Fresh Air

Dr. Theodore Schwartz has been treating neurological illnesses for nearly 30 years. He says being a brain surgeon requires steady hands — and a strong bladder. His new book is Gray Matters. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Comic Nikki Glaser talks with Terry Gross about finding the line between offensive and funny, hurt feelings, and why she started making jokes about sex. Her new Emmy-nominated stand-up special on HBO is Someday You'll Die.Ken Tucker reflects on the New York Dolls' album Too Much Too Soon for its 50th anniversary. Paul W. Downs co-created the acclaimed HBO Max show Hacks with his wife, Lucia Aniello and their friend and collaborator, Jen Statsky. Downs talks with Ann Marie Baldonado about how they came up with the idea for Hacks, and how his wife continued directing the show while she was in labor. Hacks is nominated for 16 Emmy Awards this year.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We go into the Fresh Air archive to remember two remarkable women: Bernice Johnson Reagon was one of the powerful singers who helped galvanize the civil rights movement in the 1960s, as a member of the Freedom Singers quartet. She died July 16 at the age of 81. Also, we remember writer Gail Lumet Buckley, the daughter of singer Lena Horne, who chronicled her family's history from enslavement to becoming a part of the Black bourgeoisie. She died this week at age 86. August 2nd is the 100th anniversary of the birth of James Baldwin, so we listen back to Terry Gross's 1986 interview with him.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Grammy-winning singer, guitarist and producer Brittany Howard fronted the band Alabama Shakes before going solo. She talks with Terry Gross about growing up biracial in a small Alabama town, living in a haunted house, and writing break-up songs for her new album, What Now.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In 1982, eight science fiction films were released within eight weeks of each other: E.T., Tron, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and Mad Max: The Road Warrior. Entertainment writer Chris Nashawaty talks to Tonya Mosley about how those movies shaped the genre and the movie industry. His book is The Future Was Now. Also, Ken Tucker reflects on the New York Dolls' album Too Much Too Soon for its 50th anniversary.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Paul W. Downs co-created the HBO Max show with his wife, Lucia Aniello and their friend and collaborator, Jen Statsky. The three met at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Downs talks with Ann Marie Baldonado about how they came up with the idea for Hacks, tackling cancel culture, and how his wife continued directing the show while she was in labor. Hacks is nominated for 16 Emmy awards this year, including for Downs for his role as Jimmy. Also, David Bianculli reflects on the Turner Classic Movies series Two for One. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The comic made headlines after the roast of Tom Brady. She spoke with Terry Gross about finding the line between offensive and funny, hurt feelings, and why she started making jokes about sex. Her new Emmy-nominated stand-up special on HBO is Someday You'll Die. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Jon M. Chu, the director of Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights is now directing the film adaptation of the broadway musical Wicked. We'll talk about making movies, and being raised by immigrant parents who owned a Chinese restaurant in Silicon Valley.Also, we hear from stunt performer-turned-director David Leitch. He directed the film The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling as a stuntman. Ken Tucker continues his series of great albums turning 50 this year with an album by Roxy Music.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We remember comic and actor Bob Newhart, who died last week at the age of 94. In his stand-up comedy and hit TV series, some of the laughs came from his an awkward, stammering way of speaking. "It isn't an affectation. It's the way I speak," he told Terry Gross in 1998. Also, Justin Chang reviews Deadpool & Wolverine.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hezbollah, the militant group based in Lebanon, shares Hamas' goal of destroying the state of Israel. We'll talk with New Yorker staff writer Dexter Filkins, about his reporting trip to both sides of the Lebanese/Israeli border. Israel and Hezbollah have escalated their shelling and bombing attacks on each other. Filkins says that's leading to fears of an all-out war that would devastate both sides, and could draw in Iran and the U.S.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Chu takes his inspiration from his dad, a Chinese immigrant who worked both the front room and the kitchen of their family-run restaurant: "The guy that in the back of the kitchen, that was my hero." The director of Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights talks with Terry Gross about growing up in Silicon Valley, seeing Wicked for the first time, and learning to be adaptable. Maureen Corrigan reviews Dinaw Mengestu's new novel, Someone Like Us. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Autocracy, Inc. author Anne Applebaum says today's dictators — including Putin and Xi — are working together in a global fight to dismantle democracy, and Trump is borrowing from their playbook: "We're going to have to defend and protect our political system if we want to keep it." Also, David Bianculli reviews the Apple TV series Time Bandits.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Filmmaker and stunt coordinator David Leitch says it's easier to do stunts himself than direct his stunt performer friends. "You are responsible for their safety," he explains. "Your heart goes through your chest." His film The Fall Guy is about the unknown performers who put their lives on the line. He talks with Terry Gross about barrel rolling cars, being lit on fire, and doing another take when everything hurts. Also, Ken Tucker marks the 50th anniversary of Roxy Music's Country Life.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Humorist/writer Shalom Auslander's new memoir is a satirical look at all the ways a sense of "feh," which is Yiddish for "yuck," has made its way into his psyche and every aspect of his life. Auslander has written extensively over the years about growing up in a dysfunctional ultra-Orthodox Jewish family. His new memoir, aptly titled Feh, is about a journey to write a different story for himself.We'll also hear from Julianne Nicholson. Proud to call herself a character actor, she's appeared in dozens of films and TV series, from Ally McBeal and Boardwalk Empire to August: Osage County and Mare of Easttown, where she earned an Emmy. Nicholson is starring in the new film Janet Planet.And, Ken Tucker takes us back 50 years to Stevie Wonder's album Fulfillingness' First Finale, which he says is an underrated treasure.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We remember actress Shelley Duvall, who died at the age of 75. Best-known for her role in The Shining, Robert Altman films and her own series about fairytales. She spoke with Terry Gross in 1992 about working with the two directors. Also, we remember the famous sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. And TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new Apple TV+ docuseries Omnivore, and John Powers reviews the new summer blockbuster Twisters.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Humorist Shalom Auslander has written for decades about growing up in a dysfunctional household within an ultra-orthodox Jewish community. Feh, title of his latest memoir, comes from the Yiddish word for "yuck." He talks about self-hatred, changing the narrative and his friendship with late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Also, Justin Chang reviews the new horror movie Longlegs.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

PBS FRONTLINE documentarians Tom Casciato and Kathleen Hughes spent 34 years following two working-class families in Milwaukee who lost well-paying manufacturing jobs and then struggled to regain their way of life. The film, hosted by Bill Moyers, is called Two American Families.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Julianne Nicholson says when strangers recognize her on the street, they're never quite sure how they know her: "They might think I sold them kittens, or I work in the ice cream shop." She stars in the new film Janet Planet. She earned an Emmy for her role in HBO's Mare of Easttown as Mare's (Kate Winslet) best friend. Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews the novel Practice, by Rosalind Brown.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We talk about the weapon the shooter used in the attempted assassination of former President Trump. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Todd Frankel explains how the AR-15 became an icon of gun culture and a favored weapon for mass shooters. Also, Ken Tucker revisits Stevie Wonder's album Fulfillingness' First Finale for its 50th anniversary.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Taffy Brodesser-Akner's new novel, Long Island Compromise, centers on the kidnapping of a rich businessman, and the impact, decades later, on his grown children. Her previous book, Fleishman Is in Trouble, was adapted into an acclaimed FX/Hulu series.Jill Ciment met her husband in the 1970s when she was a teenager and he was almost 50. At the time of their first kiss, he was a married father of two; she was his art student. In her memoir Consent she reconsiders the origin story of their marriage.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy