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PODCAST

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen

In this new kind of interview show, Randy Cohen talks to guests about a person, a place, and a thing they find meaningful. The result: surprising stories from great talkers. Learn more at http://personplacething.org/

comedy comedy interviews

All Episodes

27:31

Michael Miscione

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2024/02/17

This former Manhattan borough historian admires the enormously accomplished, nearly forgotten, 19th-century New Yorker Andrew H. Green: “He is often compared to Robert Moses. In a favorable way.” To be fair, so is my cat, who’s destroyed only my sofa but no entire neighborhood.

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27:31

Peter Riegert

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2024/02/10

As a young actor (Local Hero, Crossing Delancey, Animal House) he played Goldberg in The Birthday Party, overseen by Harold Pinter himself. One speech was particularly opaque. “I had no idea what it meant, but to say these words was to be Isaac Stern on the violin.” Learning to trust the writer. Produced with the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

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27:31

Kia Weatherspoon

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2024/02/03

This interior designer is celebrated for her work on low-income housing projects, but not universally celebrated. Sometimes a client resists: “You’re making it too nice for these people; these people will tear it up.” Bringing good design to “these people.” Music: Mireya Ramos, Sinhue Padilla. Presented with the Van Alen Institute.

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27:31

Eran Chen

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2024/01/27

This Israeli-American architect likes buildings, of course, but it’s the spaces between buildings that he loves. “It’s a blur between public and private, it’s a stage, it’s sort of an in-between territory, a threshold to the city, a place of in-between.” Produced with the Center for Architecture. Music: Liz Hanley

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27:31

Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2024/01/20

Some architects want their buildings to endure unchanged for all eternity, but these partners embrace transformation: “We hope our La Brea Museum, 100 years from now, will be appropriated by somebody else.” (By a mammoth with a sense of irony?) Produced with the National Academy of Design. Music: Mamie Minch.

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27:31

Jennifer Johnson Cano

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2024/01/13

As a kid, this mezzo soprano sang in a church choir with this implicit purpose: “To bring joy to people, and bring comfort to people, and help people feel what they need to feel.” Not a bad approach to art or, for that matter, life.

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27:31

Kelley Girod

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2024/01/06

Although utopia has not arrived, racial segregation has diminished since the reopening of the Apollo Theater in 1934, so is the place still needed? Absolutely, declares its Director of New Works: “The Apollo will always be necessary as long as we have stories to tell.” Presented with the Ford Foundation and the Municipal Art Society. Music: Rashad Brown

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27:31

Robert Bank

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/12/30

The International Declaration of Human Rights is a blueprint for compassionate, egalitarian, democratic societies, says the president and CEO of American Jewish World Service, including this: “Article 24 is the right to a vacation. There are some amazing things in here.” Sure, but where’s its Second Amendment? Produced with the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. Music: Kevin Nathaniel Hylton, Salieu Suso

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27:31

Dwight Garner

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/12/09

This New York Times book critic has many off-the-job accomplishments: “Learning how to eat chicken feet and love them is one thing I’m really proud of.” The author of The Upstairs Deli expands our capacity for joy—in reading, in eating, in life. Produced with Rizzoli bookstore. Music: Stephanie Jenkins.

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27:31

Joshua Jay

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/12/02

This magician had mixed feelings when he figured out how a colleague performed an illusion. “It was no less amazing to me when I knew how it was done, but it was disappointing.” The austere joy of knowledge or the sensuous pleasure of mystery: a magician’s dilemma. Produced with Lori Schwarz for KGB Bar’s Red Room. Music: Reed Miller.

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27:31

Fernanda Chandoha

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/11/24

Her father, Walter, was the grand master of cat photography. “Growing up,” she says, “when you told somebody what your parents did, it was just like: what?” Presented with Fotografiska, where his work can be seen through January in the exhibition Best in Show, Pets in Contemporary Photography. Music: Jordan McLean, Jose Escobar

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27:31

Timothy Goodman

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/11/18

In addition to his work for corporations (Nike, Apple) and non-profits, this graphic designer documents everything, not just as a way to record an event but as an act of meditation: “Documenting allows me to slow it down and to sit in that space a little longer.” Produced with the Type Directors Club, part of The One Club for Creativity. Music: Rashad Brown

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27:31

Ken Smith

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/11/10

Speaking at—and of—Gansevoort Plaza, a public space he designed, landscape architect Ken Smith considers the implications of the past as well as the needs of the present: “Land has memory. It’s really a crime to erase the memory of a place.” Produced with Meatpacking-District BID. Music: Rob Duncan and Mayumi Miyaoka.

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27:31

Bruce Adolphe

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/11/04

This composer, mastermind of “Piano Puzzlers,” feared premature death: “Schubert died at 31, Mozart died at 35, Gershwin died at 39. I thought because my father died when he was 55, that I would, too.” A conversation at Steinway Hall on fathers, sons, and the neuroscience of creativity.

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27:31

Alan Shayne

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/10/29

As young actor—he’s now 97— he studied with Stella Adler along with Marlon Brando, (“He was a great actor but an impossible person.”) a saga he recounts in The Star Dressing Room. One of them became the head of Warner Brothers Television, the other became Marlon Brando.

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27:31

Hubby Jenkins

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/10/21

This Grammy-nominated musician, celebrated for his work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Rhiannon Giddens, sums himself up: “I play the banjo, talk about Black people, and really love Star Trek.” Hubby in a nutshell at Terra Blues.

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27:31

Elizabeth Rush

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/10/14

Her book The Quickening recounts an Antarctic expedition to Thwaites Glacier, which holds enough ice to raise sea levels three feet. “It’s this otherworldly being that has the power to shape us.” But, she urges, please avoid its nickname, “Doomsday Glacier.” That’s just mean. Produced with Orion magazine.

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27:31

Lynn Nottage and Jonathan Lethem

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/10/07

Lifelong friends, these writers grew up on the same block. His newest book is Brooklyn Crime Novel; she is developing the Imitation of Life Musical with John Legend and Liesl Tommy.. Presented with The New York Women's Foundation: advancing economic, gender, and racial justice for women and families.

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27:31

Richard Russo

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/09/30

A friend of his wife gave his novel Empire Falls to Ivanka Trump. Her response: “This is a book about poor people. Why would I want to read a book about poor people?” Some bad reviews are better than good reviews. Presented with the Center for Fiction and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

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27:31

Elizabeth Alexander

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen ·

2023/09/23

This poet, president of the Mellon foundation, quotes June Jordan on the question activists should ask: “Where is the love? What are we moving toward, not just what are we fighting against?” Poetry, politics, and why your Thanksgiving dinner should include lasagna. Made Eritrean style.

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179 results

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