Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

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

LaRussell

January 9, 2026 • 39 mins

On the latest episode of Bullseye, we're joined by rapper LaRussell. The MC keeps busy. Since 2018, he's released nearly 40 studio albums! LaRussell talks about going viral on social media and throwing shows in his mom's backyard with big guests like Juvenile. Plus, he gets into his collaborative partnership and friendship with the king of crunk – Lil Jon.
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Rian Johnson

January 6, 2026 • 41 mins
Rian Johnson has dedicated the last 20 years of his career to making genre movies that transcend their genre. His latest smash hit film series, Knives Out, blends big, over-the-top whodunnit stories with humor and social satire. Johnson just wrote and directed the third movie in the series: Wake Up, Dead Man. Johnson joins Bullseye to talk about growing up as a youth-group kid in Orange County, California, why mystery is so inheren...
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Sudan Archives

January 2, 2026 • 42 mins
Violinist and singer Sudan Archives, our guest this week, recently released her third full length album. BPM is a punchy, layered dance album filled with homages to Chicago house and Detroit Techno. We had a chance to talk with Sudan back in 2022 when she released her record Natural Brown Prom Queen. She spoke with us about the album, her concerts, and her favorite fellow fiddle players.

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Johnny Knoxville

December 30, 2025 • 43 mins
This week, we’re joined by Johnny Knoxville. He’s been at the center of the Jackass universe for more than two decades and has performed stunts in all its iterations. Now in his 50’s, Knoxville has found ways to keep working without risking death. In the coming weeks, he'll host Fear Factor: House of Fear, a new reboot of the early 2000s reality competition show. Knoxville reflects on his time making Jackass, and what it’s been lik...
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2025’s End of Year Stand-Up Comedy Spectacular!

December 23, 2025 • 62 mins
Each year, Bullseye looks back on the year in stand-up comedy by presenting listeners with an annual end of year stand-up comedy showcase! The Bullseye team combed through dozens and dozens of albums to bring you some of the best comedy of 2025. That includes stand-up from: Gianmarco Soresi, Robby Hoffman, Fortune Feimster, Josh Gondelman and more!

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Bonus – The Outshot: Filling Time

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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Bullseye 2025 Holiday Spectacular: Lil Rel Howery, Micky Dolenz and Sy Smith

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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Tony Shalhoub, Jad Abumrad, H. Jon Benjamin and more – Live at The PIT in NYC

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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The Hives

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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Vince Staples

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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25 interviews for 25 years

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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Adam Scott, Boots Riley, Glynn Washington and more - Live at Kuumbwa Jazz Center

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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25 Years Ago, Bullseye with Jesse Thorn was a weird college radio show

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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Roy Wood Jr., Jason Mantzoukas, Rebecca Sugar – Live at LAist

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 ...
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Marc Maron & Brendan McDonald

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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Ana Fabrega, co-creator of ‘Los Espookys’

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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Bruce Campbell

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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Yaya Bey

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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Nick Offerman

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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'Slow Horses' creator Will Smith

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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