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Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin takes listeners into the lives of artists, policy makers and performers. Alec sidesteps the predictable by going inside the dressing rooms, apartments, and offices of people we want to understand better: Ira Glass, Lena Dunham, David Letterman, Barbara Streisand, Tom Yorke, Chris Rock and others. Hear what happens when an inveterate guest becomes a host.

Here's The Thing with Alec Baldwin

Patti LuPone was only four years old when she realized she belonged on stage, and she started by entertaining family members in her Long Island living room.
 
LuPone won her second Tony Award for Evita, which she initially described as merely “noise from Britain.” Although she has enjoyed tremendous, long-term success, she talks candidly to Alec about blows to her career and ego. 
 
 
 
Originally aired February 18, 2013

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From the Archives: Patti LuPone

Andrea Barton Reeves is a former ad litem lawyer, CEO of Harc. Inc - a nonprofit organization supporting people with intellectual disabilities and their families, and the founding CEO of the Connecticut Paid Leave Program - the state’s first new agency in 12 years thanks to which over 200,000 individuals and families have received paid family leave benefits. With over twenty years of experience in advocacy, Barton Reeves has dedicated her career to ensuring accessibility to services and support for thousands of residents throughout the state of Connecticut. Barton Reeves is the current Commissioner for the Department of Social Services in Connecticut, leading an 1,800-person agency which serves 1.2 million residents. Critical services include Medicaid, SNAP, Home and Community-Based Services, supports for elders and health care delivered through Federal Qualified Health Centers. In light of the current threats to public healthcare and social services, Barton Reeves remains grounded in her values of transparency, integrity and service to others

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Department of Social Services Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves on Connecticut’s Future

Lawrence Wright is an author, screenwriter, playwright, and a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2006 book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Most recently, filmmaker Alex Gibney directed an HBO documentary based on Wright's reporting in Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Unbelief.
 
Much of Wright's work is about how religious belief animates personal action and political conflict. He has documented the Jonestown massacre, explored allegations of Satan worship, profiled brimstone-tinged gospel preachers, and, of course, tracked the histories of al-Qaeda and the Church of Scientology.
 
Regarding the latter, he isn't necessarily sympathetic to the Church's claims, but he understands its appeal. "People don't go into it because it's a cult, they go into it because they're looking for something," says Wright. "It's like going into therapy; people do benefit from it."
 
"But it's one thing to get into it, it's another thing to get out of it." 
 
 
 
Originally aired April 14, 2015

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From the Archives: Lawrence Wright

It’s the leading cause of preventable death across much of Europe and North America, responsible for the loss of 41 million lives in the US, UK and Canada between 1960 and 2020. These staggering statistics beg the question: Why is anyone still smoking? Dr. Lynn Kozlowski, renowned expert in tobacco use and nicotine policy, is Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus of Community Health and Health Behavior at the University of Buffalo. A founding member of the Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research, he has contributed to four U.S. Surgeon General reports on smoking. Host Alec Baldwin speaks with Dr. Kozlowski about how perceptions of smoking have evolved over the years, the dangers of smoking traditional cigarettes versus vaping, and his advice on what he believes is the best way to quit.

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Why Is Anyone Still Smoking?

Singer, songwriter, producer, and actor Steven Van Zandt aka Little Steven is perhaps best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. But the talented musician also co-founded the band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, as well as his solo act, Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul. He later found success in an entirely different career, playing the inimitable role of Tony Soprano’s consigliere Silvio Dante in The Sopranos and Frank Tagliano in Lilyhammer. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member recently released his autobiography, “Unrequited Infatuations,” which chronicles the many twists and turns that make up his remarkable life. Steven tells Alec why Bruce Springsteen was originally not allowed in his band, why he decided to walk away from the music business, and how he became a part of television history - twice. 
 
Originally aired March 22, 2022

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From the Archives: Steven Van Zandt

Thom Yorke, Radiohead and Atoms for Peace frontman, admits that, even after over 25 years in the business, performing is “either wicked fun or really awful.” He talks with Alec about his pre-show ritual—"I stand on my head for a bit"—and how he and his bandmates have been able to stick together since they were teenagers. 
 
Originally aired April 1st, 2013

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From the Archives: Thom Yorke

Two leading voices in the fight for environmental and human rights justice are Steven Donziger and Paul Paz y Miño. Steven Donziger is an attorney and activist known for his decades-long legal battle against Chevron on behalf of Indigenous peoples and rural communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. His work has drawn international attention to issues of corporate accountability, climate justice, and the criminalization of human rights defenders. Paul Paz y Miño is the Associate Director of Amazon Watch, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the rainforest and advancing the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon. For over 20 years, he has worked to build international solidarity, expose corporate abuses, and amplify the voices of frontline communities resisting environmental destruction. Together, Donziger and Paz y Miño discuss their work for environmental justice, the ongoing struggles of affected communities, and the broader fight to hold corporations accountable for human rights and ecological harms.

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Paul Paz y Miño and Steven Donziger from Rainforests to Courtrooms

Isaac Butler is an author, critic, theater director, and professor known for his books The Method: How The Twentieth Century Learned to Act and The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America, co-written with Dan Kois. Butler’s writing has appeared in numerous publications such as New York magazine, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Slate magazine. For Slate, he also created and hosted the podcast “Lend Me Your Ears”, about Shakespeare and politics, and currently co-hosts “Working”, a podcast about the creative process. Butler’s work as a theater director has been seen on stages throughout the United States and he is the co-creator of “Real Enemies”, which was named one of the best live events of 2015 by the New York Times. Butler currently teaches Theater History and Performance at NYU Tisch.

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Breaking the Fourth Wall with Isaac Butler

Our summer tradition at Here’s the Thing continues, as staff members choose their favorite conversations from the archives for our Summer Staff Pick series. This week, we revisit Alec’s interview with Moby, who reflects on the unexpected success of his 1999 album Play—a record that transformed him from playing gigs in record stores to international stardom. Moby shares the chaotic aftermath of fame, from drug-fueled highs to moments of deep despair, and how he eventually found his way to sobriety. He also speaks with Alec about his unconventional childhood, his memoir Then It Fell Apart, and what he’s learned in the decade since leaving drugs and alcohol behind.

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Moby - Summer Staff Picks

Our summer tradition at Here’s the Thing continues, as staff members choose their favorite conversations from the archives for our Summer Staff Pick series. This week, we revisit Alec’s conversation with David Letterman, who began his Late Night gig as a self-described “gap-toothed, unknown smart ass.” Three decades later, Letterman reflects on how his comedy evolved, why he no longer makes every decision behind the scenes, and life after “stupid pet tricks.” He shares with Alec his path from weatherman to talk show host to guest-host of The Tonight Show—and how both a quintuple bypass and the birth of his son shifted his priorities.

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David Letterman - Summer Staff Picks

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.”

 
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Peter Beard and Richard Ruggiero

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