Now I've Heard Everything – Vintage Interviews With Notable People

Mario Cuomo’s Take on The Timeless Relevance of Abraham Lincoln

November 21, 2025Bill Thompson

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most written about Americans of all time. It’s estimated there may be as many as 18,000 books about him.

One of those thousands of books was a 2004 volume by former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. And even with all those 1000 of other books, Cuomo felt he needed to call his book Why Lincoln Matters.

As he told me when we talked about his book in the summer of 2004, Abraham Lincoln transcended political parties (after all, Cuomo was a Democrat) and came to symbolize certain principles that politicians of both parties have been eager to embrace for decades.

At the time of this interview the 2004 presidential campaign was just beginning to heat up, and former President Ronald Reagan had just passed away days earlier.

So let’s talk Abraham Lincoln.

Here now, from 2004, Mario Cuomo

Mario Cuomo died in 2015. He was 82.

How Michael Reagan Says God Gave Him A Second Adoption

November 19, 2025Bill Thompson

Long before he entered politics Ronald Reagan was an actor working with Warner Brothers. He was married to actress Jane Wyman. In 1945 they adopted a baby boy named Michael.

Over the next few years young Michael Reagan faced life-altering challenges – his parents divorced, he was sexually abused by a camp counselor, and he felt abandoned not just by his parents but by God.

But as he wrote in his 2004 book Twice Adopted, God gave him a second chance and his life turned around. A happy marriage, And success as an actor comedy writer and radio talk show host.

I met with Mike Reagan in the fall of 2004, just a few months after his adoptive father’s death, to talk about the book.

So here now, from 2004, Michael Reagan.

Michael Reagan is 80 now. He and his wife have been married for 50 years.

How Peter Jennings Changed Network TV News

November 17, 2025Bill Thompson

A couple of decades ago, before the internet became the way most people found the news, network television news was king.

There was fierce and spirited competition among the big three networks. Each of their newscasts was anchored by a longtime veteran, battle tested correspondent.

CBS had Dan Rather, who had succeeded Walter Cronkite in the anchor chair. NBC had Tom Brokaw, who succeeded John Chancellor.

And over at ABC, there was Peter Jennings, a longtime veteran correspondent who was elevated to the anchor chair in 1983.

By the early 2000, rather and Brokaw had retired – and cancer claimed the life of Peter Jennings. His death was in many ways the end of an era for network TV news.

In 2007 Jennings’s fourth wife Kayce, along with Jennings’s former ABC News colleague Lynn Sherr, published a book about him, called Peter Jennings: A Reporter’s Life. The three of us met one afternoon in the fall of 2007 in Washington to talk about the book.

So here now, from 2007, Kayce Jennings and Lynn Sherr.

How One Song On The Radio Completely Changed Barry White’s Life

November 15, 2025Bill Thompson

How is it possible for a single song played on the radio one night to change the entire course of someone’s life?

I’m talking about Barry White. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter with multiple gold and platinum records created music that helped define the 1970s and beyond.

But his career almost ended before it started when he was a teenager.He fell in with the wrong crowd, and actually wound up in jail. And that’s where one song changed everything as you’ll hear in a few minutes.

In 1999 Barry White published a memoir called Love Unlimited. His publisher offered me a few minutes with him on the phone from his home in Los Angeles.

So here now, from 1999, Barry White.

Barry White died in 2003. He was 58.

Skating Into a Child s Wonderland: Kristi Yamaguchi

November 12, 2025Bill Thompson

Do you remember the 1992 Winter Olympics? That was the year that skater Kristi Yamaguchi became the first Asian American to come home with a gold medal from the Winter games.

That was a high point, but After her retirement from amateur competition following the Olympics there were many other championship titles over the years.

Get your copy of Kristi Yamaguchi’s book

In 2011 she published her first children’s book, Dream Big Little Pig. The main character, Poppy, finds success as a figure skater. That little book became a New York Times best seller, and it inspired a sequel the following year called It’s a Big World, Little Pig.

I met Kristi when she was on a book tour – we did the interview just before a talk at a jam packed bookstore in suburban Washington D.C..

So here now, from 2012, Kristi Yamaguchi.

Kristi Yamaguchi is 54 now. Mattel last year introduced the Yamaguchi Barbie doll.

Confessions Of An American Dissident: ’60s Leftist Leader Bill Ayers

November 10, 2025Bill Thompson

Many people don’t know that the actor who provides many of the most popular

Bill Ayers is a radical. And that five-word sentence is about all that most people know about him.

When he was 24 Ayers co-founded the far left Weather Underground, whose aim was to overthrow the U.S. government. The group set off bombs at public buildings, And the FBI labeled them domestic terrorists.

Ayers became a fugitive for the better part of 10 years. But later he re-emerged as a community organizer and became a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

It was Bill Ayers’s casual connection with another Chicagoan that propelled him into the public spotlight once again in 2008.

After the New York Times reported a fleeting link between Ayers and Barack Obama early in Obama’s political career, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin went on the attack:

“Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country.”

Obama denounced Ayers and his radical past, and the episode was forgotten.

Back in 2001 Bill Ayers wrote a book about his radical past, called Fugitive Days. And in 2013 he wrote about it again in a book he called Public Enemy. I had the chance one day that November to meet with him when a book tour brought him to Washington DC.

So here now, from 2013, Bill Ayers.

Bill Ayers will be 81 next month. He is retired now.

Gambling on Satire: Actor-Writer Harry Shearer

November 7, 2025Bill Thompson

Many people don’t know that the actor who provides many of the most popular character voices on “The Simpsons” was once a child actor who worked with Abbott and Costello and Jack Benny.

Harry Shearer was in movies and on TV in the 1950s. Of course for these last 36 years, TV audiences have known him for his many voices on “The Simpsons” – Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, and Mr. Smithers, among many others.

So that’s a long time to be polishing his skills as not just an actor but as a writer.

But it took until 2006 for him to write his first book of fiction, a satirical novel called Not Enough Indians The basic premise of the story is that a dying small town tries to turn itself into an Indian tribe to land a casino. What could possibly go wrong?

Harry and I met one afternoon In the fall of 2006 at a popular Washington D.C. hotel to talk about his book when he was on a book tour.

So here now, from 2006, Harry Shearer.
Harry Shearer will be 82 next month. He lives in New Orleans.

The U’Niquely Charming Actress Mo’Nique

November 5, 2025Bill Thompson

Are you a skinny woman? If you said yes, some other women apparently consider you to be evil.

Not really, of course. It’s simply an exaggeration that once fueled the standup comedy of the performer known professionally as Mo’Nique.

Mo’Nique is a plus-sized woman, and makes no apologies for it. She has used her size as an asset, taking advice she says she once got from Martin Lawrence, to ignore people who would tell her what she couldn’t have.

As a result, Mo’Nique has won an Academy Award, and has been nominated for many honors, including Emmys and Grammys.

She’s been seen in dozens of movies, she starred as Nikki Parker in the TV series “The Parkers,” she had her own talk show, and in 2003 she wrote a book called Skinny Women Are Evil.

She and I met 1 day that spring to talk about her book.

So here now, from 2003, Mo’Nique.

Mo’Nique will be 58 next month. Her most recent movie role was in the supernatural horror film “The Deliverance” in 2024.

Murder On The Evening News: Bill O’Reilly Talks About His First Novel

November 5, 2025Bill Thompson

We all know that network TV news is a cutthroat business. Big egos, big money, and big power collide every day. And in fiction, it can turn deadly.

For his first book, a mystery novel called Those Who Trespass, TV news anchor and commentator Bill O’Reilly assembled a cast of characters with big egos making big money and craving big power.

And, as in any good mystery novel, some wind up dead, and the story turns into not just a “whodunit” but a “whydunit.”

This was, of course, only Bill O’Reilly’s first book. He’s had a long string of bestsellers since then.

He and I met 1 day in the spring of 1998 to talk about Those Who Trespass.

So here now, from 1998, Bill O’Reilly.

Bill O’Reilly is 76 now. He hosts the No Spin News podcast and is often seen on Newsmax and News Nation.

The Not-So-Odd Couple: Jack Klugman and Tony Randall

October 31, 2025Bill Thompson

Show business is full of stories of co-stars who didn’t get along. So it’s a refreshing change to hear about co-stars who not only got along, but formed a lasting bond.

Such was the case with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, co-stars of the hit 1970s TV show “The Odd Couple.”

Now, were they in fact Oscar and Felix? There is evidence to suggest that was true. But just like their characters, Jack and Tony were bound by an underlying mutual love and respect.

And the strength of that bond was tested when Jack Klugman was dealt what could have been a career-ending, even life-ending, blow by throat cancer.

Klugman told the story of this real life odd couple in a 2005 book called Tony And Me. And as you’re about to hear it was a book filled not only with this extraordinary friendship but a treasure trove of anecdotes of Jack Klugman’s long, storied, and award winning career.

So here now, from 2005, Jack Klugman.

Jack Klugman died on Christmas Eve 2012. He was 90.