When Jane Fonda accepted the SAG-AFTRA Lifetime Achievement Award, she turned the stage into a call to action: “We have to be brave. And we have to be willing to be woke.” At 87, she’s using as she says, her privilege to stand up for peace, women’s rights, and climate. Link in bio. #fresh-air

There’s a certain tenderness beneath Atsuko Okatsuka’s comedy, an aura, as she puts it, of sadness but also immense joy and light. She shared how growing up with a mother who lives with schizophrenia shaped the way she sees the world... and how she carries her mom with her in every performance.

Writer Ocean Vuong has been asking: Why did the working-class people he grew up with show such deep kindness, even when there was nothing to gain? In Emperor of Gladness, and in life, he returns to one moment of shared grief in a fast food kitchen. Link in bio.

He said, “Let’s get into the thick of it, the real of it,” and so that’s what we did. Today on Fresh Air, Walton Goggins.

What would you chase if you knew your death was imminent?

In the FX series Dying for Sex, Michelle Williams plays a woman who goes all in on sexual pleasure after a stage four cancer diagnosis. This show is raw, hilarious, heart-wrenching, and so human.

Listen wherever you get Fresh Air.

I’ve been having conversations with women all day about this story and this book. A must listen.

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Seth Rogen joined me to talk all things Hollywood for his new Apple TV Plus series “The Studio.” Like most of his work, it’s based on real life events - a satirical look at a new Hollywood exec desperate to make good movies and win celebrity approval. Listen wherever you get Fresh Air.

Some people are here to remind you that we are expansive beings that have the ability to defy labels and find freedom through expression. Check out my conversation with Ramell Ross who is up for two Academy Awards for his adaptation of “Nickel Boys”

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Ariana Grande and I had a wicked good time 😜talking about the cultural significance of Wicked. Check it out wherever you listen to Fresh Air.

Nikki Giovanni said when you go to someone’s house in mourning, you should bring a good bottle of champagne. 🥂🍾Thank you for showing us a way.

What’s your must have dish on Thanksgiving? John David and Malcolm Washington says it’s impossible to choose just one!🍴

Check out our full convo wherever you get Fresh Air.

Animation: Audrey Benjamin
#thanksgiving #happythanksgiving #johndavidwashington #malcolmwashington #thepianolesson

Thanks to the Washington brothers for being so open about finding their own voices and identity in the industry and how so much is riding on The Piano Lesson for both of them. Listen to Fresh Air w/ Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley wherever you get your podcasts.

As Selena Gomez joked it’s the kind of convo you want to curl up in your pajamas and listen to.

We talked about her performance in the new Netflix melodrama Emilia Perez and the importance of it during the political movement against trans rights and so much more. On Fresh Air wherever you listen.