

The New Yorker Radio Hour
WNYC Studios and The New Yorker
Profiles, storytelling and insightful conversations, hosted by David Remnick.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 8, 2016 • 56min
Episode 38: The Wisdom of John McPhee, and the Agony of an iPod Lockout
In this episode, John McPhee reflects on a lifetime of writing; we explore the future of Brexit; and a reporter nearly loses everything after forgetting his iPod passcode.

Jul 5, 2016 • 16min
Special Preview: George Saunders on the Trump Campaign
Fiction writer George Saunders takes to the Trump campaign trail, and a new understanding of America emerges.

Jul 1, 2016 • 56min
Episode 37: El Chapo v. Flores Brothers, and Jack Handey’s Santa Fe
In this episode, Patrick Radden Keefe on the drug dealers who may help bring El Chapo to justice, and David Remnick talks to Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza.

Jun 24, 2016 • 56min
Episode 36: Fear and the NRA, and a Hymn for Orlando
In this episode, a gun blogger critiques the N.R.A., and a Presbyterian minister rewrites old hymns for new crises.

Jun 22, 2016 • 21min
Special Preview: How the N.R.A. Uses Fear to Sell Guns
A prominent gun blogger and lifelong NRA member explains how the organization uses fear to get its way.

Jun 17, 2016 • 56min
Episode 35: Samantha Bee’s Fury, and Staffing the Supreme Court
Could Citizens United be overturned? Jeffrey Toobin and Pamela Karlan, a Stanford law professor, discuss what a Supreme Court dominated by Democratic appointees might do. Samantha Bee talks about how comedy hosts deal with tragedies like mass shootings. And the digital pioneer Jaron Lanier looks at how a utopian vision for the Internet went wrong.

Jun 10, 2016 • 55min
Episode 34: Cats vs. Dogs and the Late Zaha Hadid
When it comes to the war on terror, bomb-sniffing dogs are essential companions. When it comes to your sex life, no animal provides blissful privacy like a cat. So which is the superior domesticated animal? In this episode, the canine partisans Adam Gopnik and Malcolm Gladwell duke it out with the feline lovers Ariel Levy and Anthony Lane to settle the debate once and for all. Also, Lauren Collins talks with the British actor Damian Lewis about playing the part of an American on “Homeland” and “Billions,” and the late architect Zaha Hadid speaks with John Seabrook about her early life.

Jun 3, 2016 • 55min
Episode 33: Awkward Dog Banter, and the Marxist Who Brought Us “Hamilton”
In 2014, the New Yorker staff writer Jennifer Gonnerman wrote about Kalief Browder, a teen-ager from the Bronx who spent three years jailed at Rikers Island without ever being convicted of a crime. After his release, Browder committed suicide. In excerpts from Gonnerman’s interviews with him, he speaks candidly about the psychological toll of solitary confinement, and what it meant to have the criminal-justice system take away years of his life. Also, the Public Theatre’s artistic director, Oskar Eustis, tells David Remnick why “Hamilton” will have a real impact on America’s debate on immigration, and the New Yorker’s theatre critic, Hilton Als, speaks with the actress Michelle Williams. Lastly, we reveal the real answer to the question “Can my dog say hi?”

May 27, 2016 • 55min
Episode 32: Lena Dunham Turns Thirty, and Memorial Day Malaise
Lena Dunham talks about turning thirty and backing Hillary Clinton when her peers are feeling the Bern; and Amy Davidson gives us a history lesson on political conventions gone wrong.

May 20, 2016 • 55min
Episode 31: Larry Wilmore on Presidential Comedians, and James O’Keefe’s Blunder
David Remnick speaks to the comedian Larry Wilmore about performing at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where he now-infamously referred to the President using the N-word. The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer explains how James O’Keefe, the undercover conservative activist, foiled his own mission. And a retired soldier leaves Iraq for truly unfamiliar territory: a small Northeastern liberal-arts college.


