Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

What if it’s true that good things come to those who wait?
For Greta Lee, the success of Past Lives came after twenty years of working and finding her way as an actor. Fittingly, her latest turn is in a film called Late Fame.
We discuss the new project (4:12) and her larger-than-life character, inspired in part by artists like Isabella Rossellini, Marlene Dietrich, and Liza Minnelli (6:37). Then, Lee reflects on her upbringing as the daughter of Korean immigrants (12:20), translating for her parents at an early age (13:10), the sacrifices made by her doctor father and artist mother (16:05), and the high school experience that first made her question where she belonged (22:37).
On the back-half, we walk through Lee’s lean years in New York (29:35), the restaurant job that kept her afloat (32:00), and the rejection and financial stress of trying to make a living as an actor (34:55). Then, we talk about how motherhood changed her relationship to identity and representation (41:12), before returning to the miracle of Past Lives (52:10)—from her first days on set to the film’s emotional Sundance premiere (57:20), her mother’s profound connection to the story (1:03:45), and what Greta has learned about finally owning her own story (1:08:20).
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Nine years ago, cook and writer Samin Nosrat created a kitchen staple with Salt Fat Acid Heat: a New York Times bestseller that later became a hit Netflix series. Last fall, Nosrat returned with Good Things, a collection of personal recipes straight from her dining table.
Today, we revisit that candid conversation, where we discussed the influences that shaped the book (8:30), the ephemerality (and pleasure) of produce (9:30), her complicated San Diego childhood growing up with Iranian parents (17:30), the high expectations placed before her (22:40), and how she eventually found her way to Chez Panisse in Berkeley (32:00).
On the back-half, Samin talked about her salad days working in restaurants (46:00), grand openings and closings (42:30), the origins of Salt Fat Acid Heat (47:00), what The Bear gets right about cooking (1:00:25), and how she thinks about time (1:03:00) and ritual (1:07:40).
Original air date: September 7, 2025
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Two years ago Mary Beth Barone considered quitting stand-up comedy. Thankfully (for us) these were always “empty threats.” The kinds you make when you’re working and waiting for your break, or, in her case, a Netflix special.
She joins us this week on the precipice of her (excellent) streaming debut, “Galaxy Brain”, to talk about her intended audience in 2026 (5:32), the concept behind the special’s title (6:35), playing the algorithm (8:15), and the enduring influence of national treasure Lucille Ball (13:15). We also dive into her Connecticut upbringing (14:46), growing up on SNL in the ‘90s (15:15), her early, funny work (18:13), and the jokes jotted down in a gold Kate Spade notebook (26:27) before the first night she got on stage at an UCB open mic (27:08).
On the back half, Mary Beth shares the decade in comedy that followed: finding her voice as a performer (28:42), the unexpected role Interstellar played in her path (30:24), being inspired by the web-to-TV pipeline of shows like “Insecure” and “Broad City” (32:58), her “Thought Provoking” material “too frank and graphic” for some publications (34:22), the “parasocial relationship” she has with her audience (38:25), and arc of “the female comedian” (42:08).
We also talk auditioning for SNL alongside Caleb Hearon (46:14), trying to galvanize the hot community into participating in electoral politics (52:56), the newest season of the “Ride” podcast, buoyed by the Baronies, and co-hosted by Benito Skinner on Dear Media (54:40), the challenges of making work in the age of comment sections and subreddits (58:10), the publication of her candid, deeply moving Grub Street Diet diary (1:00:32), the ways in which 2025 “broke” her (1:04:00), how she’s putting the pieces back together slowly in 2026 (1:08:22), home movies (1:10:39), and a vision from her late Grandmother Barone that proved, rather improbably, prophetic (1:14:18).
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Timothy Olyphant has made a career out of masking the effort behind his effortless performances.
He joins us on the heels of his recent turns in Lucky and The Five-Star Weekend. We talk about performing opposite Anya Taylor-Joy (3:53), his upbringing in Modesto, California (7:00), and the years he spent swimming competitively at USC before trading in the fine arts for acting (14:30). Then, Timothy reflects on moving to New York to study at the legendary William Esper Studio (18:38), what actor Holly Hunter taught him about keeping a presence of mind on set (26:00), and the creative freedom he found working with showrunner David Milch on Deadwood (34:34).
On the back-half, Olyphant discusses the collaborative spirit behind Justified with Walton Goggins (39:00), getting caught in the midst of real gunfire at the set of Justified: City Primeval in Chicago (49:00), acting alongside Leonardo DiCaprio (53:00), David Fincher’s famously meticulous process (56:10), and what he envisions for his next chapter (1:07:15).
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All that glitters is not gold.
Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent for The New York Times who’s been covering Donald Trump for nearly three decades. Her extraordinary level of access in and around the Oval Office has resulted in two best-sellers, including the book of the summer, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.
The new book, co-written with her Times colleague Jonathan Swan, chronicles the first year of Trump’s 2nd term: how the current Trump administration differs from the first (5:05), the “rotating cast of characters” that orbits the Oval Office (9:40), the president’s obsession with gold and interior decorating (13:15), and what his insatiable appetite for risk has meant for the country–and people–who delivered him back to the White House (28:25) . We also discuss the tentative release of the Epstein files (22:03), the ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine (33:15), and how Trump’s health is like “a black box” inside the administration (41:00).
On the back-half, Haberman unpacks the early influence of her father, fellow Times journalist Clyde Haberman (47:00), finding her footing at New York tabloids (55:20), how her career took a left turn after Trump’s victory in 2016 (1:01:35), the “access journalism” critiques she’s received in recent years (1:04:33), and why she prefers to make journalistic assessments of the President rather than psychological ones (1:10:40). To close, she talks about interviewing Trump this past spring (1:13:09), a shocking exchange around power inside the Oval Office (1:14:30), and her commitment to covering this chapter of American history until we turn the page (1:30:20).
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