Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin

When you put two creative, well-known personalities together in conversation, it’s hard to stop listening. WNYC and PRX are thrilled to announce the October debut of Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin.  In five programs this fall, Baldwin gives listeners unique entrée into the lives of artists, policy makers and performers.

Baldwin sidesteps the predictable by taking listeners inside the dressing rooms, apartments, and offices of some of the leading creative personalities of our time, including David Letterman, Billy Joel, Chris Rock, Kristin Wiig and Erica Jong. 

Employing an engaging mixture of curiosity, intelligence and warmth, Baldwin explores what motivates his guests, how they feel about what they do, and what keeps them up at night.

Programs this fall include:

Billy Joel
Alec sits down with Billy Joel at a piano as Joel details the decisions – musical and personal – that helped shape his music and his career. 

Kristen Wiig & Dick Cavett
Alec talks with Kristen Wiig – a breakout Saturday Night Live cast member star who says she loves performing, but admits there’s also a “big part of me that’s just like: don’t look at me.” 

Alec visits talk show legend Dick Cavett at his home, Tick Hall, in Montauk, Long Island. Over iced tea, Cavett shares memories from five decades in entertainment.

Herb Alpert & Chris Rock
Alec goes backstage with comic actor Chris Rock after a matinee of “The Mother F**ker With The Hat” to hear what it was like for Rock to be in his first play. 

Then Alec talks with Herb Alpert, legendary trumpeter and music producer.  In 1966, Alpert’s band, The Tijuana Brass, sold over 13 million records, outselling The Beatles. 

Lorne Michaels & Erica and Molly Jong
Alec visits Lorne Michaels in his office at Rockefeller Center – the same office he’s had since 1975, when he created Saturday Night Live.

Alec also talks with writer Erica Jong and her daughter Molly Jong-Fast as they spar about sex, the legacy of the feminist movement and the impact of divorce on children.

David Letterman & Michael Douglas
Alec talks with late-night legend David Letterman.  Letterman admits that for a good portion of the past thirty years, he “didn’t do anything else.”  Things have changed now; he has “no patience for meetings” and avoids making decisions on the show, preferring to save that energy to explore the world with his 8-year old son. 

Visiting Michael Douglas at his New York apartment, the two dive into what makes a great director a smart producer, and why playing the villain is the much more satisfying part.