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A Comedian Plays a Comedian

Jonathan Katz stars as standup comedian Jackie Shore in the new movie Things Change, which was written by his friend David Mamet. Katz played a con man in the earlier Mamet movie House of Games, which Katz says was loosely based on their experience as small-time ping pong hustlers.

09:30
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Other segments from the episode on November 3, 1988

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, November 3, 1988: Interview with Josiah Thompson; Review of albums by Anita Baker, the Bangles, and Duran Duran; Interview with Jonathan Katz; Review of the film "The Good…
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27:08

A Professor Becomes a Private Eye

Josiah Thompson taught philosophy and later became a detective while on sabbatical. He relates his work as private investigator to the writing of both Dashiell Hammett and Soren Kierkegaard. Thompson tells Fresh Air host Terry Gross about several of the cases he's worked on. His new book, Gumshoe, details his experiences.

Interview
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06:15

Three Albums at the Top of the Charts

Rock critic Ken Tucker steps out of his comfort zone and reviews three recent best-sellers he otherwise wouldn't have listened to. He says Anita Baker's Giving You the Best That I Got is lush but soulless, while the Bangles' Everything is an excellent ripoff of a 1960s rock album. Duran Duran's Big Thing is the band's attempt to prove they're serious musicians -- but it's a hapless bummer.

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09:55

Playing a Conman.

Stage and screen actor Joe Mantegna. He can be seen now in "House of Games," the first film effort by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, with whom Mantegna has had a long association. His stage work includes the lead role in "Glengarry, Glen Ross," the Mamet play that won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize; Mantegna won a Tony Award for his performance. Mantegna revels in shady characters: gamblers, cutthroat salesman, mobsters and Hollywood hucksters.

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