re: NC commments

WUNC in Chapel Hill aired a series of these over the holidays (to fill in for one of our local shows that was on break), and I agree they were awesome.

what the hell is going on, with all these comments from north carolina...?

More, more, give us more episodes...please!

Brilliant show. Your gracious but in-depth questions erudite manor are tempered by humor and wit. Wonderful guests, too. I love you Alec. WUNC please make this show permanent!

OK. I give up 'Konten Flas'?

You, and, of course, Tina Fey, make "30 Rock" what it is...you are my favorite guest host on SNL...you are handsome, brilliant, have great comic timing, and, now I know how wonderful you are at interviewing people and how broad your knowledge is of so many things. You are an inspiration.
Sincerely,
Camille Sprague

PLEASE! PLEASE!! PLEASE!!! Don't stop. You have a gift. You are genuinely curious. You're a brilliant interviewer. You're authentic and asking the questions that we want to ask to the people we want to talk to. I first tuned in for the Dick Cavett interview. Please keep this going.

I love what you're doing here, please just keep doing it. If you'd like to know a little about who I am --- here are my paintings: http://cathyhilling.com

Please don't stop. Please make this a regular gig. Love it! Love it! Love it!!

Cathy

This is a truly amazing show; the conversations are insightful, provocative, powerful and interesting. Alec Baldwin has a very unique way of interviewing his guests which allows the listeners to catch a very real glimpse of who they are. Thanks so much for the show. I'm only sorry that my station carried it for just this week, however, I'll certainly be listening on my computer in the future.

Discovered this show just today. Happy New Year to me! Thank you, Mr. Baldwin...

Love this show! Baldwin is so intimate and so eager to talk to the person he is conversing with,. Disarming, funny, serious and a brilliant conversationalist. What a gem! I'm happy he has chosen public radio for his next venue. Thanks, Alec.

michael,you are so right. it's a bloody conversation not an interview,and that is precisely what makes it great. there is very little "Altmanlike overlap",so it's easy to understand. and, when people do talk over each other,it can be fun trying to decipher what was said. why should we want or need, another "dueling monologue" show. 'fresh air' is fine,but it's a different sort of thing. Alec,you are wonderful. and good on you, for giving it back to intrusive photogs. everyone has a right to the dignity of their privacy,[however relative that may be in your case].

To those who complain that Alec Baldwin interrupts too much and injects himself into the conversation... you're missing the the point -- these programs are conversations, not interviews, and conversations go two ways. Baldwin has much to offer in these discussions, and his input makes the show what it is.

This isn't "Fresh Air," nor should it try to be -- accept this show for what it is, and enjoy, because there's nothing else out there quite like it.

i really enjoy Alec Baldwin's work on 30 Rock and was surprised when i heard that he would be doing an interview show on the radio and didn't expect that i would be particularly interested. now i have heard most of the content of at least 2 programs, just having listened to Chris Rock and Herb Alpert and tears came to my eyes at some of the beautiful honest comments that were expressed. it's really refreshing to hear people who respect each other and aren't trying to be cute or self-promoting having a conversation, in contrast to the usual self-absorbed garbage on radio and tv.
altho i've been interested in music my entire life, i was not a particular fan of Herb Alpert but after hearing him express himself so openly and honestly on Here's The Thing i have more respect for him than ever. i look forward to more shows and will try to listen to some programs from the archives.

Hi Alec...I heard the show for the first time, by chance, en route to Thanksgiving Dinner. I fell in love instantly. I enjoy your humor, sharp mind, knowledge and the sensitivity you offer to both your guest and listener. Keep up the great work...I listen to the podcasts often!

i'm an ex-radio guy and always felt like it was my job to be invisible in the interview so the guest has enough room. i listened to about a half-dozen episodes wishing mr. baldwin would stay out of the way and then one day, it clicked. this isn't Q&A. we're eavesdropping on a conversation between a celebrity and somebody who may, in fact, be a friend. the guests become a lot more comfortable in the format and the interaction sparkles. he's gotten with some national treasures...dick cavett, herb alpert are a couple.

alec baldwin's got a big new york/hollywood liberal ego...give it to him...he's earned it because he's smart enough to do his homework. and if people like george will don't hang up the phone on him, please! it's impressive baldwin's even got the time to screw with radio...it's a good show, so get the podcast version...not as many bleeps. he's himself and that's all we can ask for. now the rest of us can go back to playing words with friends and get kicked off our own flights...

peace!

Here's the thing: I prefer an interviewer who doesn't keep upstaging the person being interviewed. Give me Terry Gross any day.

Dear Alec,
Perhaps, you will never read, or get word of my Comment* to you, but anyway ~
Last night, I was at Symphony Space, & I enjoyed the COMEDY! readings very much. & We were all very glad that you were able to make the show, & guide us on our heart felt escape, away from the raging river flood,(?) ever EAST, The Day The Damn Broke.

I so wish you had interviewed Isaiah Sheffer on, Here's The Thing...
Somehow, I thought, this would have been such an interesting, & telling conversation between 2 men of words, & the sound of their voices to be heard.

Some months ago i listened to all the episodes available and Now it seems Billy Joel is the only addition!
Am I daft? What gives?
Are we fresh out of interesting folks to interview?
Again am I daft? I've loved AB ever since the reprobates coined him Bloviator.

I have listened to everything (save B. Joel) above- months and months ago!
I'll be happy to submit a list of presentations outside Here's the Thing to bump so DaddyBear Al has more time...
Or is time the issue at all?
Am I daft?

Hey Carlos, I hear you on your critique, but I think Baldwin is finding his feet as an interviewer: some very good ones, like Billy Joel & Herb Albert, others painfully poor, like the Stiglitz, which I think might have been nervousness... Some feel maddeningly cropped, like the Erica Jong-Molly Fast piece. I think if he goes longer it might be better.

I'm fascinated and even a bit moved by Baldwin's compulsion to sound out issues of love and family with various guests. (In my own life I often return to the Philip Roth quote that family is both war and peace.) I'm also intrigued and heartened by his concern (baldly expressed by way of his concern for his daughter) for the way young women navigate an often-disheartening culture.

Keep going, Alec! Glad you're here.

Let me preface my comment my saying I cut my conservative teeth on “flaming liberals” like Alec Baldwin. over the years I have learned to see the wisdom of many of the liberal's positions. I began to realize it was not the liberals (or conservatives) that were the real problem but the democrats and republicans who have hijacked some of the best positions of both sides and morphed them both into them into a pro-corporation war party.

That being said I just wanted to commend Alec on his wonderful interview style. I have been an information/news junkie for most of my life and Alec has a natural interview style that ask all the right questions I feel I want answered. he completely “fleshes in” the personality of the interviewee (without “Oprahizing” them) allowing the listener to really know the fabric that makes up his guest's personality.

Alec's unassuming conversational style lulls his guests to readily surrender their inner being. an example: The first interview I listened to was Herb Albert--Herb Albert?? I always viewed herb Albert as the stereotypical superficial finger-snapping gig chasing horn blower—was I mistaken! Alec showed us what a very humble and wise human being Mr. Albert really was. By the time Alec was done with the interview I had a warm smile while thinking what an honor it was to be breathing the same air as Mr. Albert! I could give more examples but this should suffice.

For Alec to awe me with his natural interviewing talent would be enough but he couples his natural interviewing style with his workman like research performance. Alec then naturally segues his researched (in-ostentatiously) just at the perfect spots, impressing even his guests! He really works at his interviews, a man with his busy schedule, very impressive!

Alec you are a great actor but I think your real calling is to be a interviewer!

PS have you ever considered interviewing our very own Aretha Franklin? I seen her interviewed on 60 Min. some years ago and thought what a very charming and intelligent person—she would make a great guest! Email me I will happily do the leg work to get her on your show.

no carlos..alec has a wonderful conversational style. do we really want the standard boring Q&A? the point that people miss,is that a more free flowing conversation,brings out things and creates moments,that can never really happen in a more traditional format. most people interview,"the other way". could this just not be nothing other,than people being addicted to what they know,and are comfortable with?

I like Alec Baldwin as an actor and comedian, and I like 'Here's the Thing.' But, and I've listened to almost all episodes since its inception, he would be a much better interviewer if he would learn to be a better listener. Given minimal cues and steering, a guest, and he has some of the best, knows how to tell their own story, and a good interviewer knows when to let it flow and when to prompt/prod the interviewee. So, Mr. Baldwin, please stop interrupting and talking over your guests — Your show will benefit from a more restrained host.

great interviewer....no one else on wnyc even comes close. he's a real person, who doesn't want maggot photogs in his face. neither would you,if you were famous..

hypocrites...

Alec Baldwin is great! I'll donate BECAUSE you air him! Don't give in to intolerant blackmail.

Stop hating on Alec Baldwin. He is truly an East Coast guy and not some Hollywood pretty boy. He acts, he talks, he does SNL, etc. Listen to the interviews and you will hear that he is in fact talking to stars bigger than him. He is comfortable and his guests are comfortable. Yes, he has a big ego, most New Yorkers do. Yes, he is very good at what he does. Give him his props.

I am so sick of Alec Baldwin and his SNL and 30 Rock chums. I'll donate to WNYC once they get rid of him. Ask him for more support and let him stay on the air and I'll tune in elsewhere. He and his ilk are seriously overexposed.

"Alec Baldwin" is simply an "outstanding" radio interviewer!!!!
Thank you for thoughtful interviewing and radio!

It's all about Alec. You are super talented but you're being over exposed, hon. Your heart's in the right place and I appreciate what your doing. I know when your exploding with talent you want to respond to the interviewee.

Love the Dick Cavett interview. Wish he were still on. I love is ready to retch tiredness of "iconic, awesome, amazing, brilliant, like, we did good" and all the rest of the garbage we hear all the time. A couple of years ago it was "quirky". Yuk!

Thanks, "homeys" Alex and Billy (I was brought up in Queens) -- I'm laughing so hard, it's keeping me from getting ready for Thanksgiving - stop being so funny!

I love the show. Great interviews by Baldwin. How about interview w. Hillary Clinton, Caroline Kennnedy, woody
Allen ? Thanks

Fantastic show. Completely entertaining and such a diverse group of guests. Mr. Baldwin is intelligent and hilarious. I hope he continues with the show for years to come. Love it!!!

I'm completely hooked on this podcast. I just discovered it and have been listening to all of the interviews over the past couple of days. I agree with some of the comments about Alec interjecting in the earlier inteviews but the more recent interviews are much better. I'm sure this was a learning process for all involved. Alec is a truly entertaining interviewer and his perspective, curiosity and intelligence really makes this podcast top notch. I was lauging out loud during parts of Billy Joel. The podcast has a very clean, classy and well produced feel to it and I love the jazz they sprinkle in here and there.

I caught my first episode of "Here's the Thing" last night when Alec interviewed Michael Douglas. I am a great admirer of both men and was very much looking forward to hearing about Michael Douglas' journey. I was thus surprised, disappointed, and puzzled as to why Alec Baldwin constantly interrputed him and, especially toward the end, made the interview as much about him as about Michael. Alec has many outlets for his prodigious talents, but if he is purporting to be an interviewer, then I would like to see him concentrate of the art of respectful listening. As the old saying goes, "it's not always about you."

Here's hoping that Alec Baldwin can decenter a bit in these programs, as he has so much to offer.

Mostly, huzzahs to Michael Douglas for his candor, courage, clarity, and patience with the "interviewer." He remains the "un-Gordon Gekko" for us all.

Respectfully,

Joan

Alec:
Thanks for the great podcasts. I just discovered them due to a couple of DJ's (Bob and Tom) out of Indy. Have already gone thru Osbourne, G Will, Michaels, Alpert, Rollins, Letterman and, from my viewpoint, the best one-Cavett. You've made my long road trips very enjoyable and thought provoking.

Love love love your show! Would love to hear Alec interview Queen Latifah - she seems like an interesting and dynamic person, but I don't know much about her. Maybe?

Regarding possible future guests... Stephen Colbert, Rush Limbaugh could be interesting, but one name we don't hear much in interviews is director john McTiernan who among other things directed Alec Baldwin in "The Hunt for Red October"...

Wow. I am thrilled to discover Alec Baldwin hosts a show on npr. My heart beat just a little faster when I happened to tune in at 1 instead of my usual Sci Fri 2 o' clock; and I thought, "This is going to be good..." because I knew it would be intelligent and funny. And then with Letterman?! Love him too for the same reasons. Mighty entertaining exchange. I'll indeed be catching previous episodes. If I may, here's my short list of guest ideas for future consideration: Conan, Amy and David Sedaris, Ted Turner, Al Franken, Bill and Melinda Gates, Helena Bonham Carter and Jack White.

Thanks for "Here's the Thing!"
Rhonda Carol Ashby

how obese was she?

This show is excellent. I am really enjoying listening to Alec Baldwin obviously realizing one of his dreams while talking to extremely accomplished individuals about how they made their own dreams a reality and how they continue to perform on a level higher than most of us could even imagine. Thanks again.

I enjoyed listening to Stiglitz and his very clear description of recent financial events. I was annoyed, however, by Baldwin's constant interjections while Stitlitz was talking. I would prefer in future that Baldwin do more listening and less talking.

wow. listened to Erica Jong and her daughter on here's the thing today while hanging a picture. So compelling. painful to feel the gulf between them and all the love. I hope that Erica gets lots of time with her granddaughter.

Couldn't stop listening to today's Here's the Thing long after we had arrived at home. What a great show! Felt like I was a fly on the wall while he and Dick Cavett visited. Loved it!

Alec - I love your show! I'm so glad I found it by chance in the podcast library. The way you are able to get your interviewees to open up is so extraordinary and entertaining. Also, I can't help but wonder - did Schwetty Balls give you the idea to do an NPR show? Howabout a TV show like this after you're done with 30 Rock? Thanks for all the fun!

Dear Alec,
I'm fairly hard-bitten from a lifetime of working in theatre as a writer/actor/director/performer. I've also been listening to a huge variety of podcasts over quite a number of years.
I always considered you one of the smartest actors on the screen; now I see that you are also one of the most cultured, curious, and insightful men in the business, which is abundantly apparent to even your worst skeptic.
In my opinion, you are also one of the best interviewers it's ever been my pleasure to enjoy. The show is an absolute revelation in how to keep things moving, interesting and relevant.
Thank you for sharing it. All the best!

Love the show. My favorites have been David Letterman and Lorne Michaels. I don't think I've heard anybody else ever interview them. Billy Joel and Dick Cavett were great too. I'd be interested in hearing Alec interview Tina Fey or Rachel Maddow.
Thanks.

Hard to choose which show was my favorite but the Billy Joel show and the Peter Frampton show were among the best to be sure. Really enjoyed the Robert Osborne, Dick Cavett & George Will shows too.

I also have an idea for a guest. He has a new book that was just released and I know he would be just fantastic in this format. How about trying to get Pete Townshend?

I love this show!!!! It is fantastic!

We enjoyed the Billy Joel show on the way back to NJ from LI after lunch at Kritches in Massapequa where Alec's picture hangs on the wall. Especially fun hearing all the old DJ names from the golden days of free form radio, knowing Alec and Billy listened to the same stuff I did back in the day. FYI and in case you didn't know, Vin Scelsea still does my favorite radio program every week on WFUV. Free form radio lives!

Listening to Billy Joel interview. Can you platy "Misty" - Billy Joel is one of my favorite songwriters. Just 100% pure American music. They will be listening to "Piano Man" and Billy Joel's music 100 years from now, teaching about it. 3/4 with limericks, wow. And "Entertainer". 100% NY and USA. Hearing Joel and Baldwin doing "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", readers sending stories about Frampton, (we saw him w/ Dave Mason @ MSG with the coconut trees on the side). I think Alec Baldwin will be very well known for his interviews, maybe in a way Annie Leibovitz is known for getting to the real person behind media's persona. Looking forward to listening to all of the guests including Chris Rock, Dick Cavett, Lorne Michaels, Letterman and Renee Fleming. Thanks.

Mwah to both Alec and Billy! I adore both of you and this interview. <3

100% agree with Todd's comments. Alec asks all of the right questions, and all interviewees seem very forthright and honest with him. Must be the mark of a great interviewer :) I'd love to hear Alec interview Billy Crystal, composer John Williams, or Conan O'Brian. Looking forward to the next one ~ keep up the good work!

I was so happy to somehow find your radio show. I love the interviews who wouldn't with you at the helm. Loving each program. You are definitely one of a kind entertainers. Really enjoy you and your many personalities.

My son told me about your show. I then heard about it on The Lefetz blog. I checked out the link with Peter Frampton. As a friend of Peters during his rise to fame your interview was so interesting to me. I loved it. I was Peter's National Promotion Director at A&M RECORDS. His girl friend Penny was our receptionist at Windfall Music Mountain with Leslie West & Felix Pappalardi who produced Cream. I left Windfall. Peter was thrilled that a friend of his would be promoting his music to the radio stations in the US. and building a case for this amazing musician, with our 26 local & 4 regional promo men for A&M . Peter spend christmas with my wife & son in CT. & jammed with my son's band with all the neighbor kids hanging out. He was to open for the James Gang at Staples high in Westport. The James Gang cancelled as their rider stipulated booze, & that was a no no at the school. So some people were asking for their money back asthe word was who's Peter Frampton? My son said to a couple girls "you will be sorry ....They said yea right. After Frampton Comes Alive took off & several nights at Madison Square Garden was added , my son said I wonder if those girls from Staples are here Hah! I was on stage at Winterland when that magic concert happened. When it was over I said to Peter that was so special to bad it wasn't recorded. His eyes light up "it was lets go to Wally Heider's mobile studio in back. We listened to the entire concert. After sitting with Peter doing so many interviews , I learned a lot of new facts thanks to you. Yours was the best ever, and got this shy englishman so at ease by stating that you were a fan back then. Wow.

Regarding "Here's the Thing" - thanks for providing an intelligent, entertaining, resonant and lively podcast featuring personalities from all corners of entertainment. Your show reminds me a lot of the old Bob Costas late-night show, both in quality and content-wise. You are fitting host and your knowledge about each guest is not only impressive, it makes the interviews that much more compelling. My favorite so far is the one with Billy Joel. You sound like two lifelong buddies hanging out talking about old times over a few beers. Never forced or staged, just spontaneous and fascinating discussion about a long and illustrious career. I hope you continue this show for a long time.
Best regards, Todd Lampe