Radio Programs

Growing up, Jonah Hill always wanted to be a writer and director. But then he took an acting class and received such positive feedback that his career took an unexpected detour.

"You find the right compliment for the right insecure person and that could change your life," Hill says.

On the next Fresh Air, journalist and biographer Robert Caro talks about unearthing the seamy details of political deal-making to understand the nature of political power.

Venezuelans have been suffering one calamity to the next, but in recent weeks, much of the country has had to go long stretches without electricity.

New York Times journalist Nicholas Casey was in Maracaibo, Venezuela, in March when a six-day blackout hit, considered at the time the worst in the country's history.

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. The summit between President Trump and North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, collapsed with no agreement on steps toward North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. President Trump's national security adviser John Bolton is known as a tough-talking hawk. A new article about him in The New Yorker is titled "John Bolton On The Warpath.

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. In a new article in The New Yorker, titled "The Case Of Al Franken," my guest Jane Mayer investigates the accusations of sexual misconduct that led Franken to resign under pressure from the Senate.

In the late 1970s Americans were coping with inflation and unemployment.  Lethal arguments were breaking out in gas lines, and 52 hostages were held in Iran.

WhenJason Rezaian moved to Tehran to pursue journalism in 2009, he knew he was taking on a certain amount of risk.

"I think everybody who goes and works in a country like Iran makes those calculations and thinks about that," he says.

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. My guest Franklin Foer has been writing about the Mueller investigation and connections between Donald Trump, his campaign and Russia for The Atlantic magazine, where he's a national correspondent.

In 'Ben Is Back', Julia Roberts plays a mother whose son is home for the holidays - and struggling with drug addiction.

Jill Ciment is one of those just-under-the-radar writers. Probably her biggest moment of popular recognition came a few years ago, when her novel, Heroic Measures, was made into a film called 5 Flights Up;it starred Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman as a married couple living in New York City who struggle to get their elderly dog to the vet in the midst of a terror alert.

Just weeks after Jussie Smollett reported being assaulted in a potential hate crime, the Empire actor is in police custody for allegedly orchestrating the attack. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Smollett faked the incident, paying two brothers about $3,500 to join a "publicity stunt" staged by Smollett because he "was dissatisfied with his salary.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Let's update you on the story that has been unfolding all morning. WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange was arrested in London this morning.

So many of my favorite films this year seemed to be in close conversation with each other that it didn't make sense, in the end, for me to separate them. So I didn't.

Presidential candidate Kamala Harris brings a fighting spirit as a California prosecutor to her campaign.

For about 48 hours in December, Kevin Hart was slated to host the 2019 Academy Awards. Then Hart was called out for homophobic jokes and tweets he made in 2010, and the Academy asked him to apologize.

Larrecsa Cox is a paramedic, but instead of an ambulance with flashing lights and sirens, she drives around in an old, white sedan.

Her first call on a recent day in Huntington, W.Va, was to a quiet, middle-class neighborhood.