Showing results by author "Michael Black"

NPR Humorist and Best-selling Author of "Me Talk Pretty One Day" and "When You Are Engulfed in Flames," author David Sedaris became a household name in his mid-thirties after public radio broadcast his iconic holiday story "SantaLand Diaries.” 20 years later he now tours the world, selling out venues full of loyal fans. In Part 1 of his interview, Michael talks to David about how he crafts his stories and how his career as a writer and performer became so successful.

In Part 2 of Michael’s interview with Best-selling Author David Sedaris, they talk about growing up Sedaris and how his relationship with his father motivated him to be the writer he is today.

In this in-depth interview show, Black takes listeners into the minds of some of today’s most fascinating celebrities and newsmakers to discuss the process of how they became, well, amazing.

The best-selling author of The Blind Side, The Big Short, Moneyball and his newest, The Undoing Project, is known to be a master storyteller. He proves no different in this interview as he tells great stories about his years growing up in New Orleans and how that helped shape his worldview and his approach to writing.

[Contains explicit content] Storytelling aficionado and inquisitive host Eugene Mirman (Bob’s Burgers) sits down with special guests and hits “pause” to mine for funny details they might have left out of their true, entertaining, and personal stories. Hilarious tangents, amusing sidebars, and deep digressions abound in this peek at the stories behind the stories.

In this wide ranging conversation, the world famous astrophysicist, Director of the Hayden Planetarium, television host, author and all around badass talks to Michael about how his early years opened his mind to the universe and laid the path to his future success. In this candid interview, the two discusses how he deals with fame, why he thinks NASA is so important, and how he approaches science deniers.

[Contains explicit content] In his early years as a comedian, Jim Gaffigan struggled to find his own comedic point of view. It took him years to figure out that his best work meant being comfortable as his clean self and having faith that funny is funny, even without profanity. Along with his writing partner, and wife, Jeanie, Gaffigan has become one of the most popular comedians working today.

Michael sits down with the charming author, host of Watch What Happens: Live and executive producer of The Real Housewives for a lively discussion about how his passion for pop culture lead him to his dream job. Cohen dishes about his early days at CBS news, and gets candid about everything from coming out of the closet to handling life in the spotlight.

Michael hears from Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony Award-winning lyricist whose musical In the Heights catapulted him to the Broadway scene at a very young age. The two discuss his passion for hip-hop music, building a hit Broadway show, working with Neil Patrick Harris and how he was able to combine his love of musical theater and hip-hop to successfully make a career out of doing what he loves.

[Contains explicit content] After barely paying her rent for years trying to make it as an actress, Megan Mullally hit the big time playing the wealthy, alcoholic socialite Karen Walker on the Emmy Award-winning TV sitcom Will & Grace. Her funny, warm and thoughtful take on fame is nothing less than inspirational.

[Contains explicit content] Michael sits down with his friend and fellow comedian Amy Schumer to discuss her years as a stand-up, her hit Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer, and Trainwreck, her upcoming film with Judd Apatow.

In this in-depth interview show, Black takes listeners into the minds of some of today’s most fascinating celebrities and newsmakers to discuss the process of how they became, well, amazing.

Michael sits down with the investigative journalist and best-selling author of Grunt, Stiff and Bonk for a humorous and insightful conversation about her unique research and writing process. While Roach does not possess a science degree, she has managed to establish herself as one of the country’s leading science writers tackling subjects that are taboo such as the history of research on copulation and the strange lives of our bodies postmortem.

Michael sits down with actor, comedian, and author Bob Odenkirk to talk about his professional journey starting as a brash young writer for Saturday Night Live, working as one half of the HBO cult comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David, and becoming a breakout star in the hit series Breaking Bad, which spawned his own series, Better Call Saul. Along the way, Odenkirk realizes that sometimes being a bull in a china shop isn't always the best approach.

From NPR intern to the creator, host, and Executive Producer of This American Life, one of the most popular shows on public radio, Ira Glass talks about what goes into making his weekly program, his approach to being "the boss" and he shares memories about his work before This American Life. His legendary instincts about what makes great audio come into full play as he offers this show advice on how to edit his interview.

[Contains explicit content] Michael takes listeners into the world of the fascinating and profane indie movie director Kevin Smith, whose first film, Clerks, helped change the world of movie-making.

[Contains explicit content] Legendary magician and raconteur Penn Jillette has a keen eye for calling out the bullshit around him, but it took a dangerous health scare for him to realize his own eating habits were going to kill him if he didn't make drastic changes to his diet. In this episode he and Michael discuss how his desire to never take the easy route has helped make him a great magician and showman, and pushed him to lose over 100 pounds without surgery.

[Contains explicit content] Michael talks to best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert about her creative process - where ideas come from, how she works, and how her childhood colors her adult life.

What do you do when you spot a wild Trump in the election season? New York Times best-selling author and comedian Michael Ian Black has some sage advice for children (and all the rest of us who are scratching our heads in disbelief) in this perfectly timely parody book intended for adults that would be hysterical if it wasn't so true.

When Michael spoke to Five Thirty Eight's founder Nate Silver, he highly recommended Daniel Kahneman's groundbreaking book Thinking Fast and Slow. Now, Michael talks to Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning author and founder of behavioral economics, in a rare interview, in which he not only discusses his best-selling book, but also shares personal stories about growing up Jewish in Nazi-occupied Paris.

Michael sits down with Chris Hardwick, the talk show host and CEO of Nerdist Industries who got his start on the MTV game show Singled Out. After several years of abusing alcohol and not being able to pay his rent, Chris quit booze, stopped acting and decided to make a world out of the things he’s passionate about which organically led to a build-it-and-they-will-come multi million-dollar business.

Michael talks to award-winning filmmaker, writer and multimedia artist, Miranda July who like many of us seems to have dreams of conquering the world. Unlike most of us, she has wicked follow-through that demands the world's attention in the best way.