Sam Interviews Nathan Lane on ‘Fresh Air’

In celebration of the Tony Awards, Sam’s conversation on ‘Fresh Air’ with the legendary Nathan Lane. At the time of recording, Lane had just received a nomination for his starring role as Willy Loman in ‘Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.’ He’s a veteran of the stage – often in comedic and musical roles. But in the role of Loman, which he does eight times a week, he’s noticed something different in the audience. “There’s an old joke – my job is just to keep 1600 people from coughing. It's kind of true, but when you hear what we hear during ‘Salesman,’ you hear people weeping in the dark.” At the age of 70, Lane says this production of ‘Salesman’ is the thing he’s most proud of. This episode originally aired May 7, 2026. Listen to Fresh Air https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444908/fresh-air. Special thanks to Terry Gross, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, and Molly Seavy-Nesper. Subscribe to the Talk Easy YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@talkeasypod, and watch our latest with Nathan’s Death of a Salesman co-star and Tony nominee Christopher Abbott https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaJ1jDoWfYo&t=4186s. As always, our email: [email protected]. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Speaker 00

  From WHYY in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air. Today, Nathan Lane. He just received a Tony nomination for his starring role as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. Lane is a veteran of the stage, often in comedic and musical roles, but in the role of Loman, which he does eight times a week, he's noticed something different in the audience.

• 0:24Speaker 01

  There's an old joke, you know, it's just, my job is just to keep 1,600 people from coughing. It's kind of true. But when you hear what we hear during Salesman, you hear people weeping in the dark.

• 0:39Speaker 00

  At the age of 70, Lane says this production of Salesman is the thing he's most proud of. Lane spoke with guest interviewer Sam Fragoso, host of the interview podcast Talk Easy. Here's Sam.

• 0:51Sam Fragoso?

  Since his Broadway debut at the tender age of 26 in Noel Coward's Present Laughter, Tony winner Nathan Lane has long been regarded as one of the great entertainers of the stage in the tradition of Ethel Merman, Zero Mostel, and Bill Silvers. But in the last decade, Lane couldn't help but think of Peggy Lee singing "Is That All There Is?", which inspired Lane to pivot to more dramatic roles. Hickey in The Iceman Comeeth, Roy Cohn in Angels in America, and now Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. In the hit new Broadway revival, Lane transforms as the prideful patriarch and traveling salesman, oscillating back and forth between bravado and desperation, an emblem of the dissolution of the American

• 1:36Sam Fragoso?

  family and their dreams. Arthur Miller's 1949 Pulitzer Prize-winning play has had several acclaimed productions led by great actors like Lee J. Cobb, Dustin Hoffman, Wendell Pierce, and the late Brian Dennehy, who was a mentor to Lane. The Guardian has praised his portrayal as "the crown jewel in a life spent on stage." The Tonys seemed to agree when the nominations were announced earlier this week. Nathan Lane, welcome back to Fresh Air.

• 2:07Speaker 01

  Thank you. Thanks for having me.

• 2:09Sam Fragoso?

  You were nominated this week for a Tony for your performance as Willie Lowman in Thug of a Salesman. This marks, I think, your seventh nomination. Is that right?

• 2:18Speaker 01

  That is correct.

• 2:19Sam Fragoso?

  I've heard there are pre-show rituals that performers have before they go onstage. Are there rituals or traditions you have the morning of Tony nominations?

• 2:33Speaker 01

  I sleep. I try to get as much sleep as possible because this is a big mountain to climb. So I don't have any rituals in the hopes of Tony nominations. I just hope for the best.

• 2:48Sam Fragoso?

  Why don't we hear a little bit of what that performance that you're nominated for sounds like? The play alternates between the past and present, and so in this flashback, Willie has just come home from a sales trip up along the East Coast where he's met by his two young boys.

• 3:03Speaker 03

  Where'd you go this time, Dad?

• 3:05Speaker 01

  Well, I got on the road and I went north to Providence, met the mayor.

• 3:08Speaker 03

  The mayor of Providence?

• 3:09Speaker 01

  He was sitting in the hotel lobby.

• 3:11Speaker 03

  What'd he say?

• 3:12Speaker 01

  He said, "Morning," and I said, "You've got a fine city here, Mayor," and then he had coffee with me. And then I went to Waterbury. Waterbury's a fine city. Big clock city. The famous Waterbury clock. Sold a nice bill there. And then Boston. Boston is the cradle of the revolution. A fine city and a couple of other towns in Massachusetts. And on to Portland and Bangor and straight home.

• 3:36Speaker 03

  Gee, I'd love to go with you sometime, Dad.

• 3:38Speaker 01

  Soon as summer comes.

• 3:39Speaker 03

  Promise.

• 3:40Speaker 01

  Oh, you and Hap and I. And I'll show you all the towns. America is full of beautiful towns and fine, upstanding peoples. And they know me, boys. They know me. Up and down New England, the finest people. And when I bring you fellas up, there'll be open sesame for all of us because one thing, boys... I have friends. I can park my car on any street in New England and the cops protect it like their own. This summer, huh? We'll take our bathing suits.

• 4:12Speaker 03

  Carry your bags, Pop.

• 4:13Speaker 01

  Oh, won't that be something? Me coming into the Boston stores with you boys carrying my bags.

• 4:19Sam Fragoso?

  It's funny hearing that scene. Willie is out on the road selling, but when he comes back home, you can hear even there, he's selling a story or a dream even to his sons. There seems to be like another.

• 4:31Speaker 01

  And to his wife.

• 4:32Sam Fragoso?

  And to his wife. You've said before that when it comes to death of a salesman, it's meaning to you changes depending on where you're at in your life when you're in it.

• 4:42Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:43Sam Fragoso?

  So tell me, where has it landed with you in this stretch where you're performing, what is it, six nights a week? Don't know how you're doing it. Where does the play land with you in this moment?

• 4:55Speaker 01

  I don't know how I'm doing it either, but we're, Laurie Metcalf and I are old school. We just, the show must go on, we do it.

• 5:04Sam Fragoso?

  I believe that's called masochism, yes.

• 5:06Speaker 01

  Is it?

• 5:08Sam Fragoso?

  Maybe.

• 5:09Speaker 01

  I don't know. I like to think of it as professionalism. Look, it's, there's a reason it's, it's a classic that it's called the great American play. And you, when people come back and talk about it, if they're not weeping, they're saying things like, "You were my father." And I think so often with this production, so many people say, "I feel like I've never seen it before. It felt so modern." And also, the notion of Willie, often is the case in the play, he's fighting for his life.

• 5:52Speaker 01

  I mean, I think that's what makes him an interesting character. He's, you know, very flawed. He's a mass of contradictions and incredibly insecure. And he has this very misguided view of the American dream, which is, you know, that...

• 6:10Speaker 01

  It's about his self-worth and his idea of success is all based on the opinion of others, which, as an actor, you certainly can relate to. His whole philosophy is it's about being well-liked. It's not what you say, it's how you say it, because personality always wins the day. And if you are well-liked, you will never want. It's a very flawed view of how to succeed, but he totally believes in it and in this, his version of the American dream. And I guess for a while, in the old days, you know, it worked to a certain degree.

• 6:55Speaker 01

  But now, all of the people he used to go out and see who were friends on the road, they're either retired or dead. And being a traveling salesman is sort of fading away as well. So he's in a desperate way. But in that scene, you're getting a glimpse into his psyche, and they're trying to pretend that it's all okay, when it's not.

• 7:19Sam Fragoso?

  The last time you played a salesman was over a decade ago in The Iceman Cometh. And you've said that production of Iceman Cometh, quote, "changed the way I approach everything." What was that change?

• 7:32Speaker 01

  Well, I had been doing a musical on Broadway called The Addams Family, which had been reviled by the critics, and yet the public spoke. They wanted to see it. So while I was in that run, Charles Isherwood, who was at the New York Times then, wrote a very lovely and flattering piece about my, an assessment of my career. And he referred to me as the greatest stage entertainer of the last decade, which was extremely complimentary, but I can always find the dark cloud and any silver lining. I was flattered, but troubled by the word entertainer.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  But I appreciate it, that he found me entertaining. But-

• 8:26Sam Fragoso?

  Is this kind of like a Joe Pesci in Goodfellas? Like, why do you... What's funny about me?

• 8:31Speaker 01

  Oh, I'm funny to you? I'm funny to you? Well, there was no threat of violence. I just felt I was more than just an entertainer. I saw myself as an actor, now having been doing this for 50 years. I may have been entertaining, but I was acting in all of those pieces, whether it was musical or straight play. So, it got me a thinking. And so, I thought, gee, is that how people perceive me? And I feel like I have more to offer as an actor.

• 9:14Speaker 01

  And maybe I have to challenge myself and also see... Challenge the audience and see if they're willing to go on that journey with me. I wonder if I can shift that perception. So, I thought, how can I do this? And I have no power in film or television, but in the theater, I have a little bit. So, I happened to read an interview with Brian Dennehy, a very old friend of mine, the late great Brian Dennehy, and Robert Falls, his collaborator in theater. And they were discussing that collaboration. And at one point, they wondered whether they would revisit The Iceman Cometh.

• 9:57Speaker 01

  And Dennehy had done it in 1990 with Bob, and very successfully. And he was thinking of playing the other character, Larry Slade. And they were wondering who might play Hickey if they did that. And I thought, aha.

• 10:16Speaker 01

  That would, that would really shake things up. And so I contacted Bob Falls and I said, if you're really thinking about doing Iceman, again, I would love to be considered for the role of Hickey, and here's why. The audience feels the same way the guys in the bar feel about Hickey about me, which is he's here to show us a good time, he's the life of the party. And then we pulled the rug out from under them. And I think that's an interesting dynamic. So I went to Chicago, I had six weeks of rehearsal, and then you have, because it's a regional theater, you only have nine performances and you open.

• 11:00Speaker 01

  And so because Brett Danahue and I were doing this, people showed up, like from New York, like Charles Isherwood, who drove me to this in the first place. So there was a lot of pressure on me. And then, so fortunately, it was very well received. It was, it was sold out. The happy ending is, it worked. Eventually, I did shift the perception just a little, just enough, so that by the time I got to Angels in America, and then Salesman, it wasn't such a shock to people. Oh, Nathan Lane is doing Death of a Salesman, oh, that's a, that's an Onion headline.

• 11:45Sam Fragoso?

  Let's take a short break, and then we'll talk some more. If you're just joining us, my guest is Tony-winning actor Nathan Lane. He was recently nominated for his turn as Willy Loman in the latest revival of Death of a Salesman, currently on Broadway. More after a break. I'm Sam Fragoso, this is Fresh Air.

• 12:25Sam Fragoso?

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• 14:48Sam Fragoso?

  This is Fresh Air. I'm Sam Fragoso. Let's get back to my interview with Nathan Lane, who was recently nominated for his turn as Willy Loman in the latest revival of Death of a Salesman, currently on Broadway. You have referred to your childhood as "bad Eugene O'Neill." Is there a good Eugene O'Neill?

• 15:09Speaker 01

  Right. Well, I was just making a joke, but because I come from an Irish background, it was a way of, to tell you the truth, it was a way of avoiding talking about the real facts of my childhood. I just sort of covered it in a general way with a joke, which is typical of me. But the facts were that my father was an alcoholic, and my mother, eventually after his death and her own mother's death, my grandmother, she had a breakdown,

• 15:52Speaker 01

  and it took about five years, and it was finally diagnosed as what was called manic depression then. So, I had to grow up fast. My father I didn't have much of a relationship with, because he was really not home a lot, and when he was, he was drunk or recovering.

• 16:16Sam Fragoso?

  Which was worse?

• 16:18Speaker 01

  You know, my memory is that, you know, he would come home, and he was holding on to the walls. He couldn't walk. When my mother would get him to go to AA, which she did a couple of times, and he had, so he had a couple, two periods that I remember of sobriety, and she, my mother would say to me, when he was sober, she said, "You would always," I was only, you know, 9, 10, he died when I was 11, and she said I would stay next to him. I would stay close to him and hold his hand. And one time he, I remember, we were in this apartment and, you know, it was very cold. And we were by, now it becomes Dickensian, we were by a radiator.

• 16:59Speaker 01

  And he was talking to me and he said, you know, you're gonna have to learn how to take care of yourself. Because your mother and I aren't going to be, you know, around all the time. And I was, I guess, nine, and I was like, why is he telling me this now?

• 17:18Sam Fragoso?

  Yeah, a lot to lay on a nine-year-old.

• 17:21Speaker 01

  A lot to lay on a nine-year-old, but it was true. I remember another moment where I was walking to school. And this is in Jersey City. And I was passing what was called the Stegman Street Tavern. And the back door was open and it was a very sunny day, sunny morning. And as I was going by, I turned and looked and I saw my father sweeping up. I would imagine probably for drinks. And he stopped, realizing that someone was looking at him. And he looked up and he looked at me. And we just stood there and stared at one another. And there's, you know, he didn't, he didn't say hello.

• 18:05Speaker 01

  He didn't say a word. And there was so much that might have been said, could have been said, should have been said. And then he just turned away and went back to sweeping and I went on to school. You know, I wish I could go back and ask him some questions. He was a truck driver.

• 18:22Sam Fragoso?

  Like what?

• 18:22Speaker 01

  For many years. Well, I want to know what drove him to drink himself to death. I have two older brothers, Bob and Dan. And my brother Bob was probably, was closer to him than myself and my oldest brother, Dan. And eventually, my mother moved away. She left him. And he stayed in this apartment we were in. And, you know, got a couple of other drunks to move in with him to help pay the rent. And my brother went to see him and to try to help him. And he said to my brother Bob, I'm no good to anybody. I'm just gonna drink myself to death. And then he did.

• 19:02Sam Fragoso?

  You know, Nathan, when you're describing this man, this traveling truck driver, of course, I think of Willy Loman, but I also think you, as a kid growing up in Jersey City, in this Irish Catholic family, the youngest of three, did you see the theater and performing as some off-ramp to that, as some escape?

• 19:26Speaker 01

  My, my sense of humor was an escape. But, yes, I mean, from a very early age, I was, I was a voracious reader. I think because of my brother Dan, and, and also, I had an uncle who gave me a lot of books. And then I joined what was called the Fireside Theater. It was a play of the month club.

• 19:46Sam Fragoso?

  And you were the kind of kid who was reading Death of a Salesman while other kids were watching Gilligan's Island?

• 19:52Speaker 01

  Yes, that is correct. And then eventually, you know, as I started reading plays and, and seeing plays, because my brother, my brother Dan, he obviously saw that in me and encouraged it. And he took me to see plays. And then at one point, when he was in you, at college, they were putting on a play, and they needed a child. So he suggested that, he said, my, said to the, his friends, my kid brother could do that. And so he, he got me into this play. So that was the first time I was ever on stage. Anyway, and then he took me to see theater in New York, and that was all very exciting. And when,

• 20:36Speaker 01

  you know, as I would sit there in a theater with him, and, you know, the lights would go down, and the curtain would go up, and the, the whole thing, I just, you wanted, I wanted to be a part of it. I just thought, for some reason, I thought, I think I could do that, or I certainly would like to try.

• 20:55Sam Fragoso?

  I want to know, and this may go back to your Catholic school days, or your time at St. Peter's Prep, do you remember the first time you got a laugh on stage?

• 21:06Speaker 01

  Yes, I was in grammar school, and we put on

• 21:13Speaker 01

  A production of around the world in eighty days. Very ambitious for a grammar school who had no budget. And there was a scene where we were on a train and it was being attacked by Indians. And people were running around and I was trying, I was a small, round child and I was trying to hide. And I had a little suitcase and I, the suitcase was sort of right in front of me. And so I crouched down behind the suitcase as if I might be hidden behind it. And I wasn't and then the audience laughed. And it was, that's the first laugh I ever got. It was like blood to a vampire. And, um, I mean, I certainly had gotten laughs at home.

• 21:58Speaker 01

  I used to have a little, it was like I would do a little club act, a lounge act for my family. I'd do bad impressions and entertain them.

• 22:06Sam Fragoso?

  You had a tight five?

• 22:08Speaker 01

  Yes, I definitely had a tight five.

• 22:12Sam Fragoso?

  That, that was back when you were Joe Lane, not Nathan Lane.

• 22:15Speaker 01

  That, that is correct, sir. You've done your research.

• 22:18Sam Fragoso?

  I have. Here, here's, here's how one of your classmates describes you at St. Peter's Prep. "Yes, Lane lacked height and possessed girth." His words, not mine. "But there was nothing insecure about him. Every day he held court in the cafeteria surrounded by adoring fans. In the age of George Carlin, Joe Lane was the archetypical class clown. The entire faculty feared his might."

• 22:43Speaker 01

  Oh, wow. Well, I guess that's one way of looking at it. Um, yeah. High school, well, that was, you know, like any, any kid, it's, high school is difficult. And I'm, I'm sure being funny was my way in. Um, you know, I, I was, and, and certainly I would say by then, I, I, you know, I knew I was different than the other boys and I was going to an all-boys prep school. And so that was, that was an interesting navigation.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  You know, perhaps being attracted to other young men, but not being able to show any of that. And that's, you know, and I, but I got involved. The social activity was being involved in the drama club and putting on plays.

• 23:45Speaker 00

  We're listening to guest interviewer Sam Fragoso, speaking with Nathan Lane. Lane was just nominated for a Tony for his starring role as Willy Loman in the new hit Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman. We'll hear more of the interview after a break. I'm Terry Gross and this is Fresh Air.

• 24:03Sam Fragoso?

  When you told your mother you were going to New York to act, you were 21 years old.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. Oh, God, I've told this story so much and my poor mother, I feel guilty now, but it's become a famous story, unfortunately.

• 24:20Sam Fragoso?

  This is Catholic guilt popping up here.

• 24:23Speaker 01

  Oh, totally. You know, you have to understand, she was, this was not a sophisticated woman. She had her prejudices, God knows.

• 24:32Sam Fragoso?

  She made you, that's got to count for something.

• 24:34Speaker 01

  Well, sure. You know, but I think, I think, look, they, I think what happened is they went to a wedding. They got, she, my mother, of all the people in her family, who are all drunks, she did not drink. But if she went out, she might, she would order one thing, a whiskey sour on the rocks, and she would sort of nurse it through an evening. But I think maybe this one night at the wedding, she had two and, and they, and they had sex and, you know, the future hope of Broadway was born. Anyway, so, what was the question?

• 25:11Sam Fragoso?

  The question was, how did you tell your mother you were going to New York to act?

• 25:15Speaker 01

  Okay, so we had been living in Rutherford together, in this tiny, one-bedroom apartment. And, or I slept on the, this is the most uncomfortable couch in history. And I had done a production of Guys and Dolls, a non-equity production of Guys and Dolls, at a dinner theater in Meadowbrook, New Jersey, where I played Nathan Detroit. And I had a crush on the guy playing Benny Southstreet. And we, you know, something had developed, and he lived in New York. And, and so I was going to move to New York.

• 25:57Speaker 01

  And I, so I, I sat her down, and, because we had been through a lot together, and I thought, I had never lied to her, and I had been telling her I had been seeing a girl, but I was seeing, I said to her, I know you think I've been seeing a girl, but I've been seeing a guy. And, you know, she, she turned white, and, and looked very shocked, and she said,

• 26:22Speaker 01

  "You mean you're a homosexual?" she said. And I said, "Yeah, I guess so." And she said, "Oh, Joseph, I would rather you were dead." And I said, "I knew you'd understand." And once I got her head out of the oven, everything was fine. And I remember at one point, I, I, I was dating a modern dancer, and he was very handsome. And, and we were at a gathering at Sardi's, and he was, this dancer was there, and my mother was there. And I introduced them, and he went off to get drinks for her and myself.

• 27:05Speaker 01

  And she looked at me and went, "He's very good."

• 27:11Sam Fragoso?

  Nathan, that's what we call progress.

• 27:13Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 27:14Sam Fragoso?

  You take the wins where you can find them. That's progress.

• 27:19Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 27:20Sam Fragoso?

  That's, that's her version of going to a pride parade, is what you just heard.

• 27:23Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 27:26Sam Fragoso?

  Did your mother enjoy seeing you perform?

• 27:32Speaker 01

  Oh my god, yes. Yes, she was, you know, she lived to 84. She was at all those openings and, and, you know, more than anything that I did, she loved when I was in a musical. You know, I'm sentimental about this. She always would say after every show, I'm not, she would say, "I'm not saying this because I'm your mother. I'm saying it because it's true. You were the best one."

• 28:06Speaker 01

  So I'll always remember that.

• 28:09Sam Fragoso?

  Nathan, one of your biggest and most beloved performances is Max Bialystock, the corrupt producer in The Namesake, The Producers, who's sent to jail for cooking the books while his business partner gets away with it. And I thought, why don't we listen to a little bit of the song "Betrayed."

• 28:30Speaker 01

  Just like Cain and Abel, you pulled a sneak attack. I thought that we were brothers, then you stabbed me in the back. Betrayed. Oh, boy, I'm so betrayed.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  Like Samson and Delilah, your love began to fade. I'm crying in the house, "How you're in Rio, [BLEEP] betrayed." Let's face it, I'm betrayed.

• 29:01Speaker 01

  Boy, have I been taken. Oy, I'm so forsaken. I should have seen what came to pass. I should have known to watch my [BLEEP]. I feel like Othello, everything is lost. Leo is the angle, Max is double-crossed. I'm so dismayed. Did I mention I'm betrayed? Now I'm about to go to jail. There's no one who will pay my bail.

• 29:26Sam Fragoso?

  Nathan Lang, when you sing the word stabbed, how do you do that?

• 29:32Speaker 01

  I don't know. That's what came out of my mouth. That's what I felt. I'll give you a little story about that number. When we were discussing it and talking about it, before we went into rehearsal, I said, you know, I said to Mel, I disappear in the second act. I said, I need an 11 o'clock number. And so, he wrote a song called Farewell to Broadway, which was kind of a, you know, it was a sentimental song.

• 30:15Speaker 01

  And in the middle of it, there was a speech he had about how angry he was about being betrayed by Leo. And I said to him, the song isn't right, but the monologue you wrote in the middle of it is. It's gotta be his version of Rose's Turn. And he went off and wrote Betrayed. And he, you know, Mel just knocked it out of the park.

• 30:44Sam Fragoso?

  If you're joining us, my guest is actor Nathan Lane. His latest turn is as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, opposite Laurie Metcalf. The show was recently nominated for Best Revival of a Play at the Tonys. More after our break. I'm Sam Fragoso. This is Fresh Air. I think the best clothes you own are probably the ones you spend the least amount of time thinking about. They're just there when you need them. The sweater that goes with everything. The perfect pair of pants or the tee you always reach for first. That's what I've always liked about Quince. They focus on everyday staples, made with premium materials like organic cotton, merino wool, and 100% Mongolian cashmere. Their cashmere sweaters start at just $60, and everything is designed to be versatile enough to work with what you already own.

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• 32:12Sam Fragoso?

  Quince brings that same approach to hotel-quality bedding and bath, kitchen essentials, and thoughtfully-designed furniture. Well-made pieces for everyday living. Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com. You can get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns, now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Talk Easy. It's really the best way to support the show. Enjoy. I think a lot of us are gonna spend the next few weeks looking for gifts online. And while I like finding something thoughtful for the people in my life, the process can get a little ridiculous.

• 32:54Sam Fragoso?

  You've got a dozen tabs open, you're comparing prices, and you're trying to remember which store had that one thing you saw that has a deal, and you flagged it, and you saved it, and now you can't find it. Anyway, that's what I like about Shop. Shop brings all kinds of stores together in one place, so you can search for what you're looking for across different brands while discovering new ones along the way, plus tracking all your orders without jumping in-between websites. And just in time for the holidays, they're celebrating the all-new shop.com with a pretty extraordinary giveaway. 1,000 shoppers will win $1,000 in Shop Cash. That's $1 million in total, which you can put towards gifts for other people, or maybe something you've had an eye on for yourself.

• 33:37Sam Fragoso?

  And you don't have to buy anything to enter the giveaway. Enter to win the $1 million Shop Cash giveaway from now until November 1st. Just go to shop.com. There are so many ways to win, and that's shop.com, shopping designed around you. No purchase necessary. Restrictions apply. Official rules available at shop.com.

• 34:01Sam Fragoso?

  If you're a sports fan, June can be a pretty dangerous month. You've got the NBA Finals, baseball is back and in full swing, the WNBA season is upon us, Formula One, the US Open. Every week, there seems to be another game, another tournament, another event that makes you think, I kind of want to be there in person. And if I were traveling to one of those games this summer, I'd think about listing my place on Airbnb. Because whenever you're out of town for a few days, your home is just sitting there empty. Hosting is a simple way to earn some extra money from a space you're not using. It can help offset the cost of a trip you're already taking while giving someone else a brand new place to stay. What I like about it is the practicality. You're already going to be gone, your apartment or home is already there. Hosting simply makes better use of both.

• 34:46Sam Fragoso?

  And summer tends to be one of the busiest travel seasons of the year, especially with all the live events, with people constantly looking for places to stay in and cities to travel to. So whether you're heading to a game, a wedding, a family gathering, or just taking a few days off, it might be worth seeing what your place could earn while you're gone. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com/host. This is Fresh Air. I'm Sam Fragoso. Let's get back to my interview with Nathan Lane. He made his Broadway debut at the age of 26 in Noel Coward's Present Laughter, opposite George C. Scott. From there, Lane became recognized for playing big, larger-than-life characters in Guys and Dolls, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and The Producers.

• 35:30Sam Fragoso?

  When you're in the throes of starring in The Producers in the early 2000s, there was a producer who visited you backstage, who told The Guardian, quote, "Seeing him after a performance, it's like he's gone 10 rounds with Joe Louis." So...

• 35:47Speaker 01

  This must have been an old producer if he said Joe Louis.

• 35:51Sam Fragoso?

  Look, we don't want to age him here, but if playing the corrupt, charismatic theater producer Max Bialstok took 10 rounds with Joe Louis out of you, what has Willy Loman done to you?

• 36:10Speaker 01

  Well, musicals are a young man's game. Musicals, it's like your quarterback for the New York Giants. It's an athletic event. And, you know, I'll tell you what happened with the producers is I was so, you know, it was, it became such a phenomenon and I felt the pressure of now, you know, of living up to the hype. And I didn't protect myself vocally. I just, I was out there doing it, you know, my homage to zero and yelling and screaming and carrying on and then having, singing song after song and you, and after six, seven months, I had hurt myself.

• 36:51Speaker 01

  And what I find is, and Salesman is difficult because of where you have to go. It's a play that, that tests you and, and it costs you because you have to go there night after night after night, like Iceman Cometh. But there's something about this play that, it's taken me a long time and, and I'm, I'm proud of the work that I'm doing and I attribute a lot of it to the genius of Joe Mantello, who guided me to in this role.

• 37:32Speaker 01

  And, and it's been the most rewarding thing I've done.

• 37:39Sam Fragoso?

  Toward the middle of Death of a Salesman, I thought maybe we could play a little bit from it where Biff Hap greet their father at a restaurant. Both of them, both Biff and Willie have had big days in very different ways. So here's how that conversation sounds.

• 37:57Speaker 04

  Facts, Pop. Facts. About my life came back to me. Who was it, Pop? Whoever said that I was a salesman with Oliver?

• 38:08Speaker 01

  Well, you were.

• 38:08Speaker 04

  No, Dad, I was a shipping clerk.

• 38:10Speaker 01

  But you were bragging.

• 38:12Speaker 04

  All right, Dad, I don't know who said it first, but I was never a salesman with Bill Oliver.

• 38:17Speaker 01

  What are you talking about?

• 38:18Speaker 04

  Now, let's hold on to the facts tonight, Pop, because we're not gonna get anywhere bullin' around. I was a shipping clerk.

• 38:24Speaker 01

  All right, now, listen to me.

• 38:25Speaker 04

  Now, why don't you let me finish?

• 38:26Speaker 01

  I'm not interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind, because the woods are burning, boys. You understand? There's a big blaze going on all around. I was fired today.

• 38:42Speaker 04

  How could you be?

• 38:42Speaker 01

  I was fired, and I'm looking for a little good news to tell your mother, because the woman has waited, and the woman has suffered. The gist of it is that I haven't got a story left in my head, Biff, so don't give me a lecture about facts and aspects. I am not interested. Now, what have you got to say to me?

• 39:04Sam Fragoso?

  I just wanna repeat that line. The gist of it is, "I haven't got a story left in my head."

• 39:10Speaker 01

  Oh, I know, I know. I love that line.

• 39:13Sam Fragoso?

  I can't hear that line and not think of the dynamic between you and your father, because he passed away when you were so young. And now, for you, at the highest possible stage, to do what you have done, to be awarded, sort of ironically, for a story about someone whose career didn't work out. I don't know. Like, I hear that line, and it's just, I wonder where it lands with you today and night to night.

• 39:44Speaker 01

  You know, it's funny you bring that line up, because I find it such an important line. He's a salesman. And so, when he says, "I don't have a story left in my head, Biff, so don't give me a lecture about facts and aspects. I am not interested." That's what he's been doing. I mean, you know, it's never mentioned what he sells. And when they asked Miller about that, he says, "Well, he's selling himself." And he's sadly reached the point where they're not buying anymore. And it's killing him.

• 40:27Speaker 01

  You know, he used to sell his sons, too. He sold them on this, his version of the American dream and the idea of success. But, but as Biff says, it's wrong. It's all wrong. He didn't know who he was. And he was probably never as successful as he imagined. You know, he was probably some guy in a hotel lobby, talking to someone a little too loudly. And you thought, oh, God. You know, it's, it's, it's such a tragedy. That, you know, as Miller wrote, "The tragedy of the common man."

• 41:12Sam Fragoso?

  I saw the play this past week. And, you know, like, like a traditional curtain call, everyone comes out. You're the last one that, that comes out. And I was standing there. We were all applauding. Many of the people next to me were weeping. And I saw you walk out on stage. And you took a bow. And there was some look in your face that I had not seen in the play, but saw very clearly in that moment. It was almost as if there was like an exhale. There was so much emotion in that.

• 41:58Sam Fragoso?

  And I could not help but think, oh, that's the kid who performed in the cafeteria at St. Peter's. That's, that's everything there. And I wonder every night, and this was just this week, but when you walk out there, what is that moment to you?

• 42:17Speaker 01

  It's, you know, very, very powerful. There's the undeniable power of the play and where it takes you. You know, Arthur Miller really tapped into something in this play. And it's the last bastion of, of community. It's people gathering around the campfire. It's, it's, where, it's the human connection. They're not on their phones until the curtain call and then they hold them up. Instead of looking at you, they're filming you. Nevertheless, um, it, it, you know, we all, we have all come together to tell a story and to hear a story and hopefully to feel something, whether it's to laugh or to cry

• 43:02Speaker 01

  or to think. And, and this play gives you all of that and more. And it's just, it's, it's, it is that dream that I had as a kid. And, you know, my friend Sammy Wasson, a wonderful film historian and writer, he always said to me, you can never forget that when you walk out there, up in, way up in the balcony, there's some kid who is just like you and, and seeing you and thinking, gee, I'd like to do that someday. And that's who you're doing it for. All right, you're gonna make me cry.

• 43:45Speaker 01

  At this age, I'm a very easy cry. As Terrence McNally used to say, oh, at this age, I cry at food displays. Anyway, it's that. It's that thing that only happens in the theater, you know? And it's why it's, it's why it feels like home and why it's still so special.

• 44:09Sam Fragoso?

  Well, if the theater is your home, I want to say that I think we have all benefited from and very much enjoyed being your guests. So, thank you for that and appreciate the time.

• 44:23Speaker 01

  Well put, sir. Thank you so much.

• 44:26Speaker 00

  Nathan Lane spoke with guest interviewer Sam Fragoso, host of the interview podcast Talk Easy. Lane was just nominated for a Tony for his starring role as Willy Loman in the new Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Sam Fragoso is the host of the interview podcast Talk Easy. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at NPR Fresh Air. And to get recommendations from our producers of what to watch, read, and listen to, check out our free newsletter at WHYY.org/FreshAir.

• 45:09Speaker 00

  Fresh Air's executive producer is Sam Briger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Anne Marie Boldonato, Lauren Krenzel, Theresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Susan Yukundi, Anna Baumann, and Nico Gonzalez-Whistler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Thea Chaloner directed today's show. Our co-host is Tanya Mosley. I'm Terry Groves.

• 45:49Speaker 05

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• 46:59Speaker 06

  I'm Dan Heath. On What It's Like to Be, I interview people about their jobs. Here's a married couple that drives a long haul truck together. We backed up and they loaded fresh dead rats. I mean, how many rats would you guess were back there? There were 32,000 pounds of them. 32,000 pounds of frozen dead rats.

• 47:21Speaker 06

  Find out what it's like to be a long haul trucker, a couples therapist, or an FBI agent, all on the podcast What It's Like to Be.