Interview with the Artist

Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Those are just some of life's big questions asked (and answered) in the book 11 Days in May. It's about one man's journey to understand himself and the world around him, and the wisdom he encounters along the way. That man is JD Messinger, and he has a remarkable story. From the outside everything in his life looked perfect (great job, a beautiful family), but it would take a major crisis for him to realize he was going down the wrong path. This conversation is about that realization. For more info about JD and 11 Days in May, visit jdmessinger.com.

Welcome back to Interview with the Artist!! We lost a great comedic talent this month. David Brenner, who some have credited as the originator of observational comedy, died at his home in New York City at the age of 78. Master of the adlib, no one could shoot from the hip quite like him, and no one sat on Johnny Carson's couch more times than he did. I had the great pleasure of interviewing David a number of times over the years, and this is our very first conversation, which I always remember fondly. RIP David Brenner. Thanks for the laughter.

Rita Rudner isn't known as the queen of one-liners for nothing. Tune in to hear Rita talk dancing, end-of-summer sales in Westhampton Beach, her love of dresses, men, Botox in Las Vegas, , and how an in-flight meeting with Ben Stein lead her to adopt a child- all while delivering one zinger after another and cracking me the hell up. If you need a good laugh, (or twenty), listen to this episode. You won't be disappointed.

Sandra Bernhard is famous for many things: her roles in Scorsese's The King of Comedy and TV's Roseanne, her one-woman shows, her relationship with Madonna in the 80s, her outspoken activism, and putting drag queens on the map. In town to perform her latest one-woman show I Love Being Me Don't You?, she called in to talk about her love of fashion, her childhood dreams of being a "comedienne", where her confidence comes from, how being a mother has changed her and why she doesn't love twitter, but tweets anyway. Oh-- and it's pronounced Sandra, like SAND-ra, or ANN-dra... not Sahhdra like BLOND-dra. Just tune in, you'll understand.

Turns out I did not have to be blitzed to have an enjoyable conversation with Cheech Marin. Of course everyone knows him as one half of Cheech & Chong, but he's also an art collector with one of the largest private collections of Chicano art in the United States. While in town being honored as Art Hampton's Patron of the Year at their international fine arts fair, he stopped by the studio to talk art, improvisation, getting his start in a topless bar in Vancouver, why he and Tommy broke up and how they got back together, why marijuana needs to be legalized, what it means to him to be Chicano and how he got the name Cheech. Plus-- the conception of 'Dave', Sister Mary Elephant and more.

Maybe because it was hard to get her on the phone I expected someone different, someone more high maintenance. But Sally Struthers was warm, wacky and wonderful to be with. There were two things I was told not to bring up during the interview: Rob Reiner, and her much much-publicized salary dispute on All in the Family, but she ended up bringing up both subjects herself. She called me while on Long Island starring in 9 to 5: the musical (she jumped at the chance to do this, having starred in the ABC TV series in 1982), and talked about getting older, why she hates Los Angeles but can't leave, what happened when her mother saw her nude scene with Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces, and how she feels about being the object of so much ridicule. You might be surprised by what she has to say.

Mario Cantone did not let our interview get in the way of his beauty rest. He called me from the comfort of his bed on a Tuesday afternoon in May to discuss Steampipe Alley (the children's show that broke him into show business), Sex and the City, the impressions he was afraid to do but did anyway, his hatred of reality TV, and what it was like to come out in the 70s and be an openly gay comic in the 80s. Does Mario break into song in the middle of the interview? Does he berate me for neglecting to mention his multiple appearances on The View? Tune in to find out. And follow us on twitter @walkeronradio