Better Know a Guest – June 6th–9th, 2011
Hi, Hubsters!
Greetings from a gloriously happy Karenatasha. Why so glad, you say? Look at Monday’s guest! The cinephile in me couldn’t be more delighted…
Monday, 6/6: Werner Herzog:
A mysterious man who’s been held prisoner all his life in a basement and does not know who he is, where he came from, or even how to speak (The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser, or Every Man for Himself and God Against All). A crazed conquistador who takes an ill-fated trip down the Amazon, leading his legions to death in the New World (Aguirre, the Wrath of God). An angel flying over Berlin. Whether he’s doing fiction or documentary, Werner Herzog is one of the most brilliant, obsessed, and original filmmakers around. He’s a superb visual stylist who creates amazing images, and while he often seems to drive his actors round the bend, he elicits incredible performances from them, too. It’s no wonder he’s drawn to the twin themes of madmen and unfettered nature; they seem to match his own personality exactly.
Herzog’s much-praised latest work is Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a 3D movie about a closely guarded cave in France that holds the world’s oldest known cave paintings. Here’s a short tidbit on the film from NPR. I just saw it and it’s visually stunning. After his appearance, I hope to do an additional “Special ReporT” on Herzog, providing more background and context on his career.
This should make Stephen tremble: Herzog’s gripping documentary Grizzly Man, about wildlife advocate Timothy Treadwell, who loved…BEARS. His tragic fate will confirm all Stephen’s worst fears.
Read Slate’s fascinating commentary of the film.
Read the effusive New York Times review.
See the trailer.
Visit Werner Herzog’s “only authentic and official website.” You’ll be able to find out the latest news, learn about DVD releases, and much more. It’s an excellent site.
Tuesday, 6/7: Sugar Ray Leonard
He punched his way to an Olympic gold medal and then to professional boxing success, setting an amazing series of records. Sugar Ray Leonard—originally named Ray Charles Leonard, after the singer—was a National Golden Gloves champion, Boxer of the Decade in the 1980s, and an inductee in the Boxing Hall of Fame. Yet he took a break after the Olympics to attend the University of Maryland on scholarship, intending to quit boxing forever. But a series of setbacks after graduations—his parents’ illnesses and a girlfriend’s pregnancy—sent him back to the ring, and he embarked upon one of the most brilliant careers in the history of the sport, filled with retirements, comebacks, and changes in his weight class. And this week he speaks about both his personal and professional life in a new autobiography, cowritten with Michael Arkush: The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring. Among the revelations: that he was sexually abused by an Olympics coach.
He does good as the International Chairman of the the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Walk for a Cure, and the charismatic sportsman also showed off a different form of fancy footwork on Dancing with the Stars.
Buy the book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Go to his official website.
Watch a video tribute to his skills.
Wednesday, 6/8: Bre Pettis
In a world where machines do most of our manufacturing, Bre Pettis takes a different approach: he picks up tools and constructs robots and lots of other things by hand. His playful approach could spell fun on The Colbert Report. Pettis is the founder of Makerbot Industries, the host of History Hackers on the History Channel, the producer of video podcasts, and part of the Hacker Collective.
If you’re feeling creative, why don’t you make a project with him?
Go to his official website, where you can watch hundreds of Bre’s videos. Or go to his YouTube channel.
Read his blog and his manifesto on the “cult of DONE.”
Hear a podcast interview with Bre.
Follow him on Twitter.
Thursday, 6/9: Tom Ridge
Quick…call security! Tom Ridge was President George W. Bush’s Secretary of Homeland Security, a new position created in the wake of 9/11. He has stated that he resigned from the job because he was pressured to raise the terror alert prior to the 2008 elections. (Bush administration officials denied the claim.) Prior to that, he had been a several-term congressman and the governor of Pennsylvania. He currently serves on the board of several businesses (including Home Depot and Hershey) and has created Ridge Global LLC, which a company that provides guidance on international security. In the last election, he strongly supported John McCain and many thought he might become the vice presidential candidate. We all know who got THAT call. Now, a new controversy is swirling around him: he’s advocating fracking (an environmentally destructive form of extracting natural gas) in Philadelphia, and protestors have been out to stop him.
Ridge is the author of The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege…And How We Can Be Safe Again, cowritten with Lary Bloom. (And yes, that is Lary, not Larry.) In 2009, he was a guest on The Daily Show, but he has not visited Stephen before.
What he and Stephen have in common: Although Ridge is not completely deaf in his left ear, it was damaged due to a childhood illness, and he wears a hearing aid.
Buy The Test of Our Times on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
And Now, Let’s Check In with Our Good Friend, Jon Stewart!
Some great guests and old friends on The Daily Show this week.
Monday, 6/6: Maziar Bahari
Canadian/Iranian reporter Maziar Bahari returns to The Daily Show. Bahari, who works for Newsweek and is also a playwright and filmmaker, had been detained for several months by Iranian authorities in 2009 after doing an interview with TDS correspondent Jason Jones. Shortly after his release, he discussed his imprisonment with Jon.
He has a new book, Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity and Survival in Iran, set for release the day after his appearance.
Buy it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Tuesday, 6/7: Fareed Zakaria
On the day after Bahari’s visit we have another Newsweek-associated reporter: good friend Fareed Zakaria, author of the New York Times bestsellers The Future of Freedom and The Post-American World, which is now being released in an updated and expanded “2.0” version. Zakaria is also host of the CNN show Fareed Zakaria International. He has appeared twice on The Colbert Report, in 2008 and in 2005. His last appearance on TDS was nearly a year ago, in July 2010 (he discussed Jon’s beard!), but he has been one of Stewart’s most frequent guests. Zakaria has so many clips, I can’t post them all here!
Visit his website.
Buy The Post-American World 2.0 on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Wednesday, 6/8: Larry King
TV and radio host Larry King was long one of the most popular personalities on the air, and has interviewed almost everyone—including Jon. He has garnered numerous awards for his work, including Peabodys, an Emmy, and a Cable ACE. Last December, he ended his regularly running show on CNN, Larry King Live, although he still does some special programs. King has written several books, including My Remarkable Journey, a look at his life and times and the closest to an autobiography as he’s ever gotten.
King last appeared on TDS in May 2009, and Jon has often used his words for a Moment of Zen. The Jewish King also called Stephen on the “Atone Phone” and visited TCR in 2007.
Buy My Remarkable Journey on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Thursday 6/9: Howard Wasdin
Stephen had Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, and now Jon has one on his show, too: Howard Wasdin is the author of the recently released book, SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper, written with Stephen Templin. SEAL Team Six, to refresh your memory, is the group that killed Osama bin Laden. (Not Wasdin; he had retired for medical reasons by them–otherwise, he probably couldn’t write this book!) Wasdin received the Silver Star for his work with the Navy.
Buy his book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
I think it looks like a great week for both shows. What about you? Who are you looking forward to seeing? And can we hope that FINALLY there will be a long-overdue toss? Come ON, guys. We need to see you together again.
Cheers, everybody, and let me hear from you!
Colbert News Hub 
Great edition of “Better Know A Guest,” Karenatasha! My husband is an enormous Werner Herzog fan — I never would have known who or what “Kaspar Houser” was if it wasn’t for him — so I’m glad that for once I get to wag my finger at him for staying up so late, ’cause I know he’ll stay up for this! Sounds like an amazing week of guests from every walk of life! (And just think, we get to top it all off with the Tonys when the week is over…)
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“And can we hope that FINALLY there will be a long-overdue toss?”
From your keyboard to God’s ears! I was watching a little Klassic Kolbert the other day and wound up watching a string of old tosses. *sigh* Good times.
Great write up as usual, Karenatasha. It’s hard to decide which guest to be most excited for as they all sound pretty great. Though as an anthro student, Herzog’s new film sounds really interesting.
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Toss, toss, toss, toss, toss, toss.
I figured it couldn’t hurt if I said it over and over again.
I’m really excited for tomorrow’s Herzog interview! I’ve only seen a couple of his films – the documentary Grizzly Man and the film Rescue Dawn – and both were absolutely amazing. He’s a brilliant filmmaker (who happens to have a fantastic accent), and I think it’ll be interesting to see him interact with Stephen.
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I am just so thrilled that Stephen is having Werner Herzog on! I am a fan of the director and his strange films, having seen “Aguirre” and the amazing “Fitzcarraldo”(which I hope they will discuss) some time ago. I think this could be an amazing interview and hope to see Herzog’s new film as well very soon.
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Thanks, everyone!
So so far, the vote seems to be for Herzog and a toss. Sigh. I’ve almost begun to despair of one. I actually wonder if it’s because they’ve had so much great material lately thanks to Trump, Palin, and (sadly) Weiner, that they can’t spare a moment. Of course, on the plus side, both Jon and Stephen have been especially brilliant lately. But hey, guys, can’t your hear us call? Please? Toss? Please?
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Great work Karenatasha!!
I wonder if Jon and Larry will address the whole, is Larry going to be a new TDS correspondent. There was some talk of it after Larry finished his show, but I havn’t heard anything since.
Seriously looking forward to the Werner Herzog interview!!
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I’m looking forward to all of them, since I love learning about other people, but I think my vote also goes to Werner Herzog because I remember hearing about the French cave thing (being a native “Frenchie” after all) and being impressed with the trailer for it. And please please PLEASE, Stephen and Jon! It’s been 4 months since the last Toss! We love seeing the two of you interact! I hope that the Toss isn’t…no, I won’t say it for fear of jinxing anything. And a random observation, Bre Pettis’ stance in his headshot kinda makes me think that his watch should Photoshopped out and replaced with a Wriststrong bracelet, since Stephen used to do that stance a lot when he first created Wriststrong. Fantastic job as usual, Karenatasha!
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I’m just now realizing that I didn’t read all of the section about Tom Ridge. If he’s advocating fracking, then I hope Stephen nails him to the wall. It’s a terrible thing that natural gas companies are doing to the environment, and it’s going widly unnoticed and unpunished, because of an exploited loophole. Jon Stewart interviewed T. Boone Pickens a while back (who I normally do not have a problem with), and the interview actually disappointed me because Jon didn’t ask him enough about fracking, and when he did, Pickens dodged the question. So hopefully Stephen can catch Ridge stumbling.
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