EP 459: Newt Gingrich Reports from Italy's COVID-19 Crisis
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich reports on the Coronavirus crisis from Italy, where his wife Callista serves as U.S. Ambassador the Vatican. He offers some lessons for America from Italy’s early failure to stop the spread, some tips from what he say of South Korea’s successful containment of the virus, and his own theory of how COVID-19 made it’s way from China to Milan. He also talks about how the pandemic will affect US-China relations, how he hopes it could lea
EP 458: Vice's Jesse Angelo and Isobel Yeung
Vice Media’s President of Global News and Entertainment Jesse Angelo and Vice reporter Isobel Yeung discuss the move of Vice's flagship television program VICE from HBO to Showtime. Isobel talks about her groundbreaking coverage of the Syrian civil war and China’s forced detention of Uighur muslims. She shares what’s it like doing serious journalism in authoritarian nations where media is tightly controlled, and Jesse discusses the complicated process of keeping his report
EP 457: Neurotic Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld
Director Barry Sonnenfeld (The Addams Family, Men in Black, Get Shorty) talks recalls his first gig out of film school as a cameraman for adult films, working with Joel and Ethan Coen on their debut picture Blood Simple, and why you never want to receive a cake on a Coen Bros movie. Barry discusses his difficulties working with Penny Marshall on Big, how Rob Reiner taught him about something called “the silent schmuck,” and why he and Danny Devito had such a hard time convin
EP 456: Pod Save America's Dan Pfeiffer
Pod Save America's Dan Pfeiffer says it's not just enough for Democrats to defeat Donald Trump in 2020, but they have to defeat Trumpism in the long-run. He recalls witnessing some of the early signs of Trumpism when he was White House Communications Director under President Obama, and he explains how the Democratic party was allowed to collapse during the Obama years. Dan believes that voter expansion is the key to Democrats victory in 2020 and beyond, he suggests a host o
EP 455: The 1000 Voices of Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria talks about his 31 seasons on The Simpsons, a few of the 150 plus characters he’s played on the show, and some of the classic movie stars who inspired some of his popular voices for The Simpsons. Hank reveals how he came up with his distinctive sports announcer voice for IFC's Brockmire, he does his best to sell me on the great American pastime, but admits that often times Major League Baseball can’t get out of its own way. We discuss Brockmire Season 4’s dystop
Rerun: Tennis Great John McEnroe
This is a rebroadcast of a 2017 interview with John McEnroe, who talks about tennis, his famous temper, and his book But Seriously. He discusses winning his first grand slam at age 20, his life after the pros, and a recurring nightmare he has about his 1984 French Open match with Ivan Lendl. McEnroe talks about some of his famous arguments with tennis umpires, and how his temper helped his game in his younger years but he says it held him back later in his career. He’ll ha
EP 454: Sports Reporter Ben Cohen on the Science of Streaks
Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Cohen tells how a child-hood basketball game first got him interested in the mystery of winning streaks, how his work as a sports writer only further convinced him that there is such a thing as being "in the zone," and what recent science has to say about it. He also describes how streaks can negatively bias everyone from baseball umpires to asylum judges, warns there’s an important corollary to the "Hot Hand" that can cost you big-time, and
EP 453: Rob Riggle Goes on an Adventure
Rob Riggle returns to shares his lifelong love of history and why he wanted to blend comedy and education for his new series Rob Riggle: Global Investigator. He discusses a few of his recent adventures from searching for the Holy Grail to diving for pirate treasure. Rob what it’s like to play a “heightened version of himself” on the show, and what happens when some fans don’t know the difference between the real Rob and his character. Plus Rob braves snakes, caves, sharks,
