Sam Interviews Nathan Lane on ‘Fresh Air’

Sam Interviews Nathan Lane on ‘Fresh Air’

From Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso by Higher Ground

June 7, 2026 · 43 min

About this episode

Sam Fragoso interviews Nathan Lane about his role in 'Death of a Salesman' and the emotional impact of the performance.

In celebration of the Tony Awards, Sam’s conversation on ‘Fresh Air’ with the legendary Nathan Lane. At the time of recording, Lane had just received a nomination for his starring role as Willy Loman in ‘Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.’ He’s a veteran of the stage – often in comedic and musical roles. But in the role of Loman, which he does eight times a week, he’s noticed something different in the audience. “There’s an old joke – my job is just to keep 1600 people from coughing. It's kind of true, but when you hear what we hear during ‘Salesman,’ you hear people weeping in the dark.” At the age of 70, Lane says this production of ‘Salesman’ is the thing he’s most proud of. This episode originally aired May 7, 2026. Listen to Fresh Air . Special thanks to Terry Gross, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, and Molly Seavy-Nesper. Subscribe to the Talk Easy YouTube Channel , and watch our latest with Nathan’s Death of a Salesman co-star and Tony nominee Christopher Abbott . As always, our email: talkeasypod@gmail.com. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

People in this episode

Host: Sam Fragoso

Guest: Nathan Lane

Topics covered

  • theater
  • interviews
  • Tony Awards
  • acting
  • audience reactions

Keywords

  • Nathan Lane
  • Death of a Salesman
  • Tony Awards
  • theater
  • interview

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Fresh Air

Books & works: Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

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