Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Norman Lear died last month. He was 101. He was a writer and showrunner for some of the biggest, most influential sitcoms of all time. He's responsible for shows like Sanford and Son , All in the Family , The Jeffersons and many more. When Lear was on Bullseye back in 2016, he was the subject of a PBS American Masters film — Norman Lear: Another Version of You. He talked with us about his childhoo...

Each year, Bullseye looks back on the year in stand-up comedy by presenting listeners with an annual end of year stand-up comedy showcase! The Bullseye team combed through dozens and dozens of albums to bring you some of the best comedy of 2023. That includes stand-up from: Maria Bamford, Marc Maron, Hari Kondabolu, John Mulaney, Sasheer Zamata and more! See pcm.adswizz.com for information about o...

It's the Bullseye Holiday Special! We've got Lil Rel Howery on what it was like to play Santa Claus in Dashing Through the Snow . Plus: Gregg Turkington, of Neil Hamburger fame on the "holiday" song that changed his life. By the Bee Gees, of all bands. Plus, director Henry Selick on the legacy of The Nightmare Before Christmas . Is it a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie? Listen to find out! See...

Our guest this week doesn't need much introduction. We're talking with the one and only Patrick Stewart. Patrick joins us on the latest episode of Bullseye to talk about his memoir Making It So and what it was like to audition for Star Trek: The Next Generation . He also gets into his time as a newspaper reporter, his underrated weirdo comedy masterpiece Blunt Talk , what happens when you try to f...

Ira Kaplan has played guitar and co-fronted the band Yo La Tengo for almost forty years. He founded Yo La Tengo with his wife Georgia Hubley back in 1984. They've put out over a dozen albums since then. Their latest is This Stupid World . On Bullseye , Kaplan talks about Yo La Tengo's latest album, the band's early influences and the story behind their name. Plus, Jesse and Ira discuss the kind of...

If you ask just about any alternative comic from the last twenty years to name their influences, one name you're sure to see come up is Steven Wright. Lately, though, Wright's been changing things up a little. He just wrote his first novel. It's called Harold . He joins us to talk about the new book and how much coffee he needed to drink to write it. Plus, he gets into his comedy career and how he...

Rebecca Sugar is behind some of the most magical shows on Cartoon Network. They started as a storyboard artist on Adventure Time . And went on to create the acclaimed cartoon Steven Universe in 2013. This year is the show's 10th anniversary! We're celebrating by revisiting our interview with Rebecca in 2019. They chatted with us about the process behind making Steven Universe and their favorite ca...

Nile Rodgers has been in the game for over fifty years. He's a founding member of the band Chic, and he's produced songs for some of the biggest names in music like Madonna, David Bowie and Daft Punk. On Bullseye, we're looking back at our interview with Rodgers in 2011. He joined us to talk about his book, Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny . Plus, his religious experienc...

Singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart tells us about a beautiful, cinematic, heartbreaking song performed by the legendary Venezuelan singer Simón Díaz. He talks about the songs impact on him as a writer, performer, and a Venezuelan-American. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privac...

George Wallace has been doing stand-up for almost 50 years. He came up in New York – his roommate was Jerry Seinfeld. Wallace's humor, like Seinfeld's, is observational. The stakes are usually pretty low, the punchlines and wordplay pretty frequent. Which is to say, a George Wallace joke from the '80s can still kill today. The man is a legend and he joins us to talk about his decades long career a...

Jillian and Mariko Tamaki are talented graphic novelists. And if you didn't already know, the two are also cousins. They've collaborated on three projects so far that cover themes like sexual expression and queerness. Their latest is Roaming . On Bullseye, they chat about the project and the art of under-explaining in comics. Plus, they reflect on what it was like to be thrust into a heated nation...

Daniel Clowes is an award-winning writer and comics artist. He penned the Eight-Ball series and Ghost World, among others. This year, he released a graphic novel inspired by his attempts to learn about the life of his late, largely absent mother. It's called Monica . On Bullseye, he chats about the novel and the time he spent researching his family history. Plus, the things he learned about his mo...

His name is Will Oldham. You might know him better, though, as Bonnie "Prince" Billy or Palace or as half of the folk rock group Superwolves. His work has spanned three decades now and earlier this year he released his twenty-first Bonnie "Prince" Billy album. It's called Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You . When we asked Oldham about the song that changed his life, he picked a spare, interior, haun...

Yes, Jack Handey is his real name. He's one of the best to ever write for Saturday Night Live: Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, Giant Businessman, Toonces the Driving Cat, Deep Thoughts. In his post SNL career, Handey's written more for the page. There's his countless columns in the New Yorker and now, his latest novel: Escape from Hawaii: A Tropical Sequel. He talks about all that, plus we ask him (very...

Carla Fernández is a Mexico City based fashion designer who creates new clothes inspired by traditional, indigenous garments of Latin America. Her work is a revolutionary approach to fashion and is absolutely breathtaking. Carla joins us on Bullseye to talk about her "Manifesto de moda Mexicana," thrift shopping and so much more. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of...

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a stock car racing legend. He's won more than two dozen races and has been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He's since (mostly) retired from racing and recently gotten into writing. His latest release is a children's book called Buster Gets Back on Track. Dale Jr. joins the show to talk his racing career, about writing, and about why he collects wrecked cars from races....

Bettye LaVette is a singer with over 60 years in the game. She's recorded dozens of albums. And earned multiple Grammy nominations for her work in the blues and R&B genre. Her latest album LaVette! was released earlier this year. Bettye stops by the show to chat about the album. She let us in on how she chooses the songs she wants to record. Plus, she gets into her childhood and her long, tumultuo...

This American Life has been on public radio airwaves for almost three decades. This year, the show passed eight hundred episodes. And probably the most amazing thing is that This American Life is still really great. Ira Glass created the show way back when it first started, and he's still steering the ship at 64. We talk with the public radio legend himself to celebrate This American Life hitting...

The Song That Changed My Life is a segment that gives us the chance to talk with some of our favorite artists about the music that made them who they are today. This time around, we're joined by a blues great – Bobby Rush. When he got his start, he played with other greats like Jimmy Reed, Buddy Guy and Howlin' Wolf. The song that changed his life was recorded by another close friend of his – Litt...

Bob Odenkirk is an alt-comedy legend. He wrote for Saturday Night Live in the 90s. Then he got the part in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul as Saul Goodman. And he went from the funny-guy behind the scenes to the main screen. He's also a writer. On Bullseye, he stops by to talk about how he turned his worn notebook into a book of poetry with the help of his children. Plus, he gets into how he's e...

Major League Baseball is in its Postseason. This week we're joined by a great – former Cubs, Rays and Angels manager Joe Maddon. The Book of Joe: Trying Not to Suck at Baseball and Life. was written by Maddon and Tom VerducciIt. The book is part memoir, part inspirational text, part practical guide on how to build better baseball teams. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and...

Maria Bamford is a brilliant stand-up comic. She's also now an author. She recently wrote her first book. It's a memoir called Sure, I'll Join Your Cult . In it, she writes about her experience with mental illness and efforts to overcome it. She joins the show to talk about the new book and the lessons she learned from writing it. She'll also read a bit of the new memoir to us. See pcm.adswizz.com...

Sean Doolittle played a decade in the major leagues. He was a beloved weirdo and all-star with the Oakland A's. Then, a World Series champion with the Washington Nationals. Last month, Doolittle announced his retirement from baseball. We're celebrating his extraordinary, thrilling career by throwing it back to our conversation with Doolittle in 2017. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our c...

Sam Richardson's breakthrough role came in HBO's Veep . Sam is also a writer. With the help of SNL alum Tim Robinson, they co-created and starred in Detroiters. These days, you can catch Sam in The Afterparty on Apple TV+. Sam joins Jesse to talk about his career in film and TV, and what it was like growing up between the United States and Ghana. A version of this interview originally aired in Aug...

We're concluding Rap Month with Buffalo MC Benny the Butcher. Alongside Conway the Machine and Westside Gunn, he's a member of the hip-hop collective Griselda. He's an incredibly prolific rapper. Benny's not even forty yet and he's got dozens of LPs, mixtapes and other releases to his name. He joins Bullseye to talk about his upbringings in Buffalo, New York and how he got into rapping. Plus he br...