It's Been a Minute Folgen

Director and actor Benny Safdie is probably best known for co-directing the film Uncut Gems, but he's also acted in Oppenheimer, Licorice Pizza, and one of host Brittany Luse's personal favorites: Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. In his latest project, Safdie co-created and acts in Showtime's The Curse. It's an intensely uncomfortable examination of the smoke and mirrors behind your favorite home improvement shows, but it's also a marriage drama – and it picks apart our desire to seem like good people, rather than being good people. Host Brittany Luse sits down with Safdie to learn what makes home improvement shows both soothing and sinister — and the difference between do-gooders and seem-gooders. They also play a game where they're forced to distinguish reality from fiction.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

For decades, Evangelicals have propped up Republican presidents. And while church attendance has fallen across the board, Evangelicals are still making waves politically; they just helped deliver Trump a historic win in the Iowa caucus. But the political bent of Evangelicals begs for closer inspection because white Americans who align with Trump are more likely to start identifying as Evangelical, even if some of them no longer sit up in the pews. NPR Political Correspondent Sarah McCammon joins the show to dig into host Brittany Luse's question: are Evangelicals now a religious group or a political one? Then, after calls for a ceasefire interrupted President Biden's speech at Mother Emanuel AME Church, many people denounced the protest saying that it was not the right time or place. But Brittany wonders; if not there, then where? She sits down with Dr. Anthea Butler, religious scholar and chair of the department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, to dive into the roots of political activism within the Black church. They also look at the complicated relationship between Democrats and the Black church.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Anna Deavere Smith is an acclaimed actress, journalist, and playwright. She's a pioneer of what's known as 'verbatim theater,' which is performance based on conversations and interviews with real people. But after decades of becoming thousands of Americans on stage, what has she learned about our nation? Host Brittany Luse sat down with Deavere Smith in studio to hear her unique perspective about who — and what — America is.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy