Shannon In The Morning Big Show Daily Podcast

Brad Blanks chats with Michael Devine, who plays Detective Paul O’Rourke in the murder mystery thriller, "THE UNDOING" on HBO. 

Michael was a real New York City policeman for 22 years. His father was a DEA agent and his Grandfather was a Policeman.

In the UNDOING Michael acts up-close with one of Hollywood’s finest actresses, Nicole Kidman.

Michael has been moonlighting as an actor the last 25 years, having landed roles in Law and Order, Limitless and can be seen and heard singing the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden.

He can also be heard singing Danny Boy late in the evening at New York City police pubs!

The finale of "The Undoing" airs November 29th on HBO! 

She’s written 32 top-10 hits, including NINE #1’s! She’s a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, she’s a Grammy, Emmy and Golden Globe award winner who’s earned 11 Academy Award nominations & her songs have been featured in more than 100 movies!

The great Diane Warren checked in to talk about her prolific songwriting career and the upcoming release of her very first album!

“I’m Never Satisfied, You Can Be Happy And Not Satisfied” she tells us right off the bat, saying she's always looking to write the perfect song. 

Diane loved listening to the radio growing up in Van Nuys, California and dreamed of performing on the radio. She began writing music when she was 11 but got serious about it at 14.

“When I was about 14, I got super obsessed,” she told us “it took me a long time, a lot of doors got closed in my face, ultimately it wasn’t time for me.”

She obviously didn’t give up - “I think it happens when you’re ready” she says, “my songs got better.”

Her mother asked her to give up songwriting but her father encouraged her.

“She wasn’t exactly right there,” Diane jokes. “I should’ve listened to my mom!”

Her dad bought her a 12-string guitar and a metal shed for her to practice and took her to music auditions. She wrote Celine Dion's 1996 song "Because You Loved Me" as a tribute to her father for his encouragement.

Her first hit was "Solitaire" which Laura Branigan took to #7 in 1983. Her breakthrough hit was “Rhythm of the Night” by Debarge in 1985 which hit #3. Her first #1 hit was “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship in 1987 for the “Mannequin” movie soundtrack.

Warren says she’s proud to work on her songwriting by herself and is baffled by some other collaborative efforts.

“These days you see like 10 people on a song, and I wonder, you got the coffee? What did you do? You ordered lunch? I don’t know..”

Diane was excited to talk about her debut album ‘Diane Warren: The Cave Sessions Volume 1’ which comes out in early 2021!

The first single “Times Like This” featuring Darius Rucker is out now in partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project to commemorate Veterans Day! The new album will feature an all-star line-up of talent including John Legend, Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige, Jason Derulo and many more.

When asked to give advice to aspiring songwriters, Diane says “Work hard and be brave…If you can’t die without doing it don’t do it.”

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images 

She’s a little bit country…Brad Blanks checked in with Marie Osmond! 

“I’m one of the crazy women in this business who’s worked for 5 decades!” She says “I was 14 when we did those shows (Donny & Marie).”

Marie also talks about her time doing the Donny & Marie show, and how it let her become the first person to try on the princess Leah costume before the Star Wars movies came out!

On top of that, Marie sends her regards to a specific big show member!

Marie stars in the Lifetime movie “The Christmas Edition” premiering this Sunday night at 8pm! 

She plays the diva/villain in the movie! 

Photo by Michael Tran/ Getty Images

Brad Blanks caught up with 23 year old actress Kathryn Newton. She's a rising star & gets the lead in the new movie "FREAKY,"? a horror/comedy spin on the classic body swap movie, "Freaky Friday."  

(remember Lindsey Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis swapping bodies in Freaky Friday?)

The movie also stars Vince Vaughn, who plays a serial killer that swaps bodies with Kathryn’s character!

So Kathryn roams around her school & neighborhood as a serial killer with a chainsaw and Vince Vaughn acts like a high school girl trying to get her body back! 

Kathryn grew up on a golf course in Orlando and played college golf. She owns three poodles! Kathryn can also be seen in the HBO series "Big Little Lies!" 

"Freaky" hits theaters Friday, November 13th! 

Yankees legendary radio broadcaster (and WFAN colleague across the hall) Suzyn Waldman has put her rendition of National Anthem sung at Yankee stadium this season up on all streaming platforms!

You can purchase the mp3 for 99 cents with all proceeds going to City Meals on Wheels in the Bronx!

What a great way to help out a worthy cause! Plus we analyze Suzyn's national anthem performance! 

Photo by Al Bello / Getty Images

Dr. Mehmet Oz checked in this morning to share a few memories of Alex Trebek. 

They got to know each other because their shows are shot on the same lot, and Mehmet talked about the last time he saw Alex.

"The last time I was with him, we were having lunch backstage at Jeopardy" he says. "He takes me to this beautiful display of all the cards, letters and quilts that people made for him to show him that they were praying for him."

When he brought him to see this, it became clear to Dr. Oz how Alex was hanging on so long with such a dire diagnosis.

"That's what got this man up, he kept taping until the last possible moment...just being there because he cared about the audience so much."

Dr. Oz still practices medicine and says he sees this in a lot of patients.

"The realities that all doctors acknowledge, when there's a patient who is desperate to hang on, when their loved ones are with them they will keep hanging on...when the loved one steps out to get coffee, ask a question, they slip away."

He continues "they were waiting for that moment, so they can go in peace and you can go in peace."

Dr. Oz also talked about the new Pfizer COVID vaccine study that was successful in 90% of patients. 

"I'm stunned" he says. "All studies were looking at a 65-75% success rate, this would be incredible."

He also told us about his new COVID defense plan! It's a 5-day plan that will boost your immunity with everyday food, supplements and so much more! 

You can see the full defense plan at www.doctoroz.com/ 

He was the co-host of the highly successful “Boomer & Carton” show on WFAN for a decade, and after a tumultuous 3 year period, Craig Carton is getting second chance.

He’s back on the FAN starting today with a new afternoon drive show “Carton & Roberts” airing weekdays from 2-7pm.

Craig is teaming up with long-time WFAN host Evan Roberts, who co-hosted with station legend Joe Benigno for almost 14 years.

We asked the New Rochelle native to sum up the past three years of his life, and he was quick to explain.

“Self-inflicted pain” he says “and an opportunity to kinda figure out my life and who I am and what I was doing.”

Craig continues, “I’m blessed to have this new opportunity to come back to the only station I’ve ever wanted to work at.”

Carton was arrested in September of 2017 on charges of securities fraud and wire fraud while trying to feed a gambling addiction. He was released from prison on June 23, 2020 and on October 29th, 2020 WFAN announced his return.

Craig was the center of the HBO documentary “Wild Card: The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth” which aired in October and showed Craig’s rise and fall and potential comeback.

In the documentary we learn just how bad his blackjack addiction consumed his life, and he talked to us about it: 

“When it came to playing blackjack, while I thought that it drove me to these great successes it was my downfall because I thought I couldn’t lose. “

“When you go into a casino with that mindset ultimately that only ends one way and it’s not good.”

Craig and his wife Kim have since reconciled and he gives her all the credit for helping him get back. “She’s the rock in my life, and without her I wouldn’t be back on the radio.”

"Without her" he says "I don’t know where I’d be, but I know for a fact I wouldn’t be in as good of a place as I am today that’s for sure.”

We might not have seen a winner declared in the Presidential election last night, but we had a lot to say about it! 

Brad Blanks checked in to give hos thoughts on the wild night, and we found out that Sue Aller's nephew won a million dollars on a draft kings bet! 

Big Show junior reporter Harvey Blanks checked in this morning with an important update! 

He filled us in on the Season 2 super-sized premiere of "The Mandalorian" which premiered on Disney+ over the weekend! Harvey covers the splitting of the Mandalorians & ponders whether multiple "baby Yoda's" exist! 

Louie Louie checked in to celebrate Steve Cohen officially becoming owner of the Mets! He talked about Steve's Twitter account and how he's "taking requests" on what Mets fans want from him! 

Of all things, Louie suggested to add more bobbleheads at the promotional giveaways! 

It's the big show Halloween spooktacular! 

We had a great winner this morning who correctly identified the mystery movie as the original "Halloween" and she was so excited she couldn't stop laughing!! 

We talked about the DA Oregon health official who dressed as a clown to accounce COVID-19-related deaths. 

Brad Blanks also checked in to give us the skinny on what's happening with The Bachelorette.