Creativity in Captivity

The director and writer of the comedy martial arts movie The Paper Tigers, Bao tells global stories that have universal appeal. Mentored by master action director Corey Yuen, Bao Tran’s approach draws on spectacle through story and character. Screen Anarchy commended his written-and-directed short Bookie for its “flawlessly realized world populated by entirely fleshed out and believable characters, driven by a compelling narrative and brought to sumptuous life.” His editing credits include Cho Lon, one of Southeast Asia’s highest-budgeted action blockbusters, and Jackpot, a heartfelt comedy selected as Vietnam’s official entry to the 2016 Oscars for Best Foreign Film. Bao's feature The Paper Tigers garnered praise from Collider as “an impressive feature debut with confident command of the narrative and action alike, it’s an absolutely lovely time at the movies.” Rotten Tomatoes ranks it as one of the top Action Comedies and Asian American Movies with a Certified Fresh rating. He tells us the impact that Corey Yuen had on him as a kid, he shares Brad Bird’s advice that the job of a storyteller is telling campfire stories as big as the world and together Bao and Pat take a shot at the first kung fu fight on a podcast.  

An award-winning and accredited German art conservator for paintings and sculptures in Los Angeles with over 15 years of experience in the field of cultural heritage conservation. She completed graduate studies in Art Conservation and has held positions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Balboa Art Conservation Center, the National Gallery of Denmark, and for the German Government. Kamila is the founder of LA Art Labs on Museum Row in Los Angeles that employs scientific techniques and instrumentation to achieve museum-quality results. In this week’s episode, Kamila tells us about her pigment collection, including colors from an Egyptian mummy, and she shares stories about working on restoring everything from Picasso to Banksy.

Brian Regan is one of the most respected comedians in America and a veteran of Late Night TV with multiple appearances on The Tonight Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. His Netflix stand-up specials include: Brian Regan: On The Rocks and Brian Regan: Nunchucks and Flamethrowers, which is also available as a vinyl album. Brian stars in his own original half-hour Netflix series, Stand Up and Away! With Brian Regan combining sketch and stand-up comedy, executive produced by himself and Jerry Seinfeld. His 30-plus year career of touring theaters has taken him to The Leicester Square Theatre in London, The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, The Beacon Theatre, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver and the Vivant Arena in Salt Lake City. Brian’s other comedy releases include: Live From Radio City Music Hall, All By Myself, The Epitome of Hyperbole, Standing Up, I Walked on the Moon and Brian Regan Live. On this episode Brian impresses the importance of power napping, how he found his voice as a comic who avoided explicit material and why he considers himself ‘The Laziest Playwright’ of all time.

Colette is an award-winning short fiction writer, teacher and mentor. Her short story collection Once Removed won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the NYC Big Book Award for Short Story Collections, and the Juror’s Choice Award and the Short Stories Award from the National Indie Excellence Awards. Her work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Harvard Review, Kenyon Review Online, Slice, Carve, The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner and Colorado Review. Her other awards include a Writers@Work Fiction Prize, a Glenna Luschei Award, a Reynolds Price Short Fiction Award, and a Truman Capote fellowship from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, where she completed her MFA. She has taught writing for 20 years, currently at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, as well as privately. She co-hosts the Literary Roadhouse Bookclub Podcast and is the Executive Director of The CineStory Foundation, a nonprofit mentoring organization for emerging TV writers and screenwriters. On this episode Colette discusses being an identical twin, the importance of a good opening line and the value of ass-in-the-chair time.  

A versatile musician and the co-founder of the Brooklyn-based alt rock band “They Might Be Giants” known for their uniquely experimental and absurdist style using surreal, humorous lyrics and unconventional instruments in their songs. John is a singer/songwriter, who plays accordion, baritone, bass saxophone, clarinet and keyboards. TMBG has released 23 albums and has two Grammy Awards. John shares the impact his parents’ record collection had on him, the way his band found success in children’s music and he gives insight into TMBG’s newest album: “Book” with partner John Flansburgh. 

An award-winning librettist and lyricist that serves on National Council of the Dramatists Guild of America. Cheryl has been a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists since 2008, and serves as the company’s Director of New Musical Theatre Development. She has co-written more than a dozen musicals that have been developed and showcased at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Conference, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Works and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Her original novelty songs have been featured on Good Morning America, the Today Show, and NPR’s Morning Edition. On this episode Cheryl breaks down the architecture of musical theatre, explains how getting someone to like a musical is like getting them to like sushi and shares Stephen Sondheim’s affinity for perfect rhyme.

A Southern California artist whose practice is focused mainly on abstract and figurative painting, as well as sculpture, printmaking and music. Tim studied fine art at Otis-Parsons before entering the animation and illustration industries where he honed his technical skills. His complex color and design theories pushed forward a decidedly populist aesthetic, which has continued to develop and morph over time. He’s the author of an extraordinary retrospective monograph/autobiography entitled Tree of Life. Tim shares the amazing sense of accomplishment he feels when filling up a sketchbook, his affection for the quality of estate sale paper and his ability to get out of the way so that art can be made.

Jackie is 35 year veteran of stand-up comedy whose albums have been #1 on Amazon and iTunes and have over fifty million views on Spotify and Pandora. She is the host of two podcasts, the long running The Dork Forest and her new show The Jackie & Laurie Show co-hosted with fellow comic/writer, Laurie Kilmartin. Kashian’s list of acclaimed comedy specials include This Will Make an Excellent Horcrux, which was named one of Vulture’s best stand-up comedy specials, and I Am Not The Hero of This Story. Her latest special is Stay-Kashian now available everywhere. On this episode we talk about the first joke she ever wrote, the invention of her childhood game “Imagination” and we break down the definitions of Dork, Nerd, Dweeb, Weirdo and Geek. 

A world-class paleo artist who produces natural history and prehistoric life models for museums, publishing, and film. Gary has a degree in Art/Biology and he interned at the Smithsonian Institution and the British Museum of Natural History. He has created sculptures for National Geographic, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the BBC, The Discovery Channel, and The American Museum of Natural History. His work recreating the mummy of the “Iceman” can be seen on PBS, in the NOVA special Iceman Reborn. Gary is a mammoth talent in a bigger-than-life profession. We talk about the physical conundrum of getting a 52-foot Megaladon through a man-size door and how he often disturbed his teachers by bringing roadkill to school for show & tell.  

This creative director, feminist researcher, and writer resides at the intersection of art, technology, and social justice.  She is the Augmented and Virtual Realities Lead at the Atlantic Institute in Oxford, England. Alice is the founder of Herstory, a project that uses art and culture to engage people with women’s history. She has worked with Magic Leap, U2, The Gates Foundation, Tate, and Penguin Books. In this episode, she shares what it’s like to collaborate with the band U2, offers insights on her time developing Mica—the first digital human and she encourages Pat to join her in becoming an Accidental Technologist. Keep your AI on this bright talent and forward thinker.