Fresh Air with Terry Gross

12/30/2024

Slight change to our lineup for the rest of our "dark week"

12/20/2024

Here's the interview lineup for the rest of the year!

12/20/2024

Review: Nickel Boys is one of the most thrillingly inventive literary adaptations our critic has seen in years, while The Brutalist is a rare American films that feels genuinely worthy of the word "epic."

Nickel Boys is one of the most thrillingly inventive literary adaptations our critic has seen in years, while The Brutalist is a rare American films that feels genuinely worthy of the word "epic."

12/19/2024

Sun Ra didn't always connect with traditional jazz audiences, but he found a second home doing so in Baltimore. A new double album revisit a show he and his "Arkestra" gave there. Hear jazz historian Kevin Whitehead's piece on it: https://tinyurl.com/2b6z5ptu

12/19/2024

Filmmaker and writer Miranda July's been surprised by the reaction to her novel, 'All Fours,' which centers on a 45-year-old married woman who has an erotic affair: "I've had people tell me that ... it was all there, all their true feelings."

Listen: https://tinyurl.com/2726b894

Photo: Elizabeth Weinberg

12/18/2024

So what happens to TikTok on January 19 if there's no intervention to stop the ban? It could just go dark, that is one possibility. But law professor Alan Rozenshtein thinks that more likely the app will move its servers out of the U.S., and the app's user experience will deteriorate.

Listen: https://tinyurl.com/c6b9j9x6

12/18/2024

David Bianculli watches more TV than anyone he knows. He found it impossible to come up with a top 10 list this year — and is reveling in the abundance of exceptional shows. Here are his stand-outs.

Fresh Air critic David Bianculli watches more TV than anyone he knows. He found it impossible to come up with a top 10 list this year — and is reveling in the abundance of exceptional shows.

12/17/2024

Grammy and Oscar-winning sibling pair Billie Eilish and Finneas talk with Terry Gross about their new album, 'Hit Me Hard and Soft,' voice lessons, and their favorite homework assignment.

The Grammy Award-winning singer says working with a vocal coach "honestly changed my life." Eilish and her brother/collaborator Finneas talk about their new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft.

12/16/2024

When comic Ronny Chieng got a job as a correspondent and then anchor at The Daily Show, he kept the news to himself. "I didn't want to brag," the Malaysia-born comic says. "I just wanted to do the work." Chieng now costars in the series Interior Chinatown, and has a new Netflix comedy special, Love to Hate It. Listen: https://tinyurl.com/spzev4t2

12/13/2024

We're revisiting Terry Gross's 2021 interview with EGOT-nominated star of 'Wicked,' Cynthia Erivo.
Listen: https://tinyurl.com/3vurftps

12/12/2024

Stephen Colbert and his wife Evie have co-written a cookbook of family recipes, inspired by their South Carolina roots. The two of them talked with Terry Gross about their time in the kitchen together.

What do cooking and a nightly TV show have in common? Both require "a little care, a little love and a little imagination," says Stephen Colbert. He and his wife Evie Colbert have written a cookbook.

12/12/2024

If you've moved to Bluesky (from Twitter/X) you can find Fresh Air there now: https://bsky.app/profile/nprfreshair.bsky.social

12/11/2024

The U.S. is short approximately four million homes. Wharton economist Ben Keys traces the beginning of the housing crisis to the 2008 financial meltdown — and says climate change is making things worse.

12/11/2024

Review: Earlier this year, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof fled his country to escape an eight-year prison sentence. His new film centers on a middle class family grappling with Iran's social unrest.

Earlier this year, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof fled his country to escape an eight-year prison sentence. His new film centers on a middle class family grappling with Iran's social unrest.

12/10/2024

Danielle Deadwyler stars in the Netflix adaptation of the August Wilson play 'The Piano Lesson.' She spoke with Tonya Mosley about her journey from the Atlanta theater scene to the big screen, her three masters degrees, and playing Mamie Till, mother of Emmett, in the 2022 movie 'Till.'

LISTEN: https://tinyurl.com/bdd78kzc

12/10/2024

Our book critic Maureen Corrigan picks her top 10 of the year.

This year, our Fresh Air book critic highlights alternative history, suspense, satire — and some of the most extraordinary letters ever written. Here are Maureen Corrigan's 10 best books of 2024.

12/09/2024

Jon Batiste hears the blues in Beethoven, and demonstrates today behind the piano. He also tells Terry Gross about how he was nearly kicked out of Juilliard, and about filming the Netflix documentary 'American Symphony.'

Batiste re-imagines Beethoven compositions in his new album. It's "not that the original wasn't great and transcendent..." he says. "But there's also a lot of things since then that have happened."

12/06/2024

Review: In this adaptation of Burroughs' autobiographical novel, Craig plays an American who falls hard for a younger man in 1950s Mexico City. It's a singular performance, but also a deeply human one.

In this adaptation of Burroughs' autobiographical novel, Craig plays an American who falls hard for a younger man in 1950s Mexico City. It's a singular performance, but also a deeply human one.