Fresh Air Fresh Air

Emmy- Grammy - Oscar- and Tony-Award-winning director, comedian, actor and songwriter Mel Brooks is best known for his cinematic parodies, some of which he cast himself in. That comes from a childhood love of cinema — and his desire to be a suave leading man himself. Hear his full 1991 interview: https://n.pr/44885br | Hear his 2001 interview: https://n.pr/4d5f09x | Hear his 2013 interview: https://n.pr/4aHWzpP | Hear his 2021 interview: https://n.pr/3JvoqgQ. Listen to 40+ years of Fresh Air's archives at https://FreshAirArchive.org. Not a Fresh Air+ supporter yet? Find out more, and join for yourself, at https://plus.npr.org/freshair.

WNBA star Brittney Griner talks about the physical and emotional hell of her nearly 300 days in Russian prisons. Russian authorities apprehended Griner at the Moscow Airport when she was found carrying a tiny amount of medically prescribed cannabis — then charged her with drug smuggling. Her memoir is Coming Home.

Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead reviews a 1959 Sonny Rollins reissue.

And we'll talk about plant intelligence with climate journalist Zoë Schlanger. Her book is The Light Eaters.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer has been adapted into a series on HBO/MAX. It's set in Vietnam during the last days of the war, and in LA, just after. The narrator becomes a consultant to a Hollywood film about the war. The novel is written from a Vietnamese perspective. "It's my revenge on Francis Ford Coppola, my revenge on Hollywood, to try to get Americans to understand that Vietnam is a country and not a war," he told Terry Gross in 2016. Nguyen's family fled their village in South Vietnam in 1975, when it was taken over by the North.

Also, David Bianculli reviews Let It Be, the Beatles film restored and rereleased after being shelved for more than 50 years.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

We remember painter and sculptor Frank Stella, whose early work was considered revolutionary. He died last week at age 87. Stella became famous and controversial in the 1950s for his "black paintings," which were a stark contrast to the abstract expressionism of the time, and made him one of the fathers of minimalism.

Later, we'll feature an interview with one of the most influential early rock and roll guitarists, Duane Eddy. He also died last week.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Long Island, Colm Tóibín's new sequel to his bestselling novel Brooklyn.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

#BlackLivesMatter. #OscarsSoWhite. #ICantBreathe. Filmmaker Prentice Penny's docuseries about Black Twitter celebrates the voices and movements that impacted politics and culture. Penny was also the showrunner of the HBO series Insecure.

Also, John Powers reviews the four-part series Shardlake, based on C.J. Sansom's first novel in a series about a crime-solving lawyer in 16th-century England.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Griner spent nearly 300 days incarcerated in Russia after authorities at the Moscow airport found two nearly empty cartridges of cannabis in her luggage. The WNBA star spoke with Terry Gross about the dehumanizing prison conditions, her release, and return to the court. Griner, who is 6'9", says she felt like a zoo animal in prison. "The guards would literally come open up the little peep hole, look in, and then I would hear them laughing." Her new memoir is Coming Home.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy