Wild Card with Rachel Martin

NPR

Part-interview, part-existential game show – this is Wild Card from NPR. Host Rachel Martin rips up the typical interview script and invites guests to play a game about life's biggest questions. Rachel takes actors, artists and thinkers on a choose-your-own-adventure conversation that lets them open up about their fears, their joys and how they've built meaning from experience – all with the help of a very special deck of cards. Want more Wild Card? Support NPR by subscribing to Wild Card+. You'll get access to bonus episodes and you'll get to listen sponsor-free. Learn more at plus.npr.org/wildcard.

  • 30 minutes 38 seconds
    Terry Crews likes feeling small in the universe
    Terry Crews went to college on an art scholarship, played football in the NFL, and now stars in movies and hosts America's Got Talent. The key to his many successes, he says, is to be really good at failure. Or, put another way, to be a lobster. He tells Rachel about getting cut from the NFL, staying up all night drawing as a kid, and how Bear Grylls helped him appreciate his place in the universe.

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    26 September 2024, 7:00 am
  • 30 minutes 21 seconds
    Sterlin Harjo gets irrationally angry in Whole Foods
    When Sterlin Harjo was growing up, he didn't see many Native Americans in mainstream media. But Sterlin's TV show, Reservation Dogs, changed that, depicting the lives of four Native teenagers growing up in Oklahoma. Sterlin talks to Rachel about how he thinks fate has guided his life, why people should go to more funerals and how hunting feels like praying.

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    19 September 2024, 7:00 am
  • 42 minutes 51 seconds
    Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed
    Hanif Abdurraqib's writing has earned him a MacArthur "genius" grant. His most recent book, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, landed a spot on Barack Obama's summer reading list. But those accolades don't matter to him as much as being a good friend and neighbor. Abdurraqib talks to Rachel about a youth spent unhoused and incarcerated, and the zen of making mixtapes.

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    12 September 2024, 7:00 am
  • 28 minutes 50 seconds
    Kacey Musgraves is trying to get right with time
    From the beginning of her career, Grammy-winning musician Kacey Musgraves has been doing what feels authentic to herself. She sings about familiar country themes like falling in love and heartbreak. But she also sings about smoking pot and queer relationships. Musgraves talks to Rachel about not being defined by anyone but herself, becoming more open-minded and living with the ghost of her grandma.

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    5 September 2024, 7:30 am
  • 35 minutes 18 seconds
    Jeff Goldblum invites the surprise
    Jeff Goldblum has a special brand of charisma — the kind that seeps its way into all of his roles. Whether it's in The Fly or Independence Day or Jurassic Park — or his newest show KAOS — every character feels like a version of Jeff Goldblum himself. He also brings that Goldblumian charisma to Wild Card, breaking into song as he reflects with Rachel about his life.

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    29 August 2024, 7:00 am
  • 30 minutes 2 seconds
    Rob Delaney loves to fail
    Rob Delaney has experienced great success as a comedian and actor. He created and starred in the acclaimed TV series Catastrophe and he's been featured in blockbuster movies like this summer's Deadpool & Wolverine. But he's also experienced tragedy, including the death of his son. He talks to Rachel about loss, failure and why he kind of wants a meteor to hit his house.

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    22 August 2024, 7:00 am
  • 28 minutes 46 seconds
    Jenny Slate turns fear inside out (encore)
    Jenny Slate is known for her roles in Obvious Child, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Parks and Recreation. Jenny opens up to Rachel about whether fate brought her to her husband, what she's sacrificed for motherhood and what's so special about margarine and white bread sandwiches.

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    15 August 2024, 7:00 am
  • 33 minutes 52 seconds
    Taffy Brodesser-Akner is finally home
    Taffy Brodesser-Akner built her journalism career with her incisive celebrity profiles and then found additional success with two novels that examine wealth and class, including this year's Long Island Compromise. She and Rachel talk about what makes fame and fortune so compelling, whether some people are just innately restless, and longing for a conversation with a burning bush.

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    8 August 2024, 7:00 am
  • 32 minutes 52 seconds
    Abby Wambach wants to be forgotten
    As the U.S. women's national soccer team's all time top goal scorer, Abby Wambach knows what it feels like to win. She's brought home a World Cup and multiple Olympic gold medals, but she says true success comes after the podium. She and Rachel talk about forgiving yourself, how a little narcissism isn't a bad thing, and why she wants to be forgotten.

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    1 August 2024, 7:00 am
  • 28 minutes 30 seconds
    Ani DiFranco found power in scaring people
    Musician Ani DiFranco has never stopped growing as an artist. In the last year alone, she starred in the Broadway production of Hadestown, was featured in a documentary about her life and career, and released her 23rd album. She and Rachel talk about reinventing yourself in middle age, finding power in scaring people, and the magic of a late-night hamburger.

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    25 July 2024, 7:00 am
  • 27 minutes 5 seconds
    LeVar Burton is learning to embrace the chaos
    LeVar Burton has three roles he'll forever be known for: Kunta Kinte on the TV series Roots, Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation and host of Reading Rainbow. Those roles have had profound impacts on people and he now understands, as he puts it, "my job is to be LeVar Burton." He talks to Rachel about the tension of that job, his changing definitions of success and learning to embrace the chaos.

    To listen sponsor-free, access bonus episodes and support the show, sign up for Wild Card+ at plus.npr.org/wildcard

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    18 July 2024, 11:04 am
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