Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen

Wyatt Cenac is a comedian and former correspondent for The Daily Show. He’s no scientist – but while completing a community service requirement in high school, he conducted a little experiment to answer one of modern science’s burning questions: 

“I was like…how could Shaquille O’Neal drive on two beers? Or how could Shaquille drive on like three beers, and a couple shots of whiskey, and maybe some weed?”

His story was part of a live event hosted by Studio 360 and The Story Collider at WNYC’s Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, where scientists and comedians told true stories about their encounters with science.  You can hear Aparna Nancherla’s tale of cheating her way to science fair glory in our September 1, 2016 episode.

Tomorrow in the feed: how anthropologist Herman Pontzer ended up in the hot seat.

Produced with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

School is back in session, so Studio 360 is hitting the books. Kurt calls up his favorite teacher from high school to compare notes. The novelist Nicholson Baker signs up to be a substitute teacher. And comedian Aparna Nancherla reveals the shocking secret that destroyed her career in science before it started. 

Jace Clayton has traveled the world collecting and playing music as DJ /rupture, and he gives Kurt a lesson in spinning records. Plus, the singer-songwriter Lydia Loveless overcame her social anxiety by coming to terms with the fact that everyone is laughing at you. And indie lightning rod Amanda Palmer picked up the ukulele on a whim, but when she started playing Radiohead’s famously downbeat songs on it, she discovered the perfect mix of sweet and salty.

Revered British critic Clive James aims his razor wit at the golden age of cable drama — and he finds that even shows with dragons deserve some respect. Plus, Nadja Spiegelman grew up in a family that encourages artistic expression — her mother is the New Yorker’s art editor and her father is the author of “Maus.” But when she started writing a memoir about her mother’s family, she discovered that not all truth-telling is welcome. And the trans actress Hari Nef lands the role of a lifetime, straight out of college.

Eric Whitacre has written extremely popular choral music — but his real breakthrough came when, over YouTube, he started inviting amateur singers from all over the world to join in. Also, how Aimee Mann tried to understand a friend’s death by writing a song. And composer Julia Wolfe digs deep into the culture of coal country with her Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio “Anthracite Fields.”

Danny McBride has built a comedy empire by playing foul-mouthed, egotistical jerks — but he wants you to know that he’s not really like that. Also, the writer-director Sian Heder explains how a lousy job she took when she was just starting out inspired her new movie, “Tallulah.” And we travel back in time 200 years, to the climate catastrophe that inspired Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”

It’s been over 150 years since "On the Origin of Species" was published, but we’re still fighting over Charles Darwin’s big theory. One of Darwin's descendants, Ruth Padel, writes poems about her famous relative. Spencer Wells gathers DNA around the world to determine where we came from. An amateur paleontologist finds a way to believe in both God and the fossil record. Plus, a science fiction story by Lydia Millet imagines the downside of messing too much with our genes.

(Originally aired November 20, 2009)

Actor Viggo Mortensen brings some of his own outdoorsy skills to his role as a dad raising his kids off the grid in “Captain Fantastic.” Also, with a new exhibit of her early photographs, it’s time to reconsider Diane Arbus’ conflicted legacy. And Kurt gets a lesson on speaking like a proper Brit from an accent coach.  

Is the old cliché true — is laughter the best medicine? Kurt Andersen and Mary Harris, host of the podcast Only Human, go to a laughter yoga class to find out. Also, we hear from a neuroscientist who studies laughter and moonlights as a standup comedian. Comic Chris Gethard explains why he resisted getting help for his depression out of fear of losing his humorous edge — and how getting treatment transformed his career. And we find out when medical humor is — and is not — just what the doctor ordered.

We all grow up, eventually. Kurt Andersen talks with Lois Lowry, whose novel “The Giver” helped define dystopian young adult fiction. Also, writer Junot Diaz explains why he couldn’t finish his Pulitzer-winning coming of age novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” until he turned 40. Plus, the story of how a Kiss album helped an immigrant kid feel a little less lonely.