Fresh Air

By NPR

What's Fresh Air about?

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.Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll be supporting the unique show you can't get enough of - and you can listen sponsor-free. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair

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Best Of: George Floyd's Lif...

05.21.2022

We remember George Floyd as we approach the second anniversary of his murder. We'll speak with Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa. They argue that George Floyd's struggles in life reflect the challenges and pressures of institutional racism ...

Fresh Air episodes:

05.21.2022 Best Of: George Floyd's Life / The Queer History Of A Women's Prison We remember George Floyd as we approach the second anniversary of his murder. We'll speak with Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa. They argue that George Floyd's struggles in life reflect the challenges and pressures of institutional racism ...
05.20.2022 George Carlin Carlin was one of the most famous comics to emerge from the '60s counterculture. After it was broadcast on radio, his comic monologue Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television became the focus of an obscenity case that made ...
05.19.2022 Political Discord In The White Evangelical Church New York Times journalist Ruth Graham says many pastors are being pressured to resist vaccines and mask mandates, embrace Trump's claims about election fraud and adopt QANON-based conspiracy theories. Maureen Corrigan shares four terrific novels perfect for your early summer ...
05.18.2022 How Systemic Racism Shaped George Floyd's Life As we approach the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, two journalists report on the life of the man whose death sparked a massive protest movement and a national conversation about race. Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and ...
05.17.2022 Frank Bruni On Vision Lost & Found After experiencing a rare kind of stroke, NYT writer Frank Bruni suddenly became blind in his right eye. Doctors told him there was a decent chance the same could happen to his other eye. It forced him to make a ...
05.16.2022 The Queer History Of The Women's House Of Detention In New York City, in the 20th century, tens of thousands of women and transmasculine people were incarcerated at the so-called "House of D." Author Hugh Ryan says that in many cases, the prisoners were charged with crimes related to ...
05.14.2022 Best Of: Rosie Perez / Stephen Merchant Rosie Perez was a dancer on Soul Train, the choreographer for "the Fly Girls," the dancers on the sketch comedy show In Living Color, and she did the now-famous dance in the opening credit sequence of Spike Lee's Do the ...
05.13.2022 Met Opera Star Anthony Roth Costanzo A decade ago, Costanzo had surgery that threatened to destroy his singing voice. Now he stars as a gender-fluid Egyptian pharaoh in the Met Opera's production of Philip Glass' Akhnaten. He's a countertenor, meaning he sings in a high range ...
05.12.2022 How Tucker Carlson Conquered Cable The New York Times did an exhaustive survey of the Fox News hosts' broadcasts. Reporter Nicholas Confessore says Carlson's show is based on ideas that were once "caged in a dark corner of American life." Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews ...
05.11.2022 Former Attorney General Eric Holder Holder was America's first Black attorney general when he served in the Obama administration. He has a new book called Our Unfinished March: The Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote.
05.10.2022 British Comedy Writer & Actor Stephen Merchant Merchant co-created the British Office and Extras with Ricky Gervais. His new show, The Outlaws, is about people court-ordered to do community service for low-level crimes. He spoke with producer Sam Briger about what inspired the new series, his best ...
05.09.2022 Rosie Perez Raised in a convent for abandoned kids, The Flight Attendant co-star used to dream of stability and a loving home. Now that she has it, Perez says, "It's priceless." We talk with Perez about overcoming the trauma of her childhood, ...
05.07.2022 Best Of: Alexander Skarsgård / Comedy Writer Jessi Klein Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård describes himself as "quite a mellow guy." Playing a Viking warrior in the film The Northman gave Skarsgård a chance to tap into his animalistic nature. We talk about being a child actor in Sweden, growing ...
05.06.2022 'Better Things' Star Pamela Adlon Adlon is the co-creator, director and star of the FX comedy series Better Things, which ended its fifth and final season last month. The Peabody award-winning series has been heralded as a "masterpiece of unreal realism." Her character, like Adlon ...
05.05.2022 How The UK Became A Safe-Deposit Box For Russian Oligarchs We talk with journalist Oliver Bullough about how Russian oligarchs have stashed their wealth and laundered their money in Britain, and how that's helped Putin – and the Russian state – launch its war in Ukraine. There's so much oligarch ...
05.04.2022 Alexander Skarsgård The Swedish actor describes himself as "quite a mellow guy." Playing a Viking warrior in the film The Northman gave Skarsgård a chance to tap into his animalistic nature. We talk about being a child actor in Sweden, growing up ...
05.03.2022 How GOP Leaders (Briefly) Turned Against Trump After Jan. 6 In their book, This Will Not Pass, NYT journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns reveal that GOP leaders, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Mitch McConnell privately discussed removing Trump from office.
05.02.2022 Stopping Mass Shootings Before They Happen Mother Jones national affairs editor Mark Follman has studied mass shootings in America for much of the past decade. He says a growing number of mental health experts, educators and law enforcement leaders are engaged in the emerging field of ...
04.30.2022 Best Of: Tim McGraw / Zain Asher Country music singers McGraw and Faith Hill star in the Paramount+ series 1883. The show tells the story of a group of Eastern European immigrants trying to make their way in covered wagons from Texas to Oregon. We talk with ...
04.29.2022 The Wonder of the Human Voice We talk with 'New Yorker' writer John Colapinto, author of This Is the Voice, about how voices work, how they evolved in our prehistoric ancestors, how babies learn to vocalize words of their parents' languages so quickly, and what makes ...
04.28.2022 Moral Panic in the Classroom Florida officials recently rejected a slew of math textbooks, claiming they included "prohibited topics." NYT journalist Dana Goldstein theorizes the objections related to social-emotional learning. The goal of social-emotional learning is to provide kids with a set of skills that ...
04.27.2022 Comedy Writer Jessi Klein On Motherhood Klein was the head writer of Inside Amy Schumer and is one of the lead voices in the animated Netflix series Big Mouth. She has a new book of essays about motherhood called I'll Show Myself Out. Klein talks about ...
04.26.2022 CNN Anchor Zain Asher When Asher was five, living with her family in London, her mother got a call informing her that her husband and son, who were on a road trip in Nigeria, their ancestral home, had been in a terrible accident. She ...
04.25.2022 Michelle Yeoh When Yeoh first read the script for Everything Everywhere All at Once, she gave a big sigh of relief: Finally, here was a film that put a middle-aged mother in the role of action hero. She spoke with Tonya Mosley ...
04.23.2022 Best Of: Comic Jerrod Carmichael / Musician Richard Thompson Comic, actor and writer Jerrod Carmichael goes deeper into the secrets he reveals in his new HBO comedy special, Rothaniel — secrets about his real name, his family tree, and his sexual orientation. Carmichael's new special is directed by Bo ...
04.22.2022 Pianist Jeremy Denk Acclaimed classical pianist Jeremy Denk's new memoir begins with his first piano lessons and ends with his last formal lesson when he was 26. He'll talk about the obsessive practicing and repetition that's essential to reach his level of proficiency, ...
04.21.2022 Inside The Murdoch Media Empire The new CNN+ docuseries The Murdochs looks inside the Fox media empire and the family's behind-the-scenes in-fighting. Journalist Jim Rutenberg says the real-life drama rivals HBO's Succession. "I ... have always suspected that the Succession writers have some mole in ...
04.20.2022 Fairport Convention Band Co-Founder Richard Thompson The British singer, songwriter and guitarist talks about his formative years, and about pioneering a new musical genre that blended rock with traditional music of the British isles. Thompson's new memoir is Beeswing.
04.19.2022 Tim McGraw Country music singers McGraw and Faith Hill are starring in the Paramount+ series 1883. The show tells the story of a group of Eastern European immigrants trying to make their way in covered wagons from Texas to Oregon. Before they ...
04.18.2022 Comic Jerrod Carmichael Reveals His Secrets In his new HBO comedy special, Rothaniel, Carmichael opens up about his real name, his family tree, and his sexual orientation. We'll go deeper into these issues — and talk about how being honest about them changed his comedy and ...
04.16.2022 Best Of: Molly Shannon / Delia Ephron In addition to SNL, Molly Shannon has co-starred in the comedy series The Other Two and The White Lotus, and will soon appear in the Showtime comedy series I Love That for You. We talk with Shannon about the tragic ...
04.15.2022 Remembering Jazz Pianist & Composer Jessica Williams Williams was a dazzling player and a favorite at Fresh Air. She died March 10 at 73. We'll listen back to her 1997 performance and interview.
04.14.2022 Trump, The GOP Kingmaker / Remembering Gilbert Gottfried NYT correspondent Shane Goldmacher says Trump doles out endorsements to Republican candidates to elevate allies, punish enemies, and make the "Big Lie" that the 2020 election was stolen into a party litmus test. Also, we remember comic Gilbert Gottfried who ...
04.13.2022 Writer Delia Ephron's Real-Life Rom-Com Delia Ephron, who co-wrote the '90s film You've Got Mail with her sister Nora, found herself in the plotline of a romantic comedy. In her new memoir Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life, Delia Ephron writes about finding ...
04.12.2022 The Pandemic Profiteers ProPublica reporter David McSwane tells the story of people and businesses that profited from the COVID-19 pandemic. He found the government awarded lucrative contracts to many people with a history of fraudulent business practices documented in public records, if anyone ...
04.11.2022 Actor & Comedian Molly Shannon When Molly Shannon started finding success on Saturday Night Live, she remembers feeling depressed. "I realized that really the only person I wanted to say, 'Oh my gosh, I'm so, so proud of you, Molly' was my mom," she says. ...
04.09.2022 Best Of: Groundbreaking Conductor Marin Alsop / Poet Ocean Vuong In 2007, Alsop became the first woman to lead a major American orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony. But on the way to great success, she faced plenty of rejection. "Girls can't do that," Alsop recalls her violin teacher told her at ...
04.08.2022 Acclaimed Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro The Nobel Prize-winning novelist's latest book, Klara and the Sun, is set in the future and has an artificially intelligent narrator. "I wanted some of that childlike freshness and openness and naivety to survive all the way through the text ...
04.07.2022 The Abortion Underground Activists are mobilizing in preparation for the weakening or end of Roe v. Wade. That's the subject of Jessica Bruder's new cover story for The Atlantic. "There are lots of people who want to keep abortion accessible for everybody who ...
04.06.2022 Actor Adam Scott On 'Severance' Scott is known for TV comedies like Parks and Recreation and Party Down, the drama series Big Little Lies, and the film Step Brothers. Now Scott stars in the Apple TV+ series Severance, which gives a sci-fi take on work-life ...
04.05.2022 Poet & Author Ocean Vuong Vuong is author of the acclaimed novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. It was published in 2019, the same year he won a MacArthur "genius" grant. It was also the same year his mother died. "Ever since I lost her, ...
04.04.2022 Groundbreaking Conductor Marin Alsop In 2007, Alsop became the first woman to lead a major American orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony. But on the way to great success, she faced plenty of rejection. "Girls can't do that," Alsop recalls her violin teacher telling her at ...
04.02.2022 Best Of: Sam Waterston / A Civil Rights Leader Who Investigated Lynchings Waterston joined the cast of Law & Order in 1994 on a one-year contract. He wound up staying 16 years, until the series wrapped in 2010. Now the show's back — and so is he. We talk about working into ...
04.01.2022 The Extraordinary Lives Of Migratory Birds Author Scott Weidensaul talks about the millions of birds flying unseen over our heads in the night sky, how the bar-tailed godwit can fly more than a week over water without stopping, and how new tracking technology may help with ...
03.31.2022 How Ukraine Is Fighting On The Digital Battlefield Time's Vera Bergengruen says Ukraine's citizen IT force, led by a 31-year-old minister of digital transformation, is blunting Russian disinformation and galvanizing international support. The Ukrainian government has enlisted as many as 300,000 citizens to volunteer for the so-called IT ...
03.30.2022 How A Civil Rights Leader Risked His Life to Investigate Lynchings White Lies author A.J. Baime tells the story of Walter White, a light-skinned Black man whose ancestors had been enslaved. For years White risked his life investigating racial violence in the South.
03.29.2022 The History Of Surgery Medical historian and surgeon Ira Rutkow points to physical evidence that suggests Stone Age people conducted — and survived — brain surgery. We talk about the evolution of surgery from ancient societies to robotic surgery today. His new book is ...
03.28.2022 Sam Waterston On Returning To 'Law & Order' Waterston joined the cast of the original NBC series in 1994 on a one-year contract. He wound up staying 16 years, until the series wrapped in 2010. Now the show's back — and so is he. We talk about working ...
03.26.2022 Best Of: Pianist Jeremy Denk / Columnist Frank Bruni MacArthur "genius" grant winner Jeremy Denk talks about what he learned from his piano teachers, his pivotal artistic moments and his failures and frustrations. Denk's new memoir is Every Good Boy Does Fine. John Powers reviews Life & Beth on ...
03.25.2022 Remembering Secretary Of State Madeleine Albright Appointed by President Clinton in 1997, Albright advocated for the expansion of NATO into the former Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe. She died March 23. Originally broadcast in 2003 and 2018. Justin Chang reviews Everything Everywhere All At Once ...

Older episodes

Fresh Air

What's Fresh Air about?

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Fresh Air episodes:

Best Of: George Floyd's Life / The Queer History Of A Women's Prison

George Carlin

Political Discord In The White Evangelical Church

How Systemic Racism Shaped George Floyd's Life

Frank Bruni On Vision Lost & Found

The Queer History Of The Women's House Of Detention

Best Of: Rosie Perez / Stephen Merchant

Met Opera Star Anthony Roth Costanzo

How Tucker Carlson Conquered Cable

Former Attorney General Eric Holder

British Comedy Writer & Actor Stephen Merchant

Rosie Perez

Best Of: Alexander Skarsgård / Comedy Writer Jessi Klein

'Better Things' Star Pamela Adlon

How The UK Became A Safe-Deposit Box For Russian Oligarchs

Alexander Skarsgård

How GOP Leaders (Briefly) Turned Against Trump After Jan. 6

Stopping Mass Shootings Before They Happen

Best Of: Tim McGraw / Zain Asher

The Wonder of the Human Voice

Moral Panic in the Classroom

Comedy Writer Jessi Klein On Motherhood

CNN Anchor Zain Asher

Michelle Yeoh

Best Of: Comic Jerrod Carmichael / Musician Richard Thompson

Pianist Jeremy Denk

Inside The Murdoch Media Empire

Fairport Convention Band Co-Founder Richard Thompson

Tim McGraw

Comic Jerrod Carmichael Reveals His Secrets

Best Of: Molly Shannon / Delia Ephron

Remembering Jazz Pianist & Composer Jessica Williams

Trump, The GOP Kingmaker / Remembering Gilbert Gottfried

Writer Delia Ephron's Real-Life Rom-Com

The Pandemic Profiteers

Actor & Comedian Molly Shannon

Best Of: Groundbreaking Conductor Marin Alsop / Poet Ocean Vuong

Acclaimed Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro

The Abortion Underground

Actor Adam Scott On 'Severance'

Poet & Author Ocean Vuong

Groundbreaking Conductor Marin Alsop

Best Of: Sam Waterston / A Civil Rights Leader Who Investigated Lynchings

The Extraordinary Lives Of Migratory Birds

How Ukraine Is Fighting On The Digital Battlefield

How A Civil Rights Leader Risked His Life to Investigate Lynchings

The History Of Surgery

Sam Waterston On Returning To 'Law & Order'

Best Of: Pianist Jeremy Denk / Columnist Frank Bruni

Remembering Secretary Of State Madeleine Albright

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