Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

“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 ...

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 (17:30), her breaking p...

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 to The Larry Sanders...

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 have impacted California&...

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 making Mean Girls (15:26). T...

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 debut monograph, I Can Make You Feel ...

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), and her affect...

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 roles in Roger Dodge...

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 (29:35), and the &l...

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 resource (12:00)....

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), and her formative yea...

From The Walking Dead to Minari to Beef, Steven Yeun has become one of the most singular performers in Hollywood today. With his latest role in the sci-fi romance Love Me, we look back at our conversation with the leading man.

At the top, Yeun unpacks his acclaimed Netflix series Beef (5:09), a powerful church scene from the show (11:30), and his personal experience immigrating to the US from Seoul as a child (18:15)...

David Lynch was an artist in every sense of the word. Rest in peace to the legendary filmmaker, who passed away this month at the age of 78.

Today we present a tribute to Lynch, featuring excerpts from two of his most enduring collaborators: actors Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern. In each conversation, they reflect on the early projects they worked on with Lynch—together in Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, separately i...

Writer Emily Witt (“Health and Safety: A Breakdown”) has spent the past two weeks on the ground covering the Los Angeles wildfires for The New Yorker.

Her latest story centers around the Benns (5:39), a multigenerational Black family with deep ties to Altadena (8:35), where they’ve raised children in homes they’ve owned dating back to the late 1950s (16:13). We discuss how they&rsqu...

This week, we revisit a soulful conversation around climate change and the restorative power of nature with author Richard Powers.

We begin by defining the thematic through-line between The Overstory and Bewilderment (5:06), the eco trauma articulated in each text (9:10), how we may redefine hope today (16:08), and what the pandemic taught us about the climate crisis (26:18). Powers also details the ecological shortcomings of capit...

Writer Jia Tolentino (The New Yorker) became a literary sensation in 2019 upon the release of her best-selling essay collection, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion. She joins us this week to ring in 2025.

We start by discussing the erosion of privacy online (11:26), the potentially forthcoming TikTok ban (13:32), and how she circumvented self-surveillance technology in her Hidden Pregnancy Exp...

To close out the holidays, our conversation with actor Harris Dickinson.

We discuss his latest role in Halina Reijn’s Babygirl (6:50), Nicole Kidman’s “disarming and generous” quality on set (9:27), and the exploration of masculinity in Harris’ roles— from Beach Rats (12:48) to Triangle of Sadness (13:03) to Babygirl (13:24). Then, we dive into the online discourse about his new...

For the holiday week, we’re revisiting one of our favorite conversations with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and critic Hilton Als.

At the top, we unpack his approach to writing profiles (5:50), inspired by the words of photographer Diane Arbus (6:10), and how he captured Prince in a new, two-part memoir entitled My Pinup (7:55). Then, Als reflects on his upbringing in Brownsville, Brooklyn (10:25), a timely passage from ...