Jason Mann is the winner of Season 4 of HBO's documentary tv series called Project Greenlight. It is a completion show that quickly chooses its winner so it can make a film and show the process of making a film for HBO. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and the Farrelly Brother (Peter and Bobby) are the producers. And Project Greenlight Season 1 winner, Pete Jones, is also in the show and helps co write the script. Its a fascinating show, if you've never seen it I recommend it. Jason comes to talk to me a...
Feb 08, 2016•1 hr 12 min
Mike Colter from The Good Wife, The Following, Million Dollar Baby joins me for the first time on Scratch the Surface to talk about growing up in South Carolina, meeting his wife in college, being a new father, moving to LA to be an actor and having to do day jobs like tele marketing, working with Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, getting married at City Hall, getting the flu for his first TV acting gig on Spin City and getting edited out of the show, gaining 30 lbs of muscle to play Luke Cage, au...
Dec 23, 2015•1 hr 27 min
Geoffrey Cantor and I first met last year at a bowling alley for Marvel's Daredevil wrap party. He's a nice guy with a surplus of energy. He was kind enough to come over and talk with me about pets, dogs, kids, marriage, teaching/ coaching, how he met his wife, theater, West Side Story, his parents, being Jewish, being picked on as a kid, moving around a lot growing up, auditioning for Daredevil with a shoulder he broke that day, working with Vondie Curtis Hall, his characters backstory that no ...
Dec 23, 2015•1 hr 41 min
Desi Lydic was 38 weeks pregnant when I talked to her for this podcast. and that was a week or two ago. So she is due with her first child any second. She's also one of the new on air correspondents for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Ive known Desi for a long time through the improv world and we talk about that world, along with how she got The Daily Show gig, which took some doing, we talk being raised in Kentucky, having a baby, moving, MTV's Awkward, working with Leslie Nielsen, Matt Damon,...
Dec 16, 2015•1 hr 28 min
Charlie Cox returns to "Scratch the Surface" to cover some ground we didn't get to last time. We talk a lot about season 1 of Daredevil because the last time he was on it was before the show came out. We talk about Comic Cons, how his life has changed, religion, what he's like to date and what he likes in a woman, Vincent D'Onofrio, Scott Glenn, Rosario Dawson, comic books, Black Widow, Elden Henson, Drew Goddard, The Martian and so much more!!! Had a great time talking with the great Charlie Co...
Oct 22, 2015•1 hr 21 min
Justin "Squigs" Robertson may be the new Al Hirschfeld. But don't tell him that. Squigs is a very humble and grateful self taught artist specializing in line work and Broadway shows. Born and raised in Oregon he has been in New York for 5 years and is already making a splash with his work. We talk about his beginnings, how he started as a stage actor and how his art has taken the spotlight. We talk about his experience meeting Robin Williams and drawing him, meeting James Earl Jones, meeting Hir...
Oct 20, 2015•2 hr
Peter Shinkoda shares with me his thoughts on how Asians are depicted on screen, his audition process for the character "Nobu" on Marvel's Daredevil for Netflix, meeting his girlfriend on a chance encounter at a bar, his experience working with Ben Affleck, Noah Wylie and John Woo, his parents involvement in Japanese internment camps, his interaction with fans, how he stopped talking with his parents for 2 years and what their relationship is like now, comic cons and so much more!!! Please Liste...
Sep 01, 2015•1 hr 43 min
Tommy Walker was just a regular kid with not too much direction until he decided to test himself as an actor. Now he's on Netflix's most popular show and is getting inviteds to Comic Cons to meet fans. We talk about Tommys back ground, his parents, how he is the first Walker to graduate college, he does some impressions, we talk comics, cooking shows, and the Fantastic Four movie, as well as how he met his wife bartending, his audition for Daredevil was originally for another part, working with ...
Aug 18, 2015•1 hr 26 min
Toby Leonard Moore is an Australian actor who plays a lot of American roles especially bad guys. Most recently he plays Wesley, sidekick to the Kingpin, on Marvel's Daredevil for Netflix. Toby talks about Australia, moving to Japan for a year by himself at age 15, meeting his wife, doing long distance at times with her, working with Vincent D'Onofrio, Keanu Reeves, Alfie Allen, his audition for Daredevil, making a short film about a Vampire that falls in love with a Zombie, Deborah Ann Woll join...
Aug 07, 2015•1 hr 59 min
TJ Jagodowski is an improvisor you can take your family and friends to see with confidence. TJ is one half of the ever growing in popularity, TJ and DAVE from Chicago. I got to meet, get taught by and perform with TJ while I lived in Chicago a few years back. I was fortunate to get him on my podcast while we were both in NYC. And we talk about a lot of things. We were able to have a lot of laughs even though we were talking about some really serious subjects. TJ was gracious enough to open up wi...
Jul 31, 2015•1 hr 47 min
Pat Finn was best friends with Chris Farley. Chris Farley was and is a comedy legend and icon. A new documentary is coming out July 27, 2015 with some of the people closest to Chris. Including his family, comedy peers and Pat Finn. Pat talks about meeting Chris, how they started doing comedy together, how Chris had to miss Pat's wedding because it was Chris's first time on SNL, how Chris was always thinking about others and helping sick kids, some of Chris's tough tmes, being involved in an inte...
Jul 07, 2015•2 hr 12 min
David Mack is one of comic books most prolific and talented artists. We talk about his work with wrter Brian Michael Bendis, how he helped Bendis get a job at Marvel, how Joe Quesada hired David to write then draw Daredevil during the Marvel Knights era. We talk about his tough childhood being raised in a religious household with fighting parents who eventually divorced. David talks about how he thinks his father was on the autistic/ aspergers spectrum, staying with his father who was homeless o...
Jul 07, 2015•1 hr 37 min
Kristin Bauer van Straten was born Kristin Neubauer. She started out in Wisconsin thinking she would be a graphic artist and then one day in her 20's decided she wanted to try acting. She received immediate success by getting small parts and cast as a regular on a short lived show called The Crew. She got an agent by stalking means. She found her husband Abri by MySpace "stalking" him. A great story of how Abri, a South African musician, was in town and Kristin sought him out to .... well you'll...
Jul 04, 2015•2 hr 44 min
"Dead of July" is hard to categorize. Part comedy, part thriller, part love story, part horror movie. Inspired by RL Stine's books "Fear Street" books, Matthew Scott Mongomery wrote this play very quickly after having a bad day. He staged a reading last year in Los Angeles and I was there. Matthew's a friend of mine and I thought this would make a fun audio play. Silly, creepy, lovely, funny. Dead of July is a good thing to include with your summer cocktail and bbq. The cast is Matthew Scott Mon...
Jul 03, 2015•1 hr 23 min
Drew Goddard has worked on all my favorite shows and some of my favorite movies. We talk Buffy the Vampire Slayer and getting work on that, and how he got to choose which show (Buffy or Angel) to work on. He chose Buffy and then after that show ebded went over to Angel. He talks about working on Lost and Alias. Working with JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse and Joss Whedon. He talks about locking himself in a hotel room with Joss to get writing deadlines met. Writing Cabin in the Woods tog...
Jun 26, 2015•2 hr 34 min
Marco Ramirez is only 32 years old but making a huge splash in the entertainment industry. He is currently the co-showrunner of Season 2 of the hit Netflix series Marvel's Daredevil. We talk about becoming a showrunner and its challenges, writing for DaVinci's Code, Sons of Anarchy, Orange is the New Black, and getting hired as writer for the upcoming Akira movie. We also talk about his Cuban backround, play writing, dropping out of Juliard, dating and so much more!!! Please Listen, Please Share...
Jun 24, 2015•1 hr 8 min
Bill Corbett is a third of the comedy powerhouse known as Rifftrax. Where all the guys cut their teeth making fun of bad movies on Mystery Science 3000 that aired on Comedy Central (Comedy Channel at the time) and the Sci-Fi Channel. I talk with Bill about the process of writing jokes for the movies with his comedy partners, filling in on Crow T Robot as a puppeter and voice talent, getting in trouble as a kid in Brooklyn, getting into fights in Colorado, co-writing the movie MEET DAVE starring ...
Jun 17, 2015•1 hr 41 min
Timothy Simons plays a great asshole as Jonah Ryan on HBO's VEEP. But in real life he's a super nice guy with a family from Maine. Tim and I talk about growing up in Maine, being bullied in school, going to college in mAine and discovering alcohol, drugs, girls and acting, we talk about the process of shooting VEEP, his audition, how he met his wife, having twins, being away from his family while shooting VEEP, being a guest on David Letterman, working with such greats as Ivan Reitman, , Kevin C...
Jun 10, 2015•1 hr 29 min
Chris Hardwick is a jack of all trades. He is a host, writer, stand-up comic, producer, author, gamer, podcaster, musician, and much much more! Chris and I talk about his start on Singled Out, his sing off with Tom Cruise at Sna Diego Comic Con, his sobriety and how Jon Stewart's Daily Show helped him reach his "bottom", we talk about him and the possibility of marriage someday, his parents divorce as a child, moving around, being picked on growing up, Hard n Phirm, we talk about how he started ...
Jun 03, 2015•1 hr 39 min
Married couple, Tara Buck and Chris Pierce, are a power couple covering acting and music. Tara has been an actress going back to the 90s working on shows like Party of Five and X-Files and more recently played Ginger on True Blood for 7 seasons and guest spots on Justified, Backstrom, Bones, Longmire and more! Chris has 5 albums available to buy on iTunes under his name and his new group Reverend Tall Tree. Chris talks about being an openeing act for BB King, Al Green, Aaron Neville, Blues Trave...
May 31, 2015•1 hr 28 min
Kay Cannon has written a #1 movie at the box office... twice! Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 are movies that can not and should not be ignored. They are fun, funny, smart, heart felt films that are helping along the careers of Anna Kendrick, Haillee Steinfeld, Rebel Wilson and more! But Kay wasnt always a writer, she started out as a sketch and improv performer at The Second City in Chicago, Comedy Sportz and iO Chicago. We talk about her writing process, getting hired to write and produce on...
May 22, 2015•1 hr 46 min
Adam Rifkin comes over and sits at the kitchen table with me to talk movies, filmmaking, mistakes made he has learned from, being cousins with Ike Barinholtz from MADTv and the Mindy Project, losing out on rebooting the Planet of the Apes franchise 15 years ago, the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie that he wrote and that John Woo was going to direct that never happened, giving me a huge tube TV and a lizard 10 years ago when I was a mover, making Detroit Rock City, working with KISS,...
May 18, 2015•1 hr 23 min
Matt Walsh is a stand out comedian among stand out comedians on the HBO show VEEP. But he didnt start out wanting to do comedy. He started out as a psychologist. During this interview I think Matt uses some of his training on me and divulge things about myself I don't think I have previously on my podcasts. We also talk about improv, Chicago sports, how humor helped Matt make friends and not get beat up, being a dad, drug use, meeting his wife, Morgan, directing, being on the Daily Show as a cor...
May 15, 2015•1 hr 44 min
Deborah Ann Woll is best known to the public as Jessica Hamby from HBO's True Blood, but that may soon change thanks to her role as Karen Page on Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix. We talk in depth on her role as Karebn, how she got the part, how she almost couldn't do it because of True Blood conflicts, her process as an actor, how she appraoches a role, specific scenes of the series, why she doesnt watch her self anymore and so much more!!! Please Listen! Please Share! Please Enjoy!! My website ww...
May 02, 2015•1 hr 9 min
Elden Henson has been acting since he was a little kid. Now he plays Foggy Nelson in Marvel's Daredevil for Netflix. Elden talks to me about falling in love quickly with his wife, actress Kira Sternbach, how she got pregnant early in their relationship, how he was gone filming Hunger Games: Mockingjay parts 1 and 2, how there were problems with the birth, post pardem depression, going to couples counseling, and how they are stronger for it. We also talk about how he had trouble working on Darede...
Apr 26, 2015•1 hr 50 min
Christos Gage and Ruth Fletcher Gage are staff writers for the new Marvel's Daredevil for Netflix. They are married and have been writing partners for a long time. We talk about how they met in college, what its like to be the lone female writer on a staff of men, we talk about Christos' family where his grandmother was executed in Greece and how Christos' dad was going to murder the man that had her executed, also how Christos' dad took down the mob as a journalist, what its like writing Buffy ...
Apr 26, 2015•1 hr 54 min
Jeph Loeb is a multi Eisner Award Winning comic book writer that has transitioned into one of the most important guys at Marvel. He runs the television department. He was kind enough to come to my house and talk with me for a couple of hours while I nerded out that Jeph Loeb was in my house! He's written legendary stories about Daredevil, Wiolverine, Batman, Hulk, Spider-Man, Superman, the list goes on and on. He got his start in writing by writing screenplays, specifically Commando and Teen Wol...
Apr 21, 2015•2 hr 31 min
Steven DeKnight started his career teaching English as a Second Language. A job that was suppose to last 6 months lasted 6 years. Until he finally got a break writing for MTV's Undressed show. That helped lead to working with what would end up being a life changing experience, working for Joss Whedon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Which was Stevens favorite show on TV at the time. He worked on Buffy developing friendships that would last to this very day and beyond. He worked on Buffy the Vampire ...
Apr 16, 2015•2 hr 24 min
Joe Quesada is known in the comic book world as a living legend. He's one of the best artists the medium has seen and now hes one of the guys that has a lot of say and sway in an incredibly successful company. Joe is kind enough to come over to the house two times in two days. We talk about a lot including Joe being born and raised in Queens, New York, his parents separation and eventual rekindling relationship, inheriting a loyalty to the Mets from his dad who help build Shea stadium, the first...
Apr 02, 2015•2 hr 24 min
Steven Yeun moved to Canada from Seoul, South Korea when he was a yound kid, then shortly afterwards to Michigan. Steven talks about difficulty making a major move like that and how he reacted as a kid, how his parents expected him to be a doctor but his heart lead him to acting, we talk about how he met his current long term girlfriend, why he was sych a bad bartender, his love for Jimmy Johns Sandwiches, auditioning for Frank Darabont, how the cast and crew reacted to the show runner changes o...
Mar 22, 2015•2 hr 12 min
