The New Yorker Radio Hour

Leon Panetta on the Trump Administration’s Venezuelan Boat Strikes

In the course of his long career, Leon Panetta was a lieutenant in the Army, a congressman from California, Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, Barack Obama’s director of the C.I.A., and later, his Secretary of Defense. David Remnick talks with Panetta about the current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, the legality of the ongoing Navy strikes targeting civilian boats off the coast of Venezuela, and the problem with using the military as “the President’s personal toy.” New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

Marshall Curry and Judd Apatow on “The New Yorker at 100,” a Documentary

This year marked a hundred years since the birth of The New Yorker, and a documentary about the magazine’s past and present, “The New Yorker at 100,” is now streaming on Netflix. The director is the Academy Award winner Marshall Curry, and Judd Apatow served as an executive producer. They sat down to talk about the process behind the film with Jelani Cobb, a longtime staff writer for the magazine and the dean of the Columbia Journalism School. The trio discussed how they approached depicting a century of journalism history on film, their own relationships to The New Yorker, and what makes David Remnick so hard to interview.  This interview took place at the 2025 New Yorker Festival.

Chloé Zhao on “Hamnet,” Her Film About William Shakespeare’s Grief

Chloé Zhao was the second woman to ever win an Oscar for Best Director, for her 2020 film “Nomadland [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/nomadland-reviewed-chloe-zhaos-nostalgic-portrait-of-itinerant-america].” After taking a wide turn to create the Marvel supernatural epic “Eternals [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/eternals-reviewed-chloe-zhaos-lifeless-marvel-movie],” Zhao has taken another intriguing change of direction with “Hamnet [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/12/01/hamnet-movie-review],” based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel [https://www.amazon.com/dp/1984898876] about how William Shakespeare coped with the death of his only son. In conversation with the New Yorker staff writer Michael Schulman [https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/michael-schulman], Zhao discusses the role that nature plays in her filmmaking, from the American West to the forests of Britain; the process of adapting manga to film; and how neurodivergence informs her creative process. New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

Senator Adam Schiff on How the Trump Administration Targets Its Opponents

As a California congressman, Adam Schiff was the lead manager during the first impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump. He later served on the January 6th committee. Trump has castigated him as “Shifty Schiff” and demanded that the Justice Department investigate him. In a conversation with David Remnick, Schiff discusses the current inquiry into his mortgage by federal authorities; the Supreme Court’s primary role in enabling this Administration; and why he thinks the rule of law in America is “hanging by a thread.” Unlike some Democrats, Schiff is not sanguine that the release of the Epstein files will damage Trump politically. “If there are ruinous things in the files . . . Bondi and company will make sure they never reach the public eye,” Schiff says. But also, “I think he’s almost impervious to dirt.” New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

Noah Baumbach on “Jay Kelly,” His New Movie with George Clooney

The filmmaker Noah Baumbach can recall when he may have fallen out of love with his craft. He was shooting “White Noise,” based on Don DeLillo’s novel [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/541355/white-noise-by-don-delillo/], “on a deserted highway in Ohio at 4 A.M. with a rain machine.”  “Oh, God, I don’t know that I like doing this,” he recalls thinking. “Am I doing this”—making movies—“only because I do it?” He channelled that angst into his new film “Jay Kelly,” a Hollywood comedy of manners starring George Clooney as a very famous movie star who suddenly wonders whether it was all worth it, and why people keep offering him cheesecake. In October, Baumbach spoke with The New Yorker’s articles editor, Susan Morrison, at The New Yorker Festival about working with his wife, Greta Gerwig, on “Barbie [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/barbie-is-brilliant-beautiful-and-fun-as-hell],” and why the first lines of his movies can tell you everything.    New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.