In our episode with Jim Harris, we talked about how a spinal cord injury left him partially paralyzed, and then how 8 months into his recovery he regained some lost sensation and movement after taking psilocybin at a music festival. When we recorded, we talked for a long time….right up to when his window of availability was closing. But as I wrapped up and got ready to say goodbye, he said: can I ask you a few questions? It was interesting to hear what he was wondering about after I’d asked him ...
May 24, 2024•4 min
A fat suit is a custom-made costume with one goal: to make an actor appear fat without them actually having to be fat. It’s typically a unitard filled with mattress foam and other wiggly, jiggly bits—but it’s also so much more than that, an embodiment of all our cultural hang-ups about fatness. In today’s episode we’re going to consider the fat suit from all angles: how it’s made, how it’s changed, and why it continues to exist. You’ll hear from Dawn Dininger, Royce Best , Amy Farrell , Hazel Ci...
May 22, 2024•32 min
On this week’s show, the hosts begin by reviewing Babes , Pamela Adlon’s ( Better Things , Louie ) directorial feature debut starring Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau. Through raunch-comedy and body horror, Babes explores childbirth and pregnancy through a refreshingly unromanticized lens, but does it succeed as a drama? Then, the three switch gears and turn to Interview With the Vampire , AMC’s Anne Rice adaptation that’s now in its second season. What a weird show! The series–starring Jacob An...
May 22, 2024•53 min
Candice Lim is joined by Yowei Shaw (former co-host of NPR’s Invisibilia) to discuss her new podcast Proxy , which takes listeners through the psychological aftermath of a layoff, starting with Shaw’s own layoff from NPR. In March 2023, the public radio institution laid off approximately 10 percent of its staff, resulting in the cancellation of four podcasts , including Invisibilia. Shaw, along with her team, was working on an upcoming season of the podcast when they were suddenly without jobs. ...
May 22, 2024•42 min
Before going on a kite-skiing trip to the Chilean mountains, Jim Harris and his longtime girlfriend broke up. She wanted to settle down, and he wanted to keep adventuring. On that trip, Jim broke his back and became paralyzed. After eight months of non-stop physical therapy his progress seemed to be stalled until one night at a concert he took magic mushrooms and noticed new movement in muscles that hadn’t worked since his accident. In this episode, Anna and Jim talk about his process of recover...
May 21, 2024•45 min
Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss the Pacers’ and Timberwolves’ Game 7 wins in the NBA’s conference semifinals. Slate’s Alex Kirshner also joins to talk about Scottie Scheffler’s arrest at the PGA Championship. Finally, they review Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s ultra-conservative commencement speech. NBA playoffs (3:11): Looking back at a pair of historic road victories. Scheffler (20:18): A bizarre weekend at Valhalla for the world’s no. 1 golfer. Butker (35:47): The Cathol...
May 20, 2024•1 hr 5 min
On today’s show, Rachelle is joined by Aisha Harris, co-host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour and author of Wannabe: Reckonings With the Pop Culture That Shaped Me . The two discuss Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show , the latest venture from the comedian behind the Emmy-award winning stand-up special Rothanial. In contrast, Reality Show has been greeted with a mixed critical reception but both Aisha and Rachelle agree that it’s a fascinating project by one of our generation’s most experimental comed...
May 18, 2024•46 min
Girl groups have long been underestimated—even by the producers and managers who created them. For women listeners, girl groups narrated profound emotions and expressed personal freedom—even when the singers were not so free themselves. For male listeners, girl groups provided inspiration, and a way to express matters of the heart. And for all listeners across rock and soul history, girl groups pushed music forward. In the ’60s, the Shirelles, Marvelettes, Ronettes and Shangri-Las kept rock aflo...
May 17, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 201
Rachelle and Candice dive into their mutual obsession: the Selling Sunset subreddit . Across seven seasons, the Netflix reality show has taken viewers into a glamorous and over-the-top real estate agency in Los Angeles. Aside from selling mansions, the show’s most successful endeavor has been its online community, built on social media platforms like Reddit. r/SellingSunset has more than 250,000 followers with eagle-eyed fans posting daily about episode plotlines and off-season social media acti...
May 15, 2024•46 min
On this week’s show, the hosts begin by dissecting The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes , the fourth chapter in the Apes franchise. Set “many generations” in the future, the latest installment (directed by Wes Ball and starring Owen Teague) is an undeniably well-crafted summer blockbuster – but does it achieve the level of complexity and thought its predecessors did? (Read Dana’s review for Slate for further analysis.) Then, it’s onto John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA , a six-part live N...
May 15, 2024•58 min
Vivian’s eating disorder started in college. She meticulously tracked calories and the number on the scale. Once she graduated she became less rigid with food, but her fixation with numbers took a new form: budgeting and saving money. In this episode, Anna talks to Vivian about her long and complicated relationship to mental math, how tracking calories and paychecks has helped distract her from painful loss, and how she’s managing with her money anxieties now as she plans a wedding and prenup. W...
May 14, 2024•42 min
Joel Anderson and Josh Levin are joined by the Washington Post’s Ben Golilver to talk about the NBA’s conference semifinals. Jackie Powell of the Next also joins to preview all the big storylines leading into the most-anticipated WNBA season ever. Finally, one of the WNBA’s top draft picks in 2023, Maddy Siegrist, explains what the 2024 rookie class can expect in their first year as pros. NBA playoffs (3:29): The Nuggets aren’t dead yet and the Knicks are held together with duct tape. WNBA (21:2...
May 13, 2024•1 hr 8 min
The second and final installment of our two part collab with Never Post! Mike talks with mis- and disinformation researcher Joan Donovan about the line between gossip and conspiracy; then Candice and Rachelle join Mike to talk about what it feels like swimming in the wide open sea of monocultural event discourse. Also: C-SPAN’s earliest internet memories! Become a Never Post member at https://www.neverpo.st/ Call us at 651 615 5007 to leave a voice mail Drop us a voice memo via airtable Or email...
May 11, 2024•1 hr
We first heard from a listener we’re calling Tom in an episode about life transitions . He told us he had recently gotten his driving license revoked because of a health condition, and felt stranded at home and abandoned by friends. In this episode, we called Tom back to learn more about his life and circumstances, and also to put him in conversation with Anna Zivarts, author of the new book, When Driving is Not An Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency . Together they talk about how not bein...
May 10, 2024•4 min
The jalapeño is the workhorse of hot peppers. They’re sold fresh, canned, pickled, in hot sauces, salsas, smoked into chipotles, and they outsell all other hot peppers in the United States. These everyday chilies are a scientific and sociological marvel, and tell a complicated story about Mexican food and American palates. In today’s episode, we meet Dallas-based food critic Brian Reinhart , who fell in love with spicy Mexican cuisine as a teenager. Recently, Brian started to notice that the jal...
May 08, 2024•30 min
On this week’s show, the hosts begin by diving head-first into The Fall Guy , director David Leitch’s love letter to stunts and stunt people. It’s a rom-com starring action set pieces, in which stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) falls for his director and ex-flame, Jody (Emily Blunt). The film is very telling about the work that goes into making an action flick… but does The Fall Guy ever achieve liftoff? Then, they debate I Saw the TV Glow , Jane Schoenbrun’s impressive second feature that ch...
May 08, 2024•56 min
This week, ICYMI and the Never Post podcast are collaborating on two episodes surrounding 2024’s biggest internet monocultural moment: Kate Middleton’s disappearance. It’s been more than a month since Kate announced she’d started preventative chemotherapy treatments following a cancer diagnosis. Which means it’s also been just over a month since conspiracy theories about the princess ran rampant across the internet. As an increasingly algorithmic internet silos us further into our own little con...
May 08, 2024•50 min
Nurse practitioners Teresa Owens Tyson and Paula Hill-Collins have saved countless lives in rural Appalachia. They operate a mobile clinic called The Health Wagon that brings much-needed care to people who wouldn’t otherwise get it. Teresa and Paula have also been friends since they were 14 years old. They finish each other's sentences, crack jokes, and support each other through difficult times. This week, Teresa and Paula join DSM to talk about their important work, their rock-solid friendship...
May 07, 2024•39 min
Joel Anderson, Josh Levin, and NPR’s Gene Demby look back at the epic first-round series between the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers. They also check in on the chaos inside Deion Sanders’ Colorado football program. Finally, Alex Prewitt joins Joel, Josh, and Stefan Fatsis to examine why Korean basketball players bank in their free throws. Knicks- Sixers (2:25): How New York came out on top and what’s next for Philly. Colorado (19:03): What happened to all the players Coach Prime booted? B...
May 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min
On today’s show, Rachelle and Candice join the rest of the internet in yapping about Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers which features Zendaya as tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan and her paramours, Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor). In a spoiler-filled discussion, they dive deep into the scenes, needle drops and press tour moments that have kept social media abuzz. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...
May 04, 2024•37 min
On this week’s show, the hosts begin by discussing Challengers , Luca Guadagnino’s sexy tennis flick in which Zendaya stars as Tashi Duncan, the muse and lover of two male players, Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor). It’s a smart but silly movie, one that paints a beautifully nested portrait of friendship and rivalry, and explores the complexities of desire. Then, the three dissect Baby Reindeer , an incredibly constructed and emotionally intense psychodrama–and a true-ish tale–by crea...
May 01, 2024•58 min
We’re bringing you an episode of The Last Archive from our friends at Pushkin Industries. In this episode: an exploration of early artificial intelligence, the story of the composer Raymond Scott’s lifelong quest to build an automatic songwriting machine, and what it means for our own AI-addled, ChatGPT. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 01, 2024•54 min
Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim walk through the drama surrounding Foxtrot, an upscale cafe and mini market that abruptly closed all of its locations on April 23. Despite its popularity and over $100 million raised, Foxtrot’s sudden shutdown shocked employees and devoted customers who expressed their outrage and sadness on TikTok . Then, they discuss the rumors surrounding Outdoor Voices, the exercise clothing brand that was everywhere, until it wasn’t. But first, they debate this year’s song o...
May 01, 2024•42 min
To make this episode we asked you, our listeners, if you had any questions about a big life transition you were preparing for where you needed some advice. We received a collection of questions that really trace the full life cycle of adulthood. We heard from those of you just starting out, wondering about new careers and family structures. We heard from those of you in midlife encountering destabilizing shake-ups in your routine, like a divorce, or a sudden disability. And we heard from you at ...
Apr 30, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Joel Anderson, Josh Levin, and Slate’s Alex Kirshner discuss the quarterback frenzy at the top of the NFL draft and Anthony Edwards’ star-making performances in the NBA playoffs. Then, Josh and Stefan Fatsis are joined by cross-country skiing broadcaster Chad Salmela to talk about the remarkable Jessie Diggins. QBs in the NFL draft (4:23): Was the Falcons’ Michael Penix pick a big mistake? Edwards (18:44): The Timberwolves guard looks ready for the spotlight. Diggins (34:06): Why everyone should...
Apr 29, 2024•1 hr 9 min
On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice answer a listener's question about “Dr.” Natalya Toryanski, an influencer with almost a quarter of million of followers on TikTok who tune into her satirical videos mimicking a prototypical “ bland influencer .” Our listener writes, “I have to believe that at least a major percentage of her content is intentional parody/satire; but then I have moments where I'm not so sure whether she is parodying something or just earnestly doing it (for example, when sh...
Apr 27, 2024•41 min
When you hear “boy band,” what do you picture? Five guys with precision dance moves? Songs crafted by the Top 40 pop machine? Svengalis pulling the puppet strings? Hordes of screaming girls? As it turns out, not all boy bands fit these signifiers. (Well…except for the screaming girls—they are perennial.) There are boy bands that danced, and some that did not…boy bands that relied entirely on outside songwriters, and those that wrote big hits…boy bands assembled by managers or producers, and quit...
Apr 27, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 199
On this week’s episode, the panel is first joined by Slate’s music critic, Carl Wilson, to puzzle over The Tortured Poets Department , Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated 11th studio album. Stuffed with 31 tracks, the two-part album is a departure from the billionaire pop star’s otherwise perfectly crafted oeuvre: it’s messy and drippy, and at times, manic and frenetic. Is this secretly a cry for help? And more importantly, when did she find the time to record this thing? Then, the three explore Fal...
Apr 24, 2024•1 hr 2 min
On today’s episode, Steffi Cao explains Roblox to Rachelle. Cao, a culture writer with bylines at The Atlantic, Fast Company, Forbes, BuzzFeed and more, recently wrote about Roblox’s new attempt to venture outside of kids’ gaming. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 24, 2024•37 min
Pop culture is full of fictional bands singing songs purpose-made to capture a moment, a sound. This music doesn’t organically emerge from a scene or genre, hoping to find an audience. Instead it fulfills an assignment: it needs to be 1960s folk music, 1970s guitar rock, 80s hair metal, 90s gangsta rap, and on and on. In this episode, we’re going to use ‘ Stereophonic ,’ which just opened on Broadway, as a kind of case study in how to construct songs like this. The playwright David Adjmi and his...
Apr 24, 2024•38 min
