StarTalk All-Stars
126 episodes listed below
Rotating StarTalk scientist-hosts and a comedian co-host tackle listener-submitted cosmic questions.
StarTalk All-Stars pairs rotating science-minded hosts with comic foils for lively explanations of brains, time, planets, and deep space. The science stays serious, but the path there runs through jokes, tangents, food analogies, and sudden songs.
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The show is an interview/Q&A format rather than a narrative or solo show: a rotating principal host (drawn from the original StarTalk 'All-Star' roster of scientists and educators) fields listener-submitted questions, often bringing in a guest specialist for topics outside their own expertise, while a comedian co-host provides running commentary and keeps explanations accessible. Charles Liu, an astrophysicist at CUNY Staten Island and the American Museum of Natural History, Bill Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society, Mike Massimino, a former NASA astronaut who serviced the Hubble Space Telescope, and Natalia Reagan, a primatologist, have each hosted episodes in the sample. Chuck Nice, a comedian, recurs across multiple episodes as co-host, and guests such as astrophysicist Matt O'Dowd of PBS Space Time, Jackie Faherty, and Kiki Sanford are brought in for their specific specialties. Recurring subject matter includes cosmology and the mechanics of the Big Bang and inflation, black holes and gravity, the privatization and politics of spaceflight (SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, the Outer Space Treaty), planetary science (Mars settlement, Europa's ocean, Planet Nine), and less frequent detours into neuroscience, memory, and animal cognition. The tone throughout is educational and conversational, with the comedian co-host translating jargon and injecting humor rather than challenging the science. The show suits listeners already curious about space and physics who want detailed but accessible answers to specific questions, rather than headline science news or heavily produced narrative documentary. It functions as a companion to the flagship StarTalk Radio, offering additional episodes when Neil deGrasse Tyson is not hosting. Production is conversational and lightly edited, centered on a single continuous discussion per episode rather than segmented reporting.
Made for: Listeners already interested in space and physics who want detailed, question-driven explanations delivered with comedic co-host banter.
What sets it apart: Unlike single-host science interview shows, the host chair itself rotates among working scientists and a former astronaut, with a fixed comedian co-host and a listener-question format across every episode.
"I’m Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of StarTalk Radio. I’ve recruited a crack team of scientists and science educators to help me bring the universe down to Earth. They are… The StarTalk All-Stars." New episodes premiere Tuesday nights at 7pm ET.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Rotating scientists and comedians make difficult questions about space, brains, and exploration approachable without stripping away the mechanisms that make them interesting.
StarTalk All-Stars turns audience questions into lively exchanges between rotating science hosts, specialists, and comedic co-hosts. Mike Massimino and Matt O'Dowd move between deep-space questions and the practical problem of drinking coffee in zero gravity.
Space Tang meets cosmic inflation, with Chuck Nice keeping your curiosity from becoming homework.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Bird memory and human memory meet in a lively talk about how brains sort meaning.
Kiki Sanford keeps this StarTalk All-Stars episode moving at a good clip, with Charles Liu and Chuck Nice carrying the conversation from human memory to bird cognition without losing focus.
A playful look at inflation and the early universe's near-perfect uniformity.
This episode treats a big cosmology question with a light touch. Charles Liu and Chuck Nice move through inflation, spontaneous symmetry breaking, and the universe's near-perfect uniformity without letting the discussion dry out.
Big astronomy, kept conversational and lightly mischievous.
StarTalk All-Stars brings Natalia Regan, a primatologist-comedian, together with astrophysicist Jackie Faherty for a brisk run through Planet Nine, brown dwarfs, the latest comprehensive map of the Moon, the Milky Way, and Backyard Worlds.
A listener-driven cosmic Q&A that stays grounded in the practical side of zero gravity.
This StarTalk All Stars episode brings Mike Massimino and Chuck Nice together with astrophysicist Matt O'Dowd, professor at Lehman College and host of PBS Space Time, for a listener-driven Q&A that keeps coming back to the practical side of zero gravity.
Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-hosts field Cosmic Queries on physics, space, and beyond.
ABC Radio National pairs daily Artemis II updates with its five-part Challenger Legacy investigation.
Patient space coverage with real mission context.
Bird-brain is a compliment here.
Chuck meets Chuck, and the joke clicks right away.
Planet Nine gets jokingly renamed World Nine by the end.
Space coffee gets weird fast.