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Fresh Air Weekend: Arsenio Hall; 'Roastmaster' comic Jeff Ross

Arsenio Hall speaks onstage during the Emmy Awards on Jan. 15, 2024.
Kevin Winter
/
Getty Images North America
Arsenio Hall speaks onstage during the Emmy Awards on Jan. 15, 2024.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, as well as new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and it often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

Even when Arsenio Hall's show was a hit, "everyone wanted it to be something else": Hall's late-night show gave hip-hop a home on TV and helped propel Bill Clinton to the White House. "I wanted to do this show that didn't exist when I was a kid," he says. Hall's memoir is Arsenio.

Now cancer-free, "Roastmaster" comic Jeff Ross still finds humor in loss: Known for his ruthless celebrity roasts, Ross turns inward in his Netflix special, Take a Banana for the Ride, which details the loss of his parents and grandfather.

You can listen to the original interviews here:

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.