Fresh Air

Fresh Air

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Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

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Episodes (114)

Fresh Air

How Does Pain Work? Dr. Sanjay Gupta Explains

September 04, 2025 45m
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta's new book examines the world of pain — why we feel it, and how we can treat it. He says distraction and meditation can be useful tools for managing...
Fresh Air

RFK Jr.'s Impact On Americans' Health

September 03, 2025 45m
We look at the stormy tenure of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg discusses how RFK Jr.'s cuts to government staff and expert groups...
Fresh Air

Jane Fonda Is Not Backing Down

September 02, 2025 45m
Earlier this year, Fonda made headlines for delivering a fiery critique of the Trump administration during a SAG-AFTRA award acceptance speech. "This is not the time to go inward," Fonda says. She...
Fresh Air

Roots of Rock and R&B: Dion and Allen Toussaint

September 01, 2025 46m
All week we're revisiting
archival interviews with key figures in early rock and roll, rockabilly and
R&B. We listen back to a 2000
interview with former teen idol Dion. Plus we’ll hear an...
Fresh Air

Roots of R&B: Charles Brown & Ray Charles

August 30, 2025 49m
All week we're revisiting archival interviews with key
figures in early rock and roll, rockabilly and R&B. We listen back to a 1989 interview with singer and pianist
Charles Brown....
Fresh Air

Roots of R&B: 'Stand By Me'

August 29, 2025 46m
All week we're revisiting archival interviews with key figures in early rock and roll, rockabilly and R&B. Soul singer Ben E. King began his career in the ‘50s with The Drifters but it was the '61...
Fresh Air

Roots of R&B: Johnny Otis & Etta James

August 27, 2025 46m
All week we're revisiting archival interviews with key figures in early rock and roll, rockabilly and R&B. Singer, songwriter, producer and talent scout Johnny Otis got his start leading a big...
Fresh Air

Roots of Rock: Sun Records & Johnny Cash

August 26, 2025 46m
All week we're revisiting archival interviews with key figures in early rock and roll, rockabilly and R&B. Sam Phillips discovered Elvis Presley and produced his first records, which many consider...
Fresh Air

Roots Of Rock: "Blue Suede Shoes"

August 25, 2025 45m
All week we're revisiting archival interviews with key figures in early rock and roll, rockabilly and R&B. We're kicking it off with Terry Gross's interviews with Elvis Presley's guitarist Scotty...
Fresh Air

Remembering Actor Terence Stamp

August 22, 2025 45m
We remember British actor Terence Stamp, who died last week at age 87. He starred in the film The Limey, as an ex-con out for revenge, and in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert as a...
Fresh Air

Robert Reich: The Baby Boomers Fell Short

August 21, 2025 43m
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich served under President Clinton from 1993 to 1997. He opens his new memoir, Coming Up Short, with an apology on behalf of the Baby Boom generation for failing to...
Fresh Air

The Dramatic Overhaul Of The Justice Dept.

August 20, 2025 45m
The New Yorker’s Ruth Marcus says Bondi has presided over the DOJ's most convulsive transition of power since Watergate, aggressively reversing policies, investigating Trump’s foes and firing...
Fresh Air

Spike Lee On Dynamic Duos & Reimagining Kurosawa

August 19, 2025 44m
Spike Lee's new film, Highest 2 Lowest, centers on a music mogul (Denzel Washington) who faces a moral dilemma when kidnappers mistakenly hold his friend's son ransom instead of his own: Will he risk...
Fresh Air

Bowen Yang's 'Wicked' White Lie

August 18, 2025 45m
The Emmy-nominated Saturday Night Live cast member talks with Terry Gross about his favorite pop culture in the aughts, his SNL audition, and his recent trip to China. Learn more about sponsor message...
Fresh Air

Thomas Mallon

August 15, 2025 44m
Writer Thomas Mallon looks back on the early years of the AIDS epidemic, when he was in his 30s, living in Manhattan. His friends were sick or dead, and he was terrified that he’d die, too. Excerpts...
Fresh Air

Best Of: AI's Writing Critique / The Rise And Fall Of Condé Nast

August 15, 2025 48m
After writing chapters of her new book about how tech companies help and exploit us, tech journalist and novelist Vauhini Vara fed those chapters to ChatGPT. She told the AI chatbot she needed help...
Fresh Air

Pedro Pascal Got Fired A Lot

August 14, 2025 43m
Chilean-born actor Pedro Pascal has faced countless on-screen challenges, including cosmic battles and cartel kingpins. He's nominated for an Emmy for his role on the HBO series, The Last of Us. He...
Fresh Air

Musician Charley Crockett's Road From Busking To The Grammys

August 13, 2025 45m
Crockett grew up poor and got his start in music busking for tips on the street and in the subway. He's since played the Hollywood Bowl and been nominated for a Grammy. The country/roots musician...
Fresh Air

Jeff Hiller's Big Break Came In His 40s

August 12, 2025 43m
Hiller spent years scraping by in Hollywood by taking on various small roles and commercials. Then he landed the role of Joel on HBO's Somebody Somewhere and everything changed. His new memoir...
Fresh Air

Daniel Dae Kim Fakes His Own Death In 'Butterfly'

August 11, 2025 46m
Daniel Dae Kim became the first actor of Asian descent to be nominated for a Tony, for his performance in Yellow Face, in the role of a playwright trying to deal with Asian American representation....
Fresh Air

Best Of: Making 'Born To Run' / Why We Can't Sleep

August 09, 2025 48m
This month marks the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's album Born to Run. We'll talk with Peter Ames Carlin, author of a Tonight in Jungleland, about the making of this now classic album.Also,...
Fresh Air

Remembering Eddie Palmieri / Funk Innovator George Clinton

August 08, 2025 46m
We remember Eddie Palmieri, the pianist, bandleader and composer whose contributions to Afro-Caribbean music shaped the genre for decades. He died Wednesday at the age of 88. Also, Parliament's now...
Fresh Air

The Making Of Springsteen's 'Born To Run'

August 07, 2025 46m
Bruce Springsteen's groundbreaking album, Born to Run, came out 50 years ago this month, marking a turning point for rock and roll — and for "The Boss." Before he recorded that record, Springsteen's...
Fresh Air

The Nihilistic War In Sudan

August 06, 2025 45m
Fourteen million people in Sudan have been displaced by war and famine. The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum says the scale of destruction is vast and, as the conflict rages, people are overwhelmed by...
Fresh Air

Sarah Silverman Gets the Last Laugh in 'PostMortem'

August 05, 2025 44m
Silverman's father and stepmother are buried under one tombstone that reads: "Janice and Donald, who loved to laugh." The loss was a starting point for Silverman's "cathartic" Netflix comedy special,...
Fresh Air

How The 1979 Revolution Transformed Iran

August 04, 2025 44m
For decades, Iran has been an adversary of the United States. Scott Anderson examines the Iranian revolution of 1979, the upheaval that deposed the reigning monarch and transformed the country from a...
Fresh Air

Best Of: Mariska Hargitay / Marc Maron

August 02, 2025 43m
Emmy-winning Law & Order: SVU actor Mariska Hargitay talks about her new documentary, My Mom Jayne, an intimate portrait of her mother, the late Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield. Mansfield's life was...
Fresh Air

Correcting The Record On Elvis's Manager

July 31, 2025 43m
Terry Gross talks with rock historian Peter Guralnick, author of the definitive two volume biography of Elvis Presley. His new book is about Elvis's longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Guralnick...
Fresh Air

Has NASA Ceded Its Mission To Elon Musk?

July 30, 2025 44m
The Atlantic journalist Franklin Foer explains how SpaceX and the Trump administration are changing the face of NASA, and why Musk's dream of Mars may come at the cost of the agency's mission. Also,...
Fresh Air

Comic Marc Maron On Grief, Cats, And Being Openhearted

July 29, 2025 44m
As he winds down his podcast, WTF, after 16 years, Marc Maron reflects on what he'll miss: "These conversations are very real conversations for me ... and that is kind of nourishing for the spirit and...
Fresh Air

Mariska Hargitay On Freeing Herself From Generational Trauma

July 28, 2025 44m
The Law & Order: SVU actor was just 3 years old in 1967 when her movie star mom, Jayne Mansfield, died in a car crash. Hargitay's new documentary highlights the intelligent woman behind her mom's...
Fresh Air

Best Of: Actor Leslie Uggams / Martha's Vineyard's Indigenous Past & Present

July 26, 2025 48m
Actor and singer Leslie Uggams talks about her remarkable career, which started when she was 6. She was later the first Black woman to host a TV variety show. In the 1977 TV miniseries Roots, she...
Fresh Air

Remembering Lyricist Alan Bergman / The 'Outrageous' Jessica Mitford

July 25, 2025 46m
The lyrics for the songs "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life," "The Way We Were," "Nice 'n' Easy," "You Must Believe in Spring," and "The Windmills of Your Mind" were written by the husband and...
Fresh Air

The Shifting Landscape Of Higher Education

July 24, 2025 44m
The Trump administration has been pressuring elite universities, like Harvard and Columbia, with widespread demands, and threats of federal funding cuts. So why are they now investigating George Mason...
Fresh Air

A Chatbot Reacts To A Book About Tech

July 23, 2025 45m
After writing chapters of her new book about how tech companies help and exploit us, tech journalist and novelist Vauhini Vara fed those chapters to ChatGPT. She told the chatbot she needed help with...
Fresh Air

Leslie Uggams Looks Back On Her Decades In Show Business

July 22, 2025 46m
Uggams performed in Beulah, Hallelujah Baby, Roots, Empire, American Fiction and the Deadpool films. She was the first Black woman to host a TV variety show. At 82, she's appearing in The Gilded Age....
Fresh Air

Martha's Vineyard's Indigenous Past & Present

July 21, 2025 44m
In Nothing More of This Land, Aquinnah Wampanoag writer Joseph Lee takes readers past the celebrity summer scene and into the heart of Noepe, the name his people have called the island for centuries....
Fresh Air

Best Of: Stacey Abrams / Raphael Saadiq

July 19, 2025 46m
Stacey Abrams is known as a voting rights activist, former candidate for Georgia governor, and founder of Fair Fight Action. But she's also a bestselling author, and has a new novel, a thriller...
Fresh Air

In The Dugout With Baseball All Stars

July 18, 2025 47m
As Major League Baseball celebrates a memorable All Star Game, we feature some of our favorite baseball interviews – with crafty veteran pitcher Jamie Moyer, cerebral and successful manager Tony La...
Fresh Air

Congress has voted to eliminate government funding for public media

July 18, 2025 2m
Act now to ensure public media remains free and accessible to all. Your donation will help this essential American service survive and thrive. Visit donate.npr.org now.Learn more about sponsor message...
Fresh Air

The Dominance & Decline Of The Condé Nast Magazine Empire

July 17, 2025 43m
For decades, Condé Nast publications such as Vogue and Vanity Fair were consequential tastemakers. Writer Michael Grynbaum explores the heyday of these magazines and how they lost their footing. His...
Fresh Air

Rising Floods, Cuts To FEMA And Future Chaos

July 16, 2025 44m
ProPublica Editor-at-Large Abrahm Lustgarten says the deadly flooding in Central Texas — which has killed over 130 people — underscores the dangers of a more volatile climate. Despite clear scientific...
Fresh Air

Stacey Abrams On American Autocracy & Her New Chapter

July 15, 2025 44m
Abrams isn't running for office — but she's not ruling it out, either. "Politics is a tool ... for getting good done, but it's not the only one." Her new thriller novel is Coded Justice. She spoke...
Fresh Air

The 'Jailhouse Lawyer' Who Freed Innocent People — Including Himself

July 14, 2025 44m
While serving a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit, Calvin Duncan studied law, hoping to appeal his case. In the process he became a jailhouse lawyer. We'll talk about how he managed to help...
Fresh Air

Best Of: A 'Failed' Child Star / A Novel About Pregnancy Post-Roe

July 12, 2025 48m
Tamara Yajia grew up Jewish in Argentina, intent on becoming a child star. But just when her break was coming along, her family emigrated to California. Her new memoir is Cry for Me, Argentina. TV...
Fresh Air

Danzy Senna Writes Herself (& Other Mixed-Race People) Into Existence

July 11, 2025 44m
Novelist Danzy Senna spoke with Terry Gross about racial identity, growing up with a Black father and white mother in an era when "mixed-race" wasn't a thing. "Just merely existing as a family was a...
Fresh Air

SCOTUS & The Reconception Of American Constitutional Order

July 10, 2025 44m
New York Times reporter Adam Liptak discusses the Supreme Court's decisions to limit the power of lower courts while expanding presidential power, and its consequential use of the so-called shadow...
Fresh Air

Doula & Novelist Leila Mottley On The Nuance Of Young Parenthood

July 09, 2025 44m
Leila Mottley gained critical acclaim at 19 with her debut novel Nightcrawling, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Now, she returns with her second novel, The Girls Who Grew Big. It follows a...
Fresh Air

Raphael Saadiq's Secret To Creative Success: 'Dare To Suck'

July 08, 2025 45m
Award-winning singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Raphael Saadiq talks about his process — from collaborating with Beyoncé and Solange, to his song in Sinners, to his R&B group...
Fresh Air

Can't Sleep? You're Not Alone

July 07, 2025 45m
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jennifer Senior has had insomnia for 25 years. Her new piece in The Atlantic, "Why Can't Americans Sleep?," is about her often futile attempts to fall asleep, and about...
Fresh Air

Best Of: 'Hamilton' Producer Jeffrey Seller / Ebon Moss-Bachrach On 'The Bear'

July 05, 2025 47m
Jeffrey Seller has been a key behind-the-scenes figure for some of the Broadway's biggest hits including, Hamilton and RENT, but he got his start on a much smaller scale. He looks back in a new memoir...
Fresh Air

How Louis Armstrong Became The First Black Pop Star

July 04, 2025 45m
Author Ricky Riccardi says Armstrong's innovations as a trumpeter and vocalist helped set the entire soundtrack of the 20th century. His book about Armstrong's early life is Stomp Off, Let's Go. Learn...
Fresh Air

A 'Failed Child Star' Looks Back On Her Unconventional Childhood

July 03, 2025 43m
Tamara Yajia grew up Jewish in Argentina, intent on becoming a child star. But just when her break was coming along, her family emigrated to California. Her new memoir is Cry for Me, Argentina. Also,...
Fresh Air

How Communities, Families & The Economy Are Impacted By ICE

July 02, 2025 45m
Jacob Soboroff of NBC News says the Trump administration promised to deport the "worst of the worst" criminal immigrants, but is now detaining undocumented workers with no serious criminal record. He...
Fresh Air

Remembering Renowned Broadcaster Bill Moyers

July 01, 2025 45m
Longtime TV correspondent and commentator Bill Moyers died last week at age 91. Before he began his long career in broadcasting, he was presidential aide to Lyndon B. Johnson and later became White...
Fresh Air

A Theater Kid's Path To Broadway Producer

June 30, 2025 46m
Jeffrey Seller has been a key behind-the-scenes figure for some of the Broadway's biggest hits including, Hamilton and RENT, but he got his start on a much smaller scale. He looks back in a new memoir...
Fresh Air

Best Of: 'Hysterical' Podcaster / 'Seinfeld' Writer

June 28, 2025 48m
What happens when a former federal government employee turns his lens on the psychology of panic? You get Hysterical, a podcast series from Dan Taberski. In it, Taberski investigates a mysterious...
Fresh Air

Remembering War Correspondent Rod Nordland

June 27, 2025 45m
After surviving many close calls as a war correspondent — from bullets, mortars and the threat of execution — Rod Nordland was diagnosed with a lethal brain tumor in 2019. He died last week, at the...
Fresh Air

Virgil Abloh's Unconventional Path To Luxury Fashion

June 26, 2025 46m
Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Robin Givhan talks with Tonya Mosley about her new book, Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh. It's a powerful look at the life and influence of...
Fresh Air

Ebon Moss-Bachrach Takes Us Inside 'The Bear' Kitchen

June 25, 2025 46m
Ebon Moss-Bachrach has won two Emmys for his portrayal of Cousin Richie, the abrasive and ornery cook/maître d' on the FX series The Bear. The show is known for kitchen chaos, but he says the set is...
Fresh Air

Will Israel And The U.S. Attacks On Iran Affect Tehran's Regime?

June 24, 2025 45m
Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour has called Trump's bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities a once-in-a-generation event that could transform the Middle East. While the impact of the conflict may not be...
Fresh Air

Gen Z Is Having Less Sex. Why?

June 23, 2025 46m
Journalist Carter Sherman says Gen Z — people ages 13 to 28 — are having less sex than previous generations. As part of her research, Sherman interviewed more than 100 teenagers, college students, and...
Fresh Air

ICE Campus Arrests & The 'Struggle For The Soul' Of America

April 02, 2025 44m
As ICE agents arrest international students at campuses across the U.S., immigration law professor Daniel Kanstroom discusses the human cost. He says the round-ups are designed to "send a message......
Fresh Air

Writer, Critic & Curator Hilton Als Looks For The Silences

April 01, 2025 44m
As a longtime staff writer at The New Yorker, Hilton Als's essays and profiles of figures like Toni Morrison, Joan Didion, and Richard Pryor have redefined cultural criticism, blending autobiography...
Fresh Air

'Adolescence' Co-Creator/Actor Asks Not Whodunnit, But Why

March 31, 2025 44m
The Netflix miniseries follows a 13-year-old accused of murdering a girl from his school. Co-creator and star Stephen Graham says he read about similar crimes and wanted to know: "Why is this...
Fresh Air

Best Of: A Writer Grapples With A Life-Changing Accident / The Post WWII 'Red Scare'

March 29, 2025 48m
Hanif Kureishi began his new memoir just days after a fall left him paralyzed. He describes being completely dependent on others — and the sense of purpose he's gained from writing. The memoir is...
Fresh Air

After A Friend's Suicide, A Writer Inherits His Grieving Dog

March 28, 2025 45m
Sigrid Nunez's 2018 novel The Friend won the National Book Award. It's now a film, starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, about a woman who inherits a dog after her friend's suicide. She spoke with...
Fresh Air

The Former Jihadist Trying To Remake Syria

March 27, 2025 43m
Atlantic writer Robert Worth talks about Syria's transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. He was the founder of the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, but is now advocating unity and inclusion. Syria borders...
Fresh Air

Amanda Knox Is 'Free,' But Is That Enough?

March 26, 2025 44m
Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in an Italian prison for a murder she didn't commit. After her exoneration, she reached out to the man who prosecuted her case. She talks about how she made herself...
Fresh Air

Inside The 'Mad House' Of Congressional Disfunction

March 25, 2025 45m
The MAGA-controlled 118th House passed only 27 bills that became law — the lowest number since the Great Depression. Journalists Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater examine the chaos in a new book, Mad...
Fresh Air

A Legal Scholar On 10 Laws 'Ruining America'

March 24, 2025 44m
Legal scholar Elie Mystal talks about his new book, Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America. From the Hyde Amendment's impact on reproductive rights to laws that shield gun manufacturers,...
Fresh Air

Best Of: Seth Rogen / Can The Dems Win Back The Bros?

March 22, 2025 48m
Seth Rogen created a new AppleTV+ series, The Studio, which is a satirical look at how executives in Hollywood make decisions on what movies get made. He stars as the head of a fictional Hollywood...
Fresh Air

50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'

March 21, 2025 46m
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is 50 years old, and still going strong in midnight theaters. We're listening back to Terry's 2005 interview with Tim Curry, who starred on stage and in the film as Dr....
Fresh Air

The Political Battle For The Bros

March 20, 2025 45m
Popular podcasts in the "manosphere" helped sway young men to go MAGA in the 2024 election. New Yorker writer Andrew Marantz explains how Democrats can win them back.Also, Ken Tucker shares songs by...
Fresh Air

The Promise & Peril Of AI

March 19, 2025 45m
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Rivlin says regulation can help control how AI is used: "AI could be an amazing thing around health, medicine, scientific discoveries, education ... as long as...
Fresh Air

Seth Rogen Lands The 'Tragic' Job Of Studio Head

March 18, 2025 45m
In his new Apple TV+ series The Studio, Seth Rogen plays an anxious Hollywood executive desperate to not get fired. Studio heads are charged with deciding which projects get greenlit, and which get...
Fresh Air

The Red Scare & America's Conspiratorial Politics

March 17, 2025 44m
Writer Clay Risen describes a political movement which destroyed the careers of thousands of teachers, civil servants and artists whose beliefs or associations were deemed un-American. His book, Red...
Fresh Air

Best Of: Comic Bill Burr / Actor Simu Liu

March 15, 2025 48m
Bill Burr knows exactly where his sense of humor comes from. He learned at an early age that if he could make people laugh, then they'd be less likely to hurt him. "I am a mess of a human being,...
Fresh Air

Texan-Palestinian Comic Mo Amer

March 14, 2025 46m
Amer's Netflix comedy series about his life, Mo, is now in its second season. His family is Palestinian, and fled the first Gulf War, so Amer grew up in Houston from age nine. "Palestinian culture is...
Fresh Air

Remembering The South African Playwright Who Defied Apartheid

March 13, 2025 45m
Athol Fugard's plays, like Blood Knot and Master Harold and the Boys, were about the emotional and psychological consequences of Apartheid. He also formed an integrated theater company in the 1960s,...
Fresh Air

Comic Bill Burr [Extended Version]

March 13, 2025 58m
Burr talks with Terry Gross about processing his abusive childhood, a therapeutic mushroom trip, and why he's angry at liberals. "You can get canceled as a comedian for doing a friggin' Caitlyn Jenner...
Fresh Air

The Gutting Of The Department Of Education

March 12, 2025 44m
The Department of Education is reportedly eliminating 50% of its workforce. Washington Post writer Laura Meckler talks about the fallout, from the enforcement of civil rights laws in schools, to...
Fresh Air

The Campaign To Silence Journalists & Undermine Free Speech

March 11, 2025 44m
In 2019, Justice Clarence Thomas raised the prospect of overturning one of the most consequential free speech decisions ever made. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan is a 1964 landmark case that...
Fresh Air

Comic Bill Burr On Musk, Magic Mushrooms & Healing From His Childhood

March 10, 2025 45m
Bill Burr knows exactly where his sense of humor comes from. He learned at an early age that if he could make people laugh, then they'd be less likely to hurt him. "I am a mess of a human being,...
Fresh Air

Best Of: Jazz Clarinetist Doreen Ketchens / 'White Lotus' Actor Natasha Rothwell

March 08, 2025 48m
We're joined by a New Orleans institution — clarinetist and vocalist Doreen Ketchens. She's got several nicknames — "Lady Louie," "Queen Clarinet," and "Miss Satchmo," all of after her biggest idol,...
Fresh Air

Remembering New York Dolls Frontman David Johansen

March 07, 2025 45m
The 1970s band The New York Dolls made only two studio albums, but the group was hugely influential, setting the stage for punk rock. We listen back to Terry Gross' 2004 interview with the band's...
Fresh Air

Actor Simu Liu On Diving In The Dark

March 06, 2025 44m
In 2012, three deep-sea divers were on a routine dive in the North Sea when one of the divers became trapped underwater. The harrowing story of that rescue is the plot of the movie Last Breath. Actor...
Fresh Air

How Did DEI Become Part Of A Political Agenda — And A Slur?

March 05, 2025 42m
Georgetown professor Ella Washington and Harvard professor Frank Dobbin discuss the beneficiaries and misperceptions of diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, and who will be hurt as it's dismantled...
Fresh Air

Mardi Gras With New Orleans Jazz Clarinetist Doreen Ketchens

March 04, 2025 44m
Known as "Lady Louie," Doreen Ketchens has been a fixture of the French Quarter for nearly four decades. We talk about her classical training and her career as a street performer, and she'll play some...
Fresh Air

How A Writer's Life Changed In A Second

March 03, 2025 44m
Hanif Kureishi began his new memoir just days after a fall left him paralyzed. He describes being completely dependent on others — and the sense of purpose he's gained from writing. The memoir is...
Fresh Air

Best Of: Growing Up Murdoch / DOGE's Cuts To The Federal Workforce

March 01, 2025 48m
Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins describes the rivalry among the children of 93 year-old media titan Rupert Murdoch over who will control his business empire when he dies. It's a real life...
Fresh Air

Jeremy Strong / Sebastian Stan / Adrien Brody

February 28, 2025 47m
The Academy Awards are this Sunday. We hear from the two stars of the film The Apprentice, Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. It's about how a young Donald Trump was influenced by the infamous,...
Fresh Air

Natasha Rothwell Checks Back Into 'The White Lotus'

February 27, 2025 43m
In the new season of The White Lotus, Natasha Rothwell reprises her role of spa manager Belinda, a woman "on the precipice of change" as she straddles the line between guest and staffer. She spoke...
Fresh Air

The Ripple Effect Of Musk's Government Purge

February 26, 2025 45m
DOGE has eliminated thousands of federal jobs and canceled more than 1,000 contracts. Harvard professor Elizabeth Linos warns, "We're seeing harms that are not going to be easily undone." Book critic...
Fresh Air

The Murdoch Family's Real-Life 'Succession' Rivalry

February 25, 2025 43m
Rupert Murdoch and his oldest kids are battling over who controls his media empire when the 93-year-old media titan dies. The Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins explains what's at stake, how it could...
Fresh Air

The Battle For The Soul Of The Catholic Church

February 24, 2025 45m
In Jesus Wept, investigative journalist Philip Shenon examines the last seven popes, and how efforts to reform the Church with the Second Vatican Council led to power struggles and doctrinal debates...
Fresh Air

Best Of: Louis Armstrong's Early Years / Our Anti-Social Century

February 22, 2025 48m
We talk with author Ricky Riccardi about how Louis Armstrong became the first Black pop star and provided the foundation of improvisation for other musicians. Riccardi's book is Stomp Off, Let's Go....
Fresh Air

Andrew Scott Doesn't See Ripley As A Monster

February 21, 2025 44m
In the series Ripley, Andrew Scott plays a con artist with no conscience. The actor says it was important to humanize his character. "For me, I think your first job is to sort of advocate for the...
Fresh Air

A Family Forged By Haiti's Coup

February 20, 2025 44m
Rich Benjamin's grandfather, Daniel Fignolé, was a popular Haitian labor leader who became Haiti's president in 1957. After just 19 days in office, he was overthrown by a military coup, and was sent...
Fresh Air

How Regime Change Happens In America

February 19, 2025 45m
During President Trump's first term, journalist Anne Applebaum reported on how he was moving toward authoritarianism. Now she's describing Trump's actions as regime change. "Our imagination of a coup...
Fresh Air

What Measles Outbreaks Tell Us About Public Health In America

February 18, 2025 44m
"Measles thrives on being underestimated," Dr. Adam Ratner says. The highly infectious disease was thought to be a "solved problem," until a 2018 outbreak in New York City. "When we start to see...
Fresh Air

Are Trump's Executive Orders Legal?

February 17, 2025 44m
Constitutional scholar, historian, and New York Times staff writer Charlie Savage joins us this President's Day to talk about the scope of executive power. Savage takes us through the legal...
Fresh Air

Best Of: Sebastian Stan / Questlove On The Genius Of Sly Stone

February 15, 2025 48m
Musician and documentary filmmaker Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is back to talk about his new Hulu documentary about Sly Stone. It's called SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius). ...
Fresh Air

'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz

February 14, 2025 46m
For Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary, we're featuring interviews with some of the early cast members/writers. Dan Aykroyd talks about the moment he and John Belushi came up with the Blues...
Fresh Air

'Nickel Boys' Director RaMell Ross Makes The Camera 'An Organ'

February 13, 2025 45m
RaMell Ross's Oscar-nominated film, Nickel Boys, centers on two young Black men attempting to survive a brutal Florida reformatory school in the 1960s. He says he's sees the rural South as a...
Fresh Air

How Did Elon Musk Become So Powerful In The Trump Administration?

February 12, 2025 45m
New York Times journalist Eric Lipton explains how Musk's companies are benefiting as he cuts federal jobs and agencies, and reporter Teddy Schleifer explains how Musk's political views turned right,...
Fresh Air

For Sebastian Stan, 'The Apprentice' Playing In Theaters Was The Win

February 11, 2025 43m
Sebastian Stan is up for an Oscar for his portrayal of President Trump early in his career, when Roy Cohn was his lawyer and mentor. Stan says Cohn schooled Trump in "denying reality and reshaping the...
Fresh Air

Questlove On Sly Stone & The Burden Of Black Genius

February 10, 2025 46m
Questlove is back to talk about his new documentary about Sly Stone and his band the Family Stone. They created a new sound with their mix of pop, soul, funk, psychedelic music and irresistible...
Fresh Air

Best Of: Ariana Grande / Inside A Dominatrix's Dungeon

February 08, 2025 48m
We talk about the cultural phenomenon of Wicked with star Ariana Grande. She's nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Grande talks about some of the underlying messages in the film about...
Fresh Air

Remembering British Singer Marianne Faithfull

February 07, 2025 46m
Discovered at a Rolling Stones party at the age of 17, Marianne Faithfull broke out in the early '60s with the Jagger/Richards song "As Tears Go By." Faithfull's liaison with Mick Jagger kept her in...
Fresh Air

A Dominatrix/Writer Takes Readers Into A Dungeon

February 06, 2025 43m
After publishing her first novel when she was 21, Brittany Newell started working as a dominatrix. The job gave her time to write — and plenty of material to draw from. "I always like to say that what...
Fresh Air

Trump's Plan For Gaza / The U.S. Military's Recruiting Crisis

February 05, 2025 45m
Last night, President Trump proposed a plan to displace all the Palestinians from Gaza, and get Jordan and Egypt to take them in, while the U.S. takes ownership of Gaza and rebuilds it into a Middle...
Fresh Air

Ariana Grande Loves Being In A 'Beautiful Coven'

February 04, 2025 44m
As a kid, Ariana Grande loved singing karaoke with her family. "I looked up to Whitney and Mariah and Celine endlessly," she says. "I think that's a large part of the reason why I learned to sing."...
Fresh Air

Parenting A Child With Terminal Cancer

February 03, 2025 44m
Sarah Wildman's daughter Orli died from cancer when she was 14. "She would sometimes ask me, 'What do you think I did to deserve this?' And of course, that's not an answerable question," Wildman says....

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