Episodes

  • Johnny Carson: A Look at the iconic figure through the lens of Bill Zehme and Mike Thomas

    Johnny Carson: A Look at the iconic figure through the lens of Bill Zehme and Mike Thomas
    Sep 2 2025
    On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are traveling back in time to 1962 when the one-and-only Johnny Carson redefined late-night television as host of The Tonight Show. Traveling with us, is Mike Thomas with the best selling biography he co-wrote with Bill Zehme, Carson the Magnificent. In 2002, Bill Zehme landed one of the most coveted assignments for a magazine writer: an interview with Johnny Carson—the only one he’d granted since retiring from hosting The Tonight Show a decade earlier. Following Carson’s passing in 2005, Zehme embarked on an exhaustive nearly decade-long research journey, interviewing dozens of Carson’s colleagues and friends to craft this biography, although his efforts were halted by a cancer diagnosis. ” Mike Thomas, Zehme’s former research assistant, completed Carson the Magnificent to offer this honest assessment of who Johnny Carson really was. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    39 mins
  • Jeffrey Eugenides: Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides

    Jeffrey Eugenides: Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides
    Aug 27 2025
    .On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by Jeffrey Eugenides. Jeffrey is the bestselling novelist, short story writer and Pulitzer Prize-winner known for The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex and The Marriage Plot. Jeffrey was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2018 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. He has taught at Princeton and now serves as the Lewis and Loretta Glucksman Professor in American Letters at NYU. His next project, Icarus, is an Audible original coming this fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Fannie Flagg, Something to Look Forward To

    Fannie Flagg, Something to Look Forward To
    Aug 19 2025
    On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by a one-of-a-kind actress, author, comedian, and the ultimate dramatist, Fannie Flagg, with her latest offering, Something to Look Forward To. You know Fannie’s work, the New York Times best sellers: Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Fannie’s script for the movie Fried Green Tomatoes was nominated for an Academy Award and the Writers Guild of America Award and won the highly regarded Scripter Award for best screenplay of the year. She joins us today for a conversation like we’ve never had before about the books that shaped her and the legacy she leaves for writers everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr
  • Wally Lamb: The River is Waiting

    Wally Lamb: The River is Waiting
    Aug 12 2025
    On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by Wally Lamb and his latest, bestselling novel, The River is Waiting. You know Wally’s work as the esteemed Oprah’s Book Club selections: I’ll Take You There, We Are Water, Wishin’ and Hopin’, The Hour I First Believed, I Know This Much Is True, and She’s Come Undone. Wally also edited Couldn’t Keep It to Myself and I’ll Fly Away, two volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Connecticut, where he was a volunteer facilitator for twenty years. This is a conversation about addiction, redemption and forgiveness, and how faith and culture influence our art. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    56 mins
  • The Readers! Audience Questions from "The View from Lake Como" Tour

    The Readers! Audience Questions from "The View from Lake Como" Tour
    Aug 5 2025
    The best part of a book tour is seeing all of you. You showed up in 24 sold out cities to celebrate The View from Lake Como, and we had a ball! Your reviews for The View from Lake Como have meant the world, and your questions are illuminating. On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by… you! This week is dedicated to the thousands of you who joined us at events and shared your stories with us. Select events featured audience Q&As that we would like to share with you today. From Cleveland, OH to Westport, CT to Richmond, VA, your questions moved us and delighted us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    35 mins
  • LIVE with Christina Geist at The Westport Library: A Discussion on "The View from Lake Como"

    LIVE with Christina Geist at The Westport Library: A Discussion on "The View from Lake Como"
    Jul 29 2025
    It has been a joy to see you all this summer with The View from Lake Como. We are having a ball and can’t wait to see more of you on the road this week! We had a sold out crowd at The Westport Library in Connecticut, and we were thrilled to be joined by moderator Christina Geist for a conversation about The View from Lake Como. Christina Geist is author of three bestselling children’s books: Buddy’s Bedtime Battery; Sorry, Grown-Ups, You Can’t Go to School; and Buddy’s New Buddy. Her latest book, Before You Fly Away, is a must-read for teens and young adults starting life on their own. We loved this conversation with Christina and can’t wait to share it with you all here today. We’d like to thank the fabulous crew from Verso Studios at The Westport Library for the recording of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    53 mins
  • LIVE from Cleveland, OH with Ron Block: A Discussion on "The View from Lake Como"

    LIVE from Cleveland, OH with Ron Block: A Discussion on "The View from Lake Como"
    Jul 26 2025
    The Lake Como tour is in full swing! Thank you all for your support of The View from Lake Como- a New York Times, USA Today and Regional best seller across the country. We could not have done this without you! It has been a joy to see you on the road. We hope you loved our Lake Como Shows with Mike Trigiani and the Predictables., and we hope you have enjoyed our in-conversation events- one of which we are bringing you today. Thousands of you came out to see us in Youngstown and Cleveland, Ohio. This is our conversation with beloved librarian and dear friend, Ron Block, from the Cuyahoga County Public Library. Thank you to the library for the production of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • And Just Like That... Mario Cantone!

    And Just Like That... Mario Cantone!
    Jul 22 2025
    At long last, Mario Cantone is in the house! You know Mario for his iconic role as Anthony Marentino in Sex and the City and And Just Like That. A film and television aficionado, Mario is a recurring guest on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). He’s also a beloved stand-up comedian, known for his impressions of Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Bruce Springsteen, Jim Morrison, and Bette Davis. You can see Mario now in Season Three of And Just Like That on HBO Max. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    50 mins