Fresh Air
NPR
Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.
Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair
And subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Fresh Air Weekly, to get interview highlights, staff recommendations, gems from the archive, and the week's interviews and reviews all in one place. Sign up at www.whyy.org/freshair
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Philadelphia, PA
Description:
Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries. Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair And subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Fresh Air Weekly, to get interview highlights, staff recommendations, gems from the archive, and the week's interviews and reviews all in one place. Sign up at www.whyy.org/freshair
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@nprfreshair
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English
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635 Massachusetts Av. NW, Washington, DC 20001 (202) 513-2300
Email:
freshair@freshair.com
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Episodes
Adrien Brody Was Made For 'The Brutalist'
1/7/2025
Adrien Brody won a Golden Globe for his role in The Brutalist, as a Hungarian-Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor who seeks a fresh start in post-WWII America. "I just was in awe when I read the script," he says. Brody spoke with Tonya Mosley about how his family's history helped him with the role, and about his collaboration with Wes Anderson.
Also, John Powers reviews the new erotic drama Babygirl.
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Duration:00:44:28
Getting In Sync With Your Inner Clock
1/6/2025
In an experiment, science journalist Lynne Peeples spent 10 days in an underground bunker, with no exposure to sunlight or clocks. She wanted to see what happened to her body and mind when it became out of sync with its natural circadian rhythm. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about what she learned, how we change with age, and the importance of sunlight. Her book is The Inner Clock.
Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the series Laid and Going Dutch.
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Duration:00:45:23
Best Of: Comic Ronny Chieng / Writer Miranda July
1/4/2025
After Trevor Noah started anchoring The Daily Show in 2015, he brought on Ronny Chieng as a field correspondent who could offer a global perspective. Now Chieng is one of the show's anchors. He's third generation Chinese Malaysian, and grew up in Malaysia, Singapore and the U.S. He has a new Netflix comedy special.
Also, filmmaker and writer Miranda July talks about her novel, All Fours. It's about a 45-year-old married woman, her erotic affair with no actual sex, perimenopause, and the related fears of losing her libido and getting older.
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Duration:00:48:59
Comic Nikki Glaser On Roasts & Hurt Feelings
1/3/2025
The comic is hosting the Golden Globes this Sunday. She spoke with Terry Gross back in July about roasts, hurt feelings, and just wanting to be liked. Her latest HBO comedy special is Someday You'll Die.
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Duration:00:46:05
Alex Van Halen / Selena Gomez
1/2/2025
We continue our series featuring some of our favorite interviews from 2024, this time with Alex Van Halen and Selena Gomez. Alex Van Halen talks about his life and the career he built with his late brother Eddie, and the formation of their band Van Halen. From growing up as immigrant kids in California, to the wild antics of life on the road as rock stars and some of his stunts, like setting his drums on fire.
Selena Gomez talks about her role in the Spanish-language musical film Emilia Pérez, where she stars as the wife of a brutal drug cartel boss. We talk about the evolution of her career, from a Disney kid to a pop star.
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Duration:00:48:55
Sterling K. Brown Was Told By Hollywood To Lose The "Smart-Guy Thing"
1/1/2025
Brown won an Emmy for his portrayal of Christopher Darden in The People v. O.J. Simpson, and another for This Is Us. He now appears in the film American Fiction. He spoke with Terry Gross about losing his father, how his feelings about the O.J. Simpson case changed, and prejudice he faced in Hollywood.
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Duration:00:45:46
Mark Ruffalo Hates The Hulk Suit
12/31/2024
Ruffalo played a debauched cad in Yorgos Lanthimos' bawdy, dark comedy Poor Things. It was a big departure from his previous work playing real people in dramas like Spotlight or Foxcatcher, or as the Incredible Hulk in the Marvel movies. The Oscar-nominated actor spoke with Sam Briger about these roles, how he got his start in acting, and how a brain tumor changed his life.
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Duration:00:47:09
Remembering President Jimmy Carter (Part I)
12/30/2024
Jimmy Carter died Sunday at age 100. The 39th president spoke with Terry Gross a few times over the years about growing up on a Georgia farm, entering politics, and his career in human rights and conflict resolution.
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Duration:00:46:26
Maggie Rogers / Kathleen Hanna
12/28/2024
In 2021, burnt out from the intensity of her early career, Maggie Rogers considered quitting music entirely. Instead, she took a detour — to Harvard Divinity School, where she earned a master's degree in religion and public life. Her 2024 album is Don't Forget Me.
Kathleen Hanna's band Bikini Kill was the epicenter of the riot grrrl feminist punk movement of the '90s. Their song "Rebel Girl" was the anthem. Her memoir this year was about her time in the punk scene, her childhood, and finding joy in expressing anger in public.
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Duration:00:48:29
Connie Chung Regrets Being A Good Girl
12/27/2024
This year TV news journalist Connie Chung wrote a new tell-all memoir. It's about breaking into the boys club of her industry, her marriage to Maury Povitch, and the big scoops of her career. The funny and off-the-cuff news icon spoke with Tonya Mosley.
Also, jazz historian Kevin Whitehead remembers musicians who died this year.
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Duration:00:48:08
Jeremy Strong Sees Acting As An Escape From Self
12/26/2024
Jeremy Strong is nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as lawyer and political hitman Roy Cohn in The Apprentice. The movie, he says, "explores essentially how Trump was made, and his philosophical moral framework." Strong talks with Terry Gross about playing Cohn and about playing Kendall Roy on HBO's Succession.
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Duration:00:46:23
Pete Seeger / Bruce Springsteen
12/25/2024
The new biopic A Complete Unknown follows a young Bob Dylan as he arrives in New York and changes American folk music forever. Edward Norton plays folk icon Pete Seeger, who had a big impact on Dylan. Seeger was famous for his songs about working people, unions, and social justice. We're revisiting Terry's 1984 interview with Seeger, as well as her 2016 interview with Bruce Springsteen, who was compared to Dylan when he broke onto the scene.
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Duration:00:47:02
David Byrne's Christmas Playlist
12/24/2024
The singer-songwriter and Talking Heads frontman presents some of his favorite holiday music — including songs by The Pogues, James Brown, LCD Soundsystem and Paul Simon. Find his playlist on Apple Music and Spotify.
Also, our film critic Justin Chang shares his list of the best movies of 2024.
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Duration:00:49:27
Jon Batiste, Holiday Edition / Questlove Christmas
12/23/2024
Jon Batiste joins us from the piano and plays some of his favorite Christmas songs. It's part two of our recent session with him. Batiste is the former band leader and music director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He's won multiple Grammys and an Oscar.
Inviting musicians to perform or play recordings of their favorite Christmas songs is a new Fresh Air tradition. It started two years ago, with DJ and co-founder of the Roots, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, who put together a playlist of Christmas songs and talked us through his picks.
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Duration:00:48:44
Best Of: Billie Eilish & Finneas / The Colbert Cookbook
12/21/2024
Award-winning sister-brother duo Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell talk about their songwriting process, her changing voice, and their new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft.
Later, Stephen Colbert and his wife Evie McGee Colbert talk about their cookbook of home recipes inspired by their South Carolina roots. It's called Does This Taste Funny?
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Duration:00:48:59
Bonnie Raitt / Francis Ford Coppola
12/20/2024
This month, musician Bonnie Raitt and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola were both honorees of the Kennedy Center for their contributions to American culture. We're revisiting interviews with both of them. First, blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Bonnie Raitt spoke with Terry Gross in 1996 about her early years, finding her blues sound. And Francis Ford Coppola told us in 2016 the story of casting Marlon Brando in The Godfather.
And film critic Justin Chang reviews two new movies: The Brutalist and Nickel Boys.
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Duration:00:48:38
Miranda July Wants Women To Read Their Inner Lives In 'All Fours'
12/19/2024
Filmmaker and writer Miranda July, whose novel All Fours is on many best books of the year lists, and was described in the New York Times as "the year's literary conversation piece." July spoke with Terry Gross about issues in the novel, like separating from a spouse you're growing distant from, perimenopause, and having an affair.
And jazz historian Kevin Whitehead reviews a newly released recording of a concert he attended in 1978, by pianist Sun Ra and his Arkestra.
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Duration:00:47:24
The Looming TikTok Ban
12/18/2024
A new law gives TikTok a January 19 deadline to sell to a non-Chinese company or face a nationwide ban. Law professor Alan Rozenshtein delves into what this means and whether President-Elect Trump could intervene.
David Bianculli reflects on the year in TV.
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Duration:00:46:49
Billie Eilish & Finneas
12/17/2024
The Grammy Award-winning singer says working with a vocal coach "honestly changed my life." Eilish and her brother/collaborator Finneas talk with Terry Gross about their new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, voice lessons, and their favorite homework assignment.
Also, critic-at-large John Powers shares his highlights of the year — from a documentary to an Olympic moment.
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Duration:00:47:00
Comedian Ronny Chieng Didn't Tell His Parents He Got A 'Daily Show' Job
12/16/2024
When Ronny Chieng got a job as a correspondent and then anchor at The Daily Show, he kept the news to himself. "I didn't want to brag," the Malaysia-born comic says. "I just wanted to do the work." Chieng now costars in the series Interior Chinatown, and has a new Netflix comedy special, Love to Hate It.
Also, Ken Tucker reflects on the best pop music of 2024.
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Duration:00:47:14