It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

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What's It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders about?

A talk show with a heart. Each week, Sam interviews people in the culture who deserve your attention. Plus weekly wraps of the news with other journalists. Join Sam as he makes sense of the world through conversation.

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Yebba Sheds Old Beliefs Wit...

09.14.2021

It was 2016, and Yebba's career was beginning to take off. But 2016 was also the year that something awful happened: Yebba's mother committed suicide. And that changed everything, too. Now, after years of collaborating with artists the likes of ...

It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders episodes:

09.14.2021 Yebba Sheds Old Beliefs With A New Album It was 2016, and Yebba's career was beginning to take off. But 2016 was also the year that something awful happened: Yebba's mother committed suicide. And that changed everything, too. Now, after years of collaborating with artists the likes of ...
09.10.2021 20 Years Of The War On Terror; Plus, Redemption For Mariah Carey's 'Glitter' Sam talks to Washington Post security and terrorism reporter Souad Mekhennet about what the war on terror has—and hasn't—achieved in the two decades since 9/11. Plus, for its 20th anniversary, we look at the legacy of Mariah Carey's album Glitter ...
09.07.2021 Michaela Coel On 'Misfits' And 'I May Destroy You' Writer and actor Michaela Coel's new book is Misfits: A Personal Manifesto.
09.03.2021 Songs Of The Summer With 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' Sam talks to Novena Carmél and Anthony Valadez, hosts of KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, about their end of summer song picks and the best albums of the year so far. They talk about how listening to music changed during the ...
08.31.2021 Presenting 'Code Switch': To Love And Not Forgive With Ashley C. Ford In this special episode from our friends at the Code Switch podcast, we feature author Ashley C. Ford. For much of her childhood, Ford's father was incarcerated, and her mother struggled to raise her while grappling with her own upended ...
08.27.2021 How Do We Make Sense Of Afghanistan? Plus, 'Reservation Dogs' For the last 20 years, the U.S. has been wrapped up in a costly war in Afghanistan, initially in response to the attacks on September 11. But America's chaotic withdrawal this year, in just a short amount of time, has ...
08.24.2021 Jonathan Van Ness On 'Queer Eye,' Cats, And Overcoming Trauma Jonathan Van Ness stepped into the spotlight in 2018 as a walking, talking bundle of energy, optimism and positivity as the grooming expert on Queer Eye. Queer Eye is now in production for its sixth season, and Jonathan— along with ...
08.20.2021 Maya Rudolph On SNL, Self-Acceptance, And Seeing Yourself On Screen Maya Rudolph has had a successful career, spanning decades as a Saturday Night Live cast member and well-loved actor and entertainer. She chats with Sam about her recent Emmy nominations, her approach to comedy, and the importance of having strong ...
08.16.2021 Kathryn Hahn On Birth, Politics And 'Private Life' Kathryn Hahn dazzled audiences in one of the biggest streaming hits of the year, WandaVision— and she just earned an Emmy nom for her performance. In this conversation with her from 2019, she and Sam talk about her film 'Private ...
08.13.2021 Hygiene Debates, Skipping Showers, And Climate Change, Oh My! #ShowerGate. Sam talks to Carl Zimring, professor of sustainability studies at Pratt Institute and author of Clean and White, about the online debate over celebrities showering habits and how it taps into a long history linking hygiene and race. Then, ...
08.10.2021 Tracee Ellis Ross On Playing A 'Thriving, Not Surviving' Character On 'Black-ish' Tracee Ellis Ross won a Golden Globe in 2017 for her role on ABC's Black-ish. She's also been nominated five times for that role at the Emmys. In this chat from July 2020, she and Sam discuss her Black-ish role, ...
08.06.2021 What's Your Monoculture Moment: The Olympics Or Bennifer 2.0? Sam is joined by LA Times television editor Matt Brennan to understand why ratings for this year's Olympics are not just dismal, but symbolic of changes in our culture. Then, culture writers Hunter Harris and Alessa Dominguez join the show ...
08.03.2021 Prince's Intimate Moments Prince's posthumous album, Welcome 2 America, came out last weekend. In honor of the release, Sam revisits his 2020 conversation with Prince's photographer, Randee St. Nicholas. She shares intimate stories about the legendary artist: from spontaneous photo shoots in burned ...
07.30.2021 Vaccine Disinformation For Hire; Plus, Hannah Waddingham Of 'Ted Lasso' Disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines abounds on social media, but there's more to it than meets the eye. Sam talks to Max Fisher, international reporter for the New York Times, about "disinformation for hire" and what social media platforms are doing ...
07.27.2021 Emilia Clarke On Mothers Of Madness And Dragons The "Mother of Dragons" is out with a new comic book, Mother of Madness. Actress Emilia Clarke talks with guest host Ayesha Rascoe about superpowers in real life and fantasy, her career-launching role in Game of Thrones and how Hollywood ...
07.23.2021 The Joy Of Black Hair; Plus, What's In The Biden Spending Plans? The Black Hair Experience is a pop-up visual exhibit dedicated to the beauty, history and nostalgia of Black hair. Guest host Ayesha Rascoe takes a trip there and chats with its co-founder, Alisha Brooks. Then, Ayesha is joined by NPR's ...
07.20.2021 'Space Jam 2' Star Sonequa Martin-Green Actress Sonequa Martin-Green has made a career of otherworldly roles. She survived a zombie apocalypse in The Walking Dead, she explores space — the final frontier — in Star Trek: Discovery, and she's the wife of NBA star LeBron James ...
07.16.2021 Why Workers Are Quitting; Plus The Comfort Of Horror Movies Americans are quitting their jobs in record numbers. Guest host Ayesha Rascoe brings on CBS MoneyWatch editor Irina Ivanova to break down some of the reasons why. Then, The New Republic staff writer Jo Livingstone joins Ayesha to discuss the ...
07.13.2021 Trump's America And Why 'The Cruelty Is The Point' The Cruelty Is The Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump's America, is journalist Adam Serwer's new book, based on a popular essay he wrote for The Atlantic. Serwer talks with guest host Ayesha Rascoe and lays out the ...
07.09.2021 The Weight On Black Women In Sports; Plus, 'We Are Lady Parts' With Sha'Carri Richardson's recent disqualification, and the controversy surrounding the banning of natural hair swimming caps, there's a lot to talk about the treatment of Black women in the Olympics and across the sports world. Guest host Ayesha Rascoe brings ...
07.06.2021 Tiffany Haddish Stays Busy: 'I Want to See Our Stories' Tiffany Haddish has had a busy year. From starring in prank film Bad Trip, to hosting Kids Say the Darndest Things, to voicing a self-confident toucan in animated series Tuca & Bertie, it seems like she's everywhere. Sam talks to ...
07.04.2021 Pop Culture Happy Hour: F9 Is Somehow Faster And Furious-er Sam sits in the guest seat at Pop Culture Happy Hour to discuss the glue that holds this nation together — The Fast and the Furious franchise. Alongside NPR White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, as well as PCHH hosts Linda ...
07.02.2021 Trump's Bad Business Comes Back To Bite This week, the Trump Organization and its Chief Financial Officer were charged with fraud and tax related crimes by the Manhattan District Attorney as a result of a years-long investigation. In light of these new charges, Sam revisits his conversation ...
06.29.2021 Riley Keough On 'Zola' And Finding Empathy For Anti-Heroes Sam interviews Riley Keough, one of the stars of Zola— a new movie adapted from a viral 148-tweet thread story full of sex work, guns and plot twists. They talk about how Riley prepared her character's "blaccent," why she tends ...
06.25.2021 Culture Wars Then and Now; Plus, The Creators of 'Hacks' The furor over critical race theory fits into a longer history of culture wars in schools. Sam talks to Adam Laats, a professor of history and education at Binghamton University, about what the past can teach us about today's fight. ...
06.22.2021 'Where We Come From': Priya And Ritu Krishna On Indian Cooking And Assimilation Where do you come from? It's a question that immigrant communities of color get asked constantly. But the answer is often not simply about a place on a map. It can be tied to identity, immigration, career, family... and even ...
06.18.2021 ACT UP: A History Of AIDS/HIV Activism Forty years ago this month, the CDC reported on patients with HIV/AIDS in the United States for the very first time. The disease was understudied, under-reported and deeply stigmatized. ACT UP united a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals committed to ...
06.15.2021 Presenting 'Fresh Air': Actor John Boyega On Hollywood, Police And 'Star Wars' Sam sits in the Fresh Air host chair to talk to actor John Boyega. Since finishing his star-making role in the Star Wars franchise in 2019 and after the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd last year, Boyega ...
06.11.2021 What's This Arizona Recount About? Plus, Summer Movie Picks We've witnessed plenty of historic moments with Joe Biden as president: widespread COVID-19 vaccinations, the reunion of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, Mare of Easttown. But Arizona Republicans are attempting to prove otherwise with an unprecedented vote recount of the ...
06.08.2021 Zakiya Dalila Harris And 'The Other Black Girl' Zakiya Dalila Harris was working as an editorial assistant at a New York publisher when she ran into another Black woman for the first time on her office floor. That's when she got the idea for her book, The Other ...
06.04.2021 Kink, Cops And Corporations At Pride? Plus, Natalie Morales On 'Plan B' When Pride comes around every June, the same arguments start up again— should there be kink, cops and corporations at Pride? And who is Pride for? Sam talks to writer and author Roxane Gay about why the queer community has ...
06.01.2021 Malcolm Gladwell And 'Talking To Strangers' Sam revisits his chat with best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell about his book, Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know. The book explores examples such as the arrest of Sandra Bland and the Stanford rape ...
05.28.2021 Hot Book Summer It's almost summer, and whether you're at a beach, at a park, or at home, it's a great time to get lost in a book. Sam is joined by Barrie Hardymon, senior editor of NPR's Weekend Edition, and Traci Thomas, ...
05.25.2021 The Real Justices Of SCOTUS Sam previews this summer's Supreme Court rulings with Slate's Mark Joseph Stern and why some of those cases could potentially have big repercussions on daily life. They also discuss the future of the Court, including its decision to take up ...
05.21.2021 Labor Market Mysteries; Plus, Signs Of Life The U.S. unemployment rate is still high... so why are we in a labor shortage? Sam chats with Stacey Vanek Smith, host of NPR's The Indicator, and Cardiff Garcia, former co-host of The Indicator, about the American job market and ...
05.18.2021 'Let's Talk About Hard Things' With Help From Anna Sale How do you bring up something that might be easier left unsaid? Anna Sale, host and creator of WNYC's Death, Sex & Money podcast, has answers in her new book, Let's Talk About Hard Things. She chats with Sam about ...
05.14.2021 After Defunding The Police; Plus, Michelle Buteau On 'The Circle' What does defunding the police really look like? Sam talks to Austin City Council Member Greg Casar about how decreasing the city's police budget has worked— and what they aren't getting quite right yet. Then, Sam talks to KUT reporter ...
05.11.2021 Is Biden The Next FDR? or LBJ? How transformative are President Biden's economic and infrastructure proposals? Depends on what gets passed. The comparisons to FDR and LBJ miss the vastly different political landscapes those presidents faced. Sam talks with presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin about how this ...
05.07.2021 Housing Boom For Whom? Plus, 'Ziwe' Premieres The housing market is booming— but who actually benefits? Sam talks to Jerusalem Demsas, politics and policy fellow for Vox, about what so many are getting wrong about housing. Plus, Sam revisits his 2020 conversation with Ziwe Fumudoh, whose comedy ...
05.04.2021 Mj Rodriguez On 'Pose' And Perseverance As the groundbreaking series Pose comes to a close in its third and final season, Sam talks to Mj Rodriguez about the end of her role as Blanca, the loving and lovable house mother at the center of the show. ...
04.30.2021 India And The Unequal Distribution Of Vaccines; Plus, 'Invisibilia' Returns Even as vaccine access expands in the the US, the pandemic is far from over globally. Sam talks to Aarti Singh, a resident of New Delhi, about what it's been like living there as India's COVID-19 cases skyrocket. Then, Sam ...
04.27.2021 Patti Harrison Takes The Lead In 'Together Together' Patti Harrison is known for bringing her absurd, caustic, yet charming comedy to supporting roles on shows like Search Party, Broad City and Shrill. But now she's in a starring role in the romantic comedy Together Together. In it, Harrison ...
04.23.2021 The "Must-See TV" Of Black Trauma, Plus Ashley Nicole Black On Making Black Joy Sam chats with NPR's TV critic Eric Deggans about constant images of Black pain in news and in entertainment. Then, he turns to comedian Ashley Nicole Black to talk about the new season of "A Black Lady Sketch Show" and ...
04.20.2021 The Warped Reality of Eric André's 'Bad Trip' Sam talks to actor and comedian Eric André about the evolution of the prank genre with his Netflix hidden-camera comedy Bad Trip. They chat about the complications of making a prank show while Black, who André would never prank, and ...
04.16.2021 The 'Thin Blue Line' In Minnesota, Plus 'Tell Them, I Am' What's it like to cover the Derek Chauvin trial against the backdrop of continued police violence? Guest host Ari Shapiro talks to Minnesota activist and journalist O'nika Nicole Craven. Then, he talks to Maurice Chammah, staff writer at The Marshall ...
04.13.2021 Bowen Yang's Rules of Culture Bowen Yang often plays delightfully weird characters on SNL. But recently he appeared as himself on the show to address the uptick of Asian American violence in the U.S. Sam revisits his conversation from last fall with the comedian, who ...
04.09.2021 What's The Strategy? Corporate Activism And Anti-Trans Bills Corporations have spoken out against the new restrictive voting law in Georgia, but to what end? Sam talks to Slate writer Dahlia Lithwick about whether that tactic actually effects change—and whether it's just a performance. Plus, Sam talks to author ...
04.06.2021 The Human Cost of Family Separation It's been a few years now since President Trump adopted (and then later reversed) his administration's zero-tolerance policy that separated parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border. But what's happened to those families since? And what is President Biden doing ...
04.02.2021 Is 'Diversity And Inclusion' Far From Its Roots? And What's An NFT? Sam talks to Kim Tran, an anti-racist author and consultant, about her article in Harper's Bazaar on how the diversity, equity and inclusion industry has strayed from its movement roots. Plus, what's an NFT? And why are people buying them? ...
03.30.2021 Hanif Abdurraqib's Rabbit Holes into Great Black Performance Hanif Abdurraqib's latest book is A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance. In it, Abdurraqib researches the impact of Black performers on American culture throughout the past several hundred years, touching on everything from minstrel shows ...

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