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Saturday

Welcome To 'Night Vale' — Watch Out For The Tarantulas

Welcome to Night Vale is the number one most downloaded podcast on iTunes. Jeffrey Cranor & Joseph Fink hide caption

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Jeffrey Cranor & Joseph Fink

Strange News

Welcome To 'Night Vale' — Watch Out For The Tarantulas

The popular Welcome to Night Vale podcast imagines a creepy desert town where conspiracies are real. From the hooded figures lurking in the closed-up dog park to the mysterious lights above the Arby's, Night Vale is a standard small American town that's just not quite right.

Welcome To 'Night Vale' — Watch Out For The Tarantulas

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Call Me, Haiti? One Man's Quest To Skype Around The World
YouTube

All Tech Considered

Call Me, Haiti? One Man's Quest To Skype Around The World

Mark Malkoff has lived inside of an IKEA store, consumed beverages at 171 Starbucks in Manhattan in less than 24 hours and proved that his kid's Big Wheel bike could beat a New York City bus. Now, the comedian has video chatted with people in 162 different countries — including North Korea.

Call Me, Haiti? One Man's Quest To Skype Around The World

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Friday

Thursday

Late Night TV Week On Fresh Air

Seth Meyers' Prime-Time Political Parody

Fresh Air

For Fresh Air's Late Night week, we listen back to a 2008 interview with Seth Meyers, head writer at Saturday Night Live, and the co-anchor of Weekend Update. Meyers will be taking over from Jimmy Fallon on Late Night, now that Fallon is moving to The Tonight Show. A longer version of this interview was originally broadcast on Oct. 29, 2008.

Seth Meyers' Prime-Time Political Parody

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Wednesday

Tuesday

Conan's 'Uphill Climb' To Late-Night Throne

Conan O'Brien interviews Bruce Willis in a 2005 episode of Late Night With Conan O'Brien. NBC/Getty Images hide caption

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NBC/Getty Images

Late Night TV Week On Fresh Air

Conan's 'Uphill Climb' To Late-Night Throne

Fresh Air

When O'Brien took over for David Letterman on NBC's Late Night, he had virtually no on-air experience. In a 2003 interview, O'Brien tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about his efforts to fill Letterman's shoes and how his Irish-Catholic repression fuels his comedy.

Conan's 'Uphill Climb' To Late-Night Throne

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Jay Leno: 'Tonight' Was About 'Trying To Get Johnny To Laugh'

Jay Leno delivers the opening monologue during the inauguration of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 25, 1992. Craig Fujii/AP hide caption

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Craig Fujii/AP

Late Night TV Week On Fresh Air

Jay Leno: 'Tonight' Was About 'Trying To Get Johnny To Laugh'

Fresh Air

In a 1996 interview with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, Leno recalled his rocky Tonight Show debut: "I got heckled my first show ... but luckily I had worked a lot of clubs so I could deal with it, and Johnny [Carson] seemed to like that."

Jay Leno: 'Tonight' Was About 'Trying To Get Johnny To Laugh'

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Monday

Letterman And 'Tonight' Vet Go Behind The Scenes Of Late Night

David Letterman, pictured here in January 1982, premiered Late Night With David Letterman just a few months after his Fresh Air interview. AP hide caption

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AP

Late Night TV Week On Fresh Air

Letterman And 'Tonight' Vet Go Behind The Scenes Of Late Night

Fresh Air

Fresh Air kicks off its late night TV theme week with a 1981 David Letterman interview, in which the host describes how late night TV changed the comedy business, and a 1988 interview with one-time Tonight Show executive producer Fred de Cordova.

Letterman And 'Tonight' Vet Go Behind The Scenes Of Late Night

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Friday

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Voices And Changing Bands
NPR

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Voices And Changing Bands

This week, we discuss a new film about the world of voiceovers and try to figure out how many band members have to leave before it's not the same band.

Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour

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Thursday

Aussie Detective Jack Irish Is More Than Old-School Macho

Guy Pearce (front left) plays Jack Irish in TV movie adaptations of two Peter Temple novels. The films, Bad Debts and Black Tide, are broadcast by digital provider Acorn TV. Lachlan Moore/Acorn TV hide caption

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Lachlan Moore/Acorn TV

Television

Aussie Detective Jack Irish Is More Than Old-School Macho

Fresh Air

The fictional Australian hard-boiled detective is the star of several sharp, funny novels by Peter Temple. Two of those books have recently been adapted into TV movies starring Guy Pearce. Critic-at-large John Powers says Pearce perfectly conveys a complex blend of old and new masculinity.

Aussie Detective Jack Irish Is More Than Old-School Macho

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Wednesday

'Bridge' Actor Demian Bichir On Portraying Border Life

Mexican detective Marco Ruiz (Demian Bichir) teams up with his American counterpart, Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger), to solve a murder in FX's The Bridge. Byron Cohen/FX Network hide caption

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Byron Cohen/FX Network

Television

'Bridge' Actor Demian Bichir On Portraying Border Life

Fresh Air

In the new FX series, Bichir plays a Mexican detective who teams up with an El Paso cop to solve a series of murders. He tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies that The Bridge aims to give equal treatment to both sides of the border.

'Bridge' Actor Demian Bichir On Portraying Border Life

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Tuesday

'Treme' Cookbook Captures The Flavor Of A Show And A City

Microwave pralines are easier to make than stovetop pralines, and just as tasty. Ed Anderson/Chronicle Books hide caption

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Ed Anderson/Chronicle Books

The Salt

'Treme' Cookbook Captures The Flavor Of A Show And A City

Melissa Block talks with Lolis Eric Elie, a writer and editor behind the HBO series Treme about a new cookbook written in the voices of the show's characters. Elie says it reflects both old New Orleans traditions and more recent influences.

'Treme' Cookbook Captures The Flavor Of A Show And A City

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Winona Ryder: With Smaller Roles, A Welcome Return From Exile

Winona Ryder in the 2010 thriller Black Swan Niko Tavernise/Fox Searchlight hide caption

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Niko Tavernise/Fox Searchlight

Movies

Winona Ryder: With Smaller Roles, A Welcome Return From Exile

NPR has been looking at comebacks — from politicians reinventing themselves to the recovery of once-endangered species. Then there are disgraced movie stars. Winona Ryder made everyone forget about her 2001 shoplifting arrest with her role in Black Swan. How far has her comeback taken her?

Winona Ryder: With Smaller Roles, A Welcome Return From Exile

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Sunday