For the next few months, we’re sharing some of our favorite conversations from the podcast’s archives. This week’s segments first appeared in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
The longtime New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman is the first person ever to hold that position at the paper, and he’s a natural fit for it: In 2017, when his biography of the late-night host David Letterman was published, he explained on the podcast that his early love of Letterman had shaped not only his love of comedy but to some extent his outlook on the world: “I worshiped David Letterman as a kid,” Zinoman told the host Pamela Paul. “He is one of these people who I loved before I thought like a critic. And I do believe that you love things as a kid in a deep way that you don’t love things as an adult. And to a large degree I think my sense of humor was defined by David Letterman. When I was a kid I talked like him. I smiled like him. My sense of sarcasm came from him. Even as an adult I can sort of see traces of it.”
Also this week, we revisit our 2018 conversation with the New York Times Magazine writer Sam Anderson, who talked about basketball, Oklahoma City and his book “Boom Town.”
We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.
Elin Hilderbrand on Her Final Nantucket Summer Book
Let's Talk About Percival Everett's 'James'
Writing About NASA's Most Shocking Moment
Fantasy Superstar Leigh Bardugo on Her New Novel
Colm Toibin on His Sequel to 'Brooklyn'
Book Club: Dolly Alderton's 'Good Material'
100 Years of Simon & Schuster
Looking Back at 50 Years of Stephen King
Books That Make Our Critics Laugh
Talking to Tana French About Her New Series
Talking ‘Dune’: Book and Movies
Book Club: Let’s Talk About ‘Erasure,’ by Percival Everett
Tommy Orange on His "There There" Sequel
The Rise and Fall of The Village Voice
Let's Talk About 'Demon Copperhead'
4 Early-Year Book Recommendations
'Killers of the Flower Moon': Book and Movie Discussion
Talking the Joys and Rules of Open Marriage
Our Early 2024 Book Preview
Steven Soderbergh on His Year in Reading
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Ander Louis Podcast
Strong Sense of Place
Scott Sigler Slices: SLAY Season 2
Pride and Prejudice
The Federalist Papers
The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson Podcast
Slate Books