Skip to main content

Segments by Date

Recent segments within the last 6 months are available to play only on NPR

Select Topics

Select Air Date

to

Select Segment Types

Segment Types

20,883 Segments

Sort:

Newest

06:10

'Friends With' Benefits From Its Complications

In Friends with Kids, Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt play two best friends who decide to have a baby together while keeping their relationship platonic -- so the baby doesn't interfere with their romantic lives. Critic David Edelstein say the film is simply marvelous.

Review
43:05

Maya Rudolph: The Fresh Air Interview

The comedian spent seven seasons on Saturday Night Live and went on to star in the raunchy comedy Bridesmaids. Now she's exploring what's funny about parenting in the new movie Friends with Kids and the TV series Up All Night.

Interview
06:40

Is 'Game Change' Fair To Sarah Palin? You Betcha

The HBO made-for-TV movie, which focuses on John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate in the 2008 election, has already been attacked by conservative groups. But TV critic David Bianculli says the movie is fair -- and balanced.

Review
06:48

Bruce Springsteen: A Universal, Original 'Wrecking Ball'

Springsteen told Rolling Stone that Wrecking Ball is "as direct a record as I ever made." It's also one of his most stylistically diverse, including elements of gospel and hip-hop as well as rock and blue. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the music "testifies to a bottomless ingenuity, invention and exhilaration."

Review
21:33

Did The Fed Help Banks While Ignoring The Risks?

The Federal Reserve shrugged off warnings and let banks pay shareholders billions of dollars in dividends last years, despite warnings from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. ProPublica investigative reporter Jesse Eisinger says banks should have been forced to set aside the money as a rainy-day cushion.

Interview
43:17

Habits: How They Form And How To Break Them

Every habit-forming activity follows the same behavioral and neurological patterns, says New York Times business writer Charles Duhigg. His new book The Power of Habit explores the science behind why we do what we do -- and how companies are working to use our habits to market products to us.

Interview
05:44

'The Lorax': A Campy And Whimsical Seussical

The animated feature, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, is based on the classic Dr. Seuss environmentally themed children's book and stars the voices of Ed Helms, Danny DeVito and Zac Efron. Critic David Edelstein says the movie is by far the best Seuss adaptation.

Review
05:19

It's High-Concept, But Will It Keep You 'Awake'?

The new NBC drama stars Jason Isaacs as a man who survives a terrible car accident with either his wife or child. He's living one existence, and dreaming the other -- but which is real? It's a lot of work for the viewer, but critic David Bianculli has faith in the show's creators.

Review
44:05

Putin Biography Chronicles Rise Of A 'Street Thug'

Media suppression, corruption and murder have marked the regime of Vladimir Putin, who is running for hi third term as president in Russia's election next week. His rise to power is spelled out in journalist Masha Gessen's new book, The Man Without a Face.

Interview
18:34

The Man Working To Reverse-Engineer Your Brain.

Our brains are filled with billions of neurons. Neuroscientist Sebastian Seung explains how mapping out the connections between those neurons might be the key to understanding the basis of things like personality, memory, perception, ideas and mental illness.

Neuroscientist Sebastian Seung
51:10

One Year Later, 'Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown.'

A small group of engineers, soldiers and firemen risked their own lives to help prevent a complete meltdown after the quake and tsunami hit. Investigative reporter Dan Edge chronicles the aftermath of the disaster in a new Frontline documentary.

Interview
06:03

China On The Court: NBA Meets The 'Brave Dragons.'

A new book follows an American basketball veteran as he coaches a struggling Chinese pro basketball team. Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Yardley has a courtside seat from which to observe China's frantic capitalist expansion and its ambivalent fascination with all things American.

Review
08:01

25 Years Later, 'The Singing Detective' Still Shines.

The British musical private-eye drama, which first aired in 1986, starred Michael Gambon as a novelist hospitalized with a horrible skin condition who tries to write a Hollywood screenplay in his mind. David Bianculli explains why the miniseries is "TV's most polished, audacious masterpiece."

Commentary
06:11

'Wanderlust': A Zany Blast From The Communal Past.

In the new comedy Wanderlust, an unemployed Manhattan couple (Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston) stumble into a hippie farming commune. David Edelstein says the movie features a "tribe of marvelously inventive comic actors doing a fair amount of inspired improvisation."

Review
10:52

Barney Rosset: A Crusader Against Censorship Laws.

The book publisher who championed the works of beat poets and Samuel Beckett, and who defied censors with the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover and Tropic of Cancer, died Tuesday at age 89. Fresh Air remembers Rosset with excerpts from a 1991 interview.

This interview was originally broadcast on Apr. 9, 1991.

Obituary

Did you know you can create a shareable playlist?

Advertisement

There are more than 22,000 Fresh Air segments.

Let us help you find exactly what you want to hear.
Just play me something
Your Queue

Would you like to make a playlist based on your queue?

Generate & Share View/Edit Your Queue