Fresh Air Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair

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Fresh Air

From NPR

Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair

And subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Fresh Air Weekly, to get interview highlights, staff recommendations, gems from the archive, and the week's interviews and reviews all in one place. Sign up at www.whyy.org/freshair

Most Recent Episodes

Someone Once Told Elton John He Would Never Be A Pop Star

Pop sensation Elton John wrapped up his farewell tour in 2023, only to pop up in a surprise concert at the October 2024 New York City premiere of the new documentary, "Elton John: Never Too Late." Still, as John reduces his public output — and as that documentary drops on the Disney+ streaming platform — we thought our listeners might like to hear again from the British music legend himself. Weekly bonus episodes like this, curated from our vast archive, are usually only available for our Fresh Air+ supporters. But today, in the spirit of giving, we're making this episode available to all. Not a Fresh Air+ supporter yet? Find out more, and join for yourself, at https://plus.npr.org/freshair. Listen to Elton John in 2013: https://n.pr/3BoEEYT| Listen to Elton John in 2019: https://n.pr/49ssSJG | Listen to 40+ years of Fresh Air's archives at https://FreshAirArchive.org.

Someone Once Told Elton John He Would Never Be A Pop Star

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Comic Bill Burr [Extended Version]

Burr talks with Terry Gross about processing his abusive childhood, a therapeutic mushroom trip, and why he's angry at liberals. "You can get canceled as a comedian for doing a friggin' Caitlyn Jenner joke, but this a**hole [Elon Musk] can 'Seig heil' and nothing. Where are all the liberals?" His new Hulu stand-up special is called Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years.

Comic Bill Burr [Extended Version]

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Baby Bonuses, Trad Wives & The Pronatalist Movement

A once-fringe movement claims having more babies is the only way to save civilization. NPR reporter Lisa Hagen and sociologist Karen Guzzo explain who's empowering pronatalism today.

Baby Bonuses, Trad Wives & The Pronatalist Movement

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How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America

Journalist David Graham says the aim of the creators of the conservative action plan Project 2025 aim is to push the federal government "as far to the right as they can." His new book is The Project.

How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America

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How Trauma Shapes Us

Daria Burke spent several years digging into the science of how our brains and bodies carry the imprint of early experiences. She wanted to understand the trauma she lived through growing up in 1980s Detroit with a mother who battled addiction. She suffered years of neglect before finding stability through school and rising in the corporate world. In her new memoir, Of My Own Making, she writes about the limits of success, how she was shaped by her past, and the work it took to change course.

How Trauma Shapes Us

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Best Of: 'The Pitt' Star Noah Wyle / 'Sinners' Director Ryan Coogler

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ryan Coogler's movies include both Black Panther films and Creed. His latest fillm, Sinners, is a vampire thriller about twins, both played by Michael B. Jordan, opening a juke joint in 1930s Mississippi. The film explores race, faith, and American history through the lens of horror.

Best Of: 'The Pitt' Star Noah Wyle / 'Sinners' Director Ryan Coogler

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Merle Haggard On Hopping Trains And Doing Time

Before he became a musician, Merle Haggard lived the kind of life that's often mythologized in song: Hopping freights and doing prison time. When he became a star, he acquired his own observation car. Now that coach is part of the Virginia Scenic Railway. Terry Gross spoke with Haggard in 1995.

Merle Haggard On Hopping Trains And Doing Time

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Are Kids With ADHD Being Treated Effectively?

ADHD has been considered a medical disorder, treatable with drugs like Ritalin, but New York Times Magazine writer Paul Tough says recent studies question that assumption and treatment options.

Are Kids With ADHD Being Treated Effectively?

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Ryan Coogler Paid A Steep Price For The Films He Made

The director of Black Panther and Creed talks about his new genre-bending vampire movie that takes place in the Jim Crow South. It's called Sinners and it stars Michael B. Jordan as twins working a juke joint in Mississippi. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about blues music, the supernatural, and why he wanted to own the movie outright after 25 years.

Ryan Coogler Paid A Steep Price For The Films He Made

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America's Path To 'Competitive Authoritarianism'

Harvard professor of government Steven Levitsky studies how healthy democracies can slip into authoritarianism. He says the Trump administration has already done grave damage: "We are no longer living in a democratic regime."

America's Path To 'Competitive Authoritarianism'

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