Now What? With Carole Zimmer

Actress Gina Gershon hadn't had what you'd call a traditional Hollywood career. So, it's no surprise that she's written a memoir with an in-your-face title. Alpha Pussy: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobs. Gershon says the alpha pussy part has something to do with the fact that she raises male cats. As a result of her roles in films like Bound and Showgirls, Gershon has become something of a gay icon. The actress has also impersonated Melania in sketches that appeared on Funny or Die. Now, Gershon is writing screenplays. We talk about breasts, ageism and stupid Hollywood executives. "Now What?' is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

In 2019, At the age of 45, Andrew Yang decided to enter the race for President of the United States. He'd never run for any elective office before. Yang hoped his signature proposal of giving every American adult a universal basic income of $1,000 a month would help get him into the White House. Though he wound up with a dedicated group of tech-savvy followers known as the Yang gang, the candidate dropped out after losing the New Hampshire primary. Then in 2022 Yang announced he was joining the race for New York City Mayor. He was the front runner until his campaign lost ground and he wound up losing to Eric Adams. Now, he's written the memoir Hey Yang, Where's My Thousand Bucks? "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

He was editor of Vanity Fair for 25 years during a time that big glossy magazines ruled. Its pages were filled with stories about Hollywood royalty, Brangelina, fashion icons like Calvin, Giorgio and Donatella. Even Graydon's hair became famous for the way it took off on the sides like a winged creature. Graydon knows everyone and has juicy stories to tell. All this at a time when people turned real pages and lavish expense accounts reigned. The Vanity Fair Oscar party became the hottest ticket in town. People would do anything for an invitation. One year someone brought a pig as their guest. "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Singer Ani DiFranco's career took off in the 90s when she became a big hit with people from the millennial generation, like my son Jon who spent his teenage years listening to DiFranco's song Untouchable Face over and over again. Her lyrics speak to the raw emotions of adulthood, especially when it comes to relationships and identity. And all these years later DiFranco's career is alive and well. She's about to embark on her Spirit of Love tour heading for cities across the country. I attended one of her concerts recently. Her fans are passionate and the energy is electric. "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Jeanette Winterson is a writer who grew up in a Pentecostal evangelical family in a little town in the north of England. She was adopted. Her parents were poor. There was no indoor bathroom. Winterson dreamed of escaping that life. When she was 16, she fell in love with a woman. Her parents were scandalized. Winterson left home, slept in her car and managed to get into Oxford. She's fascinated by the ancient fairy tales in The One Thousand and One Nights. Winterson uses these stories as a framework in her new book One Aladdin Two Lamps. We talk about good relationships, ghosts, elves and AI. "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Caroline Paul is an adventure seeker. She's been a white-water rafting guide and pioneered first descents on unexplored rivers in Borneo. To experience wing walking, she strapped herself to the top of a biplane while it performed maneuvers like loops and rolls. She's also racked up credits as a luge athlete, that crazy sport where you race down steep, icy tracks on small sleds, lying on your back. Now, Paul pilots a gyrocopter, a machine that might remind you of a praying mantis with wings. We talk about how the thrill of flight relates to themes of love and why Paul says it's easier to learn a landing than a human heart. "Now What?" is produced with help from Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

When Jimmy Wales was 3, growing up in Huntsville, Alabama, a door-to-door salesman sold his mother a copy of the World Book Encyclopedia. Jimmy fell in love with it. As an adult he had the idea of creating an online encyclopedia that would give everyone free access to the sum of all human knowledge. The result is Wikipedia, which Wales co-founded 25 years ago. Though not without controversy, Wikipedia is a runaway success. It's the world's largest, most comprehensive encyclopedia with more than 1 and a half billion unique visitors a month. That should only happen to "Now What?" I talk to Jimmy Wales about his new book The Seven Rules of Trust and how we can make a difference in a bitterly divided society. "Now What is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Until she was 10, Emi Nietfeld led a pretty normal life. It was when her parents divorced that her world fell apart. Her father transitioned to a woman and changed his name to Michelle. Her mother was a police photographer with serious psychological problems. In her book, Acceptance, Emi who is now 32, talks about the price she paid for working so hard to overcome circumstances that no child should have to endure. They include stints in a psychiatric ward, living in foster care, stays in a homeless shelter and a suicide attempt at the age of 13. So how did she wind up graduating from Harvard? We talk about the notion of self-worth and how hard it is to outrun your past. "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

It hasn't been a great year when it comes to treating our fellow human beings with dignity and respect. But it's been a great year for talking to extraordinary people on "Now What?" Larry Charles is a true character who wore his pajamas to work and directed Sacha Baron Cohen in the movie Borat. Along with Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman was a hilarious member of the original cast of Saturday Night Live which just celebrated its 50 season. Alison Bechdel, the gifted graphic novelist of Fun Home, has a lot to say about living the life of a gay boomer radical in Vermont. "Now What?" has turned out to be a podcast with a very special community. It's produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Gabrielle Hamilton's father always told his five kids they had to do something practical with their lives and whatever they did, they had to be excellent at it. Mediocrity was a family sin. In 1999 Hamilton opened Prune, a 30-seat restaurant in the East Village, to rave reviews. She was honored with a James Beard award for Best Chef in New York City in 2011, followed by Outstanding Chef in 2018. Hamilton was also featured on the PBS series The Mind of a Chef. She realized her dream of becoming a writer with her best-selling memoir Blood, Bones and Butter. Now, she's got a new book called Next of Kin. We talk about dysfunctional families and the pressures of life both inside and outside the kitchen. "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Calvin Duncan grew up in the ninth ward in New Orleans. His mother died when he was very young. He stole food so he'd have enough to eat. When he was 19, Duncan was arrested for allegedly killing a man during a robbery. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, spending more than 28 years in Angola, Louisiana's notorious state penitentiary. That's when Duncan began studying law. In 2011, he was released from prison and at the age of 60, Duncan graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School. He's just scored another first. This November, Calvin Duncan was elected Clerk of the Criminal Court in New Orleans. Duncan and Sophie Cull co-wrote The Jailhouse Lawyer. "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Picture this. It was my first job in radio. I decided to do a series about women and comedy. The idea coincided with the birth of Saturday Night Live. The first interview: Gilda Radner. We sat on the floor, right across from Studio 8H where the show is still performed. Gilda told me all about what life is like when you become an overnight star. Then I talked to Jane Curtin about people asking her for autographs when she walked her dog. Somehow, in those years I missed talking to Laraine Newman. But I finally just caught up with her. And she's the star of this episode. It's an outrageous conversation about SNL and all the things that have happened to her since. Plus, you'll hear what Gilda and Jane had to say from those early day sit-downs. "Now What?" is produced with help from Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

E. Jean Carroll is a brave woman. In 2019, she sued Donald Trump for calling her a liar after she went public with the accusation that he had raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. There was a second trial. This one was about defamation and sexual abuse. Juries in both cases found Donald Trump guilty. E. Jean Carroll was awarded more than $88 million in damages. Now, President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the judgement that he defamed and sexually abused her. She's written a book about the court proceedings called Not My Type. We talk about resistance, trauma and never giving up. "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Paul Krugman is proud of his accomplishments including being chosen as the sole winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to new trade theory. When it comes to trade, Krugman is no fan of President Trump’s tariffs. And President Trump is no fan of Paul Krugman. Trump has called Krugman a “deranged bum,” a description Krugman considers a great honor. After 25 years as a columnist for the New York Times, Krugman decided to leave the paper and go out on his own. He now writes a newsletter on Substack where he has about 400,000 subscribers. We talk about why he thinks the U.S. economy is in worse shape than it looks and why he continues to have faith in the American people. “Now What?” is produced with help from Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Jake Tapper anchors several programs on CNN including the Sunday morning public affairs show State of the Union. Tapper has been reporting on politics at the network for more than 12 years. He recently conducted a controversial text interview with President Trump. Tapper has written two books so far this year including the best seller Original Sin about Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline during his presidency. Tapper’s new book Race Against Terror is about a member of Al Qaeda who was tried in a U.S. criminal court for killing American troops in Afghanistan. We talk about jihadis, democracy and the Trump administration’s politics of revenge. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Former FBI Director James Comey is at the top of President Donald Trump’s enemies list. Trump has made no secret of his dislike for Comey, who was in charge of the FBI probe that looked into whether Russia had interfered with the 2016 election. In May of 2017, Donald Trump fired Comey. The President has prodded the Justice Department to go after his political opponents. Now, Comey has been indicted for allegedly lying to Congress. Critics say the country has entered a dangerous phase in which the government is taking revenge on its political opponents. In August 2023, I spoke to James Comey about decency, fairness and what it’s going to take to protect our democracy. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Virgil Abloh is a designer who broke the mold when it comes to the world of design. He had a degree in architecture, not fashion when he started out designing tee shirts. Kanye West became Virgil’s mentor at a time the rapper’s own career was taking off. Virgil went from designing streetwear to becoming the first Black artistic director of the French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton. Robin Givhan, a Pulitzer-prize winning Senior Critic-at-Large at the Washington Post was so fascinated by Virgil’s wide-ranging talent that she wrote a book about him called Make it Ours. We talk about Virgil’s tragic death at the age of 41 and how his work has had an historic impact on fashion. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Rax King is a writer. Her first book of essays is called Tacky. Her new one is Sloppy. King prides herself on being a model of bad behavior. Name a vice and she’s got it: overspending, shoplifting from Brandy Melville, lying, former cocaine abuser. She likes to wear low cut tops to show off her numerous tattoos. A prominent ink decoration that curves around her neck says “I’ll go on.” It frames her Bitch necklace. King also co-hosts a podcast called Low Culture Boil which she describes as trash-themed. We talk about the allure of being a bad girl, why watching Jersey Shore helped her to bond with her father and tips on how to audition as a stripper. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Footwear runs in the family. Kenneth Cole’s father had a shoe manufacturing company in Brooklyn. Cole’s brand is also known for the social issues he embraces, from combating HIV/AIDS to calling attention to the stigma of mental illness. The new documentary A Man with Sole looks at how Cole’s company took off after he parked a trailer in front of the Hilton Hotel, installed a red carpet and sold 40,000 pairs of shoes in three days. Cole also figured out how to revive his company when the going got tough. I spoke to Kenneth Cole in his Manhattan headquarters about the rewards of being a risk taker. “Now What?” is produced with help from Steve Zimmer, Patrick Emile, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Laurie Woolever was chef Mario Batali’s assistant at a time when his hit restaurant Babbo was attracting celebrity diners vying for reservations. Then she spent almost a decade working for Anthony Bourdain. Woolever made haircut appointments for the TV host in New York and she found places in Singapore or Mumbai where Bourdain could practice Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when he was on the road filming his long-running TV show Parts Unknown. After the shocking phone call in 2018 letting her know that her boss had taken his own life, Woolever felt lost. In Woolever’s memoir Care and Feeding, she talks a lot about the influence of the two celebrity chefs who came to dominate her life. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.