Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Toyin Ojih Odutola is one of our finest visual artists working today. Her art has been featured in the Whitney, MOMA, and the Smithsonian. She joins us, in studio, on the heels of her revelatory monograph, Toyin Ojih Odutola: The UmuEze Amara Clan and the House of Obafemi.  Accompanied by a virtual gallery (see link below), Toyin tells her story: coming to America from Nigeria at age five (6:44),...

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we turned to the work of photographer Joel Meyerowitz. In the aftermath of that fateful day, Joel spent nine months at Ground Zero, capturing images of the recovery effort and first responders—the firefighters, police officers, EMS, construction workers—who put their lives on the line and families on hold to show up for a nation in repair. Today, we sit...

This week, we’re revisiting a favorite of ours with American actress and playwright, Holland Taylor. She’s best known for her television roles on The Practice and Hollywood, and films like Legally Blonde, Romancing the Stone, and The Truman Show. You can see her latest performance in The Chair, now available on Netflix. She walks us through her storied career, from her days as a playpen baby (7:39...

Lorde joins us in the studio this week following the release of her third album, Solar Power! We begin with a prologue to her new record (3:40), the story of her first performance in America at age sixteen (6:57), why leaving social media (8:57) inspired “Stoned at the Nail Salon” (13:39), and how she’s found joy in growing older (19:17), despite sentiments on Pure Heroine’s “Ribs” (20:09). Ella a...

This week, we return to our studio with actor Poorna Jagannathan! She reflects on the making of Never Have I Ever (5:16), a realization at thirty that changed the trajectory of her career (6:54), and how she initially processed the absence of complex roles for South Asian actors (11:37). Then, we walk through Poorna’s work in Bollywood (20:45) and the devastating event that propelled her and theat...

WNBA superstar Candace Parker is one of the most decorated female basketball players to ever play the game. Off the court, she joins us to discuss the pay gap between men and women athletes (3:05), why she chose basketball at age thirteen (8:50), the influence of her father’s competitive spirit (10:58), the Participation Trophy Era (12:30), and how she’s processing the larger, cultural conversatio...

This week, Dr. Ashish Jha returns to the show with a hopeful pandemic update. He helps us understand the Delta variant surge (4:04), how to better engage with the unvaccinated (7:30), school reopenings this fall (14:19), breakthrough cases (17:26), and the ongoing debate over mask mandates (19:35). He also addresses looming questions around booster shots (21:49), herd immunity (23:12), and the tim...

Legendary filmmaker Brian De Palma joins us this week! In celebrating the 40th anniversary of Blow Out, we discuss how the project came to be (4:17), the casting of John Travolta (7:49), a post-production mishap (8:48), and the film’s initial reception in 1981 (10:27). Growing up in '40s Philadelphia, De Palma reflects on his complex childhood (11:06), his Quaker education (12:54), the moment he k...

This week, director Janicza Bravo and editor Joi McMillon join us for a special roundtable episode around their film, Zola (4:42). We begin with listener questions (7:30) before diving into when the film clicked in the editing room (12:46), the experience of watching the first assembly cut (24:00), the joys and difficulties of the notes process (30:46), and the genius of the movie's sound design (...

Emmy-award winning comedian Larry Wilmore sits with us this week! We discuss his upbringing in Pomona (8:15), discovering the profound nature of empathy (14:49), a clarifying summer working as an encyclopedia salesman in college (18:38), the influence of Mike Nichols and Robert Townsend (23:42), how he subverted the sitcom with The Bernie Mac Show (30:00), and the enduring legacy of The Nightly Sh...

Rapper Vince Staples joins us this week upon the release of his latest album! In-between listening to his work, we discuss music as “product management” (7:30), the virtue of Russell Westbrook (8:45), centering oneself in gratitude (13:08), creating opportunities within the YMCA Youth Institute in Long Beach (17:50), Staple’s support system within the industry (22:36), as well as his relationship...

This week we revisit our episode with performer Ts Madison! She’s excellent in the new film, ZOLA, now out in theaters across the country. Get your tickets here: https://tickets.zola.movie/ A trailblazer in the LGBTQ+ community, Ts shares the stories that made her Ts: flipping through a Playgirl magazine at age three (3:30), exploring her nascent sexuality under a Christian roof (13:28) and the co...

Since 1989 (Sex, Lies & Videotape), filmmaker Steven Soderbergh has been a pioneering voice in American cinema. Part free-wheeling iconoclast, part exacting technician. He joins us this week with the release of his latest film, No Sudden Move (out July 1st via HBO Max). We discuss the challenges of making a movie amid the pandemic (7:35), his ability to push past creative blocks, the importanc...

Emmy award-winning performer Uzo Aduba (Orange is the New Black, Mrs. America) joins us on the heels of her leading role on In Treatment. Filmed during the pandemic, Aduba plays clinical psychologist Dr. Brooke Taylor, a character she created in the aftermath of her mother’s passing (5:32). In honor of her, we discuss a formative high school memory (11:36), the power of her name (15:19), the racia...

Author Dave Eggers joins us for a bonus episode! We discuss his new novella, The Museum of Rain (5:26), our tendency to mythologize creation (13:57), and why the best art often comes from the subconscious (18:53). The flip-phone nature of this episode leads us to unpacking Dave’s anti-technology outlook (20:56), the radical rise of smartphones (28:40), his first experience with the power of journa...

Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney) join us upon the release of their 10th album, Path of Wellness! Created in the summer of 2020, we discuss how the group self-produced a record in the pandemic (4:02), making music as means of catharsis and connection (13:10), and their earliest, rose-colored memories of the band (18:15). Carrie and Corin also share the influence of Madonna and Jo...

Poet and author Ocean Vuong joins us this week following the re-release of his debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. We discuss reckoning with one’s work from a distance (5:08), why he wrote an autobiographical novel (6:30), the cage of American masculinity (11:00), how he’s stayed the course, creatively, amidst oppressive systems (19:56), and what it means it means to be a first-generatio...

Anchorman and author Jake Tapper (CNN) joins us this week! We discuss his approach to challenging politicians on air (3:15), the danger of “both sides-ism” (5:55), the mental instability he’s come across in Washington (9:53) and why all politicians think of themselves as the “hero” of the story (14:52). With the release of his new book, The Devil May Dance, Tapper candidly reflects on the power dy...

Anna Sale (host, Death, Sex & Money) returns this week! We unpack her debut book, Let’s Talk About Hard Things (4:38), the origins of Death, Sex & Money (7:08), and how a divorce (8:27) prompted her to ask Big, universal questions, on-air and off (24:23). We then revisit the sermon from Anna’s wedding day (28:08) and the role former Senator Alan Simpson played in her 2nd marriage (34:10)....

Best-selling author Michael Lewis (“Moneyball,” “The Big Short”) joins us this week! His latest book, “The Premonition” (2:40), reveals how the U.S. mishandled the pandemic (5:05) and why the 2009 H1N1 virus was a precursor to 2020 (10:15). But to understand how Lewis tells his stories, we have to understand a bit of his story: how he grew up in New Orleans (20:48) and fell in love with writing at...

Pulitzer-prize winning novelist Jhumpa Lahiri (“Interpreter of Maladies”, “The Namesake”) joins us this week for a special episode. In vivid, writerly detail Lahiri describes being raised in a family “spread out in various places” (5:49), her late mother’s recurring presence in her writing (15:07), the comfort (and pain) of being an observer (19:02), and the vibrancy she found in Rome (33:32), whi...

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Riders, we sit with Civil Rights activist Dr. Bernard Lafayette. In May of 1961, black and white students made history, riding interstate buses into the segregated American south. Lafayette, then age 20, was one of those riders. At 80, he shares his early memories of protest with roommate John Lewis (3:20), the non-violent strategies used to disarm...

Legendary photographer Joel Meyerowitz has been capturing life itself since 1962. Whether on the streets of New York City, the sand dunes of Cape Cod, or in transit across Europe, Meyerowitz has documented what he calls “visions in passing.” Today, he joins us for a special, virtual retrospective, spanning nearly six decades of his life in photographs. To follow along, please visit: https://talkea...

Musician Kevin Abstract (founding member of BROCKHAMPTON) joins us today! With the release of “Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine,” we unpack how Kevin and the group arrived at this new record. Under the comfort of his sunglasses, Kevin talks about falling back in love with music during the pandemic (5:25), despite struggling with success (8:50) and self-acceptance (12:13). He also discusses the r...

A mixtape for you and yours. These are the songs getting us through this painful, unending week. May they do the same for you. Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ExjvDZJxv0o1S8SyqCnFY?si=bb24d90af0254d78  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See...