Bullseye With Jesse Thorn

Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold talks to us about how he manages the day to day eating, the best pastrami sandwich, overcoming food fears and more. He writes for the LA Weekly and is the author of the highly regarded food guide to Los Angeles, Counter Intelligence.

Carrie Fisher is perhaps best known as Princess Leia from the seminal Star Wars films, but she began her celebrity life as a baby — the daughter of America's sweethearts, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. Carrie battled addiction, mental illness and the ups and downs of celebrity to reinvent herself as a successful novelist and memoirist. Her new memoir, Shockaholic, is out now.

AV Club Editor Keith Phipps and Associate Editor Tasha Robinson join us to give their culture picks for December 2011.

Nile Rodgers launched a string of hits with the group Chic, including "Le Freak" and "Good Times", and went on to become a songwriting and producing superstar. He was behind Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Out", David Bowie's "Let's Dance", Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and many more. Now, he reflects on decades of hitwriting, collaborating, and the meaning of music in his life. His new autobiography is Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny.

Our correspondent Jordan Morris pores over what's happening in America to let you know what's best in the US right now.

Patrick Warburton is a live and voice actor known for his roles on Seinfeld, NewsRadio and The Venture Brothers among others. He's currently starring in the popular CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement and is the voice behind the talk show host in the animated series Effin With Tonight on Crackle

Rod Baedeker from Kasper Hauser drops by The Sound of Young America to share with us his ground-breaking lecture he gave at Cal Tech.

Kate Beaton authors the webcomic Hark! a Vagrant. The comic strips mine history and literature for figures to be reimagined and skewered as petulant children, jaded superheroes and Victorian dude-watchers, accented by a very expressive drawing style. Her comics have recently been collected into a book, also called Hark! a Vagrant.

Jeanne Darst is a writer and performer whose work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and This American Life. She recently published her first book, Fiction Ruined My Family, about her literary family who spent more time drinking than writing.

Don't know where to turn, or who to believe? Try our correspondent Jordan Morris, who brings you the best of America every month.

Comedian and comedy-inquisitor Marc Maron talks about turning it all around, doing standup and hosting his smash podcast (turned public radio show) WTF. His new comedy album is "This Has to Be Funny".

Bestselling nonfiction author and The New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean talks to us about the fascinating life of the dog and the character Rin Tin Tin, plus much more. Her new book is Rin Tin Tin: The Life and The Legend.

Today's guests from the AV Club are TV Editor Todd VanDerWerff and Assistant Editor Erik Adams. They drop by to discuss their TV picks for the Fall season from Showtimes 'Homeland' to NBCs 'Up All Night' running through the hits and misses with Host Jesse Thorn.

The legendary funk bassist joins us to talk about creating the persona of Bootsy, playing music with two very different band leaders, James Brown and George Clinton, and more.

The Long Winters' frontman, John Roderick, talks to us about the song that changed his life: ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin'.

For Jonathan Coulton, success as a musician has come with recording music himself, releasing individual songs online one-at-a-time, and even selling his catalog on a USB drive. So in a way, his new album Artificial Heart is a terrifying turn to the traditional, and a creative risk. It was produced with They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh in a studio with a full band, the old-fashioned way. Jonathan and John talk to us about that process.

John Hodgman guest hosts this interview with astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. Dr. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium, but the layperson likely knows him as the host of Star Talk Radio and the PBS program Nova ScienceNOW. His upcoming projects include a new version of the TV series Cosmos — originally hosted by Carl Sagan — and a new book titled Space Chronicles. He talks to us about how money for space exploration stacks up to other spending, his personal space travel dreams, and more.

John Hodgman guest hosts an interview with the fantasy, science fiction and horror author George R. R. Martin. Martin is the author of the very popular series known as "A Song of Ice and Fire", which has recently been adapted for the HBO show "Game of Thrones". He joins us to talk about creating a fantasy universe, (very) involved fans, and more.

Is cultural innovation at risk when we indulge in retromania? Music critic Simon Reynolds joins us to talk about why songs today are more unimaginative when we have unprecedented access to decades' worth of past music, the loop of re-creating old sounds, and more. His new book is Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to its Own Past.

Nicolas Winding Refn is the Danish director of the new film "Drive", starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. Refn had a very specific vision for the film, which included trance-like music and throwbacks to the aesthetics of films of his childhood. "Drive" won Refn the Best Director award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.