Coopertalk

Steve Cooper talks with writer/actor Paul Greenberg. Paul got his acting start by being a part of the Canadian sketch group The Vacant Lot. Since then he has appeared on various shows including as The Jenny McCarthy Show, Random Play, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reno 911 and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He has also done voices for the cartoons Invader Zim, The Ant Bully and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius to name few. He is an Emmy winning writer and has worked on many series and award shows such as Jackass, Blue Collar TV, Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Lady Gaga & The Muppets' Holiday Spectacular, The Primetime Emmy Awards, The Annual People's Choice Awards, The MTV Movie Awards and The Annual Tony Awards. He currently co-stars with David Higgins in the series International Ghost Investigators: Hollywood Division.

Steve Cooper talks with comic Darren Carter. Darren is a CooperTalk favorite and is making his 4th appearance on the show. When he takes the stage he takes the audience with him. A whirlpool of impressions and observations with on-point improvisation keeps the crowd rolling through the night and on through the morning if they are lucky. From The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to Be Cool with John Travolta to Comedy Central, BET and Showtime, the aptly named Party Starter and sometimes even Rooster gets recognized on the daily by his many adoring fans.

Steve Cooper talks with comic Yakov Smirnoff. Yakov has been a mainstay in the entertainment scene since the late 1970's and was a regular guest star on the award winning NBC sitcom, Night Court. He has been a popular guest of numerous national TV shows including the Tonight Show. You've seen him on HBO and enjoyed his humor on his critically acclaimed Showtime special. He has also co-starred in movies with Robin Williams in Moscow on the Hudson, Tom Hanks in The Money Pit, Meryl Steep and Jack Nicholson in Heartburn and Richard Pryor in Brewster's Millions. He was invited to perform at the White House for several presidents and honored guests. President Ronald Reagan called him a "national treasure." Since 1992 he has performed at his own theater in Branson, Missouri, where he has entertained over four million visitors and produced several outstanding award-winning shows. In his newest endeavor, "The Happily Ever Laughter Tour", he takes his comedy to a new level to showcase laughter's effects on r

Steve Cooper talks with drummer Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez. Johnny professional drumming career began at age seventeen with a USO tour to South Vietnam. At nineteen, he was playing in local big bands, the LACC Studio Jazz Band and the Si Zenter Big Band. During the same time, Hernandez played in a variety of pit orchestras and backing acts, like Bob Hope, Billy Daniels and Gordon McCray. In the 1970s, he played with The Helen Reddy Band and served as the house drummer of "The Midnight Special" television show. There, he played with acts, such as Frankie Avalon, Petula Clark, Keith Carradine and Martin Mull. After having been heard, drumming with Toni Basil's band by composer, Danny Elfman and his longtime orchestrator, Steve Bartek, Hernandez was hired as a session drummer on Elfman's first film score, "The Forbidden Zone" (which continues to have a worldwide cult following). Hernandez joined the original lineup of the famous band, Oingo Boingo, a position he held for seventeen years, until their breakup in 199

Steve Cooper talks with comic Mario Joyner. Mario is best known as the host of MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour from 1988-1992 and has done numerous stand-up appearances on TV shows including Late Night with David Letterman. He is a longtime friend and collaborator of comedians Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld. He appeared regularly on The Chris Rock Show and Everybody Hates Chris. He also guest starred in the Seinfeld episodes The Engagement and The Puerto Rican Day, playing two different characters, and voiced the character Jackson in the film Bee Movie. He has opened on national tours for Chris Rock (during his No Apologies tour) and for Jerry Seinfeld. He made his film debut in 1989 in Three Men and a Baby, and later starred in Hangin' with the Homeboys and Pootie Tang. During the October 12, 2010, episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, in an interview with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Stewart credited Joyner with the joke: "Sort of in the way that murderers get sometimes, like, I found Jesus and I'm OK now."

Steve Cooper talks with actor/comic Jerry Minor. Jerry comes from the famed Second City stage, where he was the first performer ever to appear with every Second City stage, performing with the companies in Detroit, Chicago and Toronto for a total of 10 stage revues. A former cast member of Saturday Night Live and HBO's Mr. Show with Bob and David, he was also in the cast of the groundbreaking but short-lived 4-camera sitcom for HBO, Lucky Louie, as Louis CK's African-American neighbor who suffered Louie's clumsy attempts at friendship. He has appeared on such television shows as Arrested Development, The Awful Truth with Michael Moore, and on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Trigger Happy TV, Crank Yankers, Community and was one of the stars of ABC's Carpoolers and makes regular guest appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live. His feature credits include Semi Pro with Will Ferrell, Beer League with Artie Lange, plus appearances in Anchorman, Let's Go to Prison, directed by Bob Odenkirk, and Junebug.  

Steve Cooper talks with director/writer Anthony C. Ferrante. Anthony is best known for directing the cult hits Sharknado 1 & 2. He has also directed and wrote the feature films Boo, Headless Horseman and directed Hansel & Gretel. His screenplay credits include Atilla, Leprechaun's Revenge, America Horror House and Ghost Quake. He currently is also directing various commercials and choosing his next movie project.

Steve Cooper talks with comic/actor Bob Zany. Bob has appeared on over a thousand national T.V. shows, from The Tonight Show to a seventeen-year stint appearing on and co-hosting The Jerry Lewis Telethon. Currently, he can be seen on Showtime in Billy Gardell’s Road Dogs. His numerous film credits include Joe Dirt with David Spade, Stephen Soderberg’s The Informant playing Matt Damon’s attorney and is currently starring with Eric Roberts in 23 Minutes to Sunrise. He also has a documentary about his 35-plus year career, Close But No Cigar. Having performed in all 50 states & D.C., plus 7 countries from England to Israel, and headlining shows from Las Vegas to Atlantic City, he’ll bring years of experience and the FUNNY. No stranger to radio, he has appeared on the Bob & Tom Show with his Zany Report, plus numerous other radio stations across the country. 

Steve Cooper talks with actor Gregory Harrison. Gregory is best known for his role as Chandler in the 1987 cult favorite North Shore and as Dr. George Alonzo "Gonzo" Gates on the series Trapper John M.D. He was the title character on the 1977-78 series Logan's Run after which he played the role of Levi Zendt on the 1978 NBC mini-series Centennial. His later role as a stripper in the 1981 movie For Ladies Only made him a favorite with women and gay men in the 1980s and he later played a villain on the final season of Falcon's Crest. He has starred on WB's Safe Harbor on One Tree Hill and has made guest appearances on numerous other shows such as Touched by an Angel, Drop Dead Diva, Judging Amy, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Joey, Hot in Cleveland, Psych and CSI: NY. He has been in over 50 made for TV movies including the Au Pair trilogy and recently wrapped the first season of the hit show Reckless.

Steve Cooper talks with actor/host/musician Zach Selwyn. Zach is best known as the host of History/H2’s hit series “America’s Secret Slang.” He has also hosted and starred on Science Channel’s hit shows Catch it Keep it and Punkin Chunkin, the comedic sports talk show Fanarchy on Versus in 2009 and starred in the Budweiser Clydesdale Fetch Super Bowl commercial – voted top ten of all time. Zach’s sketch comedy group led him to become a traveling comedic correspondent/actor on G4’s #1 hit live show Attack of the Show from 2006-2008. He also hosted “CQC” with Greg Giraldo. He has released 4 comedy albums including “Moose Knuckle” (2012) and “Pluck Yer Twanger” (2010). Zach has also acted in such films and TV shows as “Kickin It,” on Disney XD, “Glory Daze” on TBS, “Greek” on ABC Family Dead and Breakfast, Stargate Atlantis, and That 70’s Show. His first real break came as the runner-up and “most talented contestant” on the 2004 ESPN TV show “Dream Job.” He went on to host “Around the Horn” and a special on ESPN

Steve Cooper talks with actor/writer Mary Scheer. Mary, a member of the Groundlings is best known as one of the original cast members of the sketch comedy show MADtv and for playing Freddie's mother Marissa Benson on iCarly. She has also appeared in several television shows. Her credits include Reno 911, Primetime Glick, Dropping Out, X-Chromosome, 2 Broke Girls and Seinfeld and her movie credits include Elvira's Haunted Hills, Chump Change, The New Women and It Always Get Worse Kathy. Besides onscreen appearances, she has become a voice actress, lending her voice to numerous commercials and several animated projects like Family Guy and King of the Hill. Her voice also appears in the animated feature film Beyond Batman: Return of the Joker and she performed all female voices in Spike TV's game show MXC where in season 4 she became supervising producer.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Pat Finn. Pat attended high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette and graduated from Marquette University. After graduation, he moved to Chicago where he worked as a beer salesman until joining The Second City National Touring Company. During this time, he was also performing improvisation with the ImprovOlympic in Chicago. After writing and performing in two Second City resident shows, Pat landed the part of George Wendt's younger brother on the George Wendt show. Pat has also had re-occurring roles on Murphy Brown, 3rd Rock From the Sun and Ed. His other television credits include series such as Friends, Seinfeld, The Drew Carey Show, That 70's Show, According to Jim, Less Than Perfect, King of Queens, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Las Vegas. His film roles include How High, The Bachelor, Dude Where's My Car, I Love You Beth Cooper, Santa Paws 2, Space Buddies and It's Complicated and he has had commercial success with campaigns for Got Milk, Sony PlayStation, DiGiorno Pizza, Holiday

Steve Cooper talks with singer/songwriter Nick Richards. Nick is best known as frontman of 1980s new wave band Boys Don't Cry who are known for the hit single I Wanna Be a Cowboy, which peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 100 in 1986 and charted around the world. In 1983 he bought the Maison Rouge Recording Studios in London, where he put together the band. They are back together and releasing a brand new new album titled HEAR IT IS ! on august 14th 2014. the songs were penned by original members Nick and Brian Chatton. The album is on Nick's own label Microrich and the band will be touring the states for the rest of the year in support of the album. Nick has also produced many 80's albums to the biggest acts of that era.

Steve Cooper talks with actor/comedian Jamie Kaler. Jamie gained fame by portraying the character Mike Callahan on the TBS comedy My Boys. He has appeared on such talk shows as the Late Late Show as well as having a role on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother and had a recurring role on Will and Grace. He also lends his voice to the show Robot Chicken as the suicidal blooper host. He is a member of the ACME Company, Acme Comedy Theatre's top-level sketch company and has made guest appearances on Monk, Friends and numerous other shows. He is a touring stand-up comic, has been seen in dozens of national commercials and is the host of the History Channel's show America: Facts vs. Fiction.

Steve Cooper talks with director/comic Jordan Brady. This interview is a live performance from Bob's Espresso Bar located in North Hollywood, CA. Bob's is owned by Robert Romanus who played Damone in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Jordan has been seen on TV doing his stand-up, directed features,hundreds of commercials and most recently did the documentaries I Am Comic and I Am Road Comic. This a bootleg recording straight off the camera and has a gritty sound quality.

Steve Cooper talks with president of production for New Wave Entertainment Brian Volk-Weiss. Brian is currently overseeing production on the second season of the Vh1 series Stevie TV and the new series for Bounce TV - Forever Jones, a series for the History Channel as well as pilots for MTV, Logo, E! and the Style Network. He previously managed New Wave‘s production on True Grime: Crime Scene Clean Up for Investigation Discovery, Pretty Wild for E!, TBS‘s Frank TV, HBO‘s Tourgasm, ABC‘s The Next Best Thing, and U.S. of Ant for Logo. He served as a producer on the feature films Employee of the Month, Good Luck Chuck and My Best Friend‘s Girl. New Wave Entertainment is the largest producer of stand-up comedy specials in the country, for which Brian is heading up production, working with such talent as Whitney Cummings, Jim Gaffigan, Jim Norton, Aziz Ansari, Jim Jefferies, Bill Burr, Mike Birbiglia and Marc Maron. In 2012, Brian was featured in Daily Variety‘s Comedy Impact Report. He has one pet African turtle.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Dante Basco. Dante is an actor, voice actor, poet, and dancer. He is best known for voicing Zuko in the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jake Long from the Disney series American Dragon: Jake Long and playing Rufio in the 1991 live-action Peter Pan film Hook. In his early years, he was part of the Streat Freaks breakdancing crew. When he got into acting, he started taking on minor roles in television. He had guest roles on television shows Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and had a recurring role in Moesha. He played a gay teenager in the 1999 film But I'm a Cheerleader and starred as breakdancer Ramos in the film Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas. He also has produces a Poetry Slam night, started a production company in Hawaii and writes plays and screenplays.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Larry Poindexter. Larry is currently best known for his role in 2003's S.W.A.T. where he played by the book LAPD Captain Tom Fuller who went head to head with Samuel Jackson's Hondo and also from playing the father in MTV's The Hard Times of RJ Berger. Daytime audiences know him best from General Hospital but he has also appeared in Days of Our Lives and Santa Barbara. He has acted in over 30 movies including America Ninja 2, Going Beserk, Judgment Day, 17 Again and Material Girls. A very familiar face to TV he has been a guest star on numerous series including The Mentalist, NYPD Blue, Happy Days, Nip/Tuck, CSI: Crime Investigation Scene, Will & Grace, Bones, Crossing Jordan, How I Met Your Mother, Franklin & Bash, Californication, Rizzoli & Isles, Drop Dead Diva and CSI Miami.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Kevin Weisman. Kevin is known for playing Marshall Flinkman on the ABC series Alias, which ran for five critically acclaimed seasons. Recently, Kevin worked on Stephen Merchant's HBO comedy series,Hello Ladies. He has worked with esteemed director Rob Reiner on Flipped, reunited with JJ Abrams and Jeff Pinkner on Fringe, and with Anthony Zuiker on all three installments of CSI, in addition to Zuiker's New York Times Best Selling digi-novel, Level 26. Other television projects include a recurring role simultaneously playing dual roles, both the mysterious, Mr.Blonde and the straight shooting, intense Detective Hawkins on NBC's critically acclaimed drama, Awake. Kevin also portrayed an airplane engineer, who elects to fight the system as a corporate whistleblower on the USA hit show, Fairly Legal. Other work includes: Human Target, (Fox), Chuck (NBC), October Road (ABC), The Glades, and The Ghost Whisperer (CBS). Additional guest spots include CSI Miami, Miami Medical, The Forgotte

Steve Cooper talks with actor Gregg Binkley. Gregg is best known for his roles as Kenny James on the NBC's My Name is Earl and as Dan the Del Taco spokesman. He has had guest spots on shows including Gilmore Girls, Malcolm in the Middle, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Yes Dear, The Drew Carey Show, Full House, Wizards of Waverly Place and The Millers. He has also appeared on the big screen in such movies as Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation, Galaxy Quest, The Man That Wasn't There and The Changeling. Most recently he was seen as series regular Barney on Fox's Raising Hope.