Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Patti Smith has been hailed as the Godmother of Punk, the people’s poet, a defining voice of her generation. She’s been inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame. She won a National Book Award for her memoir, Just Kids. Last fall, she published her most intimate book yet: Bread of Angels.

Act I: In Sickness and In Health

We discuss Patti’s early creative awakenings in South Jersey (7:50), discovering Bob Dylan at sixteen (18:00), and the summer job that inspired her infamous poem, Piss Factory (21:20).

Act II: Coming to New York

Then, we walk through her nomadic years with Robert Mapplethorpe in-and-out-of the Chelsea Hotel (32:30), her run-in with the Rolling Thunder Revue (39:58), the whirlwind of making her debut album Horses (45:28), and why she left it all behind (50:24).

Act III: Curtain Call

To close, she talks about giving voice to those whose time was cut short (53:00), her tireless desire and commitment to evolve as an artist (59:23), and the protests and politics that have shaped some of her best and most urgent work to date (1:01:37).

Subscribe to our new YouTube channel. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Gwyneth Paltrow, now and forever, reigns supreme.
Watch this conversation on YouTube.
We discuss her return to acting in Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme (7:45), the personal parallels that shaped her portrayal of 1930s movie star Kay Stone (8:00), and memories of her early years at the Williamstown Theatre Festival (12:14). Then, Paltrow reflects on the “fast-moving train” that followed her breakout roles in Se7en, Hard Eight, and Emma (30:05), the sexism she encountered in Hollywood (32:35), and how her sense of self shifted after winning the Academy Award for Shakespeare in Love at just twenty-six (35:00).
On the back-half, we revisit the making of The Royal Tenenbaums (41:40), her decision to step away from acting to build Goop (49:30), why she continues to advocate for wellness practices today (57:30), and what she imagines the next chapter of her life and work might hold (1:00:18).
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Before Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder) became an EGOT-winning actor, she was an observer. Her work takes the human experience and transmutes it, offering a mirror and a window into ourselves.
You can watch this conversation on YouTube.
As we (gradually) move into 2026, we revisit our sit-down with Davis. We unpack her liberating projects in The Woman King (4:24) and G20 (4:50), the formative years she spent growing up in Rhode Island (13:52), and how she captured those familial memories in her 2022 memoir Finding Me (17:12). Then, we talk about Viola’s start as a performer (23:40), what she learned attending Juilliard (31:57), and the quagmire she faced as a Black actor emerging on Broadway and in Hollywood post-graduation (35:10).
On the back-half, Davis reflects on a scene from August Wilson’s play Seven Guitars (37:50), her singular experience acting alongside Meryl Streep in Doubt (47:25), and the ways her life transformed during Shonda Rhymes’ How to Get Away with Murder and Steve McQueen’s Widows (53:00). To close, Viola shares her views on legacy (1:01:05) and how she finds her way back home, each and every day (1:05:20).
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].
Original air date: April 27, 2025
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’re closing out 2025 with the person who made us laugh the most this year: comedian Robby Hoffman.
[You can watch this conversation on YouTube.]
At the top, we unpack the joys of her new Netflix special Wake Up (4:00), her views on Sunday football (9:00), and the state of masculinity (15:00). Then, Robby walks us through her Orthodox upbringing (19:00), leaving America for Canada (21:00), and how she started to find herself in high school (32:00).
On the back-half, we talk her first night doing stand-up (39:00), some candid thoughts on her community (47:00), how she landed her break writing for The Chris Gethard Show (51:40), the conditions she fought to improve during the WGA strikes (53:00), a tribute to the late Rob Reiner (1:07:30), and the systemic change she wants to see in 2026 (1:10:00).
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For over thirty years, Kate Winslet has been one of the most beloved performers on screen.
We discuss her directorial debut in Goodbye June (5:00), the loss that inspired this personal screenplay (10:00), and how her experiences in Hollywood shaped her approach to directing (20:00). Then, Winslet reflects on her vivid upbringing in Reading, England (23:00), landing her breakout role in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures (30:00), and the encouragement of her artistic father (33:00).
On the back-half, we walk through how she crafted her performance in Sense and Sensibility (35:00), her Titanic audition (38:00), the scrutiny she endured in the film’s aftermath (40:00), and the body of work she ultimately made as a refutation of the industry that tried to define her: namely, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (48:00) and Mare of Easttown (52:00).
Watch this conversation on YouTube. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.