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Fresh Air Weekend: Mike Birbiglia, Bill Hader

August 25, 2012
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Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors, and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

Mike Birbiglia, 'Sleepwalk'-ing On The Big Screen: The comedian co-wrote a film with Ira Glass, of public radio's This American Life, about his life and sleepwalking disorder. But making Sleepwalk With Me, based on Birbiglia's one-man show and comedic memoir, caused Birbiglia anxiety — which exacerbated his disorder.

Bill Hader On Sketch Comedy, His Love Of Old Films: Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader, nominated for an Emmy for his character Stefon, an obsessive clubgoer, says he needs a character to be funny. Hader tells Fresh Air that he doesn't know how people do standup — and that watching old films as a child sparked his interest in Hollywood.

You can listen to the original interviews here:

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Arts & Culture

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China Builds Museums ... But Will The Visitors Come?

China is on a spree to build world-class museums and has opened about 100 of them annually in recent years. Two of the biggest opened on the same day last fall on opposite banks of Shanghai's Huangpu River. But filling these museums — with both art and visitors — is proving more challenging.

Food

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Nutrition Group Says Chocolate Milk Is OK, No Need For Aspartame

The nation's largest group of nutritionists is urging the FDA to reject the dairy industry's petition to change the definition of milk. The petition aims to allow aspartame or other alternatives to be used to sweeten milk in an effort to boost consumption in schools.

Politics

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IRS Official In Charge Of Nonprofits Declines To Testify

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Technology

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Microsoft Reveals New Xbox One Game System

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