People We Love

Originally from North Carolina, JJ Tyson is a comedian and ukulele player now living in Los Angeles... and his musical hero is Tom Lehrer the piano player, singer-songwriter, and satirist. When young JJ first discovered a Tom Lehrer album and heard his song "The Masochism Tango," the rest was history as they say. And you"ll hear that Tom Lehrer song in this very episode. And it’s easy to hear Tom's influence on JJ's music and style, and never more so than on JJ's personal and hilarious song, "The Bisexual Tightrope," which he performs for us today.

Originally from Finland, Risto Miettinen aka Risto R. Muzik is a musician, and film and TV composer based in Los Angeles. Wanting to surprise me with his subject matter, Risto kinda went outside the box with this one, as we discuss his adolescent years living in the African country of Zambia after his father took a job there. Adjusting and learning a new language was hard, but after Risto discovered how to bond with the other kids over Star Wars, I suppose the rest is history. Risto’s experience living in Zambia and meeting the people there truly helped him learn how to be able to adapt and adjust to whatever life throws his way in his adult life. This one was a fun conversation.

Brian L. Tan, "BLT" is a film director and also the co-founder of WRAPAL, a company that is revolutionizing the location scouting process in the entertainment industry and beyond. It consists of a free, user-driven community that connects filmmakers and photographers that need locations with property owners who are willing to rent out their spaces. Brian is a very charismatic, driven man who has truly been inspired by his friend and mentor, entrepreneur Brad Hall, who founded the very website entertainmentcareers.net. This is truly an inspiring, informative episode, as Brian passes along to us, much of the wisdom that Brad has passed along to him.

Sean Sherrod is a friend of mine who works in TV production, but more than that he has been a drummer since grade school. Sean, who became a professional drummer himself, is the biggest Van Halen fan I know, and that’s what we talk about today... Music, drumming, and specifically, Sean’s hero, Van Halen’s drummer, Alex Van Halen... who Sean even got to share a memorable meeting with!

43:55 is meeting Alex Van Halen story.
1:15:55 working with Valerie Bertinelli and Wolf Van Halen story.

Author, TV producer, and breast cancer survivor, extraordinary woman, Celia Bonaduce tells us all about her father, Joseph Bonaduce, a legendary Hollywood screenwriter and producer in his own right. We talk about his days as a "child genius" -- to working with Dick Clark, for Dick Van Dyke, and with Norman Lear. From fist-fights in the writers' room, to always checking his kids' writing (only) homework, this show simply has tons of great stuff in it.

Today I chat with Jason Sean, (pronounced see-in), a Cambodian American actor/writer thriving in Los Angeles. Jason has spent a good amount of time also working at various non-profit organizations and teaching High School Health. Today's show focuses on a very special teaching mentor of his, "KT" and how she's affected his life in a very positive way.

Today I chat with Lauren-Blair Donovan, (people call her Blair), a comedian, writer, improviser, and a puppeteer. She performs and/or writes for the comedy troupes, Pinup Squirrels, Puppets Amok, and Springsteen and Joel. Originally from New Hope, PA and now in LA via Denver, CO, she tells us all about her wonderful, funny, dyslexic, chocolate-salesman father, who unfortunately left the world all too soon -- But for sure made his mark on it, and especially on today's guest, Lauren-Blair.

For this very first episode, I interview my 98 YEAR OLD grandmother, Lotte Robinson. This was recorded on her actual birthday, back on November 16, 2018. Lotte, an immigrant from Germany who managed to evade Hitler, eventually came to the United States and New York City -- where she met my wonderful, funny, sweet Grandpa Sammy.

This is a short intro to the show -- what it's all about, expectations, and thoughts moving forward from host, Adam Choit.