Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

From Bob Newhart to George Carlin, the comedy duo Bob & Ray influenced some of the 20th century's finest entertainers. Jesse will talk with comedy writer David Pollock about how Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding created that bond with their audience. Pollock's new book is called Bob & Ray, Keener Than Most Persons. And then, we revisit Jesse's interview with the Emmy-nominated actor Tony Hale. He's havi...

When it comes to sharing the planet with other animals, you might think that we humans are just screwing it all up. Ruining everything. Hogging all the resources. But what if it's a little more complicated than that? What do the stories we tell ourselves about wild animals actually mean? Jon Mooallem's new book Wild Ones attempts to explain. Then later, revisit Jesse's conversation with the late m...

[r] First, an interview with the rapper and author Prodigy, one-half of the seminal hardcore hip hop duo Mobb Deep. He'll talk about why his naturally shy demeanor was taken for weakness, selling crack cocaine when he was barely in middle school, and the jail time that turned his life around. Plus, Carolyn Kellogg from the Los Angeles Times shares some of her all-time favorite books and Jesse expl...

Hear Jesse's interview with one of comedy's greatest grumps: Lewis Black. He didn't become a stand-up until his mid-thirties. Find out why he left the theater for comedy and why he actually considers himself a family comic. The answer will surprise you. Then later, Jesse talks with Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer. They just started their second season hosting a talk show for MTV. They've both worke...

First up on the show is an interview with Kumail Nanjiani. He has come a long way since we had him do stand up on our show a few years ago. He just put out his first comedy special, Beta Male. He just got a role in Mike Judge's new HBO show. He's co-hosting a new show on Comedy Central next year and he soaks up his free time with a hit video game podcast called The Indoor Kids. Then, Jesse Talks t...

If a director is looking for the perfect guy to play an oblivious, cocky buffoon then Fred Willard is their man. Jesse talks to Fred about his entire career, and finds out why he turned down the lead in the movie Airplane! Then later Jesse talks to David Gordon Green. He's directed everything from pensive, dramatic movies like All The Real Girls to huge stoner-action comedies like Pineapple Expres...

A lawyer, a writer, a psychiatrist, and a theater professor got together to write a humor book about earning your MBA on the toilet. The group is called Kasper Hauser. Rob Baedeker and James Reichmuth talk about how they balance comedy with full-time jobs, how they pick their jokes democratically, and why they haven't left the Bay Area. And then a look back at the life of David Rakoff. His new nov...

Rick Moranis was a movie star. Strange Brew, Ghostbusters, Spaceballs, Honey I Shrunk the Kids. And then he quit. We'll talk about why he doesn't regret leaving show business to raise his children. And find out why he's returning to the public eye with an album of Jewish songs called My Mother's Brisket & Other Love Songs. Then, hear Jesse's interview with a true soul music icon — Booker T Jones....

You'd be hard pressed to find two music groups with more divergent sounds than the jam band Phish and the horrorcore rap duo Insane Clown Posse. But they've got something in common. Each of them has a deeply passionate following, and each of them has deeply, deeply passionate haters. When Nathan Rabin tried to write a critic's look at these bands' worlds, he found himself sucked in. Then later Jes...

Delve into the culture of pickup basketball this week, and find out why each of the hundreds of courts in New York City is a unique experience. Jesse will talk with Bobbito Garcia and his co-director Kevin Couliau about their new documentary 'Doin' It In The Park'. Then writer Mary Roach, author of the new book 'Gulp', takes us on a rollicking tour of the human digestive system. [The podcast versi...

[r] Who is Lemmy? Well he's the singer for Motörhead and he's revered by metal fans around the globe. Jesse talked to Lemmy in person a couple of years ago at SxSW and you'll hear that amazing conversation later in the show. But first we revisit Jesse's conversation with Jackson Publick, the co-creator of The Venture Bros. The show has just returned for a fifth season after a long hiatus. Plus, a...

Director Paul Feig talks about being a child magician, an actor and stand-up, and what finally drove him behind the camera to direct film and television. Plus, he'll talk about his new movie The Heat, his last movie Bridesmaids, and why he likes watching women be funny. Then Ophira Eisenberg talks about why she used to date so much and so often. She's the host of NPR's Ask Me Another, and her memo...

Charlie Wilson made hits in the 80s as the frontman of the Gap Band. In the 90s he was homeless on the streets of LA. Then, he turned it all around. Jesse talks with Charlie Wilson about his astonishing career with The Gap Band and his later collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Tupac and more. Plus hear stand-up comedy from The Daily Show's Al Madrigal, culture picks from Mark Frauenfelder, and which M...

[r] "Weird Al" Yankovic is a master of parody music and one of the all-time bestselling accordionists. He and Jesse talk about Yankovic's multi-decade career. Plus, Bullseye's rap contributor Andrew Noz talks about some his all-time favorite tracks. Then Geoffrey Nunberg discusses the origins of the word A-hole, and how its cultural significance has changed over time. Lastly, Jesse reveals who, fo...

Christopher Guest talks about the origins of his signature style of parodic filmmaking. He'll also talk about why music pops up in his movies so much. Guest explored folk music in A Mighty Wind and community musical theater in Waiting For Guffman. His new TV show on HBO is called Family Tree. After that, Dan Kennedy will talk about his new novel American Spirit. Plus, the AV Club tells us about th...

Nile Rodgers played guitar on the new Daft Punk single, but decades before that he launched a string of hits with the group Chic, including "Le Freak" and "Good Times", and went on to become a songwriting and producing superstar. He was behind Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Out", David Bowie's "Let's Dance", Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and many more. Now, he reflects on decades of hit writing, collaboratin...

Jesse talks to Mel Brooks about his unparalleled career — from writing for Sid Caesar on television in the 1950s to working with Gene Wilder on The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein in the 60s and 70s. Then later, Jesse talks to the directors of a documentary that follows the transformation of a man from WWII flying ace into Father Yod - the leader of a 1970s commune in the Hollywo...

Jesse talks to Huey Lewis about his pub rock beginnings, his multi-platinum success with the album Sports, and how he wrote songs for movies like Back to the Future and Pineapple Express. He also talks about the time he snuck onto an airplane bound for London. Then, from free flights to free phone calls. Find out how "phreakers" were able to use computerized tones to unlock an entire phone network...

We revisit Jesse's interview with the delightful stand-up comic Simon Amstell. On TV, he prods at the powers that be and has even caused a few walk-offs. But despite the escapades, Amstell spends much of his time on stage and off looking inward, at himself. The self-doubt got so deep that he went on a shamanic quest to South America for answers. Then Brian K Vaughn talks about his comic book serie...

We're talking Veep this week with the HBO comedy's showrunner, Armando Iannucci, and its star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Iannucci talks about geeking out on American and British politics and recreating them on-screen. Then, Louis-Dreyfus talks about her days on Seinfeld and her favorite dirty phrase from Veep. Plus, British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg talks about the song that changed his life. See p...

Jesse talks to the director Shane Carruth. His new movie Upstream Color has almost no dialogue, involves a kind of abstract science fiction premise, but keeps you fully engaged. Then Jesse talks to Rodney Ascher, who directed Room 237. It's a documentary about The Shining. But it doesn't go behind the scenes. It features interviews with people who have radical theories about the movie. One guy eve...

Actress Catherine O'Hara talks about her start with the Second City's SCTV, blockbuster success with Beetlejuice and Home Alone, and her perfect encapsulation of comic absurdity in Christopher Guest films like Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind. But first, Jesse talks to Big Boi — one half of OutKast. The hip hop duo swung back and forth across the spectrum of popular music — zigging with cult...

There's no mistaking actress Lily Tomlin. Even when the part is small, she's never lost in the background. In fact she almost steals the show in the new Tina Fey movie. It's called Admission. Jesse talks to Tomlin about her storied career. Then astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson chases the unexplored secrets of the universe and then tells Jesse why he shouldn't be scared of space. Plus, FOUND Maga...

Dive into the empire that Cheers built. Whether it was The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, Frasier, or Friends, Warren Littlefield oversaw all of it. NBC was a Thursday night powerhouse in the 80s and 90s. But now? That's all pretty much crumbled. Hear an extended interview with a real-life television executive. His book is called Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV. Plus, Oliver Wang e...

Simon Rich is an absolutely hilarious writer. He sits down with Jesse, and says that he doesn't write about the way love happens, he writes about the way love feels. Rich has a new book out — Last Girlfriend on Earth. Plus, we revisit an interview with comedian Bill Burr. The first time you hear Burr, you might think he's just a macho, in-your-face type of comic. But most of the time you'll find h...