Michael Rapaport has been a familiar face to moviegoers for nearly 25 years, even if the star of iconic ’90s films such as Zebrahead, Higher Learning and Kiss of Death never became a household name. Rapaport, the son of a radio-personality mom and father who made disco New York’s most popular radio format, debuted as a stand-up comic at L.A.’s The Improv in the mid-’80s. The stream-of-consciousness smack-talk style he established onstage at age 19 is not far removed from his podcasting approach, as he told Mark Maron on Maron’s WTF podcast, except now he knows how to flow with more structure.
He set the tone for his own I Am Rapaport: Stereo Podcast from the get-go, channeling his manic intensity into discussions of music, movies, sports (“Why my teams are good and your teams suck …”) and other things he likes. Rapaport likes fantasy football, has a lifelong love of hip-hop (he directed the documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest) and gets to kick it with friend and sidekick Gerald Moody—all elements that will likely fuel the first stop of what he has referred to as his “world tour” when I Am Rapaport is broadcast live from Las Vegas.
Vinyl at the Hard Rock Hotel, 9 p.m. Oct. 14, starting at $35 plus tax and fee, 18+. 888.929.7849
