Bullseye With Jesse Thorn

Gilbert Gottfried died last month. The standup comedian and actor was 67. To millennials of a certain age, he was an iconic voice actor: Iago in Aladdin, Kraang Subprime in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the voice of Aflac Duck commercials. We're taking a moment to remember Gilbert's life by revisiting our conversation from 2017. At the time, he joined us to talk about the documentary Gilbert, which profiled the life and work of the comic. In this conversation, Gilbert talked about what it was like to star in a documentary about his life, and why he struggled watching parts of the film. Plus, we dive into some of the Twitter jokes that got him into trouble over the years. This conversation also features segments that were previously unaired including Gilbert's thoughts on his early career, and he expands on finding jokes from the worst possible situations.

Ron Carter is a legend in the world of jazz. His work as a bassist has appeared on thousands of recordings, and has the world records to prove it. In a career that spans over five decades, he's won three Grammys – and he's worked with folks like Miles Davis, Alice Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Billy Joel and A Tribe Called Quest. Ron takes us back to when he first picked up an instrument, the cello; and how he eventually found the bass. We'll also talk about the time he played bass for A Tribe Called Quest on Low End Theory – and how he gave them the business about their foul language.

Alan Alda has been performing for over six decades. He played the iconic role of Hawkeye in M*A*S*H , was Arnold Vinnick on The West Wing and starred in several other memorable roles over the years. He has also had parts in a number of films and performed on Broadway. Alda is also an almost-journalist, a communicator and an interviewer. For almost thirty years now it has been his second career. First on television in the PBS series Scientific American Encounters and now on his podcast, Clear+Vivid . One listen to Clear+Vivid and you can tell that Alda has found his passion as a podcast host. Alan Alda joins Bullseye to talk about Clear+Vivid and dives into some of the different guests he has had on the show. He also shares what it was like when M*A*S*H, the television show that gave him his big break, came to an end. Plus, he talks about his years performing improv.

Paul Feig created TV shows like Freaks and Geeks, movies like Bridesmaids, Unaccompanied Minors and Spy. He's directed episodes of 30 Rock, The Office, Mad Men and more. He's basically a legend, and he keeps plenty busy. He helped produce the new HBO show Minx – it's a period comedy about the first women's erotic magazine. He also helped make the newest Fox sitcom Welcome to Flatch, a mockumentary-style show based on the British sitcom This Country. It's set in the town of Flatch, Ohio, and explores the lives of its residents. We'll talk with Paul about his new work and his career making all your favorite shows – plus, Paul Feig makes gin! He'll tell us all the secrets of gin making.

We welcome a true "Superstar" on the latest episode, the one and only Molly Shannon! She's one of the greatest comic actors ever. Shannon just wrote a book. It's called Hello, Molly: A Memoir. In the book, Molly Shannon shares her life story. She writes about her time on Saturday Night Live, but also her childhood. Shannon's mother, younger sister and cousin died in a car accident when Molly was four years old. Her father, who survived the crash and raised Molly, was driving under the influence. The book is harrowing and hilarious, heartbreaking and heartwarming. Shannon talks with Jesse Thorn about the new book. Plus, what it took to bring Mary Katherine Gallagher to SNL – she explains why it was anything but easy.

Courtney B. Vance started acting in college. He went to Yale drama school, where he met his future wife Angela Bassett. He starred in the debut performance of August Wilson's Fences, first at the Yale repertory theater in 1985, then later on Broadway in 1987. Since then, he has gone on to work on the big and small screen, too. He has had parts on shows like Law and Order: Criminal Intent, The People v. O.J. Simpson, and Lovecraft Country. His latest project is the AMC series 61st Street, which Vance executive produced and stars in. He joins the show to talk about his acting career on both the stage and screen. He also talks about what it was like taking on the role of a lawyer again in the new series 61st Street. Plus, he talks with us about what it was like working alongside the legendary James Earl Jones in the iconic play Fences.

Chloë Sevigny is, in a word: cool. She has an impeccable fashion sense and makes waves in that world. She's an Oscar nominated actor for her role in Boys Don't Cry. An indie darling in films like The Last Days of Disco and Broken Flowers. She's had regular roles on shows like Big Love and American Horror Story, too. We were big fans of her recurring appearances as Alexandra on Portlandia. These days, she's starring in The Girl from Plainville and Russian Doll. Chloë talks with Jesse about her latest projects and how she keeps it cool after all these years. We'll also geeks out with Chloë about her making own clothes.

Parks and Recreation's Jean-Ralphio! Star Wars' BB-8! The voice of Sonic the Hedgehog! We're joined by Ben Schwartz. Ben's big break came in 2010 with a small recurring role on Parks and Recreation. Jean-Ralphio was a character who only showed up a few times a year – but he was one of the most memorable characters on the show. We'll chat at length about his role on the show. You can hear his voice work alongside Jim Carrey and James Marsden in the Sonic The Hedgehog movies. We'll chat about his long time fandom of the video game series. Plus, we'll have him describe some truly cursed Sonic the Hedgehog online fan art. This interview originally aired in February of 2020.

John Leguizamo has been in well over 100 movies and TV shows, including the recent Academy Award-winning animated smash Encanto. That is impressive enough but John's also a writer who has created and starred in a handful of powerful, hilarious one-man shows over his career. This includes his 2019 show, Latin History for Morons. During the show's run, he joined Bullseye to talk about it. He also chatted with us about creating works of art from a sometimes painful past, fighting for Latinx representation in Hollywood, and some of the comedians who have inspired his craft. He also got very personal about a certain incident that changed his life, and we are honored that he chose to share it with us.

Chuck Klosterman writes about culture. Pop culture, more specifically. Rock bands, basketball teams, adult entertainment, Saved by the Bell... you get the idea. He was a writer who wrote volumes of hot pop culture takes before being a writer with hot pop culture takes was just, y'know, being a writer. He's positioned himself as a writer who doesn't just think about pop culture, but has a knack for unearthing common threads in disparate things – like The Chicks and Van Halen, for example. And in doing that, you, the reader, get a deeper understanding of both. In his newest book, The Nineties, Klosterman chronicles the last decade of the 20th century. He does so not as a cultural critic, but more as a historian, or a philosopher. He takes a decade that many of its readers experienced, and thinks not about the nostalgia of the events back then, but their consequences, what mattered, and what didn't.

Mary Roach is a science writer who covers very specific branches of research: sex in space, cadaver handling, that sort of thing. Her newest book is called Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law. It's a book about how humans have tried – and failed to manage nature. Bears that break into dumpsters. Moose stepping into traffic. Gulls that eat papal flower arrangements. We'll talk with her about how the book impacted how she interacts with animals in her day-to-day life.

This weekend on the show: Steven Van Zandt! Of course, you might know him better as Little Steven, a guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, or as Silvio Dante, Tony Soprano's right-hand man. He's a singer, an actor, a guitar player, a famous wearer of head scarves. A man of many talents! He recounts all that in Unrequited Infatuations: A Memoir, and he tells us all about it. The months-long tours, recording sessions, international fame, the ups, the downs... and, of course, the many, many head scarves.

Amy Schumer is, of course, the creator and star of the hit sketch show Inside Amy Schumer. She also wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed romcom Trainwreck and has taped several comedy specials. She has been nominated for Emmys, Grammys, Golden Globes, a Tony, and even won a Peabody award for Inside Amy Schumer. Amy's newest project is a semi-autobiographical television comedy called Life & Beth. She wrote, directed, created, and stars in the show. Life & Beth is intense, probing, and a little unpredictable. Amy talks with us about the new show and what inspired her to create it. She also shares why she said yes to maybe one of the most stressful jobs in showbiz, hosting the Oscars. Plus, she talks about her work in stand-up and how her comedy has evolved over the years.

J. Kenji López-Alt is a chaf and food writer who has written for the New York Times, Cook's Illustrated, Serious Eats, and more. A lot of his recipes perfect the staples including steak, potatoes, beans, eggs, mayo, and mushroom soup. If you are a home cook, odds are you have a recipe from Kenji you swear by. In 2015, he compiled a lot of his signature recipes in his award winning book The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science . This year, López-Alt has followed up The Food Lab with a very different kind of cookbook. It is called The Wok: Recipes and Techniques. It is nearly 700 pages and includes not only recipes but a guide to acquainting, understanding, and eventually mastering one of the most versatile pans in the kitchen. J. Kenji López-Alt talks with Jesse about the new book and some of his favorite meals to make with a wok. He also shares how he used science to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Plus, he talks about how he balances inclusivity and appropriation when making recipes from oth

For the first chapter of his career, Nick Kroll's comedy centered around big, outsized characters – the more preposterous the better. He created the sketch comedy series Kroll Show, and he starred on the FX show The League. These days he's behind the camera a lot more. In 2017, he co-created the animated show Big Mouth on Netflix. Now he's got a new show in the same universe: Human Resources. It centers around a group of personified emotion monsters and their workplace, and the feelings they represent. Nick Kroll joins us to talk about developing Big Mouth and Human Resources. Plus, why he's taken fewer on-screen roles lately for voice acting gigs and a seat behind the scenes instead. He'll also talk about the lessons he's learned since he became a father.

On December 18, 2021, the rapper Drakeo the Ruler was murdered backstage at a festival in Los Angeles, his hometown. A group of 40 or so people ambushed him; one of them stabbed him to death. Drakeo was a young, rising rapper. Critics respected him and rap fans streamed his music millions of times. He was an LA gangsta rapper whose music didn't sound like what you'd think when you hear "LA gangsta rap" – it's subdued and anxious, less about the barbecue with your pals and more about looking over your shoulder. Jeff Weiss, the music writer, first covered Drakeo the Ruler in 2017, and they forged a friendship. Weiss also witnessed Drakeo's murder. We invited Weiss to our studio in Los Angeles to talk about Drakeo's music, what it meant to the broader hip-hop community, and his life and death. As a warning: there's going to be some discussion about violence, along with crime. If you or someone you're listening with is sensitive to that, we wanted to give you a heads up.

Greg Daniels is a screenwriter, television producer and director. Over the span of more than three decades he's worked on some of the most beloved comedy television shows. Seriously, he's worked on some of your favorite tv series: Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, The Office, King of The Hill, and so many more. These days, he still keeps busy. Greg has two sitcoms in production. On Amazon, you can watch the second season of his show Upload – a dramedy set in a cloud-backup afterlife. Netflix's Space Force, reunites Greg with Steve Carrell for the first time since The Office. The premise for the show is pretty simple: Carrell plays General Mark Naird, and he heads up the newest branch of the American armed forces. He's got a bunch of money and a sort of vague sense of purpose – what could possibly go wrong? Space Force and Upload are streaming now.

The Song That Changed My Life gives us a chance to talk with different artists about the music that has inspired them. On the latest installment, we are joined by Eric Nam. Eric is an Atlanta-born singer, songwriter, and entertainer. He has worked with Timbaland, Gallant, Craig David, and a bunch of others and has headlined festivals like KCON and the Seoul Jazz Festival. He recently released an album called There and Back Again and just wrapped up a solo tour of the US where he sold out literally every venue, including in his hometown of Atlanta. When we asked him about the song that changed his life, he took the name pretty literally. He picked John Legend's "Ordinary People." The song that propelled him to stardom.

You probably know Brian Cox from Succession. He plays patriarch Logan Roy on the show. But Brian has hundreds of credits acting with a career spanning decades: movies, TV shows, even a stint with the Royal Shakespeare Company! Cox recounts his career in a new memoir. Putting the Rabbit in the Hat covers his childhood, growing up in postwar Dundee, Scotland, his time studying and performing Shakespeare in the U.K., and his big break into TV and film.

Syl Johnson, the Chicago soul and blues singer, died last month at 85. He was probably best known for his work on Hi Records, the home of Ann Peebles and, of course, Al Green. In fact, he turned down a record deal that ended up going to Green. The songs Johnson cut for Hi in Memphis were some of the best soul records of their time. Hip-hop producers have feasted on Johnson's records, making him one of the most frequently sampled recording artists in the history of the genre. But more than that, Johnson was a career artist. He lived in Chicago, where he raised his daughter Syleena, a great soul singer in her own right. He made soul and blues records throughout his life. We spoke to Syl back in 2012. He was in his 70s then and gigging relentlessly, and his albums had just been re-released by Numero Group. Johnson was whip-smart, funny... and maybe a little cantankerous. He'll be sorely missed.