After Trevor Noah started anchoring The Daily Show in 2015, he brought on Ronny Chieng as a field correspondent who could offer a global perspective. Now Chieng is one of the show's anchors. He's third generation Chinese Malaysian, and grew up in Malaysia, Singapore and the U.S. He has a new Netflix comedy special. Also, filmmaker and writer Miranda July talks about her novel, All Fours . It's about a 45-year-old married woman, her erotic affair with no actual sex, perimenopause, and the related...
Jan 04, 2025•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast The comic is hosting the Golden Globes this Sunday. She spoke with Terry Gross back in July about roasts, hurt feelings, and just wanting to be liked. Her latest HBO comedy special is Someday You'll Die. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Jan 03, 2025•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast We continue our series featuring some of our favorite interviews from 2024, this time with Alex Van Halen and Selena Gomez. Alex Van Halen talks about his life and the career he built with his late brother Eddie, and the formation of their band Van Halen. From growing up as immigrant kids in California, to the wild antics of life on the road as rock stars and some of his stunts, like setting his drums on fire. Selena Gomez talks about her role in the Spanish-language musical film Emilia Pérez , ...
Jan 02, 2025•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Brown won an Emmy for his portrayal of Christopher Darden in The People v. O.J. Simpson, and another for This Is Us . He now appears in the film American Fiction. He spoke with Terry Gross about losing his father, how his feelings about the O.J. Simpson case changed, and prejudice he faced in Hollywood. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jan 01, 2025•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ruffalo played a debauched cad in Yorgos Lanthimos' bawdy, dark comedy Poor Things . It was a big departure from his previous work playing real people in dramas like Spotlight or Foxcatcher , or as the Incredible Hulk in the Marvel movies. The Oscar-nominated actor spoke with Sam Briger about these roles, how he got his start in acting, and how a brain tumor changed his life. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 31, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jimmy Carter died Sunday at age 100. The 39th president spoke with Terry Gross a few times over the years about growing up on a Georgia farm, entering politics, and his career in human rights and conflict resolution. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Dec 30, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2021, burnt out from the intensity of her early career, Maggie Rogers considered quitting music entirely. Instead, she took a detour — to Harvard Divinity School, where she earned a master's degree in religion and public life. Her 2024 album is Don't Forget Me . Kathleen Hanna's band Bikini Kill was the epicenter of the riot grrrl feminist punk movement of the '90s. Their song "Rebel Girl" was the anthem. Her memoir this year was about her time in the punk scene, her childhood, and finding jo...
Dec 28, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast This year TV news journalist Connie Chung wrote a new tell-all memoir. It's about breaking into the boys club of her industry, her marriage to Maury Povitch, and the big scoops of her career. The funny and off-the-cuff news icon spoke with Tonya Mosley. Also, jazz historian Kevin Whitehead remembers musicians who died this year. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 27, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jeremy Strong is nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as lawyer and political hitman Roy Cohn in The Apprentice . The movie, he says, "explores essentially how Trump was made, and his philosophical moral framework." Strong talks with Terry Gross about playing Cohn and about playing Kendall Roy on HBO's Succession . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 26, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast The new biopic A Complete Unknown follows a young Bob Dylan as he arrives in New York and changes American folk music forever. Edward Norton plays folk icon Pete Seeger, who had a big impact on Dylan. Seeger was famous for his songs about working people, unions, and social justice. We're revisiting Terry's 1984 interview with Seeger, as well as her 2016 interview with Bruce Springsteen, who was compared to Dylan when he broke onto the scene. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoic...
Dec 25, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast The singer-songwriter and Talking Heads frontman presents some of his favorite holiday music — including songs by The Pogues, James Brown, LCD Soundsystem and Paul Simon. Find his playlist on Apple Music and Spotify . Also, our film critic Justin Chang shares his list of the best movies of 2024. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 24, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jon Batiste joins us from the piano and plays some of his favorite Christmas songs. It's part two of our recent session with him. Batiste is the former band leader and music director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He's won multiple Grammys and an Oscar. Inviting musicians to perform or play recordings of their favorite Christmas songs is a new Fresh Air tradition. It started two years ago, with DJ and co-founder of the Roots, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, who put together a playlist of Ch...
Dec 23, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Award-winning sister-brother duo Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell talk about their songwriting process, her changing voice, and their new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft . Later, Stephen Colbert and his wife Evie McGee Colbert talk about their cookbook of home recipes inspired by their South Carolina roots. It's called Does This Taste Funny? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 21, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast This month, musician Bonnie Raitt and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola were both honorees of the Kennedy Center for their contributions to American culture. We're revisiting interviews with both of them. First, blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Bonnie Raitt spoke with Terry Gross in 1996 about her early years, finding her blues sound. And Francis Ford Coppola told us in 2016 the story of casting Marlon Brando in The Godfather . And film critic Justin Chang reviews two new movies: The Brutalis...
Dec 20, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Filmmaker and writer Miranda July, whose novel All Fours is on many best books of the year lists, and was described in the New York Times as "the year's literary conversation piece." July spoke with Terry Gross about issues in the novel, like separating from a spouse you're growing distant from, perimenopause, and having an affair. And jazz historian Kevin Whitehead reviews a newly released recording of a concert he attended in 1978, by pianist Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Learn more about sponsor m...
Dec 19, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast A new law gives TikTok a January 19 deadline to sell to a non-Chinese company or face a nationwide ban. Law professor Alan Rozenshtein delves into what this means and whether President-Elect Trump could intervene. David Bianculli reflects on the year in TV. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Dec 18, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Grammy Award-winning singer says working with a vocal coach "honestly changed my life." Eilish and her brother/collaborator Finneas talk with Terry Gross about their new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft , voice lessons, and their favorite homework assignment. Also, critic-at-large John Powers shares his highlights of the year — from a documentary to an Olympic moment. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 17, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Ronny Chieng got a job as a correspondent and then anchor at The Daily Show , he kept the news to himself. "I didn't want to brag," the Malaysia-born comic says. "I just wanted to do the work." Chieng now costars in the series Interior Chinatown , and has a new Netflix comedy special, Love to Hate It. Also, Ken Tucker reflects on the best pop music of 2024. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 16, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Pop sensation Elton John wrapped up his farewell tour in 2023, only to pop up in a surprise concert at the October 2024 New York City premiere of the new documentary, "Elton John: Never Too Late." Still, as John reduces his public output — and as that documentary drops on the Disney+ streaming platform — we thought our listeners might like to hear again from the British music legend himself. Weekly bonus episodes like this, curated from our vast archive, are usually only available for our Fresh ...
Dec 15, 2024•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jon Batiste joins us at the piano to play his reimaginings of Beethoven, and more. His new album is called Beethoven Blues . Also, we hear from visual artist Mickalene Thomas. She puts Black women in the front and center of her work. Her latest exhibition, Mickalene Thomas: All About Love , celebrates the women in her life. Book critic Maureen Corrigan shares her picks for the best books of the year. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 14, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast The British actor and singer played abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet , and Aretha Franklin in Genius: Aretha. Now she's defying gravity as Elphaba in Wicked. She spoke with Terry Gross in 2021 about some of her roles and her vocal training. Also, Ken Tucker shares his picks for great Christmas music, and David Bianculli reviews the Amazon Prime series The Sticky . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 13, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast The British actor and singer played abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet , and Aretha Franklin in Genius: Aretha. Now she's defying gravity as Elphaba in Wicked. She spoke with Terry Gross in 2021 about some of her roles and her vocal training. Also, Ken Tucker shares his picks for great Christmas music, and David Bianculli reviews the Amazon Prime series The Sticky . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 13, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Late Night host Stephen Colbert and his wife Evie McGee Colbert join Terry Gross to talk about family recipes. They have a new cookbook of South Carolina-inspired dishes called Does This Taste Funny? They also talk about Stephen's harrowing experience with a burst appendix in 2023, meeting the pope, and Evie's role on the show during COVID. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 12, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast The U.S. is short approximately 4 million homes. Wharton professor Ben Keys traces the beginning of the housing crisis to the 2008 financial meltdown — and says climate change is making things worse. Also, Justin Chang reviews the Iranian film The Seed of the Sacred Film . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 11, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Danielle Deadwyler stars in the Netflix adaptation of the August Wilson play The Piano Lesson . She spoke with Tonya Mosley about her journey from the Atlanta theater scene to the big screen, her three masters degrees, and playing Mamie Till, mother of Emmett, in the 2022 movie Till . Also, our book critic Maureen Corrigan shares her top 10 books of 2024. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 10, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast The former band leader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert returns to talk with Terry Gross about his new album, Beethoven Blues . We also talk about his early years, like how he had a reputation at Juilliard for playing his melodica everywhere and breaking into song in class. It nearly resulted in him getting kicked out. Now he serves on the board. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 09, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Herzog reflects on the curiosity that's fueled his career in the memoir, Every Man for Himself and God Against All, now out in paperback. The filmmaker and writer is drawn to extremes: extreme characters, extreme settings, extreme scenarios. But don't mistake him for a mad man like some of his film subjects: "You have to control what is wild in you. You have to be disciplined. And people think I'm the wild guy out there but I'm a disciplined professional," he tells Terry Gross. Film critic Justi...
Dec 06, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Musician Jerron Paxton is known for performing music from the 1920s and '30s. He just came out with an album of his own songs, called Things Done Changed . Paxton brought some of his instruments to his conversation with Sam Briger. Also, Terry Gross talks with author Michael Owen about Ira Gershwin, the lyricist behind many of the most enduring songs in The Great American Songbook . TV critic David Bianculli reviews the documentary Beatles '64 . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastc...
Dec 06, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Are you hyper-vigilant about your health, constantly monitoring yourself and panicking when you feel the slightest symptom? You're not alone. Writer Caroline Crampton has a new book about illness anxiety disorder, a.k.a. hypochondria. We talk about our evolving understanding of the disorder, its connection to PTSD, and new treatments. Her book is A Body Made of Glass . John Powers reviews two new spy series, Black Doves and The Agency . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.co...
Dec 05, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Economist David Wessel talks about Trump's plans on tariffs and tax cuts, and the potential economic impact of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency. Maureen Corrigan reviews Niall Williams' novel, Time of the Child . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Dec 04, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
