In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with the hilarious actor/writer/director Sandeep Parikh ("Save The Supers," "Legend Of Neil," "The Guild," "Community," "Californication," "The Temp Life"). You may know him as Zaboo from "The Guild" or maybe you saw him play Abed's Abed on "Community." You may also be one of his many fans from his work behind the camera. Either way, Sandeep is a guy who delivers many, many laughs. We talk about everything from doing gymnastics in a bar to the power of the internet to Comic Con fame. 

SANDEEP PARIKH'S BIO

Hi I'm Sandeep's bio. As such, it is my duty to inform you that Sandeep is a comedic writer, director and actor. He plays Zaboo on The Guild, created, directed and stars in Save The Supers, and also created, directed and co-wroteThe Legend of Neil for Comedy Central. Hi I'm Sandeep's Bio's bio, he's featured on Sandeep's website and is polyamorously dating several YouTube comments and a Huffington Post article on smart-phones.

In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with the multi-talented actress/writer/composer Nora Kirkpatrick. Nora's many acting credits include: "Greek," "The Office," "CSI," "Dorm Life," "Big Sur," "Growth," "John From Cincinnati" and "Happy Place," just to name a few. Besides acting in film and TV and composing scores for films, Nora also plays accordion, keyboards and sings in the Grammy-winning, gold record-producing band Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros. The band's third album is coming out this May. You can currently see Nora as Esther on "The Office" on NBC. Nora was a delight to interview. We talked about everything from accordion muscles to touring with Mumford and Sons to how farming experience can come in handy when guest starring on a hit network show.  

NORA KIRKPATRICK'S BIO

NORA KIRKPATRICK grew up in the rural Midwest, and studied in Spain, England and Africa before graduating from UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television in 2007. She has been working steadily in both TV and film since her graduation, most recently playing Esther, Dwight’s new love interest from the farm, on the final season of NBC’s The Office.

She’s had recurring roles on several other shows, including ABC’s Don’t Trust the B in Apt. 23, ABC Family’s Greek (as the uptight Panhellenic president, Katherine Parker), and on HBO’s John From Cincinnati.

Active in the indie film world as well, Nora has a supporting role in the film Big Sur, starring Kate Bosworth, that screened at the Sundance Film Festival this year. She has two other films coming out in 2013: Sexy Evil Genius, starring Seth Green, and a voodoo thriller, Bayou.

Nora is heavily involved in the sketch and improv world, often performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles. She also co-wrote and starred in two Funny or Die produced and funded webisodes entitled “Happy Place.”

On the musical side, Nora has been playing accordion, keyboards and singing in the folk-rock group Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros since its inception in 2009. The band has appeared on Letterman twice, Jimmy Kimmel twice and on Conan three times. Their first album yielded a gold record, Rolling Stone listed the second album in its top 10 for 2012 and the third album comes out in May 2013. Earlier this month, the band won a GRAMMY with Mumford & Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show for best long-form music video, the film Big Easy Express, that also won the audience award at the SXSW Film Festival.  The band has played Coachella, Lollapalooza (both in Chicago and South America), Bonnaroo, SXSW, Newport Folk Festival, Outside Lands, among others, and many European music festivals. It curated a series of sold-out concerts and performance art in the Old Vic Tunnels in London at the request of Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey.

In her free time, Nora also writes songs and film scores. Her scores have appeared in several short films (Peter at the End, Elliot and others) and she wrote and composed original songs for the upcoming feature film Never, starring Zelda Williams.

In this episode, I have the honor of chatting with the hilarious Dana Gould ("The Simpsons," "The Ben Stiller Show," "Parks And Recreation," "Lost Angels," "The United Monster Talent Agency," "Seinfeld"). You've probably seen him performing standup on TV or heard him on his super funny podcast "The Dana Gould Hour." Some regard Dana as one of the pioneers of alternative comedy. Dana is taping his new one hour special, "I Know It's Wrong" this March in Seattle at The Neptune Theater. We talk about everything from doing standup at age 17 to writing for "The Simpsons" to stories about the Comedy Condo.

DANA GOULD'S BIO

Massachusetts native Dana Gould began his professional stand up career at the tender age of 17, cutting his teeth in the comedy boom of the 1980’s. He arrived in Los Angeles in the early 90’s, where he became one of the founding fathers of the alternative comedy movement. After starring in the TV series “Working” and guesting on such shows as The “Ben Stiller Show” and “Seinfeld”, Dana joined the writing staff of “The Simpsons,” eventually becoming executive producer of the legendary show. 

Dana left the show and rededicated himself to his stand-up career. In addition to numerous HBO specials and the CD, Funhouse, Dana recently completed the one-hour special “Let Me Put My Thoughts In You”, directed by fellow “Ben Stiller Show” alum Bob Odenkirk.

Dana wrote, produced and starred in the pilot “Nolan Knows Best” for ABC television and, in addition to his podcast, The Dana Gould Hour, which premieres in February 2012, is currently developing, along with the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, a new pilot for F/X, “Rock Bottom.”

In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with producer Rick Dugdale ("Combat Hospital," "About Cherry," "A Haunting At Silver Falls," "The Storm"). Rick is the President of Enderby Entertainment and has a wealth of experience in production. Rick started as a production assistant and moved up the ranks to work in the locations department and from there moved up to producing for TV and film. We talk about everything from film financing to working on "The X-Files" to how one goes about getting a major city to agree to shut down busy streets for a shoot.

RICK DUGDALE'S BIO

In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with assistant director Jonas Spaccarotelli. Jonas has worked with some of the biggest stars in TV and film. He got his start working as a production assistant in Portland and worked his way up to being an assistant director in Hollywood. His credits include: "Moneyball," "Eastbound & Down," "Everwood," "Eat Pray Love," "I Love You, Man," and "Killing Them Softly," just to name a few. We talk about everything from the importance of having a valid passport to what it takes to get into the DGA to shooting a movie across four countries.

JONAS SPACCAROTELLI'S BIO

Jonas Spaccarotelli is a DGA award nominated Assistant Director. He began his career in film by working as a PA in his home state of Oregon. He moved to Los Angeles in 2001, and was accepted into the Directors Guild 4 years later.  His credits include: "Moneyball," "Eat Pray Love," "Killing Them Softly," "Paranoid Park," and "Stand Up Guys."

In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with special effects guru Tom Seymour, whose credits include: "Titanic," "Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End," "Criminal Minds," "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," "Lethal Weapon 4," and "Jericho." If you're looking to make a car explode or make a river flood or create an accurate replica of the the Titanic for a movie, Tom's the man to call. We talk about everything from working on a Young MC music video to building a river set for "Dante's Peak" to why math and science are important subjects to study if you want to blow things up for a living. 

TOM SEYMOUR'S BIO

In this episode, I am lucky enough to chat with the hilarious and talented writer/producer Ron Weiner. Ron is a 2-time Emmy Award winning comedy writer and his credits include such shows as "30 Rock," "Futurama," "Arrested Development," "Newsradio," "Father Of The Pride," and "The Weird Al Show." Besides writing for some of TV's funniest shows, Ron has also written a musical about internet dating that had international acclaim. We talk about everything from the vermin at the "30 Rock" writers' offices to writing for Weird Al to how amazing it is to work with Tina Fey. 

RON WEINER BIO

Ron Weiner is a two-time Emmy Award winning comedy writer.  He has written for such shows as 30 Rock, Arrested Development, Futurama, Newsradio, and The Weird Al Yankovic Show. 

Ron is also a composer and lyricist.  His songs have appeared on Futurama and Help Me, Help You, a short-lived but much loved sitcom starring Ted Danson.  He also wrote a stage musical entitled Internet Dating: The Musical, which was an LA Times Critic’s Pick.  It was later produced in Seoul, South Korea (!).  Ron can attest to this because he flew there with his parents and Aunt Rhoda and saw the Korean production, which was totally professional, quite excellent, and clearly had a larger budget than the LA original. 

Ron grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts.  While an undergrad at Harvard, he joined the Harvard Lampoon comedy magazine, at which point he learned about the possibility of an actual career writing comedy for TV, and not just being annoying in line for food in the dining hall. 

Ron lives in Los Angeles, California.  He urges anyone reading this to get up and walk around, because research is showing that sitting is worse than smoking.

In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with cinematographer/director/writer Tom Callaway, a very talented fellow whose credits include: Broke Sky, Feast, Road House 2: Last Call,  Undead Or Alive, Who’s Your Caddy?, National Lampoon’s Gold Diggers, Critters 3 and 4, A Warrior’s Heart, Heebie Jeebies and The New House Party, just to name a few. Tom is a hard working guy, he has over 82 credits as a cinematographer on IMDB. You may have also seen him on TV working behind the scenes of the Feast, a Project Greenlight movie. His directorial debut, Broke Sky, was an official selection of the South by Southwest Film Festival, won the best narrative feature at the Memphis Indie Film festival and won the Grand Jury award at the Dances with Films Festival. Variety had the following to say about Broke Sky: ""An exceptional example of American indie filmmaking...begins on a ghoulishly jaunty note and then audaciously shifts gears into a powerful noir." Tom and I talk about everything from how he built a dark room in his closet as a kid to shooting a movie in 3D to how to make your own opportunities.

THOMAS L. CALLAWAY'S BIO

Tom is a native of Waco, Texas. He grew up with 6 sisters, who provided eclectic
influences for Tom in his childhood. He attended Catholic school, and after surviving evil nuns and loquacious priests, he enrolled at Sam Houston College.

Tom was always interested in movies, and three in particular always stuck with him. COOL HAND LUKE, MIDNIGHT COWBOY and IN COLD BLOOD. It was the work
of Conrad Hall in the latter film that inspired him to become a director of photography.

After a stint in the Navy Reserve, Tom made the big move to Los Angeles in 1982,
finding employment in the movie industry two weeks after he arrived.

His start as a cinematographer came in 1986, with the Texas-shot movie GHOST
RIDERS, and then the mighty cult epic ASSAULT OF THE KILLER BIMBOS. That
led to a string of genre movies, with increasing budgets and higher profile casts. To date, Tom has worked with such talents as Leonardo DiCaprio, Alan Arkin, James Coburn, Christopher Plummer, Richard Chamberlin and Angela Basset.

He has photographed over 80 feature films. He has also shot several network television shows, and a number of TV movies. He added to his impressive resume recently by appearing in the reality TV show PROJECT GREENLIGHT, which chronicled the making of John Gulager’s FEAST.

Tom is presently at work developing his next project as a director.

In this episode, I chat with two very talented ladies: documentary filmmaker/writer/director/producer Grace Lee and actress/comedian/writer Jane Edith Wilson. Grace Lee is an award winning filmmaker whose credits include: The Grace Lee Project, American Zombie and Janeane From Des Moines. Her work as appeared on the Sundance Channel and at festivals such as Slamdance and the Toronto International Film Festival. You may have seen Jane Edith Wilson performing standup on Comedy Central or on many a TV show or feature film. Her credits include: Curb Your Enthusiasm, FrankTV, ER, Eight Legged Freaks, Seinfeld, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, American Zombie, Significant Others, TV Guide Letter Theater and Janeane From Des Moines, just to name a few. Grace and Jane first met when Grace directed Jane in the feature American Zombie. They also recently worked on a second feature together, Janeane From Des Moines, a mockumentary about the 2012 Iowa Caucuses (Janeane From Des Moines is now available on iTunes). We talk about everything from making Larry David laugh to creating a movie about the softer side of zombies to making the national news alongside Mitt Romney. 

GRACE LEE'S BIO

GRACE LEE (Producer/Writer/Director) Lee's most recent feature film JANEANE FROM DES MOINES had its world premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. Grace Lee was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri. She has a BA in History from the University of Missouri and an MFA in Film Directing from UCLA Film School where she won DGA and Student Academy Awards for her thesis film, BARRIER DEVICE, starring Sandra Oh.  Her first documentary THE GRACE LEE PROJECT was released in 2005, broadcast on the Sundance Channel and is distributed by Women Make Movies. She also co-wrote and directed AMERICAN ZOMBIE, a feature film, released in 2008 by Cinema Libre.  She is the recipient of the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Digital Media, a Rockefeller Media Arts grant, the PPP Pusan Prize as well as funding from the Ford Foundation, Center for Asian American Media, Chicken and Egg Pictures, and the Armani Directing Fellowship through Film Independent. Other documentary credits include BEST OF THE WURST, which is permanently featured at the Currywurst Museum in Berlin and CAMP ARIRANG. She is currently in postproduction for AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS about a 97-year-old Chinese American philosopher and activist in Detroit.

JANE EDITH WILSON'S BIO

Jane Edith Wilson acts, writes, produces, and can tell a joke or two. She welcomes anyone who wishes to give her money to make her next film. Tweet her @JaneEdithWilson

This site is still a work in progress. So please be sure to check out our podcast Tumblr page!