x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

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

society & culture film interviews

All Episodes

01:15:19

Is Comedian Robby Hoffman the Last American Dream?

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/12/28

We’re closing out 2025 with the person who made us laugh the most this year: comedian Robby Hoffman.[You can watch this conversation on YouTube.] At the top, we unpack the joys of her new Netflix special Wake Up (4:00), her views on Sunday football (9:00), and the state of masculinity (15:00). Then, Robby walks us through her Orthodox upbringing (19:00), leaving America for Canada (21:00), and how she started to find herself in high school (32:00). On the back-half, we talk her first night doing

en

01:18:11

Kate Winslet Is Home for the Holidays

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/12/21

For over thirty years, Kate Winslet has been one of the most beloved performers on screen.We discuss her directorial debut in Goodbye June (5:00), the loss that inspired this personal screenplay (10:00), and how her experiences in Hollywood shaped her approach to directing (20:00). Then, Winslet reflects on her vivid upbringing in Reading, England (23:00), landing her breakout role in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures (30:00), and the encouragement of her artistic father (33:00). On the

en

98:22

The New Yorker at 100 (with David Remnick)

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/12/14

In the first 100 years of The New Yorker, only five have edited the magazine. Since 1998, it’s been David Remnick at the helm, shepherding the publication into the 21st century. We discuss Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral win in New York City (3:24), the new documentary, The New Yorker at 100, chronicling the magazine’s evolution (11:00), how comedian Jon Stewart understands the rising influence of the podcast Manosphere (26:20), and the future of media (47:00). Then, we turn to our first

en

55:24

Renate Reinsve Delivers the Performance of the Year...

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/12/07

What happens when a house is not a home? It's the question pulsating at the heart of the new film,Sentimental Value,and one that actor Renate Reinsve reckons with in the lead role of Nora. We discuss her process connecting the ‘puzzle’ of each character (7:00), how she balances dark and light themes in this new film (8:20), and her creative childhood in Norway (12:00). Then, Renate describes how David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive impacted her as a young performer (20:20), her

en

63:23

Filmmaker Joachim Trier’s ‘Sentimental’ Family Affair

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/11/30

Following the success of The Worst Person in the World, writer-director Joachim Trier returns this fall with a candid family story inSentimental Value. We begin with the guiding words from writer Philip Roth (7:20), how Trier arrived at this intimate new film (8:40), and why he was drawn to father-daughter dynamics (his own, and others) in making this new project (10:00). Then, we talk about Joachim’s early observations growing up in Norway (25:00), why he prefers to be present with performers

en

73:42

The Noah Baumbach Retrospective

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/11/23

Filmmaker Noah Baumbach has spent the past three decades transmuting his experiences into cinema, culminating in his latest film, Jay Kelly, his love letter to movies (and the memories they evoke). We begin with the “quiet crisis” Baumbach found himself in on the heels of releasing White Noise (5:30), finding his way back to the page, with co-writer Emily Mortimer, to create Jay Kelly for George Clooney (10:20), the films that defined his early years (15:00), and the week that Mike

en

57:15

For the Holidays, Ina Garten (Wiser Than Me with...

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/11/19

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 nuclear policy at the White House, ran the beloved food store Barefoot Contessa, and went on to write best-selling cookbooks and host her own hit TV shows. But what’s always defined her isn’t just the food—it’s the way she brings people together around it. In this

en

62:51

Cook Alison Roman Creates ‘Something from Nothing’

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/11/16

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 heels of its release, we return to our conversation with the culinary force. We discuss her dessert cookbook Sweet Enough (4:55), her early years as a restaurant pastry chef (12:24), and the chaotic conditions of working in the service industry (14:50). Then, Roman describes

en

51:21

Judd Apatow’s Guide to Failure and Success (Fail...

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/11/12

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 40-Year-Old Virgin, before diving into his new visual memoir, Comedy Nerd: A Lifelong Obsession in Stories and Pictures. Throughout their conversation, Judd reflects on what’s driven him all these years—not the need to prove he’s funny, but the desire to

en

75:27

At the Movies with Director Edgar Wright (‘The...

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/11/09

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 beloved British filmmaker joins us this week to discuss his new adaptation of Stephen King’sThe Running Man (5:38), the inspiration he took from director Sam Raimi’s career path (17:30), and Wright’s moviegoing childhood in Somerset, England (20:24). Then, we

en

86:10

Novelist Salman Rushdie at ‘The Eleventh Hour’

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/11/02

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 two years later, he recounted the attack (and remarkable recovery) in his memoirKnife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. Now, at seventy-eight, Rushdie returns to fiction with The Eleventh Hour, a collection of five interlinked stories that explore anger, peace, mortality,

en

78:12

‘Before’ Director Richard Linklater

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/10/29

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 remains. To mark the arrival of his latest films, Blue MoonandNouvelle Vague, we return to our talk last summer with Linklater. We begin with Hit Man (6:36), his action-packed neo-noir (8:15) that also explores the malleability of identity (11:00). Then, Linklater reflects on his

en

73:11

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

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/10/26

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 on American Masculinity (3:53), its revealing survey of nearly two thousand men across the US (5:00), the absence of “low-stakes mischief” in today’s surveillance age (9:40), the widespread obsession with Gen Z (12:00), and the “125 Rules for Modern

en

59:37

Does Fashion Have a Future? Designer Gabriela Hearst...

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/10/19

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 (4:00), her childhood herding cattle on a 17,000-acre ranch in Uruguay (6:00), and the gaucho traditions that shaped her philosophy around art-making (10:00). Then, Gabriela reflects on the manifestation practice that’s guided her since adolescence (15:00), how love and heartbreak fueled her creatively

en

51:07

Actor Rose Byrne: A Woman on the Verge

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/10/12

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 her child’s mysterious illness. We begin by discussing the maternal madness at the heart of this new film from A24 (6:30), the long, collaborative road to shaping the character (10:00), and what it was like to have Conan O’Brien as a scene partner (13:30)

en

101:52

A Cup of Coffee with Director Benny Safdie (‘The...

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/10/08

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 Rock” Johnson (9:00). In the second half, we revisit our conversation from 2023. There, Safdie unpacks his collaboration with comedian Nathan Fielder on their television series The Curse (44:30), the timely premise that inspired the show (47:20), and his history

en

61:35

Ta-Nehisi Coates Has a Message to Deliver. Can We...

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/10/05

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 the top, they discuss how his Atlantic piece The Case for Reparations guided these three new essays (6:10), Coates’ early education growing up in West Baltimore (14:57), and his powerful dispatches from South Carolina (22:00) and the Middle East (29:30). On the back-half,

en

65:24

And In Our Hour of Darkness, Writer Arundhati Roy

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/09/28

“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 Roy. With her first memoir, fittingly titledMother Mary Comes to Me, she turns to her turbulent relationship with her late mother, Mary Roy, a pioneering feminist who reshaped Indian law. Act I: Let It Be We begin with the imagery that animates the new book

en

60:41

Director Francis Ford Coppola Keeps His Dream Alive

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/09/21

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 conversation on YouTube. We return to our talk with Coppola upon the anniversary of his modern-day Roman epic fable Megalopolis, discussing his decades-long process developing the film (6:16) and the inspiration he’s taken from Georges Méliès (17:00) and

en

69:23

Seth Rogen’s ‘The Studio’ Takes the Emmys

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso ·

2025/09/15

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 back in the spring to discuss his 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

en

523 results

Similar Podcasts

Voices of Life

APG Mannheim

Promo Estereo Podcast

Promo Estereo

Talking Timelines Podcast

Talkingtimelines

גיקונומי

ראם שרמן ודורון ניר

Drømmefanger

Drømmefanger