Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
Episodes
2024's End of Year Stand-Up Comedy Spectacular!
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Each year, Bullseye looks back on the year in stand-up comedy by presenting listeners with an annual end of year stand-up comedy showcase! The Bullsey...
The Bullseye Holiday Special with Jennifer Hudson, Judy Greer and more!
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're celebrating the holidays this week in a big, exciting way. It's the Bullseye Holiday Special! We've got Jennifer Hudson, Judy Greer, Zach Cherry...
Rachel Bloom
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rachel Bloom is a comedian and songwriter. She created and starred in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The spring of 2020 was a tough time for a lot of us. It too...
Ken Burns
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ken Burns is one of the greatest documentary filmmakers of all time. He's dedicated much of his life to covering the story of America through his work...
Tom Hanks
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Come to the table and join us, as we celebrate "Hanksgiving." That's right, our guest this week is Tom Hanks! He joins the show to talk about the limi...
Why MF DOOM's 'Operation: Doomsday' is one of the greatest albums of all time
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Canonball is a segment that takes a closer look at albums that should be considered classics. This time, MC Skiz Fernando joins Bullseye to discuss th...
Paul Williams
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Williams has lived an extraordinary life. He's a songwriter who's written songs performed by Three Dog Night, Tiny Tim, The Carpenters, and David...
Tavi Gevinson
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tavi Gevinson is a very talented actor and writer. She was just fifteen years old when she founded the fashion magazine Rookie, a smash success that i...
Connie Chung
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Connie Chung is a TV legend. She is an Emmy-winning newscaster and interviewer, and the first Asian American to host a major network news show. She ch...
Food writer and chef J. Kenji López-Alt
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
J. Kenji López-Alt is a food writer and chef. He wrote the books The Food Lab and The Wok: Recipes and Techniques. The holidays are coming up – i...
"Weird Al" Yankovic
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"Weird Al" Yankovic is the undisputed king of parody music. He's been recording music for over four decades and sold millions of records. Al just turn...
James Adomian
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
James Adomian is a comedian with a foot in two worlds. He's a stand-up comedian and impressionist who's performed on the Late Late Show, Conan, Jimmy ...
DeMar DeRozan
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
DeMar DeRozan is a basketball player for the Sacramento Kings. He's a six time NBA All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist. DeRozan just released a memo...
The Bullseye Halloween Spooktacular: R.L. Stine, Andy Daly, and Elvira
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Good gourd! It's a very special Halloween Spooktacular edition of Bullseye, where we're revisiting some of our best Halloween interviews. First up: R....
Music producer Nicolay on the Prince song that changed his life
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nicolay of the Foreign Exchange joins us to talk about the song that changed his life. A Prince track that, honestly, we were very surprised hadn't be...
Rapper MAVI on his latest album 'Shadowbox'
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
MAVI is a rapper from Charlotte, North Carolina. In recent years, he's become one to watch. On his latest album Shadowbox his flow teems with self dou...
Jordan Morris
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jordan Morris is a comedy writer, podcast host, and author. His new graphic novel Youth Group follows a teen who apprehensively joins a Christian yout...
Barry Sonnenfeld
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do the films Men in Black, The Addams Family and Raising Arizona all have in common? They were all shot by cinematographer and director Barry Son...
Remembering Sérgio Mendes
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sérgio Mendes died last month. He was 83 and had been dealing with long COVID for several months. His band Brasil '66 was at the forefront of a bossa...
Herb Alpert
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Herb Alpert is most famous for the music he created with his band, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. His career as a musician and producer has spanned ...
André 3000
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
André 3000 is one of the greatest rappers to ever grace a microphone. He is, of course, one half of the Grammy winning rap group Outkast. Between the...
Small talk with Jessica St. Clair and Casey Wilson
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this year, Casey Wilson and Jessica St. Clair put together an audio book called The Art of Small Talk. Think of it as a guide on navigating th...
Eve
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eve is an icon in hip-hop, a west Philly rapper whose flow, style and production helped define the genre in the early 2000s. She's released three incr...
Wendy and Lisa
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Wendy and Lisa recorded some stone cold classics with Prince's band The Revolution: Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret, Kiss, When Doves Cry and more. These...
The history of the Bronx with writer Ian Frazier
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Frazier, is a writer who, for lack of a better term, does the thing. If there is a place that fascinates him he goes to that place, immerses himse...
Tyrese Gibson
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tyrese Gibson is a renaissance man. He's a Grammy-nominated singer, blockbuster actor, an accomplished author, and model. His latest project is a crim...
Cartoonist Lynda Barry
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lynda Barry is a legend of alternative comics. These days, she teaches at the University of Wisconsin. Her book What It Is, was recently re-issued on ...
Jon Hamm
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jon Hamm is an actor with a lot of range. He can do serious, and he can definitely do funny. When he last joined us on the show, he had just starred i...
ScarLip
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
ScarLip is hip-hop's next rising star with her forceful flow and energy inspired by the late rapper DMX. She's just been named to XXL's 2024 freshman ...
John Cena
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Entering the studio with Jesse Thorn on the latest episode is John Cena. The wrestler turned actor talks about his path to the ring and Hollywood. Joh...
Chef René Redzepi on the dish he wishes he made
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michelin-starred chef René Redzepi, host of the new show Omnivore on Apple TV+, joins us on the latest installment of I Wish I Made That to talk abou...
Common & Pete Rock
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Common and Pete Rock are two of hip-hop's greatest heroes. Now, the two icons have combined their genius to release their first collaborative work tog...
Dan Aykroyd
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ghostbuster! Beldar the Conehead! Blues Brother Elwood! The one and only Dan Aykroyd joins us. In the audio documentary Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gra...
Jazz and soul vocalist Bilal
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bilal is a vocalist with a foot in two worlds. He's a rap fan's favorite jazz singer, or a jazz fan's favorite hip hop singer. He joins to talk about ...
Megan Stalter
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Megan Stalter is an actor and comedian. She plays Kayla Schaefer on the hit show Hacks, the wildly inappropriate, yet charming assistant to Paul W. Do...
Paul Scheer – Live at LAist
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Actor and comedian Paul Scheer recently joined us before a live audience at LAist – our hometown public radio station in Los Angeles – to talk abo...
Les Savy Fav's Tim Harrington and Syd Butler
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Les Savy Fav recently released OUI, LSF, their first album in 14 years. On the latest episode, Jesse chats with Tim Harrington and bassist Syd Butler ...
System of a Down's Serj Tankian
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Serj Tankian is the lead singer and co-founder of the hard rock band System of a Down. He's also a solo artist, activist, symphony composer, and an au...
Molly Gordon
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Molly Gordon joins us to talk about starring on FX's hit series The Bear. She get into what it's been like working with the incredible cast and how it...
Comedian Ms. Pat
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ms. Pat's standup comedy is direct, clever and raw. She headlines shows all over the country and she's got her own TV show - The Ms. Pat Show on BET P...
Tanya Tucker
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tanya Tucker is a country music legend! She's been singing since she was nine years old and has released about two dozen records in her time. When Tan...
Kaitlin Olson
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chances are you've probably seen Kaitlin Olson on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The show's been on the air for almost two decades now! Olson also...
Choreographer Twyla Tharp
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Twyla Tharp is a legend in the world of dance. She's danced and choreographed professionally for nearly 60 years. Tharp is 82 and she's still working ...
Michael Stipe
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Stipe is forever cemented in the minds of music fans as the lead singer of R.E.M., one of the biggest rock bands in history. He's also made so...
Ray Suarez on his new book 'We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century'
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard Ray Suarez on Bullseye before. He was last a guest on the show in 2016 and has since interviewed all kinds of folks for us. Lately,...
Walton Goggins
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Walton Goggins is a master of comedy, action and drama – take his latest project Fallout – a performance that blends all of that into something re...
A History of Queerness in Cinema with Alonso Duralde
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alonso Duralde is a critic, podcast host, and film writer. He just published a new book, Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and P...
Maya Erskine
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Maya Erskine stars in the Amazon Prime series Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It's an action thriller in which she stars opposite Donald Glover. It's a dark, high...
Remembering Steve Albini
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The record producer Steve Albini was a legend. He recorded with The Stooges, Pixies, Nirvana and so many others. He passed away last month at the age ...
Shonda Rhimes
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Shonda Rhimes is one of the most accomplished TV writers and producers of our time. She's written shows like Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, and...
Richard Thompson
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Thompson began his music career as the guitarist for the English folk rock band Fairport Convention. Following his time with the group, he beg...
Billy Dee Williams
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Billy Dee Williams might be best known as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise. He's an actor with eight decades under his belt and a man of ma...
Primer: What is Japanese City Pop?
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're presenting a preview of Maximum Fun's newest show Primer. In its debut season, music writer Yosuke Kitazawa (PBS SoCal, Light in the Attic) join...
Ed Ruscha
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ed Ruscha has made art for almost 65 years. His work is in collections all over the world. His medium is eclectic – he's a painter, a photographer, ...
Tig Notaro
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tig Notaro is a Grammy and Emmy nominated stand-up comedian. Her new comedy special Hello, Again is out now, and it's hilarious. Tig returns to the sh...
Miranda July
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Miranda July is a multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker. She's directed movies like Kajlillionaire and Me, You and Everyone We Know. She's designed ...
Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker – together they created some truly classic comedies: Airplane!, Top Secret, and The Naked Gun. They rec...
Lisa Ann Walter on the craziest day of her career
03 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lisa Ann Walter has been in show business for a long time and has seen a lot. You may have seen her most recently as Ms. Schemmenti on the ABC sitcom ...
Cole Escola
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Actor and comedian Cole Escola has written and starred in some of the funniest TV comedies: Difficult People, Hacks, and At Home with Amy Sedaris. Col...
Isabella Rossellini
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Isabella Rossellini is probably best known as an actor, having acclaimed parts in movies like Blue Velvet, Death Becomes Her, and Big Night. She's als...
Raffi
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout his nearly fifty year music career, Raffi has fought for kids. He's done it with beautiful, fun, and funny music. He's also done it as an a...
Actor & Director Steve Buscemi
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Buscemi! The best ever. The actor, director and producer joins Bullseye to talk about dying on screen dozens of times, and how his father shaped...
DJ Quik
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
DJ Quik is one of the most prolific figures in West Coast hip-hop. He's a great rapper, but he's always considered himself a producer first, crafting ...
Video game creator Keita Takahashi
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Keita Takahashi is a video game creator and designer. He's responsible for the classic genre defining puzzle game Katamari Damacy. Keita Takahashi has...
Alison Brie
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alison Brie is the star of beloved television shows Community, Mad Men and BoJack Horseman. She joins us on the latest episode of Bullseye to talk abo...
Paula Pell
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Paula Pell spent 18 years behind the scenes as a writer on Saturday Night Live. These days, you can see her on Girls5Eva–a sitcom about a 90s girl g...
Jazz musician Shabaka Hutchings
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Shabaka Hutchings makes brilliant, beautiful genre blending songs. His music is vivid, complex and hypnotic. He recently hung up his saxophone and is ...
R&B singer SiR on his latest record 'Heavy'
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the latest episode, R&B singer SiR joins us to talk about his new record Heavy, growing up in Inglewood and his musical family. Plus, he gets vulne...
Jenny Slate
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jenny Slate has starred in films like Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Obvious Child and Everything Everywhere All at Once. She's also a standup - she ...
John Malkovich
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There aren't many actors who can straddle the worlds of high art and blockbusters as deftly as John Malkovich. His latest project is The New Look, a T...
Hey, What's Your Job?
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Movie stars, writers, artists: these are the typical fare for Bullseye interviewees. For our production company's annual MaxFunDrive, though, Jesse ta...
Peter Dinklage
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Dinklage joins us on the latest episode to talk about his new film American Dreamer and working alongside Shirley MacLaine. We also get into Gam...
Kali Reis
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kali Reis is a boxer, with two championships in two weight classes. She's also an actor. She first starred in the indie film Catch the Fair One, and h...
Bill Bradley
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Bradley is a two-time NBA champion and hall of famer, Olympic gold medalist, and former U.S. Senator. He recounts all of this and more in his one...
Against Me's Laura Jane Grace
08 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Musician Laura Jane Grace fronts the punk band Against Me. On the latest , episode Jordan Morris chats with Laura about her early days playing shows i...
Bob Edwards
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bob Edwards died last month. He was 76. Edwards was the original host of Morning Edition when the program launched in 1979 – a legend in the public ...
Singer-songwriter Corb Lund
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Corb Lund is a country and western musician from Alberta, Canada. He's been recording music since the nineties and just released a new record called E...
Photographer Catherine Opie
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Catherine Opie's photographs have been shown in museums all over the world. Her career spans nearly four decades. Breathtaking photographs of queer an...
Why Biz Markie embodied hip-hop
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sacha Jenkins has chronicled hip-hop culture for decades now. He is one of the founders of the legendary magazine Ego Trip and has produced documentar...
Seth Meyers
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ten years ago Seth Meyers hosted the NBC show Late Night for the first time. Taking on a gig like that might seem a bit daunting, but Seth was up for ...
Chloë Sevigny
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chloë Sevigny is known for a lot of things in showbiz – but she is perhaps best known for being cool. She has an impeccable fashion sense and makes...
Meshell Ndegeocello
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Meshell Ndegeocello has made a career as a bassist, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. She's been performing professionally for over thirty years now...
Cartoonist Bill Griffith on "Nancy" and "Zippy the Pinhead"
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Nancy comic strip is one of the most iconic and influential strips out there. It's a comic snob's favorite, but you also don't have to be a super ...
Dolph Lundgren
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We must break him! Dolph Lundgren's performance in Rocky IV features two of the most memorable pieces of dialogue in the storied franchise. Dolph stop...
Bob Mortimer
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bob Mortimer is a comic and author, renowned for his work in the British comedy double act Vic and Bob. These days, Mortimer is also a novelist. We ta...
Trace Lysette
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Trace Lysette is an actor, rapper and former drag performer. Last year, she had her first lead role in a film called Monica. It is a wonderful, quiet,...
Jo Firestone on 'Good Timing,' 'Joe Pera Talks with You' and more
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jo Firestone's comedy special Good Timing is the culmination of months of work from her and a group of senior citizens who wanted to learn stand-up co...
Prodigy of Mobb Deep
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Prodigy formed Mobb Deep alongside his partner Havoc when they were teens. Together the duo basically started gangster rap for the East Coast. When he...
Cory Doctorow on "The Internet Con"
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (now X) aren't what they used to be. Some of those social media platforms have changed beyond recognition, many other...
Craig Robinson
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Craig Robinson is likely in some of your favorite shows. The Office. Pineapple Express. And of course, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. These days, he's got a seri...
Benny Safdie
12 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Benny Safdie has done work on both sides of the camera. He's starred in movies like Oppenheimer and co-written and directed films like Uncut Gems. Rec...
Paul Dooley
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Dooley is a legend of showbiz. He's played some iconic dads in films like Sixteen Candles, Runaway Bride and Breaking Away. His book Movie Dad: F...
Sonia Manzano
05 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sonia Manzano is a legend of kids TV. She played Maria on Sesame Street for four decades and changed what children's media looked like. In 2021, she p...
Remembering Norman Lear
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Norman Lear died last month. He was 101. He was a writer and showrunner for some of the biggest, most influential sitcoms of all time. He's responsibl...
2023's End of Year Stand-Up Comedy Spectacular!
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Each year, Bullseye looks back on the year in stand-up comedy by presenting listeners with an annual end of year stand-up comedy showcase! The Bullsey...
Bullseye's Holiday Special 2023: Lil Rel Howery, Henry Selick and more
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's the Bullseye Holiday Special! We've got Lil Rel Howery on what it was like to play Santa Claus in Dashing Through the Snow. Plus: Gregg Turkingto...
Patrick Stewart
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest this week doesn't need much introduction. We're talking with the one and only Patrick Stewart. Patrick joins us on the latest episode of Bul...
Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ira Kaplan has played guitar and co-fronted the band Yo La Tengo for almost forty years. He founded Yo La Tengo with his wife Georgia Hubley back in 1...
Steven Wright
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you ask just about any alternative comic from the last twenty years to name their influences, one name you're sure to see come up is Steven Wright....
Steven Universe's Rebecca Sugar
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rebecca Sugar is behind some of the most magical shows on Cartoon Network. They started as a storyboard artist on Adventure Time. And went on to creat...