Chicago Film Critic Richard Roeper Talks New Podcast, Roger Ebert Memories

Film critic Richard Roeper has been one of the greatest influences on my professional life. Since a child, I've been reading his movie reviews, watching him co-host Ebert & Roeper alongside the late, great Roger Ebert, and then following him via various radio and TV shows. My personal library even includes many of his books.

Now imagine how nervous yet excited I was when he actually agreed to a phone interview with me.

READ MORE: Critic James Berardinelli Celebrates Over 30 Years of Film Reviews

Low and behold, a private message on Twitter and some brief email correspondence later, and Richard Roeper was on my phone-line. It was a great time to catch up with versatile renaissance man, who has dabbled into every medium imaginable over his multi-decade career. This year, Roeper, like dozens of other writers, accepted a buyout from the Chicago Sun-Times that ended his 39-year run with the newspaper.

Now, Roeper is the host of The Richard Roeper Podcast via American Eagle. On top of that, he is a regular contributor and film critic for RogerEbert.com, the website that serves as an archive of works published by the greatest film critic in history, while also acting as a platform for a barrage of writers to review new films. Roeper doesn't let the grass grow under his feet, and he seems to be embracing the significant employment change that occurred in his life this year.

Roeper's podcast is different from others because he avoids doing interviews. He recognizes the crowded landscape of podcasting, and the wealth of people having guests on their shows. Instead, he pivots to talking about pop culture, media, movies, etc. The most recent episodes of The Richard Roeper Podcast tackle everything from the Sydney Sweeney "Good Jeans" controversy to the performance of Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix.

Moreover, Roeper was kind enough to share some priceless memories of Roger Ebert. Roeper dove into how the two went to dinner often, traveled to do things like The Tonight Show and film festivals, and how every year produces multiple movies he wishes he could know what Roger had to say about.

As a lifelong fan of Richard Roeper, this was the conversation I always hoped I'd have with him. There's some great nuggets for fans of his work, and those who might not know a lot about him.

Take a listen to my interview with Richard Roeper below!