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.
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Episodes
- Fresh Air
Ethan Hawke On The Role That Pushed Him To His Limit
"Every now and then you bump up against a part that presses you to the wall of your ability," Hawke says of playing lyricist Lorenz Hart in ‘Blue Moon.’ Hawke…
- Fresh Air
Who Is Laura Loomer, Trump's 'Loyalty Enforcer'?
'New Yorker’ staff writer Antonia Hitchens describes how Laura Loomer went from a conspiracy theorist to a close ally of Trump who’s gotten government…
- Fresh Air
Nutrition, SNAP & Why We Need A Food Revolution
Food policy expert and nutritionist Marion Nestle's 2006 book, ‘What to Eat,’ became a consumer bible of sorts when it came out, guiding readers through the…
- Fresh Air
Tim Robbins Believes In The Power Of Theater
The Oscar-winning actor/director has a new play, “Topsy Turvy,” about a chorus that loses its ability to sing together after COVID isolation."Things that I had…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Judd Apatow / Misty Copeland
Before he was directing box office hits or launching the careers of comedy superstars, Judd Apatow was a kid writing fan letters to his heroes, collecting…
- Fresh Air
Patti Smith’s ‘Horses’ Turns 50
50 years ago next week, Patti Smith released her debut album, ‘Horses,’ ushering in a new era of rock and roll. We’re listening back to portions of our…
- Fresh Air
Trump's Options To Subvert The 2026 Midterms
'Atlantic' journalist David Graham describes how President Trump could potentially use troops near polling places, pressure local election workers and have…
- Fresh Air
Misty Copeland Begins A New Chapter
Copeland says her final performance with American Ballet Theatre was a thank you to the communities that had supported her. "What I represented is something…
- Fresh Air
The Undoing Of The Department Of Justice
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis talk about why the U.S. Justice Department’s cases against Donald Trump for alleged…
- Fresh Air
Richard Linklater: 'Filmmaking Is Problem Solving'
Filmmaker Richard Linklater doesn't speak French, but that didn't stop him from directing a movie that's almost entirely in French. ‘Nouvelle Vague’ focuses on…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Guillermo Del Toro / Cameron Crowe
The great filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro has a new adaptation of Frankenstein. He saw the 1931 film when he was 7. “I realized I understood my faith better…
- Fresh Air
The Making Of ‘Young Frankenstein’
Mel Brooks’s classic 1974 movie Young Frankenstein parodies the iconic Frankenstein movies of the 1930s. This Halloween, we’re featuring our interviews with…
- Fresh Air
The ‘Shadow President’ Dismantling The Government
In a New Yorker article co-published with ProPublica, reporter Andy Kroll describes Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, as a…
- Fresh Air
Filmmaker Nia DaCosta Defies Categorization
DaCosta directed the box office hit horror movie Candyman and The Marvels. Her latest, Hedda, is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 1891 play, Hedda Gabler. She…
- Fresh Air
Judd Apatow Unpacks His Comedy Memorabilia
Long before Judd Apatow was directing box office hits or launching the careers of comedy superstars, he was a fan. As a kid he wrote letters to his heroes…
- Fresh Air
For Cameron Crowe, Being 'Uncool' Is A Badge Of Honor
The filmmaker's new memoir, 'The Uncool,' is about his teen years in the '70s as a rock journalist for 'Rolling Stone.' His unconventional story was dramatized…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Malala Yousafzai / Ken Burns On The Revolutionary War
We know Malala as the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, the girl who survived a Taliban bullet at 15 for advocating for girls' education in Pakistan. Now in a new…
- Fresh Air
Remembering NPR 'Founding Mother' Susan Stamberg
As longtime co-host of All Things Considered, Stamberg was the first woman to anchor a national news program in the U.S. People weren't used to hearing women's…
- Fresh Air
Guillermo Del Toro Finally Makes His Own 'Frankenstein'
When Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was a kid growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, he would draw monsters all day. His deeply Catholic grandmother…
- Fresh Air
Confused By The U.S. Economy? You're Not Alone
How are changing tariffs, the AI boom, immigration policies and uncertainty in employment and the stock market impacting the economy? Zanny Minton Beddoes…
- Fresh Air
Malala Yousafzai On Breaking Rules & Finding Her Way
After surviving the Taliban's 2012 attempted assassination, activist Malala Yousafzai didn't back down. She continued to advocate for girls' education across…
- Fresh Air
Ken Burns On The American Revolution
Burns' new six-part PBS documentary series includes the perspectives of women, Native Americans and enslaved and free Black people — all of whom were initially…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Julian Brave NoiseCat / Laufey
Julian Brave NoiseCat's Oscar-nominated documentary Sugarcane is about the mostly Catholic missionary boarding schools which Indigenous children, including…
- Fresh Air
A Girl Grows Up In The Epicenter Of Gay Liberation
The new movie Fairyland, produced by Sofia Coppola, is adapted from the memoir by Alysia Abbott. She wrote about being the child of a gay single father at the…
- Fresh Air
A Story Of Indigenous Survival & Resurgence
Filmmaker and writer Julian Brave NoiseCat is the son of an Indigenous Canadian father and white mother. After a cultural genocide, he says, living your life…
- Fresh Air
How Trump’s Transactional Nature Led To The Ceasefire
Former State Department negotiator Aaron David Miller, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, attributes the Gaza deal in part…
- Fresh Air
Remembering Diane Keaton
The incomparable Diane Keaton died last week at age 79. Her career spanned more than five decades and 60 film and TV roles, including standout performances in…
- Fresh Air
Mitch Albom Is A 'Walking Example Of A Second Chance'
Albom's new novel, Twice, asks a question most of us have daydreamed about: what if you could go back and relive any moment of your life? In the book, a man is…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Dwayne Johnson / Comic Cristela Alonzo
WWE superstar Dwayne Johnson plays MMA fighter Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine. "The Rock" spoke with Terry Gross about the role, his many…
- Fresh Air
Jane Goodall
Today we’re remembering renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, known for her work researching the behavior of chimpanzees and protecting their habitats. She died…
- Fresh Air
National Guard Deployment In American Cities
President Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Portland, Chicago and D.C., and while Democrat-led states are fighting back, some Republican-led states…
- Fresh Air
Laufey Is Unapologetically Herself
Icelandic jazz-pop star Laufey spoke with Terry Gross about her classical training in cello, breaking out online during COVID, and her first arena tour. "I've…
- Fresh Air
'Dopesick' Writer Returns To Her 'Fractured' Hometown
Journalist and Dopesick author Beth Macy returned to the Ohio factory town where she grew up to find jobs have left, families are struggling and old friends…
- Fresh Air
Poet Ada Limón On Writing In Uncertain Times
As the nation’s 24th Poet Laureate, Ada Limón has spent her career writing about the hardest parts of being human: loss, grief, longing, and our relationship…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Scarlett Johansson & June Squibb / Mark Ronson
Oscar-nominated actors Scarlett Johansson and June Squibb talk about their new film, Eleanor The Great. In Johansson's directorial debut, a woman starts…
- Fresh Air
Al Pacino & Sidney Lumet: 'Dog Day Afternoon' At 50
A film about a man trying to fund a gender-affirming operation by robbing a bank sounds like a modern-day plot. But 50 years ago, that was the scenario for the…
- Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
The WWE superstar considered pursuing a career in mixed martial arts before realizing, "I don't like getting punched in the face." Johnson plays MMA fighter…
- Fresh Air
Implications Of The DOJ Targeting The President’s Critics
President Trump is pressuring the Department of Justice to pursue his political enemies, like former FBI director James Comey. Legal scholar (and former U.S…
- Fresh Air
Mark Ronson On DJing In The '90s
Oscar and Grammy-winning music producer Mark Ronson says nothing beats the rush of a great DJ set. "You can call it the scream, the chant, whatever it is. It's…
- Fresh Air
Comic Cristela Alonzo
For the first seven years of her life, Cristela Alonzo lived in an abandoned diner in a south Texas border town. She spoke with Terry Gross about ICE raids…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Samin Nosrat / Elizabeth Gilbert
After the tremendous success of Salt Fat Acid Heat, chef and author Samin Nosrat realized she needed to recalibrate her life. "I really believed on some level…
- Fresh Air
Jimmy Kimmel's Path To Late Night
With Jimmy Kimmel Live! at the center of a free speech debate, we're revisiting Kimmel's 2013 interview with Terry Gross. The late night host talked about his…
- Fresh Air
Scarlett Johansson & June Squibb On 'Eleanor The Great'
Actor Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with Eleanor The Great, about a 94-year-old woman who claims her dead friend's Holocaust story as her own…
- Fresh Air
Samin Nosrat Is Embracing 'Good Things'
After the tremendous success of Salt Fat Acid Heat, chef and author Samin Nosrat realized she needed to recalibrate her life. "I really believed on some level…
- Fresh Air
Elizabeth Gilbert On Love, Loss, And Liberation
Elizabeth Gilbert's new memoir, All the Way to the River, is an unflinching personal account of addiction, grief, and healing. The book tells the story of her…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Jude Law / Pedro Pascal
Jude Law now stars in the thriller series Black Rabbit on Netflix. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the show, working with a dialect coach, and why he worked…
- Fresh Air
Robert Redford, Over The Years
The legendary actor died Tuesday at age 89. He spoke with Terry Gross about his movies, creating the Sundance Film Festival and Institute, and why he couldn't…
- Fresh Air
How Charlie Kirk Became A Voice Of Conservative Youth
In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination on Sept. 10, NYT reporter Robert Draper talks with Terry Gross about the conservative activist's rise and legacy…
- Fresh Air
Mary Roach On Our Remarkable, Replaceable Bodies
Science writer Mary Roach is fascinated by the human body, especially, she says, the "gooey bits and pieces of us that are performing miracles on a daily…
- Fresh Air
The Cost Of Gun Violence On Black Life
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Trymaine Lee's new memoir, A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Violence on Black Life in America, is part history, and…
Fresh AirTerry Gross On 50 Years Of Fresh Air (Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso)
This month marks 50 years of Terry Gross as the host of Fresh Air. What began in 1975 as a local experiment at WHYY in Philadelphia has since grown into a…
- Fresh Air
Best Of: Rob Reiner On 'Spinal Tap II' / Billy Strings
Rob Reiner talks with Terry Gross about directing the new sequel to Spinal Tap, the mockumentary about a heavy metal band. He’ll also talk about his remarkable…
- Fresh Air
Inside Netflix's 'Adolescence'
The Netflix miniseries follows a 13-year-old accused of murdering a girl from his school. Co-creator and star Stephen Graham says he read about similar crimes…
- Fresh Air
NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner
Veteran Air Force linguist Reality Winner was working at the NSA in 2017 when she leaked a classified document to the press about Russian election…
- Fresh Air
The Future Of Free And Fair Elections
Before 2026's midterms, President Trump wants to ban mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines, and change voting rules. Legal expert Richard Hasen…
- Fresh Air
Rob Reiner's 'Spinal Tap' Still Goes To 11
Reiner's 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap sparked a new genre of satire. Now, more than 40 years later, the band is back in a new sequel, Spinal Tap II…
- Fresh Air
Bluegrass Star Billy Strings
The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and guitarist has one foot in traditional bluegrass and another in improvisational jam music. He has a new album, Live at…
- Fresh Air
Best Of : Jane Fonda / Spike Lee
At 87, Oscar-winning actor Jane Fonda is pouring her energy into activism. She’ll reflect on her decades-long career, and how she first began her fitness…
- Fresh Air
Noah Wyle, Star Of 'The Pitt'
After 11 seasons on ER, Noah Wyle thought he was finished with medical dramas: "I spent 15 years avoiding — actively avoiding — walking down what I thought was…