CooperTalk

Steve Cooper talks with comic/actor/writer/producer/director Paul Provenza. Paul has been producing the hit live show Setlist that has been performed around the world in clubs and festivals. Some of the top comics from different countries perform a stand-up set not knowing the topics before they hit the stage. He is a very accomplished comic with over 100 TV appearances including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman. He also is a director helming the hit documentary The Aristocrats and currently working on a new film. A man of many talents he hosted the Showtime series The Green Room, co-wrote the book Satiristas: Comedians, Contrarians, Raconteurs & Vulgarians and has starred in many movies & television shows including Northern Exposure and Fixing Frank.

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Steve Cooper talks with lawyer Tanya Acker. Tanya is an attorney and civil litigator and is best known as one of three judges on CBS Television Distribution’s new syndicated court program Hot Bench created by Judge Judy Sheindlin. She is an attorney at a Los Angeles law firm and is an experienced civil litigator who also advises clients on various transactional issues on pre-litigation conflict resolution. She has represented a wide array of clients, from major automobile manufacturers in high stakes product liability litigation to media companies in hotly contested trade secret impulses. She is also an experienced television commentator and has been featured on Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, The O'Reilly Factor, Larry King Live, CNN Reports, Anderson Cooper 360, Extra, Your World With Neil Cavuto, CNBC Reports and many others and she guest co-hosted CNBC's Power Lunch.  

Steve Cooper talks with comic/voice actor/writer/animator Ron Yavnieli. Ron trained at Cal Arts and Syracuse University and has worked with companies like Funny or Die, Bento Box, Disney, Warner Brothers, Machinima, Nintendo, College Humor, Nickelodeon and Nerdist over the years and continues producing original content. His original films have won awards at Worldfest Houston, Worldfest Flagstaff, Dogfest, The Toronto Jewish Film Festival, and The Miami Animation Festival. Ron co-created several cartoons for Yahoo's 'Sketchy' channel including the viral hit Disney/Star Wars Corporate Retreat which won Best Narrative Short at The 2013 Animation Block Party. He currently is the creator and executive producer of Gorillaville on DreamworksTV which is in it's second season.

Steve Cooper talks with TV writer Shawn Ryan. Shawn is best known for creating the hit FX series The Shield. He got his start in television when he entered and won the Norman Lear Playwriting award sponsored by Columbia Pictures Television (which has become Sony). Later he was a staff writer on the show Nash Bridges and served as a writer/producer on Angel. He was also the show runner for season 2 of Fox's Lie to Me and was the show runner and executive producer of FX's Terriers. He created the crime drama The Chicago Code and in 2012, his pilot Last Resort got picked up by ABC for the fall. His current project is the series Mad Dogs which can be streamed on Amazon.

Steve Cooper talks with comic Bruce Baum. Bruce became part of a small cadre of comedians performing at the Comedy Store in the 1970's that included David Letterman, Robin Williams and Jay Leno - a crew of comedians that ignited the comedy boom that began in the 1980's and continues today. Many of those comedians appeared in his student films and/or also appeared in his videos and short films while he was at Fox-TV as resident short film maker for Sunday Comics and Comic Strip Live and two more years on ABC's America's Funniest People. He also served as creative consultant on Whose Line Is It Anyway for three season and has, amongst other things, appeared on The Simpsons as himself, Hollywood Squares, Full House, Growing Pains, Comedy Central, HBO, Showtime and Make Me Laugh.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Mackenzie Phillips. Mackenzie is an actress and singer best known for her roles in American Graffiti and as rebellious teenager Julie Cooper on the sitcom One Day at a Time. She is most recently known for her role on Disney channel’s science – fiction show So Weird. Mackenzie is the daughter of John Phillips, lead singer of the 60s band, The Mamas and the Papas. As a troubled teen star, Phillips made several visits to rehab before getting sober. Mackenzie’s struggles with addiction have been well documented in her bestselling memoir High On Arrival and in the media. She now wishes to use her past experiences to help others and offer hope to individuals who are struggling with substance abuse and addiction. She is now working for the Pasadena Recovery Center as their Recovery and Treatment Advocate, running groups on a weekly basis.

Steve Cooper talks with comic/actor/writer Melinda Hill. Melinda created, wrote, produced and starred in the web series Romantic Encounters with Melinda Hill, which was selected to screen at LA Web Fest, was nominated for an LA Weekly Web Award for “best comedy series” and was an IndieWire Critic’s Pick for “best comedy web series.” She also created the web series All Growz Up with Melinda Hill and is currently doing a series with Maria Bamford for Funny or Die. She plays multiple characters on Adventure Time (including Doctor Princess) and is the other half of the viral hit Confessions of a Tooth Fairy with Kristen Wiig. Other TV/ film appearances include Comedy Central’s Pretend Time with Nick Swardson, Reno 911, Sarah Silverman Program, Important Things with Demetri Martin, Bill Maher’s Bright Day, The Winner, Frank TV, Glory Daze, and Chris Kattan’s Bollywood Hero. Her stand up has been featured on Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Bonnie Hunt Show, BBC’s World Stands Up, NESN’s Comedy All Stars, Comics Unleashed, Who Wants To Date a Comedian, Stand Up In Stilettos ABC and when she hosted the series Comedy TV.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Bill Brochtrup. Bill was originally cast for just two episodes of NYPD Blue during the show's second season. However, when his splendid portrayal of P.A.A. John Irvin won over the show's producers and audience alike, he was invited to reprise the very same role in comedy series Public Morals and two years later he returned to NYPD Blue as Irvin, and continued to be a much-loved character for 8 seasons. His other TV roles include shows such as Murder, She Wrote, Dharma & Greg, Without a Trace, Dexter, Kendra plus recurring roles in Shameless and Major Crimes.

Steve Cooper talks with drummer Rich Redmond. Rich is an influential touring/recording drummer/percussionist based in Nashville, Tennessee and Los Angeles, California. His versatile, dynamic, and rock solid drumming is the sound behind many of today’s top talents.  While he’s not in the studio or on tour Rich is motivating others with his CRASH Course for Success a meticulously crafted program that anyone can follow to achieve success. As the drumming powerhouse behind Grammy nominated mega star Jason Aldean, he has recorded 17 #1 singles with over 7 million albums sold and well over 13 million single downloads. As a high-energy live showman, he plays sold out shows of 20-60,000 fans nightly in amphitheaters, arenas and stadiums across North America .A musical showman in the spirit of Gene Krupa, He has toured/recorded/performed with: Ludacris, Kelly Clarkson, Bryan Adams, Joe Perry, Jewel, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Brantley Gilbert, John Eddie, Pam Tillis, Susan Ashton, Deana Carter, Kid Rock, Lauren Alaina, Trace Adkins, Randy Owens, Marty Stuart, Mindy McReady, Rushlow, Gene Watson, John Anderson, Doc Walker, Jedd Hughes, Patricia Conroy, Earl Thomas Conley, Hank Williams III, Emily West, Jo El Sonnier, Jim Brickman, Lee Brice, Steel Magnolia, The Stellas, Kevin Fowler and many others. He has also appeared many times on the trail of late night shows such as: The Voice, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Conan, Jimmy Fallon, The Jimmy Kimmel Show, Craig Ferguson, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Michael and Kelly Show, Ellen, Austin City Limits, The CMA Awards, The ACM Awards, The CMT Awards, The ACA Awards, numerous GAC and CMT Specials, and of course, The Grammy Awards.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Lombardo Boyar. Lombardo is set to return for his third season playing Navarro on the hit series Murder in the First. He  is a veteran of the US Army and was part of the 82nd Airborne Division. After he got out he decided to pursue acting. Some of his earlier notable performances include a brief part as convenience-store robber Ramon Garcia on Fox's 24, a starring role as burglar Eddie Tesoro in P.S. Your Cat is dead, his live-action performance as Sergio del Rio on Steven Bochco's Over There and guesting on a semi-regular basis as Chuy on The Bernie Mac Show. He has lent his voice to the movies Happy Feet and Happy Feet 2 and many other projects. He was one of the stars of The Joe Schmo Show and has appeared in numerous shows such as Southland, Cold Case, NCIS, Shameless, Breakout Kings, The Player, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders and many others and has been seen in movies such as Some Kind of Beautiful, Big Ass Spider, Halfway to Hell and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. 

Steve Cooper talks with actor James DuMont. James is one of the busiest performers in & out Hollywood, working in both feature films and television. He recently was the supporting lead role of J. Parnell Thomas in the autobiographical feature, Trumbo opposite Bryan Cranston, directed by Jay Roach and as WB Nowlin in the Hank Williams bio-pic I Saw The Light opposite Tom Hiddleston as well as recurring for a 2nd season on the F/X series American Horror Story. His numerous movie credits include Dallas Buyer's Club, The Butler, Along Came Polly, Jurassic World, Speed, Miss Congeniality 2 and Catch Me If You Can. He is also a familiar face to TV having recurring or guest starring roles in countless series such as Treme, Men on a Certain Age, The West Wing, Cold Case, Zoo, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Ugly Betty, Bones, Grey's Anatomy, Harry's Law, Rizzoli & Isles, Mad Men and many more.  

Steve Cooper talks with actor/writer Paul Carafotes. Paul returns to CooperTalk to chat about his Charlie Bubbles children book series and play a few songs off his new CD, Sing With Charlie Bubbles. He is also well known for playing Harold Dyer on Knots Landing and since then he has appeared in numerous movies including All the Right Moves, Clan of the Cave Bear, Blind Date and Fight Club to name a few. He has also been seen on many TV shows including Castle, ER, CSI, Without a Trace, Criminal Minds and played the Man in the Overcoat on Damages. A man of many talents, he wrote and directed Club Soda which starred starred James Gandolfini, Lou Gosset Jr., Joe Mantegna and Michael Rispoli.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Phillip P. Keene. Phillip traveled the world, had different careers and went to UCLA before he got into the acting world. One of his first roles was a small part in the hit TV show The Closer which led to being a regular on the show for 7 seasons. His character Buzz Watson then transitioned to the spin-off of that show, Major Crimes which he has been on for four seasons. He has also been nominated for four Screen Actor Guild awards.