Matt Pais says he was lucky enough to turn his passion for pop culture into his dream job. As the movie critic and music editor at the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye for 11 years, he had his finger on the pulse of the entertainment world. He then decided he’d had enough and left. But he soon found his calling as an author, writing three books, including his latest -Talk ‘90s with Me. Matt shares with Jeanne how he knew it was time to leave RedEye; why he came to love being an interviewer; why he’s not afraid to share his opinions; what he credits for his success; how he approaches each new project and where his ideas come from; and why he says, “the quality of the answers is often very much proportional to the quality of the questions.”
 
About Matt

Matt Pais spent 11 years as the movie critic and music editor for the Chicago Tribune's RedEye, reviewing more than 2,000 movies and interviewing Will Ferrell, Brie Larson, LeBron James, Margot Robbie, Harrison Ford and hundreds more celebrities. His latest book is “Talk ‘90s with Me: 23 Unpredictable Conversations with Stars of an Unforgettable Decade.” In 2020, he published "Zack Morris Lied 329 Times! Reassessing every ridiculous episode of 'Saved by the Bell' ... with stats," promoting the book on Mark-Paul Gosselaar's podcast "Zack to the Future" and much more. He released his debut collection of fiction, "This Won't Take Long: 100 Very Short Stories of Dangerous Relationships, Impaired Presidents, Frustrating Jobs and More," in 2019. He lives in Chicago with his wife and sons.

Twitter: @mattpais
Instagram: @mattpais
TikTok: @mattpais
Website: mattpais.com