Julia Gets Wise with Joan Baez
5/27/20261 hr 23 min
Julia is joined by 85-year-old folk legend and lifelong activist Joan Baez, who is still dancing, still showing up, and still refusing to be quiet. They talk about singing before a quarter million people at the March on Washington in 1963, what made Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. laugh, and what real courage feels like from the inside. Joan opens up about her decades-long struggle with anxiety, forgiveness, and dissociative identity disorder. Oh, and she sings. Three times. Afterwards, Julia calls her 92-year-old mom Judy — who, it turns out, was playing folk music on a portable Victrola in Sri Lanka when Julia was young. Follow Wiser Than Me on Instagram and TikTok @wiserthanme and on Facebook at facebook.com/wiserthanmepodcast. Find us on Substack at wiserthanme.substack.com. Keep up with Joan Baez @joancbaezofficial on Instagram. Pre-order the latest book from Julia’s mom Judy Bowles here: https://finishinglinepress.com/product/they-spoke-of-the-river-by-judith-bowles/ Find out more about other shows on our network at @lemonadamedia on all social platforms. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today by hitting 'Subscribe' on Apple Podcasts or lemonadapremium.com for any other app. For exclusive discount codes and more information about our sponsors, visit https://lemonadamedia.com/sponsors/. For additional resources, information, and a transcript of the episode, visit lemonadamedia.com.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
[upbeat music] Lemonada.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus· Host0:02
When I was on Saturday Night Live back in the day, we had some amazing hosts. I mean, we had Lily Tomlin, and Robin Williams, and Teri Garr, and Ringo Starr, and lots of others. We also had a couple of non-showbiz hosts. One of them was Senator George McGovern. Now, George McGovern's run for president was before my time. I mean, I was alive in 1972, of course, but I was a little kid when McGovern lost every state but Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. to Richard Nixon. That loss was so catastrophic that even more than a decade later, when he hosted SNL, he was still something of a national punchline. I mean, he'd kinda been redeemed when Nixon went on to be an horrendous president, driven out of office by hubris, and corruption, and scandal, you know, back when stuff like that could actually hurt your political career. Ugh. But I think he was still mostly remembered as this huge loser with a thin, reedy, Midwestern voice. So when he showed up at 30 Rock, and he was 6'1", and he was tan, and lanky, and handsome, and smart, and funny, [laughs] it, it was a bit of a surprise. I remember almost nothing about the