Mr. Media Interviews by Bob Andelman

From 2009: Jon Rosenberg, you had me at the gray-skinned alien who said, “On our planet, people worship pancakes.” That’s the point—it was page three, I believe—that I realized that "Goats: Infinite Typewriters" was spinning out of control and I loved it. Rosenberg’s whack-a-doodle webcomic is my kind of strip. It’s got aliens, a chicken named Diablo, monkeys as assistant editors, bikers, alternate universes, good Hitler, a character coincidentally named Jon, and yes, even a goat.

From 2010: Am I the only one who, when "TGS" producer Pete Hornbergerwalks into and out of a scene on “30 Rock,” thinks of Johnny, the airport control worker in the Airplane! movies? That character, played by Stephen Stucker, stole many a scene Lloyd Bridges was in much the same way that Scott Adsit, who plays Pete, can tear away a moment from any character on the show with a sincerely played line of utter lunacy.

From 2012: Adventure? I’ve had adventures. There was that time in the hot air balloon in Brandon, Florida, for starters and, uh… Well, I guess that was about it. Oh, I’ve canoed, kayaked and fished – I do live in Florida, fer cryin’ out loud – but that’s the extent of my adventures. Terry Tomalin, however, has made a cottage industry of looking for fun above and below the Sunshine State’s surface. As Outdoors Editor for the Tampa Bay Times, he’s enjoyed a license to thrill for years.

From 2012: My suspicion is that restoring Jeff to normality was the show’s producers handing actor Scott Krinsky a parting gift. They had to know it might tough for him landing future roles with such a convincing portrayal of a loser and, I believe, gave his character back some semblence of normalcy to let future casting directors see Krinsky in a more employable light. But rather than guess, I’ll ask him.

From 2009: A Tony and Obie winning actor, writer and director, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, co-star on "Castle" with Nathan Fillion and Stand Katic, made his debut as a screenwriter with Lackawanna Blues, for which he received the Humanitas Prize, a Christopher Award, National Board of Review Honors, an NAACP Award and Emmy, Golden Globe and a WGA nomination.

From 2010: You might actually recognize Rib Hillis from a lot of places, from the soap opera "Port Charles" to the sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” in which he played one of Charlie Sheen’s mother’s playthings. But the one that rang true with the women in my family was when he played a masseuse in an episode of ABC’s “Ugly Betty."

From 2008: John Darnton is a 42-year New York Times veteran reporter, editor and foreign correspondent who was awarded two George Polk Awards for his coverage of Africa and Eastern Europe, and the Pulitzer Prize for his stories that were smuggled out of Poland during the period of martial law. He retired in 2005 and began teaching journalism at SUNY/New Paltz. And I’m guessing fewer co-workers at the old Grey Lady are on speaking terms with him, thanks to "Black & White and Dead All Over."

From 2011: I’ll wager that the change in fortunes for fictional Morgan Grimes on "Chuck" has had a similar, real life impact on the career of actor Joshua Gomez. Gomez took a one-note best friend who only had the annual San Diego Comic-Con to look forward to in life and turned him into a lovable, respectable man of the world.

From 2010: If “Chuck” were to end tomorrow, actor Joshua Gomez would have to thank his lucky stars that the producers and writers saw him as something more than where he started on the show and turned Morgan into a fully realized character. That’s going to pay off for him in the post-"Chuck" years. Which, I might add, won’t be too soon; NBC just picked the show up for the rest of the season.

I read a compelling new book by Esther K. Choy titled "Let the Story Do the Work: The Art of Storytelling for Business Success." In her own way, Choy independently applied the kind of storytelling suggestions I found so useful in Thau’s presentation and put them in an easy-to-access book form for business leaders. She breaks it all down, step-by-step, and even diagrams her methods. If you make any kind of presentations at work, I think you can learn something from Choy and her book.