Commenting On Everything

The Treatment
Joel McHale
Hosted by Elvis Mitchell
Wednesday May 16, 2:30 PM PDT
KCRW 89.9 FM (Los Angeles)/ KCRW.com
Link via Bosco Radio: News and Info Channel

Commenting on everything has become "the overall theme of my life," says Joel McHale, whose show Community was just ordered for a 13-episode fourth season by NBC.  

Community follows the story of a group of community college students in Greendale, Colorado, and has found a fervidly loyal fan base over the course of its first three seasons with its topical meta-humor and fantastical, unconventional form.

In addition to his NBC gig, McHale also hosts The Soup on E! Entertainment Television, which is a satirical offering of pop culture and television events that happen throughout the week. McHale's pitch-perfect, straight faced delivery and biting commentary have kept the show alive for seven seasons, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Neither does McHale, who will also star in the upcoming film Ted, written and directed by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.

Joel McHale talks with host Elvis Mitchell about how he jumps from one form of social commentary to the other, what audiences stand to gain from Hillbilly Handfishing, and why he enjoys being emasculated on television on today's The Treatment Radio Program.

Elvis Mitchell has hosted The Treatment, with its inside look at the creators of popular culture, since KCRW first aired the program in April of 1996. Mitchell served as the film critic at the New York Times from January 2000 until May of 2005. In October 2002, he gave the prestigious Alain Locke lectures on African American culture at Harvard University, and subsequently, has been a visiting lecturer at Harvard in Visual and Environmental Studies, and in African American Studies.

The former entertainment critic for NPR’s Weekend Edition, Mitchell has also been film critic at the Fort Worth Star Telegram, where he received the 1999 AASFE award for criticism, the LA Weekly and the Detroit Free Press. He has been editor-at-large at Spin magazine and is special correspondent for Interview magazine. He also hosts the TCM interview program Under the Influence.

A WGA Award nominee for his work on The AFI Lifetime Achievement Award: Sidney Poitier, he produced and co-created The Black List, Volume One, a documentary focusing on achievement in the African American community that HBO acquired and ran after the film’s debut at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival (where Mitchell has twice served on the Dramatic Competition Jury).

Featuring interviews with Slash, Chris Rock, Colin Powell and Toni Morrison, The Black List, Volume 1 recently received the NAACP Image Award for Best Documentary. An accompanying book is available as an audio book and eBook.  A sequel, The Black List, Volume 2, featuring interviews with Laurence Fishburne, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Melvin Van Peebles, Maya Rudolph and RZA, will air on HBO on February 26, 2009.

In 2011, Mitchell was hired by Movieline to serve as Chief Film Critic for the site. He'll be reviewing films weekly,  conducting interviews and writing unique features for the site about popular entertainment and the film industry. "Movieline represents the future of film journalism and I love what they have been doing," says Mitchell.