Hosting the Academy Awards ceremony is a notoriously tricky gig, but Conan O’Brien nailed it in 2025, and he will return for this year’s event. Since leaving late-night television, in 2021, O’Brien has been busy: his hit podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” commands perhaps a larger audience than he had on late night; he launched the travel series “Conan O’Brien Must Go”; and he’s played a therapist in the 2025 film “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/rose-byrne-hits-the-mother-lode" rel="noopener noreferrer">If I Had Legs I’d Kick You</a>.” O’Brien talks with David Remnick about the things that have gone wrong at the Oscars; why he won’t get too “sentimental” about the gradual collapse of late night; and his shock at the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, who had been at O’Brien’s house on the night they were killed. 
New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

<description>&lt;p&gt;Hosting the Academy Awards ceremony is a notoriously tricky gig, but Conan O’Brien nailed it in 2025, and he will return for this year’s event. Since leaving late-night television, in 2021, O’Brien has been busy: his hit podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” commands perhaps a larger audience than he had on late night; he launched the travel series “Conan O’Brien Must Go”; and he’s played a therapist in the 2025 film “&lt;a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/rose-byrne-hits-the-mother-lode" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;If I Had Legs I’d Kick You&lt;/a&gt;.” O’Brien talks with David Remnick about the things that have gone wrong at the Oscars; why he won’t get too “sentimental” about the gradual collapse of late night; and his shock at the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, who had been at O’Brien’s house on the night they were killed. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, &lt;i&gt;New Yorker&lt;/i&gt; staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.&lt;/p&gt;
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The hit podcaster and host of next month’s Academy Awards ceremony on the collapse of late-night television, and the deaths of his friends Rob and Michele Reiner.

Conan O’Brien on What Can Go Wrong at the Oscars

Every year, ahead of Oscar night, the film critic <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/richard-brody">Richard Brody</a> joins the New Yorker Radio Hour to discuss his picks for the year’s best films. David Remnick sits down with Brody and the staff writer <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/alexandra-schwartz">Alexandra Schwartz</a> to discuss the movies that didn’t get enough credit, the ones that got too much, and the lesser-known gems among the year’s releases.New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

<description>&lt;p&gt;Every year, ahead of Oscar night, the film critic &lt;a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/richard-brody"&gt;Richard Brody&lt;/a&gt; joins the New Yorker Radio Hour to discuss his picks for the year’s best films. David Remnick sits down with Brody and the staff writer &lt;a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/alexandra-schwartz"&gt;Alexandra Schwartz&lt;/a&gt; to discuss the movies that didn’t get enough credit, the ones that got too much, and the lesser-known gems among the year’s releases.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, &lt;i&gt;New Yorker&lt;/i&gt; staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.&lt;/p&gt;
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The New Yorker critics Richard Brody and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the year’s best offerings, and how films seem to be getting better these days.

Richard Brody Presents the 2026 Brody Awards

In January, the Justice Department released over three million documents, including many redacted e-mails, related to Jeffrey Epstein. “Should we share the Julie Brown text with Alan [Dershowitz],” Epstein wrote in one note to a lawyer. “She is going to start trouble. Asking for victims etc.” Brown’s reporting on Epstein for the Miami Herald, and her revelations about the federal plea deal he received, had an enormous impact on public perception of Epstein and his ties to Trump. Brown joins David Remnick to discuss the latest tranche of redacted e-mails, which show, as she <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article314631578.html">reported</a>, that Trump knew about his friend’s crimes far earlier than he has admitted. Brown and Remnick also talk about Epstein’s relationship with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and why she does not believe that Epstein died by suicide. New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

<description>&lt;p&gt;In January, the Justice Department released over three million documents, including many redacted e-mails, related to Jeffrey Epstein. “Should we share the Julie Brown text with Alan [Dershowitz],” Epstein wrote in one note to a lawyer. “She is going to start trouble. Asking for victims etc.” Brown’s reporting on Epstein for the Miami &lt;i&gt;Herald&lt;/i&gt;, and her revelations about the federal plea deal he received, had an enormous impact on public perception of Epstein and his ties to Trump. Brown joins David Remnick to discuss the latest tranche of redacted e-mails, which show, as she &lt;a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article314631578.html"&gt;reported&lt;/a&gt;, that Trump knew about his friend’s crimes far earlier than he has admitted. Brown and Remnick also talk about Epstein’s relationship with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and why she does not believe that Epstein died by suicide. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, &lt;i&gt;New Yorker&lt;/i&gt; staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.&lt;/p&gt;
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The Miami Herald’s Julie K. Brown on what Trump told the Miami police, and how the latest batch of files from the D.O.J. “makes the public more distrustful.”

What Donald Trump and “Everyone” Knew About Jeffrey Epstein

Jenin Younes rose to prominence on the right by defending medical professionals like Jay Bhattacharya who claimed that they were being censored over opposition to vaccination and masking mandates. Younes worked for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a group described as libertarian, and appeared at events with the Federalist Society. As the political winds have shifted, she says that the Trump Administration’s attacks on free speech are worse than anything that she saw during the Biden Administration. Younes is currently the national legal director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. David Remnick speaks with her about her unlikely trajectory and about how her commitment to free speech—regardless of which side of the aisle the issue arises from—has left her in a uniquely lonely political position. New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

<description>&lt;p&gt;Jenin Younes rose to prominence on the right by defending medical professionals like Jay Bhattacharya who claimed that they were being censored over opposition to vaccination and masking mandates. Younes worked for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a group described as libertarian, and appeared at events with the Federalist Society. As the political winds have shifted, she says that the Trump Administration’s attacks on free speech are worse than anything that she saw during the Biden Administration. Younes is currently the national legal director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. David Remnick speaks with her about her unlikely trajectory and about how her commitment to free speech—regardless of which side of the aisle the issue arises from—has left her in a uniquely lonely political position. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, &lt;i&gt;New Yorker&lt;/i&gt; staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.&lt;/p&gt;
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A First Amendment lawyer once attacked Democrats for suppressing unpopular opinions; she now sees a vastly greater threat from the Trump Administration.

Jenin Younes on Threats to Free Speech from the Left and the Right

Ben Shapiro, the host of his eponymous podcast and the co-founder of the conservative website the Daily Wire, has lambasted the left and the Democratic Party for decades. Recently, though, Shapiro has taken to criticizing some of the loudest voices in the MAGA universe, including <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/02/tucker-carlsons-nationalist-crusade">Tucker Carlson</a> and Megyn Kelly. The rift is over the acceptance and promulgation of conspiracy theories and, in particular, the normalization of antisemitism. Shapiro discusses the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/trump-epstein-and-the-women">Epstein files</a> and what they show—and do not show—about the powerful people connected to Jeffrey Epstein. The belief in conspiracies of the élite reflects “people’s desire to abdicate control over their own lives,” Shapiro tells David Remnick. They discuss Shapiro’s adherence to the conservative value of personal responsibility, and how he squares that with MAGA and its champions.New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

<description>&lt;p&gt;Ben Shapiro, the host of his eponymous podcast and the co-founder of the conservative website the &lt;i&gt;Daily Wire&lt;/i&gt;, has lambasted the left and the Democratic Party for decades. Recently, though, Shapiro has taken to criticizing some of the loudest voices in the MAGA universe, including &lt;a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/02/tucker-carlsons-nationalist-crusade"&gt;Tucker Carlson&lt;/a&gt; and Megyn Kelly. The rift is over the acceptance and promulgation of conspiracy theories and, in particular, the normalization of antisemitism. Shapiro discusses the &lt;a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/trump-epstein-and-the-women"&gt;Epstein files&lt;/a&gt; and what they show—and do not show—about the powerful people connected to Jeffrey Epstein. The belief in conspiracies of the élite reflects “people’s desire to abdicate control over their own lives,” Shapiro tells David Remnick. They discuss Shapiro’s adherence to the conservative value of personal responsibility, and how he squares that with MAGA and its champions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, &lt;i&gt;New Yorker&lt;/i&gt; staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.&lt;/p&gt;
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The conservative podcaster sees self-dealing and conspiracy theories in the Trump Administration. Yet the left, he says, chronically underestimates its own transgressions.

Ben Shapiro Is Waging Battle Inside the MAGA Movement

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