Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
Jonn Elledge – the writer who took me through the history of the world in 47 borders back in January 2025 for the 131st dinner interview – has a new book and a U.K. tour to go with it. We met at Bellanger in London to discuss “A (Brief) History…
Look for the 147th interview at the end of the month. But today, a spotlight on news from another all-time favorite meal with a stranger: Fred Melamed – the 76th interviewee – is back working with Larry David. Fred appears in the seventh episode of HBO’s “Life, Larry and the…
New interviews are on the way. But today, a spotlight on news from one of my all-time favorite meals with a stranger: Frank Brigtsen, legendary New Orleans chef, has finally been talked into writing a cookbook. But as Frank – the 100th person featured on Dining With Strangers – told…
Got an interesting job, an odd hobby or a fascinating life story? Let me interview you about it over dinner. Dining With Strangers is a long-running interview series I started back in late 2008. The premise is simple: I invite someone I’ve never met to share their story over a…
“I’m going to compare ourselves to some greats now, so please forgive me – Burns and Allen. We know who we are and we know how to set each other up.” Jane Lynch arrived to the 116th dinner interview at Hugo’s Restaurant in West Hollywood ready to fix the blinds,…
Azusa Sheshe Dance – the singer and actress featured as the 142nd dinner interview – is celebrating a decade of New York artistry this year, and could use our help getting to the Summer Cabaret Conference later this month to mark it. Since moving to the city from Memphis, Tennessee,…
By day Nick Sevilla is a middle school math teacher in Germantown, Maryland. By night – and most weekends – he’s “Mr. 8 That,” a TikTok food creator with over 25,000 followers watching him eat his way through the DMV’s hidden gems, from Nigerian restaurants in Wheaton to food trucks…
“Broken Sword,” a point-and-click adventure game by Charles Cecil (the 127th dining stranger) is becoming a film. Variety reports that Charles, who heads Revolution Software, will produce the movie with Noirin Carmody and Story Kitchen, and Evan Spiliotopoulos – the screenwriter for Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” – writing…
“Get the early show if you can — look at the state of me, I’m not even buying green bananas anymore.” Bernie Clifton was 82 and two days from the end of a pantomime run when I caught up with him for coffee in Hull in December 2018. In the…
Pete Gardner spent decades as one of the hardest-working people in comedy that you’d never heard of. Improv stages in Chicago, guest spots on TV, near-misses that would have broken most people’s resolve. Then came “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” the musical comedy series where he played the lovable Darryl Whitefeather – and…