‘Life is such a pain in the ass’: Sam Fragoso on a decade of Talk Easy

Most episodes of Sam Fragoso’s podcast Talk Easy open with a plain question: “How are you doing today?” That small gesture sets the tone for interviews that have, over a decade, won the trust of guests such as Patti Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salman Rushdie, and earned Fragoso a deal with the Obamas’ production company in December.

Fragoso, 31, avoids gimmicks, favouring a crackly jazz theme and a patient, deeply researched approach that some guests call disarmingly truthful. He describes himself as where Nardwuar meets Terry Gross meets Dick Cavett: part obsessive researcher, part sensitive listener, part intellectual interlocutor.

In 2020 he even pressed a vinyl record of an interview with Fran Lebowitz. Fragoso’s method includes asking guests to reflect on past quotes, constructing narratives from fragments of conversation and constantly thinking about how an episode will be assembled.

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