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• The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI
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Quick Facts

About the Show

TAVIS SMILEY is a unique hybrid of news, issues and entertainment, featuring interviews with politicians, entertainers, athletes, authors and other newsmakers. Tavis Smiley was recently named to TIME's list of 100 "Most Influential People in the World."

Since its first season, the show has won four NAACP Image Awards for "Outstanding Television, News, Talk, or Information (Series or Special)."

TAVIS SMILEY is produced by The Smiley Group, Inc./TS Media, Inc. in association with KCET/Los Angeles. Major funding is provided by Wal-Mart and Nationwide Insurance. Additional support comes from PBS.

The 30-minute program airs weeknights on PBS. Get local listings and watch past episodes.

Tavis Smiley airs on over 200 public television stations throughout the United States. The show has one to two interviews per episode. The series tapes daily at the KCET Studios in Los Angeles and is scheduled at various times on your local PBS station. To locate Tavis in your area, check your local showtimes.

Though schedules do change, you will find Tavis at these times in these major cities:

About Tavis

From his celebrated conversations with world figures, to his work to inspire the next generation of leaders, as a broadcaster, author, advocate and philanthropist, Tavis Smiley continues to be an outstanding voice for change. Smiley is currently the host of the late night television talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS and The Tavis Smiley Show distributed by Public Radio International (PRI).

In 2007, Smiley made television history as the moderator and executive producer of the All-American Presidential Forums on PBS, the first Democratic and Republican presidential debates broadcast live in primetime with a panel exclusively comprised of journalists of color.

In addition to his radio and television work, Smiley has authored fourteen books. His memoir, What I Know For Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America, became a New York Times best seller and the book he edited, Covenant with Black America, became the first nonfiction book by a Black owned publisher to reach #1 on The New York Times best seller list.

His latest book, Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise, examines hard-hitting truths about the issues our country faces and addresses how our political leaders, corporations and, finally, American citizens themselves can enforce accountability and effect change.

TIME magazine honored Smiley in 2009 as one of "The World's 100 Most Influential People." The annual TIME 100 list profiles men and women whose power, talent or moral example has made a significant difference in the world.

In 2009, Smiley released STAND, his first documentary film, which he directed, wrote and produced. STAND shares the experiences of Smiley and ten Black male friends during a special road trip through Memphis and Nashville. The friends explore the impact of the civil rights movement and the role and relationships of Black men in America against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential race and the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.

Smiley is the presenter and creative force behind America I AM: The African American Imprint. This unprecedented traveling museum exhibition, which debuted in January 2009, will tour the country for four years, celebrating the extraordinary impact of African American contributions to our nation and the world as told through rare artifacts, memorabilia and multimedia.

Smiley's most gratifying accomplishments are rooted in his passion to inspire the next generation of leaders. The Tavis Smiley Foundation, a nonprofit organization, was established to provide leadership training and development for youth. Since its inception, more than 6,000 young people have participated in the foundation's Youth to Leaders training workshops and conferences.

His communications company, The Smiley Group, Inc., is dedicated to supporting human rights and related empowerment issues and serves as the holding company for various enterprises encompassing broadcast and print media, lectures, symposiums and the Internet.

Smiley's achievements have earned him numerous awards and honorary doctorate degrees, including one from his alma mater, Indiana University. In 2009, Indiana University named the atrium of its School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) building, The Tavis Smiley Atrium. Smiley is also the recipient of the Du Bois Medal from Harvard University and the 2009 Interdependence Day Prize from Demos, in Istanbul, Turkey.

What People Are Saying About TAVIS SMILEY...

Jay Leno of The Tonight Show dubbed him "the king of late night public television."

The Los Angeles Times says he's on the "fast track, left lane."

The New York Post screamed, "Look out Larry King—here comes Tavis Smiley!"

The Washington Post declared that he's "winning friends and influencing people."

The Philadelphia Inquirer says Smiley is "one of the most important political voices of his generation."

Cleveland's The Plain Dealer summed up Tavis' appeal best: "In the age of high-decibel, in-your-face talk shows, Tavis Smiley keeps the volume low and the content high. He also gets the best guests in broadcasting—presidents, the pope, A-list entertainers. Smiley's style of easy and engaging conversation makes them all feel comfortable. And it works."

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Daily News columnist E.R. Shipp writes: "He does what too little of talk radio or television does these days: conducts civil conversations with a broad spectrum of politicians, newsmakers, performers and writers in a forum where one first has to declare one's political alliances. He's comfortable with conservatives, liberals and the undeclared; with the profound and the profane, with elder statesmen and the hip-hop nation. With such stratification in the country, he provides one place that helps promote dialogues that might not otherwise take place before audiences who might not otherwise think that they have anything in common."

DeWayne Wickham in USA Today declares that Smiley is "arguably the nation's most influential black journalist."

Vanity Fair inducted him into its Hall of Fame.