Gillian Jacobs and Jonathan Gold

Episode notes

 

Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for ELLE/Getty ImagesGillian Jacobs on Surviving Juilliard and the Unique Challenges and Joys of Working on NBC’s “Community”Gillian Jacobs may never know what it’s like to play the ingenue. As an actress, she has an energy that’s hard to pin down, but it’s anything but naive. After a tough stint at Juilliard’s acting school, Jacobs pursued a career in film and television, often being cast in dark, gritty roles. However, in 2009 her career took a sudden lurch in the opposite direction when she was cast in a very different role.

Her breakout role was as Britta Perry, the confident and outspoken student opposite Joel McHale’s self-involved lawyer-turned-study group leader Jeff Winger on Community. Britta is exceptionally eager, mostly to the vexation of her peers who often voice their displeasure at her stances on social issues. Her friends often describe her as “the worst”, but she’s ever-confident in her own identity.

When Jacobs signed up for the role in Community, all she knew was that Joel McHale had been cast in it, but she soon realized that it would be a very unique and ambitious show.
In this extended conversation with Jacobs, we’ll talk about why she didn’t fit in at Juilliard, her big break on Community, and get a peek behind the scenes on a beloved but aggrieved network show.

Jacobs currently stars in the Netflix comedy Love alongside Paul Rust. Love’s first season is available for streaming on Netflix.

The interview originally aired in October 2013.

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Photo: Anne FishbeinFood Critic Jonathan Gold on Los Angeles and High and Low DiningThe Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold joins us to talk about — what else? — food. With his enthusiastic and equal opportunity criticism, he’s become known as the authority on where and what to eat in Los Angeles.

His award-winning work has regularly appeared in numerous newspapers including the LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Times, the latter where he is currently a regularly columnist. His articles and reviews have also appeared in Blender, Spin, Rolling Stone and Gourmet magazines. Along with the Pulitzer, he was the first food writer to be honored as a National Magazine Award finalist in criticism by the American Society of Magazine Editors

He joined Jesse to talk about how he manages the day to day eating, the one food fear he just can’t overcome, his thoughts and high and low dining and more. Jonathan is also the author of the highly regarded food guide to LA, Counter Intelligence, which details some of his best food discoveries.

Gold is the subject of a new documentary called City of Gold, which is in theaters next week.

The interview originally aired in December 2011.

The Outshot: Sly and the Family Stone’s Perfect AlbumJesse explains how Sly and the Family Stone made a perfect album, even as they slowly disintegrated as a group.

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