Lorraine Toussaint is the kind of guest who makes time slow down and the truth get loud. You know her as Aunt Vi on The Equalizer, Vee on Orange Is the New Black, and the unforgettable Cressida in Into the Badlands, but in this episode Lorraine goes way beyond the roles.

She talks about growing up in Trinidad, moving to Brooklyn, the High School of Performing Arts, and Juilliard, plus the wild moment her real-life story ended up shaping Fame. We get into motherhood, single parenting on set, and what it means to raise a child with authenticity at the center.

Then the conversation turns deep, fast: spirituality, fear, division, and Lorraine’s reminder that love is not soft, it’s a practice, and sometimes it’s a weapon. We also talk Hudson Valley life, Omega Institute energy, planting trees, growing food, finding stillness, and why she comes “home” when she’s upstate.

Chef Ric Orlando joins Hudson Valley Unleashed for a loud, hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt hang—because of course it is when you put a chef, a DJ, and a longtime Hudson Valley icon at the same kitchen table.

Josh and Dave go way back with Ric: from the early, chaotic glory days of New World Home Cooking (including those legendary Halloween parties) to the reality of building restaurants that feel like community—not just a place to eat. Ric talks about learning the craft in Boston at the legendary Harvest, cooking for Julia Child, and why the simplest food often hits the hardest.

Then we get into what he’s doing now: consulting gigs where he walks into kitchens and politely (or not) drags standards back to Earth, high-energy cooking classes that are basically performance art, pop-up dinners, sauces and spice rubs, and most notably his chef-driven Sicily and Italy tours that trade “see a church, eat pasta, goodbye” for real people, real stories, and the kind of meals you remember forever.

Also yes: he beat Bobby Flay. We had to say it.

New episode drops Tuesdays. Stay unleashed.

Jen C (Jennifer Ciota) storms into the studio and absolutely detonates the place. From cow-farm life and Rhinebeck gossip to OnlyFans brainstorms, Colombian identity, white-people problems, and who in town she’d definitely sleep with—nothing is off limits. Josh almost gets recruited into porn, Dave gets propositioned, and the Hudson Valley gets roasted.
This is the episode that proves why we call the show Unleashed.