You’ve heard of listening tours, right? Hillary’s done plenty of those. These days, New York City writer, humorist, and cultural icon Fran Lebowitz is in the midst of a talking tour across the United States and abroad. Between destinations, she found time to stop by the studio and chat with Hillary.

Fran used to write. She’s the author of two best-selling essay collections, Metropolitan Life and Social Studies. But she likes talking better, and has gained a following for her sharp wit and her incisive, unapologetic opinions on just about everything. 

In their wide-ranging and fast-moving conversation, Hillary and Fran discuss Fran’s early days scrounging for work, food, and heat in New York; the truth about “the American Dream”; how to survive long-distance air travel without a smartphone or cigarettes; why Martin Scorcese’s documentaries about Fran, Public Speaking and Pretend It’s a City, were not collaborations; and much more.