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'Fresh Air' Turns 20 In the coming week: Twenty classic interviews with actors, musicians, comics, authors, and more. Join us for this very special salute to Fresh Air from WHYY.
Special Series

'Fresh Air' Turns 20

In the coming week: Twenty classic interviews with actors, musicians, comics, authors, and more.

David Rakoff: Essayist, Mountaineer, 'Comic Saint'

David Rakoff, a regular contributor to public radio's This American Life, once spent a season as the Anti-Santa, posing as Sigmund Freud in the Barneys department-store window. This interview originally aired on Jan. 14, 2001.

David Rakoff: Essayist, Mountaineer, 'Comic Saint'

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Funnyman Mel Brooks

What's more tasteless than turning the Spanish Inquisition into a lavish song-and-dance number? Try a Broadway musical saluting Adolf Hitler. These are the kinds of insane spectacles that have made Mel Brooks a titan of American comedy. This interview originally aired on July 30, 1991.

Funnyman Mel Brooks

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A Conversation with Folk Legend Doc Watson

Guitarist, singer and songwriter Doc Watson is one of America's most revered folk musicians; he's often called the finest flat-picker in the country. This show originally aired Jan. 19, 1996; it contains material from a 1988 interview and a 1989 studio concert.

A Conversation with Folk Legend Doc Watson

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Author Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer once wrote that before he was 17, he'd formed the desire to be a major writer. That wish certainly came true. One political campaign, two Pulitzer Prizes and an unprecedented level of controversy later, he's a literary grandee unlike any other. This interview originally aired on Oct. 8, 1991.

Author Norman Mailer

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Comedian Richard Pryor

Comedian Richard Pryor once confessed that he started his career by imitating Bill Cosby — but that there was a world of junkies and winos, pool hustlers and prostitutes inside his head, and all of them were screaming to get out. This interview originally aired on May 22, 1995.

Comedian Richard Pryor

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Actor Billy Bob Thornton

Fresh Air

Actor, director and screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton's latest film is Friday Night Lights, based on the best-selling book about Texas high school football. He's been known to film fans since writing, directing and starring in Sling Blade in 1996. This interview was first broadcast on Jan. 9, 2002

Actor Billy Bob Thornton

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Actor Michael Caine

Michael Caine has made more than 70 films in his 30-year career, playing everything from the cockney lothario in Alfie to the super-suave con man in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He won an Oscar for his work in Hannah and Her Sisters. He says that while an actor's eyes are his best asset, his voice is a close second. This interview originally aired on Nov. 17, 1992.

Actor Michael Caine

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Bluster and Satire: Stephen Colbert's 'Report'

Fresh Air

Stephen Colbert is the former senior correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. True to the industry he parodies, Colbert has landed the anchor's chair on a fake news show of his own.

Bluster and Satire: Stephen Colbert's 'Report'

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Comedian Chris Rock

Twenty-six-year-old comic Chris Rock grew up in Brooklyn, got his start in show business performing stand-up in Manhattan, and spent three years on Saturday Night Live. He's appeared in a few films as well, including the recent Beverly Hills Ninja. Now he's the star of his own comedy and talk-show series, The Chris Rock Show; it premieres Feb. 7 on HBO. This interview was originally broadcast on Feb. 6, 1997.

Comedian Chris Rock

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'Sopranos' Creator David Chase

David Chase's hit HBO series The Sopranos is as much about stress as it is about violence; mob boss Tony Soprano seeks therapy not just because of troubles in the Family, but because his kids and his wife and especially his mother have done a number on him. This interview originally aired on June 22, 2000.

'Sopranos' Creator David Chase

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Actress Catherine Deneuve

French actress Catherine Deneuve has long been thought of as an icon of international cinema. She's starred in films as diverse as Luis Buñuel's sensual Belle de jour, the musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and the colonial epic Indochine; her latest film is Andre Techine's Les voleurs, or Thieves. This interview originally aired on Oct. 3, 1996.

Actress Catherine Deneuve

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Comic Henny Youngman

At 85, the King of the One-Liners has done it all: Vaudeville, speakeasies, the Borscht Belt, The Ed Sullivan Show, nightclubs, casinos, even the occasional bar mitzvah. He's never tried to keep up with the times — but he's been Henny Youngman for so long, he's hip again. This interview originally aired on Oct. 18, 1991.

Comic Henny Youngman

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The Woman in Scorsese's Edit Room

Fresh Air

Academy Award-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker has edited every one of Martin Scorsese's movies, from Raging Bull to The Aviator. Schoonmaker has had a front-row seat to see how film editing has changed over the past 30 years.

The Woman in Scorsese's Edit Room

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Author and Illustrator Maurice Sendak

Fresh Air

Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak has created a darkly imaginative children's literature, from Where the Wild Things Are to his re-creation of The Nutcracker. In a wide-ranging interview, he tells guest host Marty Moss-Coane that he doesn't write with children in mind — but that somehow what he writes turns out to be for children nonetheless. This interview originally aired on May 18, 1989.

Author and Illustrator Maurice Sendak

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Author Stephen King

Stephen King, to put it mildly, likes to scare people — and millions of people agree that he does it brilliantly. He's the popular author of Carrie, Cujo, Misery, The Shining, The Dead Zone, and Pet Sematary — all of which have been made into movies — and many more; even the novels he's written under pseudonyms have been hits. This interview originally aired on July 22 and 23, 1992.

Author Stephen King

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Philip Roth Discusses His Latest Accolade

Fresh Air

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Philip Roth has been a favorite of readers since his memoir Goodbye, Columbus emerged to help define the culture of postwar America. Now the Library of America is releasing Roth's books — a rare step for a living author.

Philip Roth Discusses His Latest Accolade

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David Cronenberg on 'A History of Violence'

Fresh Air

He's been called the King of Venereal Horror. He directed the films M. Butterfly, The Fly, Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch, all of which tell a story of sexually deviant behavior. In the film Crash he continued the theme, combining sex and car wrecks. His new film A History of Violence is a psychological thriller about one man's potential for violence.

David Cronenberg on 'A History of Violence'

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Jobrani, Ahmed, Kader: A Comic 'Axis of Evil'

Fresh Air

Maz Jobrani, Ahmed Ahmed and Aron Kader make up the Axis of Evil Comedy group. (They're of Iranian, Egyptian and Palestinian descent, respectively). Their special premiered on Comedy Central last month. It's out on DVD this week.

Jobrani, Ahmed, Kader: A Comic 'Axis of Evil'

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