There is bouncing back after adversity, and then there is: Vanessa Williams. The talented multi-hyphenate was only 21 years old when she became the first Black woman to be crowned Miss America. Yet a controversy surrounding the release of unauthorized nude photos led to her ultimately relinquishing her title 10 months into her reign. When doors were closed to her following the scandal, she fought her way back to an impressive and decorated career: Williams built decades of success as an actor and recording artist, selling 25 million records worldwide, starring in over 100 roles in television, film, and on Broadway - and being nominated for a Tony and multiple Emmy and Grammy Awards.  Vanessa Williams speaks with host Alec Baldwin about the death threats she received after she won Miss America, how the work of Stephen Sondheim inspires the type of art she wishes to make, and what it’s like working with Elton John on her next big project. 

Originally aired April 16, 2024

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Susan Jaffe is a former ballerina who performed for 22 years as a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater. She is known for iconic roles such as Swan Lake’s Odette and Odile, Kitri in Don Quixote, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. Jaffe has performed internationally and her repertoire includes the works of iconic choreographers such as George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, and Merce Cunningham. After retiring from the stage, Jaffe previously served as the dean for the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and as the artistic director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. In our conversation, Jaffe shares how she got her start as a ballerina, the impact legendary dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov had on her career, and what it was like reviving ABT after the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Amanda knows about living inside other people’s preconceptions. When she was 22 years old, she was sentenced to 26 years in prison for a murder she didn’t commit. In 2007, on a study-abroad program in Perugia, Italy, Amanda’s roommate Meredith Kurcher was raped and murdered. The police and the tabloids pinned it on “Foxy Knoxy,” calling Amanda a sex-crazed murderer. After spending almost a decade in the labyrinth of the Italian criminal justice system, Amanda was fully exonerated. Today, she lives in her hometown of Seattle and, with her husband, has a podcast called Labyrinths about the mazes we find ourselves in. 

Originally aired March 16, 2021

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Jay McInerney is a New York Times best selling author known for his breakout novel Bright Lights Big City. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film adaption of Bright Lights Big City and co-wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film Gia, starring Angelina Jolie. In addition to his fiction work, McInerney was the wine columnist for House & Garden magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and currently writes the wine column for Town & Country magazine. His essays on wine have been collected in Bacchus & Me (2000) and A Hedonist in the Cellar (2006) and his book of short stories, titled How It Ended, was named one of the 10 best books of the year by The New York Times in 2009. McInernay has also been honored by the New York Public Library as a “Literary Lion” and won the James Beard MFK Fisher Award for Distinguished Writing.

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Huma Abedin has spent her entire career in public service, from her beginnings as an intern in First Lady Hillary Clinton’s office, to her time as senior advisor to then-Senator Clinton, as deputy chief of staff to the Secretary of State, vice chair of Clinton's presidential campaign, and now, as Clinton’s chief of staff. Abedin’s recent memoir, “Both/And,” details this time in government, as well as her personal struggles behind the scenes. Huma Abedin sits down with Alec to discuss the personal impact of the 2016 election, the lessons she learned from her late father, and the sliding doors that have offered her different paths in life. 

Originally aired December 12, 2022 

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Politician and businessman Gavin Newsom has served as the 40th governor of California since 2019. Prior to his governorship, Newsom was the lieutenant Governor of California and the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco. Now in the final years of his term, Newsom reflects on the challenges and victories of the past seven years, most pressing being the wildfires that destroyed areas of Southern California this past January. A native to San Francisco, Newsom is familiar with the state’s natural wildfires but has seen a dramatic increase in their devastation during his term.

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2021 marked the premiere of Lucy Walker’s documentary film “Bring Your Own Brigade” which unpacked the catastrophic California wildfires of  2018, The Camp Fire and The Woolsey Fire. Now four years after the film was released, Southern California recently experienced even more devastating wildfires in January 2025. The most damaging fires were the Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire. For Lucy Walker, history is repeating itself at an even larger scale and her 2021 film is even more relevant today. It’s a traumatic revisiting of difficult subject matter, and here Lucy shares what she has learned about wildfires since making her film and what she thinks can be done to prevent wildfires from becoming even more catastrophic.

Listen to Alec’s 2021 conversation with Lucy Walker here.

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Christopher Rothko never thought he would have a career in the art world but he has become the driving force behind preserving his father, painter Mark Rothko’s, legacy. Christopher along with his sister Kate are the copyright holders to their father’s work and oversee exhibitions of Mark Rothko paintings around the world. With a background in clinical psychology, Christopher is also known for his writing about his father's art, life, and legacy, as well as his own reflections on the emotional and philosophical aspects of Mark Rothko’s paintings. Through his books and public work, Christopher has enabled the art of Mark Rothko to continue to resonate with audiences worldwide.

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We’re revisiting some of Alec’s favorite episodes from the archives. In this episode, originally recorded in November 2012, Alec talks with writer and actress Paula Pell – who made people laugh at Saturday Night Live for 18 years. Pell landed her dream job as a writer at SNL after working at a Florida theme park. Her agent told her that Lorne Michaels wanted to meet her – “it is not an audition, but he wants to fly you up and talk to you.” Pell wasn’t sure what she was headed up for, but she got a job writing for the show. Because of her longevity on the show, Pell calls herself “Nanny SNL,” but she’s the first to admit, “If you have a good night there you feel like you’re 20 again.” Today, Pell can be found writing and producing movies and television, in addition to her starring role in Peacock's “Girls5eva.”

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This season marks the 50th Anniversary of “Saturday Night Live:” the groundbreaking and iconic show that revolutionized late-night television with its sharp celebrity impersonations, satirical news segments, musical performances and absurd sketches  - performed by comedy’s brightest stars and brought to life by the brilliant mind of creator Lorne Michaels. To commemorate this milestone, host Alec Baldwin speaks with writer and producer Steve Higgins, a key figure of the show for three decades, and Susan Morrison, the author of Lorne’s biography “Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live”. Morrison and Higgins reflect on the early days of the show, its relation to the New Yorker Magazine, and what has kept the show a cultural touchstone for so many decades.

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