Best Of: Alexander Skarsgård / Comedy Writer Jessi Klein

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2022

⏱️ 49 minutes

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Summary

Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård describes himself as "quite a mellow guy." Playing a Viking warrior in the film The Northman gave Skarsgård a chance to tap into his animalistic nature. We talk about being a child actor in Sweden, growing up in a bohemian family, and his roles in Big Little Lies and Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" music video.

Ken Tucker reviews Bonnie Raitt's new album, Just Like That...

Jessi Klein was the head writer of Inside Amy Schumer and is one of the lead voices in the animated Netflix series Big Mouth. She has a new book of essays about motherhood called I'll Show Myself Out. Klein talks about how having a baby made her feel like a stranger in her own body and life. "There's just no way to comprehend how completely your old identity vanishes," Klein says.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From WHYY in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air Weekend.
0:06.3	Today's Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgart talks about playing a Viking out for revenge
0:11.6	in the new movie The Northman.
0:13.6	Skarsgart played a vampire who had been a Viking a thousand years ago in HBO's True Blood.
0:19.0	More recently, he was in succession as a rich text CEO and he played an abusive husband
0:24.6	in big little lies.
0:26.5	Also, comic writer and actor Jesse Klein describes the early days of motherhood when she felt
0:32.0	quote, invisible to the mainstream world over the hill, like a swiffer on legs, not having
0:38.1	sex, and generally functioning as a kind of automated milk and comfort dispensing machine.
0:44.2	She's written a new collection of personal essays.
0:47.1	Klein was the head writer of the Comedy Central series Inside Amy Schumer.
0:51.6	And Ken Tucker reviews Bonnie Raid's new album.
0:57.7	My first guest, Alexander Skarsgart, stars as a Viking in the new movie The Northman, set
1:03.4	toward the end of the 10th century.
1:05.5	The story is based on Norse mythology.
1:08.5	In the HBO series True Blood, Skarsgart played Eric Northman, who became a vampire a thousand
1:14.2	years ago when he was a Viking.
1:16.8	More recently, Skarsgart played an abusive husband in big little lies for which he won
1:21.2	an Emmy Golden Globe, a Critics Choice Television Award, and an award from SAG, The Screen
1:26.3	Actors Guild.
1:27.9	In the latest season of HBO's succession, he played a tech billionaire.
1:32.7	Alexander Skarsgart grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, where he's joining us from now.
	...

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