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.
We’ll be putting up full capsules for the last seven shows very soon, as well as a future podcast collecting Our Young, Roving Correspondent’s crazed coverage of the National Book Awards. (The total backlog of podcasts now stands at eleven. So bear with us.) In the meantime, four new podcasts are now ready for your […]
MoreRoy Kesey is most recently the author of All Over and Nothing in the World. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering if Roy Kesey is a “real” Roy. Author: Roy Kesey and Dan Wickett Subjects Discussed: Writing stories in Beijing, exotic stories, conversational vs. descriptive stories, Carlo Ginzburg, working from pre-existing conversations, text that kick-starts a […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 39:17 — 36.0MB)
MoreAndrea Barret is most recently the author of The Air We Breathe. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Praising the smell of authors. Author: Andrea Barrett Subjects Discussed: The similarities between pre-World War I and contemporary environments, stumbling upon 1916, sanatoriums, The Magic Mountain, ethnic backgrounds, dwelling upon immigrants and working class backgrounds, blowhard intellectuals, cure cottages, […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 37:57 — 34.7MB)
MoreTom McCarthy is most recently the author of Remainder. (This is the second part of a two-part interview with Tom McCarthy. To listen to Part One, go here.) Condition of Mr. Segundo: Baffled by French artistic references. Author: Tom McCarthy Subjects Discussed: Guns and weapons, the smell of cordite, authenticity, Remainder‘s protagonist as revolutionary, the […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 35:31 — 32.5MB)
MoreTom McCarthy is most recently the author of Remainder. (This is the first of a two-part interview with Tom McCarthy. To listen to Part Two, go here.) Condition of Mr. Segundo: Pondering whether he may be a reenactment. Author: Tom McCarthy Subjects Discussed: Really good rhubarb tarts, cappuccinos and loyalty cards, the relationship between caffeine […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 37:36 — 34.4MB)
MoreUrsula Hegi is most recently the author of The Worst Thing I’ve Done. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contemplating the worst thing he’s ever done. Author: Ursula Hegi Subjects Discussed: Collage artist protagonists and collage-inspired novels, stream of consciousness and italics, using specific fonts, Mason’s voice as a pulse, how Hegi communicated with typographers, the problems […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 31:48 — 29.1MB)
MoreRichard Russo is most recently the author of Bridge of Sighs. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Spending the days sighing. Author: Richard Russo Subjects Discussed: The origins of Bridge of Sighs‘s dual narrative, writing a long novel without an end in sight, Byron, characters who approach Lucy’s elbows, a protagonist’s blind spots, Marconi — the character […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 40:20 — 36.9MB)
MoreOliver Sacks is most recently the author of Musicophilia. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Dwelling upon the rotten fruit that comes from musical relationships. Author: Oliver Sacks Subjects Discussed: Musicophilia, emotional responses in patients with dementia and Tourette’s, an amazing musical rendition from Alzheimer’s patient Woody Geist played by Dr. Sacks on his CD player, the […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 34:18 — 31.4MB)
MoreJames Lipton is most recently the author of Inside Inside. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Stepping away to preserve his dubious legacy. Author: James Lipton Subjects Discussed: Lipton’s balance between writing about Inside the Actors Studio and writing about himself, throwing actors out of the Actors Studio, whether or not Lipton is still perfecting aspects about […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 53:53 — 49.3MB)
MoreDavid Michaelis is most recently the author of Schulz and Peanuts. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Heckled for peanuts. Author: David Michaelis Subjects Discussed: The connection between Charles Schulz’s emotional reticence and his Minnesota childhood, Peanuts characters who aren’t explicitly reflected through Schulz’s life, the connection between Lucy and Schulz’s first wife, names borrowed for Peanuts […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 37:11 — 34.0MB)
MoreNaomi Wolf is most recently the author of The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contemplating the end of The Bat Segundo Show. Author: Naomi Wolf Subjects Discussed: James Madison’s prescient statement about the American republic in 1829, the end of America, despotic blueprints, on the […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 50:15 — 46.0MB)
MoreSteven Pinker is most recently the author of The Stuff of Thought. Condition of Mr. Segundo: He knows his first name is not Steven. Author: Steven Pinker Subjects Discussed: The Starbucks coffee cup size hierarchy, L.A. Story, “divorce project” and unusual noun phrase connotations, perceptive illusions in language, connotation and denotation, polysemy, campus slang and […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 54:21 — 49.8MB)
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