Carole Zimmer

Gracie and Rachel met in high school and they’ve been playing music together ever since. You can hear the connection and familiarity they feel with one another in their lush harmonies, haunting melodies and lyrics that express vulnerability and emotional depth. Gracie and Rachel tour extensively and record on Grammy-winning singer Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records. They’re also featured on two NPR Tiny Desk concerts. I spoke to Gracie and Rachel in the Brooklyn loft where they live and create their work. At the end of our conversation, Gracie sat down at the piano and Rachel picked up her violin. They treated us to a live performance of Ideas, a song about empowerment and change from their album Hello Weakness, You Make Me Strong.

Garrison Keillor spent 42 years as the host of “A Prairie Home Companion, a folksy show that was performed live on Saturday nights and broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations. Keillor, who likes to wear red sneakers, brought his audience news from Lake Wobegon, a fictional town in the state of Minnesota where he grew up. He also performed in skits where he played Guy Noir, Private Eye. Keillor likes to sing patriotic songs and recite poetry. He’s also written more than 15 books and many articles for the New Yorker and the Atlantic. Keillor is currently at work on a novel which he says he better finish fast. “I’m 82. I don’t have time to write Moby Dick.” We talk about why he likes being old, his fellow Minnesotan Tim Walz and the joys of living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  

He worked for CNN for 17 years. One day last year Don Lemon woke up to find out he he’d been fired. Lemon had won Emmys for his reporting on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. He also hosted Don Lemon Tonight where he talked about controversial topics with politicians and newsmakers. Lemon ran into trouble after he began co-hosting a morning show and made a comment about a former Republican Presidential candidate in a discussion about age: “Nikki Haley is not in her prime, sorry.” After leaving CNN, Lemon made a deal with Elon Musk to host an exclusive show on X. That fell apart and Lemon’s show is now streaming on digital platforms and YouTube TV. He’s also written a book called I Once Was Lost about his Christian faith. We talk about how you pick up the pieces after a fall.

 Stan Milford is a Navajo Ranger who spent more than a decade investigating paranormal activities. Milford says he examined hauntings, witchcraft and skinwalkers. He also looked into reports involving dozens of witnesses who claim to have seen a creature known as Bigfoot on the Navajo reservation, an area of 27,000 miles that runs through 4 states. Milford says he took the reports of all these incidents seriously and understands that the people who experience them can be deeply affected by what they’ve seen. Milford, who describes himself and his partner as a real-life X-files team, talked about what might be other dimensions on the Netflix series Unsolved Mysteries. And he’s written a book about a lifetime of mysterious occurrences called The Paranormal Ranger.

David Rohde is a National Security reporter for NBC News and a longtime foreign correspondent. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the war in Bosnia. When Rohde was a reporter for the New York Times, he was kidnapped by the Taliban and held for 7 months before he managed to escape. Rohde's latest book is called Where Tyranny Begins. He looks at all the ways in which former President Donald Trump tried to interfere with the Department of Justice including the FBI. We know about many of these instances but when you read the meticulous reporting job Rohde has done and listen to our conversation, you see Donald Trump’s actions as an attack on our democracy itself.  

Griffin Dunne, the actor and producer who early in his career starred in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, often thinks out of the box. He grew up in Beverly Hills in a family of story tellers. His father Dominick was a celebrity journalist. His uncle, the screenwriter John Gregory Dunne was married to Joan Didion. In addition to acting in series like This is Us, Griffin has written a memoir called The Friday Afternoon Club which tells the story his life and a family tragedy that will never be forgotten: the murder of his sister Dominique. We talk about getting through the tough times and how you start laughing again. 

Charles Busch made a name for himself as a playwright and a leading lady in drag with productions like the off-Broadway cult classic Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. That campy theatrical spoof was followed by his movie Psycho Beach Party. Busch was recently inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame for his Tony-award winning play The Allergist’s Wife. He appeared in the TV show Oz where he plays a cross-dressing homosexual who smothers his Mafia cellmate. When it comes to playing male roles, Busch says he’s nothing great. It’s when he puts on gowns and wigs that his imagination really takes flight. Sitting in his duplex apartment with the red walls and a closet filled with sparkly gowns, we talk about his tell-all memoir Leading Lady and what it was like to be a sex worker before becoming an overnight sensation on stage. Then Charles dresses me up like Norman Desmond for this photo. So much fun. So many laughs.

She’s a film director who made a movie called Desperately Seeking Susan in 1985. It’s a caper that revolves around mistaken identity that stars Rosanna Arquette and a then unknown Madonna. Seidelman went on to direct She Devil with Meryl Streep in her first comedic role and Roseanne Barr performing in her first feature film. But Hollywood is a tough place for women directors. Nora Ephron came on the scene and directed Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail in the 1990s. And 25 years later Greta Gerwig had a big hit with Barbie. Seidelman eventually started working in TV, directing the pilot episode of a series that was to become a cultural icon, Sex and the City. She’s written a memoir called Desperately Seeking Something. We talk about sexism, ageism and the challenge of staying on top of your game.

Chelsea Devantez is a writer and comedian who has a good time being outrageous, hilarious and outspoken. She grew up in a family that moved around a lot when she was a kid. They never had much money. She was bullied in school. She was a victim of domestic violence.  Chelsea had always wanted to be an artist. And her dream came true when she was hired to perform as part of the improv team at Second City in Chicago. Chelsea got her next dream job when Jon Stewart hired her to be the head writer of his streaming series The Problem with Jon Stewart. Now, she produces original comedy projects at 20th Century Studios. Chelsea is also the host of the Glamorous Trash podcast and she’s written a memoir called I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This. We talk about all the things she shouldn’t be telling us.

I started to think a lot about music when I knew I’d be talking to Chuck D, the rapper and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy. I related to the rock and roll of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Rap was from a different generation. Some critics point to Public Enemy as the revolutionary voice in hip hop which helped to plant the genre in the heart of American culture. Chuck D and Flavor Flav formed Public Enemy in 1985 and the group became known for its political messages on albums like Fear of a Black Planet. But in the decades since he first became a legendary hip hop artist, Chuck D developed his talent as an artist illustrating three graphic books. His latest, Rap Pilates, is about the exercise he credits with helping him to perform high-energy concerts. We talk about drawing, creativity and changing the world.

Ever since he was a kid, Nicholas Kristof dreamed of being a foreign correspondent. And that’s what he spent decades doing, traveling to more than 150 countries to cover conflicts and crises. Kristof is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for his reports on the deadly Tiananmen Square protests and for columns focusing attention on genocide in Darfur. He’s exposed human rights abuses, social injustices, global health catastrophes and gender issues in the developing world. Kristof has also been called the moral conscience of a generation. His new memoir is called Chasing Hope. We talk about close calls, terrifying moments and how to be an optimist in a world torn apart by conflict. 

Gail Godwin has written 18 books. Many of her novels were best sellers including A Mother and Two Daughters and Evensong. Three of them were finalists for the National Book Award. Her book Grief Cottage features a boy who has a relationship with a ghost. Godwin says she herself has seen ghosts. When she was a reporter, an apparition dressed in a medical uniform once visited her in the middle of the night. Godwin’s new book is a memoir. It opens with the story of how the writer, who’s 87, went into her back yard to water her dogwood tree, wound up falling on her face and breaking her neck. We talk about how curiosity saved her in her darkest moments on the new episode of “Now What?”

Lahiri grew up in Rhode Island after her family emigrated from India when she was a toddler. Her first language was Bengali and she spoke English in school. When she was 32, Lahiri won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her first book called Interpreter of Maladies. It was an honor but it also put a lot of pressure on her as a writer. Then she fell in love with the Italian language and when she moved to Rome, she discovered a kind of freedom. Now, Lahiri writes her books in Italian. Her latest work of fiction is called Roman Stories. We talk about identity, culture and what it’s like to live between 2 different worlds on the new episode of “Now What?”

What’s it like to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year working as the personal assistant to the billionaire founder of a famous hedge fund? Pretty tough according to writer Carrie Sun who has a lot to say about her experience in the high-pressure world of finance. Sun’s memoir Private Equity tells the story of working 24/7, being at the beck and call of a demanding boss and feeling so stressed that she developed an eating disorder. There are also the perks like a $2500 gift certificate to Soul Cycle, a Derek Lam coat worth $6,000, surfing trips to Montauk and a bird’s eye view of the world of the ultra-rich. We talk about what you owe your job, how that fits with your personal values and what to do when you feel like you’re wasting your life. 

He was the Chief restaurant critic for The New York Times for more than 5 years. When Frank Bruni took the job, he’d been a binge eater and had gained a lot of weight but becoming a professional eater changed all that. Now he doesn’t overeat anymore. Bruni is a Professor of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University. He’s also a Contributing Opinion writer for the Times. Bruni has written a book called The Age of Grievance about what’s going on in Trump World and the MAGA Universe. One of his theories is that the people who are the most furious feel they’re losing because someone else is winning. We talk about the erosion of democracy in our country and why so many people seem to be so ticked off.

You may know him from his role as Murray Bauman in the streaming series Stranger Things and as Martin in the BBC comedy Fleabag. Brett Gelman has dreamed of being a famous actor and comedian since he was a kid growing up in Highland Park, Illinois, where he wanted to make the kids in the school yard laugh and wound up feeling like an outcast. Gelman has written about his childhood and his neuroses in a book of short stories called The Terrifying Realm of the Possible. He’s run into problems publicizing the book after making impassioned speeches about his support for Israel in the conflict with Gaza and what he considers to be a rise in Antisemitism. Get ready for a heated discussion (and laughs) on this episode of “Now What?” 

Bill Bradley is one of those wildly talented people, a star athlete with a brilliant mind. As a kid, Bradley practiced basketball for hours every day. He went to Princeton University where he was the 1965 NCAA champion of the year. Then it was on to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. But basketball still called to him and he joined the New York Knicks, playing on the dream team which won two NBA championships. After life on the court, Bradley decided to try politics and was elected to the U.S. Senate from New Jersey. Losing the Democratic Presidential nomination to Al Gore in 2000 ushered in a period of reflection and soul searching. He’s made a film called Rolling Along. It’s a one-man show about his life. We talk about all the chapters on “Now What?”

As a child, Ed Begley Jr. watched his dad act in films like Sweet Bird of Youth, a role that earned him an Oscar. His dad’s career inspired the younger Begley to go into acting where he has appeared in hundreds of films and TV shows including Better Call Saul and Young Sheldon. But his upbringing may have also led Begley to a time when he drank too much alcohol and abused drugs. Addiction is now in his past. Begley is also a passionate environmentalist. He took public transportation from his LA home to the Oscars ceremony which his daughter Hayden filmed and posted on Tik Tok where it’s gotten more than 6 million views. I talked to Ed Begley Jr. about the days of drunken stupors, life in Hollywood and gratitude.

Lucy Sante is a well-known author and critic who has written more than 10 books. Her latest is the memoir l Heard Her Call My Name. it’s the first book she’s written under the name Lucy. Lucy started out life with the name Luke, the son of Belgian parents. At the age of 67, she decided to fulfill a desire that had lived within her since she was a child: to transition to a woman. I first spoke to Lucy in early 2023. It’s now been three years since Lucy came out. I wanted to catch up and find out what she’s thinking and feeling these days. We talk about the challenges of changing her gender, whether she thinks about things differently now that she’s a woman and what kind of clothes she likes to wear.

Who faces death at the age of 22? Suleika Jaouad did. After she was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, Suleika had a bone marrow transplant. At the age of 26, she was declared cancer free. Suleika is the author of the best-selling memoir Between Two Kingdoms. Two years ago, Suleika's cancer came back and at a time when Jon’s career was soaring, her life sank to a low point. Suleika has recovered and she says she now tries to live every day as if it’s her first. Suleika has thought a lot about life and death and all the moments in between.

No one embodies the concept of change and durability in one lifetime like Jane Fonda. She started out as what some might call a Nepo Baby, the daughter of Henry Fonda, an actor who was considered Hollywood royalty. During her long career, Jane Fonda has appeared in more than 50 films, earning Oscars for Best Actress for her roles in Klute and Coming Home. Fonda became as famous for her politics as she did for her acting roles. Her anti-Vietnam war activities earned her the nick name of Hanoi Jane. She also became a fitness guru. Now, that her  successful Netflix series Grace and Frankie has ended, Fonda says she’s devoting herself to combating the climate crisis. And as an 86-year three-time divorcee, Fonda says she’s no longer interested in romance or sex. She just wants to make the world a better place.  

One year ago, 83-year old Dr. Anthony Fauci retired as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a job he’d held for 38 years. Once called “America’s doctor,” Dr. Fauci had often been vilified for his role on the White House Coronavirus Task Force under President Donald Trump. In the past year, Dr. Fauci’s critics have only gotten louder. In his book on the scientist, Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a staunch anti-vaxxer, wrote, “I think he is a genuinely bad human being.” And comments like this are all over social media:  “That horrible little man. Yet such a big liar.” I wanted to catch up with Dr. Fauci to find out how he has fared since stepping away from government service and to ask him why he thinks he’s  become the target of right-wing conspiracy theories, anger and even hatred.

Filmmaker Lisa Cortés brought a 1950s rock ‘n’ roll legend to life again in her rollicking new documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything. Richard, who was known for hits like Long Tall Sally and Tutti Frutti, was a complicated personality who felt he never got the kind of recognition that he deserved. But in Cortés’ film, celebrated musicians talk about how Richard influenced their work. Mick Jagger says he studied Richard’s dance moves and Paul McCartney credits Richard with teaching him how to shriek. I talk to Cortés about music, authenticity and making films that set the record straight when it comes to artists who are overlooked and misunderstood.

One of the joys of doing this podcast is the people that I meet. I was so lucky to have spent a few hours with Norman Lear who recently died at the age of 101. Lear was 95 at the time we talked. In the 1970s he created a television empire with shows that dominated the network ratings like All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons and Maude. These series changed television forever by tackling subjects like racism and social inequality. Lear was also an outspoken liberal who founded People for the American Way which supports first amendment rights and progressive causes. And in 2001 he bought a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence for more than $8 million and arranged for it to tour around the U.S. as a way to encourage people to take pride in their country. Norman Lear was a national treasure and you’ll get to hear why in this conversation. 

Charles Busch made a name for himself as a playwright and a leading lady in drag with productions like the off-Broadway cult classic Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. When it comes to playing male roles, Busch says he’s nothing great. It’s when he puts on gowns and wigs that his imagination really takes flight. Sitting in his duplex apartment with the red walls and a closet filled with sparkly gowns, we talk about his tell-all memoir Leading Lady and what it was like to be a sex worker before becoming an overnight sensation on stage. So much fun. So many laughs.

Supermodels are having a moment. There’s a Netflix series about the famous ones of the 1990s. Paulina Porizkova was a supermodel in the 80s and she has one of those rags to riches stories which she talked with me about on “Now What?” in December 2022. That conversation has just been honored with a Clarion award for Best Podcast given by the Association of Women in Communications. I wanted you to have the opportunity to listen to that episode again.

When you talk about prolific authors, Walter Mosley’s name comes out near the very top. He’s written about 60 books. Mosley was also brought up in LA with a Jewish mother and an African American father who was born in the south. Growing up as an only child, Mosley has said his writing imagination might come from an emptiness in his childhood that he filled up with fantasies. It's a question we explore.

Roz Chast is an award-winning cartoonist who started working for the New Yorker 45 years ago. Her drawings and their captions examine our everyday neuroses and anxieties. As an only child growing up in Brooklyn, Chast worried that a fire could break out in the wall and burn up her family, or that she’d suddenly have an appendicitis attack and wind up in the hospital like Madeleine in that children’s story. After Chast moved to the suburbs and had to drive to the supermarket to buy milk, she was terrified about changing lanes. Now, Chast has written a book called I Must be Dreaming about all the wacky things that go on in our heads while we’re asleep. We talk about LSD, the scariest Twilight Zone episodes and how some of Roz Chast’s most terrifying visions turn out to be memorable cartoons.   

Avi Loeb is probably the most famous practicing astronomer in the country. Now, Loeb is also one of the most controversial astronomers in the country. In 2018, he proposed that an object named Oumuamua that had been detected by a telescope in Maui may have been a probe from an alien civilization. Earlier this year, Loeb claimed to have recovered material from an interstellar meteor that could be evidence of an alien starship. Some of Loeb’s colleagues accuse him of making wild and sensational claims. So, are we alone? Listen to what Avi Loeb has to say about interstellar objects and extraterrestrial civilizations

Gay Talese is known for his distinctive writing style and dapper wardrobe of hand-made suits, two-toned shoes and silk pocket squares, having become famous as a writer who helped to define the New Journalism in the 1960s. He wrote block buster best sellers like Honor Thy Father about the Bonanno crime family. He spent 8 years researching Thy Neighbor’s Wife, his book about sex in America. That research included managing a massage parlor and living in a nudist colony. Now, 91-year old Gay Talese has written a new book called Bartleby and Me.  Sitting on his elegant leather sofa in the townhouse he’s lived in for more than 50 years, I asked Gay Talese to tell me about all the outrageous things he’s done in his life. 

She used to make her living standing in Harvard Square as a statue known as the Eight Foot Bride. Now, Amanda Palmer is the leader of the punk cabaret band The Dresden Dolls. And she’s not afraid to tell you what’s on her mind. Palmer shares her feelings online. She shares them in person and when she performs on stage. Her fans are passionate about the musician and the person. She has 1 million followers on X (formerly Twitter) and 10,000 patrons on Patreon who support her financially and emotionally. Amanda Palmer is open, honest and outrageous on this episode of “Now What?”  

Ben Smith had a front row seat to momentous shifts in the media that changed newspapers and magazines forever. In the early 2000s, readers began flocking to websites like Gawker and the Huffington Post for gossip, news and information. In 2011, Smith became the founding editor of BuzzFeed News, the site which helped reinvent the way news was covered. He’s also responsible for publishing the Steele Dossier, the controversial report that contains allegations about a conspiracy between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government. Smith wrote a book about this media revolution and the race to go viral called Traffic. We talk about how online entrepreneurs wound up taking down traditional media and what happens next.

John Waters is having a moment. The filmmaker, who's also known as the Prince of Puke and the Duke of Dirt, is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He says he hopes it will be near the one celebrating Alvin and the Chipmunks. Plus, LA’s Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is honoring Waters with an exhibit that features some of his old cameras and props, like the exploding wig worn by Debbie Harry in Hairspray. Speaking of Hairspray, this is the 35th anniversary of the cult film. And Waters will be making another movie, his first in more than 18 years.

At 6 feet 8 inches, people say he could have been a basketball player. Instead, James Comey became the top law enforcement official when he was appointed FBI Director by former President Barack Obama. Comey inherited a case that would go on to haunt him and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Many people blame Comey for Hillary’s election loss.  Plus, he didn’t get along with his new boss Donald Trump who famously fired him. Now James Comey is a novelist. He spills the beans on “Now What?”

He likes pink flamingos.  He wrote a humor column in the Miami Herald for more than 20 years that earned him a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Dave Barry also writes books. Barry also ran a mock campaign for President as a Libertarian. And did I mention he played lead guitar in a band called the Rock Bottom Remainders. His band mates included other writers like Stephen King and Scott Turow. Barry is a man of many talents. We have a lot of laughs on this episode of “Now What?”

In 2004, Nicole Daedone founded OneTaste, which calls itself a sexuality-focused wellness company dedicated to spreading the word about OMing or orgasmic meditation. Ten years later, OneTaste was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. But in 2022, the Netflix documentary Orgasm Inc. included allegations of abuse by some former OneTaste participants.  And in June federal prosecutors indicted Nicole Daedone on charges of forced labor conspiracy. The government alleges that she “intentionally recruited individuals who had suffered prior trauma.” Daedone pleaded not guilty and faces up to 20 years in prison. I first spoke to her in November. You won’t want to miss what she told me on “Now What?”

Andrew McCarthy was still a teenager when he acted in his first film and became a member of what’s called the Brat Pack. That’s the group of actors including Demi Moore and Molly Ringwald who starred in 1980s films like Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire. There were a few bumps along the road like drinking too much alcohol and taking drugs before McCarthy became a travel writer. McCarthy also directs episodes of TV series like Orange is the New Black. And he walked 500 miles across Spain with his teenage son, an adventure he writes about in a new book called Walking with Sam.  

She’s a long-time activist for women’s rights and she’s also a Founding Editor of Ms. Magazine. Letty Cottin Pogrebin is the author 12 books including How to Make it In a Man’s World. Her latest is called Shanda which means shame in Yiddish. Shanda, Pogrebin’s book, is about the secrets families keep and the ones that Pogrebin uncovered that wound up changing her own life. It’s also about shame. She starts off by revealing a story about how she had to confront her own shame after she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. And why she felt she had to hide the news at all costs.

V (formerly known as Eve Ensler) had been on “Now What?” before telling stories from her remarkable life. But we’d never taped a conversation in front of a live audience. On April 19, we walked into the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, a beautiful space that celebrates writers. The room was full. My children Jon and Gabe were in the audience. So was my husband Steve, many friends and “Now What?” fans. And as the conversation unfolded, a sense of togetherness and community filled the room. Now you’ll get to be a part of it, too. 

Jeannette Walls’ memior, The Glass Castle, sold over 5 million copies and spent nearly 500 weeks on the New York Times best seller list. Walls grew up with unconventional parents. Her father Rex was an alcoholic who dreamed of inventing a gold-detecting gizmo that would make him rich enough to build a glass castle for his family to live in. They moved around a lot, usually before the rent came due. Then her parents left Jeannette and her siblings with their paternal grandparents where they were locked in a basement and often ate cat food or whatever they could scrounge from garbage cans. Now Walls is a novelist. Her latest book is called Hang the Moon. It’s a rollicking tale about a gutsy young woman who becomes a bootlegger during Prohibition. We talk about what it’s like to grow up poor and how your life changes when you become very, very rich. 

There’s no one quite like Gloria Steinem. But don’t call her an icon. She doesn’t like it. Gloria thinks of herself as a writer and an activist. She was an important leader of the wave of feminism that changed the world in the 1960s and 70s and she’s the co-founder of Ms. Magazine. Gloria is also the author of numerous books including Revolution from Within and My Life on the Road. She’s a world traveler and an adventure seeker who went to Africa to ride elephants for her 80th birthday.

She comes from a famous musical family. And she’s always felt like she was number 4 on the totem pole behind her brother Rufus, her father Loudon Wainwright III and her mother Kate McGarrigle. These days Martha has come into her own, talking about her life in a memoir called Stories I Might Regret Telling You. She also talks about her talent as a singer and a songwriter, how she got comfortable in her own skin and how much she loves being the mother of two boys. In a conversation that’s honest, funny and raw Martha Wainwright bares all.

Tig Notaro had been doing stand-up for more than 10 years when she got up on stage on August 3, 2012, grabbed the mic and began her set with these words: “Hello, Good evening. Hello. I have cancer.” Many critics called the set historic and ground breaking. In her Netflix special “Boyish Girl Interrupted” Tig went further. She unbuttoned the cuffs of her white shirt, sharing her mastectomy scars with the audience. Now she’s married and has twin boys and remains an unusual comedian.

He grew up in a public housing project in Manhattan and got arrested when he was 10. Bruce Jackson went on to become the first person in his family to go to college. After earning a law degree from Georgetown, Jackson represented hip hop figures like LL Cool J, Heavy D and Busta Rhymes before leaving music behind to take a high-powered corporate job at Microsoft.

Dr. Anthony Fauci had advised 5 Presidents before he met Donald Trump. But this President was different. I talk to Dr. Anthony Fauci about his role in developing treatments for once-fatal diseases like AIDS, his staunch belief in science and how his life changed in the challenging years of the Trump administration.

Judy Woodruff got her start in the news business when you didn’t see many women on the air.  Her first job was getting coffee for her bosses at a local TV station in Atlanta. That was nearly 50 years ago. Then she got to know Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer from Plains, before anyone had ever heard of him and has covered Presidents and crises ever since. Woodruff also spent the last decade as an anchor on the PBS NewsHour. No happy talk, no screaming and yelling. She’s even been parodied on Saturday Night Live. We talk about how she’s handled tragedy in her life and we laugh about the good times, too.

Dani Shapiro is a writer who is very interested in family secrets. It’s a theme she has explored in many of her books including her memoir Inheritance. After Shapiro sends a sample of her saliva to a DNA company to find out more about her heritage, the results that come back rock her world. Shapiro discovers that the man she spent her life calling dad is not her biological father. Her search for that father reveals surprising things about Shapiro’s past.

It’s the beginning of a new year: a good time to take a fresh look at who we are and how we might want to change. Dr. Mark Epstein is a psychiatrist and a Buddhist. In his new book, The Zen of Therapy, Epstein writes about how he uses his spiritual beliefs to help his patients understand the importance of their own personal and unique stories. We talk about the need to laugh at ourselves, the Dalai Lama, seizing the moment and how to feel comfortable in our own skin on the new episode of “Now What?”

People magazine named former supermodel Paulina Porizkova one of the Fifty Most Beautiful People in the World. Harper's Bazaar put her on its list of the Ten Most Beautiful Women. Porizkova also had what many considered a fairy tale marriage to the Cars lead singer Ric Ocasek. But Porizkova’s life took a dark turn after the pair decided to separate and two years later in 2019, Ocasek was found dead. That’s when Porizkova discovered her husband had cut her out of his will. Porizkova writes about life and love in No Filter: The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful. We talk about what it takes to recover from grief and heal from a deep sense of betrayal.

Lucy Sante is the award-winning author of numerous books. Her latest, Nineteen Reservoirs tells the story of the massive and disruptive project undertaken to bring a clean water supply to New York City. While Lucy was writing the book, she was also going through a major change in her own life.

If you’ve seen the Netflix documentary Orgasm Inc. you’ve been introduced to OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone who created a wellness company dedicated to spreading the word about a practice called OMing or orgasmic meditation. Once one of the country’s fastest growing companies, OneTaste closed its doors after a Bloomberg BusinessWeek article included complaints of sexual assaults and accusations that participants were pressured to go into debt to pay for expensive courses. Daedone is at the heart of much of the controversy.

Woodstock, New York is famous for the music festival that actually didn’t take place there. It’s also known for famous musicians like Bob Dylan who once lived there and for its writers. Larry Beinhart has lived in Woodstock since the early 90's. That’s where he wrote his political satire American Hero. The film Wag the Dog is based on Beinhart’s book. Beinhart has also written a mystery series featuring the private detective Tony Casella. Much of the action in his latest book called The Deal Goes Down takes place in Woodstock where Casella lives and agrees to become a killer for hire. I took a walk through town with Beinhart before sitting down to talk about movies, money and morality.

Constance Wu first gained attention playing a tiger mom on the TV series Fresh Off the Boat. While she was in the series, Wu was cast in a movie called Crazy Rich Asians, a critical and commercial success that made Wu a movie star. But then she made a mistake. She tweeted about how disappointed she was that Fresh off the Boathad been renewed. The backlash was swift with fans calling Wu spoiled and ungrateful. I talk to Constance Wu about the perils of social media and lessons learned.

The midterms are right around the corner. With politics in the air I found a couple of interesting people to shoot the breeze with about where we’re heading. Brad Tusk is a political consultant and venture capitalist who helped a company called Uber gain a foothold in New York and became very rich as a result. Tusk has opened a book store called P&T Knitware on the lower east side of Manhattan. You’ll also hear from California Congressman Adam Schiff who’s running for re-election. Schiff is the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and he gained attention investigating Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election before leading the first impeachment of Donald Trump.

Pa. Lt. Governor John Fetterman is running for the Senate against Dr. Mehmet Oz in one of the most closely watched and expensive races in the country. Democrats are placing their bets on a most unusual politician. Fetterman is 6 feet 8 inches tall. He’s got a row of tattoos on his right arm that memorialize the dates that people were killed by gun violence in Braddock, Pa. during the 13 years that Fetterman was Mayor. He’s also known for campaigning in shorts and hoodies. Fetterman may look like a biker but he has a Masters degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School.

What does it take to create a work of art with another person? Talent, inspiration, hard work, patience. But the most important part of the equation may be whether two people hit it off, the spark of personalities on the same wavelength. James Lapine found his best collaborator in Stephen Sondheim, one of the greatest theater composers ever. Lapine was 20 years younger than Sondheim. They both liked to smoke pot. Their first work together turned out to be a Broadway show called Sunday in the Park with George which wound up winning a Pulitzer Prize.

When people ask me who are the most interesting characters I’ve ever talked to for “Now What?” I always think of the Irish actor Gabriel Byrne. Byrne has been in many iconic movies including Miller’s Crossing and The Usual Suspects which is coming to Amazon in the fall. He also played the brooding psychiatrist in the series In Treatment and became a heartthrob at the age of 59. He’s now performing in a stage version of his memoir Walking with Ghosts. This is a beautifully written piece in which Byrne talks about the years he spent as a thief and his calling to be a priest. I spoke to Gabriel Byrne for an episode that was first posted in March 2021. More new “Now What?” episodes coming soon.

This is a special episode. It’s about my brother-in-law Joel Zimmer who was diagnosed with back of the tongue and tonsil cancer caused by the HPV virus. If you were to tell people that there’s a form of cancer that’s sexually transmitted they’d probably look at you as if you’re crazy. But there is and cases are on the rise. HPV now causes most of the throat and mouth cancers found in men. You’ll hear from Joel, who was a chiropractor, Zydeco dancer and dedicated dad, oncology experts and President Joe Biden, whom I interviewed in Washington, D.C. about his family’s own experience with cancer.

He became the bullseye for the Me Too movement. Since 2017, more than 80 women have come forward to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault. In 2022, the former movie studio mogul was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape. Throughout his career Weinstein was riding high with films like Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting and Shakespeare in Love. So the question is how did Weinstein manage to lead a parallel life that lasted for decades in which he abused women. In his book Hollywood Ending, New Yorker writer Ken Auletta tries to make sense of the culture of silence that prevailed and if the world has changed for women since Harvey Weinstein’s crimes came to light.

His breakthrough movie was Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, the buddy film where the stoners ride a cheetah in New Jersey to get burgers. Penn’s parents came to the U.S. from India and the actor is a long-time vocal advocate for more diversity in Hollywood. Penn played a doctor on the TV series House and the son of Indian immigrants in the film The Namesake. When he took a break from acting, Penn campaigned for Barack Obama and served as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Writer Delia Ephron ran into a rough patch that lasted for years. First, her sister Nora died. After Delia’s husband passed away, Delia was diagnosed with the same type of leukemia that killed Nora. Doctors told Delia her own chances of surviving were not good. She tells that gripping story in a memoir called Left on Tenth. But not all is doom and gloom.

His book about healing trauma, The Body Keeps the Score, has been on the paperback bestseller list for more than 4 years. So why are people so interested in trauma, terrible events that sear themselves into our minds and won’t let go? Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk says these experiences, from emotional abuse to sexual assault, become embedded in parts of our brain that we’re not consciously aware of.

Queen Elizabeth is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee, a 70-year reign on the British throne. She appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in emerald green, waving to adoring crowds. But the 96-year old monarch has had her challenges in recent years. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle decided they didn’t want to spend their life cutting ribbons and took off for southern California. Prince Andrew, supposedly the Queen’s favorite son, got himself in trouble with allegations of sexually abusing underage women and hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein. So what’s next for the House of Windsor?

He’s known as the Prince of Puke. John Waters’ film Pink Flamingos starring Divine is about a woman who’s competing for the title of Filthiest Person Alive. In Multiple Maniacs Divine gets sexually assaulted by a giant lobster. Waters’ films like Hairspray and Cecil B. Demented have become cult classics on the midnight movie circuit. Waters may be a counter culture hero but he’s also a successful brand.

Anna Quindlen became a star at the New York Times writing about motherhood and what it’s like to go to the supermarket dragging little kids along, an event she said should be included in the Olympics. Quindlen reached new heights as a journalist when she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her Op-ed column Public and Private. She likes to challenge herself and that’s just what she did in 1994 when she announced that she was quitting her job at the Times to become a full time novelist. She’s now on novel number 10.

Kent Swig is sort of a legend in real estate circles. He comes from a well to do real estate family and he married into real estate royalty when he met Liz Macklowe, the daughter of developer Harry Macklowe. Kent and Liz were known for a lavish lifestyle that included a 16-room duplex on Park Avenue and a $12 million art collection. Swig’s commercial properties were worth $3 billion. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, the bottom fell out for Swig in his personal and financial life.

Its happens to all of us. We wake up in the morning and plan. Maybe I’ll meet a friend for lunch. Maybe I’ll go to Italy in July. But life sometimes throws unexpected curves. That’s what happened to writer Amy Bloom who was happily married to her husband Brian, an architect, when she began to notice some changes. Brian couldn’t do the simplest tasks at work and he’d get lost driving to the grocery store. When Brian was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease he made a decision he never wavered from.

He came of age when rock n’ roll was entering a Renaissance. Stevie Van Zandt was a teenager in New Jersey when the Beatles made an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. After that life was never the same. Stevie was a teenager when he met another music freak named Bruce Springsteen. He joined the E Street band. He quit the E Street band. Leaving, he said, was the worst decision he ever made. But Stevie recovered, becoming a political activist and an actor, landing the role of Silvio, Tony Soprano’s right hand man in The Sopranos.

I’d never heard of Lee Kravetz until a friend recommended I read his fascinating new book called The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. Kravetz, who started out as a psychologist, always wanted to be a writer. His non fiction book Strange Contagion is about how behaviors like smoking and eating disorders get spread in our culture. Kravetz’s dream was to write a novel and he became fascinated with Sylvia Plath, who nearly 60 years after her death has remained a towering figure in the world of poetry.

James Ivory has directed more than 30 films. He and his long-time partner Ismail Merchant have the distinction of being listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest partnership in the history of independent cinema. Their films, Like Howard’s End and The Remains of the Day, are known for lush cinematography and stately drama. At the age of 89, Ivory also made cinema history by becoming the oldest person to ever win an Academy Award.

Sometimes peoples’ lives intersect with history in a way you never forget. That’s the case with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. I was a kid when Julius and Ethel were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. They died in the electric chair in 1953, leaving behind two young children, Robbie and Michael, who miraculously grew up to be successful adults.

Adam McKay is having what you might call a moment. His new film Don’t Look Up is breaking records on Netflix. Featuring an all-star cast, the movie is about a comet hurtling towards earth. It’s also become something of a cultural phenomenon because people see the story as a metaphor for the perils of climate change. McKay is famous for his collaborations with Will Ferrell in films like Anchorman and Talladega Nights.

He likes Russian bear hats and martinis and collects watches. Gary Shteyngart came to this country from Russia when he was 7 and grew up in Queens, New York. Gary says he was bullied in the schoolyard because he spoke with a thick accent and dressed funny. He also writes funny books. He wrote his first comic novel at the age of 5. Gary’s latest work is called Our Country Friends.

When I think of bringing in the new year on a high note, I think of one of the most upbeat and inspiring people I’ve ever talked to. That’s Norman Lear who will turn 100 in July. Lear says that one reason he’s still around is that he spends so much time laughing.

Covid is raging again. The virus has similarities to another serious health problem. This one is caused by a tick bite and it can wreak havoc on your life. Just ask Ross Douthat, an Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times who fought a 5-year battle with Lyme disease.

Ricki Lake’s career took off when she was 19 and starred as Tracy Turnblad in John waters’ cult film Hairspray. Now she makes documentaries about women’s health. Her latest one is called The Business of Birth Control. We talk about the art of reinventing yourself and all the phases of Ricki Lake’s life in the new episode of “Now What?”

She’s most famous for her role as Carmela Soprano, the long-suffering wife of mob boss Tony Soprano played by Jim Gandolfini. Now, the long-running TV series has found a new audience, young people who can’t get enough of the New Jersey crime family and its gangland antics. Falco has moved on to other roles.

He’s a staff writer for the New Yorker and a Pulitzer-prize winner for his book The Looming Tower about Al-Qaeda and 9/11. Lawrence Wright also wrote an expose of Scientology called Going Clear. His latest book, The Plague Year, looks at pandemics and takes a deep dive into how long we may have to live in a world with Covid-19.

She’s a celebrated playwright who’s had her share of health challenges. Sarah Ruhl is the author of Eurydice which will have its premiere as an opera at Lincoln Center in November. Ruhl is also a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for her plays The Clean House and In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play).

I first met Neil deGrasse Tyson at a bug eating event at the Museum of Natural History when he was munching on a fried tarantula. You may remember him as the host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. That was the continuation of a television series that had originally starred Carl Sagan, another well-known astrophysicist.

Georgina Pazcoguin started taking ballet lessons when she was 4 and when she was a teenager she was accepted into the School of American Ballet, not an easy feat. Georgina wound up becoming a soloist with the NYC Ballet, butting heads with long-time Director Peter Martins. We talk about the tightly-wound world of ballet, dancing nude in Oh! Calcutta! and Georgina’s tell-all book Swan Dive.

Ben Rhodes was 29 when he went to work for Barack Obama in the White House. In his role as Deputy National Security Advisor, Rhodes helped to negotiate the Iran nuclear deal and the opening to Cuba, only to see Donald Trump tear down those policies. Then Rhodes traveled to Hungary, Russia and China to look at governments that promote nationalism.

Kloots may be the most famous Covid widow in the world and it’s not a distinction that anyone wants to have. Kloots’ husband, former Broadway star Nick Cordero, died of the effects of the virus last year at the age of 41. Kloots is also a celebrity fitness trainer and workout guru. She wrote a memoir about losing Nick, raising their young son Elvis and how to move on called Live Your Life.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney likes to take on controversial subjects. In Catching Hell, Gibney looks at what happened when a fan tried to catch a foul ball in a Cubs game in 2003. The Scientology community came after Gibney after he released his film Going Clear. And then there was the portrait of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in The Inventor and her claims to have pioneered a revolutionary new way to test blood.

So far she’s written 17 novels including her breakout book We Need to Talk About Kevin. When she’s not sitting at her desk thinking up stories to terrify us like the one about Kevin committing mass murder at his high school, you can probably find Shriver on the tennis court or saying something politically incorrect or in her kitchen mixing up a mean rhubarb cream pie.

Anxiety seems to be running rampant through our lives these days. Covid hasn’t helped. The political situation is chaotic. And everywhere we turn we’re bombarded with social media and sensory input of all kinds. So if you find yourselves pulling your hair out like us, you’re not alone. Help is on the way. Dr. Jud Brewer has our backs.

One day in 1970, the Village Voice sent writer Vivian Gornick to cover a women’s-liberation gathering on Bleecker Street. She came back a radical feminist. And it was her articles in the Voice that helped spread the word about the burgeoning gender equality movement that came to be known as second wave feminism.