Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York

(12/1/20) On the publication date of his new collection of essays, Dispatches from the Race War, social justice advocate Tim Wise joins us for a frank discussion on racism in America in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI. Seen through the lens of major flashpoints during the Obama and Trump years, Dispatches from the Race War faces the consequences of white supremacy in all its forms—from the rise of openly avowed white nationalism to the violent policing of African Americans, from Trayvon Martin to George Floyd.

(11/30/20) Called “the Beatles of comedy” by the Library of Congress, the four-man troupe Firesign Theatre wrote and performed together for over 40 years, but it is their sketches from between 1968 to 1975 for Columbia Records remains their best known and most influential. From “what’s all this brouhaha?” to “forward into the past!” or “your brain may no longer be the boss!” numerous phases from Firesign’s work on record and the radio (on WBAI affiliate KPFK) became a part of the popular lexicon. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, founding members Phil Proctor and David Ossman discuss the highs and lows of their four decades of making people laugh and think.

(11/25/20) This is Not My Memoir tells the life story of Andre Gregory, iconic theatre director, writer and actor. Co-written with Todd London, the book shares memories of a charmed life lived in the pursuit of art, from wartime Paris to Golden-Age Hollywood, from avant-garde theaters to monasteries in India. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, writer and legendary character actor Wallace Shawn joins the conversation to discuss the making of their groundbreaking 1981 film My Dinner With Andre.

(11/24/20) David Nasaw’s latest book The Last Million: Europe's Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War is a sweeping history of the 1 million refugees left behind in Germany after WWII. Join us for a look at a moment in history that is rarely discussed in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(11/23/20) Talia Lavin is every skinhead’s worst nightmare—a loud, unapologetic Jewish woman, acerbic, smart and profoundly antiracist, with the investigative chops to expose the tactics and ideologies of online hatemongers. For her new book Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy, Talia created fake online profiles and a racist persona to investigate how hate speech is spread online. Join us for a journey through some of the most disturbing parts of the Internet in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(11/20/20) The new documentary Born to Be follows the work of Dr. Jess Ting, a plastic surgeon at New York’s Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery offering transgender and non-binary people unprecedented access to quality transition-related health and surgical care. Join us for a discussion with Dr. Ting and Born To Be director Tania Cypriano about why medical rights are human rights in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(11/18/20) Efrem Sigel’s book Juror Number 2: The Story of a Murder, the Agony of a Neighborhood recounts his experience on a jury in the murder trial that changed the course of his life as he struggled to understand the systemic issues that led to the crime. Join us for a hard look at how the failures of NYCHA’s housing projects, public schools and the criminal justice system compounded to cause this tragic event in this installment on Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(11/16/20)The New York Times Book Review described author, critic and Professor of Writing at Columbia University Phillip Lopate’s new anthology The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present as “marshaling a quintessentially American vision.” The sprawling collection includes three centuries of American essays, from Cotton Mather and Benjamin Franklin to David Foster Wallace and Zadie Smith. Join us for a look at the history of the essay in America from an expert of the form in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(11/12/20) One of the main reasons pet owners in the US give up their cats (often leading to euthanasia) is because of unwanted behaviors. Drs. Meghan E. Herron, Debra F. Horwitz and Carlo Siracusa’s book Decoding Your Cat: The Ultimate Experts Explain Common Cat Behaviors and Reveal How to Prevent or Change Unwanted Ones is the first to analyze the underlying reasons for your cat’s actions to help understand what’s truly best for them. When we had welcomed these feline experts to the show a couple months back the response was so overwhelming, we thought we’d ask them to join us one more time to take some more listener questions. That’s right, it’s another round of Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Your Cat in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(11/11/20) As regular listeners know, there are few building issues that our favorite masters of home repair Alvin and Lawrence Ubell don’t know how to fix. Though with cases of COVID-19 on the rise, it’s looking like we’re all going to need to hunker down this winter. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, Larry and Al take your calls on how to turn your living space into somewhere you’re comfortable spending your days while we wait on a vaccine.