Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Jesse Thorn

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture. Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney's, which called it "the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world."

  • 8 minutes 42 seconds
    Bonus – The Outshot: Filling Time
    A special treat for our podcast listeners! For years, Bullseye would close out each episode with an essay written by Jesse called The Outshot. It was an opportunity to show appreciation for the things he loves. For Bullseye's recent 25th anniversary tour, we thought we'd bring The Outshot back. In it, Jesse reflects on his time working in radio. This segment was recorded live at The PIT in New York City. 

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    19 December 2025, 8:00 am
  • 1 hour 17 minutes
    Bullseye 2025 Holiday Spectacular: Lil Rel Howery, Micky Dolenz and Sy Smith
    It’s the Bullseye Holiday Spectacular! We look back at some of our favorite holiday interviews from the past. We’ve got Lil Rel Howery, Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, and singer/songwriter Sy Smith!

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    16 December 2025, 8:00 am
  • 1 hour 8 minutes
    Tony Shalhoub, Jad Abumrad, H. Jon Benjamin and more – Live at The PIT in NYC
    On the latest episode we're coming to you live from New York City at The PIT. We've got interviews from Tony Shalhoub, Jad Abumrad, H. Jon Benjamin and stand-up from Josh Gondelman. Plus, music from Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez – the duo that wrote the music from Frozen, Coco and more. They'll perform a never-before-heard song that was written for Kermit the Frog. What a treat!

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    9 December 2025, 8:00 am
  • 36 minutes 4 seconds
    The Hives
    In the course of 30 years, The Hives have perfected what it means to be a garage rock band. We're joined by singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist and his brother, lead guitarist Nicholaus Arson. They talk about the band's latest record The Hives Forever Forever the Hives.

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    5 December 2025, 8:00 am
  • 47 minutes 10 seconds
    Vince Staples
    Vince Staples returns to Bullseye! He chats with us about his Netflix series, The Vince Staples Show, what got him into making music and much more.

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    2 December 2025, 8:00 am
  • 2 hours 28 minutes
    25 interviews for 25 years
    In celebration of Bullseye's 25th anniversary, Jesse conducted 25 interviews in a row! That's right, 25 interviews for 25 years. You'll hear from folks like Patton Oswalt, Lisa Loeb, Bob Odenkirk, David Wain, Cameron Esposito, Tony Hale and many many more. 

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    25 November 2025, 8:00 am
  • 1 hour 4 minutes
    Adam Scott, Boots Riley, Glynn Washington and more - Live at Kuumbwa Jazz Center
    We’re celebrating Bullseye’s 25th anniversary all month. This week, we visit the site of Bulleye’s origins, because this episode was recorded live in Santa Cruz at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. We are joined by Glynn Washington of Snap Judgment, Boots Riley of The Coup and Sorry to Bother You, and Adam Scott of Severance. Also, we have live tunes from Santa Cruz surf legends: The Mermen and stand-up comedy from Scott Simpson!

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    18 November 2025, 8:00 am
  • 51 minutes 14 seconds
    25 Years Ago, Bullseye with Jesse Thorn was a weird college radio show
    The Bullseye 25th anniversary celebration continues! This week, Jesse reunites with his old college co-hosts Jordan Morris and Gene O’Neil to reminisce about the early days of the show. We'll have vintage interviews with Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Matt Besser and Dick Dale, The King of the Surf Guitar!


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    11 November 2025, 8:00 am
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    Roy Wood Jr., Jason Mantzoukas, Rebecca Sugar – Live at LAist
    This whole month, we’re ringing in 25 years of Bullseye being on the airwaves. If you’ve heard our archives you might have heard Bullseye referred to as The Sound of Young America. That was the show’s original name when it started as a college radio show back at Santa Cruz’s KZSC.

    To kick off our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you the first of many celebrations: a spectacular live show recorded at LAist 89.3 in Pasadena at their Crawford Family Forum.

    We’ll have interviews with Roy Wood Jr., Jason Mantzoukas, music from Rebecca Sugar. Plus, standup comedy from Al Madrigal.

    Roy Wood Jr. joined us to talk about his book – The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir. Jason Mantzoukas talked about being known as an improv guy and his time on Taskmaster. You can check out Rebecca Sugar’s latest EP Lonely Magic on Bandcamp. More info on live show dates for Al Madrigal on his website.



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    4 November 2025, 8:00 am
  • 1 hour 6 minutes
    Marc Maron & Brendan McDonald
    WTF with Marc Maron revolutionized the medium of podcasting. Despite being one of the most popular podcasts in history, the show was run by two people: Marc Maron as the host, and Brendan McDonald as his producer. Maron and McDonald talked to Bullseye about WTF’s origins, their equal partnership in producing the show, and why it ended.

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    28 October 2025, 7:00 am
  • 41 minutes 4 seconds
    Ana Fabrega, co-creator of ‘Los Espookys’
    This week, we’re looking back on some of our favorite Spooky season interviews from across the twenty-five years we’ve been doing Bullseye. Ana Fabrega is a comedian, actor, writer, and co-creator of the show Los Espookys. In 2022, Ana joined us to talk about the show after it had just wrapped its second and final season.

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    24 October 2025, 7:00 am
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