Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
Bullseye from NPR is your curated guide to culture. Jesse Thorn hosts in-depth interviews with brilliant creators, culture picks from our favorite critics and irreverent original comedy. Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney's, which called it "the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world." (Formerly known as The Sound of Young America.)

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Blogroll:

Syndication

Tobacco is the nom de guerre of electronic musician and composer Tom Fec. Tom also founded the music collective Black Moth Super Rainbow. In both projects, the music he makes is rich and layered, but kind of dirty and unsettling, sometimes, too. He works with a lot of vintage synthesizers and records on older equipment. On this episode, he talks with Jesse about his history in music - from noodling around with synths and guitars and a four track to working with Aesop Rock on his latest project - called Malibu Ken. He’ll also explain why he avoided interviews and stayed anonymous for so long, and why that changed. 

Direct download: 20190927_bullseye_bullseye190927-tobacco.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

Critically acclaimed rapper Freddie Gibbs joins Bullseye to talk about his music career. He was born and raised in Gary Indiana - the birthplace of the Jackson 5. Gibbs grew up seeing his neighborhood change for the worse in a lot of ways. People were in poverty and times could be described as desperate. As a young adult, Gibbs used that pain to spark an impressive rap career. He creates stories of a past and present he feels very fortunate to have escaped. Gibbs talks to us about his career, his collaboration with Madlib and he even talks to us about a very trying time in his life. Plus, he'll tell us why he starts every live show with a prayer!


Joel Kim Booster is a writer and comedian. He's written for "Billy on the Street," "Problematic with Moshe Kasher" and Netflix's "Big Mouth." And as a standup, he's appeared on Conan, Comedy Central's "@Midnight" and more. These days he's starring alongside Kal Penn in the brand new upcoming NBC sitcom "Sunnyside." Joel joined Bullseye to talk about his unique upbringing, his approach to comedy and why Asian-American representation matters. Plus, Joel explains the science behind playing the "hot idiot."

Direct download: 20190920_bullseye_bullseye190920-joel_kim_booster.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

Dev Hynes, the recording artist behind Blood Orange, joins Bullseye to talk about his music career. Being born in a place called Essex, approximately 30 miles outside London, was kind of the ideal place for a future critically acclaimed songwriter. Close enough to the big city to make it out to the cool shows and record stores. Far enough away that you can have like… a band. Hynes talks to us about his early love of soccer, how his creative process differs when collaborating with other artists and creating his own work and why he sees the similarities between his hometown and a certain Jersey Shore cast. Plus, he'll tell us what it's like to wake up to 4 missed calls from Diddy!

Direct download: 20190917_bullseye_bullseye190917-dev_hynes.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

The Craziest Day of my Entire Career is a segment that gives us the chance to talk with some of our favorite people about some truly unbelievable stories. This time around, we're joined by the comedian Matt Braunger. Matt's been working the road as a stand-up for more than a decade. One of his biggest breaks came in 2008. He got the call to be on David Letterman's Late Show. He'll tell us about the surreal experience of meeting Letterman, and performing on the same stage as legends. This story has it all: a cameo from Tracy Morgan, a joke about a man named Eggly Bagelface, a special tune by The Pixies, an elevator conversation with Paul Shaffer and it gets even crazier!

Direct download: 20190913_bullseye_bullseye190913-matt_braunger.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

Stop what you're doing, turn off the kitchen sink, pull over the car... our guest is Jay Leno! He'll look back on a comedy career that's stretched almost 45 years. Jay's one of the biggest TV hosts in the history of TV hosts. A guy who, by his own admission, never got much love from critics. Who got cast, more or less, as the villain in the late night battles with Letterman and Conan. He'll open up about those late night wars in this in-depth interview. He'll also reflect on his childhood and how that's influenced his comedy. From sleeping in alleys on the streets of New York, to hosting The Tonight Show for decades. It's a remarkable story, and we hope you'll join us.

Direct download: 20190910_bullseye_bullseye190910-jay_leno.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

Since their debut, Belle and Sebastian records have made it on literally hundreds of top ten lists.Their second album, 1996's "If You're Feeling Sinister," is routinely called one of the best albums of the 90s. Founder, Stuart Murdoch joins Bullseye to talk about retro pop music, how meditation changed his music and songwriting. Plus, Jesse and Stuart talk about the great game of baseball. If you didn't know, Stuart's a Mets fan.

Direct download: 20190905_bullseye_bullseye190906-belle_sebastian.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

David Oyelowo is an incredibly versatile actor. Classically-trained, he got his start at the Royal Shakespeare company in London. From there, he took smaller parts on British TV and in movies like "The Help" and "Jack Reacher." You may be familiar with his work as the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Ava DuVernay's 2014 film "Selma." David's latest movie is 'Don’t Let Go' which was just released. It's a supernatural thriller that melds elements of murder-mystery with that of a police procedural. The film premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. In it, David plays a man in a rush against time to save his family. He's quite good in it. But, then again, David's good in everything. Catch our chat with the acclaimed actor!