Some of My Best Friends Are… is a podcast hosted by Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Ben Austen, two best friends who grew up together on the South Side of Chicago in the 1980s. Today a Harvard professor and an award-winning journalist, Khalil and Ben still go to each other to talk about their experiences with the absurdities and intricacies of race in America. In Some of My Best Friends Are..., they invite listeners into their unfiltered conversations about growing up together in a deeply-divided country, and navigating that divide as it exists today.
Latest episodes
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42 min
Richard Pryor: The Truth‑Teller Who Changed Comedy Forever | From Big Lives
Richard Pryor redefined comedy by telling the truth, even when it scorched him. And today, we’re sharing a preview of a new podcast, Big Lives, and a special episode about Pryor. E…
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48 min
How to Experience the Joy of Giving Right Now: A Giving Tuesday Special from The Happiness Lab
According to the science, it really is better to give than receive. Donating a dollar; sharing a kind word or lending someone a hand changes lives, but can also hugely boost your h…
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44 min
From College Matters: Mr. Varsity Blues Claps Back
We're sharing a preview of College Matters from The Chronicle, a podcast from The Chronicle of Higher Education. After 16 months in a federal prison camp, William (Rick) Singer has…
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33 min
Introducing Charlie’s Place: A Cultural Haven That Brought People Together Through Music
Here’s a preview from a new podcast, Charlie’s Place. How did a Black man in 1940s Jim Crow South open a club where Black and white people danced together? Charlie’s Place was revo…
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32 min
"Birds Are Like My Afternoon Martini" (Birding with Lili Taylor) from The Happiness Lab
Lili Taylor loves her acting career - but the emotional intensity of her work and the constant travel can take its toll. But Lili has found a way to relax and unwind - watching bir…
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42 min
How Good Manners Made Me Happier (with Etiquette Expert William Hanson) from The Happiness Lab
You might think etiquette is outdated. Who really needs a dinner with nice napkins and four different forks? Etiquette expert William Hanson disagrees. By observing good manners we…
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35 min
How Dogs Changed my Life (with The Dogist) from The Happiness Lab
We all have our own ways of coping - especially when things get tough. So for the next few shows we're going to talking to people with interesting coping strategies. And we start w…
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3 min
Preview: Into the Scatterbrained Minds of Team Revisionist History
Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell's podcast about the overlooked and misunderstood, returns with investigations on everything from PAW Patrol to the secret behind English muffi…
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37 min
The Harms of Eating Alone: An International Day of Happiness Special from The Happiness Lab
For the International Day of Happiness, we're sharing a special episode from The Happiness Lab. It's a chance to talk about happiness and what we can all do to be happier. March 20…
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49 min
Introducing Fiasco: The Battle for Boston
In 1974, a federal judge ruled that Boston’s public schools were unconstitutionally segregated. The solution? A controversial experiment in desegregation known as “busing,” which w…
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54 min
Thank You For Being Some of Our Best Friends
In the final episode of the show, Khalil and Ben talk with Chicago poet laureate avery r. young. He’s the multitalented interdisciplinary artist behind the podcast’s theme song, ‘L…
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43 min
Samantha Irby is Quietly Hostile & Raucously Funny
Ben and Khalil get personal with author and TV writer Samantha Irby on this week's show. Her bestselling essay collections Wow, No Thank You and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life a…
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44 min
The End of Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court recently issued a decision banning race-conscious admission in higher education. In this episode, Ben and Khalil talk with Anurima Bhargava, who served in the Civ…
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50 min
Fantastic Future: Reimagining the American City
This week, Ben and Khalil are talking about the future of cities. Their guest, Toni Griffin, is an architect, urban planner, and artist. She teaches at the Harvard School of Design…
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50 min
From The Last Archive: Acting Out
Here’s a special episode from another Pushkin show we love -- The Last Archive. In the 1930s, at a women's reformatory in upstate New York, an upstart social scientist made a study…
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48 min
America’s Poverty is by Design
America is the richest country on earth, and yet we have the highest levels of poverty of any advanced democracy. Why is that? And what should we do about it? Matthew Desmond joins…
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37 min
Ben and Khalil Go South
Ben and Khalil take a trip down South to Sewanee University, otherwise known as the University of the South. The school’s history is rooted in the Confederacy, and Ben and Khalil l…
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51 min
The FBI’s War on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. needs no introduction. The man changed the course of American history, and paid the ultimate price for his work. But in Jonathan Eig’s biography, King: A…
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44 min
Immigrants Aren't the Problem
Immigration in America is a humanitarian crisis and a political disaster. It has been for years. In this episode, Khalil and Ben talk to immigration lawyer, artist and activist Car…
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43 min
Are We in a Civil War?
Jeff Sharlet started reporting from Donald Trump’s rallies in 2015, when his presidential campaign stoked a resurgence of white nationalism and white supremacy. Since then, Jeff ha…