Welcome to the dinner party. This is your icebreaker.

We're going to tell quite a lame joke, but I'll hope you like it.

How do you survive in the desert of Sahara?

I don't know.

You can eat all the sand which is there.

Sand, which is, you get it.

Anyway, I'm Rico Galeano.

I'm Brendan Francis Nuneum, and from APM American Public Media, this is The Dinner Party, the culture show that gives you an edge in your weekend conversations.

You just got a joke from Axel Soyberg and Joachim Nielsen of the Swedish heavy metal band Graveyard.

That'll help break the ice.

They're on tour now in the U.S.

Later we will speak with David France, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague.

Also coming up, Alex Carpowski, one of the boys from the TV show Girls, gives us a list.

Pulitzer finalist Karen Russell reads from her new book, and bestselling

author Jackie Collins tells us all the ingredients of a bestseller. Somebody has an orgasm. Somebody

gets shot. Got it. Now everybody go make some money. There you go. But first, as at any dinner

party, we start with small talk. All week long, you've been hearing these headlines.

The Obama administration is announcing aggressive steps to deal with cyber attacks linked to the Chinese government.

The owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Dr. Jerry Buss, has died.

In Belgium, robbers made off with $50 million of uncut diamonds.

Now for a story you might not have heard.

We are speaking with Richard Lawson.

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