Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso – Details, episodes & analysis

Jenny Slate returns today for her fourth appearance on the program.

We discuss how this role in the new FX series Dying for Sex offered her ‘full wingspan’ as a performer (5:45), embodying best friend and caretaker of Molly, played by Michelle Williams (9:25), and what she extracted from herself to play a confrontational character (12:30). Then, Jenny describes her relationship to motherhood (17:30), her breaking point while making her 2019 film The Sunlit Night (22:32), and how some timeless words from her first story collection Little Weirds help make sense of this moment (28:56).

On the back-half, we unpack Jenny’s journey to healing from social media (33:11), a token of advice from her father, poet Ron Slate (41:48), and, to continue our tradition—Slate’s personal and creative aspirations for the years to come (43:51). To close, a formative passage from Shakespeare’s The Tempest (51:57).

Hear our previous talks with Jenny from 2022, 2020, and 2017.

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Actor, writer, director, and producer Seth Rogen came up in an age of abundance—a Hollywood that made big-budget comedies with box office success: The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Pineapple Express. That era recently inspired his new Apple TV+ show The Studio.

On the heels of the series’ premiere, Rogen joins us to discuss its key influences (6:15), from Robert Altman’s The Player to The Larry Sanders Show (13:25), the evolving state of “show business” (15:36), and a life-changing piece of advice from director and producer Judd Apatow (25:00).

On the back-half, we dive into his early years writing comedy in Vancouver (25:57), formative memories making Freaks and Geeks (33:19), and how This Is the End, the meta-comedy from 2013, was a precursor to this latest project (43:18) and solidified his enduring creative partnership with Evan Goldberg (58:30).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Actor Mikey Madison has delivered the performance of the season with her star-making turn in Anora. She joins us this week on the heels of her recent Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

We begin by discussing the organic partnership she formed with writer/director Sean Baker (3:30), the ‘emotional preparation’ required to tell this vulnerable story (7:00), her San Fernando Valley upbringing (11:45), and her formative years working with Pamela Adlon on Better Things (22:38).

On the back-half, Mikey reflects on her breakout part in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (30:30), the sex professionals who helped inform her work in Anora (32:50), how she excavated her past to create in the present (43:10), and where she hopes to go on the other side of this towering achievement (49:50).

Feedback, future guest ideas, or thoughts on Anora? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For over three decades, legendary costume designer Ruth E. Carter has created the looks of our most era-defining films. Today, we're celebrating those pieces chronicled in her new book, The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture.

At the top, we discuss the current labor movement in Hollywood (5:03), Carter’s upbringing in Massachusetts (8:50), and a formative Langston Hughes poem (12:56). Then, she reflects on her early years in Los Angeles (19:45), the night she met a lifelong collaborator in director Spike Lee (21:52), and the process of making School Daze (25:49), Do the Right Thing (29:06), and Malcolm X (37:42).

On the back-half, Carter describes her innovative work on the Black Panther films (50:40), which earned her two Academy Awards (54:33), the enduring influence of her mother, Mabel Carter (1:03:10), and how she continues to tell the story of the Black experience through costume design (1:04:35).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a moment of historic upheaval in Hollywood, screenwriter and labor activist Alex O’Keefe (The Bear) believes he can turn the tide. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May 2nd. Actors represented by SAG-AFTRA joined the fight earlier this month.

We begin by discussing the WGA’s key demands (7:30), O’Keefe’s experience inside writers’ rooms (13:12), the pushback from the studios thus far (17:01), how the divisive ‘interim agreements’ recently issued by SAG-AFTRA (27:40) stem from a checkered history of union organizing in Hollywood (29:13), and why O’Keefe believes this cross-union solidarity is unprecedented (33:29).

On the back-half, we walk through his origin story in Florida (35:40), his background in politics and speechwriting (44:57), the inspired words of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (50:50) and how they’ve shaped O’Keefe’s vision for the future of his industry (1:02:44).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Legendary photographer Joel Meyerowitz has been capturing life itself since 1962. Whether on the streets of New York City, the sand dunes of Cape Cod, or in transit across Europe, Meyerowitz has documented what he calls “visions in passing.”

Today, we return to this special, virtual retrospective, spanning six decades of his life in photographs.

Follow the virtual gallery here: https://talkeasypod.com/joel-meyerowitz-replay/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last summer, we traveled to Princeton, New Jersey to sit with legendary writer Joyce Carol Oates. The talk begins with her daily routine, from writing to revision (6:34), the real-life events that inspired her recent novel, Babysitter (9:09), and why she’s fascinated with examining violence in her work (14:06). Then, we walk through Oates’ early years: growing up on a farm (17:45), her literary influences (22:22), and the lasting relationship she formed with libraries (27:01).

On the back-half, Joyce revisits a 1977 journal entry on writing (28:30), how she grapples with criticism (31:20) and her complex relationship to Twitter (33:20). To close, we sit with love (40:05), loss (43:40), and why, at age eighty-four, she continues to tell new stories (50:22).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the closing of the latest season of The Run-Up, political reporter Astead Herndon (The New York Times) returns to the show. At the top, we discuss the recent impactful decisions issued by the Supreme Court (6:36), what to expect from the GOP primaries (8:54), and the potential of a third-party ticket (17:32). Then, we dive into the kitchen table issues guiding the electorate (22:55), Herndon’s early years at The Times (24:40), and why he believes in the power of grassroots journalism (25:38).

On the back-half, we examine his mission statement as a reporter (29:30), what he believes The Times has learned in the years since the 2016 election (42:30), and who he ultimately makes this work for (59:06).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, on his 67th birthday, we’re joined by actor Tom Hanks! We begin by discussing his debut novel, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece (6:45), his nomadic upbringing across California (13:56), and the Stanley Kubrick film that made him want to be an artist (19:50). Then, we talk about his early work at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival (23:38) and moving to Los Angeles for his television debut in Bosom Buddies (28:42), before pivoting to dramatic roles in films like Philadelphia and Forrest Gump (33:00).

On the back-half, Hanks describes the transformative, eight-year process of making Cast Away (36:40), receiving an AFI Lifetime Achievement award for his work at age forty-six (39:12), the vital performances that followed (40:21), and his insatiable desire to reflect the human experience (45:43). 

To close, Hanks reflects on the kinship he found with Yankee hall of famer Joe DiMaggio (47:52), his formative friendships with actor Holland Taylor (50:17) and the late Nora Ephron (52:32), and the Cecil B. DeMille story he hopes to keep telling (53:20).

Read the full transcript of this episode.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the long holiday weekend, we’re returning to our conversation with actor Jon Bernthal! To begin, we discuss his performance on HBO’s We Own This City (6:00), policing and gun culture in America (9:15), growing up grappling with toxic masculinity (14:47), his pivot to acting in college (23:30), and the powerful history of theater in Moscow (27:25).

On the back-half, he reflects on his first year in Los Angeles (32:45), the night that changed his life (37:44), and the magic behind the making of Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (45:05). To close, Jon shares his hopes for the future (51:00) and how, as a father, he’s processed these tragic weeks in America (52:58).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.