455 episodes

Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair

Fresh Air Fresh Air

    • Arts
    • 4.4 • 306 Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Clarence & Ginni Thomas' Path To Power

    Clarence & Ginni Thomas' Path To Power

    As controversy swirls around Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni over financial benefits they received for years from a Texas billionaire, we look at the formative influences on the Washington power couple. Filmmaker Michael Kirk's FRONTLINE PBS documentary examines Clarence Thomas's early years, where he endured poverty, hardship and discrimination in the Jim Crow South. After a period as a Black Power activist in college, he began to criticize affirmative action and build ties with conservative Republicans, leading eventually to his seat on the Supreme Court. He teamed up with and married Ginni Lamp, who grew up surrounded by far-Right conservatives. Kirk's documentary is Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court.

    • 45 min
    Why Our Allergies Are Getting Worse

    Why Our Allergies Are Getting Worse

    From excessive hygiene to low-fiber diets, author Theresa MacPhail explores the deep-rooted causes of rising allergy rates in her new book Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World.

    • 45 min
    Best Of: Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Wanda Sykes

    Best Of: Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Wanda Sykes

    Julia Louis Dreyfus stars in the new film, You Hurt My Feelings. She also has a podcast called Wiser Than Me, where she asks older women to share their experiences and life lessons. She talks about both projects with Dave Davies. Also, we hear from Wanda Sykes. In her new Netflix comedy special, she talks about raising teenagers with her French wife, and what it's like to live in the world after a pandemic, an insurrection, and George Floyd.David Bianculli reviews a new documentary about Mary Tyler Moore.

    • 48 min
    Jazz Singer Samara Joy In Concert

    Jazz Singer Samara Joy In Concert

    Samara Joy is the second jazz performer in Grammy history to win "Best New Artist." The 23-year-old also won for "Best Jazz Album." She joined us for a concert and conversation about growing up in a family of gospel singers and her musical influences.

    • 46 min
    Gladys Knight's Biggest Hits For Motown Almost Didn't Happen (Fresh Air+)

    Gladys Knight's Biggest Hits For Motown Almost Didn't Happen (Fresh Air+)

    Today, May 28, is legendary soul singer Gladys Knight's 79th birthday. In celebration, we're listening back to a live 1996 interview Knight conducted with host Terry Gross as part of City Arts and Lectures in San Francisco. The singer reveals why she and her backing band, the Pips, disagreed about joining Berry Gordy's iconic Motown Records. You can hear the entire Gladys Knight interview here (https://n.pr/3IFTvPd). Other live interviews mentioned in this episode include Questlove (https://n.pr/3OBuCId), Jon Stewart (https://n.pr/427coRV), Rosemary Clooney (https://n.pr/429epNB) and Marc Maron (https://n.pr/43qbnp1). You can these, and hundreds of other interviews, always completely for free, at FreshAirArchive.org.

    Mary Tyler Moore

    Mary Tyler Moore

    Moore is the subject of a new HBO (MAX) documentary that explores her rise in Hollywood — from her 1970s hit The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which inspired a generation of single professional women, to her 1960s breakout role on The Dick Van Dyke Show. She spoke with Terry Gross in 1995. Also, we remember novelist, essayist and literary critic Martin Amis, who died last week at 73. Film critic Justin Chang reviews the new live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.

    • 46 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
306 Ratings

306 Ratings

VulcanShirley ,

A treasure

Both the host, Terry Gross, and the podcast are treasures. Terry, for her interviewing style, and warm personality; Fresh Air, for the variety of topics and guests.
Guests are not treated as though they are being interrogated. Instead, they are interviewed with compassion and given time to respond.
Easy yet informative listening.

r-a-c-h-a-e-l ,

Almost perfect

Fresh Air is one of my favourites, and Terry is a host to treasure. Her natural warmth, empathy, humour and curiosity are golden. I love her. The eclectic guests, reviews, incidental music - all A+.
I only wish you would edit out the links from the live show. We’re not ‘just joining’ you half-way through - it’s a podcast! The constant reminder of what we’re listening to is repetitive and irksome. Not enough to detract from five stars though.

Xavier1900 ,

Intolerably bias. Defund.

Totally bias.

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