BEN MANKIEWICZ & ALAN SEPINWALL
A podcast miniseries devoted to celebrating the 1988 contemporary classic, action buddy comedy MIDNIGHT RUN, written by George Gallo & directed by Martin Brest. Hosted by Blake Howard & Jen Johans of One Heat Minute Productions & Watch With Jen, respectively, each week, we’ll explore the film we first bonded over when we became friends in 2019 by surfing through an incredible roster of guests from journalists to novelists & beyond who love it as much as we do.
In episode three, we discuss seeing Midnight Run in theatres then and now, Grodin being annoying as superpower and crying every time you watch one of the funniest movies ever made.
BEN MANKIEWICZ
Ben Mankiewicz is the primetime host of Turner Classic Movies. When he made his TCM debut in September 2003, he became only the second host hired in the network's history.
During his career at TCM, he has introduced thousands of movies on the air. Additionally, he’s become one of the best interviewers in the business, leading thoughtful and entertaining long-form conversations with more than two hundred of the industry’s top talents, including Mel Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Sophia Loren, Martin Scorsese, Warren Beatty, Ava DuVernay, Annette Bening, Robert Redford, Quentin Tarantino, Jodie Foster, Brad Bird, Faye Dunaway, Lou Gossett, Jr., and Michael Douglas.
Beginning in April 2020, Mankiewcz hosted TCM’s first podcast, The Plot Thickens: I’m Still Peter Bogdanovich, to outstanding reviews. The podcast delivered to listeners the arc of Peter’s epic story, through triumph and unspeakable tragedy, through historic success and public failure.
Since 2019, Mankiewicz has served as a contributor to the Peabody and Emmy-winning news magazine, CBS News Sunday Morning, and has hosted the American Society of Cinematographers Awards since 2018. In 2019, he was awarded the Luminary Award for Career Achievement by the Los Angeles Press Club.
Prior to TCM, Mankiewicz worked as a reporter and anchor in Charleston, SC, and Miami, FL, twice being named Best Anchor in South Florida by The New Times. Additionally, he contributes to The Young Turks, an online political show he co-founded with Cenk Uygur in 2002.
Mankiewicz moved to Los Angeles nearly 75 years after his grandfather, screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (“Mank” to his all his friends), headed west to work in the movie business. Soon after arriving, Herman cabled his friend Ben Hecht in New York, "There are millions to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around." His grandson is now proudly one of those idiots.
He's a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Tufts University, and Georgetown Day High School in Washington, DC, the school with the worst mascot in recorded history: the Grasshoppers.
Mankiewicz lives in Santa Monica with his beautiful wife, their beautiful daughter, one perfect dog, and one other dog, who’s available for adoption at any time. Seriously, please take him.
ALAN SEPINWALL
Alan Sepinwall is Rolling Stone's chief TV critic. He's been covering this new golden age of TV from the beginning, first as a reviewer for Tony Soprano's favorite newspaper, 'The Star-Ledger,' and is the author of the books 'The Revolution Was Televised,' 'TV (THE BOOK),' 'Breaking Bad 101,' and 'The Sopranos Sessions.'
