Norman Lear

Monday, March 2, 2015
8pm 

Norman Lear
in conversation with Jane Lynch

discussing his memoir
Even This I Get to Experience

The Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90404

PURCHASE TICKETS
$25 General Admission seat
$35 Reserved Section seat
$50 Reserved Seats (includes Norman Lear’s memoir)

Norman Lear has enjoyed a long career in television and film, and as a political and social activist and philanthropist.

He teamed with director Bud Yorkin to form Tandem Productions, and together they produced several feature films, with Mr. Lear taking on roles as executive producer, writer, and director. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1967 for his script for Divorce American Style. In 1970, CBS signed with Tandem to produce All in the Family, which first aired on January 12, 1971 and ran for nine seasons. It earned four Emmy Awards for Best Comedy series as well as the Peabody Award in 1977. All in the Family was followed by a succession of other television hit shows including Maude, Sanford and Son, Good Times, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

Concerned about the growing influence of radical religious evangelists, Mr. Lear decided to leave television in 1980 and formed People For the American Way, a non-profit organization designed to speak out for Bill of Rights guarantees and to monitor violations of constitutional freedoms. 

Mr. Lear’s business career continued in 1982, when Tandem Productions and his other company, T.A.T. Communications, were folded into Embassy Communications, which was sold in 1985. He then created and is currently chairman of Act III Communications, a multimedia holding company with interests in television, motion pictures, and licensing.

In 1999, President Clinton bestowed the National Medal of Arts on Mr. Lear, noting that “Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it.” He also has the distinction of being among the first seven television pioneers inducted in 1984 into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

In addition to People for the American Way, Mr. Lear has founded other nonprofit organizations, including the Business Enterprise Trust (1989- 2000), which spotlighted exemplary social innovations in American business; the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication (2000-present), a multidisciplinary research and public policy center dedicated to exploring the convergence of entertainment, commerce and society; and with his wife, Lyn, co-founded the Environmental Media Association (1989-present), to mobilize the entertainment industry to become more environmentally responsible. Visit his website.

In 2001, Lyn and Norman Lear purchased one of the few surviving original copies of the Declaration of Independence. During the decade that they owned it, they shared it with the American people by touring it to all 50 states. As part of this Declaration of Independence Road Trip, he launched Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan youth voter initiative that registered well over four million new young voters in the 2004, 2006, and 2008 elections.

Jane Lynch cut her theatrical teeth at The Second City, Steppenwolf Theatre and in many church basements all over the greater Chicagoland area.

Recent film credits include A.C.O.D, Three Stooges, Wreck-It Ralph, Julie & Julia, Shrek Forever After, The Post Grad Survival Guide, Paul and Brownie Masters. Past film work includes Christopher Guest’s For Your Consideration, A Mighty Wind and Best in Show, as well as Role Models, The Rocker, Spring Breakdown, the animated film Space Chimps, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Walk Hard, Talladega Nights, The 40 Year old Virgin, Margaret Cho’s Celeste and Bam Bam, Alan Cumming’s Suffering Man’s Charity, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Sleepover, and Surviving Eden.

Jane can currently be seen in the Ryan Murphy television series Glee on FOX for which she is an Emmy and Golden Globe winner for portraying the iconic television character, Sue Sylvester.   Some of her other recent credits include the STARZ series Party Down, Lovespring, a Lifetime original series, Desperate Housewives and Weeds as well as the last season of The L Word opposite Cybill Shepherd.  She has recurring roles on Two and a Half Men, Criminal Minds and The New Adventures of Old Christine. 

Starting this May, Jane will be featured in the Broadway production of Annie as Miss Hannigan in a limited Broadway run at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theater in New York. She also will be seen hosting NBC’s newest game show hit, Hollywood Game Night, produced by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner later this summer. 

LA Weekly picks both Norman Lear (March 2) and Kim Gordon (March 5) events as “14 fun things to do in LA this week.”

We are thrilled both our events next week made the LA Weekly “14 fun things to do in L.A. this week.”  Visit our website for tickets and more information on these events.  Here’s what the LA Weekly had to say about both events.

Norman LearMonday  3/2

The lovable bigot, the women’s libber, the blue-collar African-American family — the 1970s belonged to Norman Lear, thanks to All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons and Good Times. In his new book,Even This I Get to Experience, Lear writes about growing up in the Great Depression and fighting in World War II before he became one of the biggest sitcom producers in TV history. He helped create more than 100 shows, nine of which aired simultaneously. As part of Live Talks Los Angeles, Lear discusses his memoir with another comedic heavyweight, Emmy-winning actress Jane Lynch (Glee). (More on Lear’s impact on diversity in Hollywood on page 11.) Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica; Mon., March 2, 8 p.m.; $25-$50. livetalksla.org. —Siran Babayan

 

Thursday 3/5Kim Gordon

Singer, artist and designer Kim Gordon talks about her new book, Girl in a Band, which chronicles the history of her band, Sonic Youth, and the evolution of alternative music. Gordon traces her roots back to her childhood in L.A. with a father who taught for UCLA, plus her move to New York, the city’s no-wave scene and stints in early bands. Gordon also opens up about motherhood, ex-husband Thurston Moore and other alt-music royalty, namely — and to no one’s surprise — Courtney Love. Part of Live Talks Los Angeles, the event is moderated by singer Aimee Mann. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica; Thu., March 5, 8 p.m.; $20-$43 (top price includes Gordon’s book). livetalksla.org. —Siran Babayan

 

Amy Poehler/Jane Lynch event video on Bio.com home page…

We’re thrilled to have the video from our event with Amy Poehler and Jane Lynch featured on the home page of the Biography Channel’s website.  The Biography Channel is a major sponsor of Live Talks Los Angeles and a content partner where we exclusively release the videos from some of our events….Here’s a link to the video.

Here’s a link to the Live Talks Los Angeles page on the Bio website where you can see more of our videos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video from our event with Amy Poehler & Jane Lynch is up at the Biography Channel website. Enjoy, share…

 

Video from our hilarious evening with Amy Poehler in conversation with Jane Lynch at The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica is now available exclusively on Bio.com, the Biography Channel’s website. Biography is a sponsor of Live Talks Los Angeles.

Watch the video here.

 

Some questions with Jane Lynch…Lynch interviews Amy Poehler Feb 12 at Live Talks Los Angeles @janemarielynch

We’re very much looking forward to our event with Jane Lynch interviewing Amy Poehler on Sunday, February 12 at The Aero Theatre.  Event info here.   We featured Lynch in conversation with Adam Scott last October when her memoir, Happy Accidents, came out.  Hilarious evening. Here’s the video.  The image to the left is the poster from the event.

Our event with Amy Poehler and Jane Lynch supports the Adopt the Arts Foundation who’s mission is to bring together well-known artists, public figures, business, and the general public to save the arts in America’s public schools. Adopt the Arts is raising money to keep arts education in public schools in Los Angeles.

We caught up with Jane Lynch to answer some questions…

You recently did a PSA for arts in schools. How did you get involved with supporting arts in schools?  What was the arts program like when you were in school?

My daughter goes to a public school in LA and we have a very active parent’s organization to raise the funds needed for  art and music programs which the state no longer pays for. Not every public school is able to raise the money so Matt Sorum (Guns and Roses) and others asked me to join a brand new organization called Adopt the Arts to fund these programs to other public schools in LA.  My refuge in high school was the hour I spent every day in choir.

What was your favorite TV show when you were in highschool?

My favorite TV show in high school was The Brady Bunch which was actually in re-runs at that time.

What’s your favorite of the Oscar nominated movies?

The Artist, The Iron Lady

What’s a day of relaxation like in Lynch/Embry household?

Playing with our dogs and eating Lara’s fabulous cooking!

Favorite fiction author of all time?

John Irving

What are a couple books you’ve recently read that you really liked?

Girls Like Us, Sheila Weller
The Paleo Solution, Robb Wolf

What book are you looking forward to read?

Geting back to and finishing Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs book which I started over Xmas.

If you could travel back in time to meet any famous person, who would you choose? 

Greta Garbo
Abraham Lincoln
Carole King circa 1970
Theodore Roosevelt
Benjamin Franklin

Which five notable people from history do you think could work together to achieve world peace? 

I don’t think any one from the past present or future including Jesus Christ, the Buddha or  Ghandi, can make a place peaceful if the people are determined to fight and defend and see “other” and the enemy.