Podcast appearances and mentions of Tonya Mosley

Jason Segel returns to talk with Terry Gross about his Emmy-nominated series Shrinking, in which he plays a therapist who suffered a nervous breakdown in the wake of his wife's death. Segel opens up about his own therapy and acting opposite Harrison Ford. Also, Lisa Kudrow talks about her Emmy-nominated series The Comeback. She plays an actress who is delusional about her career and desperate to be onscreen. Kudrow spoke with Tonya Mosley about shifts in Hollywood, Friends, and what she was like when she was a young girl. Book critic Maureen Corrigan recommends three new suspense novels. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In his Prime Video series, Bait, Riz Ahmed plays an actor auditioning to be the next James Bond. Ahmed says Bond is a "symbol of aspiration, this unattainable kind of self" his character is pursuing. He's nominated for an Emmy for his role in the series. Ahmed spoke with Tonya Mosley about being his own worst critic, why he connected to Hamlet, and his early days as an MC on pirate radio. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Lisa Kudrow is up for two Emmys for the final season of The Comeback, about an actress who will endure almost anything to keep working. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about her character's delusion and how the show has captured different eras of Hollywood. Kudrow also talks about a life-changing trip to Belarus, being a straight-laced girl, and watching Friends after her co-star Matthew Perry's death. Also, critic-at-large John Powers reviews the Paramount+ series Diarra from Detroit.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Colman Domingo is nominated for two Emmy Awards this year, for two very different roles: in the Netflix comedy The Four Seasons and in the final season of HBO's Euphoria. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the transition from dramatic roles to comedy, and guest hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! for a week. Award-winning writer Leïla Slimani grew up in Morocco, where women were second-class citizens, but inside her home and with her family, she was free to speak her mind. Her mother, a doctor, pushed her to go to France to study. Slimani spoke with Terry Gross about her trilogy of novels inspired by her own French-Moroccan roots.Rock critic Ken Tucker looks back on the soundtrack of the 1976 film Sparkle, sung by Aretha Franklin. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Two weeks after being nominated for an Emmy for his leading role in Wonder Man, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II found out that the series had been cancelled. He says Marvel could do more to support Black-led projects. Abdul-Mateen spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley about how he stumbled into acting, padding his early resumé, and working through his stutter. Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews Teenage Death and Sex at Camp Miasma. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues to break box office records, after having the biggest U.S. opening weekend in history. Tonya Mosley talks with the film's director, Destin Daniel Cretton. Long before Marvel, he worked in a group home for at-risk teens. He says it's an experience that shaped everything he's made since then, and became the movie Short Term 12.Also, we hear from Harriet Clark. She was a baby when her mother was a getaway driver of a robbery of a Brink's truck in 1981. The robbers were members of a radical offshoot of the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers. For 37 years, Clark spent Saturdays visiting her mother in prison. “She figured out how to mother me in some of the most difficult conditions possible,” Clark tells Terry Gross. Her novel, The Hill, draws on her experience visiting her mother in prison. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Colman Domingo is nominated for two Emmy Awards for two very different performances — in the Netflix comedy The Four Seasons and in HBO's Euphoria. "I can go very deep with my characters," he tells co-host Tonya Mosley. He talks about doing comedy with masters like Tina Fey, filling in for Jimmy Kimmel, why he loves being in his 50s. Also, Lloyd Schwartz reviews a remastered album of Handel arias by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Colman Domingo is nominated for two Emmy Awards for two very different performances — in the Netflix comedy The Four Seasons and in HBO's Euphoria. "I can go very deep with my characters," he tells co-host Tonya Mosley. He talks about doing comedy with masters like Tina Fey, filling in for Jimmy Kimmel, why he loves being in his 50s. Also, Lloyd Schwartz reviews a remastered album of Handel arias by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Cretton grew up in Hawaii, and says movies expanded his perspective: “That is how I traveled. That is how I was exposed to other cultures. That's how I understand how kids grew up in high school on the mainland,” he tells co-host Tonya Mosley. He explains how his job at a group home for at-risk teens inspired his film Short Term 12, how he relates to Peter Parker's loneliness, and how his difficult relationship with his father helps him with directing.Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Cretton grew up in Hawaii, and says movies expanded his perspective: “That is how I traveled. That is how I was exposed to other cultures. That's how I understand how kids grew up in high school on the mainland,” he tells co-host Tonya Mosley. He explains how his job at a group home for at-risk teens inspired his film Short Term 12, how he relates to Peter Parker's loneliness, and how his difficult relationship with his father helps him with directing.Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Seven years ago, New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino coined the term “Instagram Face.” Now we talk about how current beauty standards are changing our relationship to reality. “It seems more explicitly anti-human right now than ever before,” she tells Tonya Mosley. “There seems to be something that's dove-tailing with the age of AI.” Also, we hear from Lee Sung Jin, creator of the Netflix series Beef. The second season is a story about class and blackmail at an exclusive country club. He talks about how he has pulled ideas from his own life, and his experience working in writers rooms as the only Asian person. Film critic Justin Chang reviews the new erotic comedy I Want Your Sex, starring Olivia Wilde.Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Seven years ago, New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino coined the term “Instagram Face.” Now we talk about how current beauty standards are changing our relationship to reality. “It seems more explicitly anti-human right now than ever before,” she tells Tonya Mosley. “There seems to be something that's dove-tailing with the age of AI.” Also, we hear from Lee Sung Jin, creator of the Netflix series Beef. The second season is a story about class and blackmail at an exclusive country club. He talks about how he has pulled ideas from his own life, and his experience working in writers rooms as the only Asian person. Film critic Justin Chang reviews the new erotic comedy I Want Your Sex, starring Olivia Wilde.Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Historian Micki McElya's book, ‘Liberation Summer,' revisits September 1968, when three groups of women converged on the Atlantic City boardwalk: feminists protesting the Miss America Pageant, contestants in the first-ever Miss Black America Pageant, and women defending Miss America herself. McElya argues the collision that day created a politics of beauty that runs through the rise of the religious right, the #MeToo era, all the way to today. She spoke with Tonya Mosley. Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews HBO's ‘Big Bang' spin-off,  ‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.' Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Historian Micki McElya's book, ‘Liberation Summer,' revisits September 1968, when three groups of women converged on the Atlantic City boardwalk: feminists protesting the Miss America Pageant, contestants in the first-ever Miss Black America Pageant, and women defending Miss America herself. McElya argues the collision that day created a politics of beauty that runs through the rise of the religious right, the #MeToo era, all the way to today. She spoke with Tonya Mosley. Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews HBO's ‘Big Bang' spin-off,  ‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.' Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Bernthal often plays intense, violent, damaged characters, like Mikey from ‘The Bear' and Shane from ‘The Walking Dead.' When talking about himself and his characters, Bernthal says that it's easy for someone who's scared to turn into someone who's scary. He currently stars in ‘The Odyssey' and the new Spider-Man film, ‘A Brand New Day.' He spoke with Tonya Mosley about how he went from being an angry young man to a disciplined, dedicated artist. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Bernthal often plays intense, violent, damaged characters, like Mikey from ‘The Bear' and Shane from ‘The Walking Dead.' When talking about himself and his characters, Bernthal says that it's easy for someone who's scared to turn into someone who's scary. He currently stars in ‘The Odyssey' and the new Spider-Man film, ‘A Brand New Day.' He spoke with Tonya Mosley about how he went from being an angry young man to a disciplined, dedicated artist. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The second season of Lee Sung Jin's Netflix series ‘BEEF' earned 16 Emmy nominations. Set at an exclusive country club, it stars Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan in a story about class struggles and generational differences. The storylines of both seasons were inspired by real events in Lee's life. Before ‘BEEF,' he spent two decades in comedy writers' rooms, often feeling alienated as the only Asian person on staff. “That's what people first thought of me when I first started – I was the diversity hire." He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the years he spent masking to fit in, and the breaking point that changed how he writes. TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new Apple TV series ‘Lucky.' Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The second season of Lee Sung Jin's Netflix series ‘BEEF' earned 16 Emmy nominations. Set at an exclusive country club, it stars Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan in a story about class struggles and generational differences. The storylines of both seasons were inspired by real events in Lee's life. Before ‘BEEF,' he spent two decades in comedy writers' rooms, often feeling alienated as the only Asian person on staff. “That's what people first thought of me when I first started – I was the diversity hire." He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the years he spent masking to fit in, and the breaking point that changed how he writes. TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new Apple TV series ‘Lucky.' Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Rashida Jones and Will McCormack are the screenwriting duo behind ‘The Invite.' It takes on the realities of marriage in middle age, told over the course of one dinner party that spirals out of control. They've been mining stories like this together for decades, finding the funny inside the painful. “We are never above a laugh. There's nothing that's grave enough for us not to laugh about, because that's how we release. That's how we process our pain,” Jones tells Tonya Mosley. Also, Lenny Kaye, Patti Smith's longtime guitarist, has his first solo album at age 79. It's called ‘Goin' Local.' He spoke with Terry Gross about his decades-long collaboration with Smith and evolving with age and experience. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Rashida Jones and Will McCormack are the screenwriting duo behind ‘The Invite.' It takes on the realities of marriage in middle age, told over the course of one dinner party that spirals out of control. They've been mining stories like this together for decades, finding the funny inside the painful. “We are never above a laugh. There's nothing that's grave enough for us not to laugh about, because that's how we release. That's how we process our pain,” Jones tells Tonya Mosley. Also, Lenny Kaye, Patti Smith's longtime guitarist, has his first solo album at age 79. It's called ‘Goin' Local.' He spoke with Terry Gross about his decades-long collaboration with Smith and evolving with age and experience. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

‘New Yorker' staff writer Jonathan Blitzer says thousands of people are being held in tents in the El Paso, Texas, desert, where inhumane conditions have become a tool to pressure people to accept deportation. There have been 52 deaths in detention centers since President Trump took office, and a significant number of them are suicides. Blitzer spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

‘New Yorker' staff writer Jonathan Blitzer says thousands of people are being held in tents in the El Paso, Texas, desert, where inhumane conditions have become a tool to pressure people to accept deportation. There have been 52 deaths in detention centers since President Trump took office, and a significant number of them are suicides. Blitzer spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The new film, ‘The Invite,' directed by Olivia Wilde, offers a portrait of a marriage in middle age, told over the course of one dinner party that spirals out of control. Screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack have been mining this territory together for decades, while finding the funny inside the painful. “We are never above a laugh,” Jones says. “There's nothing that's grave enough for us not to laugh about, because that's how we release. That's how we process our pain.” They spoke with Tonya Mosley about their creative process and their other films, ‘Celeste & Jesse Forever,' ‘Quincy,' and ‘If Anything Happens I Love You.' Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The new film, ‘The Invite,' directed by Olivia Wilde, offers a portrait of a marriage in middle age, told over the course of one dinner party that spirals out of control. Screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack have been mining this territory together for decades, while finding the funny inside the painful. “We are never above a laugh,” Jones says. “There's nothing that's grave enough for us not to laugh about, because that's how we release. That's how we process our pain.” They spoke with Tonya Mosley about their creative process and their other films, ‘Celeste & Jesse Forever,' ‘Quincy,' and ‘If Anything Happens I Love You.' Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The rules of the midterms are being rewritten, from redistricting to campaign money. Mother Jones journalist Ari Berman explains why President Trump seems "obsessed with the mechanics of voting." He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the SCOTUS decision that he calls the "final blow" to the Voting Rights Act, how the SAVE Act could disenfranchise thousands, and what keeps him up at night.Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The rules of the midterms are being rewritten, from redistricting to campaign money. Mother Jones journalist Ari Berman explains why President Trump seems "obsessed with the mechanics of voting." He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the SCOTUS decision that he calls the "final blow" to the Voting Rights Act, how the SAVE Act could disenfranchise thousands, and what keeps him up at night.Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

‘New Yorker' staff writer Rachel Aviv spent years reporting stories about mothers and daughters searching for each other. When she became a mom, she saw everything she wrote differently. Her book is ‘You Won't Get Free of It.' She spoke with Tonya Mosley. Also, John Powers reviews ‘Alice and Steve,' starring Jemaine Clement. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The romance books Kennedy Ryan read growing up rarely included characters who looked like her. Now she deliberately centers people the genre has left out – like women of color and women with chronic illness and disabilities. The award-winning novelist spoke with Tonya Mosley about her “Trojan horse” storylines, the value of the sex scene, and giving people happily-ever-afters. Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews Craig Ferguson's new CNN series ‘American On Purpose.' Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

For more than 50 years, Anna Deavere Smith has pioneered a type of theater built from real people's words, interviewing hundreds of Americans and then performing their words verbatim. Now she's telling a story from her own family with ‘Basil Biggs.' It's about her great-great-grandfather, a free Black man, who reburied the Union dead at Gettysburg and prepared the ground for Lincoln's most famous speech. Smith spoke with Tonya Mosley about how ‘Finding Your Roots' led her to this story and why she sees herself as an Americanist. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Wendell Pierce is working as hard as ever. He says he's motivated by the "ticking clock of mortality" — and the desire to challenge himself as an actor. He's currently starring in the Shakespeare Theatre Company production of “Othello.” He spoke with Tonya Mosley about aiming for a trifecta of TV, film and theater roles, why he almost left ‘The Wire,' and caring for his late father. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

For more than a decade, actor Laverne Cox has been one of the most visible trans women in America. But the ‘Orange Is the New Black' star says she spent most of childhood keeping herself hidden. Cox spoke with Tonya Mosley about the bullying she endured, pursuing a dance career before acting, and the anti-trans culture shift of the last few years. Her memoir is ‘Transcendent.' See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

‘In Savings and Trust,' historian Justene Hill Edwards tells the story of the Freedman's Bank. Created for formerly enslaved people following the Civil War, its collapse cost depositors millions. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about how this part of history reverberates today.Also, we remember South African pianist, composer and bandleader Abdullah Ibrahim. He died Monday, at age 91. His song “Mannenberg” was an anthem during the fight to end apartheid. Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead shares an appreciation, and we listen back to Terry Gross's 1989 interview with him. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Siddiq grew up in Houston with a largely absent father. In his new stand-up special, he paints a picture of the flawed man he admired – and reflects on his own experience as a parent. Siddiq spoke with Tonya Mosley about his upbringing, his time selling drugs, and making the leap from prison to comedy. Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews ‘Toy Story 5.' See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Glaude's book, 'America, U.S.A.,' looks at the country through the lens of its previous anniversaries and centennials. Today, as in the past, he tells Tonya Mosley, "the divided soul of the nation is in full view." As the 250th anniversary approaches, he says it's time for the U.S. to acknowledge the ways it has failed to deliver on its founding principles. "America has to grow up. It can no longer hide in its adolescence," he says.Also, Maureen Corrigan recommends three books to help you jump into summer reading.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

O'Connor stars as a cybersecurity expert who decides the world deserves to know the truth about alien life in the Steven Spielberg film Disclosure Day. He speaks with Tonya Mosley about preparing in secret to star in the summer Blockbuster, why he initially had no interest in playing Prince Charles in The Crown, and why he gets sick after completing almost every role. David Bianculli reviews new documentaries about Martin Short and Lorne Michaels.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor has spent her career tracing the racial slur, the N-word, through slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and hip hop. But what she didn't tell most of her students, even some of her colleagues, was that her father was the comedian who put the word at the center of American comedy – Richard Pryor. "I was a scholar of the N-word — and so was he,” she tells Tonya Mosley. Her new book, ‘Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me,' is part memoir, part history of a word her father, late in his career, decided to never use again. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Alfre Woodard stars in the new Netflix series ‘The Boroughs,' a supernatural mystery from the producers of ‘Stranger Things.' In it, she leads an ensemble of folks in a retirement community who band together to stop an otherworldly threat. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about the new show, her Emmy-winning performance on ‘Hill Street Blues,' where she played a mother whose child was killed by a police officer, and her network of Black actresses in Hollywood. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Zayd Ayers Dohrn's mother, Bernardine Dohrn, was a leader of SDS, a student group protesting the Vietnam War. She also led a faction that broke away and became the Weather Underground, advocating armed resistance against the government. His father, Bill Ayers, was also an activist-turned-revolutionary. In a new memoir, Zayd wrestles with questions he had growing up, like if his parents were living underground and on the run from the FBI, why did they have kids? He spoke with Terry Gross.  Also, two-time National Book Award winning writer Jesmyn Ward (‘Salvage the Bones,' ‘Sing, Unburied, Sing') has a new essay collection on grief, motherhood, and survival. It's called ‘On Witness and Respair.' She spoke with Tonya Mosley. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Jesmyn Ward  learned the term "respair" — the recovery of hope after despair — in 2020, shortly after her partner died suddenly. Her new book, ‘On Witness and Respair,' is an essay collection on grief, motherhood and survival. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about writing through painful things and why she returned to her native Mississippi. Her previous National Book Award-winning novels are ‘Sing, Unburied, Sing' and ‘Salvage the Bones.'  Also, jazz critic Martin Johnson reviews an album from Tomeka Reid. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Boots Riley's new film is called ‘I Love Boosters,' and it stars Keke Palmer as the leader of a crew of women shoplifters in the Bay Area who steal from luxury stores and sell the goods cheap to people who can't afford retail. 20 years before the movie, Riley wrote a song by the same name with his hip-hop group The Coup. The song is a love letter to shoplifters, or boosters, as they're called. Riley talks with Tonya Mosley about why his music, shows, and films -- including the 2018 movie ‘Sorry To Bother You' -- continue to explore the contradictions that capitalism produces. Riley was a labor organizer in his teens.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Like the main character in his Booker Prize-winning novel 'Shuggie Bain,' writer Douglas Stuart grew up in Glasgow, working class, queer, and with a mother addicted to alcohol. His first career was in fashion, designing underwear for Calvin Klein. “Sometimes when I'm in an audience now and I feel a little nervous, I have a joke to myself and think, how many people in this audience have worn the underwear that you designed?” He spoke with Terry Gross about his new novel, ‘John of John.'Later, Richard Gadd, creator and star of the Netflix show ‘Baby Reindeer' talks with Tonya Mosley about his new series, ‘Half Man.' It's about two boys who become brothers when their mothers fall in love. They spend the next 30 years trying to survive each other.David Bianculli reviews the latest adaptation of ‘Lord of the Flies.'See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Crenshaw named two of the most contested ideas in American politics: intersectionality and critical race theory. Her new book is called ‘Backtalker: An American Memoir.' It takes us to her childhood in Canton, Ohio, and along her path through Cornell, Harvard Law, and the University of Wisconsin, where, in 1988, as a graduate student, she sketched a diagram of an intersection to explain how race, class, and gender overlap. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about these moments in her career, and how she's thinking about America's 250th anniversary. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

‘Baby Reindeer' was an unexpected hit on Netflix in 2024. Now its creator and star is back with ‘Half Man,' an HBO series about two boys who become brothers after their mothers fall in love in 1980s Scotland. Gadd spoke with Tonya Mosley about exploring toxic masculinity, becoming famous overnight, and bombing stand-up sets. Also, book critic Maureen Corrigan recommends three playful novels: ‘Yesteryear,' ‘American Fantasy,' and ‘Enormous Wings.'See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Oscar Isaac stars in season 2 of the Emmy-winning Netflix series ‘Beef,' which is an anthology about the unexpected consequences of everyday conflict. Isaac plays Josh, the manager of an upscale Los Angeles country club, whose life is unraveling. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the series, his friendship with ‘Frankenstein' filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, and being a “‘vulture” of his own life. Also, David Bianculli reviews ‘Margo's Got Money Troubles,' starring Elle Fanning on Apple TV. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Amanda Peet is in the new film ‘Fantasy Life' and the series ‘Your Friends & Neighbors.' In a recent piece in ‘The New Yorker,' she wrote about being diagnosed with breast cancer while both of her parents were in hospice. “I didn't really have that ‘why me?' thing. Maybe because I am Jewish and am always waiting for that other shoe to drop. In this case it was three shoes,” she told Terry Gross. Also, we'll talk about Toni Morrison with Harvard professor Namwali Serpell. She says no matter how many times she returns to Morrison's work, she finds something new.  She's still haunted by the last sentence of the novel ‘Sula.' “When that sentence comes into my life, whether I'm reading it to teach, whether I'm rereading it to write, whether I'm reading it out loud, even just now, tears always spring to my eyes," Serpell says. She spoke with Tonya Mosley.   David Bianculli reviews the new Apple TV series ‘Margo's Got Money Troubles.'See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Arsenio Hall grew up in Cleveland dreaming of being the next Johnny Carson – kind of. “I wanted to do this show that didn't exist when I was a kid, and I knew the talent was out there.” Hall spoke with Tonya Mosley about his groundbreaking talk show, ‘The Arsenio Hall Show,' and why he decided to end it, despite its massive success.  Before he was a comic, producer and the “roastmaster,” Jeff Ross was a kid growing up in his family's kosher catering hall in New Jersey, serving weddings and bar mitzvahs. “My bar mitzvah was like something between a Super Bowl halftime show and like something Saddam Hussein would throw for one of his kids,” he tells Terry Gross. Ross shows his more vulnerable, introspective side in his new Netflix comedy special, ‘Take a Banana for the Ride.' To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hall grew up in Cleveland dreaming of being the next Johnny Carson. He got close – closer than anyone expected – and then he walked away. Thirty years later, he's finally telling the full story in a new memoir. “I wanted to do this show that didn't exist when I was a kid and I knew the talent was out there,” he tells Tonya Mosley. I found Bruno Mars and put him on the show when he was two feet tall. I wanted those things that Johnny didn't do.” He talks about some of the iconic moments of 'The Arsenio Hall Show,' his decision to end it, and his friendships with Jay Leno and Richard Pryor.Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead marks the 100th birthday of the composer Randy Weston.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In award-winning journalist Beth Gardiner's new book, ‘Plastic Inc.,' she traces how plastic went from a wartime miracle to the survival strategy of the fossil fuel industry. What Gardiner found after years of reporting is that while millions of us were recycling and using less fuel, the companies that make plastic are producing more to make up for it. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about recycling, microplastics in the human body, and the environmental impact.   Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album from Megan Moroney, ‘Cloud 9.'To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The Trump era has brought a resurgence of the “alpha male.” ‘New Yorker' writer Charles Bethea reports on camps where men crawl through mud and sit in ice baths, in an effort to reclaim masculinity. Bethea says what he found underneath all the warrior posturing surprised him: men in genuine pain who felt lonely and desperate for connection. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about his reporting. Also, book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new novel by Tana French, ‘The Keeper.'To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

‘Project Maven' is the story of how the U.S. spent a decade building an AI warfare system that's now being used in the war in Iran. Author and Bloomberg journalist Katrina Manson reveals the people behind that mission, and their belief that AI could make war more precise and save lives. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about the ethics of this technology. A troubling research study found AI models placed in simulated nuclear crisis scenarios chose the nuclear option 95% of the time. Also, Carolina Miranda reviews a Los Angeles art installation that harkens to the old days of cinema.Also, Carolina Miranda reviews a Los Angeles art installation that harkens to the old days of cinema.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy