TERRY GROSS, host:
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. The Tribeca Film Festival is underway in New York. The new film "Please Give" will have its New York premier at the festival tonight.
My guest, Oliver Platt, is one of the stars of "Please Give." In the series "The West Wing," Platt played the White House counsel. He also co-starred in "Frost/Nixon," "Kinsey" and "Bosworth," and was featured in the TV series "Bored to Death," "Nip/Tuck" and "Huff."
In "Please Give," Platt plays a husband who's the father of a teenage girl. Catherine Keener plays his wife, who feels guilty about her affluent lifestyle and tries to compensate by doing things like giving homeless people or people she mistakenly thinks are homeless, $20 bills. The couple owns a store in New York that sells vintage furniture. They buy most of the furniture from people whose elderly parents have died and want to sell their belongings. The couple buys cheap, then sells the furniture at high prices, which is contributing to the wife's guilt.
Here's a scene with Platt and Keener in their store.
(Soundbite of movie, "Please Give")
Ms. CATHERINE KEENER (Actor): (as Kate) I mean who's to say this stuff isn't valuable?
Mr. OLIVER PLATT (Actor): (as Alex) I can. This stuff is not valuable.
Ms. KEENER: (as Kate) Somebody liked it. I mean in 15 years this chair will be worth a ton of money because some genius German designer, you know, designed it.
Mr. PLATT: (as Alex) We're not going to sell any of (bleep).
Ms. KEENER: (as Kate) I already sold two shelves for $1,400.
Mr. PLATT: (as Alex) You did? That's great.
Ms. KEENER: (as Kate) No, it's not. I don't feel very good about it.
Mr. PLATT: (as Alex) I don't understand.
Ms. KEENER: (as Kate) I practically stole from them.
Mr. PLATT: (as Alex) Well then why did you charge them a ton of money?
Ms. KEENER: (as Kate) I wanted to. And I've been feeling really suspicious lately, Alex, and people have been coming in asking questions.
Mr. PLATT: (as Alex) Like what?
Ms. KEENER: (as Kate) Like where does your stuff come from and how do you get it?
Mr. PLATT: (as Alex) You know, people are like that. They're just curious. They're curious about where the stuff comes from.
Ms. KEENER: (as Kate) No. This is different. People who we've bought stuff from are sending in friends or lawyers to find out how much we're selling these things for.
Mr. PLATT: (as Alex) Hon, your guilt is warping you.
Ms. KEENER: (as Kate) Why isn't it warping you?
Mr. PLATT: (as Alex) It is. Your guilt is warping me.
Ms. KEENER: (as Kate) Mm-hmm.
GROSS: That's my guest, Oliver Platt, with Catherine Keener in a scene from the new film "Please Give."
Oliver Platt, welcome to FRESH AIR. It's a real pleasure to have you on the show.
Mr. PLATT: Thank you so much, Terry. The pleasure's mine.
GROSS: And Nicole Holofcener, who wrote and directed "Please Give," was quoted as saying that she wrote the role with you in mind. Did she tell you exactly what about you she had in mind when she wrote the part?
Mr. PLATT: I don't know. I think it's because I have the - it must be my struggling - my struggling schlub quality.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: There's an aspect to Alex where I think he's kind of, you know, he has a kind of marvelous cluelessness which I think on a certain level allows him to get away with the things that he does in the movie. Not that he's actually getting away with them, because I think that he's in the sense of getting over, because I think that he's actually just as surprised by what happens to him in the movie as anybody else is.
And if you were to ask him why this has happened, you know, this relationship, this extracurricular relationship that might or might not occur in the movie occurs, he wouldn't necessarily be able to tell you.
GROSS: Right. So getting back to the fact that she - that Nicole Holofcener said she wrote your part with you in mind - she wanted you to play it - in spite of that, did she make you audition after she wrote it?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: She didn't. She - we had a delightful cup of coffee at a cafe in my neighborhood and...
GROSS: In New York?
Mr. PLATT: Yeah, in New York in the West Village. And she asked me to do it. I was - I was delighted. Yeah, if only all meetings with directors were like that.
GROSS: Right. What did she want to know?
Mr. PLATT: It was interesting. I think, and she would tell you this, that it was the one role in the movie that she wasn't absolutely sure about a couple of aspects of. And I think that as a man she was like, you know, how do you respond to this?
I think it's in particular, it's the through line of how does this extracurricular friendship take place? And what has to be going on or maybe not going on in a marriage that is ostensibly a good marriage to make - have something like that happen? And so we talked about that a lot. And not that we came up with all kinds of answers, because one of the things that we decided -there wasn't necessarily an answer, that it was maybe a mysterious thing.
You know, and it's - which is one of the things that I love so much about the movie, is I think that this movie has a healthy dose of what really ultimately compels me about any narrative that, you know, that I want to get involved in, is there is mystery. And when I say mystery I don't mean a whodunit kind of mystery, but a human mystery, human condition mystery. You know, what - that thing of people kind of stumbling around looking to get made whole, you know, even if they don't know that they are.
GROSS: A lot of people know you from your work on "The West Wing" as the White House counsel. And so I want to play a scene from an episode of "The West Wing." And this is a scene, you've just found out that the president has MS and has withheld the information for some time, and you're worried about the legal implications of this for the president and perhaps for other people on his staff who might have known and withheld information. So you're questioning the people on the staff. And in this scene you're questioning the president's press secretary, played by Allison Janney, who found out six hours ago that he has MS.
(Soundbite of TV series, "The West Wing")
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish) Have you ever lied about the president's health?
Ms. ALLISON JANNEY (Actor): (as C.J. Cregg): Should I have my lawyer here?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): I'm your lawyer.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): You're the president's lawyer.
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): I'm the White House counsel, C.J. Have you ever lied about the president's health?
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): When did he tell you?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): I'm sorry?
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): When did the president tell you?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): Six days ago.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): And Josh?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): Two days after that.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): Tobey?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): Two days before he told me. C.J., have you ever lied about the president's health?
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): And Leo he told more than a year ago.
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): Yeah.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): And I've had this for six hour now. So maybe giving me some room wouldn't be totally out of line, you know what I'm saying, Oliver?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): C.J., I'm going to have to ask you some questions. The less you can be pissed at the world for no particular reason, the better I think.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): I don't know you.
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): I'm sorry?
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): I was told to report to you. I don't know you. You've been here - what?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): Three months.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): Three months. So why should I trust you?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): Well, I don't care if you trust me or not.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): Imagine my shock.
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): I've got better things to do with my imagination.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): I think this is going really well so far, Oliver. It's almost hard to believe that four different women have sued you for divorce.
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): Well, you could do that if you want, C.J. I've been through it a couple of times with Josh and Tobey. But sooner or later you're going to have to answer questions.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): Either to you or?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): A grand jury.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): Compelled by?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): A Justice Department subpoena.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): Well, I have to tell you, it'll be the first time that I've been asked out in quite a while...
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): It's entirely possible that the president has committed multiple counts of a federal crime to which you were an accomplice.
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): That much has sunk in in the last six hours.
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): Has it?
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): Yes.
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): So why don't you knock off the cutie pie crap and answer the damn question?
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): What was the question?
Mr. PLATT: (as Oliver Babish): Have you ever lied about the president's health? What is your answer?
Ms. JANNEY: (as C.J. Cregg): Many, many times.
GROSS: Great scene from "The West Wing" with my guest, Oliver Platt, along with Allison Janney. You must've been so happy to get that part on "The West Wing."
Mr. PLATT: You know, it's a funny story about that. I had actually just had my own television show that I did for NBC unceremoniously ripped off the air after three episodes, and I was - or four episodes. And I was making a movie...
GROSS: Which show was this?
Mr. PLATT: It was called "Deadline." And I was making a movie in Vancouver and my manager called me and said Aaron Sorkin wants you to be on "The West Wing." But I had no - I didn't want to do it. And I thought well, I've got to read it so that I can call Aaron up. And then I read it, you know, and I was - and that kind of actor thing kicked in, like, you know, well, I'm not going to let anybody else do this.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: You know, the writing was just so spectacular. And you know, that's the strange texture of life and show business, isn't it? I mean it turned out to be a complete highlight for me. You know, I did eight episodes of the show and I just had so much fun. And it kind of restored my belief in television.
GROSS: So what did you do to prepare to play the part of the White House counsel?
Mr. PLATT: You know, I actually had very, very little time. And, you know, fortunately, my father was a career diplomat. I grew up in Washington, so I kind of - I'd been drinking the water all my life, so to speak. And, you know, the writing of that character was so extraordinary. And it was also - I think -I pat myself on the back for being smart enough to recognize that it was actually a different - a very different character in the culture of that show.
You know, the kind of the - the dirty little secret about "The West Wing," what made it so much fun to watch on a kind of voyeuristic - well, I mean the level of fantasy, really. So here you had this great man in the White House who's surrounded by all these marvelous people who were bright and educated and had their hearts in the right place who were - completely worshipped him and loyal to him.
And along came this guy who was actually just as loyal, but he was much more interested in tough love than necessarily - not that they kowtowed, but they were - they treated him with kid gloves, you know? And here was a guy who recognized how much trouble this man was potentially in and was extremely direct with him.
I think whoever played that part, you know, it would've landed because it was -the character really provided a counterpoint in a way. It cut across the current of the rest of the personalities in that show. And so all I really needed to do was to get on the horse and ride, you know? But - and it's not an easy show to work on because you have to say all of the words exactly the way they're written, and which is not, you know, always my forte.
And there's this nice little lady who sits behind the camera - not the script supervisor - and she would come out and tell you afterwards if you literally got an A or a Z or a but wrong, and you'd have to do it all again. And, you know, that Oliver Babish, he was a talkie fellow and there were some big long speeches that I had to - and I didn't know, you know. Because when I finally called Aaron, Aaron said to me, you know - oh, Oliver, just, you know, we're so thrilled you're doing this, just make it your own.
And so when somebody says to me make it your own, I thought he meant, oh, I can kind of like, you know, cross this out or make this more comfortable coming out of my mouth. That's not what Aaron meant. And, you know, Aaron has every right to not mean that. He just meant come and, you know, and have a good time and be you. So I had a little hazing of it went on as I figured out that you had to say it exactly as it was written and sweat it out.
GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Oliver Platt. He's starring in the new movie "Please Give."
Let's take a short break here and then we'll talk some more.
This is FRESH AIR.
(Soundbite of music)
GROSS: My guest is Oliver Platt. He stars with Catherine Keener in the new film "Please Give." When we left off we were talking about his role on "The West Wing" as White House counsel. Platt says that the series creator and chief writer, Aaron Sorkin, insisted that actors read every word in the script as written - no improvisation.
So you said that reading the script word for word isn't your forte. Is that because of a bad memory or just wanting to make it more comfortable for you to say?
Mr. PLATT: Television is much more of a writer's medium, and I hadn't done a lot of television at that time. And I'd done a lot of movies and, you know, and I came up doing movies in the '80s and the '90s when, you know, movies were very concept heavy and they were, the script wasn't always the most important thing. You know, big huge multimillion dollar deals were made on napkins because a star had agreed to do some sort of idea and that this writer would do it and, you know, the writers were often pulling their hair out, being rewritten by, you know, I don't know, schlubs like me.
GROSS: Could you give an example of the kind of line that Aaron Sorkin wrote that you'd maybe either get wrong or slightly rewrite to make it more comfortable for you and then you had to do it over again exactly as written?
Mr. PLATT: The example I can give you is every single one, you know, because he's...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: ...he's very fastidious, and he has every right to be. And there's an absolute music and a rhythm to the way he writes. And it was a wonderful exercise for me as an actor, you know, because God knows, that's what we're supposed to do. You know, I'd gotten lazier. I'd gotten, you know, the conditions that I just described to you, it gives you a little bit of a sense of entitlement and it makes you lazy.
GROSS: Since we were just talking about working on the TV series "The West Wing," let's stay in the White House for a moment and hear a scene from "Frost/Nixon." And this about the making of the now famous interviews that British journalist and talk show host David Frost recorded with President Nixon after Watergate. And you play Bob Zelnick, a journalist who was helping with the preparation of the interviews. And this scene is part of the prep. David Frost is doing a kind of rehearsal with you standing in for Nixon. So you're playing the part of Nixon in this little rehearsal that they're doing. The scene begins with you doing a voiceover.
(Soundbite of movie, "Frost/Nixon")
Mr. PLATT: (as Bob Zelnick) Because I have written about and watched Nixon for years, I got to play him in our rehearsals. You know, the fellows would throw me a question and I would try and anticipate what his response might be.
Mr. MATTHEW MACFADYEN (Actor): (as John Birt) Okay, the White House taping system.
Mr. PLATT: (as Bob Zelnick) Ours is not the first administration to use taping systems. Lyndon Johnson's White House used them. So did Kennedy.
Mr. MACFADYEN: (as John Birt) Houston planned wire tapping and the alleged abuses of power.
Mr. PLATT: Well, let me tell you, our administrations were up to far worse.
Mr. MACFADYEN: (as John Birt) Just for fun, your close friend Jack Kennedy.
Mr. PLATT: (as Bob Zelnick) That man, he (bleep) anything thing that moved. He fixed elections and took us into Vietnam. And the American people, they loved him for it. Whereas I, Richard Milhous Nixon, worked around the clock in their service and they hated me.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: (as Bob Zelnick) Look. Look, now I'm sweating.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: (as Bob Zelnick) Dammit, dammit. And Kennedy's so goddamn handsome and blue-eyed and women all over him. He (bleep) anything that moved and everything. Had a go at Checkers once. The poor little bitch was never the same.
(Soundbite of laughter)
GROSS: That's my guest Oliver Platt in a scene from "Frost/Nixon." Now you were born in 1960. Did Watergate have any impact on you?
Mr. PLATT: You know, it did because we were living - with the start of Watergate I was living in Washington, actually. And then we were living in Japan when Nixon resigned. And I remember, very clearly, we were driving out to the country and the news came over the radio. My parents pulled the car over and they told us all to listen.
I remember my parents being utterly consumed by the Watergate hearings -everybody being consumed by the Watergate hearings. And I just remember it being, you know, I was what - Nixon resigned in '72 - '73? So is that right, Terry? So I was 12 or 13. And then and, you know, and it was what, several years...
GROSS: Seventy-four maybe?
Mr. PLATT: Seventy-four? Like I say, I was conscious of my parents being obsessed by it. I didn't get interested in politics till I was a little bit older.
GROSS: Now, your father was a career diplomat. He was an ambassador to Pakistan, Zambia, the Philippines. What were you doing in Japan?
Mr. PLATT: That was at an earlier point in his career. He wasn't an ambassador yet but he was a senior member of the political section of the embassy. And I was, you know, I was going to school. I was just being an American teenager in Japan.
GROSS: So what impact do you think Watergate had on your father, since he was, at that point, representing the Nixon administration?
Mr. PLATT: Well, you know, that's a very interesting question because, you know, my father actually went on all of those trips with first Secretary Rogers to China and then with Kissinger to China, and then ultimately with Nixon to China.
GROSS: Wow.
Mr. PLATT: He actually just published a memoir about it called "China Boys," about the opening of China and he really had a remarkable perspective on it. He literally - he has a home movie, you know, of Nixon getting off the plane and shaking Zhou Enlai's hand and he's standing literally, you know, 15 yards away from him when that happened. And so he really, I think my father had complicated feelings about it.
GROSS: So, when you had to play the part in "Frost/Nixon" of Bob Zelnick and you sat in for Nixon in this kind of a role play rehearsal of the David Frost interview, what were you going for when you were doing like an impression of Nixon?
Mr. PLATT: Well, you know, it was very easy because I unyoked myself from this aspect. I talked to Ron about it and we said listen, the whole idea is to, you know, Bob Zelnick's not an actor. You don't have to be a good Nixon. You know, you can as a matter fact, the worst Nixon you are the better and, you know, maybe the funnier. And so I just kind of let loose with whatever I remembered about, because everybody back in those days, you know, had a Nixon impression. I mean you couldn't...
GROSS: Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.
Mr. PLATT: ...turn on a like, you'd watch "Rowan and Martin's Laughin" and everybody was imitating Nixon. Holding up their, you know, their arms and the peace signs and kind of hunching their shoulders and shaking their jowls, you know? So we just had fun with it. I didn't at all study any sort of Nixon. I just pulled it out of my memory - my perverse memory.
GROSS: So where does acting come in? How did you get interested in acting?
Mr. PLATT: You know, we moved regularly. We moved every two or three years, and sometimes shorter spans than that. And, you know, it wasn't always easy being the new kid. You know, I - after one particularly difficult transition, I think, when I cam back from Hong Kong, and I came back and I went to quite a little bit of a Tony school in Washington, D.C. and I, you know, for whatever reason I was the only new kid and I had a very difficult time. And, but for whatever reason, I auditioned for the Christmas pageant and I played - I was cast as the innkeeper who turned Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus away from the inn. And I said my line and God knows why, but the place went nuts.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: And it must be because I said it inappropriately, because you know, I don't think that, you know, the innkeeper turning Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus away from the inn is necessarily a hilarious moment.
GROSS: That's right.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: But however I said it, I got a big reaction. And, you know, I kind of, you know, when you are a - I know this sounds so pathetic as I tell the story, but you pay attention. All of a sudden I was going ooh, you know, I'll have a little more of this. You know, when you're like a friendless loser and all of a sudden...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: ...and all of a sudden, you know, you get a rise out of a group of people, no matter how inadvertent or wrongheaded, you remember. And so I kept on auditioning for, I kept on, you know, doing school plays and it became this instant way, you know, because I kept on moving around, of course, and then it became kind of instant way to plug into a group. You know, to a subculture, to a group of friends. It really was a survival mechanism, you know?
GROSS: My guest is Oliver Platt. He stars with Catherine Keener in the new film "Please Give."
We'll talk more after a break.
This is FRESH AIR.
(Soundbite of music)
GROSS: My guest is Oliver Platt and he's starring in the new movie "Please Give."
Now, let me jump ahead to something pretty recent. You played Nathan Detroit in a Broadway revival of "Guys and Dolls." This is the role done by Frank Sinatra in the movie. Had you been in musicals before?
Mr. PLATT: I had been in musicals in high school. But, you know, the high school musical and the Broadway musical are two completely different beasts. I, you know, I'd done plays before, you know, in the professional environment and you're really worrying about the play and the text, and but with a musical, there's choreography, there's learning the songs, there's, you know, quote/unquote "dancing," which I only say quote/unquote because I, you know, they were very very kind about the demands they put on me for dancing. But there's just a lot of difference. There's a lot of - and it makes it thrilling, you know, once you figure how to do it.
You know, I'll never forget like the first time I - we're sitting in these beautiful rehearsal studios on 42nd Street. It had these huge windows and you're kind of looking out over Time Square and Broadway. And the first time, you know, that I was sitting in the middle of this chorus of singers in the cast. And the first time we all sang, you know, "Luck Be A Lady." I mean you're just sitting there going, oh my god. I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this, you know.
GROSS: So sadly, this Broadway revival of "Guys and Dolls" that you were in did not get great reviews and it closed in a few months. Was that kind of heartbreaking for you?
Mr. PLATT: You know, it wasn't easy but we got to do it for a while. And, you know, when the show wasn't well received we were all disappointed and your first, you know, your first response is oh god, I wish this would just go away. But then when it didn't you settled into it and, you know, it's "Guys and Dolls," and people would come and despite what the critics said, they would have a ball.
And, you know, I don't know how to describe it. You know, there's something about working in that environment that is absolutely magic. You know, I'd run off stage right. I'd have to make an exit stage left in 47 seconds. You run down the stairs, you know, three sweaty dancing girls, you know, in their hotbox...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: ...outfits who would pass you, you know, giggling on the way up the stairs. You take a right, you pass the wig room. You look in the wig room, there's a guy dressed up in a pin stripped like trying to put the moves on one of the hairdressers.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: You know, you keep - you're trying to follow this little yellow lone. You hear the washing machines humming, you know, because they're already doing the clothes, then you pass like the trap room. There's a guy sitting in front of a glowing monitor pressing button because something isn't functioning.
You finally get to the stairs. You're ready to go up and then like Benny Southstreet, the Nicely-Nicely, come barreling down the stairs, you know, like laughing about something that just went wrong on stage. And you barrel up the stairs and then you see the security guard and he's watching the Yankee game. You know, he's lit by the glow of the Yankee game. He's got this earpiece in but he's drooling but he's asleep and he's perfectly lit by little spotlight above.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: And then you rush back on stage and then the whole time, you're listening to this gorgeous Frank Loesser music. And once again you go; I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this.
GROSS: You know, I especially noticed in your new movie "Please Give," how tall you are. You kind of towering over the actress who plays your daughter and you tower over Catherine Keener. You're a big man.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. PLATT: Well, thank you.
GROSS: How do you feel like you use your size in different performances?
Mr. PLATT: You know, that's a really interesting question. You know, sometimes it need to be used and sometimes it wants to be not used, you know. And the great thing about film is that they can make you as short or tall as they want, you know, by putting other actors on boxes or putting you in a ditch. You know, I have to say the honest answer is I don't think about it too much, you know. I think about it if I need it and then I realize that it's just there. You know, if I have to be imposing I just, you know, it's talk softly and carry a big stick. I mean I kind of, you are the big stick, you know, what I mean if you have that size.
GROSS: So what's a role where you've used it to be imposing? "West Wing?"
Mr. PLATT: Yeah. Maybe Oliver Babish.
GROSS: Yeah.
Mr. PLATT: Since we've been talking about a little a bit.
GROSS: Uh-huh.
Mr. PLATT: And he was a very imposing character.
GROSS: Now how do you think your size affects the roles that you're cast in?
Mr. PLATT: A lot of directors are surprised by my size. They think that I'm shorter. I think it affects it maybe in secondarily. But it's not like people say let's get that guy. He's so tall. People are almost always surprised by it.
GROSS: What about being like a little husky?
Mr. PLATT: I think that, you know, I don't know, I wonder about that endlessly. I think that something it keeps me away from certain roles. I think it gets me other roles. In the end it's probably a wash, but it's just it's what I am.
GROSS: Well, Oliver Platt, I wish you good look with your new movie and your new TV series. And I really want to thank you for talking with us.
Mr. PLATT: It's my pleasure, Terry. Thank you.
GROSS: Oliver Platt stars with Catherine Keener in the new film "Please Give." It has its New York premier tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival and opens Friday in New York and L.A.
You can see clips from "Please Give" on our website freshair.npr.org where you can also download podcasts of our show.
(Soundbite of music)
I'm Terry Gross.
(Soundbite of music)
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