The Richard Crouse Show

On this week's Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet two of the stars of "In the Heights," the highly anticipated film adaptation of the Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway smash hit show. You know Jimmy Smits from everything from "NYPD Blue" and "The West Wing" to "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" and "How To Get Away with Murder." He plays Kevin Rosario, owner of his own taxi cab service in In the heights. Joining him is Olga Merediz, who originated the role of "Abuela" Claudia, the loving matriarch of the barrio, in the Broadway show and now stars in the movie. Then, I have a no holds barred conversation with musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist Moby. He has a new album called "Reprise" and a documentary called "Moby Doc" available right now. in the interview we talk about everything from using alcohol and drugs in a misguided attempt to find happiness to screwing up the courage to ask David Bowie to duet on Heroes… on acoustic guitar in his living room!  

On this episode of the Richard Crouse Show we meet Louise Johnson, a writer whose work has been published in The Globe & Mail, The Huffington Post, Darling Magazine and more. Her debut book, “Behind the Red Door: How Elizabeth Arden’s Legacy Inspired My Coming-of-Age in the Beauty Industry,” is equal parts educational biography of a woman whose name we know, but whose biography has been largely lost to time and memoir. Louise says it is a playbook for any woman looking to reconnect with her most authentic self and create a successful, fulfilled, beautiful life on her own terms. Then, later in the show Noa Daniels stops by. Noa is a classroom teacher, consultant, podcaster and keynote speaker, and writer. Her third children’s book, “Strum and The Wild Turkeys,” is a book about finding your voice through a sense of belonging and the transformational power of music and was inspired by a true story.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show, a real-life story that has all the hallmarks of tabloid fiction. New Yorker magazine staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe received international acclaim for his 2019 investigation of the Troubles in Ireland, and now, in “Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty,” he turns his sights to three generations of the Sackler family, the dynasty behind Purdue Pharma — they manufacture Oxycontin — and the modern opioid crisis. Then, The Social host Cynthia Loyst stops by to talk aboput her book Find Your Pleasure: The Art of Living a More Joyful Life. We’ll talk about how to take the guilt out of pleasure and get to the heart of what you need and want in all aspects of life. And finally, we celebrate Asian Heritage Month in Canada with Allan Cho And JF Garrard, the editors of “Belief,” a new collection of Asian writing from the online magazine “Ricepaper.” 

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet author Jeff Vandermeer. He’s been called "one of the most remarkable practitioners of the literary fantastic in America today.” His novel, “Annihilation,” won many awards and was adapted into a Hollywood film starring Natalie Portman. Several other adaptations of his novels will soon be coming your way from Netflix soon… but today we’re here to talk about his latest novel “Hummingbird Salamander,” a speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things. Also stopping by today is Jonathan Meiburg… you may know him as the singer of the Austin, Texas based indie rock band Shearwater, but he’s not here today to talk about music. Today we’ll talk about his other passion, a rare bird known as the striated caracaras and his book, “A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey.” Then Sonia Manzano, who played Maria on the classic kid’s show “Sesame Street,” for 44 years stops by to talk about a new documentary called “Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street.”

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Oscar nominated musician, bandleader, and television personality Jon Batiste. We’ll talk sbout his new album “We Are,” which was just one of the many projects he’s had going during our last locked down year. From bandleader on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” to scoring the Pixar animated movie “Soul” to writing and recording this album he’s been a busy guy. We start the interview by talking about his earliest musical memories. Then, Golden Arm is a buddy comedy that follows a tough female trucker who trains her timid best friend to compete in the National Ladies Arm Wrestling Championship. My guest in this segment Dot-Marie Jones plays Big Sexy, the rough-and-tumble mentor who puts her trainees through a rigorous schooling in order to create a winner. You know Dot-Marie from her work on the television shows like Glee, which earned her three Emmy nominations, and Lizzie McGuire and movies like Material Girls… but did you know she is also a 15-time world arm wrestling champion?   Then we wrap with Gordon Deppe, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for The Spoons. The writer of big hits like "Romantic Traffic," "Nova Heart," "Old Emotions" and "Tell No Lies" is back with a new song called “A Better Ending” co-written virtually with people all across the country.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor. His new solo album Share the Love is available now and has a fascinating backstory from studio to stores. We’ll also meet June Millington, guitar player for the best 1970s band you’ve never heard of. Formed in 1969, Fanny were the first all-female rock band to release an album on a major label and no less an authority than David Bowie called Fanny one of the finest bands of their time. “They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever,” he said. “It just wasn’t their time.” We talk about the band and the new documentary "Fanny: The Right to Rock." Then we meet Craig Pryce, director of "The Marijuana Chronicles." It is the fascinating true story of a 98-day marijuana-based medical experiment to assess the scientific, social and physical effects of marijuana use on a group of 20 women that took place in Canada in 1972.  

“Last Call” is a weekly podcast on the stories behind the places where everybody knows your name. This week, we visit Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, the home of the Bloody Mary! I’m Richard Crouse. I tended bar for seventeen years everywhere from hot spots to dive bars and I thought I had seen it all… In my life behind bars I witnessed everything from first dates and marriage proposals to knife fights and a woman who brought a pet monkey in for a drink. Nothing could surprise me… Or so I thought… Then I heard about how a lion who visited Harry’s New York Bar in Paris inspired Ernest Hemingway to write one of his greatest novels. And why there are century old chicken bones hanging above the beer-stained bar at McSorleys in New York City. And how Vincent Sardi refused to do business with the mob during Prohibition, so his famous Broadway Restaurant didn’t serve alcohol until the 21st amendment passed, six year after they first opened… With the help of the “Last Call” radio players, music and interviews, I bring these stories, and many more, to life in my podcast Last Call. It’s fact folded in with a sprinkling of fiction, because, well, who doesn’t exaggerate after a few drinks? So, open that bottle of wine or crack that beer and join me for an intoxicating guided tour of some of the strange stories from some of the world’s best watering holes.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Florian Zeller, the Oscar nominated director of "The Father." He discusses his personal connection to the material and what it was like working with Anthony Hopkins. Then, Dylan Playfair, co-star of the Disney+ show "Mighty Ducks: Game Changers" stops by to talk about how playing hockey prepared him for a career as an actor.   Then, "Falcon and the White Soldier" co-star (and MMA legend) Georges St-Pierre talks about why he never enjoyed fighting.  Finally, we ask our panel, stand up comedian Debra DiGiovanni, Second City alum Darryl Hinds and Just for Laughs co-founder Andy Nulman, to discuss influences in comedy.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Craig Taylor, author of "New Yorkers: A City and Its People in Our Time." Taylor is a chronicler of some of the world’s greatest cities. His book "Londoners" was called the "best book about London in at least a decade" and the new one on New York City, which is made up of profiles of bodega cashiers, hospital nurses, elevator repairmen, emergency dispatchers; the people who wire the lights at the top of the Empire State Building, clean the windows of Rockefeller Center, and keep the subway running. It’s a book about the New York you don’t often read about and it is already getting rave reviews. The Independent called it, “Jaw-dropping…enthralling…Start spreading the news: Taylor’s book is a stunning work of modern social history." Then Anthony Q. Farrell joins us. He’s a former stand up comedian who has written for "The Office," was executive story editor for "Little Mosque on the Prairie" and is known for his work as a writer on the Nickelodeon sitcom "The Thundermans." He’s back with two new shows "The Parker Andersons" and "Amelia Parker" which you’ll find on the Super Channel. What makes these shows unique is that they are two stand-alone comedy series, each with their own storylines and episodes, but are connected by larger overarching plot lines tying the two independent shows together. Finally, you know my guest Lucas Hedges from his Academy Award nominated performance in "Manchester by the Sea" and you’ve seen him in "Lady Bird" and the film "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." His latest movie, "French Exit" has him starring opposite Michele Pfeiffer. He joins us to talk about his claim that he took on the role of the son of a soon to be broke Manhattan socialite because he wanted to be bored while playing a character.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast: If you love records like Joshua Tree, Wrecking Ball, and Time out of Mind you know my guest’s work. Daniel Lanois has an incredible resume. His work as a producer for U2, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, the Neville Brothers, Robbie Robertson and Neil Young among many others led Rolling Stone Magazine to say, “His unmistakable fingerprints are all over an entire wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”  Lanois has moved back to Canada and launched the brand new Maker Series imprint out of his Toronto-based recording studio. First up in the Maker Series is a solo record called Heavy Sun. A soulful, joyous album recorded in Los Angeles and Toronto that fuses classic gospel and modern electronics. He says the intent of the music is to “lift people’s spirits.” Then, we meet Jessica Bruder, author of the 2017 book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century,” and Bob Wells, a real-life nomad and one of the stars of the Oscar nominated film “Nomadland.” Then, the man, the myth, the legend William Shatner. His career is so epic it spans generations. Some will remember him as the iconic Capt. James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Others know him as the veteran police sergeant in T. J. Hooker. Still others think of him as the host of the reality-based television series Rescue 911 or the "Big Giant Head" from 3rd Rock from the Sun or as attorney Denny Crane both in the final season of the legal drama The Practice and in its spinoff series Boston Legal. He’s an actor, an author a singer and now the star of Senior Moment a new rom com on VOD this week. The romantic comedy focuses on Shatner’s character Victor, a retired pilot whose life goes into a tailspin after he loses his driver’s license, but starts looking up when he finds love with a character played by Jean Smart.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Vivek Shraya. Described as "cultural rocket fuel" by Vanity Fair, Shraya is a Canadian multi-media artist whose art, music, novels, poetry and children's books touch on themes of cultural as well as personal transformation. Her successful one woman show “How to Fail as a Popstar” details a failed career in music from singing in religious gatherings where you sang as a kid, to talent shows in Edmonton malls, to a grab at pop stardom… It’s now a raw and honest book about fame for, as the press release says, “any kid whoever sang into a hairbrush and imagined their name in lights.” Then Eden Robinson, author of the Scotiabank Giller Prize nominated “Trickster” books stops by to talk about her life, quitting a five pack a day cigarette habit and the release of the final book in the trilogy, “The Return of the Trickster.”