Garrison Keillor on Humor
“My family was shocked when I came home with a volume of Hemingway
There was a price to be paid for being interested in fiction.” - Garrison Keillor in 1994
Nina Simone on Shock
"I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life. I have a chance to live, as I've dreamed." - Nina Simone in July, 1968. Lilian Terry had a national radio show in Italy--everyone from Ray Charles to Duke Ellington appeared on her show--and there was one person she always wanted to interview: Nina Simone.
Kurt Vonnegut on Man-Eating Lampreys
In November 1970, Kurt Vonnegut walked into a class room at NYU. He was a guest speaker that day. He’d prepared some handwritten notes on what he wanted to say: there were his thoughts on the art of writing, his childhood, the death of his parents.
Bill Murray on Being Obnoxious
"I‘m just an obnoxious guy who can make it appear charming, that’s what they pay me to do" - Bill Murray in October 1988. T.J. English was tasked with writing a profile of Bill Murray for Irish America magazine.
Patty Hearst on Reasonable Doubt
"I'm sorry, I‘m a coward. I didn’t want to die." - Patty Hearst in 1982 in the first interview she gave after getting out of prison. Lawrence Grobel explained how he became the lucky journalist to get the Patty Hearst interview for Playboy after she had served two years in prison before President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence.
Tom Waits on Everything and Nothing
"He’s a natural raconteur. A great one. You just get out of the way and let him do his thing, perform. If you can nudge the jokes along, so much the better." - Chris Roberts on interviewing Tom Waits.
Hunter S. Thompson on Outlaws
In the 1960s, Hunter S. Thompson spent more than a year living and drinking with members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club, riding up and down the California coast.
Dustin Hoffman in 1971 on Duplicity and Famosity
"I did as much as I could do at that time in my life ... I tried as hard as I could and I couldn't do better" - Dustin Hoffman in 1971. Interview by Milton Hoffman from the Pacifica Radio Archives. We came across this rarely heard interview with Dustin Hoffman recorded in 1971.
Roger Ebert on Ego
"I have innate confidence that I am right. Partially out of conviction and partially as a pose." - Roger Ebert in 1990. This episode contains excerpts of Lawrence Grobel's extended interviews with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel in 1990. The famous duo worked side-by-side from 1975 until Siskel’s death in 1999, co-hosting the acclaimed show Siskel & Ebert.
Michael Jackson on Godliness
"My singing
i'll just say it simple as possible: it's just godly." - Michael Jackson in January 1980. Michael Jackson's rules: the interviewer had to ask his questions to 13-year old Janet Jackson who then relayed them to Michael.
Meryl Streep on Beauty
"It's very humbling to imagine somebody else's, really life and their pain ... It's my drug" - Meryl Streep, Interview by Christine Spines, 2008
Tim Gunn On His FBI Agent Father | Blank on Blank
"I was not the son he wanted to have." - Tim Gunn Interview by Danielle Sacks, Fast Company Magazine, Spring 2008
Janis Joplin on Rejection
Interview by Howard Smith, September 30, 1970. By phone, TheSmithTapes.com
Fidel Castro: the Lost Interview
"If this Revolution falls, what we will have here in Cuba is a hell. Hell itself." - Fidel Castro, Interview by Clark Hewitt Galloway. 1959, Havana
Farrah Fawcett on Stiletto Power
"I've got on these stiletto heels aimed for his face." - Farrah Fawcett
Jim Morrison on Why Fat is Beautiful
Interview by Howard Smith, TheSmithTapes.com / Villagevoice.com, Los Angeles, 1969
Dave Brubeck on Fighting Communism with Jazz
"If I told you all the stories about what happened to people if they were caught listening to jazz." - Dave Brubeck in 2008, Interviewer: John Dankosky WNPR
Ray Bradbury on Madmen
"Nobody else is going to give a damn what you're doing, so you need a few other people like yourself" - Ray Bradbury as told to two college kids on road trip in 1972
Dolly Parton on Getting Dirty
Dolly Parton was not your typical model to appear on the cover of Playboy magazine. But that's just what Dolly did in 1978. She wouldn't take her clothes off, yet that issue still became one of Playboy's most popular issues of all time.
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