Zoe Kazan, writer/star of "Ruby Sparks" and the new play "Trudy & Max in Love," uses our show to save a chihuahua... bestselling author Jackie Collins kidnaps our etiquette segment... Actor Sam Harris wages war on a little ham... all about an American who was big in Japan... New software monitors if 'retail therapy' actually works... Oscar-nominated documentarian Jeffrey Karoff goes underground ... And we hear a killer "Kong" song. Plus: the best pizza box in the world.
This week: "Justified" star Timothy Olyphant says he's just the help... Etiquette from Carl Hiaasen, chronicler of bad Floridian behavior... Rosanne Cash takes a trip into music & literary history... You can't win 'em all - unless you're the Harlem Globetrotters ... Luxembourg gives it all away ... Indie band Diane Coffee brews us a pot of songs ... Fancy bibs for your fancy duds ... Useless geometry ... And scholarly advice on easing the transition for our inevitable robot overlords.
This week: Lupita Nyongo, Golden globe nominee for "12 Years A Slave" reveals the secret to happiness... Gary Shteyngart develops a crush on the Iron Lady ... Beyond the tabloid tale of Tonya Harding ... Pittsburgh, PA steels itself for an influx of foodies... Novelist Chang-Rae Lee's dystopian vision of Baltimore ... Night clothes with thinking caps ... Playing political games ... And advice you asked for about the questions you shouldn't ask.
This week, we ring in 2014 by looking BACK at our favorite interviews of 2013. (Because, yes, we're punk like that.) You'll hear "things you didn't know" from Daniel Radcliffe, Margaret Atwood, and many more... Sounds big and small from reggae legend Jimmy Cliff and They Might be Giants... Writer Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) sets the planets spinning... Tim Gunn and Lars Ulrich take the etiquette chair... Comedian Nick Kroll (attempts to) atone for Octoberfest... The year in Small Talk... "Gatsby" ringleader Baz Luhrmann kicks of our party... A liquid bikini... and lots more.
This Week: We take a brief holiday break (and hope you're able to do the same) and leave you with this choice episode from earlier in the year ... Liev Schrieber (just nominated for a 2014 Golden Globe) talks canine engineering and bad answers ... Choire Sicha, founder of The Awl, offers etiquette quips ... Chicago band Wild Belle bring us the world, on a platter of sound... A tale of cheese and blood feuds in the Spanish countryside ... David Gilbert shares a story of absent fathers, from his acclaimed novel "& Sons"... And the Mona Lisa goes missing! Plus, conflict cuisine, organic baseball, and HAIM (one of the buzziest bands of 2013) makes it in under "The Wire."
This Week: Jeremy Renner does the American Hustle... Nancy Sinatra on headphones and hair-poufs ... Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins asks you to clean your room ...Nick Lowe's Eccentric Xmas Soundtrack ... An inimitable, unpronounceable writer you've got to read... Italian food that might remind you of sushi ... The precise moment when cringes become cackles ... Television that really is bad for you ... And hugs and kisses from Queen Bey.
Oscar-winning thespian Geoffrey Rush goes from burlesque to "The Book Thief" ... Aubrey Plaza will not be mean on command ... LeVar Burton talks tech, present and future ... American chestnut exceptionalism ... The 'Fifth Beatle' gets a phone call ... musician Joey Sweeney plays the song he thinks every American must hear (and a few more)... Late Notes from the underground ... and we unearth the truth about a 'missing link'.
Oscar Isaac, star of the Coen Bros. "Inside Llewyn Davis," talks travis pickin' and tabbies... Int'l star Mads Mikkelsen, lately of Danish drama "The Hunt," looks on the bright side of strife... Bestselling author Janet Evanovich tells us how to politely destroy a van... Changing views of Manhattan from the roof of the Chelsea Hotel ... Enjoying the Mutual Benefit of music ... A shave fit for a King ... Sultry Lady Liberty ... Carrot-noses that aren't just for snowmen ... And "Red Eyes" you'll want, from The War on Drugs.
Thanksgiving is kind of a national dinner party, so we wanted to bring our contribution: an ALL-FOOD EPISODE of the show. We know it comes a day late, but everybody loves leftovers, right? Lidia Bastianich on freedom food... Michael Pollan's kosher barbecue ... The Arctic Monkeys play a little dinner music ... Eddie Huang vs. mac and cheese ... dining like a "Mad Men" man... hunting the planet's rarest fruits ... musician Todd Snider with a taste(ful) joke ... the Presidential Suite of cheeses ... and we breathe in the fresh salt air - of Manhattan.
We reheat an old episode for this pre-Thanksgiving week, featuring, fittingly, an English take on American culture ... Superstar comedian Kevin Hart growing an inch … Comic, writer, TV host and now etiquette expert Aisha Tyler steering listeners clear of video game hogs and sunshine nazis … Memoirist Ashley Cardiff on being haunted by Prince … The Spinto Band with a menu of dinner party tunes … and Rico cooling off with Japanese beer. Plus: The most famous soup cans in history, ‘shroom humor, and how the internet may be making us less intelligent.