Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Host Madeleine Brand looks at news, culture and emerging trends through the lens of Los Angeles.

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Most Recent Episode

Press Play with Madeleine Brand
LA Metro’s decades-in-the-making D Line opens this weekend

Plus, two LA politicians and a reality TV star mix it up in their first mayoral debate, our weekend film reviews, and Evan Kleiman is here with a dish that sounds disgusting, but is actually delicious.

00:48:41
May 7, 2026 3:6 PM
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More Episodes

Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Why climate change is making our food less nutritious

Plus, LA’s infrastructure is a mess. Now there’s a plan to make a plan. Also, why Latinos make up half of the Border Patrol, and a new book examines the idea of a bad mom.

00:50:16
May 6, 2026 4:5 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
They’re cute. Even polite. But does LA need more delivery robots?

Plus, the Iran War leaves California refiners scrambling to find new sources of crude, the hantavirus that killed three people on a cruise is part of life in the Mammoth area, and how to be a dissident.

00:47:33
May 5, 2026 3:14 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
How McCabe’s in Santa Monica became a nationally known venue

Plus, whipsaw court rulings over the abortion drug mifepristone, a new report says New Orleans could be underwater in decades, and how the Met Gala became the party everyone loves to hate.

00:50:40
May 4, 2026 4:36 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
$25 billion (and counting): The Iran War’s cost, 2 months in

Plus, new apps allow people to “nudify” photos, how The Devil Wars Prada 2 is part fan service, part documentary, and Evan Kleiman makes her case for the tuna melt.

00:49:14
Apr 30, 2026 4:48 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
‘A hugely terrible opinion’: UCLA’s Rick Hasen on SCOTUS voting rights decision

Plus, a chaotic debate with eight candidates jockeying to be California’s next governor, does the Left have their Joe Rogan in Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, and the final days of a landmark museum show here in Los Angeles.

00:49:32
Apr 29, 2026 5:14 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Comedian Sheng Wang on immigration, kind comedy, and ‘rat news’

Plus, California’s electric car dream is sputtering as sales drop dramatically after President Trump ditches federal rebates, and the U.S. Mint is using illegally mined gold from a Colombian cartel for its gold coins.

00:49:41
Apr 28, 2026 3:16 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Ruth Slenczynska, Rachmaninoff’s student who performed for presidents, dies at 101

Plus, how the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner reveals a side of journalism many journalists find disgusting, Supreme Court cases on agriculture and privacy, and why Catalina Island’s mule deer’s days are numbered.

00:50:14
Apr 27, 2026 3:18 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
A Thriller? Or just Bad? We review the Michael Jackson biopic

Plus, the White House shifts the war on drugs and reclassifies medical marijuana, San Diego has so much water it's going to sell it to other states, and Evan Kleiman on how to make perfect fried rice.

00:50:26
Apr 23, 2026 4:0 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Why Lena Dunham inspires so much hate, and love, as a millennial feminist

Plus, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco recently seized 650,000 ballots from last year’s election. A new investigation sheds light on why. And LAUSD bans digital devices for kindergartners and first-graders.

00:50:14
Apr 22, 2026 4:45 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Louise Erdrich’s remarkable encounters with the natural world

Plus, Xavier Becerra is the biggest beneficiary of Eric Swalwell’s stunning political collapse, surging in the latest polls. And a new study divides Shark Tank competitors into good and bad narcissists.

00:48:49
Apr 21, 2026 3:39 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
‘Ramones’ turns 50: Punk producer Craig Leon’s stories from the studio

Plus, will Star Wars’ return to the big screen save theaters? A Texas man sues a California doctor for mailing his girlfriend mifepristone, and AI so powerful its maker is keeping it from the public.

 

00:50:20
Apr 20, 2026 4:58 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
LACMA’s decades-in-the-making $724 million wing finally opens

Plus, Yale confirms higher education is in crisis and says the blame lies mainly with…elite universities like Yale, our weekly film reviews, and Evan Kleiman on how tofu can be creamy.

00:49:52
Apr 16, 2026 4:15 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
AI is replacing coders, but some coders welcome the change

Plus, how a culture on Capitol Hill may have enabled Eric Swalwell’s alleged crimes and sexual misconduct, a split in the U.S. Catholic Church between more progressive leaders and their flock, and Tax Day’s winners and losers.

00:49:15
Apr 15, 2026 5:54 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
‘LIVE from…’ London? Saturday Night Live expands to the UK

Plus, labor unions in LA’s public schools unite to win big salary increases, layoffs and sluggish sales in the video game industry, and how a chimpanzee civil war makes humans look good by comparison.

00:50:08
Apr 14, 2026 4:30 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Swalwell’s stunning exit adds more chaos to CA governor race

Plus, who will succeed Eric Swalwell after he resigns from Congress, how a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would work, and a love letter to the music of the Texas-Mexico border.

00:48:50
Apr 13, 2026 5:49 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Remembering “Swedish Death Cleaning” guru Margareta Magnusson

Plus, the Iran War’s economic impact will last for a while, a rave review for a new Steven Soderbergh film called The Christophers, and Evan Kleiman’s elegy for peas.

00:50:35
Apr 9, 2026 2:38 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
LA Phil's new conductor Anna Handler 'energized, motivated' by Los Angeles

Plus, the European man MAGA loves, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, fights a tough reelection battle, how we name colors, and one frustrated Angeleno’s experience trying to buy the elusive $28 Olympics ticket.

00:49:26
Apr 8, 2026 2:54 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Photographer Cathy Opie remembers friend, mentor Larry Sultan

Plus, assessing the success and shortcomings of LA's Inside Safe program, President Trump’s former personal attorney now leads the Justice Department, and rapper Ye attempts a comeback after years of antisemitism.

00:48:52
Apr 7, 2026 3:37 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
UCLA demolishes South Carolina to claim first national title

Plus, the Supreme Court sides with Steve Bannon, how AI is changing the books you’re reading, and all the new music venues in Los Angeles. Some have taken over old spots.

00:49:23
Apr 6, 2026 3:32 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Artemis II heads to the dark side of the moon

Plus, war in Iran may be a boon for California pistachio farmers, our weekend film reviews, and what to bake for Passover and Easter with Good Food’s Evan Kleiman.

 

00:49:59
Apr 2, 2026 5:42 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
For LA City Council President, police reforms are personal

Plus, President Trump’s shifting goals in Iran, how American children became such picky eaters, and safety tips for rattlesnake encounters on hiking trails.

00:49:24
Apr 1, 2026 4:31 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
‘No Kings’ protests and CPAC symbolize a nation divided

Plus, the Supreme Court hears a case that could redefine birthright citizenship, high gas prices push drivers to e-bikes, and rapper IDK served time and found freedom in music.

00:49:14
Mar 30, 2026 4:12 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The déjà vu of the 1970s oil shock after a Middle East war

Plus, the IOC bans trans athletes, our weekend movie reviews, including arthouse body horror and a Vince Vaughn crime caper, and Evan Kleiman on how to cook an underappreciated vegetable: the leek.

00:50:34
Mar 26, 2026 4:35 PM
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Writer Annabelle Gurwitch on the ‘unexpected joys’ of cancer

Plus, a jury finds Meta and YouTube liable in a groundbreaking personal injury lawsuit. Why is flying so awful? Blame 1970s deregulation. And a requiem for Echo Park’s beloved restaurant Taix.

 

00:49:38
Mar 25, 2026 3:59 PM
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