From the Archives: Michael Douglas

For more than four decades, Jeffrey Sachs has been a leading voice in global economics and advising governments from Bolivia and Poland to Russia, China, and India. A Harvard graduate with three economics degrees, Sachs became a tenured Harvard professor at just 28 and spent more than two decades teaching at the university before joining Columbia University, where he now serves as University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development. Sachs has served as a special advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, helped launch the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and played a pivotal role in shaping the UN Sustainable Development Goals. He is also the author of more than a dozen books, including the New York Times bestseller The End of Poverty. In recent years, Sachs has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of American foreign policy. In this wide-ranging conversation, he reflects on his extraordinary career, the evolution of American politics and global leadership, and how the United States' role in the world has changed since he first entered the international stage.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Todd Rundgren is in a class all his own. Whether scoring Top 40 hits, playing all of the instruments on his albums or wildly experimenting with musical genres, Rundgren is continuously pushing the boundaries of creativity. That ethos and ingenuity can be found in his numerous solo albums from the 70s to present day, with his band Utopia and as a record producer for musicians like Patti Smith, The Psychedelic Furs and MeatLoaf. The trailblazing Rundgren is also a pioneer in computer technology and multimedia – creating the first color graphics tablet, first interactive album and first interactive concert tour. Todd Rundgren tells Alec how he pulls off making the music he wants to make, how he almost changed careers to become a computer programmer and how psychedelics helped him rethink music completely.  You can listen to all of the music from this episode and other selections from Todd Rundgren in a curated playlist here. Originally released May 23rd, 2022. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lou Gramm is a legendary singer and songwriter best known as co-founder and original frontman of Foreigner. Gramm is considered among the greatest and most successful rock vocalists of his generation. He co-wrote many of Foreigner's hits with bandmate Mick Jones. Together, they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame class of 2013 and in 2024, Gramm was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Foreigner. Gramm is the voice behind hit songs such as “Juke Box Hero”, “Urgent", and “I Want to Know What Love Is”. In March 2026, Gramm released his first full-length solo album since 1989. Paired with this conversation is Here’s The Thing’s 2017 conversation with another legendary singer-songwriter: Jon Anderson. The co-founder of the progressive rock band Yes and renowned for his unmistakable vocals and songwriting, Anderson is the voice behind timeless hits including “Roundabout,” “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” and “I've Seen All Good People”. In 2017, Anderson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Yes. With a career spanning more than five decades, Anderson continues to tour worldwide.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To celebrate 15 years of great conversations, we're revisiting Alec's first episode from 2011. Michael Douglas has lived in the same apartment overlooking Central Park for decades. Alec joins him there for a compelling conversation about what makes a great director and why playing the villain is so wonderful. Douglas reveals how competition with his father, legendary actor Kirk Douglas, shaped both his career and his life as a parent. He says he’s much more honest with his young daughter than he ever thought he’d be. Douglas explains how his father’s early brush with death, and his own cancer diagnosis affected them each in different ways. Originally released October 23rd, 2011.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Twain once likened biographies to “the clothes and buttons of the man” saying “the biography of the man himself cannot be written.” The quote is a favorite of Patricia Bosworth, a 1950s model-actor turned biographer known for capturing the lives of Diane Arbus, Montgomery Clift, and Marlon Brando. All three were revered and haunted by internal demons—a narrative she knows too well. Bosworth's own father, Bartley Crum, was a left-wing lawyer who famously defended the Hollywood Ten before succumbing to his own psychological pain. It was her father's suicide, as well as her brother's six years earlier, that instilled a strong desire to seek out the stories of other tormented souls. Patricia Bosworth's book The Men in My Life turns that voyage inward, painting a picture of a resilient woman with a tragic story of her own. Originally released August 22nd, 2017. Patricia Bosworth passed away on April 2nd, 2020.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dubbed “the hottest artist on the classical music planet” by The New York Times, pianist Lang Lang has reached a level of stardom rare for classical musicians.  But his prominence is hard-won.  Alec, who adores Lang Lang's charisma and talent, elicits from his guest stories of hardship during his childhood in northeastern China, and of his slow climb to the top, via Philadelphia.  That's where fish-out-of-water Lang Lang showed up at the age of 15 and enrolled in public high school as well as conservatory.  Throughout the interview, Lang Lang plays pieces from his latest album, Piano Book, a collection of pieces normally reserved for young learners, reinterpreted with brilliance and respect by the great master.  Originally aired September 17th, 2019.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Illeana Douglas is an Emmy-nominated actress, writer, producer, director, and author whose career spans film, television, and classic-cinema preservation. The granddaughter of two-time Academy Award-winning actor Melvyn Douglas, Illeana Douglas has appeared in acclaimed films such as as “Goodfellas”, “Cape Fear”, “To Die For”, “Grace of My Heart", "Chasing Amy", "Ghost World", and "Factory Girl”. Her television credits include “Ugly Betty” and “Six Feet Under”, for which she received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress. She is also the creator and star of the award-winning web series “Easy to Assemble”. A lifelong devotee of classic cinema, Douglas has hosted several Turner Classic Movies Spotlight series and contributed to numerous film documentaries. Douglas is also an accomplished author. Her memoir, I Blame Dennis Hopper: And Other Stories from a Life Lived in and Out of the Movies, was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s best books of 2015. Her other books include Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia and the recently published Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edie Falco says she is nothing like Carmela Soprano. Nor does she have much in common with Nurse Jackie. But Falco made these characters two of the most identifiable and human women in television history. She has an armful of Emmys, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild Awards—and a cadre of dedicated fans—to prove it. Along the way, she's battled cancer, raised two children on her own, and is a recovering alcoholic. But Falco doesn't want your sympathy; she tells host Alec Baldwin that her greatest professional accomplishment is creating a fun, respectful atmosphere on-set. She credits her multiple successes to good luck, great mentors, and says there's no predicting which way her career could have gone—or will go yet.    Originally aired April 28th, 2015.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daniel Immerwahr is a historian, scholar, professor, and author whose work explores U.S. and global history, with a particular focus on the ways the past continues to shape the present. He currently teaches U.S. and global history at Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences. Immerwahr is also the author of the nonfiction historical book Thinking Small, which won the Merle Curti Award, and How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States, published in 2019 and named a national bestseller, one of the New York Times critics' top books of the year, and the winner of the Robert H. Ferrell Prize. In addition to his books and academic work, Immerwahr is a contributing writer at The New Yorker and his writing has also appeared in publications including The Atlantic and The New York Times. Immerwahr’s teaching and writing examine American history within a broader global context, drawing upon history to explore questions of politics, power, and the forces shaping the United States today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mick Fleetwood is the drummer and a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, one of the most successful rock bands of all time. Fleetwood talks to Alec about how dyslexia led him to drumming, how supportive parents encouraged his talent and his move to London as a teenager, how his friendship with the band’s founder, guitarist Peter Green, evolved into a lifelong friendship, and how Fleetwood Mac balanced the weight of their interpersonal dynamics and the band’s wild, over-the-top success. The band’s 1977 album Rumors broke through the Billboard 100 again in 2020 thanks to a TikTok of a man on a skateboard lip-syncing to Dreams and introduced a whole new generation to Fleetwood Mac’s beautiful, enduring music.  Originally aired January 26, 2021See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.