Can Michael Lewis Make Wall Street Entertaining Again?
The Sam Sanders Show
KCRW & Sam Sanders
4.9 • 709 Ratings
🗓️ 12 November 2025
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Author Michael Lewis is best known for writing Money Ball, Liar's Poker and The Big Short, his seminal book about the 2008 financial crisis that later became an Oscar-winning film. He sat down with Sam for a recent Live Talk Los Angeles event to celebrate the 15 year anniversary and new audio book of The Big Short.
They revisit the biggest lessons from 2008 and reflect on what’s changed —and stayed the same— in finance, society and entertainment since then. Plus, he shares what’s making him happy during these tumultuous times.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey listeners, it is the season of giving. Get that warm, fuzzy feeling. Make a donation, |
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| 0:13.6 | slash give. |
| 0:20.2 | Hey, y'all, it's the Sam Sanders show from KCRW here with big questions and hot takes on the pop culture we love. |
| 0:27.9 | Thank you so much for checking out my show. |
| 0:32.0 | For today's very special episode, I'm talking with author and journalist Michael Lewis. |
| 0:37.0 | You probably know Michael from his books |
| 0:39.4 | and the movies based on his books. Books like Moneyball, which became a movie that starred |
| 0:45.5 | Brad Pitt, books like Liar's Poker, or his big hit, his seminal book about the 08 financial |
| 0:52.2 | crisis called The Big Short. |
| 0:55.1 | That became a very good movie that starred Steve Carell, among other power players. |
| 1:00.7 | So I recently spoke with Michael Lewis on stage with Live Talks, Los Angeles. |
| 1:06.0 | We were there to honor the 15-year anniversary of the Big Short. |
| 1:10.7 | In this chat, Michael tells me all about the lessons from that moment and that book, |
| 1:14.8 | plus what has changed and stayed the same in finance, society, and entertainment since then. |
| 1:21.1 | It's a very good chat and very timely, given everything going on in the world right now. |
| 1:31.3 | All right, without further ado, here's my chat with author Michael Lewis. It's part of Live Talks, Los Angeles. |
| 1:33.3 | Let's get into it. |
| 1:35.3 | Let's talk about the big short and then get a little bigger picture. |
| 1:48.8 | For those who were living under Iraq for the last 15 years, what is the big short about? |
| 1:54.7 | You know, absolutely, this is actually, I can explain while we're here. |
| 1:59.5 | The audiobooks of my books have started to come back to me books of my books have started to come back to me. |
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