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.

[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.

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.

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] 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.

[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.

[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.

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.

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. Black’s trademark wit and natural inquisitiveness offers a behind-the-scenes viewpoint, along with laugh-out-loud humor and valuable advice from guests who are at the top of their game. The fashion therapist and Project Runway mentor chats with Michael about his journey.

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the international best sellers, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, and her latest This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate. Her ability to tackle and make understandable big subjects like global warming and unfettered capitalism have made her hugely popular and even offer us a ray of hope in the face of a seemingly dire future.

[Contains explicit content] Actor and playwright John Leguizamo has become famous for being an open book, which is apparent in his critically acclaimed one-man shows that chronicle his life from troublemaker to film star. In his conversation with Michael, he talks seriously about how he became a performer, how money and fame were never important, and how a Latin boy from Queens was able to carve out his own career in what he calls “Hollywon’t.”

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.

[Contains explicit content] America’s leading sex advice columnist known for his popular Savage Love column and podcast talks to Michael about how growing up a closeted gay in a religious Catholic family prepared him for the job of letting people know they are normal, no matter what their sexual interests may be.

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.

[Contains explicit content] The record-breaking, six-time Tony Award-winning actress Audra McDonald went from a hyper-active kid performing in the local dinner theater to Broadway mega-star. In this episode, Michael chats with her about failed auditions, letting go of her idea of perfection, and how she learned to embraces new challenges, such as learning to tap dance for her upcoming role in "Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed."

[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.

Michael goes deep with Krista Tippett. Tippett has devoted her professional life to asking the big questions on her show, On Being. Questions about faith and science and love and how we should live our lives are posed in such an engaging, thought-provoking way that it's no wonder she has amassed a huge following on both public radio and through her popular podcast.

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.