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Fresh Air Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair

And subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Fresh Air Weekly, to get interview highlights, staff recommendations, gems from the archive, and the week's interviews and reviews all in one place. Sign up at www.whyy.org/freshair
Fresh Air

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Fresh Air

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Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair

And subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Fresh Air Weekly, to get interview highlights, staff recommendations, gems from the archive, and the week's interviews and reviews all in one place. Sign up at www.whyy.org/freshair

Most Recent Episodes

Someone Once Told Elton John He Would Never Be A Pop Star

Pop sensation Elton John wrapped up his farewell tour in 2023, only to pop up in a surprise concert at the October 2024 New York City premiere of the new documentary, "Elton John: Never Too Late." Still, as John reduces his public output — and as that documentary drops on the Disney+ streaming platform — we thought our listeners might like to hear again from the British music legend himself. Weekly bonus episodes like this, curated from our vast archive, are usually only available for our Fresh Air+ supporters. But today, in the spirit of giving, we're making this episode available to all. Not a Fresh Air+ supporter yet? Find out more, and join for yourself, at https://plus.npr.org/freshair. Listen to Elton John in 2013: https://n.pr/3BoEEYT| Listen to Elton John in 2019: https://n.pr/49ssSJG | Listen to 40+ years of Fresh Air's archives at https://FreshAirArchive.org.

Someone Once Told Elton John He Would Never Be A Pop Star

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Comic Bill Burr [Extended Version]

Burr talks with Terry Gross about processing his abusive childhood, a therapeutic mushroom trip, and why he's angry at liberals. "You can get canceled as a comedian for doing a friggin' Caitlyn Jenner joke, but this a**hole [Elon Musk] can 'Seig heil' and nothing. Where are all the liberals?" His new Hulu stand-up special is called Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years.

Comic Bill Burr [Extended Version]

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Writer, Critic & Curator Hilton Als Looks For The Silences

As a longtime staff writer at The New Yorker, Hilton Als's essays and profiles of figures like Toni Morrison, Joan Didion, and Richard Pryor have redefined cultural criticism, blending autobiography with literary and social commentary. Als is also a curator. His latest gallery exhibition is The Writing's on the Wall: Language and Silence in the Visual Arts, at the Hill Art Foundation in New York. The exhibit brings together the works of 32 artists across a range of media to examine how artists embrace silence. The show asked a powerful question: What do words — and their absence — look like? The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer spoke with Tonya Mosley.

Writer, Critic & Curator Hilton Als Looks For The Silences

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'Adolescence' Co-Creator/Actor Asks Not Whodunnit, But Why

The Netflix miniseries follows a 13-year-old accused of murdering a girl from his school. Co-creator and star Stephen Graham says he read about similar crimes and wanted to know: "Why is this happening?" Graham spoke with Sam Briger about the crime that inspired the show, fatherhood, and the unusual way the show was shot — in one single take. Graham also stars as a bare-knuckle boxer in the period drama series A Thousand Blows.

'Adolescence' Co-Creator/Actor Asks Not Whodunnit, But Why

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Best Of: A Writer Grapples With A Life-Changing Accident / The Post WWII 'Red Scare'

Hanif Kureishi began his new memoir just days after a fall left him paralyzed. He describes being completely dependent on others — and the sense of purpose he's gained from writing. The memoir is called Shattered.

Best Of: A Writer Grapples With A Life-Changing Accident / The Post WWII 'Red Scare'

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After A Friend's Suicide, A Writer Inherits His Grieving Dog

Sigrid Nunez's 2018 novel The Friend won the National Book Award. It's now a film, starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, about a woman who inherits a dog after her friend's suicide. She spoke with Terry Gross about the book in 2019.

After A Friend's Suicide, A Writer Inherits His Grieving Dog

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The Former Jihadist Trying To Remake Syria

Atlantic writer Robert Worth talks about Syria's transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. He was the founder of the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, but is now advocating unity and inclusion. Syria borders Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, so what happens in Syria impacts the whole region. We'll also talk with Worth about the Houthis in Yemen, and the Trump administration group chat that accidentally included Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg.

The Former Jihadist Trying To Remake Syria

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Amanda Knox Is 'Free,' But Is That Enough?

Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in an Italian prison for a murder she didn't commit. After her exoneration, she reached out to the man who prosecuted her case. She talks about how she made herself useful while in prison, readjusting to being back home, and the survivor's guilt that follows her. Knox's new memoir is Free.

Amanda Knox Is 'Free,' But Is That Enough?

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Inside The 'Mad House' Of Congressional Disfunction

The MAGA-controlled 118th House passed only 27 bills that became law — the lowest number since the Great Depression. Journalists Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater examine the chaos in a new book, Mad House: How Donald Trump, MAGA Mean Girls, a Former Used Car Salesman, a Florida Nepo Baby, and a Man with Rats in His Walls Broke Congress.

Inside The 'Mad House' Of Congressional Disfunction

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A Legal Scholar On 10 Laws 'Ruining America'

Legal scholar Elie Mystal talks about his new book, Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America. From the Hyde Amendment's impact on reproductive rights to laws that shield gun manufacturers, Mystal ​argues flaws within these laws have made life harder for all of us. We'll talk about immigration law, voting rights, and why the deregulation of the airline industry has made most of us hate the experience of flying.

A Legal Scholar On 10 Laws 'Ruining America'

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