A Conversation With Robert Townsend

KUT 90.5 | By John L. Hanson Jr.

Published October 9, 2019 at 12:25 PM CDT

On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Robert Townsend, comedian, actor, film director/producer, writer and former cable network programming CEO, whose projects include Hollywood Shuffle, The Meteor Man and The Five Heartbeats.

Townsend talks about growing up in Chicago, being an independent filmmaker, his first big movie break, working with Eddie Murphy and why he believes The Five Heartbeats is a classic film.

John L. Hanson Jr.

John L. Hanson is the producer and host of the nationally syndicated radio series In Black America. It’s heard on home station KUT Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m., as well as weekly on close to 20 stations across the country. The weekly podcast of IBA, the only nationally broadcast black-oriented public affairs radio program, is one of KUT’s most popular podcasts.

See stories by John L. Hanson Jr.