On Episode Four of Table for Two, Bruce capitalizes on the element of surprise. Through a shared friend, he has learned that this week’s guest, Octavia Spencer, has a weakness for Trader Joe’s sangria and empanadas. So, like any good host, he makes sure that her preferences are handled accordingly. With their table at the Tower Bar nearly buckling under the weight of Trader Giotto’s delicacies, the Oscar-winning actress (The Help) talks about Season Three of Truth Be Told, the importance of a tribe, moving to Los Angeles from Alabama with only $3000 in her pocket, and why scrubbing the history books is the enemy of progress. Hear a preview of the episode below, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Octavia Spencer

For decades, Bruce Bozzi worked at the highest end of the service industry, managing his family’s storied restaurant, The Palm. And if he learned one thing, it’s that the best parties always end up in the kitchen. Table for Two is based on that premise, and on the friendships Bruce has forged along the way with some of the most well-known people in Hollywood, media, and beyond. Over the romance of a meal at one of his favorite restaurants, Bruce interviews a special guest and seeks to untangle the intricate web of power and fame. Tune in for Table for Two—like all the best dinner parties, it’s intimate, a bit conspiratorial, and a whole lot of fun.

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When Ellen Barkin was at Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts, the aspiring actress's teachers thought she lacked the talent (and the looks) to succeed on stage. This slight drove Barkin to prove the skeptics wrong. After appearing in several off-Broadway plays, she broke into the mainstream in 1982 with Diner, which kickstarted a prodigious career in films such as The Big Easy and Sea of Love, as well as on television and on Broadway. On this week’s episode of Table for Two, the Tony Award-winning actress sits down with host Bruce Bozzi and dives into her early years as a waitress in New York City, the lessons she learned from Robert Duvall, and why The Normal Heart was the most important professional experience of her career. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ellen Barkin

On the first Monday in May each year, celebrities and fashion aficionados the world over descend on New York City for the Met Gala. Who better to consult with about the extravaganza than the master of ceremonies herself, Vogue editor Anna Wintour? In her sit-down last year with Table for Two host and AIR MAIL contributor Bruce Bozzi, Wintour reflected on her involvement in the Met Gala, and how it grew into the star-studded spectacle it is today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anna Wintour on the Met Gala

It’s difficult to imagine Jeff Goldblum anywhere but center stage—and no one is more aware of this than the actor himself, who has always had a clear sense of artistic purpose. With almost no plan of action, a teenage Goldblum took to New York City, and through the 1970s appeared in films directed by the likes of Robert Altman and Philip Kaufman. Later hits in what has become a five decade career came in The Big Chill, The Fly, and Jurassic Park—not to mention his four collaborations with Wes Anderson. On this week’s episode of Table for Two, Goldblum joins host and AIR MAIL contributor Bruce Bozzi to further discuss his early years as an up-and-coming performer, as well as his longtime love of jazz piano and the joys of raising his two children, Charlie and River, alongside his wife Emilie Livingston. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeff Goldblum

On this week’s episode of Table for Two, Tony Award-winning actress Ellen Barkin puts her confidence on display as she answers host Bruce Bozzi’s lightning-round questions about her guilty pleasure, her greatest inspiration, and the advice Robert Duvall gave her that changed her life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ellen Barkin Lightning Round

Growing up in Staten Island, Colin Jost hung around many of his mother’s colleagues at the New York City Fire Department. He quickly gained an appreciation for the power of laughter, even in grave circumstances. By middle school, Jost was doing David Letterman impressions for classmates, and less than a decade later, while enrolled at Harvard, he rose to the top of the masthead of the school's humor magazine, the Lampoon. Suffice it to say, Jost’s talents as a writer and performer were clear to all, and he routinely demonstrates this aptitude on S.N.L.’s Weekend Update, which he has co-hosted with Michael Che since 2014. On this week’s episode of Table for Two, Jost joins host and AIR MAIL contributor Bruce Bozzi to reflect on his early days as a comedy writer, the comedians and actors who influenced him, and the joys of raising his son, Cosmo, alongside his wife, Scarlett Johansson. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Octavia Spencer

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