Overheard with Evan Smith
186 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago - ★★★★ - 17 ratingsOVERHEARD WITH EVAN SMITH brings you in-depth interviews with today's most fascinating public figures - politicians, authors, artists, actors, journalists, activists, and business people - always with an eye toward the news and always with a sense of humor.
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Episodes
Indigo Girls
April 11, 2024 11:00 - 26 minutes - 65.6 MBAmy Ray and Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls reflect on their storied musical careers,the changes they’ve witnessed in the music industry, and their recent resurgence thanks to the Barbie movie.
Paula Kerger
April 04, 2024 11:00 - 26 minutes - 69 MBPaula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, discusses the impact of public television on communities and the way PBS has addressed issues around media, culture, education and technology.
Jonathan Eig
March 28, 2024 11:00 - 26 minutes - 64.3 MBBestselling author and award winning biographer Jonathan Eig joins Evan to discuss his book on Martin Luther King, Jr., King: A Life, and the demystification of the man who has been made into a larger than life figure.
Martin Baron
February 29, 2024 12:00 - 26 minutes - 40.3 MBLongtime journalist and newspaper editor Martin Baron joins Evan to discuss his storied career in journalism and his first book, Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post which covers the 2016 Presidential Election and Jeff Bezos’ purchase of the Post.
Ben McKenzie
February 22, 2024 12:00 - 26 minutes - 40.3 MBBen McKenzie, star of hit shows like Gotham and Southland, discusses his new book, Easy Money, and the impact cryptocurrency's rising popularity has on everyday people. Ben also reminisces on his career and what got him into acting.
Katie Benner
February 15, 2024 12:00 - 26 minutes - 39.4 MBKatie Benner, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Justice Department reporter for the New York Times, discusses the indictments against former president Donald Trump and the legal fallout of the cases.
Jake Tapper
February 08, 2024 12:00 - 26 minutes - 40.1 MBCNN anchor Jake Tapper joins Evan Smith to discuss his new book, All the Demons Are Here: A Thriller, and journalism and news media's relationship with truth in the modern age.
George W. Bush, Former President of the United States
April 29, 2021 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49.2 MBIn this special episode originally co-produced for 2021 SXSW by SXSW and The Texas Tribune, Evan interviews former President George W. Bush. They discuss current politics, baseball and immigration, the topic of President Bush’s book, “Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants.”
Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, Journalists
March 19, 2020 17:00 - 26 minutes - 50.9 MBCarol Leonnig is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who has worked at The Washington Post since 2000. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for her work on security failures and misconduct inside the Secret Service. She was part of a Post team that was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for revealing the U.S. government's secret, broad surveillance of Americans through the disclosures of Edward Snowden. She is a three-time winner of the George Polk Award for investigative reporting. She reports on Don...
Rick Wilson, Political Strategist
February 27, 2020 18:00 - 26 minutes - 50.7 MBRick Wilson is a longtime Republican political strategist, writer, speaker and political commentator. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Everything Trump Touches Dies. His award-winning column with The Daily Beast is a must-read in the political community. Rick also writes for The Washington Post, Politico, Rolling Stone, the New York Daily News, The Hill, The Bulwark and The Spectator. Rick regularly brings his witty political insights to CNN, MSNBC and NPR. He’s a frequen...
Bill Bradley, Former U.S. Senator
February 20, 2020 18:00 - 26 minutes - 50.6 MBSenator Bill Bradley served in the U.S. Senate from 1979 – 1997 representing the state of New Jersey. In 2000, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Prior to serving in the Senate, he was an Olympic gold medalist in 1964 and a professional basketball player with the New York Knicks from 1967 – 1977 during which time they won two NBA championships. In 1982, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Senator Bradley holds a BA degree in Americ...
John Cameron Mitchell
February 06, 2020 18:00 - 26 minutes - 50.8 MBJohn Cameron Mitchell is a screenwriter, director and actor whose cult rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch won Mitchell Best Director at the Sundance Festival. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor for that same film. His recent Broadway production of Hedwig garnered him Tony Awards for his performance and for Best Revival. Mitchell has directed other films including How to Talk to Girls at Parties starring Nicole Kidman, who was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Awa...
Robyn Hitchcock, Singer-Songwriter
January 30, 2020 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBRobyn Hitchcock is one of England’s most enduring contemporary singer-songwriters. A surrealist poet, talented guitarist, cult artist, and musician’s musician, Hitchcock is among alternative rock’s father figures. Since founding the art-rock band The Soft Boys in 1976, Robyn has recorded more than 20 albums and starred in Storefront Hitchcock, a concert film recorded in New York and directed by Jonathan Demme. Rolling Stone said about Hitchcock’s self-titled 2017 album, “A gifted melodist...
Isabella Rossellini, Actress and Model
January 23, 2020 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBIsabella Rossellini grew up in Paris and Rome. At 19, she moved to New York City to work as a translator and journalist for RAI-Italian Television. She began her modeling career at age 28, and in 1982 began a 14-year run as the exclusive spokesperson for the cosmetic brand Lancome. Ms. Rossellini, who is the daughter of film legends Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, made her cinematic debut in 1979. She appeared in films such as Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her and has worked with l...
John Grisham, Author
January 16, 2020 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBJohn Grisham is the author of thirty-three novels, one work of non-fiction, a collection of stories, and seven novels for young readers. A master of the legal thriller, nine of his novels have been turned into films - The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas. There are currently more than 300 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 40 languages. His 201...
Scott Pelley, Journalist and Author
January 09, 2020 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBScott Pelley has been a journalist for nearly five decades. He is the most awarded correspondent in the history of 60 Minutes, and he is the former anchor of the CBS Evening News. His work has been recognized with three duPont-Columbia Awards, three Peabody Awards, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, and 37 Emmy Awards. In his memoir, Truth Worth Telling: A Reporter’s Search for Meaning in the Stories of Our Time, Pelley recounts the best and worst of his career - stor...
Saeed Jones, Poet and Author
December 26, 2019 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBSaeed Jones is the author of Prelude to Bruise, winner of the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry and the 2015 Stonewall Book Award/Barbara Gittings Literature Award. The poetry collection was also a finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as awards from Lambda Literary and the Publishing Triangle in 2015. Jones is a former co-host of BuzzFeed’s morning show, AM to DM, and previously served as BuzzFeed’s LGBT editor and Culture editor. In his debut memoir, How...
Susan Rice, Former National Security Advisor
December 05, 2019 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBSusan Rice began her service in the public sector in 1993. In the Clinton administration, she was a foreign policy analyst on the National Security Council, and assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Under President Barack Obama, she served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and national security advisor. She is currently a distinguished visiting research fellow at the School of International Service at American University, a non-resident senior fellow at the Belfer Cen...
Aarón Sánchez, Chef
November 28, 2019 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBAarón Sánchez is an award-winning chef, TV personality, cookbook author and philanthropist. He is the chef/owner of Mexican restaurant Johnny Sánchez in New Orleans, and a judge on FOX’s culinary competition series MasterChef. He co-starred on Food Network’s Chopped and Chopped Junior. A third-generation cookbook author, Sánchez has written three books. His latest is a memoir, Where I Come From: Life Lessons from a Latino Chef. An active philanthropist, Sánchez launched the Aarón Sánchez Sc...
Jeff Tweedy, Musician
November 21, 2019 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBJeff Tweedy is the Grammy Award-winning founding member and leader of the rock band Wilco. He is one of contemporary American music’s most accomplished songwriters, musicians and performers. Rolling Stone magazine cited Wilco’s 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as the third best album of the decade. Since founding Wilco in 1994, Tweedy has toured solo, produced three albums for iconic soul and gospel singer Mavis Staples, and written a memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back). Tweedy says Wilc...
Tim O'Brien, Author
November 14, 2019 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBTim O’Brien’s acclaimed novels include "The Things They Carried" (an NEA Big Read, which the New York Times said belongs on “the shortlist of essential fiction about Vietnam”), "If I Die in a Combat Zone," "In the Lake of the Woods," and "Going After Cacciato" (which won the 1979 National Book Award in fiction), among others. In 2013 he was awarded the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. O’Brien was interviewed for Ken Burns’ 2017 document...
Tilman Fertitta, Businessman
November 07, 2019 18:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBHouston native Tilman Fertitta is an accomplished businessman and self-made billionaire who is often referred to as “the world’s richest restaurateur.” He is the sole owner of Fertitta Entertainment which owns the restaurant giant Landry’s, five Golden Nugget Casinos and Hotels, and the NBA’s Houston Rockets. Fertitta is one of the largest employers in the nation, with more than 60,000 employees. He also is the star of his own reality TV show on CNBC, Billion Dollar Buyer. In his no-holds-ba...
Bari Weiss, Journalist and Author
October 17, 2019 22:22 - 26 minutes - 49 MBBari Weiss is a writer and editor for The New York Times opinion section. Before joining the Times, Bari was an Op-Ed editor at the Wall Street Journal and an associate book review editor there. For two years, she was a senior editor at Tablet, the online magazine of Jewish news, politics, and culture, where she edited the site's political and news coverage. Bari regularly appears on shows like Morning Joe, The View and Bill Maher. Bari is also the winner of the Reason Foundation’s 2018 Bast...
Stacey Abrams, Political Activist
October 17, 2019 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBStacey Abrams is a New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, nonprofit CEO and political leader. After serving for eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, and seven as Minority Leader, Abrams became the 2018 Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia. She won more votes than any other Democrat in the state’s history and was the first black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in the United States. After the 2018 election, Abrams launched Fai...
Jeff Flake, Former U.S. Senator
October 10, 2019 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBJeff Flake served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and was then elected to the United States Senate where he served for six years. Working across the aisle, Senator Flake was the lead House Republican in a successful effort to prohibit spending earmarks, and the lead Senate Republican to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba. Flake did not seek re-election in 2018 and became a contributor to CBS News. He will be a Resident Fellow at Harvard University during the fall semester ...
Keb' Mo', Musician
October 03, 2019 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBKeb’ Mo’ has cultivated a reputation as a modern master of American roots music in the 25 years since the release of his debut album. After 14 albums, he is a musical force that defies typical genre labels. He has co-written with The Dixie Chicks and collaborated with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Natalie Cole, and Lyle Lovett. His guitar playing inspired two instrument makers to name guitar models in his honor. Mo’s most recent album, Oklahoma, addresses topics such as immigrat...
Roger Clemens, Former Major League Pitcher
August 01, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBMajor League pitching legend Roger Clemens got his start at Houston’s Spring Woods High School. He then attended San Jacinto Jr. College and went on to have a successful career as a University of Texas Longhorn. Clemens was the winning pitcher in the final game of the 1983 College World Series. Roger was drafted by the Boston Red Sox and one year later named Rookie of the Year. Clemens is a seven-time Cy Young Award winner and a twelve-time MLB All Star. He earned 354 wins, 4,672 strike-o...
Terrence McNally, Playwright
July 25, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBTerrence McNally is an award-winning playwright and LGBT(Q) activist whose remarkably far-ranging career has spanned six decades. He has won four Tony Awards for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime. He is the writer of the book for the musical Anastasia. He was recognized with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre at the 2019 Tony Awards and wass the 2019 recipient of the Broadway League’s ...
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
July 11, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBPresiding Bishop Curry graduated with high honors from Hobart College in Geneva, NY, and received a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University Divinity School. Throughout his ministry, he has been active in issues of social justice, reconciliation, speaking out on immigration policy and marriage equality. Presiding Bishop Curry maintains a national preaching and teaching ministry, having been featured on The Protestant Hour and as a frequent speaker at churches, cathedrals, and confere...
Ani DiFranco, Singer/Songwriter
June 13, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBSinger-songwriter and Grammy winner Ani DiFranco has been known as the “Little Folksinger” but her music has embraced punk, funk, hip hop, jazz, soul, electronica, and even more distant sounds. Rejecting the major label system, she became one of the first artists to create her own record label, Righteous Babe Records, in 1990. Her collaborators have included everyone from Utah Phillips to legendary R&B saxophonist Maceo Parker to Prince. She has shared stages with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springstee...
Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman, Journalists
May 30, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBAnna Palmer is a senior Washington correspondent for Politico. She covers Congress, politics and the business of Washington. Jake Sherman is a senior writer for Politico. He covers the House Republican majority. Together, Palmer and Sherman co-authored The Hill to Die On, an insider’s look at divided American politics and the Capitol Hill players battling for power.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
May 23, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBSenator Kirsten Gillibrand has served as the junior U.S. senator from New York since 2009. A magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College in 1988, Gillibrand went on to receive her law degree from the UCLA School of Law in 1991 and served as a law clerk on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. After working as an attorney in New York City for more than a decade, Senator Gillibrand served as Special Counsel to United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Andrew Cuomo during ...
Edward Zwick, Filmmaker
May 16, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBEd Zwick is an award-winning film and television director and producer. He co-created the television series thirtysomething and produced My So-Called Life, Once and Again, and Nashville. Zwick directed the Academy Award-winning films Glory and Legends of the Fall. Zwick received an Academy Award as a producer of Shakespeare in Love. His 2019 film, Trial by Fire, starring Laura Dern, is the true-life Texas story of a mother of two who fights for the freedom of a death row inmate.
Jose Antonio Vargas, Journalist and Activist
May 09, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBJose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and a leading voice for the human rights of immigrants. He is the founder of Define American, the nation’s leading non-profit media and culture organization that fights injustice and anti-immigrant hate through the power of storytelling. His memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in fall 2018.
Susan Page, Journalist and Author
May 02, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBSusan Page is the Washington Bureau Chief of USA Today, where she writes about politics and the White House. Susan has covered six White House administrations and ten presidential elections. She has interviewed the past nine presidents from Richard Nixon through Donald Trump—and reported from six continents and dozens of foreign countries. She has appeared as an analyst on PBS NewsHour, CBS’ Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, C...
Douglas Brinkley, Historian and Author
April 25, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBDouglas Brinkley is a highly regarded and best-selling author, CNN Presidential Historian, the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. His most recent book, “American Moonshot,” is a chronicle of the turbulent 1960s and JFK’s audacious plan to put a man on the moon.
Roger McNamee, Venture Capitalist and Author
April 11, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBRoger McNamee has been a Silicon Valley investor for 35 years. He co-founded successful funds in venture, crossover and private equity. His most recent fund, Elevation, included U2’s Bono as a co-founder. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Roger plays bass and guitar in the bands Moonalice and Doobie Decibel System. He is the author of Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe, as well as The New Normal and The Moonal...
Timothy Shriver, Ph.D., Chairman of Special Olympics
March 21, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBTimothy Shriver is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Special Olympics International, the organization founded by his mother, Eunice Shriver. He serves with over 5.6 million Special Olympics athletes in 172 countries, all working to promote health, education, and a more unified world through the joy of sports. Before joining Special Olympics in 1996, Shriver was and remains a leading educator focusing on the social and emotional factors in learning. He co-founded and currently chairs...
Alejandro Escovedo, Musician
February 28, 2019 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBAlejandro Escovedo is a Mexican-American rock musician with Texas roots. His decades-long career includes performing in the punk rock group The Nuns, and alternative country bands Rank and File and The True Believers. He has collaborated with Bruce Springsteen, John Cale, Los Lobos, Peter Buck & Scott McCaughey, Los Texmaniacs, and Chuck Prophet. No Depression magazine declared him the Artist of the Decade. His latest album, The Crossing, tells the tale of two boys, one from Mexico, one from...
Robert Rodriguez, Filmmaker
February 21, 2019 22:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBRobert Rodriguez has been a celebrated and innovative filmmaker for more than 25 years. The San Antonio native has directed films such as El Mariachi, From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, the Spy Kids and Sin City franchises, and the upcoming Alita: Battle Angel, a partnership with producer James Cameron. In 2013, Rodriguez ventured into television and launched his own cable TV channel, El Rey. He co-founded Troublemaker Studios, an Austin-based film production company, and leads the band Chingon with membe...
Bob Mould, Musician
January 31, 2019 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBBob Mould is an American indie rock musician, part of the influential 1980s punk band Hüsker Dü and the 1990s band Sugar. Hüsker Dü was one of the first underground bands to sign with a major record label and their eight albums inspired a generation of musicians. Mould's autobiography, See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody, chronicles his story from a small town in New York to his later successes. His 2019 album is titled Sunshine Rock.
Tommy Orange, Author
January 24, 2019 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBTommy Orange is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and is a recent graduate from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is a 2014 MacDowell Fellow and 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. His first novel "There There" is being hailed by The New York Times as “an energetic revelation of a corner of American life.” Orange was born and raised in Oakland, California, and currently lives in Angels Camp, California.
Brooklyn Decker, Actress
January 17, 2019 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBBrooklyn Decker broke into the public consciousness as a model gracing the pages of Vogue, Elle, GQ, Glamour, Esquire, and Cosmopolitan. But she cemented her place in pop culture history by appearing on the cover of the popular Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Decker successfully made the transition from being one of the biggest names in modeling to become a Hollywood actress. She currently appears in the popular Netflix comedy “Grace and Frankie” with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen...
Michael Beschloss, Historian/Author
January 10, 2019 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBMichael Beschloss is a historian and author of ten books on presidential history including The New York Times bestsellers Presidential Courage and The Conquerors, as well as two volumes on Lyndon Johnson’s White House tapes. His latest book Presidents of War chronicles the difficult decisions made by presidents from James Madison during the War of 1812 to present. Beschloss was also editor of the bestseller Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy. He is the NB...
Dr. Brené Brown, Author/Research Professor
January 03, 2019 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBBrené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Endowed Chair. She has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. She is the author of five books including her 2018 publication, Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Her TEDx Houston talk on the power of vulnerability has garnered more than 36 million views. Brené and her husband, Steve, live in Houston and have two children.
Jason Reitman, Director/Screenwriter
December 27, 2018 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBJason Reitman is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker. Reitman made his feature film debut with the 2006 Sundance hit Thank You For Smoking. He earned Academy Award nominations for directing Juno and Up In The Air, the latter of which earned Reitman a Golden Globe Award, WGA Award and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. His other films include Young Adult, Labor Day, Men, Women and Children, and Tully, his third collaboration with Diablo Cody and second with Charlize Theron. Reitman has produce...
Sandra Cisneros, Author
December 20, 2018 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBSandra Cisneros is a poet, short story writer, novelist and essayist whose work explores the lives of the working class. Her novel The House on Mango Street has sold over six million copies, been translated into more than twenty languages and is required reading from elementary through college across the nation. Her numerous awards include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, a MacArthur Fellowship, several honorary doctorates and book awards nationally and internationally, the PEN Ce...
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Singer-Songwriter
November 15, 2018 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBMary Chapin Carpenter is a five-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter. Her latest album, Sometimes Just The Sky, celebrates her acclaimed 30-year recording career, and features reimagined versions of one song from each of Carpenter’s twelve albums, plus one newly penned track. Over the course of her career, she has sold 14 million records, won two Country Music Association Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards and is one of only 15 female members of the Nashville Songwriters Hall...
Anne Lamott, Author
November 08, 2018 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBAnne Lamott writes and speaks about subjects that begin with capital letters: Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus. But armed with self-effacing humor – she is laugh-out-loud funny – and ruthlessly honest. Her new book is Almost Everything: Notes on Hope. Lamott is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Hallelujah Anyway; Small Victories; Stitches; Help, Thanks, Wow; Some Assembly Required; Grace (Eventually); Plan B; Bird by Bird; and Traveling Mercies, as well as several novels, including I...
Lawrence O’Donnell, Journalist and Author
November 01, 2018 17:00 - 26 minutes - 49 MBLawrence O’Donnell hosts “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” on MSNBC. His background in politics, entertainment and news, leads to lively discussions as he addresses the biggest issues and most compelling stories of the day. Among other political positions, O’Donnell served as Senior Advisor to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1989 through 1992. He is an Emmy Award-winning executive producer and writer for the NBC series “The West Wing,” and creator and executive producer of the NBC se...