This week: British comedy wunderkind Simon Amstell sings America's praises... Author Sheila Heti explains How A Person Should Be... Musician and archivist Michael Feinstein adds to the Great American Songbook... Folk-rock legend Rodriguez rises from the dead... Jimmie "DY-NO-MITE" Walker blows up etiquette... and Rico samples ceviche from 'the new Tuscany' (it's in Mexico). Plus: mammoth cheeses, shifting to manual transmission, and a globe-hopping soundtrack from The Antlers.

This week, star chef Marcus Samuelsson dishes on his tough-but-tender training… WILD author Cheryl Strayed (aka “Dear Sugar”) offers free therapy… Anna Gunn of “Breaking Bad” lists her favorite fictional dysfunctionals… Author Chris Cleave spins gold from Olympic competition… We toast Warhol with a pop-art cocktail… and Woody Guthrie turns 100. Plus: vacationing with Hemingway, author Karen Thompson Walker’s slow fiction, and new music from the Dirty Projectors.

This week, it’s our first ever ALL-MOVIE EPISODE – a blockbuster hour of our favorite film-centric interviews, starring John C. Reilly, Miranda July, Terry Gilliam and more: Val Kilmer plays Mark Twain playing an etiquette expert… Jackie Collins invites us to a Hollywood party… author Jonathan Lethem casts Drew Barrymore in his surreal fiction… One of cinema’s greatest sound designers lists some of cinema’s greatest sounds… and Michel Hazanavicius, Oscar-winning director of “The Artist,” doesn’t enjoy the silence. Plus: David Cronenberg plays around, rockers Howlin’ Rain suggest the most unlikely dinner party soundtrack ever, and Molly Ringwald barks like a dog.

This week: Filmmaker Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) paints with an axe… Michael Ian Black and Meghan McCain swear they can answer your etiquette questions peacefully… Actress Alison Pill, of Aaron Sorkin’s new show “The Newsroom,” takes us behind-the-scenes… New Yorker receptionist Janet Groth reflects on (almost) being Mrs. John Berryman… Lunching at the ‘Automat’…Plus, doubled data, a summer fashion preview, and a soundtrack from playful pop band Micachu and the Shapes.

This week: Punk icon Patti Smith dreams of little black dresses… “Breaking Bad’s” Bryan Cranston builds green houses, not meth labs… Zosia Mamet (Girls, Mad Men) picks other ‘against-type’ actors… we inhale the tale of the original “smoke-filled room”… and novelist Nathaniel Rich finds a rhino with all the answers. Plus: drinkable shrubs, a new track from Odd Future’s Frank Ocean, and the fastest road in the USA.

This week: We revisit one of our favorite episodes"The Office" co-creator Stephen Merchant spars with Brendan... fashion guru Simon Doonan advocates mullets... humorists Dave Barry & Alan Zweibel (attempt to) read their epic epilogue... The soundtrack of The War on Drugs... Artist Chris Burden's slot-cars on steroids... And Rico digs into Frito Pie. Plus: silent senators, devil children in film,illin' crosswords, and far-out jokes.

This week: Director Michael Apted on “56 Up” — the new installment of one of the greatest film series ever… Sportswriting legend Frank Deford tackles your etiquette questions… Guitar master Buddy Guy revisits his Louisiana roots… Fantasy author Leigh Bardugo lists her favorite fictional worlds… A filmmaking duo plug in to the world of indie video games… and a sweet roll gets a savory twist on Manhattan’s High Line. Plus: We fear the food world’s revolutionary new robot, and spin a Bad Thing from Vermont rocker King Tuff.

This week: Acclaimed filmmaker Richard Linklater takes us behind “the Pine Curtain”… Satirist Christopher Buckley on international (etiquette) relations… Actor Rich Sommer goes Mad about board games… Brooklyn band Violens cues up a dinner party soundtrack… Brendan sips indie spirits… We toast Spider-Dan’s [sic] epic climb… Three hysterical histories… Plus, sexy literary hoaxes, humor from troubadour Todd Snider, and a listener letter - from a dolphin.