Transcript
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Gentle, trilling music with a steady drumbeat plays under the dialogue.
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Speaker: Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR. [Music fades out.]
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“Huddle Formation” from the album Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team. A fast, upbeat, peppy song. Music plays as Jesse speaks, then fades out.
jesse thorn
It’s Bullseye. I’m Jesse Thorn. Alfred Molina started his acting career almost 40 years ago. First, on British television, then he did some movies. His first big part came in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. He’s right at the very beginning. He’s the guy who steals the idol from Indiana then abandons him. Not a bad first gig. Since then, he’s played over 150 roles onscreen. He’s responsible for a bunch of other unforgettable scenes in movies like Boogie Nights, Chocolat, Magnolia. He played Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2. And guess what?! Doc Oc’s back, baby! Alfred reprised his role for Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is out now. When I talked with Alfred Molina in 2017, he’d just starred in the first season of the FX series, Feud. It’s set in 1962 and it tells the story of the rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford that took place when they filmed the movie Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. Molina plays Robert Aldrich, the movie’s director. He is—as always—great. And in this clip from the pilot episode, Molina’s character is on the phone trying to convince a reluctant Bette Davis—played by Susan Sarandon, to team up with Joan Crawford and take the part.
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Robert Aldrich (Feud): Bette, listen, here’s the deal. Crawford’s name on the marquee gets us distribution. I need her to get the picture made, but I need you to make the picture great. Bette Davis: Keep talking. Robert: Bette, listen. I’ve made my share of steaming piles of [censored], but every now and again, I get a chance to work with an artist like you—someone who isn’t afraid to leap off a cliff. Most people are terrified to go anywhere near the edge. Now, that gets me excited! I’m a kid again! Everything’s possible. Bette, I promise you, this is gonna be the greatest horror movie ever made. And Baby Jane’s the greatest part you’ll play since Margo Channing. Bette: Alright, answer this question and don’t lie. Why this picture? Robert: Honestly? I’m not being offered anything else. [Bette chuckles dryly.]
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jesse
Alfred Molina, welcome to Bullseye. It’s great to have you on the show.
alfred molina
Thank you! Thank you. Nice to be here!
jesse
Your character on Feud’s entire story is suffused with this combination of bravado and entitlement and terror. Like, there is not a moment when you are not staring down the [chuckling] end of your career at the same time as there is not a moment that you are presuming that everyone on earth should just do what you say. [They chuckle.]
alfred
I think that’s true. That’s—it—and it’s very true, I think, of a lot of people. Particularly White males in the industry at that time. I mean, there was—you know, and I don’t think Robert Aldrich’s generation even spoke in terms of entitlement and privilege. I don’t think those words would even have occurred to them—that it was an issue to—you know. It was just the way things were. I mean, there’s a wonderful moment in the series when Alison Wright’s character, Pauline, confides in Robert and says that, you know, she’s written this script and she really feels like she wants to direct it. And he basically says to her, “No, that’s not gonna happen. Because, you know, women don’t direct movies.” And he doesn’t say it with any sort of meanness. It’s just the way it is. It’s just a fact. And I think that sort of truism—that—the fact that that existed, that situation existed, allowed men like Robert to both sort of be very conscious of how their careers were oscillating and at the same time—assuming that, you know, what they said went. You know. And it’s—it must have—I imagine someone like Robert couldn’t exist today. Maybe. In the movies. Only—unless they were literally rhino skinned. [Laughs.]
jesse
You play a lot of bad guys. Do you find yourself liking them when you play them?
alfred
I suppose on some level you do, one does. I think—yeah, I think on some level you kind of have to embrace them. Not that you sort of endorse anything, but you—yeah, you have to—maybe “liking” isn’t quite… I can only speak for myself. I become—I accept them, I think. [Chuckles.] You know? But there again, the villains I’ve played have very often been sort of villains in a kind of rather sort of extreme, heightened way. They haven’t always been comic book villains, but they’ve often been men who have done bad things for—you know, for a good reason or have done bad things—you know, has been a motivator for something else. You know? So, there’s always a—there’s always a reason for it. You know? But I think yeah. I think you have to embrace your characters, if only so as not to misrepresent them, if anything.
jesse
You did play a literal comic book villain.
alfred
I did. Yes, and—
jesse
You played—you played Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2. [Alfred affirms.] Which I have to say, I think is probably the best—is probably my favorite comic book movie. You’re wonderful in it. [Alfred thanks him.] That movie is a blast. It’s a really—I mean, I think—you know, it’s 15 years later and—you know, you can—you can see a little bit of age on it these days. [Alfred agrees.] But that movie is—
alfred
Nothing ages—[laughing] nothing ages quicker than acting styles and kind of movie styles. Nothing ages quicker. It’s amazing.
jesse
[Laughing.] Well, certainly computer graphics are one of the things that ages the most poorly. But that movie is a really fun movie. And I wonder if you’re playing a character that is like literally an evil genius. [Laughs.] Like, an actual, literal, semi-robotic evil genius. How much of that is you seeking grounded humanity and how much of it is you letting on that you’re enjoying being a robot man?
alfred
Well, I think it’s—I think it’s 50/50. You know? I think there’s—you have to—again, this goes back to the whole idea about—you don’t just embrace a character, but you embrace the world that the character’s—you know, operating in. And I think there’s nothing worse than getting into one of those movies—particularly those kind of—you know, the whole comic book world of villains and superheroes. You can’t go in there with a sort of attitude like you’re gonna be ironic about it. Because that just doesn’t work. It’s—you’re [inaudible] to nothing. You have to literally—you have to embrace it and it has to be in some way as authentic as you can make it. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun along the way. I mean, the late Bob Hoskins once said beautifully that he loved playing villains. And these were the three reasons he gave. You work for about half the time as the leading man. They treat you like the crown jewels. And if the movie sucks, nobody blames the bad guy. [They laugh.] And the thing is, it’s absolutely true! You know, you can hate a movie. No one ever comes out kind of going, “Oh! The villain really—augh, the villain was terrible!” You know. No! Because the villain—the actor or actress who gets to play the villain—has such wonderful license to have fun. To kind of—you know, you can legitimately chew the scenery when you’re playing the bad guy. So, there’s that element, which makes it a lot of fun to play, but then there’s the whole other side. Which is you wanna make a villain—at least give him some depth, give him some dimension, give him somewhere to go. So, if you have a moment—the moment of regret, the moment of redemption, the moment when the villain suddenly does the right thing or—you know—sacrifices him or herself to do the good thing. That moment can mean something. It can have some value, not just for the story but also for the audience. So, there’s a—it’s a great gig to play the bad guy. It’s a great gig. It really is.
jesse
One of the things that I really like about those first two Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, and especially Spider-Man 2—which as I mentioned is my fave—is, you know, a lot of those comic books, especially those Marvel comic books, are about the kind of wounds of adolescence. You know? They’re about—and Spider-Man especially, who is adolescent. Or at least like just post-adolescent. They’re about those kind of hurts. And your character in that movie is allowed to be hurt and vulnerable—both literally, physically. I mean, that’s why he has robot arms. Um. [Laughs.] By the way, this is gonna be the most extensive discussion of robot arms in NPR history. [Alfred giggles.] But like, that’s both why he has robot arms and the kind of—what’s going on for his character is that he has this hurt. And you know, it’s not just a, “Let’s destroy the world,” hurt. It’s also kind of a scared hurt.
alfred
I would add to that that what makes the Marvel comic universe so interesting is that so many of the villains and the heroes in that world become so reluctantly. They—something—they don’t choose to be a superhero or a supervillain. They—something happens to them. And I think that is a really crucial part of—you know, of why they’re so appealing. And you know, as you say, it’s that—to do with that hurt, that life experience somehow. And that in itself just gives them a kind of—a humanity and a depth that is—from an actor’s point of view, that’s really playable! That’s wonderful material to play with. You know. ‘Cause it’s something very real. It’s not a concept or an idea. It’s actually something that’s actable, that’s doable.
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Thumpy synth with light vocalizations.
jesse
Welcome back to Bullseye. I’m Jesse Thorn. My guest, Alfred Molina, has starred in movies like Boogie Nights, Frieda, and the brand-new Spider-Man: No Way Home. Let’s get back into our conversation. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your life.
alfred
[Snorts.] Ooh. I can hear the—I can hear the listeners turning off. [Wheezes with laughter.]
jesse
You grew up in London, the child of two immigrants. Your father from Spain and your mother from Italy. And I wonder how you thought of yourself, as a kid. Did you feel English?
alfred
I remember feeling English at times. I remember desperately wanting to feel English, but somehow England was always somehow reminding me and my family that we weren’t. It was—you know, I was born in ’53, 1953. So, I was growing up in the late ‘50s and ‘60s—early ‘60s. And the war—World War II was still very much alive in people’s memories. You know? It was only 20-something years before. There wasn’t—people—there were still people who were active in politics, in the culture, in everyday life who had direct experiences of the war, and so on. So, it was huge—it was a huge event and something which completely colored and influenced everything about—you know—life in Britain.
jesse
Including people’s opinions of Spaniards and Italians?
alfred
Yeah! Because the Italians were—had been for a while, you know, sort of allied with Nazi Germany. Spain had a fascist dictator who had remained neutral. But there was always the Brits—the British have always had a very good talent at reminding you—making you feel very welcome and at the same time reminding you that you’re not quite British. You’re not—you know. And so, I kind of was aware—I was conscious of that a lot. But on a day-to-day basis, I was the recipient of lots of different influences. You know. My parents worked in the catering business. My father was a waiter. My mother cleaned rooms in hotels. You know. We watched British TV even though most of it was American. [Laughs.] You know. We ate Spanish food and Italian food and I sometimes longed for English food, which I—oddly enough, my parents didn’t cook very well. [Jesse chuckles.] I think I was maybe the only kid in my class that actually enjoyed school dinners. [Laughs.] So, it was a—it was a—there was a lot of confusion, but the one thing that was constant was my parents’ attempts to be—to kind of—to assimilate. You know, they worked very hard at learning English, and they learnt English very well. They could—they both had a real skill for languages. They both learned each other’s language and English, obviously. They had French in common. They could read, write, and speak fluently. So, there was—they were very proud to be there and very happy to be there. And they worked very hard. But there was always—there was always— You know, I can remember being told by my very first agent—‘cause I went through drama school. My full name is Alfredo, and I went through drama school as Alfredo. And then my first agent said, “Oh! You’ll have to drop the ‘o’, darling. You’ll be—uh, otherwise you’ll be playing Spanish waiters your whole life.” You know? And that—that amazed—I was thinking about that recently and I suddenly thought, can you imagine—can you imagine someone saying that nowadays to—I don’t know, Benicio Del Toro. You know? Can you imagine someone saying, “Benny.” [Laughing.] “You have to—yeah, it’s too ethnic.” You know. And I sort of—I’m sorry that I—I’m sorry that I acquiesced, now. I’m sorry that I took his advice.
jesse
I wanna play maybe the most famous scene that you have ever been in.
alfred
Ooh!
jesse
It was your first film. A movie called Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark—maybe some of our audience have heard of it. [Alfred laughs.] They may—if they don’t remember it from the film, they probably remember this scene from the ride at Disneyland. So, you played the Peruvian guide of Indiana Jones. You betray him after stealing a golden idol, which leads to a boulder that both of you have to outrun. Maybe the boulder comes immediately after you no longer can do any running. Let’s take a listen as your character is on the other side of a crevasse, from Indiana Jones.
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Music: A heroic, orchestral score. [Rubble rolling through.] Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark): Give me the whip. Satipo: Throw me the idol. No time to argue! Throw me the idol! I throw you the whip! Indiana: Give me the whip! Satipo: Adios, senior. [Stone creaks and the music swells.]
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jesse
[They laugh.] You’ve now spent I guess like 35 years or something like that as the “throw me the whip, throw me the idol” guy.
alfred
Yeah. Yeah. Nothing wrong with that.
jesse
[Laughs.] Like, you would think that being Dr. Octopus would perhaps outclass being the “throw me the whip, throw me the idol” guy. But I imagine that those are—I was gonna say a burden that you—that you carry, but I—the wings on your back will always be, “Throw me the whip, throw me the idol.” [Laughs.]
alfred
Yeah. There is no—yeah. I—this is—there is no burden. There is no—there is no burden involved whatsoever. This is the one thing—when actors complain about, you know, getting stuck in—what is it? “Oh, god, everyone keeps mentioning that line or that line,” I start to lose my patience. Because it—this is—you know. I’m very flattered! I’m very flattered that I’m—you know, I’m part of a—you know. I’m a tiny little part—I’m a tiny little footnote in the history of movies. And that’s delightful to me!
jesse
Indiana Jones in and of itself is, essentially, an extended allusion to a kind of collective memory of cinema. That it is—the whole operation is basically a tribute act. I mean, it’s like the greatest tribute act ever. And that gives you permission, as an actor, to perform in a way that you can’t in An Education. [Alfred agrees.] Or [chuckles] one of the other many sincere and deeply grounded films in which you’ve performed.
alfred
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it’s a—it’s a—it’s an iconic piece of film. It’s a huge landmark in the history of movies. And the fact that it’s—the fact that it is a kind of—as you say, it is a sort of throwback to a style of film that clearly—you know, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were sort of great fans of. That is a—so, I’m—I see myself as part of this continuum. And so, I’m very—I’m very proud and privileged about that. You know? I feel—I feel privileged to be a part of it. But it’s—it was the first time I realized that playing villains is gonna be a lot of fun.
jesse
I read somewhere that sometimes onset, you will play the game—either with yourself or with other people—who would’ve played this part 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. [Alfred laughs and confirms.] And in some way, that is you placing yourself in your performance in this—in this context of the motion of time and history.
alfred
Yeah, well, it started—it started off when we were on the set of—I did a movie called Prince of Persia, with Jake Gyllenhaal. Mike Newell directed it. And we were sitting around. We were in North Africa. We were just filming. We were sitting around the set waiting to get a shot done and we were talking about how—you know, Mike Newell—our director—was actually talking about films that had influenced him in terms of how he wanted this to look. And he was—you know, he’d mentioned a few titles. And I then said, “Well, if we were making this movie 30 years ago, who would—who would be playing our parts?” And what occurred to me was that the actor most likely, 30 years ago and maybe 40 years ago, to play my part would’ve been Peter Ustinov. Because he also had this—played a lot of bad guys, different ethnic types—you know, different accents—you know, different—he—you know, he’d shave his head, or he’d grow it long. He'd wear a long wig or false ears or something. He was constantly changing his look and everything. And I suddenly thought, “Yeah, he'd be playing this part. This’d be his part.” And then we just—and then it just got extended into other actors were talking about who would play them. You know. And it was—and it was a fun game, because you suddenly—you do see this sort of—you see this kind of arc of why certain actors get picked for certain roles—you know, what it is about them that kind of brings those characters to life. You know? Is it—is it just the character? Is it what the actor does with it? You know. And it’s sort of—I mean to me anyway, endlessly fascinating balance of how much of it is the character and how much of it is the actor sort of, you know, bringing it to life.
jesse
Does it make you self-conscious when you think about those things, because it makes you realize how much of your own career is not necessarily your acting choices but some quality that you have?
alfred
I think it makes me… [chuckles] it does two things, actually. It makes me very grateful that I’ve had the chance to do these—this kind of range of stuff. But it also makes me aware that I’ll never be as good as I think I am in my head, first thing in the morning. You know. It’s— [They both wheeze with laughter.] It’s like there’s this—you know, it’s like that old thing about we all think we sound like Sinatra when we sing in the shower. You know. And you know, I go to work in the morning, and I’ll think about the day’s work and what’s involved and what’s required. And in my head, I’m thinking, “It’s gonna be great. I’m really—this scene today, I’m just gonna—I’m really gonna knock this out of the park. Yes. I’m totally ready. I’m totally prepared.” And at the end of the day, I’m thinking—I’m going home thinking, “Ugh. Missed that one. Oh, I could’ve done so much better.” And I think there’s this—and this is the actor’s dilemma. This is the—this is the truth that we all live with, that—you know, we all think we’re—we all think we’re Frank Sinatra in our heads. [Laughs.] But we’re not. You know. And—which is why I always tell people I never trust—I never trust actors when they say that they nailed it. [Jesse laughs.] You know, when an actor kind of does a take and goes, “Yeah, that’s it! Nailed it!” I never trust that because I don’t think—I don’t think we ever do.
jesse
Here in our office, when we booked you on the show there was a sort of collective understanding that we would be playing a scene from the movie Boogie Nights. Which if anyone—it’s a wonderful film. The film that in some ways established Paul Thomas Anderson as one of America’s great cinematic auteurs. And it’s also a totally bonkers movie. It’s like super bonkers. Your scene—one of the more bonkers scenes in the movie! [Alfred cackles.] There was some discussion of like, “Does this even mean anything on a radio show?” So, basically, Mark Wahlberg is the protagonist—a guy named Dirk Diggler who’s a porn star who eventually starts to dabble in drug dealing and phony drug dealing. And they go to meet your character, who’s named Rahad Jackson. And it’s really crazy. There’s a giant dude in a bathrobe with a knife inside his bathrobe and your character is high as [censored]. And he has a giant revolver and also another guy just offscreen is playing with firecrackers. [Chuckles.] So, uh, let’s take a listen.
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Music: “Sister Christian” by Night Ranger plays loudly in the background. [Loud firecrackers go off at irregular intervals.] Reed (Boogie Nights): That thing’s not loaded, is it? Rahad: Ah, not yet! [Chuckles.] Todd: Is that silver? Reed: Look—we— Rahad: Let’s see what happens now, huh? [He spins the barrel of the revolver.] Reed: [Stammering] It doesn’t have to—don’t point—! Please do not point a gun at me, sir. Todd: Don’t worry about it. Reed: Todd. Rahad: [Laughs.] Why, you think I can’t do it? Huh? Reed: No. Wait—no, no—sir— Rahad: You think I can’t do it? Why, you wanna see me do it? You dare me? Reed: No, we don’t dare you— Rahad: You dare me?! [A firecracker bangs. Rahad cackles.] Rahad: [Censored] dare me! [Laughs.]
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jesse
There’s this version of that scene that a guy made and put up on Vimeo where he removes the music, digitally. And it is so crazy and intense without—like, the music is so fun that it gives the house of mirrors terror quality an edge of fun. [Alfred laughs.] Like, the fact that everything is to the tune of “Sister Christian”, this goofy song—but like it must have been crazy to do that over and over on a soundstage or whatever.
alfred
Well, it was! But it was—our director, Paul Thomas Anderson, did a very clever thing which I thought was brilliant. And it was all to do with tone and texture. He wanted the young actor who was playing my like—you know, my houseboy as it were, who was lighting the firecrackers—he instructed him to just light the crackers in his own time, not to worry about continuity or, you know, as each take. Just to do it whenever he felt like it. And the crackers were full—you know, full bore as it were. So, they were very loud. A sound man’s nightmare. But you know, they went with it. So, the three actors—Thomas Jane and Mark Wahlberg and John C Reilly were sitting on the sofa sort of watching me. They could hear those firecrackers going off at full—you know, full volume. And it was—and they didn’t know when it was coming. So, every time they reacted, every time they kind of jumped or got freaked out by the noise was completely genuine. But PT Anderson wanted my character to kind of float through this completely unaffected by it. So, what we did was he—I plugged up one of my—one ear was completely plugged up so I couldn’t hear anything. And in the other ear, there was an earwig so I could hear the dialogue. So, when the firecrackers went off, all I heard was like a faint sort of poooof. Like a very faint sound, like in the back. So, [stammering] it didn’t cause any reaction in me. So, Rahad Jackson is wandering through the scene, eerily kind of completely unaffected by it. And that—just that simple decision—created a very weird vibe. And it was—and it worked so beautifully. Because I was—I was—you know, supposed—the character was supposed to be as high as a kite. And it was just—it was such a stroke—I thought it was a stroke of genius on his part.
jesse
We’ll have more with Alfred Molina after a break. We’ll talk about how he thinks being the child of immigrant parents made him a better actor. It’s Bullseye, from MaximumFun.org and NPR.
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Thumpy rock music.
jesse
Welcome back to Bullseye. I’m Jesse Thorn. I’m talking with Alfred Molina. He’s an actor with over 150 screen credits. Maybe you’ve seen him in Magnolia or Freida or Promising Young Woman. He’s starring in the new Spider-Man movie, which is out now. When he and I talked in 2017, he’d just starred in the FX miniseries Feud, which centered on the real-life rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Let’s get back into our conversation. Do you, as an actor in your 60s who has performed every single kind of role, relate to the part of Robert Aldrich—the character you play on Feud—who has just worked?
alfred
Yeah, I do. I think part of why I enjoyed playing Robert so much—and I—you know, I didn’t get to meet any of his surviving relatives or anything. I didn’t—you know, I didn’t have any sort of insightful conversations with people who knew him on a personal level. I just—I just garnered what information I could from what’s out there in the public—in the public domain. But I enjoyed playing him because I kind of—I related to him in many ways. And one of the things was, this was his job, and he loved his job, but it was his job. You know. He never—he never spoke about his job in any kind of way that was mystical or some way—you know, like it was some strange sort of moment of—you know, connection between him and something cosmic. You know. I mean, when—I get a little—I get a little frustrated with that approach to acting. You know? When people talk about it as if it’s some kind of strange, metaphysical event that only they know about. It’s a craft. You know? It’s a job. And my pleasure in the job is being able to utilize whatever skill I’ve got to the best advantage. But I see it as a craft. It’s—you know, it’s a craft that I practice. And I think my connection with Robert Aldrich was that I could see that in his work.
jesse
Lin Manuel-Miranda has that line in Hamilton, “Immigrants, we get the job done.” [Alfred affirms.] I wonder if you having gone into the most frivolous of all professions, um— [They chuckle.] If there is a part of the way that you approach your work that comes from the fact that your parents were immigrants who chose on your behalf, in large part, to live a life of painful and difficult work.
alfred
I’m sure. That could well be. I don’t quite know to what extent or how deep that goes, but I think you’re right. I think there is—I don’t know if it’s—I don’t know if it’s a kind of anti-intellectualism on my part or whether I’m just being defensive or if I’m just trying hard not to, you know—not to sort of be honest with myself about it. But I’ve always—I’ve always thought that my parents’ experience of being immigrants to the UK and my own experience of being an immigrant to America has given me a perspective that is more to do with just wanting to—just wanting to do the job rather than wanting to kind of talk about the job. You know, I mean, I talk about acting. You know, I do a bit of teaching occasionally. I’m happy to talk with younger actors about my experiences and, you know, whatever they glean from that is great. You know. If anything. But I don’t talk about the work as if it was art. It’s a craft, in my opinion. I try not to use the word artist when I’m describing anything I’m doing or anything I’m about. It—I see myself as a craftsperson. And my—and my job is part of a bigger storytelling process. That’s why I’ve always—my only criteria was to stay employed. And that’s something I learned from my parents. You know. That’s something that I watched them do and something that I, at one point in my life I kind of despised them for it. But now I respect them enormously for what they had to deal with, what they had to sacrifice, what they put up with, what they achieved. And any story—and I think playing characters who are not from where they are—you know, playing characters who are foreign in some way, maybe that’s part of it as well. Maybe the attraction of playing those parts is to do with their experience and mine. But as far as the work’s concerned, I take my work very seriously and I really admire other people’s work. I’m a—you know, I’m a fan. I’m a consumer of good work as much as I try to be a practitioner. But it is a job. It’s a gig. It’s a craft that you can—that if you’re lucky enough to stay on the bus and keep working at it, you can get better at it.
jesse
Well, Alfred Molina, AKA Alfredo Molina.
alfred
Thank you.
jesse
AKA Fred Molina.
alfred
That’s right!
jesse
Thank you so much for joining me on Bullseye. It was really great to get to talk to you.
alfred
Oh, likewise. Been a real pleasure. Thank you.
jesse
Alfred Molina from 2017. There are so many Spider-Man movies at this point. I don’t think I can even count that high. But the two with Alfred Molina in them are particularly excellent—Spider-Man 2, maybe still my pick for the best Spider-Man movie ever, and the newest one, Spider-Man: No Way Home.
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Bright, brassy music.
jesse
That’s the end of another episode of Bullseye. Bullseye is created from the homes me and the staff of Maximum Fun, in and around greater Los Angeles, California. Here at my house, I finally got the TV up on the wall. And, uh, I gave away this dumb entertainment console that I’ve hated ever since I bought it, eight years ago. Gave it away for free on Craigslist. A nice man put it in his SUV. Never been so happy to see a piece of furniture leave my home. Our show is produced by speaking into microphones. Our senior producer is Kevin Ferguson. Our producer is Jesus Ambrosio. Production fellows at Maximum Fun are Richard Robey and Valerie Moffat. Our interstitial music is by Dan Wally, also known as DJW. Our theme song is “Huddle Formation” by The Go! Team. Thanks to them and to Memphis Industries, their label, for letting us use that tune. You can also keep up with our show on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Go check us out in all of those places. And I think that’s about it. Just remember: all great radio hosts have a signature signoff.
promo
Speaker: Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR. [Music fades out.]
About the show
Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.
Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.
If you would like to pitch a guest for Bullseye, please CLICK HERE. You can also follow Bullseye on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. For more about Bullseye and to see a list of stations that carry it, please click here.
Get in touch with the show
@bullseye.bsky.social
@bullseyewithjessethornPeople
How to listen
Stream or download episodes directly from our website, or listen via your favorite podcatcher!
