Mr. Media Interviews by Bob Andelman

From 2012: How to describe Minsky’s art? Maybe by example:

• For a celebration of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four, he constructed a bookbinding with an LCD monitor built into the leather cover and a miniature video camera hidden within.

• The Geography of Hunger is encased by what looks like human teeth. Message received, right?

• A collection of works by poet Patti Smith, titled Babel, is held together with safety pins, the symbol of the early punk movement.

From 2010: If you’re enjoying Mr. Media on video, you already know that the camera loves America Olivo. For those of you listening to the radio version of the show, open a new window on your browser and search “America Olivo” on Google and “Images.” Go ahead, you know you want to. Playboy readers will recognize her as the magazine’s June 2009 cover girl in a delightfully ripped white t-shirt alongside the apt headline, “America the Beautiful.”

From 2011: America Olivo is full of surprises.The first time she was on the show, ostensibly to promote a new movie called Circle, she did the interview from the basement of the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway. Upstairs, rehearsals were underway for a new musical directed by Julie Taymor and featuring music by Bono and The Edge. You may have heard of it: “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”

From 2015: I knew I wanted to talk to Chelsey Reist when I watched her 4-minute “sizzle” reel on IMDB.com. The first time, I watched with the sound off and it made me laugh. In a good way. This ambitious young actress has been in every kind of stereotypical role old Hollywood puts someone of her age and gender into, from slutty woman in danger to seductress, from lesbian to straight – and back again.

From 1983: The most difficult part of talking with comedian Don Novello was deciding if he was going to be Novello or the prodigal bad boy of the gospel, Father Guido Sarducci. I assumed he could be both, or just Novello. Please eavesdrop on some of our opening banter.

From 2011: For many years, original Batman artist Jerry Robinson was one of the forgotten men in comics. Little known within the industry for all the years he toiled in obscurity, drawing and creating Batman comic books under the byline of the character’s creator, Bob Kane, Robinson emerged from the shadows to become a celebrated and recognized talent in his own right.He is perhaps best known as the actual creator of the greatest supervillain ever, The Joker, and Robin the Boy Wonder.

NOTE: Rose Marie, comedienne and co-star of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "The Doris Day Show," died today, December 28, 2017 at age 94. She was truly one-of-a-kind and I greatly enjoyed my time with her as you can hear during this 2012 podcast interview! -- Bob Andelman

From 2010: The first time Jimmy Barrett appeared in a second season episode of AMC’s Emmy Award-winning series “Mad Men,” was like a sock in the jaw. Who was this 1960s potato chip shilling, insult comedian? Why was he so rude all the time? And how dare he shake up ad man Don Draper’s world? Every time Barrett—played to crunchy perfection by actor Patrick Fischler—was in an episode, he turned the show upside-down and inside-out. So, of course, Draper slept with his wife!

From 2011: Candy Golde had me at “Bun E. Carlos.” If this band is intriguing enough for the drummer of Cheap Trick to take a flyer on, who am I not to be curious? The band, which includes John Stirratt of Wilco, Rick Rizzo of Eleventh Dream Day and my guest, Nick Tremulis, made its debut at South By Southwest in Austin this past March. Its self-titled debut EP, Candy Golde, is now available for download on iTunes and Amazon.

From 2009: Sam Haskell was suspended and subsequently resigned as CEO of the Miss America Organization on December 23, 2017, following the release of emails in which he and other leaders of the organization allegedly criticized past winners in coarse terms. This interview was originally posted June 2, 2009.