Shows / Fresh Air
Fresh Air
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.
Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org. You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including weekly bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews from Fresh Air.
And subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Fresh Air…
Episodes
Fresh AirChallenges the U.S. military is facing in Iran
Defense analyst Stacie Pettyjohn says while the U.S. military is facing long-range missile shortages, prolonged deployments, and vacated regional bases, Iran…
Fresh AirJason Segel is not afraid of the ‘dirty underneath’
Segel returns to talk with Terry Gross about his Emmy-nominated series Shrinking, in which he plays a therapist who suffered a nervous breakdown in the wake of…
Fresh AirWhat evolution reveals about eating, dieting and fat
When you’re dieting to lose weight, human evolution is often working against you. We’ll talk about why with Daniel Lieberman, author of Fed Up and founder of…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: 'Spider-Man' dir. Destin Daniel Cretton / Novelist Harriet Clark
Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues to break box office records, after having the biggest U.S. opening weekend in history. Tonya Mosley talks with the film’s…
Fresh AirReckoning with America’s history of slavery
Poet and writer Clint Smith says we are taught to think of slavery as something that happened a long, long time ago. But then he learned that his grandfather's…
Fresh AirColman Domingo loves a challenge
Colman Domingo is nominated for two Emmy Awards for two very different performances — in the Netflix comedy The Four Seasons and in HBO's Euphoria. "I can go…
Fresh AirThe race for tech supremacy: The U.S. vs. China
China produces at least 70% of the world’s drones, electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar cells. And with the U.S. stockpile of munitions…
Fresh Air‘Spider-Man’ director Destin Daniel Cretton
Cretton grew up in Hawaii, and says movies expanded his perspective: “That is how I traveled. That is how I was exposed to other cultures. That's how I…
Fresh AirSilicon Valley billionaires’ war on democracy
Journalist Gil Durán argues that a small circle of Silicon Valley billionaires and venture capitalists have concluded that democracy is in their way — and that…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Jia Tolentino on plastic surgery & AI / ‘Beef’ creator Lee Sun Jin
Seven years ago, New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino coined the term “Instagram Face.” Now we talk about how current beauty standards are changing our…
Fresh AirRemembering ‘The Man Who Listens to Horses’
The internationally acclaimed horseman Monty Roberts defied the conventional method of breaking horses and developed his own gentler approach — based on…
Fresh AirNovelist Claire Vaye Watkins on the beauty & brutality of the desert
Claire Vaye Watkins' new novel, 'Yellow Pine,' is about a group of misfits and activists in the Mojave desert, fighting a corporate solar development. Living…
Fresh AirHow Trump made an estimated $2.2 billion last year
New York Times reporter Eric Lipton discusses his Pulitzer Prize-winning investigations into Trump’s conflicts of interest and whether he’s exploiting the…
Fresh AirJean Smart bids farewell to ‘Hacks’
The fifth and final season of the HBO comedy series ‘Hacks’ is nominated for 24 Emmys, including one for Smart as best actress in a comedy series. The writers…
- Fresh Air
Miss America ‘68, women’s lib, and the politics of beauty
Historian Micki McElya’s book, ‘Liberation Summer,’ revisits September 1968, when three groups of women converged on the Atlantic City boardwalk: feminists…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: ‘Odyssey’ translator Emily Wilson / Actor Jon Bernthal
Christopher Nolan’s new film ‘The Odyssey’ is a box-office hit, but classics scholar Emily Wilson, who translated Homer’s poem from the original text, says the…
Fresh AirRemembering Irish singer–songwriter Glen Hansard
Irish musician Glen Hansard, best-known for his band The Frames and his part in the 2007 film ‘Once,’ died July 29 in a motorcycle crash. He was 56. Hansard…
Fresh AirActor Jon Bernthal on grit, dedication & the teacher who saved him
Bernthal often plays intense, violent, damaged characters, like Mikey from ‘The Bear’ and Shane from ‘The Walking Dead.’ When talking about himself and his…
Fresh Air‘Odyssey’ translator Emily Wilson: Nolan should've hired a screenwriter
Renowned classics scholar Emily Wilson caused a stir when her critical review of Christopher Nolan's ‘The Odyssey’ went viral. Wilson explains her reaction to…
- Fresh Air
The forces that shape gun culture
Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘New York Times’ reporter Mike McIntire says gun companies and the NRA are broadening the scope of the Second Amendment, socializing…
Fresh AirFrench-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani on feminism & freedom
Award-winning writer Leïla Slimani grew up in Morocco, where women were second-class citizens, but inside her home and with her family, she was free to speak…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Broadway legend André De Shields / Apache Chef Nephi Craig
At the age of 80, André De Shields is now on Broadway in “CATS: The Jellicle Ball.” He won a Tony in 2019 for his performance in “Hadestown” and co-stars in…
Fresh AirA former nun on why she ran away from her 'Cloistered' life
Poverty, chastity, obedience, total devotion – and rebellion. Catherine Coldstream talks with Terry Gross about her years as a Carmelite nun and why she left…
Fresh AirLee Sung Jin on the breakthrough that led him to ‘BEEF’
The second season of Lee Sung Jin’s Netflix series ‘BEEF’ earned 16 Emmy nominations. Set at an exclusive country club, it stars Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan…
Fresh AirJia Tolentino on ‘Our Plastic Surgery Nightmare’
Botox, fillers, facelifts: Plastic surgery is becoming so normalized and undetectable, it's changing our relationship to reality. ‘New Yorker’ staff writer Jia…
Fresh AirBroadway legend André De Shields doesn't walk, he floats
At the age of 80, Broadway legend André De Shields now starring in "CATS: The Jellicle Ball." He won a Tony in 2019 for his performance in "Hadestown," and…
Fresh AirHarriet Clark spent 37 years visiting her mom in prison
In 1981, members of radical offshoots of the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers robbed a Brinks truck carrying over $1.5 million. It ended in a…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: ‘The Invite’ screenwriters / Guitarist Lenny Kaye
Rashida Jones and Will McCormack are the screenwriting duo behind ‘The Invite.’ It takes on the realities of marriage in middle age, told over the course of…
Fresh AirEbon Moss-Bachrach on ‘The Bear’
As ‘The Bear’ wraps its final season, TV critic David Bianculli reflects on the show’s run. Also, we listen back to our interview with Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who…
Fresh AirApache Chef Nephi Craig says cooking saved his life
White Mountain Apache chef Nephi Craig had an unconventional culinary path: from a reservation to a fine dining restaurant to cooking for 7,800 inmates while…
Fresh AirGold, secrets, never-ending meetings: Inside the Trump White House
Journalist Jonathan Swan’s book, ‘Regime Change,’ co-written with fellow ‘New York Times’ reporter Maggie Haberman, is a portrait of President Trump’s second…
- Fresh Air
Uncovering abuse inside America's largest ICE detention center
‘New Yorker’ staff writer Jonathan Blitzer says thousands of people are being held in tents in the El Paso, Texas, desert, where inhumane conditions have…
Fresh Air'The Invite' screenwriters Rashida Jones & Will McCormack
The new film, ‘The Invite,’ directed by Olivia Wilde, offers a portrait of a marriage in middle age, told over the course of one dinner party that spirals out…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Record producer Peter Asher / Romance writer Kennedy Ryan
Record producer and manager Peter Asher discovered James Taylor and launched Carole King’s career. Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote “I Want to Hold Your…
- Fresh Air
Remembering musical theater historian Robert Kimball
Kimball, who died July 2, was artistic advisor to Ira Gershwin. He wrote books about the Gershwins, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, and helped unearth unknown…
Fresh AirGuitarist Lenny Kaye on Patti Smith, Nuggets, and his solo debut
Kaye's collaboration with Patti Smith began in 1971 and continues to this day. He says she taught him to trust his musical sensibilities — and to always keep…
Fresh AirA look at new barriers at the ballot box
The rules of the midterms are being rewritten, from redistricting to campaign money. Mother Jones journalist Ari Berman explains why President Trump seems…
Fresh AirLegendary record producer & manager Peter Asher
Asher remembers when Paul McCartney and John Lennon played “I Want to Hold Your Hand” for him for the first time. “I thought, am I losing my mind, or is this…
Fresh AirWriter Rachel Aviv explores the complexity of the mother-daughter bond
‘New Yorker’ staff writer Rachel Aviv spent years reporting stories about mothers and daughters searching for each other. When she became a mom, she saw…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Tennis stars Chris Evert & Martina Navratilova / American Culture Wars
The two most famous women’s tennis champions of their generation, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, talk about being friends and rivals. After they had…
Fresh AirSteven Spielberg
After making ‘ET’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Steven Spielberg returns to the theme of extraterrestrials in his new film…
Fresh AirWriter Kennedy Ryan uses romance novels as a vehicle for discourse
The romance books Kennedy Ryan read growing up rarely included characters who looked like her. Now she deliberately centers people the genre has left out –…
Fresh AirThe “bullies of the tick world” are on the hunt
The lone star tick seeks out its blood meal and transmits a potentially dangerous allergy to red meat. ‘New Yorker’ staff writer Burkhard Bilger talks with…
- Fresh Air
Banned books, shocking art & the birth of the culture wars
“The culture wars have completely eaten America,” says author Isaac Butler. His new book, ‘The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America’s…
Fresh AirTennis rivals Chris Evert & Martina Navratilova team up against cancer
Once the most successful women’s tennis champions of their generation, Evert and Navratilova open up about friendship, cancer and retirement in the Netflix…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Laverne Cox /Comic Ali Siddiq
For over a decade, Laverne Cox has been one of the most visible trans women in America. In her new memoir, ‘Transcendent,’ she writes about growing up in…
- Fresh Air
Remembering master of the TV sitcom, James Burrows
We remember one of the most sought-after directors in television, James Burrows. He died June 19 at age 85. Burrows worked on many classic sitcoms including…
Fresh AirPlaywright Anna Deavere Smith turns to her family’s history for inspiration
For more than 50 years, Anna Deavere Smith has pioneered a type of theater built from real people's words, interviewing hundreds of Americans and then…
- Fresh Air
"Masculinsim" goes mainstream: a movement to fight feminism
Masculinism is a belief that feminism emasculates men, and men should be in control while women stay at home raising children. Atlantic staff writer Helen…
Fresh AirWendell Pierce is a proud journeyman actor
Wendell Pierce is working as hard as ever. He says he's motivated by the "ticking clock of mortality" — and the desire to challenge himself as an actor. He's…
Fresh AirLaverne Cox
For more than a decade, actor Laverne Cox has been one of the most visible trans women in America. But the ‘Orange Is the New Black’ star says she spent most…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: A family split by race / Eddie Glaude Jr. on America at 250
Pope Leo XIV’s Creole family roots inspired New Orleanian journalist Susan Saulny to research her Creole great-uncle who moved to Chicago, identified himself…
- Fresh Air
The collapse of Freedman’s Bank / Remembering Abdullah Ibrahim
‘In Savings and Trust,’ historian Justene Hill Edwards tells the story of the Freedman's Bank. Created for formerly enslaved people following the Civil War…
Fresh AirComic Ali Siddiq on fatherhood, prison, and his biggest regret
Siddiq grew up in Houston with a largely absent father. In his new stand-up special, he paints a picture of the flawed man he admired – and reflects on his own…
- Fresh Air
An inside look at President Trump's campaign to acquire Greenland
New Yorker writer Ben Taub tells Dave Davies that while the idea of acquiring Greenland is out of the headlines, it hasn’t been dropped by Trump. Taub…
- Fresh Air
Remembering the nation's 'Lost Founder'
Jesse Wegman talks to Dave Davies about James Wilson. A brilliant lawyer who helped craft the U.S. Constitution, Wilson lived a colorful life and died as a…
Fresh AirScholar Eddie Glaude Jr. reflects on America at 250
Glaude's book, 'America, U.S.A.,' looks at the country through the lens of its previous anniversaries and centennials. Today, as in the past, he tells Tonya…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: 'Book of Mormon' turns 15 / Actor Clarke Peters
Fifteen 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…
- Fresh Air
Andrew Scott/Remembering author Marjane Satrapi
In the new film 'Pressure,' Scott plays an Army meteorologist advising military officials on the date for the D-Day invasion. He spoke to Terry Gross in 2024…
Fresh Air'Daily Show' comic Josh Johnson
Johnson says he’s not shy about sharing his insecurities on stage. "One of the most connected attributes of the human condition ... is just being flawed," he…