Every other week this fall, we will be airing some of Alec’s favorite episodes from our archives. This week, we feature two supernovas of the musical world: acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming and the reigning virtuoso of the violin, Itzhak Perlman. Opera singer Renée Fleming, whose voice has been described as "double cream," remembers her beginnings in music, overcoming stage fright and her professional debut in this 2012 conversation. Fleming talks about the rigors of preparation for performing and the challenges of being heard, without amplification, over an orchestra. In this conversation from 2019, legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman speaks with Alec in front of a live audience at the NYU Skirball Center, discussing his difficult childhood, being stricken by polio in the war-torn early days of Israeli statehood -- and coming to the United States at 13 to play on the Ed Sullivan Show. Perlman also performs live with wife Toby Perlman and eight former students from the Perlman Music Program, a summer school on Shelter Island that provide a safe space for young musical geniuses to develop their talents, and themselves.

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Aasif Mandvi is a British-American actor, comedian, playwright and author, whose diverse career traverses Broadway, Merchant-Ivory, Marvel, television and comedy. His theater work includes Oklahoma! on Broadway, the Pulitzer-Prize winning play Disgraced and Mandvi’s off-Broadway, one man show, Sakina’s Restaurant, which explored the South Asian immigrant experience and won an Obie. He also created the Islamaphobia-tackling digital series Halal in the Family, which earned a Peabody.  The former The Daily Show correspondent is currently starring in the CBS psychological drama Evil and Would I Lie to You?, the CW panel show. Alec Baldwin and Mandvi talk about Mandvi’s upbringing and how it contributed to his adaptability,  the serendipitous events that changed the course of his career and becoming a father later in life. 

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Every other week this fall, we will be airing some of Alec’s favorite episodes from our archives. This week features two incredible authors: chronicler of Hollywood legends, Sam Wasson, and the Pulitzer-Prize winning The New Yorker writer, Lawrence Wright. Sam Wasson tackles distinctive creators and seminal moments in Hollywood history, from Blake Edwards and Paul Mazursky, to Audrey Hepburn and the history of improv. Alec loved Sam Wasson’s book, The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood. In this fascinating conversation, Wasson tells the story of the four men behind the 1974 film: producer Robert Evans, screenwriter Robert Towne, director Roman Polanski, and star Jack Nicholson  - and how the film was a turning point in each of their lives. Lawrence Wright is an author, screenwriter, playwright, and staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. Filmmaker Alex Gibney directed an HBO documentary based on Wright's reporting in Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Unbelief. In his in-depth and varied reporting, Wright has documented the Jonestown massacre, explored allegations of Satan worship, profiled brimstone-tinged gospel preachers, and tracked the histories of al-Qaeda and the Church of Scientology.

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Alec Baldwin speaks with two individuals using media to inspire, inform – and transform –  civic engagement in America.  Civil rights attorney Scott Hechinger is the founder and executive director of Zealous, an organization harnessing the power of storytelling for social justice. Hechinger believes that inaccurate narratives on crime and policing help shape perception and policy - and he’s seeking to change that. With Zealous, Hechinger works with public defenders and advocates on campaigns that aim to change a broken criminal justice system and push for true public health and safety. Robert Greenwald is the founder of Brave New Films, a non-profit whose goal is to educate and mobilize the public on social issues like voter suppression, immigration and war profiteering. Greenwald is an Emmy- and Peabody-winning director of television and film, including “Xanadu” and “The Burning Bed,” but pivoted to documentary and put his talents to work for political action.

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Guest Host Talia Schlanger speaks to the co-creator and subjects of Netflix’s Emmy-winning series, “Love on the Spectrum.” The show, which premiered in the  U.S. after two Australian seasons, follows individuals on the autism spectrum through struggles and successes in their search for love. Director and producer Cian O’Clery is joined by participant Kaelynn Partlow, who is also an autism therapist and advocate. O’Clery and Partlow share their experiences making the series and their take on traditional portrayals of autism in the media. Schlanger then speaks with 

consultant and autism advocate Jennifer Cook. Cook is the author of several books on autism, including her memoir, “Autism In Heels: The Untold Story Of A Female Life On The Spectrum.”  She serves as the dating coach for participants in the series, tailoring her help to their specific needs.  With her guests, Schlanger unpacks the intentions, inner workings and impact of this unique reality dating show. 

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Author Ken Auletta has been the chief political correspondent for the New York Post, a weekly columnist for the Village Voice, contributing editor at New York magazine and contributor to The New Yorker since 1977.  He is the author of twelve books, including five national bestsellers —Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way; Greed and Glory On Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman; The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Superhighway; World War 3.0: Microsoft and Its Enemies; and Googled: The End of the World as We Know It. His latest book, Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence, serves as a biography, an examination of the circumstances that led to the abuses and the final chapter of Auletta’s reporting on Weinstein that began with a New Yorker profile two decades ago. Ken Auletta and Alec discuss Auletta’s upbringing in Coney Island, his early career in politics and the culture of Weinstein’s many enablers.

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It’s Alec’s turn to pick one of his most beloved episodes in the summer archive series. This week, we feature one of his favorite musicians, Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, from their 2013 conversation. Over the course of a career that has lasted more than half a century, Lightfoot has achieved global stardom and exceptional influence. Bob Dylan’s a fan—he's said, “I can’t think of any [Lightfoot songs] I don’t like.” These songs—“Beautiful,” “Sundown,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” and many others—have been treasured by generations of popular musicians and listeners around the world. But Gordon Lightfoot was just one of many aspirants who moved to Toronto in the early 1960s to try their hand in the burgeoning folk music scene there. Lightfoot tells Alec about fitting a feeling to a melody, why he owes his first hit record to an exec's girlfriend, and how he wrote "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by pulling lines straight from the newspaper. 

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Dr. David Starkey is one of Britain’s leading historians, with a focus on the monarchy’s history and contemporary role. His work includes numerous books and television series covering the English monarchy, particularly the wives of Henry VIII and the reign of Elizabeth I.  He’s known for his regular appearances on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze, BBC 1's Question Time and This Week and most recently, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee for GBNews.  Starkey was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2007 and currently hosts a YouTube Channel, David Starkey Talks.  Dr. David Starkey and Alec discuss the House of Windsor's rise to power, mistakes in the era of Princess Diana, and Harry and Meghan’s status with the Royal Family.

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Our staff picks continue at Here’s The Thing, where every other week throughout the summer, members of our team select their favorite interviews from the archives. This week, we revisit Alec’s 2013 interview with acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Columbus. As a director, Columbus has brought to life some of the biggest American family films in history: Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone, and Mrs. Doubtfire. He also wrote the screenplays of Gremlins and The Goonies, and produced and directed the first two Harry Potter films. Despite this success, Columbus admits that he “always, to this day, [feels] like [he’s] gonna walk on a movie and get fired.” He reveals to Alec what it was like working with brilliant improvisers like John Candy and Robin Williams, how he got his start writing while working nights in an aluminum factory and why it’s important to him to keep a low-profile. 

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Richard Stanley is a South African filmmaker, known for his boundary-pushing work in the horror and science fiction genres. Stanley grew up in apartheid-era South Africa, studying anthropology and filming tribal dance and initiation rituals. In the 90s, he directed the horror features Hardware and Dust Devil. He was then famously fired from an adaptation of The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer after only three days on set, an event which later became the subject of the documentary, Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau. Stanley went on to direct several documentaries and returned to narrative film in 2019 with Color Out of Space starring Nicolas Cage. Richard Stanley and Alec discuss Stanley’s upbringing in South Africa, what it’s like directing Marlon Brando and his biggest regrets from the failed Moreau production.

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