Next Question with Katie Couric
Tired of political headlines that feel like déjà vu? Wondering if you actually need to care about every controversy? This season, Katie’s asking those same questions—and talking to the people who have real answers. From political insiders to sharp-eyed journalists, she’s breaking down what’s worth your attention (and what’s not), with smarts, sanity, and even a little humor. Because none of us can be tuned in 24/7—but we can stay informed without losing our minds. Tune in every Thursday and join Katie Couric and her guests for a conversation on NEXT QUESTION.
Episodes
If you only listen to one thing to make sense of the news this year… make it this. The final episode of this season of Next Question pulls together the most important conversations of the year. You’ll hear David Graham on Project 2025, Liz Oyer on the plethora of presidential pardons, Tina Brown on the year’s biggest scandals here at home and across the pond. Plus, many more. It’s a crash course in the last...
Katie turns to veteran New York Times correspondent David Sanger to help make sense of a whirlwind few weeks in national security. Sanger explains why President Trump is using the U.S. military in ways he’s never seen in the five presidencies he’s covered—from sinking more than 20 boats in the Caribbean to deploying the National Guard in cities without clear emergencies. Katie presses him on the unanswered questio...
In this special live episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, recorded at the 92nd Street Y, New York, Katie sits down with beauty icon Bobbi Brown to talk about her new memoir Still Bobbi: A Masterclass in Leading an Authentic Life. The two longtime friends share stories from Bobbi’s trailblazing career — from Bobbi’s guest appearances as a regular contributor on the Today Show to the creation of Bobbi Brown C...
CAR T therapy has delivered remarkable results for people with certain blood cancers—sometimes sending aggressive disease into deep remission after a single infusion. But today, only about 20% of eligible patients can actually get it. In this episode, sponsored by our partners at Allogene Therapeutics, Katie sits down with Dr. Zachary Roberts to unpack why access remains so limited and how new allogeneic (or “off-the-sh...
Katie sits down with Congresswoman Sarah McBride, the first openly trans person in Congress, for a wide-ranging conversation about her tumultuous first year on Capitol Hill. They talk about the chaos of Trump’s second term, the potential release of the Epstein files, and the role trans rights played in the last Presidential election. McBride also opens up about hope, the future of the Democratic party, and why hard conversati...
Since his stroke in 2022, Senator John Fetterman has been battling—battling clinical depression, his own party, frustrated constituents, and even the political culture itself. At 6’8” and clad in his trademark hoodies, Fetterman has never fit the conventional congressional mold. But where does that leave him now, as he continues to defy expectations and confound both allies and critics?
From the government shutdow...
In this honest, funny, and sometimes raw conversation with Katie Couric, the bestselling author, podcaster, and professor Scott Galloway opens up about his new book Notes on Being a Man. In it, he’s on a mission to set out a kind of code for modern masculinity grounded in his “three Ps” (protect, provide, and procreate) and he calls on all of us to step up and support the young men in our lives. But… w...
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl has spent nearly a decade chronicling Trump–and being attacked by him. Trump has called him “a third-rate reporter,” “a real scumbag,” and worse. But he also keeps picking up Karl’s calls. Karl joins Katie to talk about his new book Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America and shares sharp, insider insight into Trump&rsq...
With the mayoral election days away, Zohran Mamdani takes time out of his campaign to talk with Katie about his vision for New York City. From universal childcare and free buses to rent freezes and city-owned grocery stores, Mamdani explains how he plans to make the country’s most expensive city more affordable—and what leadership looks like in a moment of deep division.
See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul joins Katie Couric to talk about his new book, Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder. McFaul says America’s retreat from global leadership hasn’t just left a vacuum: it’s helped autocrats like Putin and Xi fill it. So where does that leave democracy? Together, they dig into what happens when the U.S. pulls back, why isolationism...
In this lively bonus episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, mentalist Oz Pearlman—known for dazzling crowds on America’s Got Talent—reveals how mastering human behavior can transform your personal and professional life. Drawing from his new book, Read Your Mind: Proven Habits for Success from the World’s Greatest Mentalist, Oz shares actionable advice on reading people, building connections, and em...
Bernie Sanders is 84, has spent more than three decades in Congress, and can still pack a rally with people half his age. On this episode of Next Question, Katie Couric talks with the senator about his new book Fight Oligarchy and why he thinks America is at a tipping point. From Trump and the billionaire class to AI, Gaza, and the future of the Democratic Party, Bernie is as blunt, consistent, and unflinching as ever. He even has ...
We all know the date. But what really happened in October 1929? New York Times financial columnist and DealBook founder Andrew Ross Sorkin joins Katie to discuss his new book, 1929, which demystifies one of the most famous (and infamous) chapters in American History. Through extensive research into letters and diaries of the era’s biggest players, Sorkin reconstructs the chaos and conviction of a world on the brink. How ...
Our nation’s founders built a system to guard against human ego and corruption. In 2025, that system is under siege. Katie talks with Atlantic editor-in-chief (and SignalGate-veteran) Jeffrey Goldberg about the magazine’s monumental new issue, The Unfinished Revolution, which asks whether the American experiment can survive its latest stress test: Donald Trump. It’s a conversation about history repeating itse...
Katie sits down with David Frum, Atlantic writer and host of an eponymous podcast, to take stock of a dizzying news cycle: a government shutdown framed around false claims about healthcare for immigrants, a surreal Quantico meeting where military leaders were treated as political props, and Donald Trump’s vow to punish his opponents through prosecutions. Frum explains how the U.S. budgeting system turned into a "failure machi...
When someone finishes a cancer treatment, it can feel like the end of the story. For many, it may just be the beginning–risk of recurrence looms, long-term medications (and their side effects) begin, and it’s hard to get your bearings. What do you really need to know?
In this candid conversation, Katie sits down with Dr. Lillian Smyth, Senior Vice President and Global Development Head for Breast Cancer at Eli Lil...
The murder of George Floyd and the protests of 2020 sparked a nationwide movement for racial justice and reckoning. Just a few years later, many of those hard-won conversations are being rolled back. Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, joins Katie to ask: is the movement truly over, or are we now in the midst of the harder, but essential, struggle to make it endure? He shares why learnin...
When Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, Emma Heming Willis’s life changed overnight. In this intimate conversation, she tells Katie about the early whispers of the disease, why getting a diagnosis was both a blessing and a curse, and how she’s helping their two young daughters navigate this “long goodbye.” Emma opens up about the guilt of taking a family trip without Bruce, the stigma c...
The headlines aren’t slowing down. Politics is a firehose, and most days it feels like we’re drinking straight from it. This season on Next Question, we’re turning velocity into clarity.
Each episode breaks down the headline overload so we can process–and commiserate–together. You’ll hear from people who actually know: reporters on the ground, legal scholars, policy pros, and bold faced name...
End your summer with the most fun you’ll have on a podcast! Impressionist and comedian Matt Friend joins Katie for a star-studded tour of celebrity voices from Hollywood to the White House, from Barack Obama to Timothee Chalamet to Jennifer Coolidge. There’s even some singing! And, yes, he does his Trump impression–which is so good it might make you squirm. In between it all Matt shares what it’s been like t...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.
"SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!