It’s difficult to fathom how Benjamin Franklin accomplished so much in a single lifetime. It’s equally difficult to imagine how to take such an incredible life and consolidate it into four hours of documentary film. In this episode, we cover both feats with writer Dayton Duncan and producer David Schmidt, two of the great minds behind Ken Burns' documentary on Benjamin Franklin. Dayton and David discuss Franklin’s life, the work that goes into creating a historical documentary film, and their process for deciding the best way to tell an American icon’s story in a pair of two-hour episodes.

If you enjoy this episode, check out Ben and Bob’s conversation with Ken Burns in episode #191.

If you want to learn more about American indepenence and the July 4th holiday, check out Ben's curated list on Hark audio!

If you want to catch Bob or Ben live, check out The Avett Brothers tour dates here and Ben's standup comedy schedule here!

This is a rebroadcast of RTN #229, which originally aired on April 4, 2022.