There is an art to doing great interviews, and if anyone has come close to mastering that art, it’s Julia Cunningham. Host of The Julia Cunningham Show on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy channel — which is focused on Andy Cohen’s expansive pop culture universe — she regularly interviews all kinds of celebrities. That experience is how she’s learned to manage the variety of curveballs guests can throw at her.
For Cunningham, a great interview starts with balance. She weighs her personal curiosity against the audience’s interests — even when her curiosity leans toward more obscure projects. “I think to myself, what does the audience want to know and what do I want to know, because I’m often more curious about a project that is not necessarily something everyone else brings up,” she says. “I like asking unexpected questions.”
She also wants to take care of her guests. “I want that person to walk away feeling like not only were they completely understood, but they can also be proud of whatever project they were working on.”
Preparation Is Everything
Her biggest tool for successful interviewing is preparation, which Cunningham admits she can sometimes take too far. For example, she recently conducted an interview with the director and cast of One Battle After Another. “I went back and watched the movie another five times. I wasn’t letting anything slide by.”
While that might seem excessive, there is a method to the madness. “I was way overprepared, but I slept well knowing that I wasn’t going to crash and burn.” She adds that she has always liked homework, so all the studying doesn’t bother her. “I always like to feel that I’m overprepared, never underprepared.”
It Takes All Kinds of People
No matter how much preparation she does, Cunningham also has to adapt to each guest. “Some people can be nervous or just aren’t great storytellers, and that’s when I have to think, ‘how do we get there? How do I make them feel more comfortable?'”
But her years of experience have also taught her that patience really is a virtue. “I’m less scared of the silence now. When I ask a question and the answer is just yes or no, sometimes I just wait. Then they fill that silence because they’re uncomfortable.”
Other times it’s the exact opposite. Some guests bring so much energy they nearly take over the interview — Cunningham calls them Tasmanian Devils. Balancing control with entertainment value becomes critical in those moments, like when she moderated a Q&A that included Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes. He quickly stole the spotlight.
“I realized Chris is this majestic Tasmanian devil. I threw my cards in the air and thought I just had to let him be himself, because the crowd was devouring everything he was saying and doing. He was having the time of his life and people were responding to it.” So she let him go — for a while. “But then you have to find a balance. It takes a lot of resetting, asking specific questions that have limited answers and making sure the person that isn’t talking a lot gets pulled in too.”
Through all of that, she’s also juggling time constraints. “I have an amazing producer named Sarah, who is always in my eyeline and giving me time cues. Then I have to think about what the most important things are that I can fit in during the remaining time. I’m listening, but also doing my own mental gymnastics.”
Learning From the Best
Cunningham’s skill as an interviewer comes not only from experience but also from studying several talented journalists. One of the most influential is Jess Cagle, former Editor-in-Chief of both People and Entertainment Weekly.
When Entertainment Weekly partnered with SiriusXM for the EW Radio channel, Cagle launched his own show and asked Cunningham to co-host. “Getting to sit next to him every day was a master class in how to up my own game,” she says.
Cagle’s biggest strength was the ability to ask tough questions. “Jess did a beautiful job of setting the scene and leading up to it in a way that gave context for the listener and gave the guest a heads up that the tough question is coming,” Cunningham says. “He acknowledged that this is a thing everyone is wondering about, you need to answer it, and here it is, plain as day.”
Sometimes, even though it’s uncomfortable, Cunningham says difficult stories need to be told. “Especially when it comes to addiction or having gone through something incredibly serious like a mental health break. It can remind the guest that telling their story allows people to understand it better and lets light shine on that type of scenario. When that happens, I always thank them for being vulnerable.”
Working With Andy Cohen
Today, working on Radio Andy, Cunningham works closely with Andy Cohen, whom she sees as a modern-day version of another cultural icon with a similar name — Andy Warhol. “He looks at pop culture in a way that no one else really does or has. I think what he has built is an incredible legacy. It’s an honor to represent his ideas and feelings.”
She says what sets Cohen apart as a host is the way he carries himself. “He does amazing interviews. He knows how to ask the questions that everyone is dying to know, but he does it in such a casual, nonchalant way. I’m still learning how to do it with that sort of chutzpah.”
Navigating a Complicated World
Much like Warhol did in his time, Cunningham now finds herself walking a tightrope as politics becomes a bigger and bigger part of the pop culture landscape. “I think art is political no matter what. And I know people can argue whether or not The Real Housewives is art, but it is.”
She would prefer to watch shows without wondering where the performers stand on the political spectrum, but it’s difficult. “It bums me out, especially if it differs from my point of view. I try and take some things at entertainment value, but there are issues that are also deeply important to me.”
Cunningham believes highlighting women’s voices and advocating for people in below-the-line jobs is important, but so is delivering what the audience wants. “I think the listeners know that I’m going to use my voice to lift up things I believe in without just sitting there and complaining,” she says. “But I also know that they’re tuning in to hear about The Real Housewives and Summer House. I realize I have a platform to use my voice, but I use it strategically, and I’m mindful that when I make a point it’s done with purpose.”
In the end, politics aside, Cunningham believes the best interviews reveal something about the subject. “I think it’s important to tap into the person, what their point of view is, and what they’re trying to get across through their music or their book or their movie.”
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Mike Stern is a Classic Rock columnist and Features writer for Barrett Media. He has been with Jacobs Media consulting stations in the Classic Rock, Rock, Alternative and AAA world for more than a decade. Prior to that he programmed stations in Chicago, Detroit, Denver Las Vegas and other markets. He also worked as News/Talk Editor for Radio and Records, wrote about Top 40 Radio for Billboard Magazine and had his own radio talent coaching business called Talent Mechanic.