Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

To celebrate the fourth season of The Bear , we return to our conversation with Emmy-winning actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach. At the top, we dive into the making of the hit series (9:22), his unforgettable collaboration with Jeremy Allen White (11:20), and how Moss-Bachrach manages to keep adding layers to his portrayal of Cousin Richie (14:26). Then, he describes the mounting pressures around this new s...

In just under a decade, Jerrod Carmichael has had a remarkably varied career. On the heels of his latest HBO special , we return to our conversation with Emmy-winning comedian. At the top, we unpack the origin of his deeply personal series  Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show (6:30), his early days making his NBC sitcom (10:57), and why he decided to broadcast a deeply intimate conversation on the real...

Oscar winner Sam Rockwell has established himself as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. In our recent sit-down, recorded at the Tribeca Audio Festival , we trace the arc of that career culminating in his season-stealing turn in The White Lotus . We begin with his bifurcated childhood, split between San Francisco and New York City (10:00), falling in love with the movies of the ‘70...

For the past twenty-four years, Seth Meyers has built a comedy career inside the walls of 30 Rock. We join him there today for our Father’s Day special, reflecting on the past decade of  Late Night . At the top, we talk about making the show four nights a week (3:35), his approach to parenting as seen in his HBO special Dad Man Walking (10:38), and the formative lessons that shaped his comedic voi...

Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) has long turned to music to make sense of the past. Today, she joins us to unpack all of the emotional terrain covered in her latest album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) . We discuss the literary (6:08) and musical (7:32) influences that shaped the new record, her transformative year spent living and writing in Korea (13:12), and the daily diary sh...

Since his bestselling novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous debuted in 2019, Ocean Vuong has become one of the most beloved writers of his generation. He first sat with Sam in 2021 amid the pandemic. Today, Vuong returns to discuss the personal history within his latest novel, The Emperor of Gladness —a piece of fiction that draws from the contours of his own coming-of-age in East Hartford, Connec...

Even before Jelani Cobb became Dean of the Columbia Journalism School, he was an educator. His reportage at The New Yorker (where he’s been writing about race and politics since 2012) , steeped in history. And yet not even Cobb could’ve been prepared for what he’s described as a “harrowing” year in academia . On the heels of graduation week at Columbia, Cobb joins us for a wide-ranging discussion...

To commemorate the release of her new, deeply personal Netflix special ‘ PostMortem ,’ we revisit our conversation with Sarah Silverman. At the top, we reflect on loss (7:16), her HBO special Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love (12:35), and coming of age in the ‘80s (18:42). Then, Silverman talks about her early comedic influences (25:35), her path from  SNL to Los Angeles (32:30), and the mentorshi...

Earlier this month, writer Percival Everett was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for James , his subversive and singular reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . At the top, we discuss the philosophical problem that led to James (5:50), what repeated readings of Twain’s classic unlocked in Percival (7:56), the influence of his father’s sense of humor (16:20), how he arrived at writ...

Thirty years. Over 850 episodes . Nine Peabodys . One Pulitzer . And yet somehow, three decades in, This American Life (and its creator, Ira Glass) remains as innovative and timely as ever. We begin with a week in the life of Ira: a typical Monday at This American Life (4:52), the rigorous notes process (6:05), and how the team selects the stories it wants to tell that Sunday (8:23). Then, we unpa...

Television, perhaps more than movies, has a way of etching its stars in stone. And few actors seem to be able to break the mold more than once. Which is what makes Penn Badgley’s career—first on Gossip Girl then You —special.  We sit this week around the fifth and final season of You (7:00) to unpack its shocking series finale [spoiler] (9:13) and the political climate in which the show is coming...

Before Viola Davis ( How to Get Away with Murder ) became an EGOT-winning actor, she was an observer. Her work takes the human experience and transmutes it, offering a mirror and a window into ourselves. Today, we sit to unpack her recent, liberating projects in The Woman King (4:24) and G20 (4:50), the formative years she spent growing up in Rhode Island (13:52), and how she captured those famili...

An outspoken advocate for working families, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) has made a career out of taking on Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and the Beltway. And while she may be tired of Washington, she’s not too tired to make it better. At the top, we discuss the constitutional crisis (5:00) surrounding the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia (9:00), this administration’s attack on pub...

“Everything’s changed,” says author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. “I’ve changed, and every book is a different person.” It’s true: in the 12 years since the release of her best-seller, Americanah , Adichie has oscillated between beloved novelist, public intellectual, and feminist icon. This spring, however, she’s returned to her true love: fiction. We sat recently to discuss her excellent new book, Dr...

Jenny Slate returns today for her fourth appearance on the program. We discuss how this role in the new FX series  Dying for Sex offered her ‘full wingspan’ as a performer (5:45), embodying best friend and caretaker of Molly, played by Michelle Williams (9:25), and what she extracted from herself to play a confrontational character (12:30). Then, Jenny describes her relationship to motherhood (17:...

Actor, writer, director, and producer Seth Rogen came up in an age of abundance — a Hollywood that made big-budget comedies with box office success: The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Pineapple Express. That era recently inspired his new Apple TV+ show The Studio . On the heels of the series’ premiere, Rogen joins us to discuss its key influences (6:15), from Robert Altman’s The Player...

In their new book, Abundance , journalists Ezra Klein (The New York Times) and Derek Thompson offer a hopeful vision for what the future of the U.S. can look like. Ezra returns to the show to discuss how his ‘agenda of abundance’ (6:15) is a response to the hollowing out of the middle class (11:26) and the dwindling housing market (16:30). Then, Klein explains how these regulatory inefficiencies h...

From  Mean Girls to Mamma Mia! to First Reformed , Amanda Seyfried has repeatedly displayed her versatility as a performer. Today, we return to one of our favorite conversations with the illustrious actor. At the top, we discuss her Oscar-nominated portrayal of 1920s and '30s screen star Marion Davies in David Fincher's Mank (6:53), her early years working in the industry (13:13), and the joy of m...

What does photography need to do now? Artist Tyler Mitchell has been asking (and attempting to answer) that question since making history as the first Black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover back in 2018. Since then (he was only 23-years-old at the time) his work has been celebrated in museums around the world, featured in publications like Vanity Fair and W , and, ultimately, published in his d...

In celebration of Oscar Sunday, our conversation with actor Monica Barbaro. Her portrayal of Joan Baez in the Bob Dylan biopic,  A Complete Unknown , earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. At the top, we discuss how director James Mangold drew inspiration from Miloš Forman’s Amadeus (7:00), the vocal lessons Monica received in preparation for the role of Baez (10:15),...

In the lead-up to Oscar Sunday, our conversation with actor, writer, and director Jesse Eisenberg. At the top, we unpack the journey that shaped his film A Real Pain   (9:18), memories from his travels to Poland (15:40), and what he observed about his family growing up in East Brunswick (22:23). Then, Eisenberg reflects on his first jokes written on post-it notes (29:20), his breakthrough acting r...

One week from Oscar Sunday, we’re joined by Nickel Boys director RaMell Ross. At the top, RaMell describes the formal innovations of the new film (6:44), the naivete that allowed him to make this singular project (8:02), and how photography is shaped by race in ways we don’t consider (12:00). Then, we dive into RaMell’s Virginia upbringing (29:28), the hoop dreams that brought him to Georgetown (2...

A celebration of 50 years of Saturday Night Live , featuring stories from Bill Hader, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Jason Reitman. Find links to hear each of these full episodes . Visit Peacock to watch  The SNL Anniversary Special , The Homecoming Concert , and the four-part docuseries  Beyond Saturday Night . Feedback or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com. See omnystudio.com/listene...

For more than a decade, Chris Hayes has been one of our most incisive political thinkers. He joins us this week in New York City, hours before taping his hit MSNBC show, All In with Chris Hayes , to discuss his new book, The Sirens’ Call . At the top, we unpack America’s Constitutional crises (5:30), the editorial inner workings of “All In” (7:00), and how attention became our most endangered reso...

Actor Mikey Madison has delivered the performance of the season with her star-making turn in Anora . She joins us this week on the heels of her recent Oscar nomination for Best Actress. We begin by discussing the organic partnership she formed with writer/director Sean Baker (3:30), the ‘emotional preparation’ required to tell this vulnerable story (7:00), her San Fernando Valley upbringing (11:45...