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My last blog celebrated Spring, so it's been a while. For a reason. After the 100-day writer's strike, which Inside the Actors Studio honored from first day to last, my team and I have been working night and day to catch up, shooting five episodes in twenty-one days, an unprecedented schedule, given the two weeks of preparation I normally devote to each guest.

No one was given short shrift. By working ahead, and devoting sixteen hours a day to the task, I was ready for Brooke Shields, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mike Myers, Goldie Hawn, and Dave Chappelle -- and you'll be seeing the results on Bravo. They are five exceptional guests, and they've provided us with five exceptional episodes.

Dave returned to our stage to help us celebrate our 200th episode, and I can confidently promise you that when you see this show, it won't look or sound -- or feel -- like any Inside the Actors Studio episode you've ever witnessed.

Because of the 100-day gap in our schedule last fall, we still owe you a few episodes, which we'll be shooting this summer. So ... no rest for the weary Inside the Actors Studio staff, but on the other hand, no complaints. Meeting these artists on our stage, as we have for fourteen fascinating years, and listening to the unguarded, unabridged, uncensored accounts of their lives, is a rare and precious privilege that we enjoy as much as our audience in 84,000,00 homes on Bravo and in 125 countries.

One of the most frequent remarks I hear from strangers is, "You've got a great job!" -- and I agree -- which often leads to the question, "How did it start?" which I address in my book Inside Inside: