Episode 511: Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Longform

Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer at the New York Times and the creator of the new Hulu television series Fleishman Is in Trouble, based on her bestselling novel.

“I took the cast out to dinner … And the way they began talking to each other, which was very intimate, was like a punch in the stomach. Because I had always thought that I got people to open up to me [in celebrity profiles]. And I was like, Oh, no, I got them to answer questions differently than maybe they had before. … And that was a little devastating to me.”

Show notes:

• @taffyakner
• taffyakner.com
• Brodesser-Akner on Longform
• 00:00 Brodesser-Akner on Longform Podcast (#126)
• 00:00 Brodesser-Akner on Longform Podcast (#350)
• 01:00 Brodesser-Akner's New York Times archive
• 01:00 Brodesser-Akner's GQ archive
• 01:00 Fleishman Is in Trouble (Hulu • 2022)
• 01:00 Fleishman Is in Trouble (Random House • 2020)
• 04:00 "Billy Bob Thornton on Bad Santa 2, Ungrateful Fans, and Why He Won't Direct Anymore" (GQ • Nov 2016)
• 09:00 "Jimmy Buffett Does Not Live the Jimmy Buffett Lifestyle" (New York Times • Feb 2018)
• 13:00 "The Gospel According to Marianne Williamson" (New York Times • Sep 2019)
• 14:00 Erin Brockovich (2000)
• 17:00 "This Tom Hanks Story Will Help You Feel Less Bad" (New York Times • Nov 2019)
• 17:00 "What Happened to Val Kilmer? He’s Just Starting to Figure It Out." (New York Times • May 2020)
• 23:00 Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
• 23:00 Ruby Sparks (2012)
• 24:00 "Christian Slater Isn't Mr. Robot, He's Mr. Nice Guy" (GQ • Aug 2016)
• 27:00 "Water’s Edge" (GQ • Jul 2015)
• 33:00 "CNN’s Jake Tapper Is the Realest Man in ‘Fake News’" (GQ • Apr 2017)
• 41:00 "How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow’s Company Worth $250 Million" (New York Times • Jul 2018)
• 47:00 Sam Anderson on Longform Podcast

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