Secular Saint or Church Guitarist? (with George Saunders)

Choice Words with Samantha Bee

Lemonada Media

Comedy

4.3 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2026

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Author George Saunders joins Sam to talk about his new book Vigil and why people are so obsessed with turning him into a secular saint (and his childhood role of church guitarist). George explains that even though he’s not on social media he still finds ways to doom scroll, how the current government could have learned empathy if they bothered to read a few books, and how he found inspiration for Vigil without sounding too preachy. They talk about the importance of “vomit drafts” and the process of revisions, how his writing approach is about minimizing his anxiety, the choice to turn on or off some of the voices in your head, early rejection from The New Yorker, and choosing not to get killed just to be a great writer. They explain how they both put their choices up against the deathbed test, and how being compassionate doesn’t always mean being nice. Keep up with Samantha Bee @realsambee on Instagram and X. And stay up to date with us @LemonadaMedia on X, Facebook, and Instagram. For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hiya, Julia Louis Dreyfus here from the Wiser Than Me podcast, among other things.
0:05.7	And I've got a bit of a hot take.
0:08.0	Our relationship to our food can feel disconnected.
0:13.5	We don't always know how or where our food is grown.
0:18.5	And if we throw food scraps in the garbage, we don't think about
0:21.8	where it's going, or at least we try not to. One way that I get back a little of that connection
0:28.0	is by using my Mill food recycler. Sure, Mill has totally changed my home life in a lot of
0:34.7	practical ways. It works automatically. You can fill it for weeks.
0:39.2	It never, ever smells. But this is also really important. When I use mill, I'm participating in a
0:46.6	circular system. All the food I don't eat is helping to grow the food that I do. It makes me feel
0:53.3	like I'm part of something bigger, and that
0:55.6	feels really, really good. And it's all so ridiculously easy. I just drop my scraps in my mill,
1:02.6	and it transforms them into nutrient-rich grounds overnight. I have mine sent to a small farm,
1:08.6	but if I wanted to, I could use them in my garden or for my
1:11.4	backyard chickens, if I wanted backyard chickens. And I don't know, maybe I do now. Maybe I don't.
1:18.1	Anyway, maybe Mill is transforming me, too, just a little. If you want to feel more connected or you
1:24.2	just want your kitchen to feel less gross, try Mills risk-free trial and just
1:29.2	live with it for a while. Go to mill.com slash wiser for an exclusive offer.
1:38.7	Hey there, it's Julia Louis Dreyfus. I'm back with a new season of Wiser Than Me, the show where I sit down with
1:46.1	remarkable older women and soak up their stories, their humor, and their hard-earned wisdom.
1:53.7	Every conversation leaves me a little smarter and definitely more inspired. And yes, I'm still
1:59.8	calling my 91-year-old mom, Judy, to get her take on it all.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lemonada Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lemonada Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.