Jesse Eisenberg’s latest project, A Real Pain, is perhaps his most personal to date.

He joins us today to unpack the personal journey that shaped the film (9:18), memories from his travels to Poland (15:40), and what he observed about his family growing up in East Brunswick (22:23). Then, Eisenberg reflects on his first jokes written on post-it notes (29:20), his breakthrough acting roles in Roger Dodger (31:35) and The Squid and the Whale (34:37), and formative visits to his aunt Doris in New York City (35:32).

On the back-half, we talk about his transformation in The Social Network (41:15), the erotic dream that inspired his play The Spoils (42:48), the real anxiety he explored while writing A Real Pain (46:39), lessons on directing from Richard Ayoade and Greg Mottola (51:14), and why he cares so deeply about his art (1:00:10).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at sf@talkeasypod.com.

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Since the turn of the century, actor Josh Brolin has had quite a run. From No Country for Old Men and Hail Caesar from the Coen Brothers, to Inherent Vice from Paul Thomas Anderson, to Sicario and the Dune films from Denis Villeneuve.

His new memoir, From Under the Truck, contains stories about the life in between. We discuss his upbringing bouncing from Paso Robles to Santa Barbara (4:30), the influence of his mother (10:00), and his entry to writing (18:00). Then, Brolin reflects on his vivid early adulthood in the 80s (24:00), the power of a story (28:00), and what actor Anthony Hopkins illuminated about sobriety (30:00).

On the back-half, we get into his collaborations with the Coen Brothers (34:00), his challenging relationship to drinking (44:00), and why finally, after three decades of playing characters on screen, it was time to fill in some of the backstory (1:00:00).

This conversation was recorded at Spotify Studios. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at sf@talkeasypod.com.

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It’s been a week. To help us through it, we’ve enlisted The New York Times political reporter Astead Herndon.

We start with election night 2024 versus election night 2016 (6:35), what Astead discovered about the electorate reporting across the U.S. on his podcast The Run-Up (9:25), and how insider Democrats arrived at a second Biden run in 2023 (13:30). Then, we discuss politicians’ “lowercase racist” assumptions about Black and Latino voters (16:02), Herndon’s telling one on one interview with Vice President Harris (22:52), and the pervasive, nationwide sentiments that led to Donald Trump’s re-election (32:24).

On the back-half: where the Harris campaign fell short in its messaging to voters (38:48), the rise of the “podcast election” (44:48), a revealing window into the Biden administration (47:35), how quickly “good intentions” can turn power corrupted (53:01), and why the Democratic party must remake itself (1:00:55) as we begin to move forward from this election (1:06:00).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at sf@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.