Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture. Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney's, which called it "the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world."
Episodes
December 19, 2025 • 8 mins
A special treat for our podcast listeners! For years, Bullseye would close out each episode with an essay written by Jesse called The Outshot. It was an opportunity to show appreciation for the things he loves. For Bullseye's recent 25th anniversary tour, we thought we'd bring The Outshot back. In it, Jesse reflects on his time working in radio. This segment was recorded live at The PIT in New York City.
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December 16, 2025 • 77 mins
It’s the Bullseye Holiday Spectacular! We look back at some of our favorite holiday interviews from the past. We’ve got Lil Rel Howery, Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, and singer/songwriter Sy Smith!
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December 9, 2025 • 68 mins
On the latest episode we're coming to you live from New York City at The PIT. We've got interviews from Tony Shalhoub, Jad Abumrad, H. Jon Benjamin and stand-up from Josh Gondelman. Plus, music from Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez – the duo that wrote the music from Frozen, Coco and more. They'll perform a never-before-heard song that was written for Kermit the Frog. What a treat!
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December 5, 2025 • 36 mins
In the course of 30 years, The Hives have perfected what it means to be a garage rock band. We're joined by singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist and his brother, lead guitarist Nicholaus Arson. They talk about the band's latest record The Hives Forever Forever the Hives.
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December 2, 2025 • 47 mins
Vince Staples returns to Bullseye! He chats with us about his Netflix series, The Vince Staples Show, what got him into making music and much more.
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November 25, 2025 • 148 mins
In celebration of Bullseye's 25th anniversary, Jesse conducted 25 interviews in a row! That's right, 25 interviews for 25 years. You'll hear from folks like Patton Oswalt, Lisa Loeb, Bob Odenkirk, David Wain, Cameron Esposito, Tony Hale and many many more.
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November 18, 2025 • 64 mins
We’re celebrating Bullseye’s 25th anniversary all month. This week, we visit the site of Bulleye’s origins, because this episode was recorded live in Santa Cruz at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. We are joined by Glynn Washington of Snap Judgment, Boots Riley of The Coup and Sorry to Bother You, and Adam Scott of Severance. Also, we have live tunes from Santa Cruz surf legends: The Mermen and stand-up comedy from Scott Simpson!
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November 11, 2025 • 51 mins
The Bullseye 25th anniversary celebration continues! This week, Jesse reunites with his old college co-hosts Jordan Morris and Gene O’Neil to reminisce about the early days of the show. We'll have vintage interviews with Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Matt Besser and Dick Dale, The King of the Surf Guitar!
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November 4, 2025 • 65 mins
This whole month, we’re ringing in 25 years of Bullseye being on the airwaves. If you’ve heard our archives you might have heard Bullseye referred to as The Sound of Young America. That was the show’s original name when it started as a college radio show back at Santa Cruz’s KZSC.
To kick off our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you the first of many celebrations: a spectacular live show recorded at LAist 89.3 in Pasadena ...
To kick off our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you the first of many celebrations: a spectacular live show recorded at LAist 89.3 in Pasadena ...
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October 28, 2025 • 66 mins
WTF with Marc Maron revolutionized the medium of podcasting. Despite being one of the most popular podcasts in history, the show was run by two people: Marc Maron as the host, and Brendan McDonald as his producer. Maron and McDonald talked to Bullseye about WTF’s origins, their equal partnership in producing the show, and why it ended.
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October 24, 2025 • 41 mins
This week, we’re looking back on some of our favorite Spooky season interviews from across the twenty-five years we’ve been doing Bullseye. Ana Fabrega is a comedian, actor, writer, and co-creator of the show Los Espookys. In 2022, Ana joined us to talk about the show after it had just wrapped its second and final season.
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October 21, 2025 • 40 mins
Just in time for the spooky season, we're reaching deep into the furthest, darkest reaches of the Bullseye archives for this conversation with Bruce Campbell. The cult movie actor starred in Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" – an absolute horror classic. When we talked to Bruce in 2011 he spoke with our correspondent Jordan Morris about the DIY aesthetic of his projects, obsessive fans, and how he came to make cult horror movies.
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October 17, 2025 • 41 mins
Today on Bullseye, it’s songwriter and recording artist Yaya Bey! She just wrapped up a national tour in support of her new album, do it afraid. She talks to Bullseye about blending genres, and coming out on top after a tumultuous handful of years.
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October 14, 2025 • 40 mins
Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, Fargo, The Last of Us) returns to the show to talk about his new book, Little Woodchucks, and to share why woodworking is such a big part of his life. Plus, he gives Jesse a deep tissue massage. Yep, on the radio!
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October 10, 2025 • 36 mins
Will Smith is the creator and showrunner of the hit Apple TV spy thriller Slow Horses. Smith talks with Jesse about the show's unique blend of drama, action and comedy. He also shares how he learned from Armando Iannucci, the best in the biz, while working on Veep and The Thick of It. Also discussed: farts! And how star Gary Oldman's character Jackson Lamb uses them as a plot device.
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October 7, 2025 • 41 mins
This week, it’s Gwendoline Christie! She’s best known for her part as Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones launched Christie’s career. Before it wrapped, she was cast in two Star Wars movies. She recently earned an Emmy nomination for her part in Severance as the lady who was in charge of all the goats. She talks to Bullseye about art, resilience, and getting ready to wrangle all those goats.
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October 3, 2025 • 20 mins
Canonball is a segment that takes a closer look at albums that should be considered classics. This time around, Diallo Riddle and LUXXURY of the One Song podcast discuss the game changing album Blowout Comb by Digable Planets.
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September 30, 2025 • 45 mins
We're joined today by Ghostface Killah, a founding member of the hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. In 1996, Ghost put out Supreme Clientele – that record cemented his legacy. If you pull up one of those 100 best rap albums of all times list, you're bound to see it show up. Ghostface joins us on the latest episode of Bullseye to talk about Supreme Clientele 2, the follow-up nearly 25 years in the making. He also opens up about being ...
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September 26, 2025 • 51 mins
For nearly 5 decades, Sonia Manzano played the part of Maria on Sesame Street. She was the first Latina on the show – it was a big step forward for Latinas on TV! In 2021, she launched her own show called Alma’s Way. It’s an animated kids series about Alma Rivera, a 6-year-old Puerto Rican girl living in the Bronx.
This conversation was originally published in October of 2021.
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This conversation was originally published in October of 2021.
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September 23, 2025 • 34 mins
Christopher Lloyd has performed in a number of iconic roles over the years and at the age of 86 he has no plans to stop anytime soon. When Jesse last spoke with the Hollywood veteran, they chatted about his remarkable career in acting and what’s been keeping him in the biz. They also talked about his most memorable roles including his part as Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This interview originally ran in March of 2021.
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