memorable/interesting Fresh Air interviews

June 24, 2022 5:39 PM

Lately I have been listening to the Fresh Air archives but sometimes I have a hard time thinking of a person to search for. Do you know of any particularly interesting or memorable interviews to listen to?

I'm open to anything interesting (interesting interviewee, perhaps even conflict or awkward interaction with Terry Gross to make it more interesting); but particular areas of interest are: pop culture, the arts, psychology, sociology, race/gender, feminism. Feel free to recommend outside of those themes.

posted by bearette to Media & Arts (18 answers total)

I don't know why this sticks with me, but when Patti Smith's book Just Kids came out, she was on Fresh Air, and the interview was interesting enough that I went out and got the book from the library and read it in like two days. This would've been in like 2010, early 2011.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:11 PM on June 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Her 2002 interview with Gene Simmons of Kiss…did not go well.
posted by baseballpajamas at 7:12 PM on June 24, 2022 [3 favorites]

It's been a while but I remember really liking some of the Fred Rogers interviews.

https://freshairarchive.org/guests/fred-rogers
posted by circular at 7:57 PM on June 24, 2022

Having trouble linking to the exact segment but Ray Manzarek did a fabulous dissection of Light My Fire at the piano for Terry in 1998.
posted by fawaffle at 8:04 PM on June 24, 2022

If you've seen Unorthodox (and even if you haven't), you might enjoy the interview with Deborah Feldman.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 8:14 PM on June 24, 2022

Her 2009 interview with comedian Tracy Morgan got him to open up, tell raw truths, and even cry.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:22 PM on June 24, 2022

There was a May 16, 2022 interview with author Hugh Ryan about his book The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison. Interesting because the book sounded fascinating and basically every tidbit he shared was brand new and amazing to me.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:26 PM on June 24, 2022

Could you post a link to those archives, please? I keep intending to look for this one, that I think would be interesting: Lou Rawls. In particular, he described how gospel and the blues are basically the same music
posted by TimHare at 9:01 PM on June 24, 2022

Her recent interview with David Sedaris was captivating, but plenty sad.

Her interview with the guy who writes the Alex Rider books was good.
posted by at at 10:24 PM on June 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

I was really moved by this Toni Morrison interview.

Also of course Maurice Sendak.
posted by athirstforsalt at 2:07 AM on June 25, 2022

Her interview with Tim Gunn is my favorite and incredibly moving -- I've listened to it a few times.
posted by heavenknows at 3:29 AM on June 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

I really liked the interview with Lizzo, where Terry gets schooled a little.

And in a twist, Marc Maron interviewed Terry for an NPR fundraiser. It's a good conversation.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 3:36 AM on June 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

The interview with JT LeRoy (Nov 26, 2001) struck me at the time. This particular quote stuck with me (although I haven't ever gone back to find it until today)... regarding journal writing while under the watchful eye of his (abusive?) mother:

I used to start to write it ... but she once read it and it was not a good thing.

So then what I did is I got a notebook and I'd just write one word on each page and then I could fill the rest in in my head and know what it said. I could go back and read it like it was a book.

And she couldn't read it or say anything about it because it was just one word on each page.

Four years later it turned out he she was just another literary fraud.
posted by pjenks at 5:50 AM on June 25, 2022

I liked her conversation with Bruce Springsteen.
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:06 AM on June 25, 2022

George Carlin spent some time talking about his early days in radio, which I found really interesting. On top of, you know, Carlin on Fresh Air levels of interesting.
posted by adekllny at 1:09 PM on June 25, 2022

Both John Waters and David Sedaris have been delightful several times over the years.
posted by eotvos at 1:18 AM on June 26, 2022

I recommend the Oliver Sacks collection.
posted by missmobtown at 8:24 AM on June 27, 2022

There are a few Mel Brookses from the early 90s. I remember in one of them (probably the first one) he said she impressed the hell out of him. So, yeah, Mel Brooks in an especially good mood is not to be missed.
posted by whuppy at 11:04 AM on June 27, 2022