The Gist

Mike unlocks two interviews from the vault featuring comics who navigate the cultural minefield with very different styles. First, Sarah Silverman discusses her evolution from "arrogant ignoramus" character comedy to earnest podcasting, reflecting on her blackface controversy, her embrace of the "Bernie bro" label, and why she believes being wrong never feels shitty if you're willing to learn. Then, Kyle Kinane joins to talk about ...

In this special holiday week episode, Mike sits down with comedian Alex Edelman, fresh off a Tony Award for his show Just For Us and a spot on the Time 100 list. They discuss the "liquid dynamics" of a Comedy Cellar audience, the art of bombing while testing new material, and why jokes about the Israel-Gaza conflict are the hardest tightrope in comedy right now. Ede...

In this special Christmas Day edition, Mike gives the gift of Roy Wood Jr., a comedian who embodies the "profundities in punchlines" ethos. Wood joins to discuss his CNN show Have I Got News for You, his upbringing as the son of a pioneering radio journalist, and the central thesis of his comedy: that in a fractured world, people prioritize dopamine over truth. They debate whether political comedy h...

In a special Christmas Eve edition, Mike brings you a "gift" from the comedy vault: an interview with the brilliantly off-kilter Django Gold. A veteran of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Onion, Gold discusses his YouTube special Bag of Tricks and his commitment to playing a paranoid, morose character on stage—a persona he c...

Thomas Chatterton Williams joins to discuss his new book, The Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse. He argues that the racial reckoning of 2020 was not an inevitable tide of history but a perfect storm of pandemic isolation, polarizing politics, and institutional failure. TCW dissects how mainstream institutions—from the New Yor...

Quico Toro joins to discuss Charlatans: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Hucksters Bamboozle the Media, the Markets, and the Masses, distinguishing the "parasitic" nature of the charlatan from the hit-and-run tactics of the scammer. He traces the lineage of the grift from the official alchemists of 16th-century Venice to the upsell tactics of Trump University, arguing that loneliness and the internet h...

In light of the recent tragedy, Mike unlocks a 2016 interview with the late Rob Reiner. It is a conversation that now plays differently: Reiner discusses his film Being Charlie, which was written by his son Nick Reiner—the man now arrested in connection with his death. Mike reflects on the director's legacy, the eerie prescience of their discussion on addiction and family, and the President's dispar...

Comedian Jay Jurden explains why nine years of theater training is his "superpower" on the stand-up stage—and why he treats every punchline like a line of dialogue rather than a personal diary entry. His new special, Yes Ma'am, argues that physical specificity (from "rolling a wheelchair into affordable housing" to Marjorie Taylor Greene's hooves) is what separates a 300-level performer from a novic...

Neuroscientist Nicholas Wright explains why big powers "lose" wars they dominate on the kill ratio—and why counterinsurgencies (Vietnam, Afghanistan, maybe Iraq) reliably punish the side with less at stake. His new book, Warhead: How the Brain Shapes War and War Shapes the Brain, argues that identity, surprise, and revenge are ancient brain features, while metacognition—the mind watching itself—can...

Clyburn discusses The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation, explaining how Reconstruction-era Black lawmakers navigated power, compromise, and backlash—and why their choices still resonate. He reflects on faith as action, not rhetoric, and on history as a guide rather than a museum piece. Plus: Maryland lawmakers override Gov. Wes Moore's veto of a ...

Russian journalist in exile Mikhail Zygar traces an information system so sealed even Gorbachev couldn't get the facts in The Dark Side of the Earth: Russia's Short-Lived Victory Over Totalitarianism. He draws a straight psychological line from late-Soviet overload to our current tech-firehose, arguing humans don't change much; institutions do (and the Soviet Union didn't have many worthy of the nam...

Data journalist Chris Dalla Riva brings charts, facts, and plenty of fight to Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us About the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves, a tour through every Billboard Hot 100 #1 and the strange incentives that pick our "popular." They debate whether streaming makes the charts more accurate or just more boring—why Christmas songs now squat in the Top 10, why covers almost always slow songs down, and what t...

In this special Saturday edition, Mike sits down with Daniel Oppenheimer of Eminent Americans to tackle a high-stakes question: Who is worthy of the Fresh Air throne? They dissect the craft of interviewing, critique the "unprepared celebrity" podcast trend, and evaluate potential successors ranging from Colin McEnroe to Jon Ronson.

Produced by Corey Wara

Shadi Hamid joins to discuss his new book, The Case for American Power, arguing that progressives' retreat from global engagement is a mistake. He contends that while the Left often views U.S. hegemony as intrinsically immoral—citing the legacy of Iraq and the tragedy in Gaza—the alternative of withdrawal often leads to greater atrocities, such as the unchecked devastation in Syria. Hamid makes the ...

Anthony Weiner and John Ketcham break down a Congress being flayed by its own fringes, where the "crazies" sometimes deliver the sharpest institutional critiques. They then assess Pete Hegseth and the possible release video of a lethal Caribbean boat strike, the challenges reshaping New York politics, and what it really means to govern a city you once nearly ran. Goat Grinders takes on Waymo running...

Holiday dread is real enough—fraught family gatherings, forced merriment, and the persistent myth that December is the peak month for suicide. In truth, it's the lowest month for suicides, even as the season brings elevated risks of car crashes, cardiac emergencies, and alcohol-related ER visits. Sadie Dingfelder joins for an Is That Bulls**t? to explain why winter ...

The philosopher discusses The Book of Memory: How We Become Who We Are, exploring how recollection constructs identity, coherence, and the personas we inhabit. He explains why memory is less an archive than an act of ongoing authorship, shaped by emotion, imagination, and the stories we rehearse. The conversation traces the boundary between what we remember and what we invent. Also: art-heist incom...

Daniel Zoughbie discusses Kicking the Hornet's Nest: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East from Truman to Trump, arguing that Truman's one-sided recognition of Israel and decades of U.S. overreliance on defense distorted the region's trajectory. He traces missed off-ramps from Oslo to the Olmert–Abbas talks, explaining why partition remains the only durable framework for satisfying both nationalis...

On this Saturday edition, Mike Pesca joins the cast of Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone to explain the dopamine minefield of modern sports betting. He walks Paula and Adam Felber through the mechanics of the "vig," the absurdity of Cleveland pitchers throwing balls into the dirt to cover prop bets, and the time NBA legend Chauncey Billups unwittingly became a "face card" for a mob-run poker game i...