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, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

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Best Of: Casting Dir. Allis...

09.23.2023

Casting director Allison Jones is considered one of the greatest comedy casting directors of our time. Her credits include films and TV shows like Freaks and Geeks, The Office, Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Bridesmaids, and now Barbie. ...

Fresh Air episodes:

09.23.2023 Best Of: Casting Dir. Allison Jones / The Nazi's Jazz Propaganda Casting director Allison Jones is considered one of the greatest comedy casting directors of our time. Her credits include films and TV shows like Freaks and Geeks, The Office, Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Bridesmaids, and now Barbie. ...
09.22.2023 Actor Billy Crudup Billy Crudup stars in The Morning Show, now back for its third season. We also talk about going to rock star camp for his role in Almost Famous and his iconic Mastercard commercials. Also, Justin Chang reviews A Haunting in ...
09.21.2023 Leslie Jones Leslie Jones says performing stand-up for the first time as a freshman in college felt like putting on a shirt that fit perfectly: "It was just so natural." She talks with Tonya Mosley about the best advice she got, her ...
09.20.2023 How The Nazis Used Jazz As A Propaganda Tool Hitler's Germany banned jazz because it was deemed degenerate music made by Jews and Black people. But NPR host Scott Simon says the Nazis used it abroad to weaken British and American resolve. His new audiobook about this history is ...
09.19.2023 Comic Aparna Nancherla Comedian, writer, and actor Aparna Nancherla has starred in the TV shows BoJack Horseman, Master of None, and Corporate. She's written for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, and Late Night with Seth Meyers, and has comedy specials on Netflix ...
09.18.2023 How Saudi Arabian Oil Money Is Influencing Men's Pro Golf New York Times reporter Alan Blinder says the kingdom poured millions into a pro golf circuit to rival the PGA. The two sides recently announced a joint venture, raising anti-trust issues. Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new season ...
09.16.2023 Best Of: 'Barbie' Music Producer Mark Ronson / Model Bethann Hardison Grammy and Oscar-winning music producer Mark Ronson is known for his party hits, pop songs, soulful arrangements, and producing for stars like Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, and Adele. His latest project is the Barbie soundtrack and score. We talk with ...
09.15.2023 Does China Have Hollywood In An Economic Muzzle? Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel says that film studios increasingly rely upon Chinese audiences to break even — which can result in self-censorship. His book is Red Carpet. Also, Justin Chang reviews the film Cassandro.
09.14.2023 Inside The Biden White House Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer tells stories behind some of the Biden administration's biggest successes and failures. Foer's new book is The Last Politician.
09.13.2023 The Military's Struggle To Modernize The Army and Navy are testing weapons with remarkable capabilities, using cutting edge technology and AI. Terry Gross spoke with Eric Lipton of the New York Times about his investigation into the weapons, the need to modernize, and the obstacles ...
09.12.2023 Hollywood Casting Director Allison Jones The Barbie movie is just the latest example of why Allison Jones is considered one of the greatest comedy casting directors of our time. She casted films and TV shows like Freaks and Geeks, The Office, Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, ...
09.11.2023 Trailblazing Black Model Bethann Hardison We talk with Bethann Hardison about her 50+ year career as a trailblazer in the fashion world. She started modeling in the late '60s during the height of the Black is Beautiful movement. With her brown skin and short afro, ...
09.09.2023 Best Of: Zadie Smith / Maria Bamford Zadie Smith talks about her new book, The Fraud. It's a historical novel, but its themes of gender inequality, class, and the enduring damages of slavery, are very connected to the present. David Bianculli reviews the new Apple+ series The ...
09.08.2023 Writer Hua Hsu On Friendship, Grief & Pop Culture The son of Taiwanese immigrants, New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu defined himself as a teen by the music he loved. The murder of a close friend when he was in college changed the course of his life. He tells ...
09.07.2023 Mark Ronson On The 'Barbie' Soundtrack & Score Grammy and Oscar-winning music producer Mark Ronson is known for his party hits, pop songs, and soulful arrangements, producing for stars like Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, and Adele. His latest project is the Barbie soundtrack and score. We talk about ...
09.06.2023 Comic Maria Bamford Will Join Your Cult Comic Maria Bamford talks about — and jokes about — serious and dark topics like her anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts from OCD. Her new memoir is about the lengths she's gone to fit in, from self-help books to 12-step ...
09.05.2023 Zadie Smith On 'The Fraud' Zadie Smith is known for her essays and novels about contemporary life and art. But her new book, The Fraud, is a historical novel, set in Victorian England. Her characters are dealing with some of the same issues we face ...
09.04.2023 Hip-Hop Week: Jay-Z We wrap up our hip-hop history series with our 2010 interview with Sean Carter, A.K.A. Jay-Z, one of the most successful rappers of all time. He's won 24 Grammys and holds the record for the most No. 1 albums by ...
09.02.2023 Hip-Hop Week: Questlove / Chuck D / Diddy Our celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop continues with Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, drummer and co-founder of The Roots. He was born in 1971 and says he and hip-hop grew up together. Also, Public Enemy's Chuck D talks about the ...
09.01.2023 Hip-Hop Week: The RZA / André 3000 We continue our celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and feature interviews from our archive with the RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan, and André Benjamin, A.K.A. André 3000, from Outkast. Both have done solo work and have acted in ...
08.31.2023 Hip-Hop Week: De La Soul / Beastie Boys Our hip-hop history week continues, with interviews with two groups known for their clever lyrics and inventive use of samples. First, De La Soul, a group from Long Island, that sampled music from Schoolhouse Rock to James Brown, for their ...
08.30.2023 Hip-Hop Week: Ice-T / Queen Latifah Our hip-hop history series continues, featuring interviews from our archive with Ice-T, one of the early gangsta rappers. He went on to star as a detective in Law & Order: SVU. Also, Queen Latifah, the first female rap solo artist ...
08.29.2023 Hip-Hop Week: Darryl McDaniels (DMC) / LL Cool J We continue our celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with Darryl McDaniels, co-founder of one of rap's oldest groups, Run-DMC. We'll also hear from LL Cool J, and from record producer Nile Rodgers, the guitarist and co-founder of the ...
08.28.2023 Hip-Hop Week: DJ Kool Herc / Grandmaster Flash This week we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. We'll hear interviews with some of the most influential rappers and DJ's of the past few decades. Today, we kick things off with three hip-hop pioneers. First, DJ Kool Herc, who ...
08.26.2023 Best Of: 'Louder Than A Riot' Hosts / Biggie's Legacy For years, hip-hop has been dominated by men and hyper-masculine lyrics. That's changing. "The girls and the gays are running things. They're the cultural crusaders at this point," says Sidney Madden. She co-hosts the NPR podcast Louder Than A Riot ...
08.25.2023 David Bowie It's been 50 years since David Bowie retired his famous alter-ego Ziggy Stardust onstage, stunning his fans and some of his bandmates. The film capturing that performance, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, has been restored and reissued. Bowie ...
08.24.2023 Ronan Farrow On Elon Musk's Influence In Ukraine The New Yorker writer says Elon Musk's Starlink satellites are key to providing internet to Ukraine in its war with Russia, giving Musk an influence that's "more like a nation state than an individual." Farrow won a Pulitzer for his ...
08.23.2023 Biggie's Life & Legacy Journalist Justin Tinsley discusses the life and legacy of Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. the Notorious B.I.G., who was killed in 1997: "You can't talk about the story of hip-hop without mentioning the name Biggie Smalls." Tinsley's book is It Was All ...
08.22.2023 Historian & Former Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust Growing up in the South, Drew Gilpin Faust rejected the narrative she was fed about slavery and the Civil War. She writes about her journey to activism and becoming the first woman president of Harvard University in Necessary Trouble. She ...
08.21.2023 'Louder Than A Riot' Co-Hosts Examine Misogyny In Hip-Hop As hip-hop marks its 50th anniversary, Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael, the co-hosts of the NPR podcast Louder Than A Riot, are taking a hard look back — and ahead — at a genre that male artists and hyper-masculine lyrics ...
08.19.2023 Best Of: Christopher Nolan / R. Eric Thomas Christopher Nolan's new film Oppenheimer is about the man who's known as the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. "Like it or not, we live in Oppenheimer's world and we always will," Nolan says. We also hear from ...
08.18.2023 'Reservation Dogs' Co-Creator Sterlin Harjo / Remembering William Friedkin The FX/Hulu series Reservation Dogs follows four teens on an Oklahoma Indian reservation who are frustrated and alienated, caught between what's left of traditional Native culture on the reservation and the broader pop culture. Co-creator and showrunner Sterlin Harjo spoke ...
08.17.2023 Prisoners Find Rehabilitation & Redemption Through Music Criminal justice reporter Maurice Chammah recently wrote an op-ed for the New York Times about the power of music programs in prison. He says at a time when the criminal system is at an impasse, music, and art can cultivate ...
08.16.2023 Humorist R. Eric Thomas Wonders If The 'Best Is Over' Playrwright and humorist R. Thomas' new book, Congratulations, the Best Is Over!, is about middle age, and what it was like to reluctantly return to his hometown of Baltimore as an adult — when both he and the city had ...
08.15.2023 School Integration & The Achievement Gap In Shaker Heights Washington Post reporter Laura Meckler tells the story of Shaker Heights, Ohio, a town with high-performing, diverse schools — and also a pronounced achievement gap between white and Black students. Meckler's book is Dream Town. John Powers reviews Naomi Hirahara's ...
08.14.2023 Christopher Nolan On 'Oppenheimer' Christopher Nolan talks about writing and directing the new film Oppenheimer, about the man who's known as the father of the atom bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Nolan also directed the WWII movie Dunkirk, The Dark Knight, and Inception. The film ...
08.12.2023 Best Of: Pianist Jason Moran / Author Andre Dubus III Pianist Jason Moran joins us at the piano to play his take on the WWI-era music of James Reese Europe. And we'll hear from writer Andre Dubus III. His new novel, Such Kindness, asks how a person gets on with ...
08.11.2023 Looking Back On The U.S. Bombing Of Hiroshima & Nagasaki 78 years ago this week atomic bombs destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — and questions linger about the U.S. decision to use the weapons. For the anniversary, we're revisiting archival interviews about the bombings. Author and psychiatrist ...
08.10.2023 Uncovering The Story Of An Institutionalized Family Member Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jennifer Senior shares the pain of her family in a new piece for The Atlantic titled, "The Ones We Sent Away." In it, Senior tells the story of her Aunt Adele, who was institutionalized for her entire ...
08.09.2023 A Memoir Of Kidnapping When Shane McCrae was 3, his maternal grandparents, who were white supremacists, kidnapped him from his father, who is Black. His new memoir is Pulling the Chariot of the Sun. Also, Ken Tucker reviews MeShell Ndegeocello's album The Omnichord Real ...
08.08.2023 Reflecting On The End Of Sight Andrew Leland started losing his sight 20 years ago. He's now legally blind, although he still has a narrow field of vision, which allows him to see about 6% of what a fully-sighted person sees. In his new memoir, The ...
08.07.2023 Jason Moran At The Piano Moran talks jazz and plays selections from his latest recording, which borrows from the music of James Reese Europe, the composer and musician who led the Harlem Hellfighters regiment band during WWI. Moran's new album is called 'From the Dancehall ...
08.05.2023 Best Of: Actor Richard E. Grant / Comic Leanne Morgan Richard E. Grant (Withnail & I, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) was married to Joan Washington, an acclaimed dialect coach, for 35 years. He writes about their relationship and her death from cancer in the new memoir, A Pocketful of ...
08.04.2023 Remembering Pee-Wee Herman Actor Paul Reubens Actor Paul Reubens, who created the character Pee-wee Herman, died July 30 at age 70. His joyful, odd and subversive CBS TV show, Pee-wee's Playhouse, was loved by children and adults alike. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2004. We'll ...
08.03.2023 Novelist Andre Dubus III How do you get on with life after an accident that leads to disability and chronic pain? That's the central question in Andre Dubus III's new novel, Such Kindness. He talks about the injuries he faced when he was a ...
08.02.2023 Congress's New Rebel Faction House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has faced rebellions in his chamber, from the ultra conservative Freedom Caucus. Another hard right group, "the Twenty," is even more disruptive. These groups could lead us to a government to shutdown in the fall. Terry ...
08.01.2023 Actor Richard E. Grant On Living After Loss Richard E. Grant (Withnail & I, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) was married to Joan Washington, an acclaimed dialect coach, for 35 years. He writes about their relationship and her death from cancer in the new memoir, A Pocketful of ...
07.31.2023 Comic Leanne Morgan The self-described "Mrs. Maisel of Appalachia" set out to speak to an audience that she says gets forgotten — middle-aged women, mothers, and people in rural America. Morgan spoke with Tonya Mosley about breaking out in comedy later in life, ...
07.29.2023 Best Of: Writers Colson Whitehead / S.A. Cosby After writing two Pulitzer Prize-winning novels, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead started writing crime novels set in Harlem. His new one, Crook Manifesto, is an entertaining read about crime at every level–from small-time crooks, to revolutionaries, ...
07.28.2023 Pediatric Neurosurgeon Tells Stories From The O.R. Pediatric neurosurgeon Jay Wellons regularly feels the exhilaration of saving a child from near certain death — and sometimes the anguish of failing to prevent it. He's operated on various parts of the pediatric central nervous system, including performing spine ...

Older episodes

Fresh Air

What's Fresh Air about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Fresh Air episodes:

Best Of: Casting Dir. Allison Jones / The Nazi's Jazz Propaganda

Actor Billy Crudup

Leslie Jones

How The Nazis Used Jazz As A Propaganda Tool

Comic Aparna Nancherla

How Saudi Arabian Oil Money Is Influencing Men's Pro Golf

Best Of: 'Barbie' Music Producer Mark Ronson / Model Bethann Hardison

Does China Have Hollywood In An Economic Muzzle?

Inside The Biden White House

The Military's Struggle To Modernize

Hollywood Casting Director Allison Jones

Trailblazing Black Model Bethann Hardison

Best Of: Zadie Smith / Maria Bamford

Writer Hua Hsu On Friendship, Grief & Pop Culture

Mark Ronson On The 'Barbie' Soundtrack & Score

Comic Maria Bamford Will Join Your Cult

Zadie Smith On 'The Fraud'

Hip-Hop Week: Jay-Z

Hip-Hop Week: Questlove / Chuck D / Diddy

Hip-Hop Week: The RZA / André 3000

Hip-Hop Week: De La Soul / Beastie Boys

Hip-Hop Week: Ice-T / Queen Latifah

Hip-Hop Week: Darryl McDaniels (DMC) / LL Cool J

Hip-Hop Week: DJ Kool Herc / Grandmaster Flash

Best Of: 'Louder Than A Riot' Hosts / Biggie's Legacy

David Bowie

Ronan Farrow On Elon Musk's Influence In Ukraine

Biggie's Life & Legacy

Historian & Former Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust

'Louder Than A Riot' Co-Hosts Examine Misogyny In Hip-Hop

Best Of: Christopher Nolan / R. Eric Thomas

'Reservation Dogs' Co-Creator Sterlin Harjo / Remembering William Friedkin

Prisoners Find Rehabilitation & Redemption Through Music

Humorist R. Eric Thomas Wonders If The 'Best Is Over'

School Integration & The Achievement Gap In Shaker Heights

Christopher Nolan On 'Oppenheimer'

Best Of: Pianist Jason Moran / Author Andre Dubus III

Looking Back On The U.S. Bombing Of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Uncovering The Story Of An Institutionalized Family Member

A Memoir Of Kidnapping

Reflecting On The End Of Sight

Jason Moran At The Piano

Best Of: Actor Richard E. Grant / Comic Leanne Morgan

Remembering Pee-Wee Herman Actor Paul Reubens

Novelist Andre Dubus III

Congress's New Rebel Faction

Actor Richard E. Grant On Living After Loss

Comic Leanne Morgan

Best Of: Writers Colson Whitehead / S.A. Cosby

Pediatric Neurosurgeon Tells Stories From The O.R.

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