Employee Of The Month

Kevin Avery just received his first WGA (Writer's Guild) Award for writing on HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Avery, who previously served as head writer for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell and a writer on VH1's Best Week Ever, is also a comedian and actor. In our interview, he reveals what it's really like to "balance" it all. He's also the only LA based writer who can't stop getting hired in New York, at least, on behalf of all New York based writers, I hope he is. We recorded our interview live in Brooklyn.

Krister Johnson is a comedy writer who made a note for himself (awful pun intended) as part of the Christian rock duo God's Pottery. After a stint on Last Comic Standing and a book deal, Krister decided to return to his dream of writing comedy. Since then he's gone onto writer for The Onion and, most recently, the television series, Wet Hot American Summer. In our interview, we spoke about what it really takes to be a TV writer.

MEL OTTENBERG is a fashion stylist. He frequently works with photographer Terry Richardson and is currently Rihanna's fashion stylist. Mel's work has appeared in and on the covers of Harper’s Bazaar, V, Details, I-D, Purple, Dazed & Confused, The New York Times Style Magazine, and GQ Style. Mel explained what it's like to work in the fashion industry at a live taping of Employee of the Month at Joe's Pub.

There are few writers, regardless of the medium, who are as prolific as Adam Goldberg. His favorite topic is his family. While he says his actual childhood was far darker than what comes across in his comedy show THE GOLDBERGS on ABC, his affection for his suburban Jewish childhood in the 1980’s is palpable. Adam sold Disney, which owns ABC, on the concept by showing clips from home videos he'd filmed as a kid in Jenkins, Pennsylvania. As a viewer, you get to see clips in each episode, and some fans may try to thread together fact from fiction. Goldberg even uses the actual names of folks, sports teams, and schools from his hometow, which is right outside Philadelphia. (He sent out a note to folks on Facebook to see if it was kosher to use their names, and everyone, on their own accord, said yes.) When I spoke with affable, self effacing, writer, it’s easy to see why the people he grew up with, but may not have seen for decades, trusted him. Despite the headaches of working around the clock...

When Michael Patrick King saw a video of Justin Sayre, King, who produced of Sex in the City, 2 Broke Girls, and The Comeback, knew he'd found a like minded misfit. I imagine that's what happened. Granted, I can't imagine anyone not feeling that way when witnessing Sayre size up the state of political, social, and culture affairs, namely for the LGBT. A whip-smart, unconventional, and absurdly talented writer/performer, Sayre bridges old school cabaret with a refreshing candor in his monologues, sketches, songs, and parodies. We spoke backstage in the green room of Joe's Pub, before he hosted his monthly show, The Meeting of the International Order of Sodomites. We talked about blind ambition, Joan Rivers, and how he went from a downtown theater darling to writing for one of the most commercially successful, mainstream comedy television shows. His depth, dexterity, and wit is palpable. If you didn't know Justin, you will be happier now that you do, if not more noble....

Ever wondered what a taxidermist does exactly? I interviewed Katie Innamorato, a Taxidermist-in-Residence at The Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn, New York, to find out. Innamorato's passion for animals inspires her art, granted a messy form that requires dissecting rats and roadkill. The meat of her work (terrible pun intended)is tackling the questions of how humans relate to animals. Katie also works with flora and fauna, often integrating them with her anthropomorphic art. An animal lover, Katie says she prefers to use roadkill, scrap skins from other taxidermists, previously frozen feeders, problem animals, and donated skins. She also teaches classes which regularly sell out. I know, it's an audio interview, so to see the photos we discussed, please check out Katie's website. (www.afterlife anatomy.com). Our interview was taped live at Joe's Pub and you can hear Employee of the Month's house band, Shockwave and Jelly Donut the Intern, chiming in. Our next live taping is February 19th, so get on the...

While becoming a staff reporter for The New York Times is a highly coveted post, Frank Bruni's career at the paper, is especially enviable. Bruni joined The New York Times in 1990 after working at a range of magazines and newspapers, including Newsweek, The Detroit Free Press, where he was nominated for a Pulitzer, and New York Post. Once at The New York Times, he quickly gained a reputation for meeting, if not beating, deadlines and witty, accessible prose. His speedy turn around enabled him to survive covering both campaigns and The White House. He followed the fast pace of Washington with a relatively more relaxed stint in Rome covering the Vatican. Then Bruni took a complete departure from wonky news to become The New York Times restaurant critic, eating 7 - 9 dinners out a week. Today, Bruni pens a column twice a week as an op-ed columnist. In his spare time, he frequently appears on TV news shows or is writing books. His latest book will be out in 2015 from Grand Central Publishing. Our...

Taylor Schilling is up for her second Emmy Award nod for her portrayal of Piper Chapman on Netflix’s most popular series Orange is the New Black. Based on Piper Kerman’s memoir about her experience in prision, it’s the first television show to shine the light on a women’s prison population. Show creator Jenji Kohan cast a genuinely diverse ensemble of formidable actors. The majority happen to be female, black, Latina, LGBT, trans, and only a handful were already well established. But Orange is the New Black is one of rare shows made in Hollywood where the actors aren’t simply seletected for the color of their skin or number of Twitter followers, but for the content of their character acting. It was a treat to have Piper Kerman, an alumni of Employee of the Month, join us to discuss what it’s like to have someone personify you and the line between fact and fiction. When not consulting on the show, Kerman is highly active in prison reform and has testified before Congress. n our interview at Employee of...

How and why do we believe in the lone wolf who created everything when in fact most of us work with at least one partner? Others wish they could find that perfect partner-in-crime. Josh Wolf Shenk explains why these dyads are so potent in his book, POWERS OF TWO: Seeking the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs. Shenk looks at his own partnerships in our interview. Like Shenk is credited with writing this book, as any, Shenk explains in our interview that the book, like any book, was actually a collaboration, namely with his Editor Eamon Dolan at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He also examines well known collaborators John Lennon and Paul McCartney to Theo and Vincent Van Gogh to reveal how competition is healthy, but how "credit" can be confusing, and how many Beatles does it take to change a lightbulb? A veteran writer, Shenk has contributed to Harper’s, Time, The Atlantic, Slate, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first book, Lincoln’s Melancholy, was named one of the best books by The...

Stephin Merritt, singer, songwriter, and musical polymath, is best known for his band The Magnetic Fields. Today, he performs with The Magnetic Fields, as well as Future Bible Heroes, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies. He also has written for the theater and film, and most recently collaborated with New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chaste on a book of haikus about two letter Scrabble words. Pretty sure he'd crush anyone in Scrabble, but Words with Friends seems rigged, so you may still have a chance.

As you enjoy your Thanksgiving vacation or are traveling back from it, you will be grateful to hear from fascinating, fun, and formidably talented illustrator and writer Al Jaffee. We met at his studio, where his MAD mind is as creative as ever, even if he says he's not as insanely prolific at age 93. (Uh, he's doing more than most folks at any age.) Jaffee is working on his fantastically detailed and vibrant illustrations for Sponge Bob Square Pants to MAD Magazine to his long running cartoon for the Lubavitch. We spoke about religion as Al is not religious, but spent most of his childhood in bleak Jewish towns in Lithuania and narrowly escaped the Holocaust. We also spoke about his career through the decades, which started when he entered LaGuardia High School. Jaffee shared his insight into how illustrators, writers, and cartoonists created a field that didn't exist. He reveals why Jews changed their names when hustling for gigs pre-World War II to what it was like to work with Stan Lee pre-Marvel....

In our interview Anthony Bregman breaks down what exactly a good producer does, since everyone and their mother seems to call themselves a producer these days. Bregman is one of the rare film producers who is as dexterous at developing smart scripts as he is at securing investors and delivering hits. He is also one of the last few producers left in New York who transformed what it meant to make independent films with (and without) studios. Before founding Likely Story, Bregman was a partner at This is That Productions for 4 years, and spent 10 years as head of production at Good Machine. He's produced over 30 features, including FOXCATCHER, SENSE & SENSIBILITY, EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, PLEASE GIVE, and ETERNAL SUNSHINE of the SPOTLESS MIND. In 2006, Bregman founded his own production company, Likely Story. He has produced multiple films with writer/directors like Charlie Kaufman and Nicole Holofcener. Their latest collaboration ENOUGH SAID, starred the late James Gandolfini and gave Julia Louis Dreyfuss...

Wesley Morris writes about film, pop culture, sports, fashion, and politics. Currently at ESPN's Grantland, Morris previously wrote for The Boston Globe, where he received a Pulitzer for his film reviews. Wesley's love for film is palpable in his writing, but he also examines films in the context of what's going on in society. His reviews have been tremendously helpful, if not cathartic, in synthesizing what is going on on screen and off. Our interview was taped live at Joe's Pub. If you enjoyed our interview, please come to the next live taping of Employee of the Month at Joe's Pub, this Friday, December 5th at 9:30 pm. Go to www.joespub.com or www.employeeofthemonth.com for more.

When they were in their early twenties, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson met in improv class, loathed how hard it was to get on an improv team at UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade), and started their own. In November 2009, they began writing the web series Broad City and asked Amy Poehler, who had founded UCB, to do a cameo. She did, and then ended up signing on to Executive Produce Broad City as a television series. FX bought it and then let it go, so they went to Comedy Central, and the rest is herstory or her stories. Their hilarious take on the run-of-the-mill buddy comedy about two girls trying to make it in the big city is utterly unique and pure fun. Their lovable friendship is enviable, reminiscent of Laverne and Shirley, granted Ilana and Abbi aren't working in a beer canning factory and, as Laverne & Shirley's theme song goes, they are making "all of their dreams come true." Starting in January the show will go into its second season and, if you watch the trailer with Seth Rogen making a cameo, you'll...

Interviewing Alex Borstein means hearing her sing live and surprising her with never released footage of her first big break on stage. (Special thanks to the Los Angeles Unified School District). Actor and writer Alex Borstein is in the prime of her career. She is one of the rare comedians who successfully crossed over to act and write in dramas and, what Hollywood cloyingly refers to as, dramedies. Oh, and she hasn't quit her day job either.... Since 1999, Borstein has served as a writer, producer, and, most notably, voiced "Lois" on the Emmy winning animated series Family Guy. Seth McFarlane created the comedy show, which is now in it's 13th year on Fox, and the duo will perform live, granted with a band the size that Duke Ellington would envy. (I am sure, Alex Borstein will say that her scene stealing role as an animated mouse in MYC, which I wrote, made her who she is today. She also revealed how success in one arena begets success in another. George Clooney is a fan of Family Guy, and that led...

Considering Simon Rich published his first two books before graduating from college, where he also served as President of The Harvard Lampoon, it's not surprising that he became the youngest writer hired by Saturday Night Live. Veteran SNL writer Paula Pell, who has also been on Employee of the Month, joked that she'd nestle Rich in her objectively sizable bosom, gently teasing him for being so young. Even now at the ripe old age of 30, Rich maintains a "Doogie Howser" youthful appearance, which belies his discipline, drive, and gilded resume. He's written for Pixar, Mad Magazine, and The New Yorker regularly features his short stories. He's published six books, one of which, The Last Girlfriend on Earth, Rich developed into a TV series now called Man Shooting Woman for FXX. Rich's first boss, Lorne Michaels, serves as his producing partner. I interviewed Simon Rich a couple days before he left for Toronto to begin shooting and right before his latest book Spoiled Brats hit stores. Legendary...

Tom Colicchio keeps adding to his impressive, albeit daunting, schedule as a father, husband, chef, restauranteur, entrepreneur, TV personality, pitchman, guitar afficianado, film producer and policy wonk. He takes all of his multi-hyphenates seriously, especially food activism. Tomorrow, Thursday, October 16th, Colicchio will spend World Hunger Day, as co-founder of Food Policy Action, reminding (read: lobbying) Congress to help the 14.3 percent of American homes which are “food insecure.” The glaring statistics about hunger in our country leave out people who are homeless and otherwise un-dcoumented and cant afford to buy food, never mind eat healthy. In our interview, you'll hear why he isn’t running for political office, and I ask him what effect high priced restaurants have on driving up the price of food. Whip-smart and good natured, Colicchio offers genuine insight into everything from tipping to why kale is so hot. In our incredibly fun conversation, Colicchio’s honesty, humor and, yes, heart...

This October marks Al Jaffee reign as Mad Magazine’s longest running contributor, clocking in 59 years and over 479 issues. Since 1952, the comic book turned magazine infused a childish silliness with biting political depth and orignal artwork. By engaging readers to add their own “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” and even mangling the magazine to solve the “Fold-In” picture riddle, Mad was one of the first enterprises to treat consumers as co-conspirators. The result was an entirely new forum for humor in an era when few questioned whether father really knows best. It’s allure for children and teenagers simultaneously fueled outrage from the FBI to Congress the collective imaginations of future comedy writers and cartoonists. Writers behind The Simpsons, The Daily Show, The Onion, and The Colbert Report credit Mad Magazine for inspiring them. The sheer joy Jaffee’s work provides fans offers to fans is inverse proportion to what he and his three brothers experienced growing up. In his biography Al...

James Monroe Iglehart won his first Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his role of the Genie is Disney’s Aladdin. Considering Iglehart had only appeared on Broadway in Memphis and The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee, Aladdin is now permanently etched in stone, well gold, as a defining career role for the wildly talented singer. Iglehart also performs with the hip hop improv groupl Freestyle Love Supreme (FLS), who can be currently seen on the television channel Pivot. After you hear our interview and Iglehart freestyling, you’ll know why Broadyway is thrilled to claim and celebrate Iglehart. We spoke at Joe’s Pub in New York. If you enjoyed our interview, you can subscribe to the mailing list at www.employeeofthemonthshow.com to receive info on upcoming live tapings, discounts, and to learn the meaning of life. Seriously, our next live show is Thursday, September 18th at Joe’s Pub and will feature legendary Mad Magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee and more.

While it's easier for musicians to self produce these days, it's also easier to get lost in the shuffle of the faceless internet. Still singers, like David Berkeley, have figured out how to live the dream. Berkeley, who lives with his family in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is currently mixing his latest album, which he recorded with fellow musicians like trumpeter Jordan Katz, who has appeared on American Idol, and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek. Berkeley raised the financing on Kickstarter. He's also made money penning tailor made songs. In our conversation, which took place at The Writers Guild of America in New York, Berkeley spoke about the dangers of playing Cyrano, difficulty in turning down gigs, and the joys of living in New Mexico.