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Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is a weekly series of intimate conversations with artists, activists, and politicians. Where people sound like people. Hosted by Sam Fragoso. New episodes every Sunday.

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

For more than three decades, author Salman Rushdie has lived under threat. In 1989, a fatwa forced him into hiding. In 2022, he was stabbed more than a dozen times while speaking on stage—and nearly killed.
 
 
 
Less than two years later, he recounted the attack (and remarkable recovery) in his memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. Now, at seventy-eight, Rushdie returns to fiction with The Eleventh Hour, a collection of five interlinked stories that explore anger, peace, mortality, and legacy.
 
 
 
We begin with the inspirations behind the new quintet (5:52), Rushdie’s formative, bookish years in Bombay (14:20), and the tumultuous family life that shaped his early writing (21:20). Then, he reflects on his time at Cambridge (29:30), his stint as a copywriter (35:32), and the lightbulb moment that led to his breakout novel, Midnight’s Children (39:40).
 
 
 
On the back half, we discuss the fatwa (50:15) and book burning of The Satanic Verses (53:30), threats to free speech (56:36), and the slippery slope of political censorship (1:04:30). We also talk about Rushdie’s recovery and return to the page (1:14:10), his meta Curb Your Enthusiasm appearance (1:08:37), and the lasting power of literature (1:24:00).
 
 
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.

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Novelist Salman Rushdie at ‘The Eleventh Hour’

Director Richard Linklater has made a career out of telling personal stories with universal appeal. Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, the Before trilogy, Boyhood. No matter the genre or form, Linklater’s human touch remains.
 
 
 
To mark the arrival of his latest films, Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague, we return to our talk last summer with Linklater. We begin with Hit Man (6:36), his action-packed neo-noir (8:15) that also explores the malleability of identity (11:00). Then, Linklater reflects on his athletic career in college (17:20), the health scare that ushered in a period of creative exploration (18:48), and the renegade spirit that drove his first two feature films, It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books and Slacker (28:12).
 
 
 
On the back-half, Linklater describes a formative Sundance memory with director Robert Altman (34:00), his first experience at the helm of a major motion picture (37:48), and the lived serendipity that inspired his Before films (52:22). To close: a Hollywood state of the union (1:00:54), why Richard continues to create art from the fabric of his life (1:08:00), and whether Sam should return to directing himself (1:17:36).
 
 
 
Watch this conversation on YouTube and subscribe to our new channel.
 
 
 
Original air date: June 9, 2024.
 
 
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

‘Before’ Director Richard Linklater

Is it possible the rumors of the death of print magazines (and masculinity) have been greatly exaggerated?
 
 
 
We sit this week with GQ's Global Editorial Director Will Welch to discuss the magazine’s 2025 Special Issue on American Masculinity (3:53), its revealing survey of nearly two thousand men across the US (5:00), the absence of “low-stakes mischief” in today’s surveillance age (9:40), the widespread obsession with Gen Z (12:00), and the “125 Rules for Modern Gentlemen” featured in the issue (17:30).
 
 
 
In Act II, we turn to Welch’s own story: his Atlanta upbringing (21:00), the music of OutKast and D’Angelo that shaped him (24:00), and his early years as an editor at The Fader (28:00). He also shares the call that brought him to GQ (33:00), his road to recovery (42:00), and how spiritual leader Ram Dass reshaped his life (48:00).
 
 
 
In Act III, Welch reflects on the “when the going was good” era of GQ (55:00), the magazine’s unparalleled access to its subjects (1:00:00), and how magazines (and men) can fit into the ever-changing cultural landscape (1:15:26).
 
 
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.

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GQ’s Will Welch on the Future of Magazines (and Men)

Gabriela Hearst is one of the rare figures in fashion with an unwavering commitment to sustainability.
 
 
 
At the top, we discuss her luminous Spring Summer 2026 collection at Paris Fashion Week (4:08), her childhood herding cattle on a 17,000-acre ranch in Uruguay (6:55), and the gaucho traditions that shaped her philosophy around art-making (10:35). Then, Gabriela reflects on the manifestation practice that’s guided her since adolescence (17:15), how love and heartbreak fueled her creatively (21:18), and what she took from a detour into acting (21:50).
 
 
 
On the back-half, Hearst talks about motherhood (24:30), founding her first label, Candela (31:00), and breaking free from the vicious cycle of fast fashion (38:00). To close, we walk through the past decade of Gabriela Hearst (40:28), the long-term vision for the namesake brand (50:00), and the affirmation that keeps her grounded (58:10).
 
 
 
This episode was recorded at Spotify Studios. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.

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Does Fashion Have a Future? Designer Gabriela Hearst is Threading the Needle.

Rose Byrne has taken many forms on-screen. In Mary Bronstein’s new film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, she delivers a career-defining performance as a Long Island therapist and mother slowly unraveling under the weight of her child’s mysterious illness.
 
 
 
We begin by discussing the maternal madness at the heart of this new film from A24 (6:30), the long, collaborative road to shaping the character (10:00), and what it was like to have Conan O’Brien as a scene partner (13:30). Then, Byrne reflects on her debut performance in Dallas Doll (19:45), the plays and poems that inspired her as a teenager (22:30), and a formative role in the cult classic Two Hands, opposite the late Heath Ledger (26:00).
 
 
 
In the back half, we unpack the sexism she faced in Hollywood in the aughts (32:40), her unexpected comedic breakthrough in Bridesmaids and Neighbors (37:15), and the fruitful collaborations with Seth Rogen that followed (39:50). To close, Byrne pays tribute to two of her enduring artistic influences—filmmaker David Lynch (45:00) and playwright Arthur Miller (47:00).
 
 
 
Watch this conversation on YouTube.
 
 
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Actor Rose Byrne: A Woman on the Verge

Director, writer, and actor Benny Safdie stops by Sam’s home this week to discuss his new film, The Smashing Machine (1:30)—an unflinching portrait of mixed martial arts icon Mark Kerr (7:00), played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (9:00).
 
 
 
In the second half, we revisit our conversation from 2023. There, Safdie unpacks his collaboration with comedian Nathan Fielder on their television series The Curse (44:30), the timely premise that inspired the show (47:20), and his history of capturing real-life personalities on film (51:20). Then, he describes his early connection to the 1979 movie Kramer v Kramer (54:20), a New York encounter with photographer Robert Frank (59:20), and how directors Robert Bresson (1:03:20) and Frederick Wiseman (1:03:50) opened his eyes to the possibilities of street casting.
 
 
 
We also dive into Benny’s co-directing work alongside his brother, Josh Safdie (1:05:15), a heartbreaking scene from their debut feature Daddy Longlegs (1:09:26), and the projects that followed (1:14:15): Good Time, Lenny Cooke, and Uncut Gems. To close, Safdie talks about why he worked as a boom operator while directing (1:20:00), his recent pivot to acting (1:21:23), and his full circle moment of playing an astrophysicist in Oppenheimer (1:33:20).
 
 
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Cup of Coffee with Director Benny Safdie (‘The Smashing Machine’)

Few writers have examined the tension between history and morality more urgently than Ta-Nehisi Coates.
 
 
 
Last fall, on the heels of his new book The Message, Coates joined Sam for a conversation live in Los Angeles. At the top, they discuss how his Atlantic piece The Case for Reparations guided these three new essays (6:10), Coates’ early education growing up in West Baltimore (14:57), and his powerful dispatches from South Carolina (22:00) and the Middle East (29:30).
 
 
 
On the back-half, Coates unpacks why he believes the mainstream media prioritizes “factual complexity over self-evident morality” (37:47), his advocacy for Palestinian journalists (39:20), and his reflections about the U.S. election (47:28). To close, a formative passage from James Baldwin's The Lost Generation (52:38) and a story about love and writing (57:45).
 
 
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.

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Ta-Nehisi Coates Has a Message to Deliver. Can We Hear It?

“Sometimes I feel that I’m not going to write again,” says Arundhati Roy, “but then it becomes harder to keep quiet than to write it.”
 
 
 
Few writers have bridged the personal and political as powerfully as Arundhati Roy. With her first memoir, fittingly titled Mother Mary Comes to Me, she turns to her turbulent relationship with her late mother, Mary Roy, a pioneering feminist who reshaped Indian law.
 
 
 
Act I: Let It Be
 
 
 
We begin with the imagery that animates the new book (4:10), her tumultuous household growing up (10:00), and how she sifted through those memories while writing The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (15:40).
 
 
 
Act II: She’s Leaving Home
 
 
 
Roy reflects on her mother’s impact as a teacher (22:00), navigating her severe asthma as a child (24:30), and the moment she ultimately left home (27:20) for architecture school where she worked on film sets (30:00) and discovered The Beatles. 
 
 
 
Act III: Revolution 
 
 
 
Then, finally, how her writing sprung from her past (32:00), the political attacks that followed the success of her debut novel (35:00), bearing witness in the age of authoritarianism (41:00), and the timeliness of her 1998 essay The End of Imagination (1:01:00).
 
 
 
 
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.

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And In Our Hour of Darkness, Writer Arundhati Roy

Director Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t just want to make movies. He wants to change them. This was true in 1969 when he co-founded Zoetrope Studios with George Lucas, and it remains true today.
 
 
 
Watch the video of our conversation on YouTube.
 
 
 
We return to our talk with Coppola upon the anniversary of his modern-day Roman epic fable Megalopolis, discussing his decades-long process developing the film (6:16) and the inspiration he’s taken from Georges Méliès (17:00) and Jacques Tati (19:07). Then, he reflects on the origin of how he became ‘Francis Ford Coppola’ (23:07), the irrepressible spirit he forged in childhood (26:34), and where he sees himself in films like The Godfather (33:17), Apocalypse Now (35:51), and Gardens of Stone (36:10).
 
 
 
On the back-half, we unpack the parallels between the titular city of Megalopolis and Zoetrope Studios (42:35), his capacity to keep dreaming, even in the face of financial ruin (43:30), where he believes America is headed (49:04), and the lasting memory of his late wife, Eleanor (58:08).
 
 
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.
 
 
 
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Director Francis Ford Coppola Keeps His Dream Alive

At this year’s Primetime Emmys, Seth Rogen took home four major awards for The Studio, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
 
 
 
We sat with Rogen around the show’s release back in the spring to discuss his key influences (6:15), from Robert Altman’s The Player to The Larry Sanders Show (13:25), the evolving state of “show business” (15:36), and a life-changing piece of advice from director and producer Judd Apatow (25:00).
 
 
 
On the back-half, we dive into his early years writing comedy in Vancouver (25:57), formative memories making Freaks and Geeks (33:19), and how This Is the End, the meta-comedy from 2013, was a precursor to this latest project (43:18) and solidified his enduring creative partnership with Evan Goldberg (58:30).
 
 
 
Watch this episode on YouTube. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.
 
 
 
Original air date: March 30, 2025

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Seth Rogen’s ‘The Studio’ Takes the Emmys

To celebrate the fourth season of The Bear, we return to our conversation with Emmy-winning actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
 
At the top, we dive into the making of the hit series (9:22), his unforgettable collaboration with Jeremy Allen White (11:20), and how Moss-Bachrach manages to keep adding layers to his portrayal of Cousin Richie (14:26). Then, he describes the mounting pressures around this new season (19:23), the day he knew he wanted to be an actor (27:35), and his work through the years with actor Jon Bernthal (30:26).
 
On the back-half, Ebon reflects on a formative role as a jazz musician in Warren Leight’s play Side Man (35:34), his ideas about success and living a more balanced life (38:19), his experience playing Desi in Girls (43:33), a philosophy depicted in The Bear (47:35), and the art he hopes to continue making in years to come (50:38).
 
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Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

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Actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach Returns to ‘The Bear’

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