Here's The Thing

Elaine Stritch

WNYC Radio — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

This week Alec sits down with Elaine Stritch, the veteran actress of stage and screen, who among many famous roles, played his mother Colleen Donaghy on 30 Rock.

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Stritch tells Alec about her transition from the Sacret Heart Convent and finishing school to finding herself in the New York theater classes sitting between Walter Matthau and Marlon Brando. Stritch has been performing for nearly 70 years, but just a couple weeks ago, she moved home to Birmingham, Michigan. As Elaine tells Alec, she doesn't "want to pretend anymore."

Martin Horn

WNYC Radio — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

This week Alec sits down with Martin Horn, former New York City Commissioner of Correction and Probation. Martin Horn has held every job imaginable in corrections: from debating the fairness of a state’s sentencing guidelines to fixing leaky water pipes in aging facilities.

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Horn tells Alec that his opinion toward inmates was formed from his early years as a parole officer: “every one of them was just a normal, ordinary guy … who had made bad judgments.” Today Martin Horn is a Distinguished Lecturer in Corrections at John Jay College.

Debbie Reynolds

WNYC Radio — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Debbie Reynolds sits down with Alec to look back on her over six decades in show business. She talks about her big break in Singing in the Rain. “I slept in my dressing room,” recalls Reynolds. “I didn’t take any days off because I’d practice on Saturday and Sunday.”

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Reynolds went on to appear in Tammy and the Bachelor, The Unsinkable Molly Brown – and more recently, Mother. Reynolds talks about working with different directors and says she’s not one to hold a grudge, but warns that she's rather like an elephant. "I remember everything." Debbie Reynolds is a great storyteller.

Thom Yorke

WNYC Radio — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

This week Alec sits down with Thom Yorke, the front man of Radiohead, who has a new album, Amok, with the music project Atoms for Peace. Even after over 25 years in the business, Yorke admits performing is “either wicked fun or really awful.” He talks with Alec about what he does before going on stage and how he and his bandmates have been able to stick together since they were teenagers.

READ | Interview Transcript

Andrew Luck

WNYC Radio — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0400

This week Alec talks with Andrew Luck, the number one draft pick in the National Football League last year. Luck talks about the challenges of going from studying architecture at Stanford to playing in the Pros. Luck’s father was a player in the NFL, so he had some sense of what to expect, but even Luck acknowledges that his new teammates “are the apex of physical freaks.” Life with the Indianapolis Colts was a whole new level of play for Andrew Luck.

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Brian Williams

WNYC Radio — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0500

This week Alec sits down with Brian Williams, host of NBC Nightly News. The show has more viewers than any other news program in the country-- an average of 10 million people tune in every day to watch Brian Williams and his team report on the stories of the day. Brian tells Alec about his early years in Pittsburg, Kansas and what it was like to take over the anchor chair from Tom Brokaw.

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Patti LuPone

WNYC Radio — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

This week, Alec sits down with Patti LuPone – who has 26 Broadway credits and two Tonys, one for "Evita" and one for "Gypsy." LuPone is known for her opinions; she’s passionate. “I love what I do,” LuPone tells Alec, “I love the audience, and I love the fact that I get to do it. ... I love our craft very, very, much, and it’s a noble craft.”

And Patti LuPone has perseverance. As she recounts to Alec, on the opening night of "Evita," she had the flu and threw up in the sink. More than 20 years later, LuPone finished her last day of radiation for breast cancer treatment and went straight to rehearsal for "Sweeney Todd" at the New York Philharmonic. “We have a responsibility,” says LuPone. The audience has “come to see me, … they know that I know they’re there, and … when an actor acknowledges the audience, then you can have a moment of ecstasy."

READ | Interview Transcript

Jill Abramson

WNYC Radio — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

This week Alec talks with the Executive Editor of The New York Times, Jill Abramson. Abramson grew up in a family that was steeped in The New York Times: two copies were delivered to her house. Her mother wanted her own for the crossword.

Abramson is the first woman to hold the top editorial position at the paper. She tells Alec that she takes a “particular interest in the careers and work of many of the younger women at The Times and ... if anyone has a problem with that, too bad.”

READ | Interview Transcript

Lena Dunham

WNYC Radio — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0500

This week, Alec talks with Lena Dunham, whose hit show on HBO, "Girls," just started its second season. Three years ago, Dunham made a low-budget art house film called "Tiny Furniture." Last week "Girls" took home two Golden Globes. Dunham tells Alec she never imagined she’d encounter the success she has. She says she thought she’d be a “weird Gender and Women’s Studies teacher who occasionally showed movies at film festivals,” and instead she's trying to figure out what to wear to shoot the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Dunham talks with Alec about getting a dog and her first date with Jack Antonoff. She’s not ready for children yet, but they are on her mind: “I was raised to think that the two most important things you could do in your life were to have a passionate, generous relationship to your work and to raise children.”

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Lena Dunham

WNYC Radio — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 15:18:18 -0500

In a preview of their upcoming interview, Lena Dunham talks with Alec Baldwin about the Golden Globes, the Oscars and other award ceremonies.

The full interview will be available on Monday, January 21, 2013 at www.heresthething.org.

Judd Apatow

WNYC Radio — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0500

This week Alec talks with Judd Apatow, whose films include ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin,’ ‘Knocked Up,’ and ‘Funny People;’ all of which feature emotionally immature men forced to grow up after confronting, respectively -- sex, responsibility and death. Of all Apatow’s movies, his most recent, “This is 40”, which opened the weekend before Christmas, may be his most personal and stars his wife, Leslie Mann, and their two daughters.

Apatow talks with Alec about working with some of his heroes, like Albert Brooks: “obviously I’m terrified ‘cause I’m working with someone who’s clearly more talented than me.” For Apatow, each movie he makes is “a letter to myself telling me something that I need to know about how to live my life."

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Alex and Jamie Bernstein

WNYC Radio — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0500

This week Alec sits down with Jamie and Alex Bernstein, to hear about growing up with the maestro, Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein had three children: Jamie, Alexander and Nina. And while they knew him in the tux and tails, they also knew him as the dad who loved games – he was a killer at anagrams – and always up for tennis or squash or skiing or touch football.

Jamie and Alexander talk to Alec about listening to music – Jamie says she learned “more about music by listening to The Beatles with my dad than I think I did any other way” – and how their father's relationship to fame evolved during his lifetime. Alex remembers his dad saying, “I’m so sick of Leonard Bernstein. I’ve had it with him."

Thanks this week to Jenny Houser, Andy Lanset, Ryan Lohr, Brent Reno, Mark Travis and Craig Urquhart.

Lewis Lapham

WNYC Radio — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0500

This week Alec talks with Lewis Lapham, who's been refining his prose for over 50 years. Lapham says he still has to write “three or four or five, sometimes eight drafts of something,” but takes pleasure in “getting it right.” Today, he’s at the helm of Lapham’s Quarterly. He was at Harper’s for many years – and he started out at The San Francisco Examiner before stints at The Saturday Evening Post and Life.

To talk with Lewis Lapham, you’re struck with the sensation that you’ve stumbled onto the set of a 1940’s film noir movie. He wears pressed suits and pocket squares -- and his stories evoke another era. He tells Alec about being a rookie reporter at The Examiner and what it was like to go on a meditation retreat with the Beatles in India.

READ | Interview Transcript

Paula Pell

WNYC Radio — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500

This week on Here’s The Thing, Alec talks with writer Paula Pell – whose been making people laugh at Saturday Night Live for the last 17 years. Pell landed her dream job as a writer at SNL after working at a Florida theme park. Her agent told her that Lorne Michaels wanted to meet her – “it is not an audition, but he wants to fly you up and talk to you.” Pell wasn’t sure what she was headed up for, but she got a job writing for the show.

Because of her longevity on the show, Pell calls herself “Nanny SNL,” but she’s the first to admit, “if you have a good night there you feel like you’re 20 again.” Today, Pell also spends time writing for movies -- she’s an executive producer on the upcoming "This is 40."

READ | Interview Transcript

Andrew McCarthy

WNYC Radio — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500

This week Alec talks with Andrew McCarthy – about making movies, directing and what it’s like to reinvent oneself as a travel writer. Most people know McCarthy for his roles in "St. Elmo’s Fire" and "Pretty in Pink" – as a member of the “Brat Pack" -- but those movies were only one stop on Andrew McCarthy’s journey.

Almost 20 years ago, McCarthy discovered that traveling the world was the perfect antidote to the fame and exposure that came with his acting career. He has spent much of the last decade writing about his experiences in distant and exotic lands. McCarthy talks with Baldwin about his new book, called The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down.

Peter Beard and Richard Ruggiero

WNYC Radio — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week on Here’s the Thing, Alec talks with two men who have spent much of their lives living and working in Africa. Photographer Peter Beard first set foot on the continent in 1955. Richard Ruggiero, of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, began his Peace Corps stint in 1981 in the northern Central African Republic.

“We are enemies of nature,” says Beard, whose photographs have documented the destruction of wildlife in Africa, including the plight of the African Elephant, the very topic of Ruggiero’s doctoral dissertation. Ruggiero continues to work in Africa today and says the situation with elephant poaching right now is a “nightmare.” That says, says Ruggiero, “People are the problem, but they are also the solution.”

READ | Interview transcript

David Brooks

WNYC Radio — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week on Here’s The Thing, Alec talks with David Brooks on stage at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in Manhattan as part of the Public Forum series. David Brooks has been a New York Times op-ed columnist since 2003. He is known as a Conservative voice -- he was a senior editor at The Weekly Standard -- but former Obama advisor David Axelrod described him as a “true public thinker.”

Join Baldwin and Brooks on stage at Joe's Pub for a wide-ranging conversation: Brooks tells Baldwin about writing a humor column in college; about William F. Buckley’s “capacity for friendship” and about his evolution of opinion toward the Iraq war. They debate fracking -- Brooks says, "I am where President Obama is. So I'm a good Democrat on this issue." Brooks wonders about the possibility of Hillary Clinton in 2016; and he explains to Baldwin his basic feeling about college education: "Every course you take in college should be about who to marry."

READ | Interview transcript

Here's The Thing: One Hour Specials

WNYC Radio — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 09:05:00 -0400

In a series of one-hour, on-air specials, award-winning actor Alec Baldwin gives the listener unique entrée into the lives of artists, policy makers and performers. Baldwin sidesteps the predictable by taking listeners inside the dressing rooms, apartments, and offices of people such as comedian Chris Rock and Oscar-winner Michael Douglas.

Baldwin pursues great conversations in unexpected places to find out what motivates his guests, how they feel about what they do and what keeps them up at night. Here’s The Thing: Listen to what happens when a man you think you know surprises you.

Episode One: Billy Joel

Airing: November 22, 10am on AM820, 93.9FM and NJPR

Alec sits down with Billy Joel at a piano as Joel details the decisions -- musical and personal -- that helped shape his music and his career.

LISTEN | Billy Joel

Episode Two: Kristen Wiig and Dick Cavett

Airing: November 22, 11am on AM820, 93.9FM and NJPR

Alec talks with Kristen Wiig, a breakout Saturday Night Live cast member star who says she loves performing, but admits “there’s also a big part of me that’s just like ‘Don’t look at me.’

And Alec visits talk show legend Dick Cavett at his home, Tick Hall, in Montauk, Long Island. Over iced tea, Cavett shares memories from five decades in entertainment.

LISTEN | Kristen Wiig

LISTEN | Dick Cavett

Episode Three: Herb Alpert and Chris Rock

Airing: November 22, 12pm on AM820, 93.9FM and NJPR

Alec goes backstage with comic actor Chris Rock after a matinee of “The Mother F**ker With The Hat” to hear what it was like for Rock to be in his first play.

Then Alec talks with Herb Alpert, legendary trumpeter and music producer. In 1966, Alpert’s band, The Tijuana Brass, sold over 13 million records, outselling The Beatles.

LISTEN | Herb Alpert

LISTEN | Chris Rock

Episode Four: Lorne Michaels and Erica and Molly Jong

Airing: November 22, 1pm on AM820, 93.9FM and NJPR

Alec visits Lorne Michaels in his office at Rockefeller Center -- the same office he’s had since 1975, when he created Saturday Night Live.

Alec also talks with writer Erica Jong and her daughter Molly Jong-Fast as they spar about sex, the legacy of the feminist movement and the impact of divorce on children.

LISTEN | Lorne Michaels

LISTEN | Erica and Molly Jong

Episode Five: David Letterman and Michael Douglas

Airing: November 22, 2pm on AM820, 93.9FM and NJPR

Alec talks with late-night legend David Letterman. Letterman admits that for a good portion of the past thirty years, he didn’t do anything else. Things have changed now; he has no patience for meetings and avoids making decisions on the show, preferring to save that energy to explore the world with his 8-year old son.

Visiting Michael Douglas at his New York apartment, the two dive into what makes a great director a smart producer, and why playing the villain is the much more satisfying part.

LISTEN | David Letterman

LISTEN | Michael Douglas

George Will

WNYC Radio — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week, Alec talks with Pulitzer-prize winner George Will, whose passion for politics began early: he remembers Truman’s election when he was seven years old.

George Will is a political conservative, but he’s not afraid to direct criticism to the right. Will analyzes the current election for Alec – this isn’t a “slam-dunk for either side,” he says, and offers some historical perspective on the current animosity in political life. “We've been through really violent times,” says Will, “and we're in one of those periods now. And it will burn over.” With over 40 years in political journalism, George Will is a voice worth listening to.

READ | Interview transcript

Fred Armisen

WNYC Radio — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week, Alec talks with Fred Armisen. Armisen has been a punk rock drummer, currently he’s a cast member on Saturday Night Live and is also the co-creator and co-star of IFC’s Portlandia. Armisen has always been ambitious; when he was a drummer, he recalls, he always "wanted much more."

Long ago, Armisen played drums with the Blue Man Group in Chicago and he tells Alec he learned a lot: about "simplicity," "reinvention" and "that audiences want to be entertained." Armisen admits that he’s always working; when SNL is on hiatus, he’s producing Portlandia. But he still dreams about what might come next: "I want to invent a type of entertainment that is really blurry between comedy and something else. That doesn’t have a name yet...another level of fooling people as opposed to just doing a character. Something a little bigger than that."

READ | Interview transcript

Zarin Mehta

WNYC Radio — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week, Alec talks with Zarin Mehta who retired as president and executive director of the New York Philharmonic at the end of this past season. Mehta, an accountant by trade, grew up in 1940’s Bombay before it became the booming city of Mumbai. In Mehta’s memory, Bombay was more like a colonial fishing village.

Mehta talks with Alec about his father, who founded the Bombay Symphony Orchestra, his brother Zubin, and the realities of running a major arts organization in New York. As Mehta states, “Look, in the United States one does not look to the state for support of the arts.” Alec also talks with Carmen Mehta, Zarin’ Mehtas wife, and she offers her own insights into Mehta’s success.

READ | Interview Transcript

MUSICAL EXCERPTS HEARD IN ZARIN MEHTA CONVERSATION:

Mozart: Symphony No. 41, "Jupiter" (Lorin Maazel/NYP from 2006 DG Download #1)

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe, Part 3 - 3eme tableau - Teil 3, Orchestre symphonique du Montreal / Choeur de l'Orchestre symphonique de Montreal; Charles Dutoit, (Decca Record Company, Ltd / London (Polygram Classics)

Beethoven: Overture to Egmont from Alan Gilbert: The Inaugural Season iTunes Pass, release 5 (Alan Gilbert/NYP)

Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, Prelude & Fugue #1 In C, BWV 846.R; Andras Schiff, Piano; Decca Record Company, Ltd / London (Polygram Classics)

Schubert: Songs for Mezzo-Soprano & Orchestra (Anne-Sophie von Otter, mezzo/NYP/Alan Gilbert from 2011-12 iTunes Pass, release 4

Messiaen: Coleurs de la cite celeste (Colors of the celestial city) (Emmanuel Ax, piano/NYP/Alan Gilbert from 2010-12 iTunes Pass, release

Brahms: A German Requiem (Masur/NYP as recorded following the events of 9/11, Heidi Grant Murphy, soloist) (from NYP broadcast archives, 2001 "special" and NYP 11-50)

Strauss: Tod und Verklarung (Death and Transfiguration) from 2005; Lorin Maazel, conductor (from NYP broadcast archives, 06-03)

Thanks to the New York Philharmonic for generous use of archival material.

Anthony Baxter and Dylan Avery

WNYC Radio — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week, Alec talks with documentary filmmakers Anthony Baxter and Dylan Avery – each of whom has made a controversial political films, one about a golf course in Scotland; the other about whether 9/11 was a government cover-up.

Both films were made on meager budgets and both have attracted significant attention. Dylan Avery’s film, Loose Change, became an internet sensation and spawned a “Truther Movement” composed of people that believe that the government’s version of 9/11 is a lie. Anthony Baxter’s You’ve Been Trumped has given voice to people around the world who are fighting encroaching developments.

Billy Joel

WNYC Radio — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week on Here’s the Thing – Alec sits down with fellow Long Islander Billy Joel – at the piano – for a conversation about life and the musical choices he’s made.

Joel joined his first band at age 14 and became the third best selling solo artist of all time in the United States. He’s sold more records than The Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna, but at this point, he says, the “rock star thing” is something he can “take off.” “I go shopping, I cook my own food, I wash the dishes, I take out the garbage … And the music has nothing to do with money or career. It’s just part of me. It’s like love.”

READ | Interview Transcript

Peter Frampton

WNYC Radio — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week on Here’s the Thing, Alec talks with Grammy-winning guitarist Peter Frampton. “Sound is very inspirational to me,” explains Frampton – and it always has been: he started playing guitar before he was 8 years old.

Frampton talks about his musical roots in England, playing in bands like The Preachers and The Herd. At age 14 he was playing at a recording session produced by Bill Wyman, who he says is “sort of like my mentor, my older brother.” Eleven years later, Frampton was on stage in San Francisco, recording "Frampton Comes Alive," one of the biggest selling live albums of all times.

Frampton also talks about the challenges of his extraordinary success: “I don’t think anybody can be ready for that kind of success,” explains Frampton.

Peter Frampton recently completed a 35^th anniversary tour of Frampton Comes Alive – a DVD will be available later this year.

READ | Interview Transcript

Robert Lustig

WNYC Radio — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week, Alec talks with Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at UC San Francisco, about our country’s addiction to sugar. Children today are the first American generation to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, in large part due to obesity. According to Lustig, this obesity often comes from eating too much sugar.

Sugar is hard to avoid. A recent study reveals that 80 percent of the 600,000 food items in America are laced with added sugar. Lustig says, “There is not one biochemical reaction in your body, not one, that requires dietary fructose, not one that requires sugar. Dietary sugar is completely irrelevant to life. People say oh, you need sugar to live. Garbage.” Dr. Robert Lustig has made it his business to get the rest of the world to pay attention.

READ | Interview Transcript

David Letterman

WNYC Radio — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week on Here's The Thing, Alec talks with late-night legend David Letterman. Letterman describes his early years on TV in Indiana; his decision to try radio despite a boss who said “You will never be heard of again”; and his eventual journey to LA where after 3 years at comedy clubs he found himself on The Tonight Show. As Letterman says, "that's not supposed to happen."

Letterman’s been doing the Late Show for 30 years and he says for a long time he “just didn’t do anything else.” Things have changed now, he tells Alec; he has “no patience for meetings” and he avoids making decisions on the show. Dave is also taking time to explore the world with his 8-year old son: “when you have a child you do things you never thought you would do, and it’s fun.”

READ | Interview Transcript

Jon Robin Baitz

WNYC Radio — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week Alec talks with playwright Jon Robin Baitz, whose Broadway play, Other Desert Cities, is up for a Tony later this month.

Baitz grew up in Brazil and South Africa -- transferring to Beverly Hills High School for his final year of school where he says he “became friends ... with fellow freaks.” He’s been writing ever since -- even though “writing plays has always been very tricky.” Baitz talks about the origin of the new play, his short-lived adventures writing for television in Hollywood, and the relief of coming back to the American theater. For Baitz, “it’s a privilege to be in [the theater]. I’m lucky to have found my way back to it.”

Renée Fleming

WNYC Radio — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week Alec talks with opera singer Renée Fleming, whose singing voice has been described as "double cream." Fleming remembers her professional debut -- “I was just jelly at the end of the first rehearsal” -- and celebrates her long association with The Metropolitan Opera. Fleming talks about performing and the challenges of being heard, without amplification, over an orchestra, but also about the pleasure of being in the audience “where I have literally been sobbing at the end” of an opera.

Music excerpts included in Here’s the Thing’s conversation with Renée Fleming (in order of appearance):

“Glück, das mir verblieb (Marietta’s Lied)” from Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt

(Live performance from the Met’s 125th Anniversary Gala, March 15, 2009; Conductor: James Levine)

“I’ll Be Seeing You” (Renée Fleming with the Eastman Jazz Ensemble/”Arranger’s Holiday” recorded Fall 1981 (archive tape courtesy Renée Fleming; special thanks to Ed Fleming)

"Contessa, perdono!" from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Houston Grand Opera. Conductor; Christoph Eschenbach. 1991

“Glück, das mir verblieb (Marietta’s Lied)” from Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt

(Live performance from the Met’s 125th Anniversary Gala, March 15, 2009; Conductor: James Levine)

“Dis-moi que je suis belle” from Massenet’s Thaïs

(Live Met performance, December 20th, 2008; Conductor: Jesús López-Cobos)

“Hab’ mir’s gelobt” from Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier

(Live Met performance, January 9, 2010, with Susan Graham as Octavian and Christine Schäfer as Sophie; Conductor: Edo de Waart)

“Mio caro bene” from Handel’s Rodelinda

(Live Met performance, January 1, 2005; Conductor: Harry Bicket)

Finale from Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades

(Live Met performance, March 26, 2011; Conductor: Andris Nelsons)

Finale from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro

(Live Met performance, February 12, 1994, with Dwayne Croft (Count Almaviva), Marie McLaughlin (Susanna), James Morris (Figaro), Jane Bunnell (Cherubino), François Loup (Dr. Bartolo), Judith Christin (Marcellina), Michel Sénéchal (Don Basilio), James Courtney (Antonio), and Korliss Uecker (Barbarina); Conductor: Julius Rudel)

Special thanks this week to The Metropolitan Opera and the Houston Grand Opera for providing archival musical excerpts. In particular, thanks to Peter Clark, Mary Jo Heath, Brent Ness, Sam Neuman, Elena Park, and Claire Vince. And thanks to Paul Batsel at the Office of Renée Fleming.

Joseph Stiglitz

WNYC Radio — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week on Here’s the Thing, Alec talks about the financial crisis with Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist. Stiglitz shows no restraint when unleashing criticism of presidential policies -- on both sides. Of President Barack Obama’s financial-industry rescue plan, Stiglitz said that whomever designed it was "either in the pocket of the banks or … incompetent." Stiglitz talks to Alec about growing up in Gary, Indiana and how that impacted his decision to become an economist.

Robert Osborne

WNYC Radio — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This week on Here’s The Thing, Alec talks with Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies. Today Osborne plays the role of ambassador to a bygone era. We hear the journey he took to get there -- which could have been a classic movie itself.

Osborne tells Alec about meeting Lucille Ball: “If it had been Lana Turner I met or somebody I wouldn't have been able to talk, but it was Lucille Ball.” Nonetheless, Ball ended up playing an influential role in Osborne’s life, encouraging him to pursue writing over acting. Later Osborne explains some of challenges he faced at The Hollywood Reporter, when he found himself writing what was really supposed to be a gossip column: “I never felt comfortable intruding upon people that wanted to keep a secret. Because I think secrets are important to have.”

READ | Interview Transcript

Kristen Wiig

WNYC Radio — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Alec talks with Kristen Wiig -- who catered, did floral design, answered phones at a law firm and handed out peach samples at a farmer’s market -- all before landing her current gig, as a cast member on Saturday Night Live.

Kristen says she loves performing, but admits there’s also a “big part of me that’s just like: don’t look at me.” Kristen talks about auditioning for SNL, and the prospect of life beyond SNL: “I mean that’s my family, it’s my heart, it’s New York to me.”

READ | Interview Transcript

Herb Alpert

WNYC Radio — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Alec talks with Herb Alpert, legendary trumpeter and co-founder of A&M Records, the independent record label Alpert eventually sold to Polygram. In 1966, Alpert’s band, The Tijuana Brass sold over 13 million records, outselling The Beatles.

Alpert talks about the thrill of signing musicians like The Carpenters, Cat Stevens and The Police but also reveals what it was like to lose -- and slowly regain -- his trumpet voice over a period of nearly 8 years. The struggle was so intense it made him question everything: “I just want[ed] to find out who I am and why I’m here. Everybody is looking for the same thing: a life of purpose and meaning.”

Herb Alpert with some of his Black Totem sculptures. (Photo by Graham Howe)

READ | Interview Transcript

Kathleen Turner

WNYC Radio — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Kathleen Turner made her film debut 30 years ago in the blockbuster thriller, Body Heat. Since then, she’s been leading lady in numerous films and on stage and she’s earned Tony nominations for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Turner sits down with Alec to talk directors – from stage and screen; raising a daughter in New York; dealing with rheumatoid arthritis; and her passion for performance: “If I couldn’t act, I’d just curl up, shrivel up and die … I can’t live without it.”

READ | Interview Transcript

Dick Cavett

WNYC Radio — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Alec visits with Dick Cavett at his house on Long Island – a place called Tick Hall. They survey the view: stunning. Meet Riley the dog: cute, if "neurotic," says Cavett. Then go inside to drink iced tea and hear about Cavett's career in television.

Cavett shares some of his memories with Alec: meeting Orson Welles in the lobby of the Plaza; talking with Marlon Brando by phone -- “I was told he would [call] at a certain time and we talked with the sun about 15 degrees above the horizon until well after the moon had risen;” and interviewing Laurence Olivier in the Wyndham Hotel when, Cavett says, he was feeling so depressed “I just want[ed] to go home and get under the rug.” Dick Cavett is the master of talk, a television legend; in this conversation, he shows Alec why his career has spanned nearly five decades.

READ | Interview Transcript

Rachel Lloyd

WNYC Radio — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Rachel Lloyd is the Executive Director and founder of GEMS. Based in Harlem, New York, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services’ (GEMS) mission is to empower young women, ages 12–24, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and develop to their full potential. Here, Rachel talks about her own experiences "in the life," and how we can better treat young women everywhere, as detailed in her book, Girls Like Us.

Rob Morris

WNYC Radio — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Alec talks with Rob Morris, president and co-founder of Love 146, an organization that fights to prevent child sex slavery and provide aftercare for its victims.

The numbers around the child sex trafficking industry are staggering. Over a million children are sold into this multi-billion dollar industry each year. As Rob explains to Alec, he sees behind the numbers:

“This is not about an issue, this is not about a cause. This is somebody’s daughter, this is about somebody’s son. Little boy. Little girl.”

READ | Interview Transcript

Lorne Michaels

WNYC Radio — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Lorne Michaels is one of the most influential figures in American entertainment. Alec goes to Rockefeller Center to visit Michaels in his office – the same office he’s had since 1975, when he created Saturday Night Live.

Michaels went on to launch the careers of some of the biggest names in comedy: Belushi, Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Chris Farley, Chris Rock, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey … the list goes on and on and on.

“The only way you can manage creative people is with very loose reigns,” says Michaels. He says he works with “people at the point of their career where nothing matters but the work … people just completely devote themselves to the show.”

Lorne Michaels is the rare producer in that he’s truly involved in all aspects of production, yet he says when he does his job right, he leaves no fingerprints.

READ | Interview Transcript

Joe Berlinger

WNYC Radio — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Alec talks with director Joe Berlinger about his latest film for HBO Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory -- the third film in a series of documentaries about a crime that took place 18 years ago in rural Arkansas.

Berlinger says, “We made these three movies as acts of advocacy” – which is not his usual style as a long-time documentary filmmaker. “I believe the audience should be treated like a jury. You give them the information, you weigh both sides, and you let them come to their own conclusion.” These films were different, acknowledges Berlinger: “We clearly have a point of view that there is a huge injustice.”

Early in his career Berlinger worked for famed documentarians David and Albert Maysles. He says the Maysles brothers taught him about “The act of faith about making a film about real life as it’s unfolding.” Berlinger is known for his documentary work, has dabbled in features, but says he’d “love another opportunity to do a feature at some point, but, you know, I’m just used to being the author of my own work, being totally in control.”

READ | Interview Transcript

Erica Jong and Molly Jong-Fast

WNYC Radio — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Alec talks with writer Erica Jong and her daughter Molly Jong-Fast about sex, divorce and the impact on sexuality on young women today.

Erica has been through 3 divorces – she’s on her fourth marriage.
She says “Divorce was the hardest thing [she] ever went through … Divorce is terrible. Divorce is difficult. We have no rules for it.
It's so incredibly painful.

Molly – still on her first marriage – says she’s learned “marriage is incredibly hard work.”

Molly and Erica spar about the legacy of the feminist movement – but Molly concludes that her mother’s own legacy is about being honest.

READ | Interview Transcript

Stephen Daldry

WNYC Radio — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Alec sits down with director Stephen Daldry, whose new movie, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," opens on Christmas Day.

Stephen offers a window into his past – from training as a clown and driving giraffes through Pompeii to being serenaded with Billy Elliot songs by a persistent Elton John. Alec and Stephen trade notes on acting styles -- and whether being Mayor – of New York or London – would be satisfying. Stephen says he makes work “to change the world;” Alec’s no longer sure change is possible.

READ | Interview Transcript

Chris Rock

WNYC Radio — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Chris Rock says he "wanted [his] acting to grow." So what did he do? He took a job on Broadway. Alec goes backstage with Rock after a matinee of The Mother F**ker With The Hat to hear about what it was like for Rock to be in his first play. Rock says rehearsal was the hardest thing he's ever gone through in his life.

Chris Rock and Alec talk about the play, the movie business and Rock's career in stand-up.

Alec asks Rock about how the people in his life respond to his stand-up -- which as Alec says, can "filet them on stage." "I'm like a lawyer," says Rock; "it would all hold up in court." That said, he admits that everybody is uncomfortable.

READ | Interview Transcript

Kris Kardashian Jenner

WNYC Radio — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Alec talks with Kris Kardashian Jenner, the self-described “momager” of the Kardashian clan. Kris explains what it’s like to live and work with her family: “you can’t get more controlling than that.”

Kris describes her family’s retail roots--her grandmother owned a candle store, her mother opened a store, and Kris herself, along with her daughters, opened two clothing stores.

“I sold t-shirts,” says Kris. “This is what I did all day long.”

For Kris, a reality show like Keeping Up with the Kardashians was a no-brainer: “if somebody says, we could...shine a camera on your shop every day, hello, I’m signing up.”

Kris tells Alec her daughters are surprisingly frugal--they have taught her about business and work ethic. She thinks she’s taught them about drive.

READ | Interview Transcript

Ed Rollins

WNYC Radio — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Alec Baldwin talks with political strategist Ed Rollins. A boxing phenom as a kid, Rollins went on to work on six presidential campaigns. He talks to Alec about his recent work with Michele Bachmann, offers new insight into Ronald Reagan’s legacy and shares some of his personal history – of a Democratic bent.

“Pretend I’m your priest,” says Ed Rollins, when he starts to work with prospective candidates. Rollins encourages his clients to tell him everything – even still, he tells Alec, “they always lie.” Rollins tells Alec what is really required of a president and talks about some of the candidates he has helped run for office.

READ | Ed Rollins Interview Transcript

Michael Douglas

WNYC Radio — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Michael Douglas invites host Alec Baldwin into his New York apartment for a compelling conversation about what makes a great director, a smart producer, and why playing the villain is so wonderful.

Douglas reveals how competition with his father, legendary actor Kirk Douglas, shaped both his career and his life as a parent, telling Alec, “I’m much more honest with my seven year old daughter then I ever thought I would be.” Listen in as Douglas also discloses how his father’s early brush with death, and his own cancer diagnosis affected them each in different ways.

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WNYC Radio — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:00:02 -0400

In WNYC’s new podcast series, award-winning actor Alec Baldwin gives the listener unique entrée into the lives of artists, policy makers and performers.

Alec sidesteps the predictable by taking listeners inside the dressing rooms, apartments, and offices of people such as comedian Chris Rock, political strategist Ed Rollins and Oscar winner Michael Douglas.

Every two weeks, Alec pursues great conversations in unexpected places to find out what motivates his guests, how they feel about what they do and what keeps them up at night. Here’s the Thing: Listen to what happens when a man you think you know surprises you.

Sign up for the "Here's The Thing" with Alec Baldwin newsletter and subscribe to the podcast to get the latest on upcoming episodes.

Alec Baldwin Hosts WNYC Podcast 'Here's the Thing'

WNYC Radio — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:26:25 -0400

Alec Baldwin is preparing for life after "30 Rock," working with New York public radio on an interview show that will be available via podcast starting Oct. 24.

The first interview posted will be with actor Michael Douglas, who talks about watching "Glee" with his young daughter. Other interviews to follow will be with Republican campaign strategist Ed Rollins, reality-show celebrity Kris Kardashian Jenner, comic Chris Rock, actress Kathleen Turner, author Erica Jong and veteran talk-show host Dick Cavett, station WNYC said Thursday.

Baldwin said that he's been exploring other things to do, knowing that his small-screen life as crazed corporate executive Jack Donaghy is heading toward its end.

Baldwin has won Emmys for his comic portrayal of a TV network boss. He said he likes to use his spare time to satisfy the need to do other things.

His mixture of guests on the radio show will take in several fields, although he leans toward fellow entertainers. Baldwin said he's particularly interested in talking with show-biz veterans about the directions their careers have taken and how they keep the juices flowing.

He's an admitted "public radio junkie" who has filled in on the air for New York's WNYC and also helped with fund drives. After his on-air work as a substitute host for Kurt Andersen, both Baldwin and WNYC were interested in doing something more, said Dean Cappello, senior vice president for programming at New York public radio.

"Alec is one of our hometown guys," he said.

New interviews will be available about once a week. Cappello said he expects they will eventually be made into an on-air radio show, but those plans aren't set yet.

Baldwin said his "30 Rock" contract ends after the upcoming sixth season, which will begin with Donaghy "in agony" because his wife is being held captive in North Korea. There's a possibility the show might be extended another year, but he said he's not sure whether he wants to do it.

"I might," he said. "I wouldn't want to prevent them from having another year, because they're all my friends and they've been good to me. Maybe I would do a piece of the year. But I really do want to move on to other things."

His "30 Rock" work has led to movie offers he wants to explore. Baldwin, 53, has also talked about getting into politics someday, but that would require a transformation that would take time.

"I have to finish what I'm doing now and separate these two parts of my life," he said. "I haven't really formalized that. It's like the difference between going to Jon Stewart and Jim Lehrer. The jokes have to stop, everything has to be on the record."

No one appreciates the run he's been on better than Baldwin.

"The life I have now is not going to get any better," he said. "I have a great job. Everybody thinks I'm funny. I'm fooling everybody. They think I'm talented. I'm pulling the wool over everybody's eyes and they're paying me for it. It's thrilling."