Kickass News

Melissa Bernstein co-founded the wildly successful toy company Melissa & Doug.  You might think that this happily-married mother of 6, who has created over 5,000 toys which have sold over a billion dollars, is always chipper and full of positivity, but Melissa reveals that many days she wonders if she'll make it tomorrow.  She opens up about how her lifelong battle with existential anxiety and depression almost drove her to suicide, why she finally learned to manage it at age 50, and how she’s now on Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former commander of NATO Admiral James Stavridis and decorated Marine and novelist Elliott Ackerman envision how a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea could lead to World War III in their disturbingly plausible work of speculative fiction titled 2034: A Novel of the Next World War.  They discuss how they came together on this project and the power of fiction to draw attention to real world issues and potential areas of crisis.  Admiral Stavridis talks about the China’s increas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's official!  We're launching a brand new podcast network called Airwave this May!  In addition to Kickass News, Airwave will be the new home for many of your other favorite podcasts.  Airwave will also debut over a dozen original shows hosted by some of the leading thought leaders and storytellers in audio entertainment, including many of my most popular past guests.   We can't do it without you though!  We need your financial support to fund our full production slate.  Please become a part of Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author Walter Isaacson (Jobs, Leonardo DaVinci) shares how Nobel Prize-winning scientist Jennifer Doudna and her collaborators blazed a trail in a field dominated by men and turned a curiosity of nature into an something that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA.  He reveals how the technology known as CRISPR has launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.  Walter talks the controversy over so-called Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Howie Mandel talks about making his first comedy special in 20 years, his childhood growing up in Toronto, and how the show Candid Camera inspired him to pull an elaborate prank that got him expelled form high school. He shares how "winging it" the first time he want on stage turned into his signature improvisational style, and how he still finds much of his comedic inspiration from interacting with his audience.  He recalls opening for Diana Ross in Vegas, his very first TONIGHT SHOW appearance, how the H Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Zahi Hawass is the former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities and Director of Excavations at Giza, Saqqara, the Bahariya Oasis, and the Valley of the Kings. He is often referred to as “the real Indiana Jones, and some of his major finds include the Tombs of the Pyramid Builders at Giza, the Valley of the Golden Mummies, and multiple undiscovered pyramids.  Now he’s leading the biggest archeological excavation ever attempted in Egypt, and he is documenting the adventure in a new 2-hour special for dis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Beard Award-winning food writer and #1 bestselling author Mark Bittman offers a panoramic view of how the frenzy for food has driven human history to some of its most catastrophic moments, from slavery and genocide to our current moment, wherein Big Food exacerbates climate change, plunders our planet, and sickens its people.  Mark reveals how he first got the world to take food issues seriously, how we can rethink our food distribution systems, and take a different approach to feeding the wo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels (Precious, The Butler) talks about his latest film The United States vs. Billie Holiday and how the 1971 movie Lady Sings the Blues inspired him to go into entertainment.  He reveals that he always has a personal connection to each of his films, that The United States vs Billie Holiday was the first movie that he has ever directed sober. and how his own struggle with drugs and alcohol gave him insight into Holiday’s lifelong addiction.  We discuss how the iconic s Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon talks about the women who fought ISIS in Syria.  She discusses how the female fighters of Kobani helped to deliver the first blow to the previously unstoppable forces of the Islamic State and how that victory convinced the US that it had a reliable partner against ISIS.  She shares the individual stories of some of the brave women she encountered, including some who rose to command both women and men in combat, and some who were forced to marry ISIS fighters, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize-winning author, scientist, and renowned polymath Jared Diamond reveals that many of the factors in how individuals cope with personal crises can also predict how countries survive national crises.  He profiles six nations in transition in his book Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, and shares his personal experiences and observations about those countries including why one should never utter the word "Finlandization" in Finland, how Chileans in the 1960’s never thought that Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this age of insurmountable consumption of media where bad news travels fast from all directions, comedian Tom Papa wants to remind us to take care of ourselves, embrace who you’ve become, and absorb the beauty of life in his new Netflix special Tom Papa: You're Doing Great!  In this February 2020 interview, Tom reveals where his trademark optimism comes from, why he rejects the cynicism often associated with standup comedy, and what he learned about being true to your comedic voice while tourin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

True crime documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Paradise Lost) discusses his new Netflix docu-series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel that deconstructs the mythology and mystery surrounding infamous locations in contemporary crime.  He explains the dark history of the Cecil Hotel and why the socio-economics of downtown Los Angeles have made it a haven for the downtrodden, desperate, and despicable, including Richard Ramirez aka the Nightstal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this 2018 interview with David Mamet, the Pulitzer-winning writer/director discusses how the old gangster stories he heard as a child inspired him to write CHICAGO: A NOVEL.  He talks about his love of classic noir and hot jazz, and dislike of social media, computers, and flowery prose.  He shares why famous figures are better felt than heard in historical fiction, why he says Hollywood is dead, and why he never reads his own reviews.  He teases his latest play about Harvey Weinstein, and reveals hi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jay Duplass and Zackary Drucker discuss their new docu-series The Lady and the Dale about the rise and eventual fall of automaker and trans trailblazer Elizabeth Carmichael.  We talk about Carmichael's three-wheeled car that claimed to get 70 per gallon and how the 70s gas crisis fueled incredible interest in "the Dale."  We Carmichael's shady past, and life on the run from the law, and how it inevitably caught up to her.  We also cover some of the prejudices she faced and what her trial meant for the Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five-time Tony Award-winning director George C. Wolfe talks about his acclaimed new motion picture Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the legacy of the original the original Mother of the Blues, and what went into transforming Oscar-winner Viola Davis into this larger than life icon. He discusses what the Chicago jazz scene meant to black musicians who migrated from the Jim Crow South in the 1920s and some of the creative ways that he found to visually depict the foreignness of the urban north for those who made tha Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this 2017 interview, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talks about his 50 year friendship with the "Wizard of Westwood" UCLA Coach John Wooden.  He says Coach Wooden was more concerned with his players’ grades than with winning basketball games, he shares some of the wisdom that Coach Wooden imparted, and talks about the time Coach helped Abdul-Jabbar forgive another one of his early mentors who used a racial slur.  He talks about how he felt when the NCAA banned dunking and how Coach Wooden hel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Robert Ballard is the famed ocean explorer responsible for some of the greatest undersea discoveries including the RMS Titanic, the German battleship Bismarck, and John F. Kennedy's WW II boat PT-109.  Today Dr. Ballard reveals that he was actually on a top secret government mission when he found the Titanic, what it was like the first time he physically went down to visit Titanic, and his outrage at those who are looting this sacred burial ground for profit.  We also discuss what really sank the L Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bulletproof founder Dave Asprey talks about his latest book Fast This Way: (How to Lose Weight, Get Smarter, and Live Your Longest, Healthiest Life with the Bulletproof Guide to Fasting).  He discuss why diets and New Year's resolutions never work, the difference between fasting and dieting, and why science is just starting to take intermittent fasting seriously.  He shares how fasting can reduce inflammation, increase your sharpness and productivity, boost your immune system, and even add years t Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Rowe has handled some of the toughest and most disgusting jobs during his nine seasons as host of Discovery's Dirty Jobs.  Now he's putting that same work ethic to work to prove once and for all that everything in the world is connected for his discovery+ series Six Degrees with Mike Rowe.  Mike reveals how he faked his way into his first job as an opera singer, some of the strangest products he used to pitch as a late-night host on QVC, and the hardest thing he ever had to do as host of Dirty Job Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Documentary filmmaker Ryan White (The Case Against 8, The Keepers) talks about his new film Assassins about the murder of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un's half brother Kim Jong-Nam.  He recounts how Kim Jong-Nam was killed in broad daylight with the deadly VX nerve agent, questions the press’s sensational portrayal of two young Southeast Asian women as diabolical black widow assassins, and reveals that the truth of what happened is even more bizarre than anything that the media could make up. Ryan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices