To celebrate the fourth season of The Bear, we return to our conversation with Emmy-winning actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

At the top, we dive into the making of the hit series (9:22), his unforgettable collaboration with Jeremy Allen White (11:20), and how Moss-Bachrach manages to keep adding layers to his portrayal of Cousin Richie (14:26). Then, he describes the mounting pressures around this new season (19:23), the day he knew he wanted to be an actor (27:35), and his work through the years with actor Jon Bernthal (30:26).

On the back-half, Ebon reflects on a formative role as a jazz musician in Warren Leight’s play Side Man (35:34), his ideas about success and living a more balanced life (38:19), his experience playing Desi in Girls (43:33), a philosophy depicted in The Bear (47:35), and the art he hopes to continue making in years to come (50:38).

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In just under a decade, Jerrod Carmichael has had a remarkably varied career. On the heels of his latest HBO special, we return to our conversation with Emmy-winning comedian.

At the top, we unpack the origin of his deeply personal series Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show (6:30), his early days making his NBC sitcom (10:57), and why he decided to broadcast a deeply intimate conversation on the reality show (13:00). Then, he unpacks his view of the camera as a vessel for honesty (17:10), the response from audiences witnessing Jerrod ‘Truman Show’ himself (21:30), and his three-decade history of storytelling (34:15).

On the back-half, Carmichael describes the artists who inspired his work (43:00), a formative performance in his first HBO special Love at the Store (50:50), and the evolution of his comedy (57:37). To close, he reflects on the central truth he explores in this new series (59:30) and how he hopes this art will at long last set himself—and his family—free (1:08:30).

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Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com. This conversation was recorded at Spotify Studios in Los Angeles.

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Oscar winner Sam Rockwell has established himself as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. In our recent sit-down, recorded at the Tribeca Audio Festival, we trace the arc of that career culminating in his season-stealing turn in The White Lotus.

We begin with his bifurcated childhood, split between San Francisco and New York City (10:00), falling in love with the movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s (15:30), the cathartic release of performance (18:05), advice from the late Gene Hackman on the set of Heist (21:28), his career-defining turn in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (23:14), and how he gradually began to lean into vulnerability as an artist (33:47).

In the second half, a tribute to Christopher Walken (34:45) and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman (38:32), a dissection of that scene from season three of The White Lotus (44:06), why he tapped into his childhood to portray Bob Fosse in Fosse/Verdon (50:50), and the monologue from Death of a Salesman (52:49) that started it all.

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And a special thanks to actor Spencer Neville for the assist on today’s introduction.

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For the past twenty-four years, Seth Meyers has built a comedy career inside the walls of 30 Rock. We join him there today for our Father’s Day special, reflecting on the past decade of Late Night.

At the top, we talk about making the show four nights a week (3:35), his approach to parenting as seen in his HBO special Dad Man Walking (10:38), and the formative lessons that shaped his comedic voice (14:25). Then, we unpack the characters he brought to his SNL audition (18:45), what it takes to get a sketch from read-through to air (25:09), and an infamous 2004 scene Seth performed opposite Donald Trump (30:40).

On the back-half, Meyers revisits his legendary White House Correspondents Dinner monologue (38:09), how that night unexpectedly set him on the path to Late Night (44:00), and how his singular approach to the talk show was born (45:10). To close, we take A Closer Look at his Strike Force Five co-hosts (46:30), the future of SNL (52:40), and an early memory of Seth’s father that inspired his creativity (55:12).

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Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) has long turned to music to make sense of the past. Today, she joins us to unpack all of the emotional terrain covered in her latest album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women).

We discuss the literary (6:08) and musical (7:32) influences that shaped the new record, her transformative year spent living and writing in Korea (13:12), and the daily diary she kept while abroad (15:44). We then celebrate her late mother (18:56), her exploration of identity in Crying in H Mart (23:19), and the song “Heft” born out of that ongoing grief (29:49).

On the back half, Zauner recounts her breakout performance at SXSW (35:30) and unpacks her evolving relationship with her father in the wake of her mother’s passing (43:17), her plans for a second book (56:40), and how she’s coming into her own on this latest world-wide tour (58:02).

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This episode was recorded at Spotify Studios.

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Since his bestselling novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous debuted in 2019, Ocean Vuong has become one of the most beloved writers of his generation. He first sat with Sam in 2021 amid the pandemic.

Today, Vuong returns to discuss the personal history within his latest novel, The Emperor of Gladness—a piece of fiction that draws from the contours of his own coming-of-age in East Hartford, Connecticut (5:43). We begin with the class dynamics at the heart of the book (9:27), the surrogate family he found working at Boston Market (21:22), and his formative college years in New York City (28:18).

On the back half, we walk through how Ocean’s work continues to honor the memory of his late mother (36:48), the devastating impact of the opioid crisis (41:40), and his own journey to sobriety (45:03). To close, Vuong reflects on the childlike wonder behind his poem “Dear Sara” from Time Is a Mother (1:04:52), why he still loves teaching creative writing (1:18:30), and how all of these experiences deliver him back to the page, each and every day (1:26:00).

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Even before Jelani Cobb became Dean of the Columbia Journalism School, he was an educator. His reportage at The New Yorker (where he’s been writing about race and politics since 2012), steeped in history. And yet not even Cobb could’ve been prepared for what he’s described as a “harrowing” year in academia.

On the heels of graduation week at Columbia, Cobb joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about the climate on campuses across the country (5:17), the Trump administration’s sustained attacks on higher education (9:07), and the “potentially unlawful” detainment of student activist Mahmoud Khalil (15:57). Then, Cobb speaks to the challenges of public trust in journalism (30:35), “the beneficial workplace” he hopes to cultivate in newsrooms (39:39), and why young journalists continue to inspire him (45:45).

On the back-half, Jelani reflects on the five years since the murder of George Floyd (55:55), the fleeting corporate activism of 2020 (1:01:05), the importance of understanding Civil Rights history (1:06:13), and why he’s determined to continue telling stories in “dangerous times” (1:10:30).

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To commemorate the release of her new, deeply personal Netflix special ‘PostMortem,’ we revisit our conversation with Sarah Silverman.

At the top, we reflect on loss (7:16), her HBO special Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love (12:35), and coming of age in the ‘80s (18:42). Then, Silverman talks about her early comedic influences (25:35), her path from SNL to Los Angeles (32:30), and the mentorship of Garry Shandling (35:10).

On the back-half, we walk through the evolution of her provocative work, from The Sarah Silverman Program (38:42) to I Love You, America (46:52), the connective tissue of The Sarah Silverman Podcast (49:12), and the legacy of her beloved, late father (51:57).

Original air date: June 18, 2023.

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