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Now famous as a New York City nightlife fixture and for his role on Somebody Somewhere, comedian Murray Hill used to keep his personal history private. In fact, the persona of “Murray Hill” started as a drag king character modeled after old-timey comedians. Over time, though, the gap between the character and the man has shrunk.
This week on the show, Murray opens up about everything: his upbringing in Connecticut with a family who could be cruel and abusive, teachers who looked out for him, and friends who helped the real Murray emerge.
His new memoir is called Showbiz!: My Life as a Middle-Aged Man.
The interview with Norman Lear that Anna mentions can be found here.
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One thing that’s clear about this midterm cycle? Voters are mad about Trump. The war in Iran and an affordability crisis back home are paving the way for a blue wave. And yet, despite his universally loathed policies, Trump’s core base still loves him… which puts the GOP in a tight spot if the Democrats retake congress and beyond.

Guests:

Isaac Saul, founder of Tangle News
Jamelle Bouie, columnist at the New York Times

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The last time Nebraska sent a non-Republican to the US Senate, George W. Bush joked that his nickname was “Dino”—for Democrat-in-name-only. But this year, independent Dan Osborn has a narrow lead on the GOP incumbent. But don’t call Osborn a Democrat-in-all-but-name.

Guest: Dan Osborn, independent running for US Senate in Nebraska

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
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On Monday, the Justice Department raided a sitting congresswoman's D.C. home to build a denaturalization case. Andrew Weissmann joins Dahlia Lithwick to explain the new depths being plumbed by Trump’s DOJ.
ICE executed an early morning search of Rep. Ilhan Omar's D.C. home—apparently targeting immigration statements made when she was 12 years old, by a father who is now deceased—all in service of a reported plan to strip her of her citizenship and deport her. Weissmann, lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office from 2017 to 2019 and chief of the Fraud Section in the Department of Justice from 2015 to 2019, walks Dahlia through what is shaping up to be another case of selective and vindictive prosecution, why it violates the department's own 60-day election rule, and what it signals when post-Watergate guardrails established to prevent exactly these kinds of abuses have been dismantled.
Weissmann and Lithwick also discuss the administration's lawsuit against California over mail-in ballots—a case in which the evidence, like every prior non-citizen voting claim, collapses under scrutiny but serves its purpose before the courts can intervene. Plus: Trump’s ballroom grift, and why the only thing standing between another mid-term presidential pardon spree and total impunity for all the president’s men might be state criminal law.
Andrew Weissmann is a professor of practice at NYU School of Law, legal analyst for MSNOW, and author of Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America.

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This week: Inflation is going bananas (unless you’re talking about the actual fruit.) First up, hosts Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers dig into what is causing inflation and why bananas should actually cost more than they do. Then, Meta wants everyone to play with its new A.I. model but is the cuteness covering up something sinister? Finally, why Kelly Clarkson really doesn’t get that Brooklyn magic shop’s whole deal.

Mentioned in the episode:
‘America’s Favorite Fruit Is Being Bruised by the Iran War’, from The New York Times
‘What If New York Just Loves a Fancy, Complicated Bird?’, from Vulture
‘With flying Roadster, Tesla waves goodbye to the car business’, from Axios

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

In the Slate Plus episode: Not a Girl, Not Yet A Lawyer

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