The Talking Room

The Talking Room returns! This season's first guest is Traci Des Jardins, an award-winning chef and restaurateur. Traci was a finalist on Top Chef Masters and a semi-finalist for this year’s James Beard award for Outstanding Chef. Adam invited Traci to The Talking Room to talk about her cooking ethos, the challenge of managing restaurants, and her approach to crafting new recipes.

Adam Savage welcomes author Andy Weir to The Talking Room! Andy wrote 'The Martian', the story of an astronaut stranded on Mars--it's a book we can't recommend enough. Adam and Andy talk about the research that went into writing the book, the portrayal of astronauts in fiction, and the upcoming film adaptation!

Adam Savage welcomes Astro Teller to The Talking Room! Astro is Google's 'Captain of Moonshots', directing the Google X lab where self-driving cars, smart contact lenses, and other futuristic projects are conceived and made real. Adam sat down with Astro at the Tested Live Show this past October to chat about the benefits of thinking big and failing quickly.

While researching topics for her books, author Mary Roach puts the obscure and fascinating stories of science under a spotlight. Her books cover a diverse range of topics, including sex, colonizing Mars, death, and the human alimentary canal. Please welcome Mary Roach to The Talking Room!

Jason Reitman has directed some of our favorite films of the last decade--Juno, Thank You For Smoking, Young Adult, and Up In the Air. Avoiding the allure of big-budget blockbusters, Jason instead tells emotionally-intense stories in smaller films. He visits The Talking Room to discuss the appeal of crafting complex, resonant characters, his approach to selecting projects, and growing up on film sets.