On this episode, Michael talks with Sonia Manzano on the heels of her recent Lifetime Achievement Emmy.  Manzano is best known as “Maria” on Sesame Street, a character she played for 44 years. In the humorous and heartfelt conversation, she opens up about her early days on the iconic children’s program, learning how to work alongside the muppets and how she escaped a difficult childhood in the South Bronx to become an actress, writer, educator, and memoirist.

#41 Sonia Manzano

In this in-depth interview show, Black takes listeners into the minds of some of today’s most fascinating celebrities and newsmakers to discuss the process of how they became, well, amazing. Brought to you by PRX.

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A short message from host Michael Ian Black.

News for 2019

Despite having endured a terrible year in the aftermath of her Trump photo controversy, the hilarious comedian kept everyone in the studio laughing. Kathy Griffin is without a doubt a survivor. She talks to Michael about her long road to success and hitting it big, how she became so driven (including her fears about being broke), and how her tough exterior masks her sensitive side.

#102 Kathy Griffin

Best known as the host of Emmy Award-winning show Bill Nye the Science Guy, and current host of the Netflix show *Bill Nye Saves the World, *he has been the public face of science and discovery for more than twenty years. In this nerdy and uproarious conversation, the author and CEO of the Planetary Society talks everything from his love of NASA to current science headlines including Crispr, life on Mars, climate change, and LightSales.

#101 Bill Nye

For our 100th episode, Michael turns the tables on "the greatest interviewer of our time," a guest who we've had at the top of our wish list since the beginning. Terry Gross is the iconic host of the public radio show* Fresh Air,* where for over 40 years she has interviewed over 13,000 guests. In this engrossing interview, she and Michael cover a huge range of topics about her life and the show, allowing us to get to know a bit about a voice we're used to hearing ask all the questions.

#100 Terry Gross

Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, and filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas, called “the most famous undocumented immigrant in America,” shares his story of discovering his status at age 16 and his journey in the decades that followed including his coming out to the world as undocumented in The New York Times Magazine. In this poignant interview, the immigration rights activist discusses misconceptions about immigrants, his definition of "American," and his memoir Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.

#41 Sonia Manzano

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