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Lemonada Media

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is a weekly series of intimate conversations with artists, activists, and politicians. Where people sound like people. Hosted by Sam Fragoso. New episodes every Sunday.

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

It’s been a year in Los Angeles. Between the historic wildfires, rapid recovery efforts, and the ICE raids over the summer, Mayor Karen Bass has been tasked with moving at a breakneck speed to meet the demands of a city in peril.
 
 
 
Watch this conversation on our new YouTube channel.
 
 
 
The Mayor joins us this week to reflect on her office’s response to ICE in Los Angeles (7:00), the federalization of thousands of National Guard troops by the Trump administration (11:20), and the ongoing legal battle now being waged in court (15:00). We also discuss the city’s “rapid rebuilding efforts” in the aftermath of the January wildfires (21:45), lessons learned from the historic catastrophe (25:50), and why she cut through “federal red tape” (28:48) to push forth her Inside Safe program designed to reduce homelessness (30:20).
 
 
 
On the back-half, we get into some of Bass’ personal story: coming of age in the Venice/Fairfax area of Los Angeles (36:30), working in emergency rooms during the crack epidemic of the 1980s (46:00), and her six terms in Congress representing various Los Angeles districts (58:00), all while navigating unimaginable personal loss (54:00). To close, the Mayor discusses her ongoing mission to end homelessness (1:00:00), the promise and potential of the 2028 Olympics (1:04:00), and where she finds the strength to continue fighting for the city that raised her (1:04:45).
 
 
 
This episode was recorded at Spotify Studios. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.
 
 
 
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A Candid Conversation with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass

With the arrival of Weapons in theaters, we return to our conversation with actor Josh Brolin.
 
Since the turn of the century, Brolin has had quite a run. From No Country for Old Men and Hail, Caesar! from the Coen Brothers, to Inherent Vice from Paul Thomas Anderson, to Sicario and the Dune films from Denis Villeneuve.
 
His memoir, From Under the Truck, contains stories about the life in between. We discuss his upbringing bouncing from Paso Robles to Santa Barbara (8:49), the influence of his mother (10:05), and his entry to writing (19:40). Then, Brolin reflects on his vivid early adulthood in the 80s (26:14), the power of a story (32:30), and what actor Anthony Hopkins illuminated about sobriety (34:35).
 
On the back-half, we get into his collaborations with the Coen Brothers (38:48), his challenging relationship to drinking (50:50), and why finally, after three decades of playing characters on screen, it was time to fill in some of the backstory (1:07:13).
 
This conversation was recorded at Spotify Studios. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Stories of Actor Josh Brolin (‘Weapons’)

Actor Julia Garner (Ozark) has built a career out of shapeshifting. This summer, the Emmy-winning performer lands on the silver (surfer) screen with two major projects—The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the highly-anticipated horror film, Weapons.
 
 
 
At the top, we walk through the spine-tingling world of Zach Cregger’s new film (6:45), the Moleskine character journals she keeps for each role (9:22), and some lessons from her time in clown school (14:01). Then, she reflects on her ‘Noah Baumbach-like’ upbringing (22:27) and the influence of legendary actors Bette Davis, Gena Rowlands, and Sharon Stone (23:15), who she credits for opening the doors in Hollywood that she has walked through (23:50).
 
 
 
On the back-half, Garner describes her transformative years making Ozark (30:03), the whirlwind three-week prep period to portray Anna Delvey in Inventing Anna (35:59), her comfort with discomfort (43:05), and how she remains open to growth in this next chapter (44:17).
 
 
 
Watch this conversation on our new YouTube channel.
 
 
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Actor Julia Garner is Hollywood’s Secret ‘Weapon’

David Mamet is one of the most celebrated American playwrights of the last century: Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Speed-the-Plow, American Buffalo, and Glengarry Glen Ross— which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1983 and remains timely today. Our conversation unfolds, fittingly, in three acts. 
 
Act I: the inspiration behind his new novel about education, Some Recollections of St. Ives (5:38), weathering the ‘emotional hurricane’ of his childhood in Chicago (18:22), and how the drama of those early years materialized in his 1994 play The Cryptogram and beyond (27:00).
 
In Act II, Mamet talks writing dialogue for the stage and screen (29:16), his disdain for psychoanalysis and the Actors Studio (32:32), and the philosophy that guided both his first theatre company (33:24) and subsequent plays (38:01).
 
In the closing act, we wrestle with Mamet’s rightward shift: his views on DEI (41:48), late-stage capitalism (51:33), ‘Constitutional Conservatism’ as it relates to the 2020 election (1:01:48), his latest book The Disenlightenment: Politics, Horror, and Entertainment (1:07:06), and what he believes a ‘peaceful and patriotic’ protest should look like (1:10:12).
 
Watch this conversation on our new YouTube channel.
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

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David Mamet Exits Stage Left

Long before Celine Song was nominated for an Academy Award for her feature directorial debut, Past Lives, she was a struggling playwright in New York City with an unusual side hustle: matchmaking.
 
In this special episode presented by Death, Sex & Money, host Anna Sale sits with Celine to unpack how this personal experience inspired the plot of her new A24 movie, Materialists, starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal.
 
Follow and listen to Death, Sex & Money wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thoughts or future episode ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

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Director Celine Song on ‘Materialists’ (Death, Sex & Money)

After nearly four decades of working in Hollywood, actor Patricia Clarkson (The Station Agent, Pieces of April) says her portrayal of women’s rights activist Lilly Ledbetter is “the greatest privilege” in her storied career.
 
We sat with the legendary actress as part of this year’s Aspen Ideas Festival to discuss her powerful turn in Lilly (4:10), her colorful New Orleans upbringing (10:17), and the educator who first recognized Patricia’s talent (13:25). Then, she reflects on her life-changing move from Louisiana to New York City (18:40), years of training at the Yale School of Drama (22:08), and her early film roles opposite Kevin Costner in The Untouchables and Clint Eastwood in The Dead Pool (26:21).
 
On the back-half, we discuss her transformation in the groundbreaking 1998 film High Art (28:08), her process of “total immersion” on set (33:26), and how that commitment led to a call from director Martin Scorsese and a pivotal part in Shutter Island (39:33). To close, we talk through Patricia’s raucous role in Easy A (40:50), her ongoing fight for equal pay in Hollywood (42:30), and her lifelong love of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (52:30).
 
Watch this conversation on our new YouTube channel.
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Actor Patricia Clarkson (‘Sharp Objects’) Goes Her Own Way

“I wanted to be good, but I completely burned up the morning,” said Joaquin Phoenix on day 1 of Eddington. “Ari and I stayed on set when everyone left for lunch—and, slowly, something emerged. I don’t know if it’s any good, but it didn’t make me want to end everything.”
 
With the film’s arrival in theaters, we return to our candid, long-form talk with Phoenix. At the top, we unpack his transformation in Joker: Folie à Deux (7:10), his free-wheeling collaborations with director Todd Phillips (9:32), and the nomadic upbringing that marked his early years (13:00). Then, he reflects on his childhood television debut in Hill Street Blues (20:27), the brilliance of Robert De Niro (25:53), and his formative performances in To Die For and Parenthood (32:45).
 
On the back-half, we discuss how the polarizing mockumentary, I’m Still Here (45:15), inspired his singular collaborations with directors Spike Jonze, Paul Thomas Anderson, James Gray, and Lynne Ramsay (49:30). We also talk about the evolution of his acting process (50:47), the impassioned Oscars speech he delivered accepting Best Actor for Joker (56:15), and whether he’ll ever turn in what he believes is a ‘great’ performance (1:00:40).
 
Hear our episode with Ari Aster and watch on YouTube.
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Play It Again: Joaquin Phoenix

“Eddington is a film about a bunch of people who know that something is wrong,” says writer-director Ari Aster. “It’s just that nobody can agree on what that thing is.”
 
Aster joins us this week to unpack his controversial, COVID-era western: his time back home in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he wrote through lockdown (9:30), the works of Robert Altman (18:00) and Oliver Stone (19:15) that served as sources of inspiration, and how Beau Is Afraid (5:54) cleared the path for Eddington. Aster also shares his early adventures in moviegoing: including Brian De Palma’s Carrie (22:10), Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (23:45), Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (23:47), and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (24:50).
 
On the back-half, we talk about how he found his voice in film school (30:28), his divisive AFI senior thesis film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (31:16), the seven years, post-college, that it took to break through with Hereditary (34:18), followed by his breakdown on Midsommar (38:30), and his ‘novelistic’ approach to screenwriting (40:30). To close, we read from Paul Schrader’s infamous Facebook post (45:48) on how AI will change moviemaking (46:05) and a Nietzsche quote that Ari says helps explain this moment in American life (52:45).
 
Watch this conversation on our new YouTube channel.
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Director Ari Aster (‘Eddington’) Has Made an American Western for 2025

Writer/director Lena Dunham is the voice of my generation. Or at the very least, a voice of a generation. Her new show, Too Much, is now available to stream on Netflix.
 
We start by discussing her 2022 film Sharp Stick (6:20), the 1970s cinema that inspired it (9:50), and how it offers a “three-way mirror” to the female experience (12:41). Then, Lena reflects on meeting Judd Apatow on the heels of Tiny Furniture (15:39), her rapid ascension following Girls (17:39), the pain and power of grappling with OCD on the show (23:11), the genius of season five’s “The Panic in Central Park” (29:35), and how she’s continued to learn from public criticisms (35:27).
 
On the back-half, we sit with the end of Girls (43:59), the aftermath of that decade (49:57), the new creative path Lena had to forge (55:46), the prophetic presence of her father (1:00:27), the inspiration that is her mother (1:01:47), and the dreams she has for the years ahead—on the screen, and off (1:06:54).
 
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lena Dunham is Never ‘Too Much’

From the opinion pages of The New York Times to his popular TikTok feed, Jamelle Bouie is a leading voice in American politics.
 
This week, Bouie helps us sift through the inner workings of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” (4:38): its promise of prosperity for the middle class (8:44), the “moral economy” guiding the legislation (13:00), the projected losses in healthcare coverage across the country (18:07), particularly in right-leaning, rural communities (23:50), the GOP’s vision for the future (33:30), and how strict reporting requirements will put SNAP benefits at risk for millions (36:46).
 
On the back-half, Bouie reflects on the ghost of Democrats past (43:35), campaign lessons from Zohran Mamdani’s bid for New York City mayor (46:18), the recent ICE raids sweeping Los Angeles (1:03:54), and the historical antecedents that help put this moment in American life in perspective (1:08:08).
 
This episode was recorded at Spotify Studios. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How ‘Big and Beautiful’ is Trump’s Bill? (with Jamelle Bouie of NYT)

Winnie Byanyima has devoted her life to public service, fighting for gender equality and racial justice. She joins us this week to discuss growing up in Uganda under a brutal dictatorship (2:30), eventually fleeing to gain an education in England (8:36), finding joy in student organizing (16:47) and connecting with young, like-minded activists (25:37). She also shares her experiences spearheading women leadership within the Parliament of Uganda (30:30), challenging income and healthcare inequalities (38:56), and the importance of collective action (47:32). Finally, she reflects on her childhood peers (56:14), on being a survivor (59:12), and her optimism about the future (1:02:45). 

 
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Winnie Byanyima's Lifelong Fight for Equality

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