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

Joe is the creator and star of Adult Swim’s Joe Pera Talks with You, one of our favorite new shows TV. In it, Joe plays a version of himself living in small-town Michigan as a middle-school choir teacher. The show is like nothing else you’ve seen on television before: brilliant, weird and heart warming. Cross our hearts, hope to die.


The brilliant Greta Gerwig joins us for the third time! We’ll welcome back Greta to talk about her latest – an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.” The film is up for six Academy Awards this year, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film is terrifically cast, tons of heavy hitters: Saorise Ronan, Meryl Streep, Laura Dern! Greta talks about her casting choices in “Little Women” including her surprising choice of Bob Odenkrik as father March. Plus, what the book meant to her growing up, and why she’s shocked that this version of the adaptation even exists.


This past week, we lost a talented comic genius: Terry Jones. He was one of the founding members of the legendary British sketch comedy group Monty Python. He co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and directed both Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. Terry was also a well respected medieval historian – in fact, he wrote two books on poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Later in his career, he became a prolific children’s book author. His books were always a bit surreal, witty and charming. He was a hero to many comedy nerds obsessed with Monty Python. We’re taking a moment to remember Terry Jones. When he joined Bullseye (then The Sound Of Young America) nearly 14 years ago he talked about his years with the Pythons. Plus, what it was like when he was given the opportunity to re-edit his cult classic The Saga of Erik the Viking.


We’re taking a look back at some of our favorite moments from over two decades worth of Bullseye episodes. In 2018, we caught up with journalist and author Susan Orlean. Susan’s an accomplished author who’s written for The New Yorker for thirty years. Her work has also appeared in Esquire and Vogue. She’s the author of 8 books including; Saturday Night, My Kind of Place and The Orchid Thief. Susan chats with us about her most recent book, The Library Book, which is out now in paperback.


Now that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is in its third season, we’re revisiting our interview with actor Tony Shalhoub. He talks about how he loves acting in Mrs. Maisel’s low-tech world and how he relates to his character Abe as a father himself. Jeese also chatted, of course, about the show he played an OCD detective on for seven years, the award-winning series Monk. Plus, Tony talks about the film that inspired him to embark on his creative path as an actor.


Twyla Tharp has moved her whole life. She dances – she’s danced and choreographed professionally for 55 years now. She exercises. And now, she has a book about it. “Keep it Moving” is a manifesto on living your life with purpose and vigor, which Tharp has in spades. Seriously, she’s one of the most insightful, hilarious, brilliant and sassy guests we’ve ever had on the show. She’s a legend in the world of dance. She also kind of makes fun of Jesse’s dog, and chides him for not moving enough.


Rob Huebel joins us to talk about his new series “Medical Police” – the spin-off of his old show “Children’s Hospital,” which ran for seven seasons on Adult Swim. He’s a talented comic actor who has appeared on MTV’s “Human Giant” and on Amazon’s critically-acclaimed series “Transparent.” Rob sits down with Jesse to talk about where he gets his sense of humor from, what it’s like playing jerks with a heart of gold and how he got his start in improv. Plus, he’ll talk to us about his favorite types of silly comedies. All that and more on a all-new Bullseye!


In Fabric’s Marianne Jean-Baptiste joins us to talk about her role in Peter Strickland’s bizarre thriller. Marianne is an acting veteran. She’s starred in varied works, from acclaimed dramas like Secrets & Lies, to long-running FBI shows like Without a Trace. Marianne chats with us about the difference between feature and series acting, and how her role in In Fabric reconnected her with her passion for the process. Plus, she’ll tell us about the time she read a newspaper for 45-minutes as part of an audition.


Country music legend Tanya Tucker on her storied career and new album “While I’m Livin” On our latest episode we have the one and only Tanya Tucker! Tanya is a legend in the country music industry. She’s been singing professionally since she was nine years old!


We lost an incredibly talented cartoonist last year, Gahan Wilson. For more than 50 years, his twisted single-panel cartoons have appeared in magazines like Playboy and The New Yorker. His work always had this really distinct tone. Gahan’s take on the macabre is loopy, dark and strange. There were monsters. Sometimes aliens. Maybe a pirate. To remember his life, his work and his impact we are resharing an interview we did with Gahan back in 2010. When we spoke he talked about the arc of his career and using childhood fears as inspiration. He also talked about his contributions to the National Lampoon.


We lost an incredibly talented cartoonist last year, Gahan Wilson. For more than 50 years, his twisted single-panel cartoons have appeared in magazines like Playboy and The New Yorker. His work always had this really distinct tone. Gahan’s take on the macabre is loopy, dark and strange. There were monsters. Sometimes aliens. Maybe a pirate. To remember his life, his work and his impact we are resharing an interview we did with Gahan back in 2010. When we spoke he talked about the arc of his career and using childhood fears as inspiration. He also talked about his contributions to the National Lampoon.