Today we’re replaying you a summer episode where Kara and Nayeema took a field trip to Martha Stewart’s 156-acre estate for an interview with the media mogul and O.G. influencer. On the menu for this conversation? The media maven’s early interest in tech, parties with Bill Gates (and the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy), doing Sports Illustrated at age 81, big ideas like “KMartha” or “MarthaAI,” and why nothing — not prison time nor the idea of aging — can stop the constant reinvention of Ma...
Oct 09, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast After Kara and Nayeema discuss the defenestration of Kevin McCarthy, we turn to podcaster and political savant Jon Lovett of Crooked Media fame. Kara and Jon share laughs as they talk about the podcast biz, unions, Trump and Biden’s chances in ‘24. This conversation was taped live at the Code Conference on September 28, 2023. Questions or comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. We’re on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza Learn more about your ad choices....
Oct 05, 2023•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast After Kara and Nayeema discuss Dianne Feinstein’s death and her legacy as a leader, we turn to Kara's interview with Adam Kinzinger. The former Republican congressman has said he would only vote for Trump in one scenario: if his opponent were Satan. Once a rising star in the Tea Party, Kinzinger is now a leading voice inside the GOP’s anti-Trump cohort. He was one of only ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after January 6, 2021 — and, like many of his peers, he paid a high price: h...
Oct 02, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Wednesday, two Twitter-related interviews rocked the stage at the 2023 Code Conference. Kara interviewed the former head of trust and safety at Twitter/X, Yoel Roth, and Julia Boorstin, CNBC's Senior Media & Tech Correspondent, interviewed X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino. The late booking of Roth rattled Yaccarino, and her interview led to a media storm. Today, we bring you both interviews. We start off with Kara and Nayeema, as they set the stage early on Wednesday morning, play the interviews in c...
Sep 28, 2023•2 hr 39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sheila Johnson is best known for co-founding BET, a network she launched with her ex-husband, Bob Johnson, and which they eventually sold to Viacom for billions. She’s since built a hospitality brand, been an active philanthropist and is an owner or partner in three professional sports teams. But many of those achievements came at great cost, as Sheila writes in her new memoir, “Walk Through Fire: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph.” We discuss how she navigated her success and independence in ...
Sep 25, 2023•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Biden’s poll numbers are atrocious, and in recent columns from The Washington Post to The New York Times and The National Journal, the punditocracy has started to sour on the president’s 2024 ambitions. Columnists have weighed in on why Biden could lose to Trump — and whether it’d be better for him to step aside. Is this a phase, a pipe dream or an actual crisis? We convene an all-star panel to discuss. Our guests: Franklin Foer, staff writer for The Atlantic and author of the recently released ...
Sep 21, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Walter Isaacson and Kara are friends — but that doesn’t mean she’s going to go easy on him as they discuss Isaacson’s new hit biography: Elon Musk, which is causing much consternation among readers and reviewers. Kara pushes Walter on whether the book equivocates or excuses too much of Elon’s bad behavior. And Walter, well, he pushes back. Questions or comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. We’re on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza Learn more about yo...
Sep 18, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Transcript available on Metacast A Jewish comedian walks into an apartment in Queens to meet a group of white supremacists … This isn’t the setup to a bad joke — it’s the inciting incident in Alex Edelman’s hit one-man show, “Just For Us,” which recently wrapped a nine-week run on Broadway. We talk to Edelman about the value of entering rooms with people you vehemently disagree with, Elon Musk’s threat to sue the ADL, and whether there should be any uncrossable lines in comedy. Questions or comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com...
Sep 14, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Late-night legend and podcasting impresario Conan O’Brien joins Kara to talk about the decline of late night, the writers’ strike, his $150 million deal with SiriusXM and his new HBO Max show, Conan O’Brien Must Go. They also trade notes on interviewing and … accounting. Questions or comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. We’re on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastcho...
Sep 11, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast For years, Naomi Klein has had a problem: the author and Guardian columnist has been chronically confused with Naomi Wolf, a conspiracy theorist and favorite guest of Steve Bannon’s podcast. This is the premise of Klein’s new book, Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, where she investigates how her dark twin fell down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole – and what that tells us about the lure of conspiratorial thinking and its dangerous use as a political strategy. Today, we talk to Klein a...
Sep 07, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast This Labor Day, we are re airing a fan-favorite episode about, who else, Elon Musk and Kara Swisher. Nayeema interviews Kara — who’s covered Musk since the late 90s. We’ll unpack how Elon became Elon, why Kara came to believe he was one of the greatest visionaries in Silicon Valley, when exactly she soured on him — and why she still holds out some hope. If you’re not sick of Elon by the end of this episode, you may also want to listen to our conversations with Elon biographer Walter Isaacson, fo...
Sep 04, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Billionaire mogul and power broker Barry Diller doesn’t hold back (at all) as he takes us inside Washington, Silicon Valley and Hollywood. The legendary executive breaks down why Biden isn’t his “fave,” how we can save the news business and “the republic” from AI, and how the “evil genius” of Netflix factors into the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes. That, and more, in what Kara and Nayeema dub “the Mediterranean ‘ratf*ck’ episode.” Questions or comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on soc...
Aug 31, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast From the tragedy in Hawaii — which has left at least 115 dead, and over a thousand more missing, making it the deadliest blaze in the last century of US history — to recent fires in Canada, California, Indonesia and Brazil, the world seems to be engulfed in a megafire crisis fueled by climate change. We bring on a panel of practitioners to discuss what’s behind these megafires, and how we can work to mitigate the crisis. Matt Weiner is the CEO of the nonprofit Megafire Action, with a background ...
Aug 28, 2023•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’re talking about Elon – again – but this time we're looking at the big picture: the tech titan’s “unprecedented power” over our the federal government and national security, as encapsulated in Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ronan Farrow's latest New Yorker profile. William Cohan, a financial journalist and founding partner of Puck News, also joins to break down the varying fortunes of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter, and the sustainability of those companies under a leader that is ambitious, but c...
Aug 24, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today after Kara and Nayeema take a quick walk down Rudy Giuliani memory lane, we turn to our guest: Imani Rupert-Gordon, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, to discuss the intensifying threat against LGBTQ+ rights in states from North Carolina to Florida. On the agenda: why trans kids are a target for hate, which rights could be on the chopping block next, and why the legal battles are so enmeshed with disinformation and narrative wars. Questions or comments? Email us ...
Aug 21, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kara and Nayeema are back with a fresh episode, and this time they’re tackling the DOJ’s antitrust efforts. Our guests are Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ's Antitrust Division, and Principal Deputy AAG Doha Mekki. Alongside the FTC, this duo has helped craft new draft merger guidelines that put Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and every other big company, from supermarket chains to airlines, on notice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we’re sharing an episode of Where Should We Begin?, a Vox Media podcast hosted by the iconic psychotherapist Esther Perel. Listen in as real people in search of insight bare the raw, intimate, and profound details of their stories. In this episode, a Where Should We Begin first, Esther sits down with two friends. They’ve been close for so long they feel like brothers, with all of the baggage that comes with family but none of the certainty. There are things that go unspoken between them, ...
Aug 14, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we’re re-airing one of Blakeney Schick’s favorite episodes: an interview with her former yoga student, comedian and writer, Mike Birbiglia. Aging, parenting by mortality and dying alone or kinless: these are just some of the uplifting topics Kara and Nayeema tackle before the interview. When we originally published this episode, Mike was deep in his latest Broadway show, “The Old Man and the Pool.” (The show completed its Broadway run in January, and will open for a limited run in London ...
Aug 10, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kara & Nayeema are joined by Esther Perel in a tribute to our colleague and friend, senior producer Blakeney Schick, and a conversation about how to live through grief. NOTE: If you are hearing the wrong episode play, please close and reopen your podcast app to fix the issue. If that doesn't work, please click "remove download" and then re-download the episode. You can hear more of Esther Perel on her podcast Where Should We Begin? Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on I...
Aug 07, 2023•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we turn to Chris Christie. The former governor of New Jersey and Trump sidekick is running to be president (again). His most avid supporters? Folks who hate Trump — amused Democrats and the oh-so-small band of (still) Never Trump Republican primary voters. Nonetheless, Christie seems determined to do his best to kamikaze the former president. But who is Chris Christie? What does he stand for, really? And after he’s flipped and flopped on Trump, can we trust him to not bend the knee again?...
Aug 03, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast After Kara and Nayeema discuss Senators Warren and Graham’s unlikely alliance on tech regulation, we turn to today’s guest: longtime venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. We discuss his take that AI will “free humanity from the need to work,” his early investments in climate tech, and what happens in the techno-economic war between the United States and China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 31, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hollywood is still shut down by its historic dual strike, but this weekend the industry saw its most explosive box office numbers of the year. So far, Barbie has made over 200 million domestically and Oppenheimer has surpassed 100 million. So are the movies back in business? Or is BarbenHeimer a cultural phenomenon that will be impossible to replicate? Kara discusses this question with a panel that includes entertainment reporter Matthew Belloni, producer Franklin Leonard and communications expe...
Jul 27, 2023•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast This May, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art invited Kara to deliver its commencement address. Today, we’d like to share her speech with you. Kara discusses the arc of her career and the lessons she’s picked up covering the most powerful in tech — plus gardening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 24, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, a conversation with one of the most impassioned leaders of Hollywood’s historic double strike: Fran Drescher, star of The Nanny turned SAG-AFTRA president. We discuss what broke down in the union’s talks with AMPTP, her last words at the negotiating table, her leading concerns for a new deal – and whether this could all ramp up to a run for office. Need advice?! Call 1-888-KARA-PLZ and leave us a voice note with a question for Kara and Nayeema to answer in an upcoming advice episode. Othe...
Jul 20, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Hollywood may be shut down, but one industry seems to be enjoying a surprising upswing: crypto. Kara interviewed Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen hours before what is being called a “landmark victory” – but, as Nayeema and Kara note, it’s not a clean victory. We discuss the Ripple case, whether the crypto winter is over, and why Larsen is investing heavily in everything from campaign donations to public interventions on crime in SF – but would rather “vomit blood from his ey...
Jul 17, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fox News and social media are two arenas that will define the next presidential race. Today, after Kara and Nayeema discuss the implications of the recent injunction by a federal judge banning Biden administration officials from communicating with social media platforms, we dive into Fox’s Rupert-Trump-Tucker love triangle. We’re joined by a panel including New York Times reporter Jeremy W. Peters, Guardian columnist Margaret Sullivan, and Dispatch Editor in Chief Jonah Goldberg. Need advice?! C...
Jul 13, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast When political spectacles abound, how can the media focus on the substance and avoid the clickbait? And is there a market left for nonpartisan cable news? Chief Washington Correspondent and Anchor of The Lead Jake Tapper joins us to discuss these questions, and his new book, All the Demons Are Here, a Post-Watergate thriller with inspiration from Trump, Murdoch and more. Need advice?! Call 1-888-KARA-PLZ and leave us a voice note with a question for Kara and Nayeema to answer in an upcoming advi...
Jul 10, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast After a quick rundown of the summer’s hottest films, Nayeema and Kara turn to our guest today: acclaimed (and controversial) filmmaker Oliver Stone. The man behind classics like “Wall Street” and “JFK” has turned his lens to climate change solutions in a new documentary, “Nuclear Now.” We discuss the good question of why there isn’t more nuclear energy in the United States, the roots of Stone’s distrust in convention, and the challenge of a world where distrust can turn into conspiracy theory. N...
Jul 06, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast After a review of the last 6 months of “Meta” a.k.a. Facebook (including a looming Elon-Zuck cage fight and the VR hit from the Apple Vision Pro), Nayeema takes Kara for a walk down memory lane. We reair a conversation from January revisiting Kara’s early days covering Mark – from seeing him sweat through interviews to getting Mark to say things he probably wishes he hadn’t. And we discuss why Mark (who has a standing invite to be interviewed on our show) is probably not going to join — despite ...
Jul 03, 2023•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast After Kara and Nayeema debate the future of Hollywood (including the ongoing WGA strike and the soon expiring deal between SAG-AFTRA and the studios), we turn to Hollywood star and entrepreneur Sarah Jessica Parker. The actor speaks about reprising her iconic role of Carrie in Sex and the City in its latest iteration, And Just Like That. Plus, we dig into her businesses from wine to heels — and talk about the business of Hollywood, including why SJP remains bullish on cinema. Need advice?! We ha...
Jun 29, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
