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.