online magazine “Ricepaper.”

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet author Jeff Vandermeer. He’s been called "one of the most remarkable practitioners of the literary fantastic in America today.” His novel, “Annihilation,” won many awards and was adapted into a Hollywood film starring Natalie Portman. Several other adaptations of his novels will soon be coming your way from Netflix soon… but today we’re here to talk about his latest novel “Hummingbird Salamander,” a speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.

Also stopping by today is Jonathan Meiburg… you may know him as the singer of the Austin, Texas based indie rock band Shearwater, but he’s not here today to talk about music. Today we’ll talk about his other passion, a rare bird known as the striated caracaras and his book, “A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey.”

Then Sonia Manzano, who played Maria on the classic kid’s show “Sesame Street,” for 44 years stops by to talk about a new documentary called “Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street.”

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Oscar nominated musician, bandleader, and television personality Jon Batiste. We’ll talk sbout his new album “We Are,” which was just one of the many projects he’s had going during our last locked down year. From bandleader on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” to scoring the Pixar animated movie “Soul” to writing and recording this album he’s been a busy guy. We start the interview by talking about his earliest musical memories.

Then, Golden Arm is a buddy comedy that follows a tough female trucker who trains her timid best friend to compete in the National Ladies Arm Wrestling Championship. My guest in this segment Dot-Marie Jones plays Big Sexy, the rough-and-tumble mentor who puts her trainees through a rigorous schooling in order to create a winner.

You know Dot-Marie from her work on the television shows like Glee, which earned her three Emmy nominations, and Lizzie McGuire and movies like Material Girls… but did you know she is also a 15-time world arm wrestling champion?

Then we wrap with Gordon Deppe, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for The Spoons. The writer of big hits like "Romantic Traffic," "Nova Heart," "Old Emotions" and "Tell No Lies" is back with a new song called “A Better Ending” co-written virtually with people all across the country.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor. His new solo album Share the Love is available now and has a fascinating backstory from studio to stores.

We’ll also meet June Millington, guitar player for the best 1970s band you’ve never heard of. Formed in 1969, Fanny were the first all-female rock band to release an album on a major label and no less an authority than David Bowie called Fanny one of the finest bands of their time. “They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever,” he said. “It just wasn’t their time.” We talk about the band and the new documentary "Fanny: The Right to Rock."

Then we meet Craig Pryce, director of "The Marijuana Chronicles." It is the fascinating true story of a 98-day marijuana-based medical experiment to assess the scientific, social and physical effects of marijuana use on a group of 20 women that took place in Canada in 1972.