The Dinner Party Download featuring Paul Giamatti

Actor Paul Giamatti
Actor Paul Giamatti from poses for a portrait during the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival in Guess Portrait Studio at Hyatt Regency Hotel on September 12, 2010 in Toronto, Canada. ()
Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images

This week on the Dinner Party Download...

Icebreaker:
Singer-songwriter Henry Wolfe (look for his new album "Linda Vista" soon) gets his hooks into a joke.

Small Talk: Reyhan Harmanci
Reyhan Harmanci -- culture editor of San Francisco's The Bay Citizen -- tells us about artist Jeff Koons' overinflated sense of intellectual property rights.

A History Lesson with Booze: The Dem Donkey and "The Jackass Neck"
Learn about how a staunch Republican came to symbolize the Democrats... Then throttle a "Jackass Neck" - a custom cocktail courtesy of Alex Bookless, bar manager of The Passenger in Washington D.C.

Guest of Honor: Paul Giamatti
The actor who singlehandedly decimated Merlot sales in the United States is up for a Golden Globe award this weekend for his starring role in the movie "Barney's Version." Paul speaks to Rico about Canadian fan boys, being a n-oenophile, and his acting stature. To hear a longer version of that interview with Paul Giamatti -- plus a primer on why anyone would want to garnish a cocktail with whale cholesterol -- head to dinnerpartydownload.org.