With a Side of Knowledge is a podcast produced by the Office of the Provost at the University of Notre Dame. It brings listeners informal interviews with fascinating scholars and professionals from both Notre Dame and elsewhere that take place over brunch.
The ninth episode of the show’s third season, “On Movies (and Golden Tickets),” was released Thursday, Nov. 21, and features Shea Serrano, a staff writer for the sports and pop culture website The Ringer and the author of three New York Times bestsellers, including Basketball (And Other Things) and The Rap Year Book.
Unlike most of the show’s guests, Serrano didn’t visit Notre Dame, and it was a fortuitous event online that made the episode possible. He and host Ted Fox, who talked over the phone rather than brunch, started their conversation with the unusual circumstances of how the interview came to be. From there, they dove into the latest of Serrano’s bestsellers, Movies (And Other Things), published in October by Twelve, and hit on topics like righting wrongs at the Oscars, Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, and how kids in ’80s movies always seemed to be riding things.
You can visit provost.nd.edu/podcast to learn more about With a Side of Knowledge, which is available through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Stitcher or by searching “With a Side of Knowledge” in your favorite podcast app.
You can also listen to the episode with Serrano using the player below.