Creativity in Captivity

Chief Creative Officer and Partner at SuperBloom House, an independent creative company that transforms the way brands show up in the world. Heather holds previous roles at Virtue, the agency from VICE, and as VP of Creative across all branded content and brand-led entertainment at Vox Media, She has spent the last decade helping clients shape culture beyond traditional advertising. She led the ch...

In this special episode we celebrate the 99th birthday of The King of Late Night, Johnny Carson. Pat Hazell visits with Tonight Show Producer and President of Carson Entertainment Group, Jeff Sotzing about Johnny’s affection for variety acts. The show features the cast of Carson Tonight: master magician, Lance Burton; America’s Got Talent juggling duo, The Passing Zone (Jon Wee & Owen Morse); come...

Comedian, actor, television writer, author and musician Paul Reiser is one of Hollywood’s most prolific creatives.2024 is a busy year for Reiser. On the heels of his new comedy The Problem with People which Reiser wrote, produced, and starred in alongside Colm Meaney and Jane Levy, Reiser has projects across a multitude of media formats. In March, Carter Burke, Reiser’s iconic character from Alien...

A comedian and magician who headlined Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple, has been featured on America's Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, Conan, Sherri, Comedy Central's This Week at the Comedy Cellar and National Geographic Channel's Brain Games. Harrison was a senior producer for Primetime: Would You Fall for That? and story producer for VH1’s This is HOT 97. He was also the head writer for Tu Nite co...

An innovation strategist, design thinker and the author of The Wonder Mindset who is on a mission to transform companies, foster community and empower human potential. With over two decades of experience in spearheading strategic initiatives, she successfully led organizations through complex challenges, elevating design maturity and fostering cultures of innovation and growth. Sarah’s expertise s...

The Founder and Chief Creative Officer of the Nashville-based independent ad agency THE MAYOR. Tom produced award-winning work in four straight Super Bowls for Avocados from Mexico and RadioShack. He's also a contributing factor in the famous Farmers Insurance jingle "We Are Farmers" and starting the infamous Popeye's Chicken Wars. Tom's work has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company,...

A Creature F/X artist in the UK for over 30 years, Maria’s career began working at Jim Henson's Creatureshop in London.  She went on to specialize in art finishing, hair, fur and feathers. Her work has taken her on many adventures from Star Wars, to Harry Potter and Maleficent, to a number of epic historical films over the years. She has a passion for magic and circus and is a collector of hobbies...

With an unprecedented four Juno awards for songwriter of the year, Jim Vallance is one of Canada’s pre-eminent songwriters and the creative force behind top tracks for artists like Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, Joe Cocker and Glass Tiger. He played drums with the Vancouver band Prism, and wrote their first single, Spaceship Superstar (which was played on the Discovery Space Shuttle). After touring with...

A well-regarded producer of television specials and variety shows, George Schlatter, in 1967 pitched to NBC an idea that was a radical departure: a comedy special inspired by the hippie counter-culture, one which would take the idea of sit-ins, love-ins, and be-ins, and manifest that politicized, sexualized, consciousness-raising energy into comedic sketches. The special, Laugh-in, was so successf...

The creator and writer of FindingJoy.net and the author of three books: Get Your Spark Back, Mom Enough and The Brave Art of Motherhood. Rachel is a founding partner in Audience Industries – a company designed to train and equip entrepreneurs in their ventures. Her inspiring articles have been translated into over 25 languages and her original content has been featured in The Today Show, NPR, The...

An International literary artist, Texas poet laureate nominee and nationally ranked slam poet who manages to turn life into written and spoken works of art. He is a regular at Austin Poetry Slam since he won his first Grand Slam title in 2005. Christopher is an MC, champion, host, writer, author, educator, publisher, pappy, professor veteran and nurse. Christopher Michael uses poetry to address me...

A multi-hyphenate theatre maker who views her solo work as an artistic extension of the social justice work she has been committed to for the last thirty years. Arlene’s award-winning solo works tour throughout the United States and internationally. Many of these works are an exploration of disability in our culture. As an actor she has performed on stages big and small in LA and Chicago and has w...

An improv artist and teacher for nearly 40 years, and he has applied those principles to all facets of his work as an editor, writer, director, and actor. He is the founder of Turbine Arts Collective, a Los Angeles nonprofit dedicated to the exploration of creativity, where he teaches weekly workshops in improvisation. After graduating from the University of Iowa with degrees in Communications/The...

The co-founder of Esther’s Follies comedy troupe & club, an actor, singer and successful entrepreneur who undoubtedly helps to “Keep Austin Weird.” Esther’s has kept audiences laughing for more than 47 years. The live comedy revue — part SNL with a Texas twist, part modern vaudeville and Magical Mystery Tour — is like nothing else on the national comedy scene. From political skewering to parody sk...

A versatile director of theatre, film & television with credits ranging from series director on Home Improvement, produced and directed Working, Soul Man, and dozens of other prime time programs, including episodes of Friends (The Pivot! episode), Caroline in the City, Suddenly Susan, American Pie, Jesse, The Single Guy, In The House, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Sabrina, The Tick, and many more.  And...

An award-winning circus performer, actor, director and teacher who has performed internationally for more than four million people as a principal character with Cirque Du Soleil. John’s original and quirky routines are known for being an influential part of the contemporary circus movement that began in the 1980’s. John often collaborates with top entertainment companies to create memorable charac...

An Atlanta-based cellist-composer, looper, improviser, and storyteller, that has been featured on the Tamaron Hall Show, received a Kennedy Center Office Hours Artist Residency, and has been accepted as a sound installation artist for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 2022 Biennale. Okorie is a co-composer and performer of a cello concerto Liminal, an Atlanta Concerto, that enjoyed a world premie...

A stop-motion artist, photographer and creative entrepreneur who weaves magic into advertisements, marketing strategies and everyday life. Her mission is to empower others to unlock their creativity, awaken their imagination and take risks in pursing what they love. She is a stop-motion artist who makes video for brands and teaches creatives how to bring magic into their work. Colette has created...

A legendary Emmy-award winning TV writer, director & producer who co-wrote many of the classic episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show and created the TV series That Girl starring Marlo Thomas. A former lifeguard in the Catskills mountains turned comedy writer for radio DJs at WNEW, Bill partnered up with Sam Denoff to write comedy for The Steve Allen Show, Good Morning World and many other sitcoms fro...

A singer, songwriter, lyricist, author, and founder of Two Tomatoes Records with 15 award-winning albums, more than 1 billion total streams, and nearly 450 million YouTube channel views. Laurie has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the White House. Business Insider dubbed Laurie “the gold standard of the children’s music world.” As a leader and innovator in children’s music and enter...

A Primetime Emmy Award nominee best known for her tenure as a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1995-2000. Cheri began her career in Promotions for A&M records for 4 years and joined up with the Groundlings, an improv-sketch comedy group based in LA. One night, a Saturday Night Live rep attended a performance with the intention of auditioning fellow Groundlings m...

One of sports photography’s preeminent visual storytellers. Jean does much more than take pictures. With a diverse portfolio in portraiture and sports of all kinds, she is devoted to capturing the dynamism of her subjects and revealing the stories behind the images. She covered everything from wrestling to sailing, from basketball to volleyball to track and field. And, of course, football — on any...

A creative comic genius known for concocting a cast of fictional characters all of whom he played live on air while also serving as the host of his national talk radio program. Hendrie actually started out as a disc jockey at WBJW 1440 AM in Winter Park, FL, a suburb of Orlando. After 15 years working as a disc jockey at stations across the country, he realized he hated what he was doing. Moving t...

A color-forward visual artist, comic storyteller and the author of the new book Kinda Funny: Stories by a Full-time Comedian (with Four Part-time Jobs.)  JJ takes her stories from the comedic stage to the comedic page in a comedy-club-meets-therapy-session collection of essays. From aging parents, awkward first dates, and avoiding the dentist to traversing the difficulties of eating disorders, wre...

One of America’s most iconic photographers, widely recognized for his fine art, editorial and commercial work. Stephen’s pictorial stories of Mainland China, California’s Highway One, Ellis Island, the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and an impressionistic study of Burned Objects set the tone for a series of career-defining projects that catapulted him to the top of the photographic landsc...