Comedian Matt Braunger sits down with Jesse Thorn to talk about class clowning as a kid, why it's important to try and fail and... his teenage rap career. Plus, Guy Branum interviews Canadian author Margaret Atwood about sex in novels, her childhood growing up in the woods of Quebec, and her favorite Shakespeare. Lastly, Jesse talks about when "Two Sevens Clash" - an apocalyptic album out of Jamaica. Show notes
Bullseye is a public radio show about what's good in popular culture. With a keen editorial eye, Bullseye sifts the wheat from the chaff, and brings you hot culture picks, in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary creative people and irreverent original comedy.
Bullseye is equal parts funny and fascinating. Whether you're already plugged in to the culture map, or looking for a signpost, Bullseye will keep you on target. More About Bullseye
Our WORLD TOUR OF SEVERAL AMERICAN CITIES kicks off next week in Los Angeles on Friday, November 13 with William H. Macy, Chicano Batman and Baron Vaughn - get your tickets now!
Plus check us out in Boston, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Philly and DC with guests Barney Frank, Mission of Burma, Tavi Gevinson, David Cross, John Hodgman, Joel Hodgson, Ray Suarez, Dan Deacon and more. It's all at BullseyeTour.com. Don't miss it!
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Actor, writer and stand-up comedian Matt Braunger always knew that he wanted a life in comedy. He was so sure of this career path that he never seriously considered a backup plan. It was, as he puts it, comedy or die.
Thankfully, it’s been the former and his observant sense of humor is on full display in his latest comedy special, Big Dumb Animal. Along with being a cast member on the final season of the sketch comedy show, MADtv, he’s acted on numerous television shows including the United States of Tara and Pushing Daisies. He’s also made appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and Chelsea Lately.
Braunger joins Jesse to talk about playing the dumb, clueless husband in television commercials, how he’s worked to be less negative and enjoy the present moment, and why it’s so important to try (even if you fail).
Big Dumb Animal is available now for streaming on Netflix.
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Canadian-born author and poet Margaret Atwood has had an extremely successful career as writer, despite, as she relays to us, the fact that she was not the most memorable or exceptional English student. Her work includes the novels Cat’s Eye and The Handmaid’s Tale as well as many volumes of poetry, and often deals with feminism and politics.
Her latest novel, The Heart Goes Last is a dark comic take on the near future, where lawful people are imprisoned and the lawless are free. The narrative was first introduced to readers in serial form on the website Byliner, and takes on its full shape as a novel which explores issue of sexuality and sexual politics.
Atwood spoke with our contributor Guy Branum to discuss why she believes a novel is an opportunity to share an experience rather than a pulpit from which to preach, delves into her favorite aspects of Shakespeare, and shares her favorite version of her own origin story as a writer.
The Heart Goes Last is available now.
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In 1977, the country of Jamaica was in economic and social turmoil. Only 15 years after it gained its independence, the country was experiencing difficulties that some believed were signs of the coming apocalypse, specifically on the date of July 7, 1977, the day the two sevens would clash. Jesse shares how the voice of hope came in the form of Joseph Hill, the frontman of a reggae band called Culture.
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Elvis Costello grew up surrounded by music. His mother ran the record section of Selfridges, and his father was an accomplished working musician. As Costello describes in his new memoir, Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink, he didn't intend to make music himself, but felt eventually drawn to it.
The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and record producer has enjoyed a long career, working on his own and collaborating with everyone from Burt Bacharach, Paul McCartney and Annie Lennox to Solomon Burke.
Elvis Costello joins Jesse to talk about his father’s career and love of music, why Alzheimer’s in his family inspired him to write the book and what it was like to have Christmas with Johnny Cash.
Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink is available now.
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'Love and Mercy' was a bit of a tough sell for Elizabeth Banks. She'd acted in biopics before, but this one, about the Beach Boys' resident genius Brian Wilson, was on another level. The director Bill Pohlad would have two actors playing Brian at different stages of his life, and the film would tackle both Brian's mental illness and the budding love story between him and his wife Melinda Ledbetter. The film, and the roles of Melinda and Brian, would carry high expectations. But after speaking with the real Melinda about her love for Brian and the complexities of their story, Banks fully committed to doing their story justice.
Banks has had a successful career in TV and film, including roles in 30 Rock, The Hunger Games, and Wet Hot American Summer. She also directed, produced and acted in a small role in this summer's smash hit comedy, Pitch Perfect II.
Elizabeth Banks joins us to talk about the challenges in making a film which explores loving someone with a mental illness, how she's dealt with the frustration of being undervalued and underutilized in Hollywood, and what she did with some of the... questionable advice she received from a prospective agent early in her career.
Love and Mercy is available now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD.
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Jesse explains why Dad's Style is so attractive.
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Come see Bullseye LIVE in Los Angeles, Boston, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Philadelphia and Washington DC next month! Live interviews, comedy, music and more. Get your tickets now, they're going fast. Check out BullseyeTour.com for tickets.
Brad Bird started out in animation early, being recognized and mentored early on by Milt Kahl, one of Disney's legendary animators. His career includes eight seasons of The Simpsons, the animated films The Incredibles and Ratatouille, the big budget action film Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and his animated feature debut, 1999's The Iron Giant.
The Iron Giant has just been remastered and re-released with several new scenes as a Signature Edition. It's available now on your favorite online video service, and will be out on DVD and Blu-Ray next year.
Bird talks to us about creating an atypical animated feature film in The Iron Giant, the reward of following your instincts when it comes to making movies, and how he helped create the look and feel of The Simpsons as an executive consultant on the show for eight seasons.
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The Isley Brothers' first hit on their debut album was 'Shout', that classic call-and-response rock song. It was 1959 and Ernie Isley was seven years old. In the 1960s, they had 'Twist and Shout' and a run with Motown. Jimi Hendrix made his first recordings with the band and lived in a spare room at their mom's house. In 1969, they reintroduced themselves to the world, with little brother Ernie on bass. The song was 'It's Your Thing'.
The band continued to reinvent their sound and create hits through the 70s and into the 80s, songs like 'Who's That Lady' with Ernie's now-classic guitar riffs, 'Fight the Power', and 'Between the Sheets'.
A new 23-disc box set of the band's work is called The Isley Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983). It's available now.
Isley joins us to talk about playing his first gig alongside his brothers (filling in on drums for Martha and the Vandellas), being one of the only bands to actually play live on Soul Train, the band's evolution through the years, and his memories of the group's friend and sometime housemate Jimi Hendrix.
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What is Jesse reminded of when the Pope comes to visit? Why, this sketch, of course.
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Come see Bullseye LIVE in Los Angeles, Boston, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Philadelphia and Washington DC next month! Live interviews, comedy, music and more. Get your tickets now, they're going fast. Check out BullseyeTour.com for tickets.
In 2012, the stand up comic Tig Notaro had a famously bad year. She caught pneumonia, which snowballed into C. Diff. She and her girlfriend broke up. Her mother passed away unexpectedly. And then, she learned she had breast cancer.
You’re probably familiar with what came next. Notaro headed out to a stand up gig in Los Angeles, at the Largo. But she didn’t feel right performing her usual set. She decided to open up like she had never before. Hours after she received the diagnosis, she went on stage and said to the audience, “Hello, I have cancer”.
She took the audience through the pain she had experienced over the last few months. It was still in her deadpan style, with jokes and stories that were brave and sometimes uncomfortably funny.
Notaro is in remission now, and she’s continued to perform stand up. A recent documentary on her called Tig, tells the story of the Largo performance and her life since. It’s available for streaming on Netflix. Her recent national tour, Boyish Girl Interrupted is now a comedy special airing on HBO.
Tig Notaro spoke with Jesse last year.
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You probably know John Darnielle as a lead member (and sometimes only member) of the band The Mountain Goats. His music is known for its poignant lyrics and simple instrumentation. Darnielle started the band in 1991 and has since released 14 albums.
Now, he’s written his first novel Wolf in White Van. The novels tells the story of Sean, a young man who has survived a suicide attempt, but is horribly disfigured in the process. Sean goes on to create a mail-order role-playing game, only to find out how his imagination can have real-world consequences.
Darnielle talks to Jesse about why lyrics are so important to him, subliminal messaging, and how much artistic responsibility we should assign to writers, musicians and other creative people.
Wolf in White Van is now available in paperback.
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Jesse talks about one of his favorite singers, Nina Simone, and “Four Women”.
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This week, we have the delightful Guy Branum hosting our show. Jesse Thorn will return next week!
Constance Wu plays Jessica Huang on Fresh Off the Boat, the first network show to star Asian-Americans in decades. Wu reveals the complexities of an immigrant mother who cares deeply about her family's future, and has to grapple with the difficulties of starting over in a new state and with a new business.
Guy talks to Constance Wu about diversity in TV shows, how getting dumped can bolster your career and learning to play comedy.
Fresh Off the Boat airs Tuesday nights at 8:30/7:30c on ABC.
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The new film Freeheld is based on a true story - that of Laurel Hester, a New Jersey police detective, and her domestic partner Stacie Andree. They were domestic partners because before 2013, New Jersey didn’t recognize gay marriages. Laurel, diagnosed with cancer, wanted to leave her pension to Stacie, but was denied by county legislators. Her and Stacie's story became the subject of a 2007 documentary, and has now been adapted into a new film, called Freeheld, starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page.
This week's guest, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, adapted Laurel and Stacie's story for the film. Nyswaner also wrote the screenplay for Philadelphia, the 1993 film starring Tom Hanks, which helped along a national conversation about the AIDS crisis and homophobia, and Soldier’s Girl, the made-for-cable film which changed the way many Americans saw Trans people.
Nyswaner embraced everything he would face as an openly gay writer, the good with the bad.
He joins us to talk about how activism has always been a part of his life and his art, the lasting impact of his film Philadelphia, and adapting the story of Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree for Freeheld.
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Guy explains how, in a concert of well-intentioned but mediocre covers of Queen songs, Annie Lennox found her own way to pay tribute to Freddie Mercury -- with what he calls "the most complete performance I’ve ever seen."
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Russell Simmons is one of the few people that can honestly say he helped build hip hop. He was an entrepreneur early on, promoting parties and hustling fake cocaine when he was still a college student in the late 1970s. He was there one night at the Charles Gallery, when the headliner DJ Easy G brought on a local rapper, and Simmons felt Eddie Cheeba work the crowd into a frenzy.
It was his first real introduction to hip hop, and he could see that it would be more than just a passing fad. He went on to co-found the music label Def Jam Recordings with Rick Rubin and build a roster of hugely successful hip hop artists, starting with a teenage LL Cool J and the punk rock-turned-hip hop group The Beastie Boys. Simmons worked hard to build sustainable brands for his artists, and took pride in their authenticity. And he wasn't content to focus on music -- his ambition led him to create an empire, expanding into fashion, television, film, journalism, finance, and philanthropy.
Simmons' abundance of energy helped earn him the nickname "Rush", but he says he owes much of his success to inner tranquility and stillness. He's practiced yoga and meditation for over fifteen years, and in his book, Success Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple, Simmons seeks to demystify meditation for the average person, and explain its link to personal and professional growth.
He joins us to talk about the pivotal moment that he heard Eddie Cheeba and found himself sold on hip hop, building Def Jam, leaving drugs behind for yoga and meditation and finding inner stillness.
This interview originally aired in 2014.
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Carl Wilson is a music critic. His job is to tell people why certain music is good, and why other music isn't. You could call him a tastemaker. But he started to wonder. How does taste even work? To find out, he immersed himself in the music, life and fandom of Celine Dion.
Wilson is the author of Let's Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste, a reissued and expanded version of the book he published in 2007. It's about Celine and her bestselling album from 1997, but more importantly it's an exploration of why we like some music and hate other music. Wilson's journey made him question how we place value on art, and has affected the way he approaches his work in music criticism.
He talks about Dion's Quebecois background (and why it matters), how she and her music relate to "coolness," and why experiencing a Celine Dion concert in Las Vegas helped open him up to her true appeal.
Looking for Rich Juzwiak's "Celine Dion is Amazing" compilation video mentioned in the interview? We'll save you a Google search.
This interview originally aired in 2014.
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You probably know what a low rider is. But what do you know about low rider oldies? Jesse talks about the perfect music for driving low and slow.
This segment originally aired in 2014.
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Our big announcement this week? Our "World Tour of Several American Cities"! We'll be putting on live tapings of Bullseye in LA, Boston, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Philadelphia, and Washington DC in November! Visit BullseyeTour.com for more details. Tickets go on sale this Friday, September 25th!
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Bill Withers is a man who prefers his life and his music on his own terms. The Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter’s last album was released over thirty years ago, and he has no regrets about walking away from a career in music. His back catalog, which include classics like Ain’t No Sunshine, Grandma’s Hands and Lean on Me, is still as vibrant and influential as it was decades ago.
Withers was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he is also being honored on October 1st with a tribute concert at Carnegie Hall. Lean on Him: A Tribute to Bill Withers features a lineup that includes D'Angelo, Aloe Blacc, Keb’ Mo’, Gregory Porter and Ledisi among many others.
Bill Withers sits down with Jesse to talk about growing up in coal-mining town in West Virginia, why he didn’t dress-up on stage or dance like his contemporaries, and what his relationship to music is like now.
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Joe Randazzo knows funny. Starting with his career as section editor for The Onion and continuing with his role as head writer for @Midnight, he has enjoyed a diverse career that has allowed him access to some of the industry's best comedic talents.
He plumbed his own experiences, and that of many of his colleagues and extended network, for the advice he offers in his new book Funny On Purpose: The Definitive Guide to an Unpredictable Career in Comedy.
Randazzo interviewed writers, performers, directors and producers about how they each have managed to create comedy careers in television, film, podcasting and on YouTube. Interviews include conversations with Judd Apatow, Joan Rivers, Jack Handey and -- disclaimer -- our own podcast impresario Jesse Thorn.
Joe Randazzo joins us to discuss what he learned during his career as an editor at The Onion, his forays into stand-up and improv and why it’s essential to build and sustain relationships with other people in comedy (even if it feels like you're competing with them).
Randazzo’s book Funny On Purpose: The Definitive Guide to an Unpredictable Career in Comedy is available now.
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Jesse talks about his great American hero - a kid named Harry Altman from the Academy Award winning film, Spellbound.
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Actor, playwright and now author, Jesse Eisenberg wasn’t a fan of school. It wasn’t that he was bullied or picked on, but he describes himself as just "overlooked". It wasn’t until he began to perform in Off-Broadway theater productions that he began to understand his place in the world as an actor. It also provided a way to get out of school, which was an added bonus.
Eisenberg has been able to take his passion for acting into a number of film roles, including a neurotic college student in the horror-comedy Zombieland, a stoner who is unknowingly a government agent in American Ultra and his Oscar-nominated performance as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.
He's written and starred in three Off-Broadway plays. And for the past few years, he's also been writing short fiction, which has appeared in the New Yorker and McSweeney's. He's collected that work, along with new stories, for a new book called Bream Gives Me Hiccups.
Eisenberg joins us to talk about wending his way through the social dynamics of his teenage years (both in high school and in the theater), the therapeutic power of acting, and why his fiction is often fraught with insecurities and anxiety.
Jesse Eisenberg’s book Bream Gives Me Hiccups is available now.
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For our recurring segment "The Song That Changed My Life", fiddle player and vocalist Sara Watkins of the Watkins Family Hour talks about discovering the tough and ferocious sound of Fleetwood Mac's "What Makes You Think You're the One".
The Watkins Family Hour's debut record is available now.
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Brian Regan is a comedian’s comedian, admired for his dedication to the craft of stand up. And he's unusual in that he's successful and well-known by audiences for his stand up comedy, and hasn't been bolstered by roles in TV or film. Regan's jokes are well-honed, and he finds the funny in the mundane, whether it's microwave instructions on Pop Tarts or a simple request for a glass of water in a restaurant.
In the leadup to his live-to-air stand up comedy special, Regan joins us to talk about the importance of not having a fall-back plan, the autonomy he enjoys as a stand-up comedian and why his happiest moment as a comic happened in a little comedy club in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Brian Regan: Live From Radio City Music Hall airs live on Comedy Central on September 26.
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Hugh Masekela shoots for the stars, and succeeds, with his funky disco fusion.
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Jesse is going to be in Copenhagen on Sunday September 20th!
Come meet up with him and other MaxFun pals at the Copenhagen Street Food Market (Trangravsvej 10, 1436 København K, Denmark) at 5pm.
The plan is to meet up near the fireplace. (Unless that's super inconvenient when everyone gets there, in whcih case just look around for Jesse.)
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Comedian, actor and writer Andy Daly recognized early in his career that his audience was responding to him as a "nice, little boy". Who could blame them? He's a nice-looking guy, with an all-American charm about him. So he used his Howdy Doody look to his advantage, and began creating characters. The kind of characters that start off as unthreatening nice guys, and slowly escalate into extreme sociopaths.
Andy continues to use this element of surprise in his new Comedy Central show, Review. Andy plays Forrest MacNeil, who is a reviewer. But he doesn't review books, or movies, or consumer products. He reviews life experiences, rating them on a scale of one to five stars. In the first few episodes, he answers viewers' questions from "What would it feel like to steal?" to "Will prom really be the best night of my life?" to "What is it like to get a divorce?"
No life experience is too insignificant or too life-altering for Forrest MacNeil, who takes his job very seriously.
Andy joins us to talk about his first acting job (working with a rollerblading mime), developing his own style of comedy, and how he identifies with Forrest, who's devoted so much of his life and energy to his work.
Review is currently in its second season on Comedy Central
This interview originally aired February 25, 2014.
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Rapper Jean Grae, formerly known as What? What?, has been a stalwart member of New York City's underground hip hop community for decades. She was born into a musical family, though she didn't exactly follow in her parents' footsteps. Her father, Abdullah Ibrahim (also known as Dollar Brand), helped to found South African Jazz and her mother, Sathima Bea Benjamin, was a gifted singer and composer. Grae was born in South Africa and her parents made sure she knew her roots -- but she was also a New Yorker, through and through.
She joins us this week to tell us about growing up with talented musicians as parents, her accidental hip hop career, and why she doesn't shy away from outrageous, cartoonish violence in her lyrics.
Jean Grae has had a busy couple of years. At the time we last spoke with her, she had a new LP called Gotham Down, a new EP called Jeannie, an audiobook entitled The State of Eh, and a webseries in which she writes, directs and stars, Life with Jeannie.
She's since released more new music, including the new EPs Saix and iSweaterGawd, all available on her Bandcamp page.
This interview originally aired January 28, 2014.
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Paul Anka, a consummate entertainer with few peers, has very high standards. This week, Jesse shares what he dubs as one of the greatest after-show recordings of all time and reminds us to live and move with conviction. And to slice like a... well, you know.
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