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Conversations with...Kevin Pollak

Theatre Arts speaker series hosted by Markus Flanagan

Conversations with...Kevin Pollak

This will be the 18th installment of our series "Conversations with...," the drama department speaker series aimed to help the next generation of artists shorten their learning curve. All are welcome!

Kevin Pollak started as stand-up comedian in San Francisco at age 20. Five years later, he moved to Los Angeles with dreams of appearing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and being in movies. Two hundred auditions later, he landed a few tiny TV and film parts, but his role in Ron Howard’s Willow was enough to get him to the couch of Carson’s show. Pollak instantly became a regular, chatting with the king two or three times a year until Johnny’s retirement. Although he never did stand-up on The Tonight Show, years later, after a few stand-up comedy specials of his own, Pollak was named by Comedy Central as one of the Top 100 Comedians of all Time.

In 1992, Pollak’s role in Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men proved his ability to stand out on the big screen among cinematic icons. The unplanned transformation of Pollak becoming a dramatic actor was further established two years later, when he costarred in The Usual Suspects and Martin Scorsese’s Casino in the same year. Pollak has co-starred in over 90 films, with three more coming in the new year.

Aw, but new fortunes found Pollak on the small screen in 2017… After being offered the part of Moishe Maisel, and then watching the pilot of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, he felt another historic adventure was beginning…  The Amazon Prime Studios’ worldwide hit has enjoyed a meteoric rise since, gathering eight Emmy awards, including Best Comedy, three Golden Globes, five Critics Choice awards, and many more from the Directors Guild, Writers Guild, and Producers Guild. Pollak insists, costarring on this show, with these astonishing actors, and actual genius creator/writers/directors in Amy and Dan, has been life-changing in the truest sense. He will begin work mid-March on season three.

Pollak’s first outing as a film director, the comedy documentary Misery Loves Comedy, premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film also shot to number one on iTunes for documentaries in just two days. Pollsk then directed the indie comedy, The Late Bloomer, starring J.K. Simmons, Jane Lynch, Maria Bello, Kumail Nanjiani, Beck Bennett, Johnny Simmons and Brittany Snow. Next up: It was just announced that Pollak will direct a psychological thriller from his own screenplay, Waiting for Helen.

Pollak was also a pioneer in the podcast world with his award-winning Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show. Most episodes became the longest on-camera conversations creative icons like Tom Hanks, Larry David or Jordan Peele have ever given. There are almost 400 interviews to choose from at Kevinpollak.tv. His new all-improvised comedy podcast, Alchemy This, has been consistently in the top 40 of all comedy podcasts on iTunes since its debut in October 2018.

The event will close with a 30-minute Q&A with the audience.

Sponsored By
Theatre Arts and Dance Department

Contact

Natalie Helton
nhelton@callutheran.edu
805-493-3452

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