Podcasts · Society & Culture · TV & Film

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Higher Ground

300 episodes · Explicit

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is a weekly series of intimate conversations with artists, authors, and politicians. Where people sound like people. Hosted by Sam Fragoso. New episodes every Sunday.

Episodes page 2 of 6

  1. For the Holidays, Ina Garten (Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus)

    · 57 min · Explicit

    For your Thanksgiving inspiration: a favorite episode from Wiser Than Me, where Julia sits down with legendary cook and author Ina Garten. Over the course of her 76 years, Ina has lived a few lives: she worked on…

  2. Cook Alison Roman Creates ‘Something from Nothing’

    · 1 h 03 min

    This week, cook and writer Alison Roman published her fourth cookbook, Something from Nothing—a collection of over one hundred simple, timeless recipes inspired by the items you may already have in your pantry. On the…

  3. Judd Apatow’s Guide to Failure and Success (Fail Better with David Duchovny)

    · 51 min · Explicit

    Today, we’re sharing an episode from Fail Better with David Duchovny, featuring filmmaker and writer Judd Apatow. Together, they trace the arc of Judd’s career, from Anchorman and Bridesmaids to Superbad and The…

  4. At the Movies with Director Edgar Wright (‘The Running Man’)

    · 1 h 15 min · Explicit

    Director Edgar Wright hit the ground running. For most filmmakers it takes many years (and many films) to find their voice, but Wright’s seemed to be fully formed upon arrival, with 2004’s Shaun of the Dead. The…

  5. Novelist Salman Rushdie at ‘The Eleventh Hour’

    · 1 h 26 min

    For more than three decades, author Salman Rushdie has lived under threat. In 1989, a fatwa forced him into hiding. In 2022, he was stabbed more than a dozen times while speaking on stage—and nearly killed. Less than…

  6. ‘Before’ Director Richard Linklater

    · 1 h 18 min · Explicit

    Director Richard Linklater has made a career out of telling personal stories with universal appeal. Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, the Before trilogy, Boyhood. No matter the genre or form, Linklater’s human touch…

  7. GQ’s Will Welch on the Future of Magazines (and Men)

    · 1 h 13 min

    Is it possible the rumors of the death of print magazines (and masculinity) have been greatly exaggerated? We sit this week with GQ's Global Editorial Director Will Welch to discuss the magazine’s 2025 Special Issue…

  8. Does Fashion Have a Future? Designer Gabriela Hearst is Threading the Needle.

    · 1 h 00 min

    Gabriela Hearst is one of the rare figures in fashion with an unwavering commitment to sustainability. At the top, we discuss her luminous Spring Summer 2026 collection at Paris Fashion Week (4:08), her childhood…

  9. Actor Rose Byrne: A Woman on the Verge

    · 51 min · Explicit

    Rose Byrne has taken many forms on-screen. In Mary Bronstein’s new film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, she delivers a career-defining performance as a Long Island therapist and mother slowly unraveling under the weight of…

  10. A Cup of Coffee with Director Benny Safdie (‘The Smashing Machine’)

    · 1 h 42 min

    Director, writer, and actor Benny Safdie stops by Sam’s home this week to discuss his new film, The Smashing Machine (1:30)—an unflinching portrait of mixed martial arts icon Mark Kerr (7:00), played by Dwayne “The…

  11. Ta-Nehisi Coates Has a Message to Deliver. Can We Hear It?

    · 1 h 02 min

    Few writers have examined the tension between history and morality more urgently than Ta-Nehisi Coates. Last fall, on the heels of his new book The Message, Coates joined Sam for a conversation live in Los Angeles. At…

  12. And In Our Hour of Darkness, Writer Arundhati Roy

    · 1 h 05 min

    “Sometimes I feel that I’m not going to write again,” says Arundhati Roy, “but then it becomes harder to keep quiet than to write it.” Few writers have bridged the personal and political as powerfully as Arundhati…

  13. Director Francis Ford Coppola Keeps His Dream Alive

    · 1 h 01 min

    Director Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t just want to make movies. He wants to change them. This was true in 1969 when he co-founded Zoetrope Studios with George Lucas, and it remains true today. Watch the video of our…

  14. Seth Rogen’s ‘The Studio’ Takes the Emmys

    · 1 h 09 min

    At this year’s Primetime Emmys, Seth Rogen took home four major awards for The Studio, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. We sat with Rogen around the show’s release…

  15. The Terry Gross Interview

    · 1 h 39 min

    This month marks 50 years of Terry Gross as the host of Fresh Air. What began in 1975 as a local experiment at WHYY in Philadelphia has since grown into a national institution—one that not only transformed public…

  16. Cook Samin Nosrat (‘Salt Fat Acid Heat’) Returns with ‘Good Things’

    · 1 h 13 min

    Eight years ago, cook and writer Samin Nosrat created a kitchen staple with Salt Fat Acid Heat: a New York Times bestseller that later became a hit Netflix series. Nosrat returns with Good Things, a collection of…

  17. The Homecoming of Dev Hynes (Blood Orange)

    · 1 h 00 min

    Over the long holiday weekend, Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) released his latest album, Essex Honey. To celebrate, we return to our 2022 conversation with the visionary musician. At the top, we dive into his EP Four Songs…

  18. Laura Dern on Living Well (The Dan Buettner Podcast)

    · 1 h 27 min

    We’re excited to share a new show from Lemonada Media: The Dan Buettner Podcast. Today’s episode features the incomparable Laura Dern. In his groundbreaking Blue Zones research, National Geographic explorer and…

  19. A Candid Conversation with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass

    · 1 h 08 min

    It’s been a year in Los Angeles. Between the historic wildfires, rapid recovery efforts, and the ICE raids over the summer, Mayor Karen Bass has been tasked with moving at a breakneck speed to meet the demands of a…

  20. The Stories of Actor Josh Brolin (‘Weapons’)

    · 1 h 25 min

    With the arrival of Weapons in theaters, we return to our conversation with actor Josh Brolin. Since the turn of the century, Brolin has had quite a run. From No Country for Old Men and Hail, Caesar! from the Coen…

  21. Actor Julia Garner is Hollywood’s Secret ‘Weapon’

    · 50 min

    Actor Julia Garner (Ozark) has built a career out of shapeshifting. This summer, the Emmy-winning performer lands on the silver (surfer) screen with two major projects—The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the…

  22. David Mamet Exits Stage Left

    · 1 h 19 min

    David Mamet is one of the most celebrated American playwrights of the last century: Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Speed-the-Plow, American Buffalo, and Glengarry Glen Ross— which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in…

  23. Director Celine Song on ‘Materialists’ (Death, Sex & Money)

    · 43 min

    Long before Celine Song was nominated for an Academy Award for her feature directorial debut, Past Lives, she was a struggling playwright in New York City with an unusual side hustle: matchmaking. In this special…

  24. Actor Patricia Clarkson (‘Sharp Objects’) Goes Her Own Way

    · 56 min

    After nearly four decades of working in Hollywood, actor Patricia Clarkson (The Station Agent, Pieces of April) says her portrayal of women’s rights activist Lilly Ledbetter is “the greatest privilege” in her storied…

  25. Play It Again: Joaquin Phoenix

    · 1 h 04 min

    “I wanted to be good, but I completely burned up the morning,” said Joaquin Phoenix on day 1 of Eddington. “Ari and I stayed on set when everyone left for lunch—and, slowly, something emerged. I don’t know if it’s any…

  26. Director Ari Aster (‘Eddington’) Has Made an American Western for 2025

    · 56 min

    “Eddington is a film about a bunch of people who know that something is wrong,” says writer-director Ari Aster. “It’s just that nobody can agree on what that thing is.” Aster joins us this week to unpack his…

  27. Lena Dunham is Never ‘Too Much’

    · 1 h 15 min

    Writer/director Lena Dunham is the voice of my generation. Or at the very least, a voice of a generation. Her new show, Too Much, is now available to stream on Netflix. We start by discussing her 2022 film Sharp Stick…

  28. How ‘Big and Beautiful’ is Trump’s Bill? (with Jamelle Bouie of NYT)

    · 1 h 29 min

    From the opinion pages of The New York Times to his popular TikTok feed, Jamelle Bouie is a leading voice in American politics. This week, Bouie helps us sift through the inner workings of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”…

  29. Actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach Returns to ‘The Bear’

    · 52 min

    To celebrate the fourth season of The Bear, we return to our conversation with Emmy-winning actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach. At the top, we dive into the making of the hit series (9:22), his unforgettable collaboration with…

  30. Comedian Jerrod Carmichael is Creating His Own Truman Show

    · 1 h 26 min

    In just under a decade, Jerrod Carmichael has had a remarkably varied career. On the heels of his latest HBO special, we return to our conversation with Emmy-winning comedian. At the top, we unpack the origin of his…

  31. Live From New York with Sam Rockwell (‘The White Lotus’)

    · 58 min

    Oscar winner Sam Rockwell has established himself as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. In our recent sit-down, recorded at the Tribeca Audio Festival, we trace the arc of that career culminating in…

  32. Father’s Day with Seth Meyers

    · 1 h 01 min

    For the past twenty-four years, Seth Meyers has built a comedy career inside the walls of 30 Rock. We join him there today for our Father’s Day special, reflecting on the past decade of Late Night. At the top, we talk…

  33. Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) is Creating a Language of Her Own

    · 1 h 00 min

    Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) has long turned to music to make sense of the past. Today, she joins us to unpack all of the emotional terrain covered in her latest album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women).…

  34. Writer Ocean Vuong’s Vision of the Future

    · 1 h 28 min

    Since his bestselling novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous debuted in 2019, Ocean Vuong has become one of the most beloved writers of his generation. He first sat with Sam in 2021 amid the pandemic. Today, Vuong…

  35. Graduation Week with Columbia Journalism Dean Jelani Cobb

    · 1 h 15 min

    Even before Jelani Cobb became Dean of the Columbia Journalism School, he was an educator. His reportage at The New Yorker (where he’s been writing about race and politics since 2012), steeped in history. And yet not…

  36. Play It Again: Sarah Silverman (‘PostMortem’)

    · 1 h 00 min

    To commemorate the release of her new, deeply personal Netflix special ‘PostMortem,’ we revisit our conversation with Sarah Silverman. At the top, we reflect on loss (7:16), her HBO special Sarah Silverman: Someone…

  37. Pulitzer Prize Winner Percival Everett (‘James’)

    · 50 min

    Earlier this month, writer Percival Everett was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for James, his subversive and singular reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. At the top, we discuss the philosophical…

  38. Ira Glass on Three Decades of ‘This American Life’ Magic

    · 1 h 26 min

    Thirty years. Over 850 episodes. Nine Peabodys. One Pulitzer. And yet somehow, three decades in, This American Life (and its creator, Ira Glass) remains as innovative and timely as ever. We begin with a week in the…

  39. Penn Badgley: Here’s Looking at ‘You’

    · 1 h 08 min

    Television, perhaps more than movies, has a way of etching its stars in stone. And few actors seem to be able to break the mold more than once. Which is what makes Penn Badgley’s career—first on Gossip Girl then…

  40. The Many Lives of Viola Davis

    · 1 h 10 min

    Before Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder) became an EGOT-winning actor, she was an observer. Her work takes the human experience and transmutes it, offering a mirror and a window into ourselves. Today, we sit…

  41. Elizabeth Warren Holds Onto Hope

    · 1 h 18 min

    An outspoken advocate for working families, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) has made a career out of taking on Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and the Beltway. And while she may be tired of Washington, she’s…

  42. Writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (‘Dream Count’) Has Some Notes

    · 1 h 26 min

    “Everything’s changed,” says author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. “I’ve changed, and every book is a different person.” It’s true: in the 12 years since the release of her best-seller, Americanah, Adichie has oscillated…

  43. Jenny Slate in 2025

    · 57 min

    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…

  44. Hollywood Plays Itself in Seth Rogen’s ‘The Studio’

    · 1 h 10 min

    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…

  45. Ezra Klein’s Call for ‘Abundance’ in America

    · 1 h 21 min

    In their new book, Abundance, journalists Ezra Klein (The New York Times) and Derek Thompson offer a hopeful vision for what the future of the U.S. can look like. Ezra returns to the show to discuss how his ‘agenda of…

  46. Play It Again: Actor Amanda Seyfried

    · 48 min

    From Mean Girls to Mamma Mia! to First Reformed, Amanda Seyfried has repeatedly displayed her versatility as a performer. Today, we return to one of our favorite conversations with the illustrious actor. At the top,…

  47. A Portrait of the Artist Tyler Mitchell

    · 1 h 23 min

    What does photography need to do now? Artist Tyler Mitchell has been asking (and attempting to answer) that question since making history as the first Black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover back in 2018. Since then…

  48. Actor Monica Barbaro (‘A Complete Unknown’) Takes the Stage as Joan Baez

    · 59 min

    In celebration of Oscar Sunday, our conversation with actor Monica Barbaro. Her portrayal of Joan Baez in the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.…

  49. Oscars Week with Jesse Eisenberg (‘A Real Pain’)

    · 1 h 00 min

    In the lead-up to Oscar Sunday, our conversation with actor, writer, and director Jesse Eisenberg. At the top, we unpack the journey that shaped his film A Real Pain (9:18), memories from his travels to Poland…

  50. Director RaMell Ross (‘Nickel Boys’) is Redefining Cinema

    · 1 h 04 min

    One week from Oscar Sunday, we’re joined by Nickel Boys director RaMell Ross. At the top, RaMell describes the formal innovations of the new film (6:44), the naivete that allowed him to make this singular project…

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