This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast, more what you hear weekday afternoons on the Drive, and his decades of experience working at the highest end of the service industry at his family Story Palm restaurant chain, and years spent mingling, laughing, and dancing alongside the world's most famous personalities. Bruce Bossi is now hosting the second season of his podcast Table for Two with Bruce Bossi. He's joining us now, Bruce, you always have great stories
about some of the interactions you've had. Who are some of the people you're going to be talking to in season two? Good morning, Lee, It's great to be here. We're talking to We're pulling up a cheer on table for this season with Colin, Joe's, Michael Man, Matt Beaumon. We pulled up. We started the season with Davin and Joey Randolph literally a week before she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Holdover, So
that was exciting. Jeff Goldbloom, which is just a next level, super fun lunch. Ellen Barkin coming up also, which I haven't had lunch with yet, but he's coming as Christian Loubi Tan, the you know, famous shoe designer. So we had a bunch of people lined up and the season two has really gotten off to a good start. Thank you well. And
you are sitting down and actually having a meal. Yes, So the whole idea was, as you said, I had this career in rent the restaurant business because my great grandfather co founded a restaurant in nineteen twenty six, so like a restaurant and service and hospitality is in my blood. I've done everything from you know, seeing people, to working in the kitchen, the whole, the whole shebang, and to kind of growing as a career in the
restaurant business. So it was natural for me to sort of when I was thinking about doing this, have it around food and the idea of the romance of a meal, you know, the conversation at a table. And so every every episode we are having lunch. We are face to face and yeah, we have lunch and it's and it's great because during the course of the lunch is people you know, just they relaxed, They they need themselves. But the conversations they might be pitching something like sam Tella Johnson, she was
pitching her by that. But yeah, back to Black which Amy. But you know, then we start talking about London, and we start talking about her kids, and we start talking about uh, you know her because she's an artist, her and her story past. So it's kind of it's a really cool it's a cool way to learn about people that you're interested in.
Well automatically, when you sit down to have dinner with somebody or share food with somebody, they're disarmed and and and they're less concentrating on oh my god, what is he going to ask me? Or what are we going to talk about? And you're having something that's rather normal. Uh, and if you're a celebrity out pitching something, you probably need a little normalcy. Yeah,
I think so. I think they're quite like they look everyone who's come in is sort of like wow, like wait, we actually really do eat, like yeah, yeah, yeah, like we eat. And they are just armed. It's a good word. They're sort of they they relax into it. And also it's just me and the person and then the sound person
from iHeart this gentleman named Emil, who I absolutely think is brilliant. He's in the room, but he's off to the room, so all of a sudden it becomes very quiet and very intimate, and I like it too, like it's a first date, and you know, first dates are important. Table for two with Bruce Posse on the iHeartRadio app. As he just mentioned, is this at your restaurant? No, I am no longer with the Palm restaurant that the Two Families. We exited that in twenty twenty, and
it's at the Tower Bar in Los Angeles. It's at Via Cororota in the West Village in Manhattan. And also one I did with Colin Joe just in season two, I should say, at the Carlisle Hotel. So I get some fun, fancy, cool places. Does the guest pick what they want to eat or do you have something prepared or do they make a pre request
for whatever it is they're going to eat. Nope, the server comes up, they get the menu, and you know exactly with Colin, it was hysterical because he's like, so I can eat anything, and I'm like yeah. And there was a Cops solid with lobster and he was like, wait a minute, I could order the Cops salad with lobster, right, And He's like, whoa, he had the Cops salad and help people people don't order whatever they want. I'm picking up the bill. Is there one that
surprised you most? Like I sawelebrity that sat down and ordered something and us thought, on, huh, I never took them for being a vegan or whatever it might be. Yeah, who I would say the you know, Octavia Spencer, she was funny. She was you know, we it was cold day, so she had like tomato soup and grilled cheese and that was sort of fun because most like do with salad or what have you. And
the cop salad I thought was just brilliant. When we've got you know, in season one, we were at Via Croda, which is just like real small but amazing Italian place, and out of winter, she she ordered, you know, she ordered like a full lunch. And here's a woman who's like, you know, always on the go, doesn't really believe in having lunch outside of her desk. You know, she was thought was a big
deal. And she had you know, chicken and salad and pasta and so everyone it's it's interesting who goes like light and who goes heavy you know during the lunch. But everyone, like you know, Kate Hudson came in. She was starving and we just we're laughing our butts off. She she had like a big salad and you know, an Arnold Palmer and she was just it was It's just a lot of fun. Uh. We're talking to Bruce Bosie. Table for two with Bruce Bosi the podcast on the iHeartRadio app Now
in season two. What are some of the topics that come up? Are they pretty heavy duty things? Are you just you just let the conversation flow? They can be heavy duty. I I sort of come into the the room prepared knowing about the person. You know, what they're doing, what they're working on, and you know, a skeleton of like their life.
And then I go, okay, if I'm gonna have the opportunity to sit down with Michael Mann and who you know is responsible for directing and creating Miami Vice and you know, and Ferrari, what do I want to know about this guy? And then I let it and you know, and he's directed such, you know, interesting people over the course of his life, very you know, very revered actors. I go, okay, what do I want to know? What would anyone want to know? And then I just
go with I go with the conversation. Sometimes it gets heavy, you know, if people you know, for instance, you know Alan Barkin last week, she talked about when she was on the set of Sea of Love and it was the eighties and she was doing, you know, a scene that required her to be undressed and al Pacino was he and the director did something that was very you know, kind of in her personal space and somewhat aggressive to her during the in between, and it was she was shocked and then
she was like, Okay, now get back to work. And she went back to work. So, you know, people talk about that, they talk about the things. I had lunch with Nicole Ayvant, who's you know, her father was just passed away. Mister Ivant was sort of considered the god father of you know, of music, of black music, and father was unfortunately murdered a couple of years ago in Beverly Hills. And she she goes there, you know, we talk about that, We talk about the
death of her mom. We talked about who her mom was, how she was raised, and and Sharon Stone, who is on Who's Now you know, she's painted, but she talks about when she had the brain tumor and in that whole series and that whole situation that happened in her life and losing custody of her son. And so it's not you know, it can go any which way. It's not heavy, it's not meant to be the idea
is you know. It's curiosity, it's kindness. It's literally like you're pulling up a chair and having lunch with us today and you're just gonna discover some new stuff about someone that you're interested in. So pull up your chair and here a table for two with Brutes Bosi the podcast on the iHeartRadio app and anywhere you podcasts. We'll be looking forward to listening to season two, Bruce, and thanks for joining us. Thank you, sir, I'm a great
day. Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia presentation