The Richard Crouse Show

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet Kevin Doyle. He is one of the stars of “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” the big screen continuation of the adventures of the aristocratic Crawley family. Doyle plays the Abbey's former second footman, and now village school master, Joseph Molesley and was a regular on the beloved television series for all six seasons. I spoke with Kevin Doyle during the release of the first Downton Abbey movie, on the show’s popularity and learning the ins and outs of being a footman at the Abbey. We’ll also meet award-winning Sri Lankan Canadian novelist Shyam Selvadurai. His new novel “Mansions of the Moon” is a reimagining of ancient India through the extraordinary life of Yasodhara, the woman who married the Buddha. Then: Did you have a toy light sabre when you were a kid? I did… it was a Kenner Inflatable Light Saber that kept me and my friends safe from the Darth Vader and the Dark Side when I was thirteen years old. Later in the show we’ll meet Roger Christian, the English set decorator, production designer and feature film director who won an Academy Award for his work on the original Star Wars and was Oscar-nominated for his work on Alien. He is the man who built the lightsaber, probably one of the most famous props in movie history. He stops by to talk about his new film, a memoir documentary called Galaxy Built on Hope, which fills in a major missing chapter in the history of the making of "Star Wars." The film tells the story of the Star Wars Art Department and how Roger worked with the brilliant production designer John Barry to bring George Lucas' fantastic vision to the big screen on a budget.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we revisit an interview with the late, great Gilbert Gottfried. As you probably already know, the legendary comedian passed away last month at the age of 67. I saw him perform just two weeks before his died, and while he looked frail, he delivered a show that was sweet, funny and incredibly rude, sometimes all at once, and that was Gilbert’s magic. There was no one else quite like him, no one as fearless as he was on stage, or as funny.   This conversation dates from the release of the 2017 documentary Gilbert. We talk about the beginnings of his stand-up career, why he doesn’t want his kids to follow in his footsteps and his legendary telling of The Aristocrats, the filthiest joke ever told, in the weeks following 9/11 and how that brough laughter back to New York City. Then we’ll meet Professor William Irwin of the Philosophy Department of King's College in Pennsylvania. He is a philosophy professor, literary critic, and heavy metal scholar whose new book “The Meaning of Metallica: Ride the Lyrics,” takes a serious look at the lyrics of metal’s biggest band, disentangling double meanings, explaining stories, uncovering sources, and illuminating themes such as hope, despair, rage, resilience, power, liberty, justice, love, death, and insanity. Do you have young kids at home? If so, a new series might be just the thing you’re looking for. “Luna, Chip and Inkie: Adventure Rangers Go” is a new series for 3-6 year olds will be available free and commercial free across Canada on the Knowledge Kids app and website. Within British Columbia, the series will also be available to watch on television on the Knowledge Network station. Creating the music for the series is my guest Daniel Ingram. He is one of the top songwriters working in Children’s/Family entertainment and he has written songs for Emily Blunt, Zoey Saldana, Kristin Chenoweth and even Weird Al Yankovic. He has scored hundreds of episodes of television and most popular songs on YouTube have over 100 million online views, with a cumulative catalogue approaching one billion views.  

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we get to know Jamie Chai Yun Liew. She is a lawyer and law professor specializing in immigration, refugee, and citizenship law and the creator of the podcast Migration Conversations. She brings that experience to her critically acclaimed debut novel “Dandelion,” the story of an Asian woman who traces her mother's past journey in order to learn who she really is and where she belongs. Then, we meet Mayim Bialik. She has played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on the incredibly popular “Big Bang Theory,” written books, earned a Phd in in neuroscience from UCLA and currently stars in the new sitcom Call Me Kat and hosts the primetime version of Jeopardy. Today she joins me to talk about her directorial debut “As They Made Us,” a family drama starring Candice Bergen and Dustin Hoffman. We wrap up with NoViolet Bulawayo, whose new novel “Glory,” is set in the fictionalized country of Jidada. It is a brash and boisterous take on NoViolet’s home country of Zimbabwe and its political life.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show we meet Katherine Ryan. She is a Canadian who moved to England in 2007 with a boyfriend who wanted to start a comedy career in the UK. His comedy career didn’t take off, but hers did, and now Brits know and love her from the many panel shows she's appeared on, her wildly popular no-filter podcast Telling Everybody Everything or her Netflix comedy-drama “The Duchess.” She also has a new series, Backstage with Katherine Ryan, which will showcase live stand-up sets from beloved and emerging comedians. She's known for being hilariously herself in a non-apologetic way, so it doesn’t comes as a surprise that her latest project, a memoir that details her rise to U.K. fame and her Canadian life before that as a Hooters waiter and Ryerson student, and before that her life in Sarnia, is called “The Audacity.” We’ll also get to know actor Tim Roth. The English actor is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino… movies like “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Four Rooms” and “The Hateful Eight.” He is a Golden Globe and Oscar nominated actor who returns to theatres in Sundown, an intriguing film about a man who radically changes his life. We’ll talk all about that movie, his memorable turn in Pulp Fiction and his upcoming role in “She-Hulk,” opposite Tatiana Maslany later in the show.   The we meet comedian Charlie Demers. CBC radio called him “one of the smartest comics out there.” He is an acclaimed Vancouver playwright, author, radio personality, voice actor and comedian and also has a new comedy album called “I Hope I Don’t Remember This My Whole Life” available now wherever you legally buy and download albums.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show I’ll tell you about a new movie playing in theatres right now. “Run Woman Run” is the story of Beck, an Indigenous single mom at a crossroad. Ambitionless, when she isn’t binge eating, she’s hopping in the car to go check the mail… from the mailbox at the end of her driveway. Following a health scare, she decides to change her life through marathon running. Run Woman Run is a lighthearted film with serious messages of recovery from residential school trauma, self-discovery and the erasure of Indigenous languages. It doesn’t shy away from the big topics, but at its heart it is an underdog story about overcoming obstacles and belief in one’s self.       I spoke with the film’s director Zoe Hopkins and breakout star Dakota Ray Hebert in separate interviews, which I have stitched them together to tell the story of the making of this wonderful film. Then, Chris Hadfield, astronaut, engineer, singer, and fighter pilot and now author of a thriller called “The Apollo Murders” stops by to talk about his book and much more.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show we chat with “Big Gold Brick” star Andy Garcia. In the off-beat comedy he plays an enigmatic, middle-aged father of two who enlists the help of a fledgling writer to pen his biography. He stars alongside Emory Cohen, Megan Fox, Lucy Hale and Oscar Isaac. “Big Gold Brick” is available on digital and on demand. We also talk about the scene that scene that made him a star, the Odessa Steps sequence in “The Untouchables.” Then, we’ll meet actor and writer Jim Piddock. For four decades he has appeared on Broadway and on the big and small screen in movies like “Independence Day,” “Lethal Weapon 2,” “A Mighty Wind,” “Austin Powers in Goldmember” and shows like “Modern Family,” “Mom,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Lost,” Monk,” “Friends”… the list goes on. Jim looks back at his career in a funny and frank new memoir called “Caught With My Pants Down & Other Tales From A Life In Hollywood.” It is available now wherever fine books are sold.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet Shawn Levy, the Montreal born producer and director, known for Stranger Things, Real Steel, the Night at the Museum franchise and the recent mega hit Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds. He has reteamed with Reynolds for the Netflilx sci fi family drama The Adam Project. He joined from Los Angeles via Zoom to talk about the why the film isn’t simply a sci fi epic and finding a child actor who could keep up with Ryan Reynolds. Then, Canadian comedian, actor, writer and YouTuber Julie Nolke also stops by to talk about how she amasses one million followers on You Tube and her new role in the hot sitcom Run the Burbs. Then, multi award winning humanitarian and community activist Akilah Newton joins me today to discuss her latest project, Big Dreamers: The Canadian Black History Activity Book for Kids Volume 2. It is a celebration of the Black Canadians who overcame adversity and went on to achieve greatness while changing the course of history. To wrap things up, we meet Mark Williams who played the English wizard Arthur Weasley in seven of the hit Harry Potter films and can now be seen in the BritBox drama “Father Brown,” one of the UK’s longest running Daytime Drama series.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet multi-instrumentalist and Barenaked Ladies pianist Kevin Hearn. The Canadian Hall of Famer has just released a beautiful new solo record titled “There and Then: Solo Piano Improvisations” and he joined us via Zoom to talk about it. Then, actor Manny Jacinto stops by to talk about how = his character in the new Amazon Prime rom com “I Want You Back,” was inspired by two characters from his last TV show, the great sitcom, “The Good Place.” Then we meet CS Porter. We’ll learn about how and why he sat down to wrote a thriller called “Beneath Her Skin” after being diagnosed with MS. Finally, Aba Amuquandoh of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” stops by, but she’s not here to talk about politics. She has her eye on something much smaller… tiny in fact. She’s the host of a new CBC Gem show called “Best in Miniature.” Listen and  learn how creators shrink down their designs to itty-bitty proportions.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet Keala Settle. If you were a fan of the musical The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman, and who wasn’t?... then you’ll know her as the powerhouse voice behind the Academy Award nominated song This is Me. Today, we’ll talk about why she had such a difficult time singing that song, a brain disease she says has changed her life and we’ll find out all about her new project, Murder in Provence, a new detective series now available on BritBox that investigates the murders, mysteries, and dark underbelly of the idyllic area in the south of France. Then we meet actor, woodworker and author Nick Offerman. If you have been watching “Pam & Tommy” you know my next guest as Uncle Miltie, porn producer and all-round scumbag. Or maybe you know his role in “The Founder,” in which he portrays Richard McDonald, one of the brothers who developed the fast-food chain McDonald's. You absolutely know him as Ron Swanson, the mustachioed, libertarian guy in the corner office on the hit sitcom “Parks and Recreation.” This weekend he’ll co-host the “37th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards” with Megan Mullally, who also happens to be his wife.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Sarah Weinman. Her new book Scoundrel, is the wild and true story of a murderer who conned the people around him—including neo-conservative thinker and National Review founder William F. Buckley—into helping set him free. Then, Tara Mckenna stops by to talk about her book Don't Be Trashy: A Practical Guide to Living with Less Waste and More Joy. The author says she’s always been environmentally aware, but seriously began my low waste journey early in 2017 after travelling. Snorkeled through trash in Bali, Indonesia, or picking up litter on trails in Southern Ontario, Canada, taught her that waste is a worldwide issue.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Haley McGee, a Canadian living in London, England, who has written a book called “The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale,” a memoir about her attempt to pay off credit card debt by selling gifts from her exes. In the book she tries to calculate exactly how much romantic relationships cost in time, money and effort. Then we’ll get to know Celeste Bell, co-director of a great new music documentary called “Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché.” It’s the story of Bell’s mother, legendary punk rock singer Poly Styrene, whose band X-Ray Specs were one of the first punk rock bands to find commercial success with their album “Germfree Adolescents.” The documentary is a rarity, a movie about punk rock that casts its eyes beyond the musical anarchy to portray the real person behind the music. Finally, we chat to Clark Backo. You know her as Wayne's love interest Rosie, on the television series “Letterkenny.” You can now see her in “I Want You Back,” a very funny rom com now playing on Amazon Prime.