<\/p>\n
M<\/span>ost episodes of Sam Fragoso\u2019s interview podcast Talk Easy begin with a disarmingly simple question: \u201cHow are you doing today?\u201d It primes his high-profile guests \u2013 Patti Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow, Salman Rushdie \u2013 to be met where they\u2019re at, and sets the stage for what has, over the decade since it began, become a masterclass in interviewing, a singular property in a market so waterlogged that people commonly joke that microphones should be taxed.<\/p>\n Fragoso, 31, eschews the gimmicks and pally celebrity chat of many podcasts. With its crackly jazz theme and commitment to depth, Talk Easy oozes class; in 2020, Fragoso pressed a vinyl record of his interview with US writer Fran Lebowitz. Describing himself as where underground journalist Nardwuar (disarmingly well researched) meets NPR legend Terry Gross (sensitive, direct) meets late talkshow host Dick Cavett (intellectual, sophisticated), he is a freakishly intuitive listener. \u201cThe way you construct the narrative of my life is so true that it\u2019s just a little startling,\u201d actor Michelle Williams told him in 2023. In December, the Obamas signed Talk Easy to their production company.<\/p>\n Over a three-hour conversation in mid-February, it becomes clear that Fragoso\u2019s cogs never stop turning. When I ask how he\u2019s doing today, he deconstructs his opening gambit, and mine in turn. \u201cBefore I started making podcasts, I was writing profiles,\u201d he concludes, talking from his Los Angeles apartment, one coffee down. \u201cSo I\u2019m always imagining how you\u2019re gonna piece things together. I should probably just let that go.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Having a Mare \u2026 Fragoso with Kate Winslet.<\/span> Photograph: Sarah Schneider<\/p>\n Interviewing an interviewer about interviewing can get meta, and Fragoso is a little neurotic about turning the tables. He fixates on how he\u2019s coming across, my intentions and how I might approach a question better. He says he\u2019s just anxious about trying to get this right for me. \u201cI\u2019m always writing the story,\u201d he says. It\u2019s stressful and endearing. Fragoso hasn\u2019t historically shared much about himself. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be in the way of someone\u2019s story,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m trying to clear the runway, I want someone to be able to take off.\u201d It\u2019s the difference between him and Marc Maron, who recently ended his personality-centric interview show WTF. But Fragoso says he\u2019s game to share today, conscious that he\u2019s been trying to \u201cbe a lot more like myself\u201d on Talk Easy.<\/p>\n One Fragoso trademark is having guests reflect on past quotes. \u201cThe confluence of past and present, there\u2019s something about it that\u2019s getting closer to the truth, as elusive as it always is,\u201d he says. Whenever I do it to him, he either knows where I sourced his comments, or gets me to paste them into the chatbox for his scrutiny. He\u2019s mortified after I read his 2013 advice to aspiring writers, when, then an 18-year-old film critic already scoring national bylines, he lamented that he had \u201cseen many gifted wordsmiths not find paying work because they lacked the ability to converse and be sociable with people\u201d. I wanted to know about his hustle instinct. \u201cCan you send me that?\u201d he says, and surmises of his younger self: \u201cWhat an absolute fucking asshole!\u201d But when he recovers, he tells me \u201cyou overlooked the better thing\u201d from the end of the quote, about critic Michael Phillips telling him to \u201cremember to be smarter than the jackass writing somewhere else on the same film\u201d. That, he says, is how he got here.<\/p>\n <\/span>Shower of Gloria \u2026 Fragoso with Patti Smith<\/span> Photograph: Sarah Schneider<\/p>\n Chicago-born Fragoso found his calling early. His parents divorced before he turned one, and he lived much of his childhood with his mother, a lawyer. When she relocated to California in his early teens, he stayed to finish the school year and lived with his father, a teacher. They would watch At the Movies, the film review show co-hosted by famed critic Roger Ebert, which inspired Fragoso to start his own reviews blog, Duke and the Movies. When he eventually joined his mum out west, he initially struggled to connect at school, and spent lunchtimes watching Ebert clips and writing. \u201cIn your retelling it sounds so sad!\u201d he laughs. Was writing reviews a way to be heard as a lonely teenager? \u201cOh, that\u2019s a good question, but it\u2019s a reach,\u201d he says. \u201cI do this all the time, where you\u2019re so deep into the research you start going: \u2018I think This plus this equals this.\u2019 I really appreciate that you\u2019re doing that, but no, I felt plenty heard.\u201d<\/p>\n Before he finished high school, Fragoso attended Ebertfest with his father, who convinced him to stop dilly-dalling and give his hero his business card. Soon after, he got an approving email that also advised him to stop telling people how old \u2013 how young \u2013 he was. He founded another website, Movie Mezzanine, and wrote for outlets including Vanity Fair, the Atlantic and NPR.Fragoso studied journalism at San Francisco State University, and aged 21\u00a0got hired to programme the city\u2019s historic Roxie cinema. \u201cIt was probably a bit of a leap,\u201d Fragoso concedes. He was let go after eight months. But he had been doing onstage interviews with visiting directors, day in, day out: \u201cIt didn\u2019t matter if the movie had sold out or there were four dudes there.\u201d\u00a0Talk Easy was born. \u201cObviously to\u00a0a much less significant degree, and with less talent, it was a real 10,000 hours Beatles-in-Hamburg situation,\u201d says Fragoso \u2013 citing the theory of former guest Malcolm Gladwell, whose production company was the first to pick up Talk Easy. \u201cPlease,\u201d he adds, \u201cinclude that I do think the Beatles are\u00a0much better at music than I am at\u00a0interviewing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Real star (wars) power \u2026 Fragoso with Oscar Isaac.<\/span> Photograph: Emma Mead<\/p>\n Fragoso had always been an avid listener. As a kid he loved driving home from parties with his dad\u2019s Mexican family and getting the gossip, and his parents always answered his questions about their divorce. \u201cThey were, from a very young age, game to be honest about a thing that was probably painful for both of them,\u201d he says. As a teenager, he counselled his mother through a second divorce. The recent uptick in therapised language made him think about how terms like \u201c\u2018boundaries\u2019 were not parts of my childhood. There were no boundaries, and I didn\u2019t want them. I wanted to know about all of it.\u201d\u00a0Today he sees his interview style as\u00a0the meeting point between his parents\u2019 jobs: lawyerly case-building, teacherly understanding.<\/p>\n double quotation mark\u2018I don\u2019t want to be in the way of someone\u2019s story. I\u00a0want to clear the runway for take-off\u2019<\/p>\n Talk Easy\u2019s first episode, with actor Don Cheadle, was released on 7 April 2016. In the introduction, Fragoso outlined his mission statement, citing Ebert\u2019s memoir. \u201c\u2018We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.\u2019 All right, Roger, let me try to do that.\u201d It\u2019s a huge sense of purpose for a culture podcast. \u201cBut Roger felt that there was a greater sense of purpose,\u201d Fragoso says. \u201cI was moulded in his vision. To read Roger was to read about the world, and his view was so empathic and expansive.\u201d<\/p>\n He wants to see the citation. \u201cYeah, that was a real April 2016 quote,\u201d he sighs. \u201cA little pre-Trump. Harder now. I don\u2019t know any more with that one, but it\u2019s a beautiful idea. I thought that could be part of the interviews. Felt like a good foot to lead with.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Hair and now \u2026 Fragoso with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.<\/span> Photograph: Sarah Schneider<\/p>\n It was: Fragoso\u2019s show is a special thing. His impressed guests spread the word: when he wanted to nab a rare conversation with writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, director Ava DuVernay talked him up. \u201cMy publicist booked Talk Easy for me, and said something like: \u2018Sam goes deep, so be ready\u2019,\u201d director Edgar Wright, a guest in November, tells me. \u201cI was immediately disarmed because I could see how much he\u2019d prepped and cross-referenced previous interviews, which no one does. I really enjoyed it, especially in the middle of a press tour where you really feel the Chinese water torture of doing the same interview every 15 minutes for four weeks \u2013 Talk Easy was the opposite of that. He puts you at ease, perhaps in a Louis Theroux-type way where you probably open up a lot more than you\u2019d planned.\u201d<\/p>\n The show has proud moral fibre: when the pandemic hit, Fragoso started interviewing healthcare and politics experts. These days, he often starts an episode with a fireside chat-style acknowledgment of the horrors in the US. As we speak he\u2019s about to release an episode about ICE with an immigration journalist. \u201cMy family being Mexican, that\u2019s personal to me,\u201d he says. Author Michael Pollan once said any writer has \u201ca set of final questions\u201d \u2013 perennials they\u2019re always trying to figure out. Fragoso considers his. \u201cI\u2019m always wondering how people keep going,\u201d he says. \u201cLife is such a pain in the ass. It\u2019s so bruising and forgiving and amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>A novel idea \u2026 Fragoso with Salman Rushdie.<\/span> Photograph: Sarah Schneider<\/p>\n In August 2025, Fragoso invited David Mamet on. After a testy conversation in which the playwright denounced pro-Palestine student protests and DEI, and incorrectly surmised that his host had never been punched in the face, Mamet walked out. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what the fuck you\u2019re talking about,\u201d he said, pointing aggressively. Almost immediately, Fragoso says now, his concern was for Mamet, 78, driving home to his wife after it had gone badly. \u201cI am proud of the interview, but I felt for him, even though he threatened me. It\u2019s hard for me not to see the full picture.\u201d<\/p>\n Talking to George Saunders recently, Fragoso admitted that he was feeling the limits of peacemaking given the state of US politics. I\u2019m surprised he still felt sorry for Mamet. \u201cI really object to some of his thinking and his politics, they\u2019re dangerous and conspiratorial and wrong,\u201d Fragoso says. \u201cBut also the man who\u2019s gone through a certain amount of experiences as a Jewish man of a certain age \u2013 I still cared about that. I always believe that there is a human rattling around in there. It would do us both a great disservice to not try to recognise it.\u201d<\/p>\n The incident didn\u2019t hurt Talk Easy, prompting the show\u2019s first major headlines. A month later, Fragoso scored a huge personal coup by convincing his hero Terry Gross, host of NPR\u2019s interview show Fresh Air since 1975, to sit for a rare interview. In December, Gross brought Fragoso on as a guest host for Fresh Air \u2013 at 75, she has stepped back from helming it alone \u2013 calling him a \u201cterrific interviewer\u201d in her introduction.<\/p>\n <\/span>Summer girl \u2026 Fragoso with Alana Haim.<\/span> Photograph: Jenna Jones<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so indebted to her,\u201d he says now. \u201cIt is such a genuine honour.\u201d He\u2019s not sure what it means for Talk Easy. \u201cI\u2019m proud to have made my own thing, and I wouldn\u2019t want to ever \u2026\u201d He pauses. \u201cI don\u2019t want to say that,\u201d he says, seemingly stopping short of pledging never to abandon ship.Even as Talk Easy celebrates its 10-year anniversary, Fragoso isn\u2019t inclined to bask in success. \u201cYou don\u2019t come from a family that doesn\u2019t come from money and go: \u2018Man, I can\u2019t believe this happened!\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cNo, I remember the hundreds of emails I wrote that received rejections; banging my head against the wall at hour 35 researching for an episode. It\u2019s not a mystery \u2013 I put the time in.\u201d His ambitions seem earnestly rooted in his craft. The beauty of an interview, he says, is that \u201cyou only get one crack at it. I don\u2019t want to leave going: \u2018If only I\u2019d spent more time.\u2019 I\u2019m so fuelled by not wanting to have regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n He has a deeper ambition, too, to get closer in everyday life to the \u201cthe focus, presence of mind and decency\u201d that he brings to hosting. Part of the joy of listening to Talk Easy is indulging in the fantasy of being heard with such incredible compassion. \u201cI think the aim is for everyone to hear it and go: \u2018How can I be a little more attentive?\u2019\u201d says Fragoso. \u201c\u2018Can I have the wherewithal to ask someone a question?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Talk Easy will mark its 10th anniversary this April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theguardian.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most episodes of Sam Fragoso\u2019s interview podcast Talk Easy begin with a disarmingly simple question: \u201cHow are you doing today?\u201d It primes his high-profile guests \u2013 Patti Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow, Salman Rushdie \u2013 to be met where they\u2019re at, and sets the stage for what has, over the decade since it began, become a masterclass […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2324418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2324417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/\u2018Life-is-such-a-pain-in-the-ass-what-Talk.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2324417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2324419,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324417\/revisions\/2324419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2324418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2324417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2324417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2324417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}