Steve Buscemi

The popular 1950s singer Peggy King died last month at age 96. She had a couple of best selling albums, and was named best new singer in 1956 by DownBeat and Billboard magazines. After stepping away from performing to raise a family, she returned to the stage in the 1980 and performed music of Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwins, and Jerome Kern. King joined Terry Gross in 1983 for a concert interview. Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews Bitter Christmas, the new film by Pedro Almodóvar.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Buscemi worked as a NYC firefighter for four years while he was getting his start in theater and stand-up comedy. Over the course of his acting career, Buscemi's acted in more than 100 films and TV shows. He's now appearing in two new movies: The Only Pickpocket in New York and Wild Horse Nine. He spoke with Dave Davies about working with the Coen brothers, being hit by a bus when he was a kid, and being described as “funny lookin’” in Fargo. David Bianculli reviews a PBS televised version of a multimedia concert at Carnegie Hall called “We Chose to Go to the Moon. ”See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

American socialists are having their best year since 1912. In last week's midterms, six socialists were elected to Congress, and three were elected mayor, which means New York, L.A., Washington, D.C., Seattle, Ann Arbor and Providence are now led by democratic socialists. But socialism means different things to different people. Terry Gross talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore about these victories and the history of American socialism.Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mona Chalabi spent five years following 10 Americans living  across the economic spectrum – from those living paycheck-to paycheck to top wage earners  Her new book, Ten Lives, explores why financial security can feel so elusive. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about our stunted language around class, inheritance, and why so many people in the U.S. self-identify as middle class. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Filmmaker and playwright Martin McDonagh talks about his new movie, Wild Horse Nine. It’s a dark comedy about two CIA agents (Sam Rockwell, John Malkovitch) who travel to Easter Island before the 1973 coup d’etat in Chile. McDonagh also wrote and directed The Banshees of Inisherin, In Bruges, and Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. He spoke with Terry Gross about the themes across his work – male friendship, guilt, regret, redemption, and mortality.   Maureen Corrigan reviews new books about Edgar Allen Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

John Turturro stars in the new film The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. To prepare, he studied with a pickpocket. Turturro is known for his roles in films by Spike Lee and the Coen Brothers, in acclaimed TV series The Night Of, and Severance. He spoke with Terry Gross about how growing up around volatility helped him understand some of his characters. Also, Jordan Firstman talks about writing, directing and starring in the new comedy/drama film Club Kid. He plays a hard-partying gay club promoter who discovers he has a 10 year-old kid. He spoke with Ann Marie Baldonado about capturing the highs and lows of club life.  Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Min Jin Lee’s new novel American Hagwon is her first in nearly a decade. ‘Hagwon’ is the Korean term for private tutoring centers. It’s the third installment of a four-part series on the Korean diaspora. Her previous, Pachinko, was a finalist for a National Book Award. In American Hagwon, Lee is taking on the promise and perils for Koreans who pursue a Western education. “I think education is a really beautiful thing,” she tells guest interviewer Aarti Shahani. “But I think we now really have to ask: Why do we get it and what do we want from it?” She’ll also reflect on surviving what she was told was a terminal diagnosis.  Critic-at-large John Powers reviews the new British comedy series Small Prophets. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Firstman's new film, Club Kid, is about a gay party promoter whose life is upended when he discovers he has a young son. "Arlo teaches Peter to grow up, and I think Peter teaches Arlo to be a kid," he tells Fresh Air’s Ann Marie Baldonado. The filmmaker and actor talks about his own years partying in excess, finding inspiration in heartache, and his esoteric impressions that went viral during lockdown. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

A new AARP study finds family caregivers spend, on average, nearly a third of their household income on care. Sometimes, the first challenge is understanding how much help someone needs. We talk with NYT and KFF Health News journalist Paula Span. "Parents will downright lie and tell you on the phone they're fine and they're handling everything, and ‘you can just butt out, thank you,’ and then you go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas and you see the reality and think, things are not fine,” Span tells Tonya Mosley. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Lifting wallets and watches was part of Turturro's training for the new film, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. In it, he plays a small-time thief who's also the primary caretaker for his ailing wife. Turturro spoke with Terry Gross about growing up around volatility, helping his parents with both construction and dressmaking, and how his background helped him connect with Spike Lee. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy