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Behind The Stories : NPR Extra Insight into the latest happenings in NPR programming across all of our news desks and shows - special series, breaking news, live coverage, NPR Music, investigations and much more.

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Gather 'Round And Get Merry

The spirit of the Ask Me Another crew cannot be stifled by the scrooge appearance of John Hodgman and his mustache (center)! From left to right up top, you're looking at John Asante, Eric Nuzum, Eleanor Kagan, John Chaneski, Jesse Baker, Art Chung, Ophira Eisenberg, Jonathan Coulton, Josh Rogosin, Lizz Wistead and A.J. Jacobs. Lam Thuy Vo /NPR hide caption

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Lam Thuy Vo /NPR

Behind The Stories

Gather 'Round And Get Merry

How Lizz Wistead, John Hodgman, A.J. Jacobs and NPR's Ask Me Another do the holidays.

Colbert Tries Planet Money On For Size

NPR's Alex Blumberg talks about the Planet Money t-shirt project on The Colbert Report. screenshot from colbertnation.com hide caption

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screenshot from colbertnation.com

Behind The Stories

Colbert Tries Planet Money On For Size

As the Planet Money t-shirts (all 25,000 of them) have fanned out across the country, so too has the multi-everything microsite. Word of the XXL-sized reporting project has cropped up in Fast Company, Of A Kind, Glamour, Gizmodo and on The Colbert Report.

Playback November 1988: 'No, You're Not On Acid'

Weekend Edition Saturday staffers, photographed at NPR's former M Street headquarters, in Washington, D.C. Top left: (the late) Marta Haywood, Cindy Carpien, Scott Simon, Laura Ziegler, Steve Tripoli. Bottom left: Mandalit del Barco, Liz Buechel, Doug Mitchell, Neva Grant NPR hide caption

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Behind The Stories

Playback November 1988: 'No, You're Not On Acid'

All month, NPR and Member Stations have been looking back at major events that shaped America's cultural landscape. Those historic moments were also shaping NPR coverage. The Playback: November 1988 podcast takes a trip back 25 years in the NPR archives to what was happening on and off air at NPR.

Listen to Playback

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'Don't Be Afraid Of Silence': Interview Tips From NPR Host Rachel Martin

Weekend Edition Host Rachel Martin with Sunday Conversation guest Denyse Gordon, Miss Veteran America. Amy Ta/NPR hide caption

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Amy Ta/NPR

Behind The Stories

'Don't Be Afraid Of Silence': Interview Tips From NPR Host Rachel Martin

Since 2008, StoryCorps has celebrated the Friday after Thanksgiving with the National Day of Listening. For some tips on how to have have a personal interview with a loved ones this Friday, we went to "The Sunday Conversation" founder, Weekend Edition Host Rachel Martin.

Turkey & Tattoos: NPR Is Thankful For A John Mayer Performance This T-Day

NPR Correspondent Ari Shapiro and John Mayer get chummy outside of the green room at the NPR Headquarters. Amy Ta/NPR hide caption

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Amy Ta/NPR

Behind The Stories

Turkey & Tattoos: NPR Is Thankful For A John Mayer Performance This T-Day

Tune in to All Things Considered on Thanksgiving Day to hear a special performance and interview with Grammy award-winning musician John Mayer.

Turkey & Tattoos: NPR Is Thankful For A John Mayer Performance This T-Day

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Beauty In A Place Of Misery: Laura Sullivan On Her Night At Alcatraz

Laura Sullivan interviews Bill Baker in a cell at Alcatraz. Courtesy of Laura Sullivan hide caption

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Courtesy of Laura Sullivan

Behind The Stories

Beauty In A Place Of Misery: Laura Sullivan On Her Night At Alcatraz

A few weeks ago on All Things Considered, NPR Investigative Correspondent Laura Sullivan told the story of Bill Baker, a former inmate at Alcatraz, who came back to spend a night in his former cell. We wanted to know more, so we asked Sullivan a few more questions.

NPR Producer Tells About Iranian Heritage From Bucyrus, Ohio To L.A.'s Persian Square

Davar Ardalan speaking about her grandparents and her Iranian heritage during a book event earlier this month at NPR West. Melissa Kuypers/NPR hide caption

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Melissa Kuypers/NPR

Behind The Stories

NPR Producer Tells About Iranian Heritage From Bucyrus, Ohio To L.A.'s Persian Square

Chronicling Iran's heroes and heroines, from an 11th century Persian physician to a modern-day astronomer, NPR producer Davar Ardalan recently published a book collecting stories of Iranian heritage alive in the United States.