The Bat Segundo Show was a long-running cultural radio program devoted to quirky and very thorough long-form interviews with contemporary authors, idiosyncratic thinkers, and other assorted artists. Guests included David Lynch, Octavia Butler, John Waters, John Updike, Stephen Fry, Marilynne Robinson, Karen Russell, Weird Al Yankovic, Robert A. Caro, and more than 500 others. There was also a program called Follow Your Ears, which was a thematic investigative counterpart, in which I pursued a specific subject through several angles. The entire archive of what I did from 2005 to 2014 is included here.
Dick Cavett’s column, “Talk Show,” regularly appears at the New York Times. (PROGRAM NOTE: During the course of our conversation, a “Professor Robert Castelli from John Jay College” — who apparently has a background in law enforcement — pushed in Mr. Cavett’s chair, causing Mr. Cavett to accost him. This unusual social moment, which was […]
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MoreMaggie Estep is most recently the author of Alice Fantastic. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Hoping to see Alice at the next opportunity. Author: Maggie Estep Subjects Discussed: Efforts to determine if it’s good to be happy, animals throughout Estep’s work, how love for animals is directly proportional to love for human beings, Of Mice and […]
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MorePhilip Alcabes is most recently the author of Dread. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Attempting to understand the certainty of certain dread, and the dread of dreadful certainty. Author: Philip Alcabes Subjects Discussed: Overstating the three Ps (pandemic, pestilence, and plague), contending with a hypothetical situation involving a Norway rat eating your sandwich for lunch, the […]
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MoreLizzie Skurnick is most recently the author of Shelf Discovery. She previously appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #13. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Sacrificing his manhood to fight the patriarchal overlords. Author: Lizzie Skurnick Subjects Discussed: Bridge to Terabithia and class distinctions, the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary, issues surrounding mothers working, reader perceptions vs. […]
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MoreRichard Russo is most recently the author of That Old Cape Magic. He previously appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #152. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Shoving Cape Cod mackerel down his throat. Author: Richard Russo Subjects Discussed: Signs with unusual spacing, drawing from the sign at The Silver Lounge Restaurant in North Falmouth, MA for […]
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MoreJ. Robert Lennon is most recently the author of Castle and Pieces for the Left Hand. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contemplating his surprising longevity after 300 shows. Author: J. Robert Lennon Subjects Discussed: Ending sentences with nouns, how location affects character description, objects and places as the territory of a story, how the land in […]
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MoreDouglas Rushkoff is the author of Life, Inc. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Surprised to discover someone more contentious than he is. Author: Douglas Rushkoff Subjects Discussed: The wage labor system established in Portugal in 1253, Daily Life in Portugal in the Late Middle Ages, whether the day laborer can stand up, children and branding, people […]
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MoreChina Mieville is most recently the author of The City & The City. He previously appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #105. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Searching for the Mieville and the Mieville. Author: China Mieville Subjects Discussed: When The City & The City was written, speculating on the novel’s setting, ratty technology and shambolic […]
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MoreEllen Ruppel Shell is most recently the author of Cheap. On the main text-based site, the book was also featured in an in-depth five-part discussion with several thoughtful people, which you can investigate here: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Bargain hunting for alcohol. Author: Ellen […]
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MoreSarah Wendell and Candy Tan appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #296. Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan are most recently the authors of Beyond Heaving Bosoms. They are also the proprietors of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Subjects Discussed; Kathleen Woodwiss’s The Flame and the Flower, the beginnings of original paperback romance, genre respectability, romance’s profitability, […]
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MorePercival Everett is most recently the author of I Am Not Sidney Poitier. [For related links, check out Percival Everett Week over at Emerging Writers Network, as well as my specific thoughts about Everett’s most recent novel.] Condition of Mr. Segundo: He is not Percival Everett. Subjects Discussed: Name-related jokes, puns and internal metaphors, the […]
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MoreHal Niedzviecki is most recently the author of The Peep Diaries. He previously appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #47. [PROGRAM NOTE: At the 24:03 mark, a woman with a laptop demanded that Our Correspondent talk with less vivacity, suggesting that Our Correspondent was talking in a “disturbing” manner. Never mind that people sitting closer […]
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