Podcast
Fresh Air
Hosted by NPR · EN
Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.
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Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair
And subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Fresh Air Weekly, to get interview highlights, staff recommendations, gems from the archive, and the week's interviews and reviews all in one place. Sign up at www.whyy.org/freshair
551episodes
Episodes
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How sky-high ticket prices, war & politics could impact the World Cup
Yesterday00:45:18Summary readyThe biggest World Cup ever starts this week. Laura Williamson, editor in chief of The Athletic, describes how sky-high prices, travel restrictions, politics and the Ebola outbreak are impacting fans. Williamson also discusses President Trump’s UFC event on the White House lawn. Ken Tucker reviews Kacey Musgraves’ album ‘Middle of Nowhere,’ which he says pairs well with the music biography ‘Gary Stewart: I Am From the Honky-Tonks.’See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
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Andrew Rannells & Josh Gad look back on 15 years of ‘Book of Mormon’
2d ago00:44:52Summary readyFifteen years after ‘The Book of Mormon’ made its Broadway debut, original cast members Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad once again took the stage as Mormon missionaries — this time at the 2026 Tony Awards. Created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the duo behind ‘South Park’), along with veteran Broadway composer Robert Lopez, ‘The Book of Mormon’ follows two young missionaries sent to try and bring Mormonism to a Ugandan village. The musical is a satirical — sometimes affectionate, sometimes offensive — look at Mormonism and youthful naïveté. Rannells and Gad spoke with Terry Gross about their first impressions of the show, mishaps onstage, and regretting their decision to leave when they did. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
SummaryBest Of: Novelist Maggie O’Farrell / A personal history of the N-Word
4d ago00:48:10Summary readyMaggie O’Farrell wrote the novel ‘Hamnet’ and co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation. She has a new book called ‘Land,’ about a father and son mapping 19th-century Ireland after the devastation of the Great Famine. Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the latest by classics scholar Mary Beard.Also, we hear from historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor. She has spent much of her career tracing the N-word through slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and hip hop. For a long time she kept it a secret that her father was Richard Pryor, the man who put the word at the center of American comedy. "I was a scholar of the N-word — and so, obviously, is he." Her new book is ‘Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me.’ See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
SummaryAlan Cumming / Angela Lansbury
5d ago00:46:01Summary readyThe Tony Awards are this Sunday. To celebrate, we’re listening back to two award-winners from our archive: Alan Cumming, who played the emcee in ‘Cabaret’ in three different productions, and Angela Lansbury, who starred in Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Sweeny Todd,’ as Mrs. Lovett who baked Sweeney’s victims into pies. Also, Justin Chang reviews two new horror films: ‘Obsession’ and ‘Backrooms.’ See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
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Clarke Peters: From ‘The Wire’ to ‘The Boroughs’
6d ago00:44:42Summary readyPeters’ credits include police Detective Lester Freamon in ‘The Wire,’ a Vietnam veteran in Spike Lee’s ‘Da 5 Bloods,’ and now a retiree in the supernatural thriller ‘The Boroughs’ on Netflix. Peters spoke with Terry Gross about his long career on stage and screen, his singing voice, and why he relocated to London in the ‘70s. “I picked this profession so that I would have longevity, so that I could still be acting at 100, if it comes to it,” he says. Also, David Bianculli reviews the Apple 10-part miniseries ‘Cape Fear.’See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
SummaryHow a single decision made a century ago split a family by race
1w ago00:44:28Summary readyPope Leo XIV’s Creole family roots inspired New Orleanian journalist Susan Saulny to research her Creole great-uncle who moved to Chicago, identified himself as white and never returned. She describes her journey to reunite her family. Her piece in the New York Times is called "A Family Secret No More."Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the Netflix series ‘The Boroughs.’See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
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'Hamnet' novelist Maggie O'Farrell maps her Irish roots in 'Land'
1w ago00:46:16Summary readyO’Farrell’s 2020 novel ‘Hamnet’ was adapted into an award-winning film last year. She co-wrote the screenplay. It’s about the grief Shakespeare and his wife Agnes struggle with after their son, Hamnet, dies of the plague, and how that grief leads him to write the play Hamlet. O’Farrell’s new novel, ‘Land,’ is about the lives of an Irish family living in the aftermath of the Great Famine. Even though she writes historical novels, she tries not to lean too much into history: “I find there’s nothing that makes me put a book down faster than if somebody is trying to show me that they’ve done all their homework,” she says. ‘Land’ is in part based on her family. Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Classicist Mary Beard’s new book ‘Talking Classics.’See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
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Richard Pryor’s daughter Elizabeth is a scholar of the N-word
1w ago00:43:44Summary readyHistorian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor has spent her career tracing the racial slur, the N-word, through slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and hip hop. But what she didn't tell most of her students, even some of her colleagues, was that her father was the comedian who put the word at the center of American comedy – Richard Pryor. "I was a scholar of the N-word — and so was he,” she tells Tonya Mosley. Her new book, ‘Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me,’ is part memoir, part history of a word her father, late in his career, decided to never use again. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
SummaryBest Of: ‘Boroughs’ Actor Alfre Woodard / Rose Byrne
2w ago00:48:55Summary readyAlfre Woodard stars in a new Netflix sci-fi mystery series ‘The Boroughs,’ from the creators of ‘Stranger Things.’ She plays a retired journalist living in a senior community where the residents are being preyed on by something otherworldly. She spoke with Tonya Molsey. Rose Byrne is now on Broadway in the comedy play ‘Fallen Angels.’ She spoke with Fresh Air producer Ann Marie Baldonado about her Tony-nominated performance, as well as her starring role in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.’ In it she plays a woman trying to care for her sick daughter, while her life is unraveling. Byrne says the movie taps into the fear and horror of being a parent. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
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Remembering jazz giant Sonny Rollins
2w ago00:46:18Summary readyThe great jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins died Monday at the age of 95. He was known for his improvisation and technique, his full bodied sound that could erupt into grunts and brays, and his love of songs. Rollins said of improvising: “When I'm actually on the stage and performing, the optimum condition is not to think. I just want the music to play itself. I didn't want to have to think about it.” We listen back to Terry Gross’s 1994 interview with Rollins. Also, jazz historian Kevin Whitehead pays tribute. Finally, critic Justin Chang tells us about the highlights from the Cannes Film Festival. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
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