Chef José Andrés may very well be The Best Person. His nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, activates local restaurants to provide meals to people in crisis areas. He’s the man behind acclaimed restaurants like Jaleo and minibar. And, he’s a pure delight wherever he shows up, whether it be on TV or this podcast you’re looking at right now. And he has a new podcast and a Substack, both called “Longer Tables.” Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to Andrés about why he added another thing to his… plate. (Sorry...
Sep 15, 2022•30 min•Ep. 411
Despite YouTube’s massive influence, it's been chronically underreported on. But finally, Bloomberg’s Mark Bergen wrote the comprehensive, soup-to-nuts history of the site. His new book is called "Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube’s Chaotic Rise to World Domination." Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to Bergen about changes to YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, its various attempts to make original premium content, the rise of TikTok, and FЯED. Plus, how the entirety of YouTube almost got filed...
Sep 08, 2022•50 min•Ep. 410
Like other big deal TV creators, Robert and Michelle King are thriving in the streaming era. The duo behind the long-running CBS show The Good Wife is making two shows for Paramount+, with more on the way. As The Good Fight - a Good Wife spinoff - enters its sixth and final season, Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to the Kings about the move from broadcast to streaming, and why they spend a lot of time tweaking the Trump administration, but less talking about the pandemic. Plus: a very costly Bitcoin ...
Sep 01, 2022•36 min•Ep. 409
Kyle Chayka writes about tech and internet culture for the New Yorker; he’s also the co-founder of Dirt, a newsletter — powered in part by crypto — about… tech and internet culture. He talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about both of his gigs: They dive deep into his recent essay about “The Age of Algorithmic Anxiety”, and what humans mean when they say they’re upset with The Algorithm. Then Chayka describes the way Dirt is using Web3 tech — specifically, a DAO - to help run Dirt, and why he thinks t...
Aug 25, 2022•35 min•Ep. 408
In 2011, HBO changed the prestige television landscape with its expensive, ultra-violent, sex-filled fantasy epic Game of Thrones. Three years after that show’s divisive ending, HBO's hoping the world is ready to go back to Westeros with its GoT prequel, House of the Dragon. The Ringer’s Joanna Robinson joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to talk about House of the Dragon and its competition, Amazon’s long-awaited The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. Which fantasy show will rule them all? Is there room...
Aug 18, 2022•31 min•Ep. 407
Democrats have a complicated relationship with social media - sometimes they think it’s a huge help; other times, not so much. Which is why it’s interesting to hear from Nell Thomas, the chief technology officer for the Democratic National Committee, who previously worked on data science for… Facebook. Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to Thomas about how working for Facebook helped her understand the platform; how her current role at the DNC is supposed to help Democrats win elections; and how the DNC...
Aug 11, 2022•42 min•Ep. 406
This week, we bring you an episode of Recode and The Verge’s latest season of Land of the Giants: The Facebook / Meta Disruption. To check out the first two episodes, subscribe wherever you subscribe to podcasts! This episode explores Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012. Mark Zuckerberg promised he would be hands-off with the company’s curated aesthetic and simple features. But as Facebook scaled the startup into a social media juggernaut, tensions flared. Instagram’s founders would leav...
Aug 04, 2022•38 min•Ep. 405
B.J. Novak has starred on TV, written a best-selling kids’ book, and tried his hand at app-making. Now he’s written, directed, and starred in his own movie: Vengeance, about a self-obsessed podcaster, red/blue state divides, and much more. He talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about making the movie during a pandemic, what it was like to be on The Office when it was on NBC and then on Netflix, and why streaming is a “wasteland for comedy.” Plus! The New York Times' James Poniewozek explains why the J...
Jul 28, 2022•46 min•Ep. 404
People have been talking about the metaverse for years. But they’re talking about it much more these days, spurred by Mark Zuckerberg’s full-fledged embrace of the… actually, what exactly is the metaverse again, anyways? Investor, analyst and metaverse explainer Matthew Ball, who’s already tried explaining this stuff to Recode’s Peter Kafka, has written a whole book about it, so he’s back again: Ball talks about what he thinks the metaverse is really going to be, what it’s not going to be, how l...
Jul 19, 2022•33 min•Ep. 403
20 years ago the New Yorker’s Ken Auletta wrote a seminal profile of famed and feared producer Harvey Weinstein - with one glaring omission. Now Auletta has written a book about Weinstein — Hollywood Ending — and this time he’s able to cover the full story. Auletta talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about the two works, and why it took so long for Weinstein’s much-rumored sexual abuses to come out in the open. Featuring: Ken Auletta (@kenauletta), Writer at The New Yorker, and Author Host: Peter Kafk...
Jul 11, 2022•33 min•Ep. 402
Caryn Mandabach produced some of the biggest hits in TV history — like The Cosby Show, Roseanne, 3rd Rock from the Sun, and That ’70s Show. Now she’s thriving in the Netflix era, with Peaky Blinders — a historical crime drama that just ended a six-season run and is a global success story. She talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about the way the TV business has changed, and the risk and reward of owning your own shows. Featuring: Caryn Mandabach (@mandabachtv), Executive Producer of Netflix's Peaky Bl...
Jul 07, 2022•32 min•Ep. 401
Three interviews! One pod: First entrepreneur and investor Zach Weinberg tells Recode’s Peter Kafka why he’s accidentally become Twitter Famous as a crypto skeptic — and explains how you can do it, too. Then two talks from the recent Collision Conference: Substack CEO Chris Best on the growth of his company, and about an unsuccessful attempt to raise a funding round (this was recorded before Substack laid off 14% of its workforce); and ABC News boss Kim Godwin on the challenges of reaching audie...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 400
Today, CNBC’s Alex Sherman joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to ponder several media mysteries: Why did Netflix lose 2 million subscribers? Why was Disney executive Peter Rice unexpectedly fired? What’s going on at Warner Bros. Discovery? Is someone gonna buy VICE? Why is Wall Street meh on BuzzFeed? Featuring: Alex Sherman (@sherman4949), Media and Tech Reporter for CNBC Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode More to explore: Subscribe for free to Recode Media, Peter Kafka, one of the me...
Jun 23, 2022•36 min•Ep. 399
The Bill Simmons Podcast is, by its own description, "the most downloaded sports podcast of all time." This week, it hits its 1,000th episode. Bill Simmons began his career as a Boston sportswriter and went on to found ESPN's sports and pop culture blog Grantland. After ESPN shut down the site, Simmons started the Ringer — which he sold to Spotify in 2020. In this wide-ranging conversation, Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to Simmons about how he became a podcasting pioneer, and when he realized nerdi...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 398
TikTok isn’t just funny dances and glow-ups anymore… it’s also for venture capital!!! Logan Bartlett, managing director at the VC firm Redpoint, reaches out to startups via the socials. He also hosts a podcast called Cartoon Avatars. Bartlett talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about wooing the next generation of tech entrepreneurs, the VC world’s abrupt shift to restraint, and, of course, more crypto stuff. Featuring: Logan Bartlett (@loganbartlett), Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures and host of...
Jun 09, 2022•43 min•Ep. 397
Software engineer Molly White has emerged as one of Web3’s most high-profile skeptics. Her website “Web3 is going just great” chronicles scams, bugs, “rug pulls” and thefts plaguing the world of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), and other blockchain technologies. She and Recode’s Peter Kafka discuss her take on all things Web3, why she took on this project in her free time, and how the feedback she’s received compares to her previous work on GamerGate and ...
Jun 02, 2022•33 min•Ep. 396
Lots of people will tell you that misinformation is a big problem online. But exactly what the problem is, and what tech companies can and should do about it, is up for debate. It’s also what Bloomberg reporter Davey Alba covers every day. In this conversation, she talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about the recent massacre in Buffalo, which the shooter promoted on Discord and live-streamed on Twitch; copies of his manifesto and clips of the killing then migrated around the internet. All of which ec...
May 26, 2022•33 min•Ep. 395
The markets are crashing - and that includes both Netflix and the media companies that wanted to be Netflix. What’s next? Wall Street analyst and investor Rich Greenfield weighs in. Then, Recode’s Peter Kafka has a conversation with Tony Fadell, who helped bring the iPod and iPhone to life, and then built and sold Nest, the smart home company. His new book is “Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making.” Fadell talks about how developing a product begins with creating its “story,” ...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 394
Ronan Farrow’s latest investigative work for The New Yorker looks into the surveillance technology Pegasus — spyware that gives remote access to a smartphone’s camera, microphone, and contents. Be sure to power your phone completely off after you listen to the episode; Farrow will tell you why. Recode’s Peter Kafka also asks Farrow about his career — what it’s like to have his work put under a microscope, the impact of his Pulitzer-winning reporting on Harvey Weinstein, and what he doesn’t miss ...
May 12, 2022•47 min•Ep. 393
Design genius Jony Ive was Steve Jobs’ chief collaborator at Apple. But Ive didn’t run Apple after Jobs’ death: That role went to Tim Cook, the supply chain guy. Now Apple is a company that’s increasingly interested in making money from services and is less dependent on jaw-dropping devices. And Ive doesn’t work at Apple anymore. Journalist Tripp Mickle, who covered Apple for years at the Wall Street Journal, has a new book about the fraught relationship between Cook and Ive, and Apple’s transfo...
May 05, 2022•35 min•Ep. 392
Wesley Morris wrote his first review when he was 15 years old, about the movie “Cape Fear.” Since then, he’s become one of the most celebrated cultural critics of our time, and has two Pulitzers to prove it. Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to Morris about his work as a critic at large for the New York Times and the new season of his podcast, “Still Processing.” Other topics discussed in this very fun and thoughtful interview include The Slap, why we’re not getting another “Basic Instinct,” and what’s...
Apr 28, 2022•44 min•Ep. 391
It’s been a big week for media events involving tens of billions of dollars: Elon Musk is buying Twitter for $44 billion, meanwhile, Netflix lost more than $50 billion in value. First, Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel about the multiverse of possibilities of how Musk’s Twitter might operate. Will we enter the “darkest timeline” of supervillain nihilistic world-burning, or revert to Twitter’s pre-2016 stance on content moderation? Then, Peter checks in on Netflix, which...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 390
Elon Musk loves Twitter and also thinks it’s broken. So he wants to buy it. Can he, really? And who would help him? And why? And wtf does it mean when the world’s richest man is also one of its best shitposters? Bloomberg's Kurt Wagner and the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson try to help Recode’s Peter Kafka figure it out. Featuring: Kurt Wagner (@KurtWagner8), tech and social media reporter for Bloomberg Derek Thompson (@DKThomp), staff writer for The Atlantic and host of Plain English for The Ringer ...
Apr 19, 2022•46 min•Ep. 389
Within the past few months, Disney CEO Bob Chapek managed to piss off his shareholders, the LGBT community, and right-wing conservatives. Today we talk about how he did it, why it happened, and what’s next. First, Puck’s Matt Belloni joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to compare Disney’s old and new Bobs, Iger and Chapek. Belloni details the inner turmoil at Disney over the company’s initially tepid response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law - and why Disney investors are dissatisfied with Chapek for oth...
Apr 14, 2022•53 min•Ep. 388
It’s time to check back in on the state of the streaming wars, with two binge-worthy conversations. First, Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to analyst Michael Nathanson about Big Media’s new problem: TV ratings are plummeting because all the good stuff is streaming — but now Wall Street doesn’t just want streaming, it wants *profitable* streaming. Then, we travel into the time stream to talk about the past, present and future of the streaming wars with Dawn Chmielewski, co-author of Binge Times: Insid...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 387
Legendary comedy director/writer/producer Judd Apatow was busy during lockdown: He wrote a book and made two movies. One of them is The Bubble, a movie about… making a movie during the pandemic. Apatow talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about what success looks like in the streaming era, coming to terms with TikTok, and his Oscar tweets. Also discussed: How many meetings it took to design a CGI flammable alien dinosaur penis. Featuring: Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow), Writer, Director, Producer Host: Pete...
Mar 29, 2022•45 min•Ep. 386
The Oscars used to be one of the biggest things on TV. Now they’re… not. Does that matter to the movie business and to movie-goers? We discuss with our annual Oscar experts: Vox’s Alissa Wilkinson and Slate’s Allegra Frank, who talk about their favorite movies, and try to sell Recode’s Peter Kafka on watching a 3-hour foreign language film. But more important: How and why should the Oscars try to remake itself for a TikTok world — and will a Twitter poll + DJ Kahled and Tony Hawk do the trick? F...
Mar 24, 2022•38 min•Ep. 385
March Madness has started, but this isn’t a podcast about that: Today, it’s a podcast about sports media, about leaving sports media to do your own thing, and about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may radically reshape big-time soccer. First Dan Le Batard, formerly of ESPN, joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to talk about his “fool’s quest” to found Meadowlark Media, “a company with a soul.” And why that company needed a big infusion of cash from the sports betting business to get off the ground. Then,...
Mar 17, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 384
Silicon Valley goes out of its way not to upset countries around the world - even when that means making embarrassing compromises. But it has taken a stand against Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, limiting services or cutting them off entirely. What happens next? Recode’s Peter Kafka and the New York Times’ Shira Ovide both wrote about this separately, and now they’re talking about it together. Then, Wall Street Journal reporter Kirsten Grind talks about her new book, Happy at Any Cost: The Re...
Mar 10, 2022•43 min•Ep. 383
Recode's Peter Kafka talks to three reporters about the realities of covering the war in Ukraine and sorting truth from disinformation -- from the ground, from afar, and online. In Ukraine: CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward discusses the challenges of war reporting in 2022, everything from planning food and exit routes to working with a remote team to analyze online videos. In DC: Puck co-founder and Washington correspondent Julia Ioffe talk about how hard it is to learn what...
Mar 03, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 382