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. Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair And subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Fresh Air Weekly, to get interview highlights, staff recommendations, gems from the archive, and the week's interviews and reviews all in one place. Sign up at www.whyy.org/freshair

Episodes

A Girl Grows Up In The Epicenter Of Gay Liberation

October 17, 2025 • 44 mins
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 dawn of the gay liberation movement. He raised her in 1970’s San Francisco, after her mother died. He later died from complications from AIDS. Abbott spoke with Terry Gross in 2013. 

John Powers reviews the new film Blue Moon, directed by R...
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A Story Of Indigenous Survival & Resurgence

October 16, 2025 • 43 mins
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 becomes an existential question. "To live a life in an Indigenous way is a kind of profound thing, and it has been really beautiful to get to make art and tell stories from that position." NoiseCat spoke with Terry Gross about his father's origin story, dancing ...
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How Trump’s Transactional Nature Led To The Ceasefire

October 15, 2025 • 45 mins
Former State Department negotiator Aaron David Miller, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, attributes the Gaza deal in part to Trump's transactional nature and breaking of traditional diplomatic crockery. Miller spoke with Dave Davies about the prospects for lasting peace and recovery in the territory. 

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Remembering Diane Keaton

October 14, 2025 • 45 mins
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 Marvin's Room, Reds, The First Wives Club and Something’s Gotta Give. But it was her starring role in the Woody Allen classic Annie Hall that made Keaton an American film icon. The Oscar-winning actor spoke with Terry Gross in 1997 about finding the character's...
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Mitch Albom Is A 'Walking Example Of A Second Chance'

October 13, 2025 • 43 mins
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 born with that exact power, but every second chance comes with a cost. Albom talks with Tonya Mosley about his new book, and the lasting influence of Morrie Schwartz, his old college professor who died in 1995 of ALS. Nearly 30 years ago, Albom chronicled their weekly visits...
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Best Of: Dwayne Johnson / Comic Cristela Alonzo

October 11, 2025 • 48 mins
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 injuries, and his wrestling personas.

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 the culture shock of having money after growing up so poor ...
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Jane Goodall

October 10, 2025 • 45 mins
Today we’re remembering renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, known for her work researching the behavior of chimpanzees and protecting their habitats. She died last week at the age of 91. "Every time somebody discovers an animal doing something that we used to think was unique to us, there is this scientific uproar, because we [humans] have to keep our uniqueness. And of course the chimps have challenged this belief again and again...
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National Guard Deployment In American Cities

October 9, 2025 • 45 mins
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 are welcoming the troops -- even requesting them. Tonya Mosley talks with Atlantic national security staff writer Nancy Youssef about these deployments and the tensions building inside the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Hegseth has told military leaders...
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Laufey Is Unapologetically Herself

October 8, 2025 • 46 mins
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 been inspired by Golden Age films, the va-va-voom of it all," the Grammy-winning artist says. Laufey sings and plays in the studio throughout the conversation. Her new album is A Matter of Time. 

Also, Ken Tucker reviews Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl. 
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'Dopesick' Writer Returns To Her 'Fractured' Hometown

October 7, 2025 • 45 mins
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 now embrace conspiracy theories. She spoke with Dave Davies about her new memoir, Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America. 

Also, TV critic David Bianculli shares an appreciation of Twilight Zone writer/producer Rod Serling. 



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Poet Ada Limón On Writing In Uncertain Times

October 6, 2025 • 45 mins
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 to nature. She believes that poetry can sometimes tell a better story than a traditional memoir. Limón spoke with Tonya Mosley about her new collection, Startlement.

Also, Ken Tucker reviews the re-release of the album Buckingham Nicks.

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Best Of: Scarlett Johansson & June Squibb / Mark Ronson

October 4, 2025 • 47 mins
Oscar-nominated actors Scarlett Johansson and June Squibb talk about their new film, Eleanor The Great. In Johansson's directorial debut, a woman starts passing off her deceased friend's Holocaust survival story as her own.

Also, Grammy-winning producer Mark Ronson talks about his memoir Night People—a love letter to the '90s club scene in New York City. He's 50 now and still DJing, but some things have definitely changed....
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Al Pacino & Sidney Lumet: 'Dog Day Afternoon' At 50

October 3, 2025 • 46 mins
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 classic film Dog Day Afternoon. We're featuring our interviews with director Sidney Lumet and with Al Pacino, who starred as the bank robber. Lumet gave his lead license to take the role as far as he wanted, and then pushed Pacino to do more. "It's...
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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

October 2, 2025 • 45 mins
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 Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine. He spoke with Terry Gross about his many injuries, his relationship with his late father, and his wrestling personas. 


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Implications Of The DOJ Targeting The President’s Critics

October 1, 2025 • 45 mins
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. attorney) Barbara McQuade explains how this damages the rule of law.


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Mark Ronson On DJing In The '90s

September 30, 2025 • 44 mins
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 like clay or Play-Doh, like the whole crowd is this thing that you're able to mold together. It's incredible. It's kind of why I can't stop DJing," he tells Tonya Mosley. "It's still a feeling that I only get from this one thing, no matter what else I do in my work as a prod...
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Comic Cristela Alonzo

September 29, 2025 • 44 mins
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, being mentored by labor activist Dolores Huerta, and the culture shock of having money after growing up so poor. Her new Netflix stand-up special is called Upper Classy. 

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Best Of: Samin Nosrat / Elizabeth Gilbert

September 27, 2025 • 48 mins
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 if I achieved all of these things, that that would fill this hole of loneliness in my heart," she tells Fresh Air's Sam Briger. Nosrat's new book, Good Things, is about sharing food with the people you love.

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Jimmy Kimmel's Path To Late Night

September 26, 2025 • 44 mins
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 David Letterman obsession as a teen and the pressure of putting on a late night show.

Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews House of Guinness, the new Netflix series by Stephen Knight, who brought us the shows Peaky Blinders and A Thousand Blows. Film critic Justi...
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Scarlett Johansson & June Squibb On 'Eleanor The Great'

September 25, 2025 • 43 mins
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. "It's rare to feel surprised when you read a script," Johansson says. Squibb stars as Eleanor. They spoke with Tonya Mosley about Squibb's Broadway nickname, Johansson's memories of working with the late Robert Redford, and hosting SNL.

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