August 11, 2008
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The place was like a comedy club with this month's guests: Jennifer Niederst Robbins, Marcia Gagliardi and Kasper Hauser. Kurt was in great form, leading off with the story of what inspired our beloved TSL after-show drawing. Then, we discovered that despite her high power status as one of the web's pioneering graphic designers (and the author of some of its most influential design manuals), Jennifer is practically a giggling groupie when it comes to her infatuation with the rock-star guests on her web-streaming interview shows, Cooking with Rock Stars and Parenting with Rock Stars. Charming food columnist Marcia Gagliardi, "the tablehopper," delighted our SF foodie audience with her witty, down-home dish (and pre-publication scoop!) on what's happening in restaurant kitchens all over town. And Kurt could barely keep a straight face when interviewing the wild men of Kasper Hauser: Rob, John, James and Dan. Fortunately, there was no need to do so -- the guys were so hysterical (whether doing their monk sketch or just attempting to answer questions) that no one wanted them to leave the stage. The show kept going until almost 9:45. . . . you gotta give the people what they want!
It's not so easy to interview Kasper Hauser!
Our featured guests:
MARCIA GAGLIARDI
MARCIA GAGLIARDI, aka "the tablehopper," is a San Francisco culinary personality. Marcia launched the tablehopper, a free weekly e-column about the San Francisco dining scene, in February 2006 and has quickly gained status as the source for all the latest local restaurant and bar news and gossip, plus reviews of hot new restaurants (established ones, too), culinary events, and even star sightings in bars and restaurants. Marcia is known for her vibrant and enthusiastic style, full of verve and sass, and trusted to "tell it like it is." The two-year-old tablehopper column was voted "Most Obsessive Restaurant Informant" by 7x7 Magazine in 2006 and "Best Fresh Scuttlebutt" by the San Francisco Bay Guardian in 2007, and it just won the 2008 San Francisco Magazine readers' poll for "Best Blog for Getting the Scoop on Food."
KASPER HAUSER
KASPER HAUSER is a four-man sketch comedy troupe. They have been described by New York's Time Out Magazine as "one of the few comedy teams which has rightfully earned the description 'Pythonesque' . . . the foursome’s show combines a hyperactive imagination with an inspired sense of lunacy." The troupe has headlined many of the best comedy clubs and festivals in the U.S. and won the Herald Angel award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Kasper Hauser partners cowrote and starred in the feature films "Fishing with Gandhi" and "Cow Monkey," they've appeared on Comedy Central, and they're renowned for their parodies of the SkyMall catalog, "This American Life", and Craigslist.
JENNIFER NIEDERST ROBBINS
JENNIFER NIEDERST ROBBINS was one of the first designers for the Web. The designer of O'Reilly's Global Network Navigator (GNN), the first commercial web site, she has been designing for the Web since 1993. Since then, she has worked as the creative director of Songline Studios (a former subsidiary of O'Reilly) and as a freelance designer and consultant since 1996. She is the author of the bestselling Web Design in a Nutshell and Learning Web Design (O'Reilly), and she has taught web design at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and Johnson & Wales University in Providence. She has spoken at major design and Internet events including SXSW Interactive, Seybold Seminars, the GRAFILL conference (Geilo, Norway), and one of the first W3C International Expos.
In addition to designing, Jennifer created and hosts the popular web interview show Cooking With Rockstars, and she's currently working on a spin-off project, Parenting with Rockstars (her first interviewee was Ringo Starr).