Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

We’re celebrating Bullseye’s 25th anniversary all month. This week, we visit the site of Bulleye’s origins, because this episode was recorded live in Santa Cruz at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. We are joined by Glynn Washington of Snap Judgment, Boots Riley of The Coup and Sorry to Bother You, and Adam Scott of Severance. Also, we have live tunes from Santa Cruz surf legends: The Mermen and stand-up comedy from Scott Simpson! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Published: 18 November 2025

The Bullseye 25th anniversary celebration continues! This week, Jesse reunites with his old college co-hosts Jordan Morris and Gene O’Neil to reminisce about the early days of the show. We'll have vintage interviews with Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Matt Besser and Dick Dale, The King of the Surf Guitar! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 11 November 2025

This whole month, we’re ringing in 25 years of Bullseye being on the airwaves. If you’ve heard our archives you might have heard Bullseye referred to as The Sound of Young America. That was the show’s original name when it started as a college radio show back at Santa Cruz’s KZSC. To kick off our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you the first of many celebrations: a spectacular live show recorded at LAist 89.3 in Pasadena at their Crawford Family Forum. We’ll have interviews with Roy Wood Jr., Jason Mantzoukas, music from Rebecca Sugar. Plus, standup comedy from Al Madrigal. Roy Wood Jr. joined us to talk about his book – The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir. Jason Mantzoukas talked about being known as an improv guy and his time on Taskmaster. You can check out Rebecca Sugar’s latest EP Lonely Magic on Bandcamp. More info on live show dates for Al Madrigal on his website. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 4 November 2025

WTF with Marc Maron revolutionized the medium of podcasting. Despite being one of the most popular podcasts in history, the show was run by two people: Marc Maron as the host, and Brendan McDonald as his producer. Maron and McDonald talked to Bullseye about WTF’s origins, their equal partnership in producing the show, and why it ended. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 28 October 2025

This week, we’re looking back on some of our favorite Spooky season interviews from across the twenty-five years we’ve been doing Bullseye. Ana Fabrega is a comedian, actor, writer, and co-creator of the show Los Espookys. In 2022, Ana joined us to talk about the show after it had just wrapped its second and final season. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 24 October 2025

Today on Bullseye, it’s songwriter and recording artist Yaya Bey! She just wrapped up a national tour in support of her new album, do it afraid. She talks to Bullseye about blending genres, and coming out on top after a tumultuous handful of years. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 17 October 2025

Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, Fargo, The Last of Us) returns to the show to talk about his new book, Little Woodchucks, and to share why woodworking is such a big part of his life. Plus, he gives Jesse a deep tissue massage. Yep, on the radio! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 14 October 2025

Will Smith is the creator and showrunner of the hit Apple TV spy thriller Slow Horses. Smith talks with Jesse about the show's unique blend of drama, action and comedy. He also shares how he learned from Armando Iannucci, the best in the biz, while working on Veep and The Thick of It. Also discussed: farts! And how star Gary Oldman's character Jackson Lamb uses them as a plot device. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 10 October 2025

This week, it’s Gwendoline Christie! She’s best known for her part as Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones launched Christie’s career. Before it wrapped, she was cast in two Star Wars movies. She recently earned an Emmy nomination for her part in Severance as the lady who was in charge of all the goats. She talks to Bullseye about art, resilience, and getting ready to wrangle all those goats. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 7 October 2025

Canonball is a segment that takes a closer look at albums that should be considered classics. This time around, Diallo Riddle and LUXXURY of the One Song podcast discuss the game changing album Blowout Comb by Digable Planets. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 3 October 2025

We're joined today by Ghostface Killah, a founding member of the hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. In 1996, Ghost put out Supreme Clientele – that record cemented his legacy. If you pull up one of those 100 best rap albums of all times list, you're bound to see it show up. Ghostface joins us on the latest episode of Bullseye to talk about Supreme Clientele 2, the follow-up nearly 25 years in the making. He also opens up about being responsible for two of his younger brothers with muscular dystrophy. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 30 September 2025

If you know Elizabeth Gilbert's name, it might be for her book Eat, Pray, Love. Earlier this month, Gilbert published a very different memoir: All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation. It centers around her relationship with her partner, the writer Rayya Elias and the aftermath of her cancer diagnosis. Elizabeth Gilbert joins us to talk about the intense, very harrowing book. Content Warning: This episode dives into some very intense topics including: addiction, cancer, sex, suicide, death and violence. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 19 September 2025

Jinkx Monsoon is a legend in the world of drag. For fans of RuPaul's Drag Race she is often referred to as "Queen of All Queens" – she's the only performer to win that competition show twice. More recently she's been performing on stage like Little Shop of Horrors and Chicago. Currently, you can catch her on Broadway in Cole Escola's Tony award-winning play Oh Mary. We discuss Jinkx's latest gigs on the stage and how she found herself through drag performances. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 16 September 2025

Bob Odenkirk is an alt-comedy legend. He wrote for Saturday Night Live in the 90s. Then he got the part in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul as Saul Goodman. He’s also a writer. With the help of his children, he released a collection of poems called Zilot & Other Important Rhymes. Bob joins us to talk about writing poetry and how he turned his worn notebook into a book of poetry with the help of his children. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 9 September 2025

There aren't many animators more beloved than Genndy Tartakovsky. He created two golden era Cartoon Network shows: Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack. He has worked on countless other animated projects including Star Wars: Clone Wars, Batman: The Animated Series, Hotel Transylvania and many more. Genndy joins us to talk about his latest animated project: Fixed – a raunchy comedy about dogs, their private parts and friendship. He also takes us back to the early days of Cartoon Network. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 5 September 2025

Alex Edelman plays Adam Cooper on The Paper, the new show from NBC set in the universe of The Office. Edelman is also an award winning standup and writer. His solo show, Just For Us, offers a very funny, very personal examination of white supremacy and Jewish identity. He talks to Bullseye about his unlikely position as the least impressive member of his family, the difference in audience reactions to his standup in the US and the UK, and how he hopes The Paper will make audiences feel good. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 2 September 2025

Filmmaker Victor Kosskovsky has been thinking quite a lot about rocks these days. Things like big granite boulders, crushed up gravel and stunning slabs of marble. He formed those thoughts, and some opinions, into his most recent documentary: Architecton. It’s a movie entirely about stone. Victor joined us to talk about Architecton, what drew him to choosing rocks as a film subject and much more. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 29 August 2025

We're joined by the principal members of the band HAIM: Alana, Danielle and Este Haim. In 2013, they released their critically acclaimed debut album Days Are Gone and the rest is history. HAIM joins us in the studio to talk about making the latest record: I Quit. They also get into growing up in the San Fernando Valley and the shocking lyrics in the new album are about a true story from their time in high school. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 26 August 2025

Our guest this week is Al Jardine, one of the founding members of The Beach Boys alongside Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Mike Love. Jardine left the Beach Boys in 1998 and has toured solo ever since. He just released an EP called Islands In The Sun, and he’s touring it with Brian Wilson’s band. Al Jardine talked with Bullseye about Brian’s recent passing, growing up making music with the Beach Boys, and rediscovering the magic of The Beach Boys compositions in his later experiences with their music. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 22 August 2025

Earlier this year, Marlee Matlin was the subject of the documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore. The film chronicles her life and career as a performer and her efforts to make movies and TV more inclusive for deaf performers. Marlee and her longtime interpreter Jack joined us to talk about the documentary, Marlee’s career in showbusiness and much more. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 19 August 2025

In the world of ska and punk music Fishbone are legends. We're joined by Angelo Moore and Chris Dowd, founding members of the band. Earlier this summer the band released their 8th full-length LP, Stockholm Syndrome. They talk about why the latest record is something they always dreamed of making. They also get into the bands that helped them visualize a career in music and so much more. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 15 August 2025

Paul Walter Hauser has a great list of big movie appearances. He’s in Fantastic Four and The Naked Gun, and he’ll be appearing in movies like Americana and the Bruce Springsteen biopic. Hauser talks to Bullseye about his unique path to his current acting career, as well as his other labor of love: professional wrestling. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 12 August 2025

Punk rock band PUP released their fifth studio album Who Will Look After the Dogs? back in May. We’re joined by the band’s lead singer Stefan Babcock and guitarist Steve Sladkowski to talk about the new record. They also chatted with us about their live shows and how the mosh pits at their shows and more! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 8 August 2025

There’s probably nobody better to direct and write a movie like The Naked Gun reboot than Akiva Schaffer. He has a resume full of brilliant, dumb, joke-a-minute work. Together with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone he is a member of the comedy trio The Lonely Island. Akiva wasn’t sure he wanted to direct The Naked Gun at first, he gets into why. Plus, why Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoppin’ didn’t click with audiences and his very funny work with The Lonely Island. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 5 August 2025

In 2021, Arooj Aftab became the first Pakistani to win a Grammy. It was a Best Global Music Performance for her single "Mohabbat" off of her 2021 album Vulture Prince. Her latest album is called Night Reign. Like Vulture Prince, It's ethereal and beautiful and kind of haunting. In this conversation, Aftab talks about the influence of Meshell Ndegeocello on her work, being a recording gear nerd in addition to being an artist, and how great the Urdu language is for metaphorical writing. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 1 August 2025

Eugenio Derbez has arguably earned the title of most successful comedy actor in Latin America. And in 2013, his film Instructions Not Included helped make him a star here in the United States. These days you can catch Eugenio in the show Acapulco, which is entering its fourth and final season on Apple TV +. Eugenio joins us to talk about the new season of the show, making the jump from being a movie star in Mexico to a movie star in the U.S. and much more! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 29 July 2025

Tramell Tillman plays Mr. Milchick on Severance, the bizarre, fascinating sci-fi workplace show on Apple TV +. Tramell Tillman is great as Mr Milchick. He shares how he collaborated with Ben Stiller to create the character. He also talks with us about his upbringing in Baltimore, his experience being raised in the Baptist church, and his early appearance on The Wire. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 22 July 2025

Act now to ensure public media remains free and accessible to all. Your donation will help this essential American service survive and thrive. Visit donate.npr.org now. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 18 July 2025

Hayden Pedigo writes sprawling, beautiful songs around the acoustic guitar. Hayden just put out a new record called I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away. He stopped by the studio to talk about his songwriting process and even brought his guitar by the studio for a live performance. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 18 July 2025

This week's guest is Richard Kind. He is not a star. He does not want to be a star. He is perfectly fine with that. Richard loves to be the kind of character actor that shows up, lays down four pages of unforgettable dialogue... and goes on with his day. We share some laughs with Richard Kind. He gets into working with John Mulaney on Everybody's Live and the career he almost had instead of acting. Plus, what it was like to work with Martin Short on the cult-comedy Clifford. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 15 July 2025

We're joined by music historian and professor Rickey Vincent to talk about the legacy of Sly Stone. He talks to us about what made the funk icon so special and why there'll never be another like Sly again. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 11 July 2025

This week on Bullseye, George Takei returns to talk about his new graphic-memoir: It Rhymes with Takei. His memoir focuses on his personal journey through discovering his identity as a gay man, hiding it, and how it felt to finally come out publicly. Takei talks to Bullseye about this, as well as his experience living in incarceration camps, and his roots in Los Angeles. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 8 July 2025

Being able to make light of extremely heavy topics is what makes Atsuko Okatsuka a brilliant comedian. Her new comedy special Father aired on Hulu last month. Atsuko chatted with us about how recording videos on social media with her family brought them closer together, what it was like bringing her grandma on her honeymoon and much more! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 4 July 2025

The one and only Mark Hamill joins us this week. He chats with us about his latest role in the epic, life-affirming drama The Life of Chuck. He also tells us about what inspired him to take his acting skills to Broadway after Star Wars. Plus, he shares what got him into voice acting and does his iconic voice as the Joker from the animated Batman series for us. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 24 June 2025

What was it like to work with Paul Reubens? The man behind Pee-wee Herman. Pee-wee as Himself is a beautiful, touching documentary about one of the most talented and unique voices of our time. He died in 2023. We're joined by filmmaker Matt Wolf. He talks about what made Paul Reubens a dream subject for a documentary and how he got Paul to open up about difficult topics. Plus, Jesse talks about his own experience working with Paul on the Pee-wee Herman Radio Hour for KCRW. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 20 June 2025

This week on Bullseye, we talk to Ego Nwodim! She just wrapped up her seventh season as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. She talks with us about her roundabout path to comedy, including nods to her hometown in sketches, and a whole lot about her incredible SNL character: Lisa from Temecula. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 17 June 2025

Mary Randolph Carter is an expert on all things junk. She's written many books on the topic including her latest called Live With the Things You Love: And You'll Live Happily Ever After. We asked Carter if there was ever one piece of junk she acquired over the years that stuck with her so much and lived inside her head rent free for so long that she wishes she made it. The object that came to mind was a very peculiar clock. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 13 June 2025

Questlove, drummer and bandleader for The Roots joins us on the latest episode. The legend. Lately, he's been working on music documentaries: Sly Lives! and Summer of Soul were both fantastic. He joins us to talk at length about Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music. Questlove gets into his early memories of Saturday Night Live as a kid and gets into how he's been involved with the show over the years. We also get into the forthcoming album from The Roots. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 10 June 2025

This week on Bullseye, we talk to Carson Lund, director of the new slice-of-life baseball film, Eephus. The movie is about two rec league baseball teams meeting to play their final game on a field, which will be torn down the next day to make way for a middle school. Lund talks to Bullseye about representing downtime in baseball, and rejecting the grand finale you might expect in a movie about a sport. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 6 June 2025

Alexander Skarsgård joins us to talk about the new Apple TV + sci-fi series Murderbot. He also gets into his upbringing and what it was like growing up around different artists and performers. Plus, he'll chat with us about some of his most memorable red carpet outfits. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 3 June 2025

Jane Borden is a writer with bylines in Vanity Fair, the Washington Post, and the New York Times Magazine. Jane is kind of obsessed with cults. She enjoys reading books on them, watching documentaries, and vintage news pieces on the subject. Jane's obsession has become her latest book. She joins us on Bullseye to talk about Cults Like Us. The book is not just a study on the history of cults, but an examination on why they seem to be a uniquely American phenomenon. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 23 May 2025

Rapper and producer Dezzy Hollow is a master of modern day West Coast funk. Earlier this year he released an album called OCEANSIDE, which he named after his hometown. He chats with us about the record, what he hopes his music can bring to the city and much more. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 20 May 2025

Video game creator Keita Takahashi joins us to talk about how he got into designing video games and how he pitched the idea for his popular game Katamari Damacy to the folks at Namco. He also talks with us about his new game, to a T, which comes out soon. A version of this interview originally ran in April of 2024. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 16 May 2025

Lisa Kudrow's big break was on the massively successful sitcom Friends. She portrayed the street-wise, but kind of clueless Phoebe Buffay. She's one of Friends' most beloved characters. Before she broke out on that show she envisioned a very different future. Kudrow on her early career in science research, the cruelty of middle-schoolers that set her on the path to acting, and being mentored by Jon Lovitz. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 13 May 2025

Jean Grae is back on the show! The interdisciplinary artist just wrote a collection of personal essays called In My Remaining Years. She joins us to talk about the new book, why she distanced herself from rapping, her upbringing and much more. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 9 May 2025

This week, it's Bob Mackie! Mackie has made a career out of dressing big personalities in kinetic, sparkling garb. His life and career were profiled in an incredible documentary late last year. Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion covers the era-defining design work he did and the extraordinary life he's lived. Mackie talks to Bullseye about his early affinity for performance outfits, marrying costumes and comedy, and getting started in the business working with old Hollywood legends. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 6 May 2025

The Craziest Day of My Entire Career is a segment where folks join us to talk about some truly unbelievable stories. Comedian Mike Drucker has had his fair share of crazy days – he's work for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Adam Ruins Everything, and Saturday Night Live. But his craziest day? It all happened at a paintball game when he was working for a little company called Nintendo. Good Game, No Rematch by Mike Drucker is out now. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 2 May 2025

Writer, director and showrunner Tony Gilroy joins us to talk about the new season of Andor and what makes the show so different than any other Star Wars program. He also shares what his plans are after the series concludes, and tells us about how he almost entered a career in music instead of film. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 29 April 2025

This week on Bullseye, we talk to filmmaker Charles Burnett. His most famous film, Killer of Sheep, was part of his Masters' thesis at UCLA Film School in 1977. Now, it's in the Criterion Collection and the Library of Congress. His 1999 romance film, The Annihilation of Fish, has just been restored and set for its first theatrical release. He talks to Bullseye about representing communities authentically, the tension of studying at UCLA and living in South Central, and his regrets about the roof-jumping scene in Killer of Sheep. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 25 April 2025

Rapper Fat Joe is charming, verbose, and direct. He is a man who radiates confidence. You wanna make a banger for the club? Fat Joe's got em – Lean Back, What's Luv? ft. Ashanti, and All The Way Up. The Bronx legend joins us on the latest episode of Bullseye to talk about collaborating with KRS-One , LL Cool J and his latest record The World Changed On Me. He also gets into his childhood, his family and how he keeps it real after three decades in the game. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2025