Interview with the Artist

Pioneer psychotherapist, renowned global teacher and performer Susan Lambert, LCSW, joins us on the show this week to help Walker through a tough time, and offer some insights into the artistic temperament, the creative impulse and the human condition. With 20 years professional experience, her therapeutic process combines cognitive-behavioral and insight-oriented work, while helping her clients move towards self awareness, self-compassion, balance and fulfillment. As an artist herself, Susan specializes in working with creative people, and has been recognized for her innovative 4 week topic-focused workshops, and her unique Online therapy methodology. She is based in New York City and Athens Greece. In this interview/one-hour session, Susan and Walker talk about the purpose of therapy, how to relate to one's own sensitivity, quieting the reactive mind and reframing how we think about "rejection", the importance of creating our own work, finding artistic partnerships that will support us, and how to expel shame and stigma from the subject of mental illness.

Dubbed ‘Master of the Telecaster’, Jim Weider is a guitarist, best known for his tenure with Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee: The Band. He joined the group in 1985, (replacing Robbie Robertson) and for 15 years toured internationally and appeared on numerous albums, films and videos with original members Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko. Throughout his career, he’s played and recorded with Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Dr. John, Los Lobos, Mavis Staples, Bob Weir and Taj Mahal, among many others. His albums include Percolator (2005), with the Jim Weider Band: Remedy, with Jim Weider & the Honkeytonk Gurus: Big Foot, and with Jim Weider's Project Percolator: Live at Boothbay Opera House, Live at Olde Mistick Village Performing Arts Center and Live at Mystic Blues Festival 2013.A master of classic telecaster and traditional blues slide guitar techniques, he’s admired for his distinctive tone, improvisational prowess and mesmerizing guitar solos. He is one of a select group of musicians to have an endorsement from Fender, and has built an international reputation among fellow musicians worldwide.

This Friday night, Jim will be playing with The Weight at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY, featuring: Randy Ciarlante, Brian Mitchell, Byron Isaacs and Marty Grebb. For tickets and more information, visit baystreet.org For more info about Jim, visit jimweider.com

Casey Wilson is an actress and writer, best known for playing Annie on NBC's Marry Me and Penny on the ABC comedy Happy Endings. For two seasons, she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live. On the big screen, she's appeared in David Fincher's Oscar-nominated film Gone Girl, Julie & Julia, The Guilt Trip, and Christopher Guest's For Your Consideration. With her writing partner June Diane Raphael, she co-wrote the screenplay for Bride Wars, (starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway), and the comedy Ass Backwards, in which Casey and Diane both starred. She and her husband, comedy writer David Caspe live in Los Angeles and are pregnant with their first child.In this conversation, Casey talks about Marry Me, being pregnant, what it's like to work with your husband, why angry people are awesome, how therapy has helped her live a more balanced life, why crazy women are SO MUCH fun to play, and what she really went through after getting let go from SNL. Plus- she clears up rumors about Happy Endings coming back to ABC and admits that the April Fools prank kinda pissed her off.

Lemon Andersen is a Tony Award winning playwright, poet and spoken word artist. Frequently featured on HBO's Def Poetry over the course of six seasons, he also starred in the original cast of Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, which earned him a Tony Award and Drama Desk nomination. As a spoken word artist, he's performed to sold-out crowds at Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the Apollo Theater, Chicago Theater, and Hollywood’s Kodak Theater; and his one-man show County of Kings: The Beautiful Struggle had a critically acclaimed off-Broadway run at the Public Theater. On the big screen Lemon appeared in The Soloist with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx, and he's made four movies with Spike Lee, including Sucker Free City, She Hate Me, Miracle at St. Anna and Inside Man. His 2011 TED Talk: Please don't take my Air Jordans won him widespread attention and praise. As a playwright, Lemon's new play ToasT is a tribute to the black oral narrative tradition of 'toasting', and takes place at Attica prison right before the 1971 uprising. The play has been commissioned by the Sundance Institute and will open at the Public Theater for a limited run on April 21st. For tickets, visit publictheater.com In this conversation, Lemon talks about growing up in poverty, and how PBS and a ballet program opened up a world of possibilities to him as a kid; why prison was the beginning of his training as a poet, the real life characters who inspired his new play ToasT and the importance of having creative control over one's work.

Ali Wentworth is an actress, comedienne and author. TV Viewers may remember her as Jerry's girlfriend "Schmoopie" on the famous soup nazi episode of Seinfeld, or as a cast member on In Living Color, where she became known for her impersonations of Cher, Hillary Clinton, Princess Diana, Brooke Shields, Lisa Marie Presley and Sharon Stone, among others. For 3 seasons she starred as Dr. Elizabeth Goode, a self-obsessed therapist-to-the-stars in the Starz comedy Head Case, and she can currently be seen hosting Daily Shot, a short daily talk show segment on Yahoo! Shine. On the BIG screen she's appeared in Jerry Maguire, Office Space and It's Complicated. She and her husband George Stephanopoulos have two children and split their time between Manhattan and the Hamptons. In this conversation Ali talks about being a wasp, how growing up in a political family shaped her sense of humor and desire to push the envelope, how her experiences with horrible therapists inspired her character on Head Case and why George Stephanopoulos is the perfect man for her.

Kate Mueth is an actress, director, choreographer and producer. In 2008, she founded Neo-Political Cowgirls, a women’s dance theatre company committed to making exciting and provocative theatrical work for and about women. In the fall of 2015, her show EVE will be opening both Off-Broadway and in Berlin. She is also founder of the Mulford Repertory Theatre Company, a summer Equity company in East Hampton, NY. In this second half of our conversation, Kate talks about the future of experimental theater; why an immersive theater experience is important to a world disconnected by technology; how the language of mythology can lead to a deeper understanding of human motivation, and the universal forces that make up the whole self; and why her intention is never to make a social or political statement but always to raise questions. #godeep

Kate Mueth is an actress, director, choreographer and producer. In 2008, she founded Neo-Political Cowgirls, a women’s dance theatre company committed to making exciting and provocative theatrical work for and about women. In the fall of 2015, her show EVE will be opening both Off-Broadway and in Berlin. She is also founder of the Mulford Repertory Theatre Company, a summer Equity company in East Hampton, NY. Kate's directing credits include: Wody Girtch Mama, Trojan Women Redux, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Sylvia, All in the Timing, Miss Electricity and The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife among many others; and she's worked with everyone from Blythe Danner to Tony Walton to Tovah Feldshuh to Peter Boyle. She has appeared at Lincoln Center with New York City Opera in the world premiere of Monodramas and continues to work in creating exceptional, contemporary dance, theater and film work based in the Hamptons and NYC. In the first of our two-part conversation, Kate talks about how her formative years shaped her as a storyteller, why finding your voice has the power to heal, what is means to feel fulfilled and supported as an artist, and how- on and off stage- she defiantly breaks down walls by letting her imagination lead the way, and creating work for women that honors the feminine within us all. It gets deep. So get comfortable, press play and hang onto your f***ing hat/pants.

Rainbow Connectionby Paul Williams and Kenneth AscherArrangement by Jeff AllegueGuitar and Banjo- Jeff AllegueVocals- Walker Vreeland

Comedian Colin Quinn is best known for his work on Saturday Night Live, (where he worked as a writer, cast member and host of Weekend Update from 1995 until 2000), and for his presence on Twitter, where he posts self-deprecating, abrasive and intentionally provoking statements about fame and life. His show Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn ran on Comedy Central from 2002-2004, and he's been seen in both Grown Ups films with Adam Sandler, on Caroline's Comedy Hour, and on HBO's Girls. More recently Colin has been writing and performing two one-man shows: Long Story Short, which offers a comedic take on world history, and Unconstitutional, which is based on the US Constitution. Currently, Colin is writing and starring in the online web series Cop Show- a parody of popular New York City crime dramas. He's been listed as No. 56 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all-time. In this conversation, Colin talks about the SNL days, his take on evolution, his penchant for the politically incorrect, why NOT joking about someone is often an indication of bias and why it sucks to be more famous than you are rich.

Jeff Allegue plays Romance on Interview with the Artist.