John Mulaney Helps THR’s Scott Feinberg Toast Milestone 500th Episode of ‘Awards Chatter’

Chris Gardner
·2 min read
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The Hollywood Reporter’s resident awards guru Scott Feinberg had a big night on June 14 by taping a milestone 500th episode of his Awards Chatter podcast with special guest John Mulaney, promoting his Netflix comedy special Baby J.

The installment — recorded live in front of 40 guests during a private celebration inside the Beverly Hills home of filmmaker Gabe Polsky — led to some reflection for the indefatigable Feinberg, who serves as executive editor of awards. “I ran the numbers before the taping and we’ve averaged one episode every 5.6 days since it launched in September 2015,” says Feinberg, known to be as adept with data as he is with awards. “It’s both the most demanding part of what I do at THR, in terms of the amount of prep and effort that goes into it, and also the most rewarding.”

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He says it’s gratifying to hear anecdotes from listeners after they happen to stumble upon an episode taped seven or eight years ago and find something “exciting or revelatory” about one of the podcast’s guests. “When we started this thing, people didn’t necessarily know what a podcast was,” says Feinberg, giving credit to his first producer, Dóra Takács, who handed the baton to longtime producer Matt Whitehurst. “Now, our guest list and the quality of conversations can go up against pretty much any other podcast that’s out there.”

Guests who have sat for one hour have included the likes of Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Chadwick Boseman, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Barry Jenkins, Bono and George Clooney, and hundreds more. “We lucked out with John Mulaney,” Feinberg notes, adding that the taping marked the first time he’d met the comedian. “I knew he was a tremendously talented guy, but like everybody who was there, I was so impressed by him and the conversation — and he stayed for dinner.”

Speaking of, guests had plenty to digest following the taping including the fun tidbit that happened when Feinberg asked Mulaney whether he’d ever be down to host the Oscars. The answer? An enthusiastic yes, delivered in front of Janet Yang, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who took in the live taping.

This story first appeared in the June 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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