#183: Cal Fussman: The Master Storyteller Returns

Cal (@calfussman) is a New York Times bestselling author and a writer-at-large for Esquire magazine, where he is best known for being a primary writer of the "What I Learned" feature. The Austin Chronicle has described Cal's interviewing skills as "peerless." He has transformed oral history into an art form, conducting probing interviews with the icons who've shaped the last 50 years of world history: Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Robert DeNiro, Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones, Woody Allen, Barbara Walters, Pelé, Yao Ming, Serena Williams, John Wooden, Muhammad Ali, and countless others. When I asked listeners for questions to present to Cal during this return appearance, about 70 percent of you replied with some version of: "He is my favorite storyteller of all time. Please just let him talk for another four hours!" I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. I never get tired of talking to Cal. He's so good at what he does. He's such a nice guy. And he's such an incredible storyteller. Here you have it -- enjoy! This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I reached out to these Finnish entrepreneurs after a very talented acrobat introduced me to one of their products, which blew my mind (in the best way possible). It is mushroom coffee featuring chaga. It tastes like coffee, but there are only 40 milligrams of caffeine, so it has less than half of what you would find in a regular cup of coffee. I do not get any jitters, acid reflux, or any type of stomach burn. It put me on fire for an entire day, and I only had half of the packet. People are always asking me what I use for cognitive enhancement -- right now, this is the answer. You can try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/tim and using the code "Tim" to get 20 percent off your first order. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you'll be disappointed.