Cover of As Told To

As Told To

As Told To

By: Daniel Paisner
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Everybody's got a story to tell. Sometimes they need a little bit of help. Veteran ghostwriter Daniel Paisner talks shop with his fellow collaborators and shines a light on what it means to pursue a writing life on the back of someone else's story. Art Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Between the Lines: Daphne & Me

    Between the Lines: Daphne & Me
    27 Oct 2026
    "'Frasier' didn't only define a period of my mom's life," writes Isabella Kathryn Coben, in the foreword to the memoir she co-wrote with her mother, the actress Jane Leeves, best known for her role as "Daphne Moon" on the long-running NBC sitcom. "It defined a period of mine." Yes, it did, and in the pages of Daphne & Me: My Life on 'Frasier' (and a Bit More), she helps her mum give voice to her time on the set, and to revisit the stuff of her life and career. As celebrity memoirs go, this one's pretty unique. In our 100+ episodes here at As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, we've yet to feature a mother-daughter collaboration. In this excerpt, offered by Isabella, we can begin to see how this writing partnership frames Jane's story in a singular way, as author and co-author tap a wellspring of memories that are enriched by the moments mother and daughter have already shared, and strengthened by what they learned about each other during the writing process. "Despite being my mother's daughter," Isabella writes, "I've come to find that I can't claim to know her all that well. It's only over the course of the last few years, in the process of writing this book, that I realized I hadn't a clue who this woman really was." The great lesson here? Sometimes it takes rolling up your sleeves and working on a book with someone you love to understand that person better—to figure out where you've been, and where you might be going…together. Learn more about our guests: Janes Leeves InstagramIsabella Kathryn Coben Instagram Please support the sponsors who support our show: Ritani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon DogDaniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotHeaven Help Us by John KasichUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipThe Darling Killers PodcastFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    12 min
  • Episode 121: Jane Leeves and Isabella Kathryn Coben

    Episode 121: Jane Leeves and Isabella Kathryn Coben
    20 Oct 2026
    "This was a tough ask of me, to write a book," offers the Emmy-nominated actress Jane Leeves, as she celebrates the publication of her memoir Daphne & Me: My Life on "Frasier" (and a Bit More). "I'm a very, very private person, and I wasn't on board with it at first. They offered me a ghostwriter, and I thought, 'I'll never be able to open up to a stranger.' So my husband said, 'Well, what about our daughter? She's a fabulous writer.' And that sort of intrigued me." Intriguing, yes. A little out-of-the-ordinary, certainly. And yet working in collaboration with her daughter, Isabella Kathryn Coben, Jane has written a warm, witty, and winning account of her time on the long-running NBC sitcom "Frasier"—a memoir that stands as a love letter to one of the most celebrated shows in television history, with a record-breaking 37 Emmy nominations over its 11 seasons. Daphne & Me tells the story of the show's development, spun from the backstory of one of the supporting characters on the also long-running NBC sitcom "Cheers," and gifts the author with an opportunity to look back on a career that started from humble beginnings, as an aspiring ballerina who landed her first meaningful gig as a regular on "The Benny Hill Show." Another gift: in crafting her story alongside Isabella, Jane has managed to tap a wellspring of memories that are enriched by the moments mother and daughter have already shared—a collaboration that now stands as its own kind of love letter, as the co-authors reflect on a family history that has been indelibly stamped by Jane's time on the show. Oh, and by the way, this episode of As Told To is itself an out-of-the-ordinary collaboration, as podcast host Daniel Paisner is joined by producer Daniel Ford, host of his own Writer's Bone podcast on the Writer's Bone Podcast Network, for a joint interview with co-authors Jane and Isabella, to be featured on both podcast platforms. Learn more about our guests: Janes Leeves InstagramIsabella Kathryn Coben Instagram Please support the sponsors who support our show: Ritani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon DogDaniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotHeaven Help Us by John KasichUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipThe Darling Killers PodcastFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    55 min
  • Between the Lines: Touching All the Bases

    Between the Lines: Touching All the Bases
    13 Oct 2026
    "This isn't your typical baseball memoir. It's about spies and lies far more than RBIs." That's a line from the opening pages of Dave Winfield's gritty, gripping new baseball memoir Touching All the Bases: A Story of Power, Purpose, and Surviving the Bronx, written in collaboration with As Told To podcast guest Alan Maimon. Alan joins us in our "Between the Lines" segment, as he shares a passage from the Winfield book, which was published this fall by BenBella Books. It's a baseball memoir with teeth, an unvarnished look at a life and career marked by one of the most famous feuds in baseball history. A longtime journalist, Alan was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize, for his eye-opening series on the gaping holes in Kentucky's justice system, for the Louisville Courier-Journal. He would go on to work for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where his reporting on police shootings and the court system garnered national awards and acclaim. He started his professional writing career as a news assistant and reporter in the Berlin bureau of the New York Times. His Winfield book marks his fourth title written with a member of Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame, following collaborations with Jim Palmer, Tim Raines, and Andre Dawson. Alan is a Philadelphia native and graduate of Brown University, where he received a Fulbright fellowship to study and work in Austria. Learn more about Alan Maimon: WebsiteTwitterInstagramThe Mouth That Roared Please support the sponsors who support our show: Ritani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon DogDaniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotHeaven Help Us by John KasichUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipThe Darling Killers PodcastFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    10 min
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