Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh break down the Seattle Seahawks’ brickwall defense in the Super Bowl, plus Bad Bunny’s refreshing halftime performance. The panel then pivots to the stranger corners of the NBA trade deadline before welcoming college sports writer Jesse Dougherty, who discusses his experience as part of the Washington Post sports desk that was recently eliminated in a round of mass layoffs. Ben has an Afterball on Team USA’s World Baseball Classic glow-up. ...
Feb 10, 2026•1 hr 24 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Mia Sato, reporter at The Verge and author of the recent piece, “ The rise of the slopagandist .” Creators like Nick Shirley are claiming to be journalists, making unfounded accusations against immigrants that directly result in ICE raids, including the unrest in Minneapolis that resulted in the death of two civilians. The content is lazy and designed to generate outrage, but is only becoming more influential as traditional journalism continues ...
Feb 07, 2026•40 min
This week, Steve, Dana and guest host Sam Adams talk anti-authoritarian art in its many forms. First, they take up It Was Just an Accident , the Cannes Palme d’Or-winning film by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Inspired in part by Panahi’s own experience being imprisoned for critiquing the Iranian government, his new film—made in secret from the regime— holds back little in its sharp political critique, rage, and… a surprising amount of comedy. Not surprising in its amount of comedy— but maybe i...
Feb 04, 2026•59 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Alex Kirshner, Slate contributing writer and host of Hang Up And Listen . Back in September, Alex wrote about Brick , the plastic gadget he says “broke his phone addiction.” It seems like now more than ever, people want off their phones, and are trying everything from Brick to dumb phones to make it happen. They’re also, ironically, posting all about it, which begs the question: Do we really want to get offline, or do we just want people to thin...
Feb 04, 2026•34 min
Growing up, George Saunders was the eldest boy with younger sisters, in a family full of women who gave him praise and special treatment. That created the confidence that fueled his ambition to become a great writer. In this lively interview, George talks about why that dream took decades to realize and what was essential to making it happen – including a karmic, three-week romance, a pivotal trip to the Afghanistan border during the Soviet war, and witnessing a “colossal fuck up” working in the...
Feb 03, 2026•1 hr
Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh kick things off by picking their favorite (and the most horrifying) events to watch at the upcoming Winter Olympics. Then the panel digs into Bill Belichick’s bizarre Hall of Fame snub. They finish with a conversation with the Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn about the Buffalo Sabres, the NHL’s most playoff-averse team that might actually make the postseason this year. Ben delivers an Afterball on Jordan Smith, the amateur tennis player who stun...
Feb 02, 2026•1 hr 16 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer Laura Wheatman Hill. Her Slate piece, “ We Should Just Let TikTok Die ,” documents life under TikTok’s new ownership. Algorithm glitches and alleged censorship have users disenchanted with the platform, which is now in the hands of owners friendly to Donald Trump. Some prominent users have already deleted the app, but even if people stay, the old TikTok—with its personalized algorithm and thriving culture—is already dead. This podcast is ...
Jan 31, 2026•36 min
Chameleon: That’s long been the word used to describe David Bowie, pop music’s shapeshifting extraterrestrial. He shifted personas, genres, and looks, emerging from swinging London with psychedelic folk before steamrolling through glam rock, disco, funk, new wave, alt-rock, and even jazz. Less remarked was Bowie’s savvy about shifting through commercial phases—he wore pop stardom like a costume, too. He drifted in and out of the spotlight, and on and off the charts, before one final chart-toppin...
Jan 30, 2026•57 min•Ep. 264
Shuffling under the mortal coil this week (aka hosting the Gabfest), it’s our OG players Steve, Dana, and Julia. Like a morose Danish prince contemplating a human skull, they gaze upon the Oscar nominated Hamnet , based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell inspired by William Shakespeare’s life. Directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, Hamnet has brought some critics to tears and left others cold. Our hosts share where they landed. Next, they boot up the Netflix content ma...
Jan 28, 2026•1 hr 28 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate contributing writer David Mack to discuss the surge of niche celebrity drama unfolding in the midst of a horrifying news cycle. We’re cancelling the “Glambot guy”? Brooklyn Beckham broke up with his family via Instagram Story? Those two hockey podcasters didn’t actually like Heated Rivalry ??? This drama is so petty, but also so necessary for staying sane during these times. Which means: We’re breaking down every detail of it. This podcast...
Jan 28, 2026•37 min
It’s a weird time for culture. There is more of it than ever before, it’s more accessible than ever before, but so little of it feels original. New movies are based on old stories, new songs are recycling old hooks, and fashion trends are cycling so fast that everything’s in. Has our culture grown stagnant? The author and culture critic W. David Marx thinks so. His new book, Blank Space , argues that there is a “blank space” in the 21st century where cultural innovation should be. In this episod...
Jan 28, 2026•37 min
Comedian Maria Bamford discusses her separation after a decade of marriage, the wildfires that destroyed her Altadena neighborhood, and starting over in a new apartment. Check out if Maria is coming to your city on her comedy tour: https://mariabamford.com/tourdates Listen to our previous Death, Sex & Money interviews with Maria: Anna and Maria talk in 2023 about her memoir Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult Anna and Maria talk in 2020 about growing up and her special Weakness Is The Brand Podcast pr...
Jan 27, 2026•49 min
Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh recap NFL conference championship weekend, where the Patriots braved a blizzard better than the Broncos, and Sam Darnold proved that resurrected quarterbacks really can win it all. Later, they get into Trinity Rodman’s three-year NWSL deal that keeps her in D.C., but has caught the ire of the players’ union. The panel wraps with a breakdown of the Mets' busy offseason and whether they can actually come out on top in 2026. On the bonus episo...
Jan 27, 2026•58 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Washington Post reporter Tatum Hunter , who interviewed Australian teens about the country’s new social media ban. Platforms like Instagram and Reddit are now required to keep under-sixteens off their apps, but it didn’t take long for the teens to outsmart these new restrictions. As similar legislation is introduced across the world, no one knows if these bans are actually effective—or if they hurt teens more than they help. This podcast is prod...
Jan 24, 2026•42 min
This week, our Gabfest panel includes Steve and guest hosts Nadira Goffe and Laura Miller with a typically eclectic collection of topics. First up, Dana hops on the call to decode the unspoken truths and dream imagery of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s film The Secret Agent . Set in 1970s Recife, Brazil and starring a very charming Wagner Moura, the film is a heterodox brew of political thriller, magical realism, and attentive character study about the everyday surreality of life under dictatorship. Nex...
Jan 21, 2026•1 hr 5 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by internet culture writer Jennifer Swann, whose recent piece for Wired featured the users who are still turning to Craigslist for apartment hunting and second-hand shopping, despite newer, flashier alternatives. In fact, it’s precisely because Craigslist hasn’t changed at all in the past 30 years that people keep coming back. While so many other early websites have been lost to time, how has Craigslist endured? This podcast is produced by Daisy Ro...
Jan 21, 2026•32 min
Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh are joined by Fried Egg Golf’s Brendan Porath to examine the crumbling of LIV Golf in the wake of Brooks Koepka’s reinstatement by the PGA Tour. Then Alex and Ben speak to author Chuck Klosterman about his new book, simply titled, Football . Klosterman predicts the eventual demise of America’s most beloved sport, and explains why it will be widely misunderstood by future generations. The panel wraps with more football, breaking down the Col...
Jan 20, 2026•1 hr 18 min
Anna talks to Jonathan Goldstein, host of the Pushkin podcast Heavyweight , about the show getting a second chance after a long period of uncertainty, and how that time helped some of the stories they had been working on find a proper conclusion. Then we share one of our favorite episodes of Heavyweight , their recent season finale titled “ Deborah .” At 101 years old, Deborah discovered a box she'd stashed away a lifetime ago. What was inside reignited an old love and turned her life upside dow...
Jan 20, 2026•52 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Parker Molloy, writer of The Present Age . After Elon Musk implemented updates to his Grok chatbot that encouraged it to be more sexually explicit, certain users began directing it to publicly remove clothing from not just photos of women, but also children. In addition to being a violation of Twitter’s own policies, it’s also against the law—and yet, nobody in power is stopping it. Musk and the platform have managed to dodge any accountability ...
Jan 17, 2026•43 min
Chameleon: That’s long been the word used to describe David Bowie, pop music’s shapeshifting extraterrestrial. He shifted personas, genres, and looks, emerging from swinging London with psychedelic folk before steamrolling through glam rock, disco, funk, new wave, alt-rock, and even jazz. Less remarked was Bowie’s savvy about shifting through commercial phases—he wore pop stardom like a costume, too. He drifted in and out of the spotlight, and on and off the charts, before one final chart-toppin...
Jan 17, 2026•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 263
We are really lucky to get lots of listener suggestions for the show, more good questions than we can possibly answer in a mailbag episode once or twice a year. So we’re starting a new segment we call… Decoder Rings Back! Every month, host Willa Paskin will personally call up a listener to answer their question. In this inaugural installment of Decoder Rings Back, Willa calls up listener Dustin Malek about his cultural mystery: Why did the Mona Lisa , of all paintings, become the most famous in ...
Jan 14, 2026•25 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Kathryn Jezer-Morton, writer of The Cut column Brooding, and author of the viral article, In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing . Over the past fifteen years, technology has attempted to “fix” every small inconvenience in our lives, which has rendered us completely unable to endure basic hurdles such as sitting in silence, navigating unfamiliar social social interactions, and doing any kind of creative thinking. To reverse this, Kathryn proposes we “...
Jan 14, 2026•51 min
Podcasting is a privilege as Steve is joined by Dan Kois and Rebecca Onion to unpack and cackle at the domestic thriller schlockfest The Housemaid. Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried star in the Paul Fieg-directed tale of two women facing off to rule the McMansion roost. Next, Seyfried proves she’s got the range as the panel joins the chorus appraising her performance in The Testament of Ann Lee , the epic tone poem and musical biopic about the founder of the Shakers directed by Mona Fastvold. F...
Jan 14, 2026•1 hr 3 min
In the 1950s, about 50% of patients who died in a hospital in the U.S. received an autopsy. Today, that figure is in the single digits, which is a big loss according to two people who care a lot about this topic: One is Dr. Alex Williamson, an forensic and pediatric pathologist who performs autopsies and talks to families of the deceased about what he learned in the process. The other is Sam Ashworth, a novelist who went looking for a storytelling device and found an obsession. This week, both m...
Jan 13, 2026•43 min
Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh unpack a thrilling wild-card round of the NFL playoffs. Lindsay’s Panthers are out, John Harbaugh has been fired, the reigning champions exit early, and Caleb Williams grated some cheese. The panel is then joined by soccer journalist Hayden Van Brewer to explain how Manchester United have gotten so abysmally bad over the years. To close, Lindsay and Ben ask Alex to break down the College Football Playoffs and the upcoming championship game....
Jan 13, 2026•56 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by internet culture writer Christianna Silva , who recently covered the TikTok Awards while wearing America’s new favorite device: Meta Glasses. Meta Glasses are just one AR wearable, but their revenue tripled in 2025, and 2026 looks even bigger. However, wearing your phone on your face comes with completely new etiquette, and privacy concerns are at an all time high. Now, anyone could be filming you—and you’ll never know what they’re doing with it...
Jan 10, 2026•41 min
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by meme historian Aidan Walker to discuss “the great meme reset.” Internet users, exhausted by social media brain rot, declared January 1, 2026 as an official “reset.” They want a clean slate, and most importantly, to return to the meme style of the 2010s—back when memes had “substance.” But can we really go back? Or is it time to imagine what a post-brain rot world can look like? This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, and Ka...
Jan 07, 2026•37 min
This week, Julia and Steve welcome guest host Sam Adams to deconstruct the aggravating, yet strangely charming, table tennis phenom on the make that is Marty Supreme . Played with “BDE off-the-charts” (Steve’s words) by Timothée Chalamet, the unceasingly shameless hustler may just be an avatar for our age. Speaking of avatars, we can’t avoid discussing Avatar: Fire and Ash, the latest installment of James Cameron’s immersive mega-franchise. Once again, the big blue folks peopling Pandora drew bo...
Jan 07, 2026•1 hr 4 min
Anna hosted Selected Shorts, an evening where professional actors read short stories in front of a live studio audience at Symphony Space in New York. The theme for the night? Death, sex, and money. Stories performed: Cat Owner by Alissa Nutting performed by Phoebe Robinson The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde performed by Peter Francis James You Again by Seth Fried performed by Amy Ryan Hear more readings on the Selected Shorts podcast . There’s still time to join our “low-stakes” 30-day creati...
Jan 06, 2026•48 min
Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh are joined J.C. Bradbury , professor and author of the forthcoming book This One Will Be Different: False Promises and Fiscal Realities of Publicly Funded Stadiums , for a frank discussion of Kansas’ plan to spend nearly $2 billion on a new Chiefs stadium, and how taxpayers are often left footing the bill for largely private gain. The hosts also fire up the MLB hot stove and examine the NFL playoff picture. On the bonus episode available ex...
Jan 06, 2026•1 hr 7 min
