Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

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Canonball: Writer Aaron Carnes on third-wave ska Jun 25, 2021

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Canonball is a segment on Bullseye that gives us a chance to take a closer look at albums that should be considered classics, to find out what makes them great. This time, the writer Aaron Carnes tells us why Crab Rangoon by MU330 deserves to join the canon of great pop records. Aaron is a music journalist who just wrote In Defense of Ska, which, well, does what it says on the tin: It champions not just the critically acclaimed, punk-adjacent two-tone bands of the late '70s and '80s, or the pioneering Jamaican bands from the '60s, but ska's third wave as well. That means Reel Big Fish, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and more. Aaron tells Bullseye about Crab Rangoon by MU330. He puts the album in the context of the entire third-wave movement, and explains why the album shows ska music can be more complex and serious than you might think.
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NBA Hall Of Famer: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jun 22, 2021

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the greatest basketball players of all time: an NBA Hall of Famer, six-time MVP, 19-time All-Star and, of course, the master of the skyhook shot. He excelled at basketball in high school, went on to play college ball at UCLA and was drafted first overall in the NBA, where he played for 21 seasons. Since retiring from basketball, he has written books and columns, and he even worked as a writer for Veronica Mars. He's also an outspoken advocate for social justice, and his most recent project is the documentary film Fight the Power: The Movements That Changed America. We talk with the NBA legend about this new documentary, playing alongside Magic Johnson and his roller disco days. Plus, he shares why he was never able to play a game of double Dutch as a kid.
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Will Forte: MacGruber, SNL and more Jun 18, 2021

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If you know Will Forte from one thing, it's probably Saturday Night Live. He was a cast member for eight years, playing characters like MacGruber. He also starred in and created the hit TV show Last Man on Earth, and had parts on 30 Rock and a bunch of other comedies. Plus there was the Academy Award-nominated Nebraska, in which he starred alongside Bruce Dern. When we talked to Forte last year, his movie Extra Ordinary had just come out. It's a horror-comedy set in Ireland where ghosts are real, and they can haunt just about anything — homes, processed cheese, a piece of gravel — and they're easy to miss. Unless you have the gift of second sight. He tells us about making Extra Ordinary, the mixed reception MacGruber received and trying to stay healthy during a grueling work schedule.
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Antonio Banderas on "Pain and Glory," "Mambo Kings" and more Jun 15, 2021

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Award-winning actor Antonio Banderas is probably one of the most versatile, charming and handsome actors out there today. You've probably seen him in "Zorro," "Philadelphia," "Desperado," or maybe heard him in "Shrek" – he played the voice of Puss in Boots. His latest project is "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard," which comes out in theaters this week. When we last spoke with him, he had just starred in the Pedro Almodóvar directed film "Pain and Glory." We revisit our 2019 conversation with the extraordinary actor to discuss "Pain and Glory." Plus Banderas talks to Bullseye about his childhood in Spain, connecting with people through pain, and reuniting with director Pedro Almodóvar. He'll also talk about how he learned the lines to "Mambo Kings," before he became fluent in English.
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Ryan O'Connell on Netflix's 'Special' Jun 11, 2021

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Content warning: This interview contains some explicit language and graphic, frank talk about sex that some listeners might be sensitive to. Ryan O'Connell is the creator and star of the Netflix show Special. It's a semi-autobiographical sitcom about Ryan's own life – his experience as a gay man, and coming to terms with his identity as a disabled person. Ryan has cerebral palsy. It's a congenital disorder that can affect someone's movement, muscle tone, or posture. For Ryan, that means it manifests mainly as a limp. Season one of the show tackles Ryan coming to terms with his disability. In the latest season Ryan learns to become more accepting of himself. The show's depiction of disability on screen is groundbreaking. It shows the intersection of disability and sexuality in a way that is rarely ever seen on screen. And it does it in a way that is funny, lighthearted and relatable. Public radio veteran Ray Suarez interviews Ryan on the latest episode of Bullseye.
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City of Ghosts creator Elizabeth Ito Jun 08, 2021

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City of Ghosts, the children's show on Netflix, is a bit hard to explain. It's animated in 3-D, and the characters — mostly children — look kind of like Wii avatars. It's set in Los Angeles, and the backgrounds are real places that thousands of people encounter here every day: Koreatown subway stations, Venice skate parks, East LA restaurants and so on. It's framed like a documentary, hosted by a group of kids called the "Ghost Club" who get reports of ghosts in the city, go to find them and, once they do, sit down to interview them. And despite the name, City of Ghosts isn't scary or alienating — it's the opposite. It's warm, inviting and illuminating, and it gives viewers of all ages a better idea of the world around us without sacrificing our capacity for imagination. It's a difficult balance, but the show's creator, writer and animator Elizabeth Ito, does it beautifully. She joins Bullseye to talk about making children's TV that adults can enjoy, capturing the feeling of her hometown of Los Angeles and the time she saw a ghost.
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Comedian Chris Gethard on the time he got Diddy to play the UCB theater Jun 04, 2021

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The Craziest Day of my Entire Career is a segment that gives us the chance to talk with some of our favorite people about some truly unbelievable stories. Stepping up to the plate this time around is longtime standup comedian Chris Gethard. When we asked Chris about the craziest day of his entire career, he shared with us the jaw-dropping, completely true story of the time he got Diddy to come play at the UCB theater.
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Rick Steves Jun 01, 2021

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Rick Steves is probably best known as a public media travel expert. He's mastered the art of travel in his public television programs: Rick Steves' Europe and Travels in Europe with Rick Steves. Rick always finds ways to travel around Europe that are fun and practical. He's got a cheerful, and charming presence on TV. Since around March last year... Rick hasn't been able to travel like he used to. He's instead taken to finding ways to bring Europe home to the US on his new show Rick Steves' Monday Night Travel. In it, Rick hosts a weekly virtual happy hour on Zoom from his living room. Sometimes he cooks – other times he'll read up on history or reflect back on fond memories of travels past. On the latest episode of Bullseye – a public media bonanza! Public radio's Ray Suarez talks with public television's Rick Steves. They'll dive into Rick's new show and his long time work on public TV. Rick Steves' new special Europe Awaits premieres on public television stations across the country on June 7.
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Desus Nice and The Kid Mero May 28, 2021

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Desus Nice and the Kid Mero are longtime collaborators and friends, having met at summer school in their native Bronx. They started first as podcast hosts, and now they also make a TV show on Showtime (called, appropriately, Desus & Mero). When we had Desus and Mero on the show in 2017, we found the perfect person to interview them: Brooklyn native and public media legend Ray Suarez. They talk about the show they had just started on Viceland, the difference between being funny on Twitter versus being funny on TV, gentrification in their native New York City and more.
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Writer and Cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt May 25, 2021

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Lisa Hanawalt is a writer, cartoonist, and author of four brilliant books, including "Hot Dog Taste Test" and "My Dirty Dumb Eyes." You may be familiar with her work on the popular animated Netflix series "BoJack Horseman" where she was a producer. Hanawalt is also the creator of the animated series "Tuca & Bertie" which stars Tiffany Haddish, Ali Wong, and Steven Yuen. The show will be starting its second season in June on Adult Swim. In 2019, we talked with Lisa about how intuitive creating "Tuca & Bertie" was at times, on deciding what to ground in reality and where to take flight, and why she should be allowed to ride Martha Stewart's pony.
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