Musician Hamilton Leithauser on Learning Chess (Hard) and Building Chess Boards (Also Hard)

Episode 190

30th September 2026

Hamilton Leithauser of the Walkmen and an acclaimed solo career has poured a lot of time into learning chess and, while not on the road, building his own boards. He goes into great detail on both pursuits.

Episode notes

The life of a touring musician can involve a considerable amount of down time. There’s travel, checking into the hotel, sound check, the show, and some schmoozing, but that leaves many hours in the day for maddeningly difficult hobbies. Hamilton Leithauser of the Walkmen and an acclaimed solo career has poured a lot of time into learning chess and, while not on the road, building his own boards. He goes into great detail on both pursuits in order to lull you to sleeptime. Hamilton also fills us in on how various musicians and philosophers would do as chess competitors but if you want to hear his appraisal of Andrew Bird and Sartre versus the hardcore speed chess guys in Washington Square.

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  • Hamilton Leithauser

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Getting to sleep can be difficult sometimes. Now you can achieve that urgently needed rest by taking advantage of our most precious natural resource: celebrities. Each week on the slyly humorous and reassuring Sleeping With Celebrities, host John Moe talks with a different guest from the world of entertainment about something they know a lot about. The conversation is guaranteed to be just interesting enough to draw your attention away from your own swirling anxieties but never interesting enough to keep you awake. No startling revelations, no dramatic screaming confrontations, but plenty of low-key dialogue, intricately laced deadpan comedy, and a ticket to dreamland.

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