Here's The Thing with Alec Baldwin

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Todd Rundgren is in a class all his own. Whether scoring Top 40 hits, playing all of the instruments on his albums or wildly experimenting with musical genres, Rundgren is continuously pushing the boundaries of creativity. That ethos and ingenuity can be found in his numerous solo albums from the 70s to present day, with his band Utopia and as a record producer for musicians like Patti Smith, The Psychedelic Furs and MeatLoaf. The trailblazing Rundgren is also a pioneer in computer technology and multimedia – creating the first color graphics tablet, first interactive album and first interactive concert tour. Todd Rundgren tells Alec how he pulls off making the music he wants to make, how he almost changed careers to become a computer programmer and how psychedelics helped him rethink music completely.
You can listen to all of the music from this episode and other selections from Todd Rundgren in a curated playlist here.
Originally released May 23rd, 2022.
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Lou Gramm is a legendary singer and songwriter best known as co-founder and original frontman of Foreigner. Gramm is considered among the greatest and most successful rock vocalists of his generation. He co-wrote many of Foreigner's hits with bandmate Mick Jones. Together, they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame class of 2013 and in 2024, Gramm was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Foreigner. Gramm is the voice behind hit songs such as “Juke Box Hero”, “Urgent", and “I Want to Know What Love Is”. In March 2026, Gramm released his first full-length solo album since 1989. Paired with this conversation is Here’s The Thing’s 2017 conversation with another legendary singer-songwriter: Jon Anderson. The co-founder of the progressive rock band Yes and renowned for his unmistakable vocals and songwriting, Anderson is the voice behind timeless hits including “Roundabout,” “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” and “I've Seen All Good People”. In 2017, Anderson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Yes. With a career spanning more than five decades, Anderson continues to tour worldwide.
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To celebrate 15 years of great conversations, we're revisiting Alec's first episode from 2011. Michael Douglas has lived in the same apartment overlooking Central Park for decades. Alec joins him there for a compelling conversation about what makes a great director and why playing the villain is so wonderful. Douglas reveals how competition with his father, legendary actor Kirk Douglas, shaped both his career and his life as a parent. He says he’s much more honest with his young daughter than he ever thought he’d be. Douglas explains how his father’s early brush with death, and his own cancer diagnosis affected them each in different ways.
Originally released October 23rd, 2011.
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Mark Twain once likened biographies to “the clothes and buttons of the man” saying “the biography of the man himself cannot be written.” The quote is a favorite of Patricia Bosworth, a 1950s model-actor turned biographer known for capturing the lives of Diane Arbus, Montgomery Clift, and Marlon Brando. All three were revered and haunted by internal demons—a narrative she knows too well. Bosworth's own father, Bartley Crum, was a left-wing lawyer who famously defended the Hollywood Ten before succumbing to his own psychological pain. It was her father's suicide, as well as her brother's six years earlier, that instilled a strong desire to seek out the stories of other tormented souls. Patricia Bosworth's book The Men in My Life turns that voyage inward, painting a picture of a resilient woman with a tragic story of her own.
Originally released August 22nd, 2017. Patricia Bosworth passed away on April 2nd, 2020.
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Dubbed “the hottest artist on the classical music planet” by The New York Times, pianist Lang Lang has reached a level of stardom rare for classical musicians. But his prominence is hard-won. Alec, who adores Lang Lang's charisma and talent, elicits from his guest stories of hardship during his childhood in northeastern China, and of his slow climb to the top, via Philadelphia. That's where fish-out-of-water Lang Lang showed up at the age of 15 and enrolled in public high school as well as conservatory. Throughout the interview, Lang Lang plays pieces from his latest album, Piano Book, a collection of pieces normally reserved for young learners, reinterpreted with brilliance and respect by the great master.
Originally aired September 17th, 2019.
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