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.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: Human Trafficking ...

01.28.2023

F. Murray Abraham won the 1985 Best Actor Oscar for Amadeus. Now he co-stars in The White Lotus as Bert, a chauvinistic patriarch on vacation in Italy with his son and grandson. We talk about his career and life, and ...

Fresh Air episodes:

01.28.2023 Best Of: Human Trafficking After Katrina / The Waco Siege F. Murray Abraham won the 1985 Best Actor Oscar for Amadeus. Now he co-stars in The White Lotus as Bert, a chauvinistic patriarch on vacation in Italy with his son and grandson. We talk about his career and life, and ...
01.27.2023 Sun Records Founder Sam Phillips / Crosby & Nash This month marks the centennial of the birth of Sam Phillips, the record producer who discovered Elvis and produced his first records. We're listening back to our interview with Phillips, who founded Sun Records in Memphis and also launched the ...
01.26.2023 How Social Media's Role Was Left Out Of The Jan. 6 Report Washington Post technology reporter Drew Harwell says the unpublished report shows that tech companies didn't respond to employees' warnings about violent rhetoric on their platforms.
01.25.2023 Revisiting The Waco Siege, 30 Years Later Author Jeff Guinn has written about cult leaders Charles Manson and Jim Jones. In the book, Waco, he draws on new interviews with federal agents and surviving Branch Davidians to revisit the 1993 confrontation, which left scores of people dead, ...
01.24.2023 'White Lotus' Actor F. Murray Abraham F. Murray Abraham won the 1985 Best Actor Oscar for Amadeus. Now he co-stars in The White Lotus as Bert, a chauvinistic patriarch on vacation in Italy with his son and grandson. We talk about his career and life, and ...
01.23.2023 Forced Labor & Rebuilding After Natural Disasters In The U.S. After Hurricane Katrina in 2006, hundreds of workers from India were promised jobs and green cards in what labor organizer Saket Soni calls "one of the largest cases of forced labor in modern U.S. history." He tells their story in ...
01.21.2023 Best Of: The Status Of Abortion Rights / Novelist Jonathan Escoffery We'll talk about the latest developments and strategies in the fight over abortion rights with Mary Ziegler, who has written several books on the law, history and politics of abortion. Her new book, Roe: The History of a National Obsession, ...
01.20.2023 Jazz-Pop Duo Rachael & Vilray Rachael & Vilray's new album, I Love a Love Song, features them with a jazz ensemble. Most of their songs sound like something you would have heard on the radio in the '30s and '40s. Rachael is also the lead ...
01.19.2023 Is The U.S. Gov't Designating Too Many Documents As Classified'? Historian Matthew Connelly says government records are marked as "classified" three times every second — and many of them will never be declassified. We talk about what that means for the public and how this might change. His new book ...
01.18.2023 What's Next For The New GOP-Led House? New York Times congressional correspondent Catie Edmondson says the new Republican-controlled House of Representatives will likely leverage their subpoena power to enact vengeance on the Biden administration. "The next two years is not going to be defined by governing and ...
01.17.2023 The Status Of Abortion Rights In America Legal historian Mary Ziegler has chronicled the legal, political and cultural battles around abortion, and says the debate is far from over: "We're at a moment of almost unprecedented uncertainty in the United States when it comes to abortion," Zielger ...
01.16.2023 A Journey Below The Mason-Dixon Line Princeton African American Studies professor Imani Perry says the South can be seen as an "origin point" for the way the nation operates. Her book, South to America, reflects on the region's history and traces the steps of an enslaved ...
01.14.2023 Best Of: Equity In Sports / 'Fleishman Is In Trouble' Creator Equal sports opportunities for women was mandated 50 years ago by title IX legislation. Champion runner Lauren Fleshman explains why getting access to a sports world built by men, for men and boys isn't working for girls and women. Her ...
01.13.2023 Remembering Novelist Russell Banks We remember novelist Russell Banks, whose working-class background inspired much of his work. His best known novels were adapted into films, including Affliction, The Sweet Hereafter, and Continental Drift. We'll listen back to portions of our interviews with him. Also, ...
01.12.2023 What Israel's Move To The Right Means For Democracy Journalist Anshel Pfeffer says the Israeli prime minister has a "strange detachment" when it comes to social issues — which opens the door for conservative members of his coalition to make changes.
01.11.2023 'Fleishman Is In Trouble' Creator Taffy Brodesser-Akner Taffy Brodesser-Akner says the start of middle age hit her "like a truck." As her friends got divorced and began dating again, she was inspired to write a novel — which she's adapted for the screen. Fleishman is in Trouble ...
01.10.2023 Fighting For Equity In Sports Champion distance runner Lauren Fleshman says 50 years after Title IX legislation, the sports world is still built for mens' bodies. She's now an activist seeking to change that by addressing important sex-based differences. We'll talk about her famous "Objectify ...
01.09.2023 'If I Survive You' author Jonathan Escoffery Jonathan Escoffery grew up in Miami, the son of Jamaican immigrants. In a world where identity was linked to race, he says it was often confusing to figure out where he fit in. His new book of stories is If ...
01.07.2023 Best Of: Wrapping up the Jan. 6 hearings / Editing Robert Caro We talk about the January 6th Committee's work with Luke Broadwater, who covers Congress for the New York Times. He was in the Capitol the day of the assault, and has reported on the Committee's work from the beginning. John ...
01.06.2023 Remembering A Creator Of The Philly Sound We remember one of the creators of the Philly Sound: songwriter, arranger and producer Thom Bell. He died late last month, at the age of 79. He was a classically trained pianist whose inventive R&B; arrangements included horns, strings, oboe, ...
01.05.2023 How The Jan. 6 Committee Used TV Tactics Against Trump NYT journalist Luke Broadwater says the committee hired a former news producer to hit Trump where it hurt: "His whole career was built on television, and they were able to use that very medium against him."
01.04.2023 Revisiting A Forgotten U.S. Hostage Crisis In 1977, gunmen led by a charismatic Muslim leader stormed three locations in Washington, D.C., taking more than 100 people hostage. Journalist Shahan Mufti examines the incident in his book American Caliph.
01.03.2023 Acclaimed Book Editor Robert Gottlieb Robert Gottlieb has been working in publishing since 1955. The list of authors he's edited include Joseph Heller, Toni Morrison, John Le Carré, Katharine Graham, Bill Clinton, Nora Ephron and Michael Crichton. The documentary Turn Every Page, by his daughter ...
01.02.2023 Actor Rosie Perez Our best of 2022 series concludes with actor Rosie Perez. Raised in a convent for abandoned kids, Perez used to dream of stability and a loving home. Now that she has it, Perez says, "It's priceless." We talk with Perez ...
12.31.2022 Seth Meyers / Stephen Merchant We continue our series of some of our favorite interviews of the year with Seth Meyers, the host of NBC's Late Night. Also, we hear from comedian, writer, director and actor Stephen Merchant. He co-created the British comedy series The ...
12.30.2022 'Weird Al' Yankovic The hit parody artist "Weird Al" Yankovic talks about what made him weird, the legal gray area of parody, and bringing "the sexy back" to accordion. The new movie Weird, inspired by the story of his life, is a parody ...
12.29.2022 Michael Imperioli Our best of 2022 series continues with Michael Imperioli, who played a sex-addicted Hollywood producer on vacation in Sicily in HBO's The White Lotus. He's best known for his role as Tony Soprano's hot-headed protégé, Christopher Moltisanti. He talked about ...
12.28.2022 Questlove's Christmas Playlist / Best Films Of 2022 DJ Questlove has put together a playlist of some of his favorite Christmas recordings. We'll talk about his picks. And film critic Justin Chang shares his best of 2022 list. You can find Questlove's Spotify playlist here: https://spoti.fi/3WeZhfd
12.28.2022 Comic Jerrod Carmichael Our best of 2022 series continues. In his HBO comedy special, Rothaniel, Jerrod 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 ...
12.27.2022 Sterlin Harjo On 'Reservation Dogs' Our best of 2022 series continues. 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. ...
12.26.2022 Steven Spielberg Our best of 2022 series continues. Spielberg's latest project, The Fabelmans, is semi-autobiographical — focused on his childhood and teen years and his parents' divorce. He jokingly refers to the film as "$40 million of therapy." He speaks with Terry ...
12.23.2022 Tennis Icon John McEnroe Our best of 2022 series continues. John McEnroe is remembered as one of the most talented — and hot-headed — tennis players of all time. Over the course of his career, he won 155 combined titles — more than any ...
12.22.2022 Sheryl Lee Ralph Of 'Abbott Elementary' Our series of favorite interviews from 2022 kicks off with Sheryl Lee Ralph. She won an Emmy for her role as the veteran teacher Barbara Howard on the hit ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary, about an under-resourced Philly school. We talk ...
12.21.2022 A Very Questlove Christmas Questlove has put together a playlist for us of some of his favorite Christmas recordings. Questlove is co-founder of the The Roots, which is among other things, is the house band for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He won ...
12.20.2022 The Teen Mental Health Crisis Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide among adolescents have risen sharply in recent years. We'll speak with the New York Times' Matt Richtel, who spent nearly two years reporting on the crisis — speaking with troubled teens and their ...
12.19.2022 The Surprising History Of The First Paramedics American Sirens author Kevin Hazzard tells the story of a community group in a Black neighborhood in Pittsburgh who helped spark a revolution in emergency medicine. As recently as the 1960s, anyone suffering a heart attack or serious injury who ...
12.17.2022 Best Of: Kumail Nanjiani / 'Knives Out' Writer/Director Rian Johnson Kumail Nanjiani plays Somen "Steve" Banerjee, founder of the male strip club Chippendales, in a new Hulu series. Banerjee was ultimately undone by his own corrupt business practices. We talk about the challenge of playing an un-funny person and how ...
12.16.2022 Revisiting 'High Noon,' A Parable Of The Hollywood Blacklist We consider the classic 1952 western High Noon written and released 70 years ago — during an era of paranoia and persecution in America over the threat of communism — in which the President, congress, the courts and the press ...
12.15.2022 Rachel Maddow On The WWII-Era Plot Against America Rachel Maddow's new podcast, Ultra, is about ultra-right wing groups that sided with Hitler's Germany, and plotted to overthrow the U. S. government before World War II. It led to the largest sedition trial in American history. Ultra is also ...
12.14.2022 Sci-Fi Pioneer Octavia Butler Octavia Butler's 1979 book, Kindred, is now a series for FX on Hulu. In 1993, the pioneering author, who died in 2006, told Fresh Air she made up her own stories so that she could see herself — a Black ...
12.13.2022 Democracy's 'Forgotten Crisis' Historian Adam Hochschild says Woodrow Wilson used the first World War as an excuse to spy on Americans, censor the press and plan for the mass deportation of immigrants. His new book is American Midnight. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews ...
12.12.2022 Rian Johnson On 'Glass Onion' Glass Onion, Rian Johnson's sequel to Knives Out, centers on a billionaire who's invited an assortment of so-called "disrupters" to his private island for a long weekend getaway to play out a murder mystery game. The writer/director talks about satirizing ...
12.10.2022 Best Of: 'White Lotus' Creator Mike White / The Life Of A NYC Maître D' As the second season of HBO's The White Lotus comes to a close, creator Mike White reflects on how it examines the dark side of sex, and how at its heart is a mix of Laverne & Shirley, Fantasy Island ...
12.09.2022 Neil Young / George Clooney The scenes in the new documentary Harvest Time show footage taken when Neil Young was making the album Harvest. We listen back to two interviews with Young, from 1992 and 2004. George Clooney was among the recipients of the 45th ...
12.08.2022 The Chaos At Twitter Tech journalist Casey Newton says Elon Musk did not inherit a company in crisis — but after massive layoffs and upheaval the social media giant is losing money and Musk is warning of bankruptcy.
12.07.2022 Kumail Nanjiani Kumail Nanjiani plays Somen "Steve" Banerjee, founder of the male strip club Chippendales, in a new Hulu series. Banerjee was ultimately undone by his own corrupt business practices. "He was the king of a world that wouldn't have him as ...
12.06.2022 A NYC Maître D' Shares Secrets Of The Restaurant Industry Michael Cecchi-Azzolina has worked in several high-end New York City restaurants — adrenaline-fueled workplaces where booze and drugs are plentiful and the health inspector will ruin your day. His memoir is Your Table Is Ready.
12.05.2022 'White Lotus' Creator Mike White As the second season of HBO's The White Lotus comes to a close, creator Mike White reflects on how it examines the dark side of sex, and how at its heart is a mix of Laverne & Shirley, Fantasy Island ...
12.03.2022 Best Of: 'Armageddon Time' Director / A Revolution In Cell Biology James Gray's new film, Armageddon Time, was inspired by his childhood in Queens in the 1980s. Though his grandparents had fled antisemitism in Ukraine, his family didn't recognize their own biases against Black people. He talks about his life and ...
12.02.2022 'Daily Show' Host Trevor Noah Trevor Noah is stepping down as host of The Daily Show after seven years. We'll listen back to portions of two 2016 interviews with Noah, whose newest standup comedy special just premiered on Netflix. Also, Justin Chang reviews The Eternal ...

Older episodes

Fresh Air

What's Fresh Air about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Fresh Air episodes:

Best Of: Human Trafficking After Katrina / The Waco Siege

Sun Records Founder Sam Phillips / Crosby & Nash

How Social Media's Role Was Left Out Of The Jan. 6 Report

Revisiting The Waco Siege, 30 Years Later

'White Lotus' Actor F. Murray Abraham

Forced Labor & Rebuilding After Natural Disasters In The U.S.

Best Of: The Status Of Abortion Rights / Novelist Jonathan Escoffery

Jazz-Pop Duo Rachael & Vilray

Is The U.S. Gov't Designating Too Many Documents As Classified'?

What's Next For The New GOP-Led House?

The Status Of Abortion Rights In America

A Journey Below The Mason-Dixon Line

Best Of: Equity In Sports / 'Fleishman Is In Trouble' Creator

Remembering Novelist Russell Banks

What Israel's Move To The Right Means For Democracy

'Fleishman Is In Trouble' Creator Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Fighting For Equity In Sports

'If I Survive You' author Jonathan Escoffery

Best Of: Wrapping up the Jan. 6 hearings / Editing Robert Caro

Remembering A Creator Of The Philly Sound

How The Jan. 6 Committee Used TV Tactics Against Trump

Revisiting A Forgotten U.S. Hostage Crisis

Acclaimed Book Editor Robert Gottlieb

Actor Rosie Perez

Seth Meyers / Stephen Merchant

'Weird Al' Yankovic

Michael Imperioli

Questlove's Christmas Playlist / Best Films Of 2022

Comic Jerrod Carmichael

Sterlin Harjo On 'Reservation Dogs'

Steven Spielberg

Tennis Icon John McEnroe

Sheryl Lee Ralph Of 'Abbott Elementary'

A Very Questlove Christmas

The Teen Mental Health Crisis

The Surprising History Of The First Paramedics

Best Of: Kumail Nanjiani / 'Knives Out' Writer/Director Rian Johnson

Revisiting 'High Noon,' A Parable Of The Hollywood Blacklist

Rachel Maddow On The WWII-Era Plot Against America

Sci-Fi Pioneer Octavia Butler

Democracy's 'Forgotten Crisis'

Rian Johnson On 'Glass Onion'

Best Of: 'White Lotus' Creator Mike White / The Life Of A NYC Maître D'

Neil Young / George Clooney

The Chaos At Twitter

Kumail Nanjiani

A NYC Maître D' Shares Secrets Of The Restaurant Industry

'White Lotus' Creator Mike White

Best Of: 'Armageddon Time' Director / A Revolution In Cell Biology

'Daily Show' Host Trevor Noah

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