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The Playboy Interviews

By: Playboy
Narrated by: a full cast
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Entertainment & Celebrities
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Episodes
  • Trailer: Classic Playboy Interviews

    Trailer: Classic Playboy Interviews

     Season 1: Icons & Iconoclasts
    Jan 19 2023
    For generations of fans, the Playboy Interview was revered as the gold standard in American journalism. To read it in its totality is to glimpse a record of everyone who mattered in the history of the 20th and 21st centuries; kicking off a remarkable run of public inquisition that has featured just about every cultural titan of the past half century. Those figures include Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Fidel Castro, Jimmy Hoffa, Frank Sinatra, Steve Jobs, Orson Welles, Marlon Brando, Truman Capote, Ayn Rand, Jean Paul Sartre, Salvador Dali, and countless others. It is a stunning list of heavyweight names that will never again be replicated. Now for the first time Audible listeners can hear those conversations as they happened. In the spirit of Frost/Nixon, interviews from the magazine have been rerecorded with key talent portraying some of the most iconic figures of the 20th century. Each episode offers a unique look into not just the individual portrayed but the time and place of the interview itself. In playing Betty Friedan, Rosanna Arquette showcases The Feminine Mystique author and mother of the modern women’s movement, in a famously confrontational interview from Playboy’s 40th Anniversary Issue which took aim at the magazine for its leering objectification of women. Friedan is portrayed as a wounded hero, seemingly out of place as a new generation of feminists assail her politics on the eve of the 1992 Women’s March. Muhammad Ali, portrayed by Taye Diggs is shown in 1964, as a fledgling Heavyweight Champion, just months after defeating Sonny Liston. He is still searching for his voice underneath all the bombast. It’s a remarkable portrait of a larger-than-life figure shown with the utmost humanity. Michael Shannon plays the brilliant, anguished playwright, Tennessee Williams who famously sat for Playboy’s 1973 Interview. He delivers a treatise on the symbiosis between good and evil while opening his life to inquisition; discussing his sex life, drug use and deteriorating health. Paranoid, funny and alternatingly hostile and charming, Williams famously quipped, “If I got rid of all my demons, I’d lose my angels.” Salvador Dali is shown to be a manic dervish of creativity teetering on the edge of madness. Actor Gael Garcia Bernal brings out the humor and childlike sweetness from the potentially deranged surrealist that few seldom see. We learn of his obsession with the rhinoceros as well as his bitter feud with fellow Spaniard Pablo Picasso who he decries for the “anarchic ugliness of his paintings.” Frank Sinatra’s famous February 1963 interview, voiced by Kevin Corrigan, is notable for how “Un-Sinatra” it sounds as he attempts to expound on the nature of religion, nuclear disarmament and philosophy in hopes of shaking off his ring-a-ding, Rat Pack image and impressing John F. Kennedy who had barred the crooner from the White House at the behest of his brother Bobby. The result is a Sinatra, while sounding statesmanlike, insecure and vulnerable as he longs for establishment acceptance. Maya Hawke plays the legendary Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown. The 1963 interview is prescient in its portrayal of abortion, female sexuality and liberation years before the women’s movement truly kicked off. Mae West, inhabited by the incomparable Natasha Lyonne, is revealed as a triumphant figure who hides behind her lascivious image. At age 78, West had returned with a vengeance as a camp hero of Gore Vidal’s provocative Myra Breckenridge, only to break the last Hollywood taboo: showing that an older woman could not only get top billing but could also be seen as a sex object. “I’m the greatest thing since Valentino,” she quips in the interview. Each interview serves as both a window into history and a parallel of our own times as we witness how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. They are truly remarkable though for the candidness in which the subjects conduct themselves. And is a reminder of the pr controlled universe that inhibits free expression in today’s paranoid world.
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    1 min
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  • Episode 1: Betty Friedan

    Episode 1: Betty Friedan

     Season 1: Icons & Iconoclasts
    Jan 19 2023
    The Feminine Mystique author and mother of the modern women’s movement talks about the future of feminism, her famous feuds, and what she really thinks of Playboy. Starring Rosanna Arquette as Friedan. This famous no-holds barred interview from the magazine’s 40th anniversary issue features Friedan famously taking aim at Playboy for its leering objectification and fellow feminists like Susan Faludi for their growing extremism.
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    53 mins
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  • Episode 2: Muhammad Ali

    Episode 2: Muhammad Ali

     Season 1: Icons & Iconoclasts
    Jan 19 2023
    One of Playboy’s all-time great interviews is taken from Playboy’s October 1964 issue and features a young Muhammad Ali who just eight months earlier defeated Sonny Liston to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World. The interview features a defiant Ali sounding off on the tenets of his adopted, Muslim religion, racism in America and his favorite topic, himself. Starring Taye Diggs who channels Ali masterfully as a would-be icon finding his voice for the first time.
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    52 mins
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Interview: What Maya Hawke Learned About Today's Feminism From a 1963 "Playboy" Interview

The Playboy Interviews
'Maybe we don't have to fit in that box. Maybe womanhood can mean a lot of different things…'
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  • The Playboy Interviews
  • 'Maybe we don't have to fit in that box. Maybe womanhood can mean a lot of different things…'

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Profile Image for Thomas

Love Natasha Lyonne

Love Natasha Lyonne
Love Natasha Lyonne
Love Natasha Lyonne
Love Natasha Lyonne
Love Natasha Lyonne ❤️

She is the best!

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Profile Image for Eric

Beyond Excellent!

The materials and performances kept me enthralled. I was worried that it would be dry, but it is anything but!

This entire series exceeded my expectations. If you are on the fence, take a chance and thank me later.

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Profile Image for Sigrid Arvidson

Freedom of speech & press relevant now, thx!

Regardless of preference of presentation; these interviews remind me/us stark reduction in reporting with echoes of objective open exchange. I learned a lot & thank those involved in crafting these in audio format.

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Profile Image for Ken

Wow. Fantastic!

I only disliked one thing- the guy reading the interview questions. Every question sounds like it's asked by Tucker Carlson interviewing... well, anyone. Angry and combative. Was this actually the tone of the interviewer? It's intense and off putting.
That said-wow! These interviews are excellent! Fran Sinatra being asked how or if we should have nuclear disarmament? Now I know why in the 80s there was such a pushback on artists having opinions on politics- because interviewers used to ask! Can you imagine ET asking Arianna Grande how she feels about the UN and atheism? No, because like Frank said, he could lose his career over his answers! (no disrespect to Arianna. I would live to hear her views on China and Christianity.) Regardless, Frank was 100% right on almost all his answers. I was not a fan before this interview.
The heartbreak of Tennessee Williams and the actor captures his EXACT accent! All the interviews were stellar! All the actors were fantastic! This is a GENIUS series that I want to see on hbo!
*I'm gay and listening to the progressive but still backwards views of gays (not to mention every other minorities) was hard but important.
** Frank's interview was fascinating!

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Profile Image for James Jellinek

Truly Amazing

This series blew me away. The performances were all incredible. The interviews were fascinating. Probably the best thing I've heard on Audible.

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Profile Image for Micah Luke Thompson

Great performances of interesting materials

All around five stars. Super interesting interviews reenacted by talented actors. It is evident they are interested in the subject matter. The episodes cover a variety of subjects. I hope a season two is produced.

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Profile Image for Stephen

Quality Time

I am really loving these Playboy interviews. I remember reading them when they first appeared and they are a lot better now than when I first read them.

I am returning to this review to see when there might be more of these interviews. They are fantastic. Apparently, not many people have listened to them. It will take some time for the word to spread. I've posted on my Facebook about them.

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Profile Image for Katie

Dali was an egotistic wack job and oh so interesti

All the interviews were incredible! It was nice to hear historic figures talk so frankly and in their own words. The actors were very convincing playing their roles. I hope Playboy releases many more interviews in this format.

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Profile Image for Heather S.

Captivating

Such an amazing series of interviews with some of the most notable people. Creative, innovative and binge worthily! Loved the sound design and acting

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Profile Image for Amazon Customer

AMAZING HISTORY BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE!!!

I loved EVERYTHING about this podcast. The actor's created such a beautiful picture of resurrecting times gone by like they never left! My favorites were Muhammed Ali, Salvador Dali, Frank Sinatra & May West....No one could have done Ms. West better than Natasha Leon! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE continue this series! It is liquid gold!!!!!

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