Person, Place, Thing with Randy Cohen

Walter Bernstein was born in Brooklyn in 1919. For the next 94 years he wrote and co-wrote terrific movies for big stars: Fail Safe with Henry Fonda, The Train with Burt Lancaster, The Magnificent Seven with everybody – Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson. The Front, with Woody Allen and Zero Mostel, is based on his own experience as a blacklisted writer. We talked about all of this and more at the Writers Guild East.

The son of school teachers, Dick Cavett had a live Saturday morning radio show while he was still in the eighth grade, a precocious start to his broadcasting career. After graduating from Yale, he became a writer at the "Tonight Show," first for Jack Paar, later for Johnny Carson. He is best known as the host of his own talk show on various networks, starting with ABC in 1968. If you are someone for whom smart and funny is a single word – as it might be in German – then you were a fan of his show. If you are someone for whom “blogger” implies something less glorious – and sounds even more German -- you might change your mind when you read what he contributes to "The New York Times." You can hear more episodes of PPT at PersonPlaceThing.org.

Jane Smiley's first novel, "Barn Blind," published in 1980, was followed by a dozen more, in addition to a story collection, and several works of non-fiction – including "Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel" and "A Year at the Races." In 1991, her novel "A Thousand Acres received the Pulitzer Prize." Randy first encountered her in 1988, when his then-wife was captivated by "The Greenlanders." They'd both just read Roland Huntford’s "Scott and Amundson," and were susceptible to things Arctic and Antarctic. His own favorite is "A Thousand Acres," but he says, "I'm proud to live in a country where I needn’t choose between them." You can hear more episodes of PPT at PersonPlaceThing.org.

A writer for "The New Yorker" since 1992, Susan Orlean is partuclarly admired for her book "The Orchid Thief," the basis of the movie "Adaptation," in which she became the only New Yorker staffer to be played by Meryl Streep. Her latest book is a biography of the dog actor Rin Tin Tin, who I believe was also played by Meryl Streep. On this episode, recorded on stage at 92YTribeca, we are joined by the brilliant bluegrass musicians Eric Robertson on Mandolin and Duncan Wickel on fiddle. You can hear more episodes of PPT at PersonPlaceThing.org.

It is silly to ask a novelist what her books are about, but Meg Wolitzer wrote, “Sometimes they’re about marriage. Families. Sex. Desire. Parents and children.” That pretty much covers what it is to be human. Omitting only handguns. She is rightly admired for her deftness with language, in her fiction and also: She devises crossword puzzles. If it can be done with words, she’s done it, as you can discover in her latest book, "The Interestings," and in this conversation. You can hear more episodes of PPT at PersonPlaceThing.org.

Many people first noticed John in the terrific commercials for Apple Computer in which he portrayed the bumbling PC. He is the “resident expert” on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," confidently purveying fake facts, as he does in his most recent book, "That is All." This podcast is edited from a live conversation on stage at 92YTribeca. You can hear more episodes of PPT at PersonPlaceThing.org.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Upright Citizens Brigade to comedy. In their performances, at their theaters, and in their classes, they’ve influenced a generation of performers, particularly in sketch and improv. These days, Matt Besser lives in Los Angeles and hosts the podcast Improv for Humans. Matt Walsh co-stars on the HBO series "Veep." Ian Roberts is the show-runner for Comedy Central’s "Key & Peele." Amy Poehler, the fourth core member, was not with us. That day. It's not like she's dead. Just absent. You can hear more episodes of PPT at PersonPlaceThing.org.