PODCAST · arts
Letting Them Talk with Will Harris
by willharrisinva
Longtime pop culture journalist Will Harris, perhaps best known for his work at the A.V. Club (or, more specifically, for his Random Roles interviews), finally embarks on a straightforward interview podcast, chatting with actors, writers, musicians, political pundits, comic book artists... The world is his oyster, and he's planning to make the most of it!
Episodes
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 61 - Parker Young (Eternally Yours / Suburgatory / Enlisted / The United States of Al / Mad Men)
This time I’m letting Parker Young talk. Parker basically got his big break as an actor when he secured a role in the hilarious ABC sitcom Suburgatory, and although he’s been working steadily ever since, he’s had to endure being a part of too many short-lived series, which is particularly...
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Letting Them Talk with WIll Harris - Ep. 60 - Mike Viola (The Candy Butchers / That Thing They Do! / Walk Hard / Panic at the Disco)
This time I’m letting Mike Viola talk. I’ve enjoyed Mike’s music even before I knew he was the one doing it. It all started with an amazing little movie called That Thing You Do! It was – and remains – one of my favorite movies of all time, about the brief life and times of a ‘60s one-hit wonder...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 59 - Neil Flynn [Scrubs / The Middle / Shrinking / The Fugitive / Second City / Mean Girls / Girls5Eva]
This time I’m letting Neil Flynn talk. Neil always surprises me when he actually agrees to talk, even though he’s done several interviews with me at this point. In my defense, though, he’s made a career out of playing characters who tend to be men of few words. Take Mike Heck on The Middle, for...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 58 - Brittany Ishibashi [Brothers / Supernatural / Grace and Frankie / Marvel's Runaways]
This time I’m letting Brittany Ishibashi talk. Brittany absolutely qualifies for the descriptor “that gal who was in that thing,” because when you look at her filmography, you quickly notice that she’s been in an episode of just about every hourlong drama of note that’s been on the air in the…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 57 - Renny Harlin (The Beast / A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 / Die Hard 2 / The Adventures of Ford Fairlane / Driven]
This time I’m letting Renny Harlin talk. This man’s films have been part of the pop culture fabric of my life dating back to the late 1980s. I’m not going to lie and pretend that I saw his first two films – 1986’s Born American and 1987’s Prison – when they were initially released, but I did rent…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 56 - Mykelti Williamson (The Drop: A Snowfall Story / Forrest Gump / Con-Air / Heat)
This time I’m letting Mykelti Williamson talk. I’ll just go ahead and admit it: this is someone whose name I had somehow never actually heard spoken aloud before until mere moments before starting my conversation with him. As such, I discovered that I’d been mispronouncing his name wrong in my…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 55 - Jeneva Rose (The Perfect Marriage / Sometimes I Scare Myself / Dating After the End of the World)
This time I’m letting Jeneva Rose talk. Jeneva is an author who became a full-fledged phenomenon when she released her novel The Perfect Marriage during the pandemic and found that TikTok was an amazing marketing tool. As a result, the thriller sold millions of copies, thereby making her into a...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 54 - John Ross Bowie on STUART FAILS TO SAVE THE UNIVERSE - Season One
This time I’m letting John Ross Bowie talk. Yes, that’s right: I’m letting John Ross Bowie talk again…although in my defense and his, you may recall that during the course of his initial appearance on the podcast, he was promoting the premiere of his HBO Max series “Stuart Fails to Save the...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 53 - Allan Havey (The Paper / Mad Men / Billions / Seinfeld / Curb Your Enthusiasm / The Office)
This time I’m letting Allan Havey talk. I was introduced to Allan way back in the days when there were two cable stations devoted to comedy: The Comedy Channel and HA! In short order, they combined to form a single entity known as – you guessed it – Comedy Central. If you were watching back then,...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 52 - Tommy Stinson (The Replacements / Bash & Pop / Guns 'n' Roses / Perfect)
This time I’m letting Tommy Stinson talk. Tommy was busy touring the world and elsewhere when he was still in his teens. Of course, that necessitated dropping out of school, but considering the journey that he went on as a member of the Replacements, it’s easy enough to argue that he made the…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 51 - Mark Sheppard (Ever After / Supernatural / Battlestar Galactica / Firefly / Doctor Who)
This time I'm letting Mark Sheppard talk. Mark's availability for an interview came up with a press release for his latest film, a horror movie called EVER AFTER, but my reasons for asking him to do the podcast were admittedly tied to the fact that he plays a key role on my wife’s favorite TV...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Stopgap Edition #2 - Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music / Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country / Starcrash)
This time I'm letting Christopher Plummer talk...because, yes, that's right, it's another stopgap episode, owing to the fact that I have no new episode in queue and I am currently in the process of trying to stockpile some additional episodes for your listening enjoyment. I suppose there are…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 50 - Wesley Stace a.k.a. John Wesley Harding [The Smithereens]
This time I’m letting Wesley Stace talk. Wes is a singer-songwriter whose work I’ve enjoyed since the release of his debut LP for Sire Records, Here Comes the Groom. That LP, his first full-length studio album, came out in 1990, so not only have I been a fan for 26 years, I’ve even seen him…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 49 - Robin Shorr (The Middle / Samantha Who? / Galavant / The Carmichael Show))
This time I’m letting Robin Shorr talk. I hadn’t actually seen or talked to Robin since the summer of 2013, but despite the fact that 13 years had passed since our previous conversation – which was, in fact, the only conversation we’d ever actually had – you’d never know it from the way she and I...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 48 - Michael Hampton (Parliament Funkadelic / Golden Palominos)
This time I’m letting Michael Hampton talk. Michael has been a professional guitarist since he was in his teens, earning his place in one of the most influential funk bands of all time by being able to reproduce a ridiculously difficult solo when he was 17. By the time he was done, there was no...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 47 - Chris Loggins (PBS / Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood / Odd Squad)
This time I’m letting Chris Loggins talk. Chris is someone I’ve been describing as an outside-the-box guest for this podcast. In realty, though, he isn’t, since he’s squarely within the realm of pop culture. It’s just that the pop culture in question is for a slightly younger demographic than…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 46 - Josh Joplin (The Josh Joplin Group / Camera One / Among the Oak and Ash)
This time I’m letting Josh Joplin talk. I’ve been enjoying Josh’s music for 25 years now. He’s actually been making music longer than that, but I don’t mind admitting that it wasn’t until the release of his single “Camera One” that I first found myself listening to Josh Joplin and his Group. Josh...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 45 - Spencer Garrett (Dog Day Afternoon / Air Force One / Winning Time / 21 Jump Street / Star Trek: The Next Generation)
This time I’m letting Spencer Garrett talk. I’ve been watching this guy’s work since he made an appearance in a season four episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called “The Drumhead.” No, I didn’t know who he was at the time, nor should I have, since he’d really only just gotten started at...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Stopgap Edition #1 - Alex Rocco (The Friends of Eddie Coyle / The Godfather / Party Down)
This one's a bit of an experiment, folks: since I knew I wasn't going to have two episodes available for download this week, I decided that I'd venture into the archives and find the audio from an interview that you've hopefully read but certainly have never heard. In this case, it's what I'm...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 44 - John Ross Bowie (The Big Bang Theory / Stuart Fails to Save the Universe / Speechless / The Brink of War / Death in Paradise))
Today I’m letting John Ross Bowie talk. John has a true gift for comedy, but he’s also a gifted actor. Case and point: when he’s playing Barry Kripke, you often want to punch him in the face, but by the end of this podcast, you’ll want to buy him a drink just so that you can keep hanging out with...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 43 - Jane Seymour (Harry Wild / Dr. Quinn / Live and Let Die / Somewhere in Time / Battlestar Galactica / Radiohead )
This time I’m letting Jane Seymour talk. Jane has been a staple of TV and film since the start of the 1970s. Having gotten her start as an uncredited extra in the 1969 film Oh! What a Lovely War. By the following year, she was actually being credited, and by 1973, she was a Bond girl, so it’s…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 42 - Bruce McGill (Lioness / Scooby-Doo: Origins / Animal House / Miami Vice / Rizzoli and Isles)
This time, I’m letting Bruce McGill talk. I’ve talked to Bruce many times in the past, and it’s because he’s always got stories to tell. In fact, he’s got so many stories that I continue to try to talk him into letting me help him write his memoir. To date, it has not happened, but he says that…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 41 - Bill Lawrence (Scrubs / Ted Lasso / Shrinking / Bad Monkey / Rooster)
Today I’m letting Bill Lawrence talk. I first interviewed Bill because of his ties to my area: he’s an alumnus of the College of William & Mary, which provided me with a local angle and an excuse to talk to him for The Virginian-Pilot. Or was the first time for PortFolio Weekly? Either way, I’ve...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 40 - Jamie Hector (The Wire / Bosch / Heroes / The Strain / Cape Fear / Wu-Tang Clan))
This time I’m letting Jamie Hector talk. Funny thing is, I actually interviewed Jamie for the AV Club, even if I didn’t entirely remember it at first. In my defense, I’ve done so freaking many Random Roles interviews over the years that the relatively few non-Random Roles interviews I’ve done…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 39 - Graham Parker (Howlin' Wind / Quality Footwear / Judd Apatow / This Is 40)
This time, I’m letting Graham Parker talk. Graham is a singer-songwriter who’s been plying his trade since the ‘70s, steadily touring and regularly writing, recording, and releasing new music. He tends to get lumped in with such so-called “angry young men” as Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson, but…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 38 - Jon Cryer (Pretty in Pink / Superman IV / Lex Luthor / Two and a Half Men)
This time I’m letting Jon Cryer talk. I’ve interviewed Jon more than a few times over the course of the past decade or so, and I’m always pleased to have a chance to talk to him again. That’s mostly because he’s a swell guy and we have a nice chemistry whenever we chat, but if I’m being honest,...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 37 - Sally Timms (Mekons / Marc Almond / Pete Shelley / Cowboy Sally)
This time I’m letting Sally Timms talk. Sally is a singer-songwriter who – since 1985 – has been a member and one of the lead singers of one of the longest-running bands to emerge during the UK punk explosion, even if it’s been quite a while since one would readily describe their sound as “punk.”...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 36 - Lukas Haas (Spider-Noir / Witness / Mars Attacks! / Criminal Minds / The Righteous Gemstones))
This time I'm letting Lukas Haas talk. Lukas was still in single digits when he made his film debut, managed to make it through his teen years without succumbing to any sort of scandal, and is currently in the cast of a series that’s sitting at a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes…and that’s on both…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 35 - Kevin Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners)
This time I’m letting Kevin Rowland talk. He's been a recurring figure on the UK charts since the early ‘80s, and on the US charts… Well, okay, he hasn’t exactly made any headway there in quite some time, but even in 2026, the sheer inevitability of “Come on Eileen” has continued to keep the name...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 34 - John C. McGinley (Scrubs / Rooster / Office Space / Platoon)
This time, I’m letting John C. McGinley talk. I’ve wanted to interview John for many years, so the fact that that dream came true just as he’s delivered not one but two Emmy-worthy performances made it all the more exciting. I no longer remember where I first saw Mr. McGinley, mostly because he…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 33 - Nick Heyward and Blair Cunningham (Haircut 100 / Paul McCartney)
This time I’m actually letting two people talk. One of them I was expecting, one of them I wasn’t, but I was thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with them together, even if it had only been a little over a week since I’d last talked to them separately. To try and make that slightly confusing...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 32 - Kevin Dunn (Mermaid / Veep / Snake Eyes)
This time I’m letting Kevin Dunn talk. Kevin is a gentleman who’s been working in front of the camera since the mid-1980s, but it’s arguable that the role that transformed him from “oh, that guy” to being an “oh, that guy” from a very specific thing was playing White House Chief of Staff Ben...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 31 - Sam Anderson (Matlock / Friends / Lost / ER / WKRP in Cincinatti))
This time I’m letting Sam Anderson talk. Sam is someone who’s been a working character actor since the 1970s, popping up in dramas and comedies alike. At the moment, he’s living the character actor’s dream, in that he’s a series regular on one of the most entertaining dramas on network…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 30 - Jay O. Sanders (JFK / Law & Order: Criminal Intent / The Day After Tomorrow / True Detective) /
This time I’m letting Jay O. Sanders talk. Jay started in the theater, quickly found his way in front of the camera, and has successfully forged an extremely substantial career as a character actor. Before that, though, he made his New York theater debut in a “Shakespeare in the Park” performance...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 29 - Mark Harmon (NCIS / Ghosts of Sicily / Summer School / The West Wing)
This time I’m talking to someone who was once named People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. Not that it came up in the conversation, but it just feels like a real pop culture badge of accomplishment, so I felt like I needed to mention it. Mark Harmon has been acting since the ‘70s, but while he…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 28 - Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law / Psych / Major League / Star Trek))
This time, I’m letting Corbin Bernsen talk. As one of the leads of NBC’s long-running legal drama L.A. LAW, Corbin was one of the biggest TV stars of the ‘80s, and he’s managed to maintain a significant career ever since, not only as an actor but as a director as well. On paper, he seems to be...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 27 - Thomas Dolby
This time, I’m letting Thomas Dolby talk. Thomas Dolby is a musician whose output throughout the ‘80s and into the ‘90s was part of the soundtrack to my life. Of course, anyone who came of age during the early days of MTV knows his music whether they know his name or not. Just play them a snippet...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 26 - DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler (The Middle / Roseanne / Murphy Brown)
This time I’m letting two – count ‘em – two people talk: DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler. They’re the pair behind Blackie and Blondie Productions, which should ring a bell if you’re a diehard TV fan, but in case you’re still drawing a blank, DeAnn and Eileen are the duo responsible for creating…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 25 - Peter Tolan (The Job / Rescue Me / The Larry Sanders Show / Dave Chappelle)
Unabashed plug: WE HAVE MERCH! https://www.teepublic.com/user/lettingthemtalk This time I’m letting Peter Tolan talk. Peter is one of the best TV writers in the business as well as one of my favorite storytellers, either of which would be plenty enough excuse to have him as a guest. But when I...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 24 - Jane Alexander (Testament / The Great White Hope / Severance)
This time, I’m letting Jane Alexander talk. Jane is a four-time Academy Award nominee, a seven-time Tony nominee, and a two-time Emmy winner (with six additional nominations to her credit), so…there’s really no good reason why she should be talking to me for this podcast. The only explanation I…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 23 - Dennis Quaid (I Can Only Imagine / The Right Stuff / Innerspace / Jaws 3-D)
This time, I’m letting Dennis Quaid talk. Dennis has grinned his way through an acting career that started in the ‘70s and has continued unabated ever since. Sure, he’s had a few ups and downs over the decades, as he’ll freely admit (and, indeed, does so during the course of our interview), but...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 22 - C. Thomas Howell (One Mile / The Outsiders / Criminal Minds)
Today, I’m letting C. Thomas Howell talk. I’ve been watching this man’s work since I was 11 years old and went to see “E.T.” with my family. A line like that might make some actors feel old, but given that Tommy – and I’m not being overly familiar here, this is actually how he’s listed on his...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 21 - Nathan Rabin (A.V. Club / The Dissolve)
Today, I’m letting Nathan Rabin talk. I used to read Nathan’s work on the A.V. Club long before I began writing for the site myself, and every once in awhile it still strikes me as a little weird that he and I have become a mutual admiration society. And it’s not just me: during the course of the...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 20 - Captain Sensible (The Damned / "Happy Talk")
This time I’m letting Raymond Ian Burns talk…although you’d know him better by his nom de punk: Captain Sensible. As a founding member of the Damned, he’s a proper punk rock legend and a member of the band who famously released the first punk single in the UK and was the first UK punk band to…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 19 - Kathleen Chalfant (The Copenhagen Test / Law & Order)
This time, the person I’m letting talk is Kathleen Chalfant. Kathleen is an actress who got her start in the theater, moved into on-camera acting through the wonderful world of soap operas, and has become a familiar face in films as well as on television, most recently on the Peacock series “The...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 18 - Kyle Vincent (Candy / Barry Manilow / Bay City Rollers)
This time, I'm letting Kyle Vincent talk. Kyle is someone whose music I’ve been enjoying since the release of his self-titled 1997 album. Appropriately, it’s that very album that brings us into conversation today, since it’s finally made its way to streaming services for the first time. Kyle has…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 17 - Chris Mulkey [Twin Peaks / Patti Rocks / First Blood / Whiplash]
This time, I’m letting Chris Mulkey talk. Chris is a character actor whose work I’ve been watching since well before I actually knew who he was, but I do know when I actually started paying attention to him: after he started playing Hank Jennings, the deceitful husband of Double R Diner owner…
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 16 - Angelo Moore of Fishbone, a.k.a. Dr. Madd Vibe
This time, I'm letting Angelo Moore talk. Angelo is a force of nature, one of the most gregarious individuals I’ve ever had the good fortune to interview, and – it must be said – one of the greatest self-promoters you’re likely to ever come across. And I mean that as a compliment. I need to take...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 15 - Rizwan Manji (Re-Election / Outsourced / Schitt's Creek / Peacemaker)
This time, I’m letting Rizwan Manji talk. Rizwan has successfully carved himself out a career as a character actor, one who’s frequently comedic but has also had the opportunity to show off his dramatic chops on occasion. I first met him when he was in the cast of the NBC sitcom Outsourced, which...
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Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 14 - Jerry Ordway (All-Star Squadron, Adventures of Superman, Fantastic Four)
This time, I'm letting Jerry Ordway talk. Jerry is one of my favorite comic book artists and writers, going back to the early ‘80s. If you listened to my interview with Mike Carlin a few episodes back, then you already know that I’m a certifiable comic book nerd, but I will admit that I got even...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Longtime pop culture journalist Will Harris, perhaps best known for his work at the A.V. Club (or, more specifically, for his Random Roles interviews), finally embarks on a straightforward interview podcast, chatting with actors, writers, musicians, political pundits, comic book artists... The world is his oyster, and he's planning to make the most of it!
HOSTED BY
willharrisinva
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Letting Them Talk with Will Harris have?
Letting Them Talk with Will Harris currently has 62 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Letting Them Talk with Will Harris about?
Longtime pop culture journalist Will Harris, perhaps best known for his work at the A.V. Club (or, more specifically, for his Random Roles interviews), finally embarks on a straightforward interview podcast, chatting with actors, writers, musicians, political pundits, comic book artists... The...
How often does Letting Them Talk with Will Harris release new episodes?
Letting Them Talk with Will Harris has 62 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Letting Them Talk with Will Harris?
You can listen to Letting Them Talk with Will Harris on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Letting Them Talk with Will Harris?
Letting Them Talk with Will Harris is created and hosted by willharrisinva.
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