Kenneth Branagh had a lot on his mind when making the movie Belfast, a film based on his own childhood. He thought mostly about loss. Loss of family, loss of where you come from, loss of innocence. As ...
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Episode 1279 - George Clooney
George Clooney is 60. Which means, much like Marc, he’s always reminding himself that he doesn’t know how much time he has left. George tells Marc how this mindset affects all his decisions, whether it’s ...
Listen →Episode 1278 - "Canceled Comedy" w/ Kliph Nesteroff and David Bianculli
Marc is trying to get to the bottom of something. What does it really mean to be 'canceled' in comedy? Is it something comedians have always worried about? What does actual censorship in comedy look like? ...
Listen →Episode 1277 - Felipe Esparza
The challenges of standup comedy were nothing compared to the obstacles Felipe Esparza faced throughout his childhood. His family was caught crossing the border and sent back to Mexico. When he finally ...
Listen →Episode 1276 - Bob Spitz
How did Bob Spitz become the preeminent biographer of the most important and influential names in rock and roll? Before he wrote the definitive narratives of Bob Dylan, The Beatles and now Led Zeppelin, ...
Listen →Episode 1275 - Ricky Velez
Being from Queens is as much a part of Ricky Velez’s personality as his humor, his dyslexia and his depression. Ricky tells Marc how he put it all together when he started doing standup in New York City ...
Listen →Episode 1274 - Jennifer Lee Pryor
Jennifer Lee Pryor was there for Richard Pryor’s highest highs and his lowest lows. She experienced so much with Richard that she married him twice. Jennifer and Marc talk about the brilliant, ...
Listen →Episode 1273 - Hasan Minhaj
Hasan Minhaj took the pressures put on him to become a lawyer and channeled them into the ambition necessary to start a standup career, become a Daily Show correspondent, host his own show (Patriot Act), ...
Listen →Episode 1272 - David Chang
David Chang wouldn’t have opened his first restaurant if he wasn’t depressed. Now, with his Momofuku empire that brings joy to foodies everywhere, David still finds himself struggling to find joy. Marc ...
Listen →Episode 1271 - Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall has hope. Yes, even in these times. That doesn’t mean the good doctor looks at the world with rose-colored glasses. It means she knows hope is a necessary part of our survival as a species. ...
Listen →Episode 1270 - Alan Ruck
As Connor Roy on Succession, Alan Ruck finally has the kind of role he’s been waiting to get for more than 30 years. And as Alan tells Marc, some of those years weren’t very fun. There was the time after ...
Listen →Episode 1269 - Taraji P. Henson
Taraji P. Henson says all her f***s are behind her now. But after three decades in show business, Taraji admits she only feels freedom from her f***s because of her openness around mental health. Taraji ...
Listen →Episode 1268 - Kelefa Sanneh
Kelefa Sanneh has been writing about music for his entire career. Drawing on his experience as the music critic at The New York Times, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and a lifelong music obsessive, ...
Listen →Episode 1267 - Julie Delpy
American audiences fell in love with Julie Delpy as the romantic French traveler Celine in Before Sunrise and its two sequels. But Julie didn’t have an equal love affair with the making of Hollywood ...
Listen →Episode 1266 - Rosebud Baker
Rosebud Baker knows all about the fine line between sadness and funny. She’s learned how to get laughs out of the tragedy that befell her family, her alcohol addiction, her co-dependent and abusive ...
Listen →Episode 1265 - B.J. Novak
Even when he was a kid, B.J. Novak wanted to achieve greatness. His hard work and ambition brought him to Harvard, to the Lampoon, to doing standup, to getting on The Office, to writing a massively ...
Listen →Episode 1264 - Franklin Leonard
Franklin Leonard helped change the way movies get made in Hollywood. It’s not what he expected as a young Black math wiz growing up in Georgia. But after a love affair with movies that started at Kim’s ...
Listen →Episode 1263 - David Chase
No one is harder on David Chase than David Chase. Even after a successful career as a screenwriter, show creator and director, after changing the face of television with The Sopranos, after putting HBO on ...
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