Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is an interview podcast. The host started his career as a journalist and movie critic. His work appeared in The Atlantic, VICE, and on NPR. But Fragoso gave it all up to become a filmmaker. Then in 2016, he created this show.

Every week on the podcast, Fragoso interviews a notable figure in American culture. The conversations they have are compelling and instructive. For example, listeners discover that poet Sandra Cisneros grew up with eight siblings. They learn that actor Michelle Williams draws from childhood experiences in her work. Singer Weyes Blood's inability to put on a social mask is the cause of her discomfort. That discomfort then becomes the source of her inspiration.

Some of the guests on Talk Easy are well-known artists. Beto O'Rourke was a candidate in the presidential Democratic primaries in 2020. With Fragoso, he talks about fighting for immigrant rights at the border between Texas and Mexico. Tom Hanks remembers seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey in the theater in 1968. He says this is when he decided he wanted to be an actor. Margaret Atwood is the author of The Handmaid's Tale, which became a hit television series. She used real-life political systems to create Gilead.

Other guests in the podcast are less well-known but as interesting. Maxwell Alejandro Frost is a representative from Florida. He is a gun control activist and was the national organizing director for March for Our Lives. Frost tells Fragoso about the critical moments in his childhood that led him to where he is today.

Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi is a former abortion provider in Texas. She paints a stark portrait of her patients and the hardships they endured to get the care they needed. One episode is about Lake Bell, the writer and director behind In a World… She talks about how her obsession with the human voice came about.

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is an outstanding interview podcast. Fragoso's questions are insightful and thought-provoking. He invites his guests to revisit key moments of their pasts. The conversations make fascinating listening material.

New episodes of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso air each week.