Podcasts have been around in media for a long time now. Some classics that have pertained a steady fanbase are the likes of The Joe Rogan Experience, which has been with us since 2020 on Spotify and on the radio since 2009, and inspired many male creators to copy and paste his entire decade lasting format. There are several genres that thrive in podcast format like Sports, self help, comedy, an outrageous amount of true crime, celebrity talk session, political, and of course, the TikTok influencer.The truth is podcasts work in a chain reaction and everybody is hopping on the trend. And the podcast platforms are broad, ranging from the standard news radio to the last “15 minute famer” yapping on their patreon for LA rent. This allows for just about anybody to talk about anything for any amount of minutes or hours.
None of the harsh criticism of these podcasts is to say that there aren’t any ones left of quality substance, it just means that there is an oversaturated “market” of 20-somethings and their boring lives. But are they necessary and actually enjoyable? Many people find themselves gaining a lot of popularity in a short amount of time on TikTok. It’s very easy to gain traction on the app, but it’s just as easy to lose it. In order to hold onto their audience, a lot of influencers turn to podcasts. A lot of these creators utilize only a couple of minutes or even seconds on TikTok, as people have short attention spans and quickly lose interest. How does this translate to podcasts, though? As podcasts are usually up to an hour long. Are these influencers able to entertain their audience, or are they just holding onto the fame they gathered in any way they can?
The most interesting thing about these TikTok influencers who leave the app is that they inevitably make a return and double up on their content revenue. There are several casual accounts dedicated to cropping clips of good podcasts or shows, but the cropped clips by the influencers are easily identifiable for their surface level marketing. They follow a 3×3 layout, cropping 3 clips from each episode or segment, and recycling them in the same short bits that their original job demanded. If the ultimate goal is to make 3 tiny TikTok clips from hours of voice recordings anyway, one can infer what kind of quality content is being sold.
Jake Shane is a famous influencer on TikTok who gained popularity in early 2023. He is known for his short and funny skits, gaining almost 3 million followers. His quick gain in traction led him to create his podcast, Therapuss. A quick Google search says the podcast is “a deep dive therapy session… guests ranging from industry professionals to his roommates will partner with the Thera**** to help their fans through their current drama. Through a website submission system, audience members will now have a direct line to Jake who happens to know a thing or two about FEELINGS.”
Jake has had a few popular artists on his podcast, like Renee Rapp and Tate McRae, but other than that, I haven’t heard of any of his other guests – I may just be uncultured. From the few clips I’ve stumbled upon on TikTok, they basically just talk about pop culture and drama. However, I don’t feel they provide a different or new insight on any of it. As amusing as Jake’s skits are, he can’t take that and apply it to podcasts, as they have no correlation to each other. This is why his podcast lacks his humor and doesn’t seem to work. His podcast feels like any other influencer talk show and lacks uniqueness.
On the other hand, some influencer podcasts can be successful – let’s look at Cancelled, hosted by Tana Mongeau and Brooke Schofield. Tana gained popularity years ago on YouTube for her crazy personal stories. By starting on YouTube, where videos range from 5-30 minute videos, we know Tana is capable of talking for long periods of time and holding an audience. In her current podcast, she continues to talk about enticing and crazy personal stories and adds a funny and unique perspective on current pop culture.
Since making short videos on the internet takes far less effort, and as some will say, even less talent, influencers lack what the celebrities have. Effective storytelling, performance skills, and wit are some of the general qualities of good podcast creators, but each piece varies due to the individuality of every author. An interesting concept that originated amidst covid and has stuck around as a typical forgotten social media series is celebrity podcasts. High Low with Emrata and SmartLess are some of the ones that come to mind when thinking about successful and enjoyable talk shows with celebrities, because it is clear that they treat it as a profession. For the makers of SmartLess – Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes – this is probably an easy profession, especially during the recent writers strike. Podcasts can give actors a place to discuss the behind the scenes experiences and information, and also allows them to take their own direction for their fans. They also likely have an easier time leading the talk show given their previous career experience, so it could be a reason as to why their content gained consistent and devoted fanbases.
Another celebrity contribution on my radar, which I have not yet come around to is Office Ladies. There are many positive reviews and the hosts Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey are a more than promising pair. This concept of rewatching shows and discussing behind the scenes were popularized by other actors like those on Talking Sopranos and The History of Curb your Enthusiasm with Jeff Garlin. The unfortunate parts of this genre, however, are the celebrities who are still unable to offer any substance, and keep milking relationships with decade old casts. And of course, the sport of talking can not be discussed without mentioning the queen of it all, Trisha Paytas, who has moved on from Frenemies to her own show.
A reminder that not all celebrities make good content could be somebody like Andrew Tate or Logan Paul. Creators like them rely on their impressionable fanbase to keep consuming their content, no matter how offensive, or simply unentertaining it may be. We can safely group the likes of these content creators with the TikTok crew for their lack of creativity and their shared fandom of tweens.
To prove my credibility, I can explain why my favorite podcasts are so highly rated by me. The one podcast that has withstood the test of time is Cody Ko and Noel Miller’s TMG podcast. Cody and Noel are also YouTubers who are used to talking for a long time, and also their comedy background makes them an easy and amusing listen. Similar to them, This Past Weekend with Theo Von, or a younger duo of Hamzah & Martin in their podcast Out of Character are my go-tos for something entertaining and whimsical. FInally, the best comedy podcast that seems to never lose its loyal audience is Enya and Drew’s Emergency Intercom.
This brings me to my next point that YouTube “video-essays” should be a sub platform of podcasts. The 40-90 minute videos that recently gained traction on YouTube and grew the platforms of people like Mina Le, Brody Deschanel, Mia Mulder and many more. They make considerably exceptional long format videos that could be a great introduction to podcasts in general. The best political commentary content in my opinion comes from the creators of Red Scare who give commentary through the female lens. Another famous and enjoyable content creator is Hasanabi, who has even been on national television for his insight.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to the different variations of content a podcast creator may produce. There are some great talk shows with even greater hosts, but like everything else there are negatives. There are layers to podcasts, and it takes a lot of outside factors to consider when picking what is great, but by being mindful of the criteria one can find their favorite one.
