Jeannie Gaffigan reveals how she went from a perfectly normal life to being rushed into surgery for a pear-sized brain tumor over the coarse of an Easter Weekend, why things got worse just when she thought she was in the clear, and how she learned that laughter truly IS the best medicine. She reveals how she and her husband comedian Jim Gaffigan write jokes together, talks about Jim’s surprising swagger when he first began romancing her, and how she finally knew that he was "the one." She discusses why she and Jim decided to end The Jim Gaffigan Show after two seasons, what it was like to balance a tv family with their real family, and how they manage to keep track of five children. Order

Meryl Streep is arguably the greatest actress of this or any generation. She has starred in more than 60 films, won 3 Oscars, and received a record setting 21 nominations. Entertainment reporter Erin Carlson discusses Streep's illustrious acting career, her advocacy for women off the screen, and her deeply guarded personal life. Erin delves into Jane Fonda’s mentorship of Streep on the film Julia, Meryl’s rivalries with Jessica Lang, and the behind-the-scenes drama between her and Dustin Hoffman on Kramer vs Kramer. She suggests that the late actor John Cazale was the love of Meryl Streep’s life, shares how he how helped her hone her craft, and reveals how Meryl coped with his tragic unt

New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer grew tired of his kids’ obsession with reality TV and people who were famous for being famous so he began to write children's books about real heroes from history. He talks about the newest additions to his Ordinary People Change the World series I Am Walt Disney and I Am Marie Curie, and reveals some of his own childhood heroes. He says he puts just as much historical research into his children’s books as he does into his bestselling political thrillers and explains why it was so important to show kids that even famous historical figures started out somewhere. He talks about the new PBS TV series based on his books and how it’s a dream come

Scott Aukerman is the co-creator of hilariously awkward talk show Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis. He talks about expanding the Ferns universe for Between Two Ferns: The Movie, how he and Zach improvised the entire film, and what it was to direct his hero David Letterman. Scott reveals how Between Two Ferns was born out of his and Zach's love of bad cable access programming, why actual ferns were so essential to the look of the show, and how they managed to snag President Barack Obama as a guest. Plus we celebrate 10 years of Scott's podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! Between Two Ferns: The Movie comes out on Netflix beginning this Friday, September 20. Subscribe to Scott’s podcast Come

Randall Munroe is the former NASA physicist turned bestselling cartoonist behind XKCD and the What If blog. He talks about his new book How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems. Randall reveals the cost of putting a lava moat around your house, how to move your home with helicopters, how to throw a coin or just about anything else across a river, and how Serena Williams takes down a drone. Plus Randall explains fishing with electricity, why scientists still haven’t figured out how ice works, and why the US military once nuked a bunch of beer cans. Order Randall Munroe's new his book How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems on Amazon, Audible o

Caitlin Doughty is a best-selling author, funeral director, and host of the popular YouTube channel Ask a Mortician. She returns to the podcast to answer children's questions about death such as "why don’t we eat human’s after they die?" and "what if they make a mistake and bury me in coma?" She says it’s illegal to own or sell human remains, but there's a loophole that might allow you to keep human bones and you can pretty much do anything with cremated ashes. She explains how a whole person's ashes can fit into a tiny urn and what happens when a cemetery runs out of room. She unravels some famous movie myths about death, takes me behind closed doors at a funeral directors convention, a

Acclaimed author Salman Rushdie talks about drawing on Cervantes and pop culture for his new novel Quichotte. He describes having to consume a massive amount of "trash tv" in preparation for the book, how Quichotte addresses the most pressing issues of our time from opioids to immigration, and why the “the age of anything can happen” may not necessarily a good thing! Rushdie opens up about his early career as a stage actor, his secret longing to be a second rate spy novelist, and why he finally decided to make a novelist a character in one of his stories. Then we talk about the moment when a writer finds his own voice, how he developed his signature style of magical realism, and how it ma

Comedian Anthony Jeselnik revels in making audiences a little uncomfortable and now he's making his fellow comedians uncomfortable as host of the hilarious new interview show Good Talk with Anthony Jeselnik. He shares how the Saturday Night Live bit "Deep Thoughts with Jack Handey" inspired his uniquely off-beat style of comedy, the time he auditioned to be the anchor of SNL’s Weekend Update, and some pretty smart advice he once got from Lorne Michaels on how to write a late night monologue. Anthony recalls the Comedy Central Roast that changed his life and what makes for the perfect roast speech. We delve into how Good Talk deconstructs the late night talk show, why this famously confide

If you’ve ever seen the Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated film Catch Me If You Can, then you know the story of the boy con artist Frank Abagnale. Abagnale has since reformed his ways, and he is a leading expert on fraud, forgery and cybersecurity who consults for Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies. Frank discusses his early life of crime, how he turned it all around, and how he is helping to protect Americans from scammers. He recalls how wearing the uniform of a pilot or a doctor played on people’s trust of authority, he reveals what kind of personalities were most susceptible to his schemes, and he warns that technology has made it much easier f