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Wild Card with Rachel Martin Part-interview, part-existential game show – this is Wild Card from NPR. Host Rachel Martin rips up the typical interview script and invites guests to play a game about life's biggest questions. Rachel takes actors, artists and thinkers on a choose-your-own-adventure conversation that lets them open up about their fears, their joys and how they've built meaning from experience – all with the help of a very special deck of cards.

Want more Wild Card? Support NPR by subscribing to Wild Card+. You'll get access to bonus episodes and you'll get to listen sponsor-free. Learn more at plus.npr.org/wildcard.
Wild Card with Rachel Martin

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Wild Card with Rachel Martin

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Part-interview, part-existential game show – this is Wild Card from NPR. Host Rachel Martin rips up the typical interview script and invites guests to play a game about life's biggest questions. Rachel takes actors, artists and thinkers on a choose-your-own-adventure conversation that lets them open up about their fears, their joys and how they've built meaning from experience – all with the help of a very special deck of cards.

Want more Wild Card? Support NPR by subscribing to Wild Card+. You'll get access to bonus episodes and you'll get to listen sponsor-free. Learn more at plus.npr.org/wildcard.

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Seth Meyers likes being the punchline

Seth Meyers appears on an episode of NPR's Wild Card with Rachel Martin. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images hide caption

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Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Seth Meyers likes being the punchline

When Seth Meyers started at Saturday Night Live, he saw pictures of famous former cast members on the wall and was convinced he had to become an actor. It took time to realize that wasn't his path. He's now celebrating 10 years as host of Late Night. His new HBO special is Dad Man Walking. He talks to Rachel about being best friends with your parents and embracing being the butt of the joke.

Seth Meyers likes being the punchline

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Mark Duplass is greedy for the little moments

Mark Duplass appears on an episode of Wild Card with Rachel Martin Larry Busacca/Getty Images hide caption

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Larry Busacca/Getty Images

Mark Duplass is greedy for the little moments

Mark Duplass is known for his roles in The Morning Show and The League, as well as for writing, directing and producing indie hits with his brother Jay, including The Puffy Chair and Jeff, Who Lives at Home. Lately, the brothers have taken separate creative paths, and Mark is learning how to fly solo. Mark talks to Rachel about that process and about crying to Taylor Swift.

Mark Duplass is greedy for the little moments

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Gael García Bernal rejects certainty

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Lia Toby/Getty Images

Gael García Bernal rejects certainty

Gael García Bernal was basically fated to be an actor. His mom and dad were both in show business and his first starring role was in a Mexican telenovela when he was just 13. Then came iconic roles in Y tu mamá también , The Motorcycle Diaries, Coco and more. García Bernal's new show is La Máquina. He talks to Rachel about embracing mystery, being selfish in relationships and not wasting good abs.

Gael García Bernal rejects certainty

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Margaret Atwood isn't surprised people find her scary

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Margaret Atwood isn't surprised people find her scary

Margaret Atwood knows that she scares people. She says that's been the case since the beginning of her career, long before her dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale was published. She talks to Rachel about that perception, and also reflects on the bad advice she's received in her career and how she takes vengeance. Margaret's new poetry collection is Paper Boat: New and Selected Poems: 1961-2023.

Margaret Atwood isn't surprised people find her scary

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Terry Crews likes feeling small in the universe

Terry Crews on Wild Card Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images hide caption

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Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

Terry Crews likes feeling small in the universe

Terry Crews went to college on an art scholarship, played football in the NFL, and now stars in movies and hosts America's Got Talent. The key to his many successes, he says, is to be really good at failure. Or, put another way, to be a lobster. He tells Rachel about getting cut from the NFL, staying up all night drawing as a kid, and how Bear Grylls helped him appreciate his place in the universe.

Terry Crews likes feeling small in the universe

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Sterlin Harjo didn't see himself in the TV shows he watched – so he made one

Sterlin Harjo on Wild Card Frazer Harrison/Getty Images hide caption

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Sterlin Harjo didn't see himself in the TV shows he watched – so he made one

When Sterlin Harjo was growing up, he didn't see many Native Americans in mainstream media. But Sterlin's TV show, Reservation Dogs, changed that, depicting the lives of four Native teenagers growing up in Oklahoma. Sterlin talks to Rachel about how he thinks fate has guided his life, why people should go to more funerals and how hunting feels like praying.

Sterlin Harjo didn't see himself in the TV shows he watched – so he made one

Listen · 30:21
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Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed

Hanif Abdurraqib on Wild Card with Rachel Martin Megan Barnard/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Megan Barnard/Courtesy of the artist

Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed

Hanif Abdurraqib's writing has earned him a MacArthur "genius" grant. His most recent book, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, landed a spot on Barack Obama's summer reading list. But those accolades don't matter to him as much as being a good friend and neighbor. Abdurraqib talks to Rachel about a youth spent unhoused and incarcerated, and the zen of making mixtapes.

Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed

Listen · 42:51
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Kacey Musgraves says a past boyfriend helped her become more accepting

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Kacey Musgraves says a past boyfriend helped her become more accepting

From the beginning of her career, Grammy-winning musician Kacey Musgraves has been doing what feels authentic to herself. She sings about familiar country themes like falling in love and heartbreak. But she also sings about smoking pot and queer relationships. Musgraves talks to Rachel about not being defined by anyone but herself, becoming more open-minded and living with the ghost of her grandma.

Kacey Musgraves says a past boyfriend helped her become more accepting

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Jeff Goldblum was bullied growing up. It made him crave something 'finer'

Jeff Goldblum on NPR's Wild Card Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images hide caption

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Jeff Goldblum was bullied growing up. It made him crave something 'finer'

Jeff Goldblum has a special brand of charisma — the kind that seeps its way into all of his roles. Whether it's in The Fly or Independence Day or Jurassic Park — or his newest show KAOS — every character feels like a version of Jeff Goldblum himself. He also brings that Goldblumian charisma to Wild Card, breaking into song as he reflects with Rachel about his life.

Jeff Goldblum was bullied growing up. It made him crave something 'finer'

Listen · 35:18
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Why Rob Delaney loves failure: 'I smash it up into a powder and I snort it'

Rob Delaney on Wild Card Justin Tallis/Getty Images hide caption

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Why Rob Delaney loves failure: 'I smash it up into a powder and I snort it'

Rob Delaney has experienced great success as a comedian and actor. He created and starred in the acclaimed TV series Catastrophe and he's been featured in blockbuster movies like this summer's Deadpool & Wolverine. But he's also experienced tragedy, including the death of his son. He talks to Rachel about loss, failure and why he kind of wants a meteor to hit his house.

Why Rob Delaney loves failure: 'I smash it up into a powder and I snort it'

Listen · 30:02
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Wild Card with Rachel Martin

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