David Tatel is a former civil rights lawyer who spent 30 years as a judge on the D.C. Circuit, the nation’s second highest court. He retired earlier this year. As an appellate judge, he was required to follow Supreme Court precedents, but what about precedents that resulted from what he considers flawed judicial reasoning? Tatel speaks with Terry Gross about being a judge during a time he thought the Supreme Court veered off course — and being a judge who is blind. His new book is called ‘Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice.’
#SCOTUS#democracy#election
As a comedy writer for shows like The Late Late Show with James Corden, Ian Karmel spent most of his life making fun of his weight, starting at a very young age.
He says the humiliation he experienced as a kid navigating gym classes, and the relentless barrage of fat jokes from friends and strangers, fueled his comedy. For years, much of his stand-up comedy centered around his body size; he was determined to make fun of himself first — before anyone else could do it. “At least if we’re destroying me, I will be participating in my own self-destruction so I can at least find a role for myself,” he says.
Karmel’s new memoir is T-Shirt Swim Club: Stories from Being Fat in a World of Thin People. Hear the Fresh Air interview wherever you get podcasts.
New Yorker writer Emily Nussbaum says that it’s common for reality TV contestants to sign extremely aggressive non-disclosure agreements that prevent cast members from discussing the making of the shows.
“They can’t talk about what their producer did, if their producer lied to them, if their producer made them cry by asking them numerous personal questions based on their psychiatric evaluation forms, and then took that crying out of context in the edit,” Nussbaum says. “They can’t talk about any of that, or they may get sued.”
Her book about the history of reality TV is Cue the Sun! Find the conversation wherever you get podcasts.
British singer/guitarist Richard Thompson spoke to Fresh Air in 1994 and 2022 about about his formative years with Fairport Convention and about pioneering a new musical genre that blended rock with traditional music of the British isles. He has a new album called ‘Ship to Shore.’
TERRY GROSS: What was behind the founding of Fairport Convention? And what made you think that you wanted to and that the band should explore the music of the traditional British ballads?
RICHARD THOMPSON: I think we started out as a bunch of friends. Myself and Ashley and Simon were three like-minded North London teenagers, fairly determined to not be like other bands. I think we thought there was a glut of blues bands, R&B bands, soul bands. So we always tried to find obscurities. If we were going to do a blues song, we’d try and find something that no one else had ever heard of. And we would do country songs, which no one else did at that time.
Find the interview on our website or wherever you get podcasts.
New York Times political correspondent Shane Goldmacher has been following the flood of campaign finance money for both presidential candidates. Trump is now ahead of President Biden, backed by wealthy independent donors, many of whom gave millions after he was convicted of felony charges. Also, we discuss how Trump and Biden have prepared for their first debate Thursday night, and how this debate will be different. Find the interview wherever you get podcasts.
@michellebuteau costars with @ilana glazer in the new movie ‘Babes,’ about two women’s journey to motherhood. The film has been praised for showing a real — and sometimes gross — portrait of pregnancy. The comic spoke with @tonyatalks about the film, her time in TV news, and how humor is her lifeline.
Ghanaian artist @blitzambassador is best known for directing the 2023 adaptation of ‘The Color Purple: The Musical.’ He also co-directed ‘Black Is King’ with Beyoncé. His new exhibit of paintings is about growing up in Ghana. Find the Fresh Air interview wherever you get podcasts.
NYT correspondent Peter Goodman has a new book which examines the supply chain breakdowns during the pandemic. He finds that decisions made in recent decades by corporate managers seeking to maximize profits and politicians determined to deregulate critical industries left the economy vulnerable to the disruptions that made everything from toilet paper to computer chips hard to come by for more than a year. Goodman’s new book is 'How the World Ran Out of Everything.' Find the interview wherever you get podcasts.
We're listening back to our 2023 interview with playwright, actor and producer Jeremy O. Harris. He is best known for his breakout Broadway production 'Slave Play.' There’s now an HBO documentary about the making of the production, which, in 2021, garnered 12 Tony nominations.
In the documentary, which dropped this week, Harris confronts the debate the play received, reflecting on both its success and the outrage it provoked. Find the interview wherever you get podcasts.
