Offline with Jon Favreau

Podcast / Show

Jon Favreau, the chronically online host of Pod Save America, puts down his phone for an hour each week to go deeper on the questions…

by Crooked Media

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About Offline with Jon Favreau

Jon Favreau, the chronically online host of Pod Save America, puts down his phone for an hour each week to go deeper on the questions shaping this chaotic moment in history. From the future of democracy and AI to raising kids and staying sane, Offline makes room for honest conversations, arguments…

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Episodes

New episodes usually drop on Saturdays.Latest 200 episodes in the feed

Oct 24, 2026 · 1 hr 11 min

Bigger Tent, Bigger Majority

Adam Jentleson, Democratic strategist and author of Supermajority: How Democrats Can Build Lasting Power , joins Offline to debate what Democrats will gain and lose as they run candidates who don’t fit neatly into one ideological box. He and Jon dicuss what the midterm campaigns teach us about political heterodoxy, what Democrats can learn from Obama about entertaining opposing viewpoints, and how to disagree about…
Oct 17, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min

What Does It Mean to Be a Good Man? (with Jon Ronson)

What would you do if your son texted you in the middle of the night that he'd stumbled upon a bizarre castle lorded over by a creepy man? For Jon Ronson, the journalist and bestselling author of So You've Been Publicly Shamed and The Psychopath Test , the answer is simple: write a book about it. The Castle: Adventures in a World of Unraveling Men is an empathetic, humorous, and startling investigation of men who…
Oct 10, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

What A Big Tech Whistleblower Learned About Power

Frances Haugen became one of the most influential whistleblowers in tech history when she revealed in 2021 that Facebook knew the havoc it was wreaking—addicting teenagers, derailing politics, fomenting ethnic violence—and chose to do very little about it. Now the subject of Aaron Sorkin’s new movie, "The Social Reckoning ," Frances joins Offline to reflect on what she learned trying to change Facebook from the…
Oct 3, 2026 · 1 hr 10 min

Erin Brockovich Is Taking On Data Centers

Erin Brockovich has spent three decades helping communities fight the biggest corporations and cruelest environmental injustices, inspiring an Oscar-winning movie along the way. Her latest cause is also her biggest: AI data centers and their insidious arrival to communities across the country. After scores of people wrote to her about the alarming influx of hyperscale projects, Erin launched Brockovich Data Center…
Sep 26, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

Bunkers Won't Save the Billionaires

From underground compounds to planet-fleeing rockets, tech oligarchs and the MAGA elite aren’t just anticipating an apocalypse—they’re hastening it. Author and climate activist Naomi Klein sits down with Jon to discuss End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World , her new book with Astra Taylor. She and Jon trace the connection between the religious right, Silicon Valley elite, and nationalist movements…

Earlier episodes (195)

Sep 19, 2026 Have You Tried Unplugging the AI?
Is AI sending us spiraling towards an apocalypse, or upwards towards utopia? How can such a new technology inspire such diametrically opposing viewpoints? To understand the dissonance, Jon sits down with Helen Toner, the Executive Director of Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology–and one of the OpenAI board members who voted to oust Sam Altman in 2023. She shares her firsthand experience of what…
Sep 12, 2026 If AI Might Kill Us All, Why Are We Still Building It?
Max Fisher returns to Offline to face the robot apocalypse with Jon. The two discuss Jacob Coxon, the AI researcher who publicly resigned from Anthropic this week, the terrifying claims coming from those working in AI that the technology may kill us all, and what it'll take for politicians to actually attempt to regulate the fast-moving technology. But first: Jon shares an exciting announcement about the future of…
Sep 5, 2026 Why Government Makes Us Miserable
Americans don’t trust the government anymore. Annie Lowery, Atlantic staff writer and author of the new book The Time Tax , joins Offline to identify the culprit: a plodding, vindictive, racist bureaucracy that people must navigate to get government services and benefits. The paperwork, lines and emotional strain—just to feed your kids or renew your driver’s license––adds up to a “time tax” that falls most heavily…
Aug 29, 2026 Why College Was Too Woke For This Black Socialist Professor
Is the right wing’s depiction of academia NOT a complete caricature? Fromer Bates College professor—and current Atlantic staff writer—Tyler Austin Harper joins Offline to break down the legacy of Woke 1 in higher education. Tyler’s recent essay, "Confessions of a Token Black Professor" argues that academia’s social justice fixation is just a bandaid for much larger institutional problems; he and Jon discuss how…
Aug 22, 2026 Texas: "Is This The Year?"
Every election cycle the question inevitably comes up - will Texas flip? But the biggest story in Texas isn't whether the state will turn blue. It's how the people who live there are redefining what Texas politics looks like. Jen, Mitch, and Errin travel across the state to explore immigration, education, faith, and the changing priorities of Texas voters through the voices of the people living those debates every…
Aug 15, 2026 1 Offline Host vs. 1 Jubilee Founder
Can the internet foster productive debate in the rage-bait era? Jubilee founder and CEO Jason Y. Lee joins Offline to talk about his company’s massive YouTube channel, known for its viral political debates in series like Surrounded and Middle Ground . He and Jon talk about the moral quandary of platforming people like Charlie Kirk, what young people find so captivating about these conflict-ridden videos, and why…
Aug 8, 2026 The Progressive Populists Make Their Case
Is economic populism the key to Democrats retaking power in 2026 and 2028? Faiz Shakir, political strategist and founder of the media organization More Perfect Union, joins Offline to make his case that progressive populists are just as—if not MORE—electable than center left candidates. He and Jon break down Abdul El-Sayed’s primary win in Michigan, how the progressive movement has evolved since Bernie’s 2016…
Aug 1, 2026 The Journalist Who Let AI Run Her Life For a Year
What happens when you turn your entire life over to AI for a year? Could it take over your emails or learn to mow your lawn? Would it replace your doctor or even your partner? Tech journalist Joanna Stern joins Offline to talk about her new book , I Am Not a Robot , where she embarked on that experiment, integrating AI into (almost) every aspect of her life for 365 days. She and Jon discuss what she learned about…
Jul 25, 2026 Andrew Yang Still Wants To Give You $1,000
Was Andrew Yang ahead of his time? When he ran for president in 2020 on a platform of universal basic income and the threat of AI job displacement, people didn’t take him seriously. Now, Andrew's got even more ideas on AI and UBI, how our political system should deal with it all, and whether it can be done with only two parties. He and Jon discuss how the Forward Party’s independent candidates could spoil elections…
Jul 18, 2026 Posting My L's On Maine
What lessons have Democrats learned from the Graham Platner debacle…and what are their chances of finally unseating Senator Susan Collins with a campaign timeline that’s evaporating faster than you can say Harris-Walz 2024? Alex Seitz-Wald, deputy editor of The Midcoast Villager in Maine, joins Offline to explain how Platner’s scandal-plagued campaign was perceived online vs. on the ground, and why Mainers are done…
Jul 11, 2026 Billionaires vs. Journalists
What exactly is happening inside CBS News, and how much is Bari Weiss to blame? How are journalists at CNN feeling about becoming the Ellisons' next target? And what has corporate consolidation done to the media? Oliver Darcy, founder and writer of Status and former senior media reporter for CNN, joins Offline to break it all down. He and Jon also discuss Comcast's announcement that it may spin off NBC, what's…
Jun 27, 2026 What Is A Human For?
AI is creating a crisis of agency where people are becoming paranoid that they’re being manipulated, suckered, and ultimately replaced. Charlie Warzel joins Offline to elaborate on his Atlantic essay, “The Feeling of Control Slipping Away,” which illustrates the myriad ways AI is driving people insane. He and Jon talk about whether human creativity is endangered, if AI is anything more than a corporate black-box,…
Jun 20, 2026 Why You Should Love America
Progressives are highly critical of America, and for good reason. But we are losing more than problematic idols and ideals when we abandon patriotism. Jerusalem Demsas, founder and editor of “The Argument,” argues that if we’re going to save America, we’ll have to start loving it first. She joins Offline to explain how liberals have ceded patriotism to the right, why No Kings is starting to fix this, and how to…
Jun 13, 2026 Has The Left Finally Figured Out the Internet?
Ever heard a popular TikToker wax poetic about who they’re voting for? They might be getting paid…and not disclosing by whom. Kyle Tharp, author of the Chaotic Era newsletter, joins Offline to discuss the emergence of pay-for-play political influencers and whether Democrats have made any progress in figuring out the internet. He and Jon talk about the decline of Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire, the new success of…
Jun 6, 2026 Is Masculinism Holding MAGA Together?
Who are the men who want women to be quiet? Author and Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis argues it’s nearly everyone on the right. She joins Offline to make the case that “masculinism” and its mission to reestablish the primacy of men is what unites conservatives more than anything else…except maybe Donald Trump. In reporting her most recent cover story, Helen spoke with so-called intellectuals and leaders of the…
May 30, 2026 Chatbots, MDMA, and Finding Love in the Digital Era
Sonja Lyubomirsky, happiness researcher and author of How to Feel Loved , joins Offline to explain the secret to living a contented life—and why the internet makes it so damn hard. If everyone we love and seek to impress is reachable at all times…why are Americans getting less happy, year after year? Sonja and Jon chat about how social media curation may be seeping offline, the ways our digital lives have affected…
May 23, 2026 Breaking the Cycle of Political Violence
Does political violence ever help a social cause? Zayd Ayers Dohrn, playwright and host of Crooked's "Mother Country Radicals," joins Offline to discuss the complicated legacy of radical activism in America. In his new book, Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young , Zayd dives even deeper into the morally ambiguous decisions made by his parents...two founding members of the notorious Weather Underground. He and Jon…
May 16, 2026 This Candidacy Is a Test Case for AI Regulation
Why is Palantir, the former employer of congressional candidate Alex Bores, currently running attack ads against him...for working at Palantir? New York Assemblymember Alex Bores joins Offline to explain why his stance on AI has made him a target for the biggest dark money super PAC in the country. Then, he and Jon discuss what AI regulation could actually look like if we had a competent government, how to…
May 9, 2026 Healing Our Broken Brains
Cal Newport, computer scientist and author of Deep Work, joins Offline to explain why we need a revolution in cognitive fitness, and how AI is going to get in the way. Cal and Jon explore how smartphones and AI are destroying our ability to concentrate, how our attention spans are a third of what they were just twenty years ago, and how we can practice “deep work” in our constantly interrupted digital environment.…
May 2, 2026 How Screens Have Warped Morality
Megan Garber, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the new book Screen People , joins Offline to explain how we’re no longer just an audience for the media we consume; we’re also actors and producers in an endless show of our own creation. She and Jon discuss the corrosive nature of an internet filled with “main characters,” whether it’s possible to overcome screen person syndrome, and why our survival as a…
Apr 25, 2026 God In The Machine
With Pope Leo XIV stepping up his criticisms of the Trump administration this month, the president is out for blood...and not the transubstantiated kind. Christopher Hale, author of the Letters from Leo newsletter, joins Offline to explain the real threat this woke offline pope poses to MAGA. He and Jon discuss why the head of the Catholic Church is so obsessed with AI, how the Democratic Party should make space…
Apr 18, 2026 The Revolt of the College Grads
New York Times journalist Noam Scheiber stops by the pod to talk to Jon about his new book Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class , in which he argues that stagnant wages and rising student debt have changed the economic promise once offered by a college degree. The two discuss how college-educated workers are responding to this new reality, both individually and collectively; how AI may…
Apr 11, 2026 Sam Altman's Big Little Lies
New Yorker journalist Andrew Marantz joins Offline to break down his new investigation into Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Over the course of hundreds of interviews, including over a dozen with Altman himself, Andrew and his coauthor Ronan Farrow unveiled a leader who tells people exactly what they want to hear, whether or not it’s true. Just like the AI model he created! Jon and Andrew…
Apr 4, 2026 Big Tech's Big Tobacco Moment
Mark Zuckerberg is finally being held accountable–not by government regulators, board members or shareholders, but by two lawsuits.
Mar 28, 2026 Optimism In Our Age of Anxiety
Why fight for a better future if we don't believe one is possible? Why organize, why vote? Dr. Deepika Chopra, the "Optimism Doctor," joins the show to talk about the dangers of cynicism, and to explain how optimism is a more rational and democracy-safeguarding response to this political moment. In her new book, The Power of Real Optimism , Dr. Chopra argues that the outlook is neither a trait nor mindset; it's a…
Mar 23, 2026 What We Lose When We Bet on War
Life or death decisions are being gamified for profit on online prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. But these platforms may also have the potential to create a modernized—if morally questionable—method of opinion polling. Politico Magazine contributing writer Nancy Scola joins Offline to explain the rise of these markets, the argument for them, and the people in D.C. who stand to gain the most. But…
Mar 14, 2026 Trump's Memeification of War
Journalist and historian Anne Applebaum joins Offline to discuss America’s slide towards autocracy, as illustrated through Trump's war of choice in Iran. Anne is a staff writer at The Atlantic, an authoritarianism expert, and the host of the "Autocracy in America" podcast. She and Jon discuss how Trump and the White House are using propaganda to minimize the seriousness of this war, what our president has learned…
Mar 7, 2026 Endless Slop, Cancer Cures, or Robot Apocalypse? Derek Thompson on Our AI Future
Derek Thompson, journalist and co-author of Abundance, joins Offline to hash out some hard truths about AI: who it will actually replace, why we haven’t seen more labor market disruption, and why the Department of War’s battle with Anthropic spells the end of private property rights in America. Then Derek lays out his Postmanesque "Everything Is Television" theory of media for Jon, where politics becomes theater…
Feb 28, 2026 The Big Tech Critic Trump Is Trying To Deport
Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, joins Offline to talk about the horrifying trends his team has unearthed across social media platforms…and how it’s put him in the crosshairs of the Trump Administration. To date, Imran has weathered multiple lawsuits, stood up to Elon Musk, and won. But now, the State Department is trying to get him deported back to the UK—just for publicizing how…
Feb 21, 2026 Zuckerberg Takes the Stand, Pete Hegseth vs. AI, and Max-Maxxing with Max Fisher
Max Fisher returns to the show to podmaxx with Jon about the latest Offline-worthy news, including the landmark court case that's put Mark Zuckerberg on trial and internal drama at the AI giants that has the companies feuding with the Department of Defense, Hollywood, and their own employees. Plus, the two discuss the role citizens' social media videos have played in holding ICE agents accountable and attempt to…
Feb 14, 2026 The Philosopher Teaching AI to Be Good
AI company Anthropic has a new, values-oriented “constitution” that they’re feeding their chatbot, Claude. Amanda Askell, the company’s in-house philosopher, joins Offline to talk about what it means to teach ethics to an LLM, whether the AI skews more human or more robot, and how she is training Claude to make its own judgements. Breaking with other AI models—and social media’s attention obsession—Amanda is trying…
Feb 7, 2026 Can Truth Survive the Trump Era?
Charlie Warzel, Atlantic staff writer and host of the "Galaxy Brain" podcast, joins Offline to break down the news of the week: how Elon Musk's negligence and the Epstein Files continue to corrode our society, whether we’ve reached The Singularity with new AI-only social media sites like Moltbook, and how phones—and neighborliness—have been the saving grace of Trump’s assault on Minnesota. For a closed-captioned…
Jan 31, 2026 Adam Friedland Just Wants to Understand
Adam Friedland sits down with Jon to make sense of his unlikely rise from the self deprecating (and self defecating) cohost of Cum Town to…a public intellectual? "The Adam Friedland Show" has a knack for jolting politicians and celebrities out of their canned talking points, and its host shares what he thinks of the format he initially set out to skewer, the questions we need to be asking about the ICE crackdown,…
Jan 24, 2026 The Fight to Liberate Minnesota (and America)
Minneapolis isn’t just protesting ICE—it’s fully organizing against it. Lydia Polgreen, journalist and opinion columnist at The New York Times, joins Offline to explain the difference, share what she saw on the ground in the Twin Cities, and explain how it compares to other countries’ slides towards authoritarianism. As a former foreign correspondent in West Africa and India—and having grown up in Minnesota—Lydia…
Jan 17, 2026 The Enshittification of the Internet (with Cory Doctorow)
Journalist, blogger, and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow stops by the studio to talk to Jon about “enshittification,” his theory that explains how, sometime over the last decade, everything online became substantially worse. The two discuss how tech companies lure in, trap, and then extract as much capital as possible from users; how that process played out at Facebook and Amazon; and what it would take — from…
Jan 10, 2026 ICE Killings and the Death of Shared Reality
Does misinformation even matter if no one can agree on a shared reality? The New Yorker’s Jay Caspian Kang joins Offline to explain how the ICE shooting in Minnesota exposes Americans’ algorithm silos. Then, he and Jon explore the rise of a 23-year-old YouTuber who ignited the right’s fascination with fraud in Minnesota, and break down five media trends that will reshape the industry in 2026 and beyond.
Dec 20, 2025 What Comes After Trump?
What does 21st century authoritarianism look like in the United States? Author and Atlantic staff writer George Packer joins Offline to talk about America’s zombie democracy, who could be the most dangerous MAGA heir, and how Democrats should be fighting for the country. For our last episode of 2025, George and Jon connect the dots between Trump, polarization, oligarchs, AI, social media, Charlie Kirk and more.
Dec 13, 2025 The Movement to Protect Kids from Big Tech
Julie Scelfo, founder of Mothers Against Media Addiction, sits down with Jon to talk about the impacts AI and social media are having on our kids…and what we can do to stop it. Julie breaks down what change parents can effect vs. policy makers, the horrors kids are normalizing on social media, and the corruption at the highest echelons of government that are preventing safety features from being mandated. For a…
Dec 6, 2025 A Techno-Optimist’s Case for AI
Economist and techno-optimist Noah Smith, author of the Noahpinion Substack, joins Offline to debate the promise of artificial intelligence, the benefits of online fragmentation (could it be good for our society?) and whether liberal nationalism is feasible—and a good thing. Though Noah and Jon differ on a lot of “Offline” themes, they find common ground on the dangers of social media, leftist scolds, and a country…
Nov 29, 2025 Max Returns! AI Bubbles, Info Silos, and 67
What happens when the AI bubble bursts, how did Meta get away with it yet again, and…is Elon “Bubba”? Max Fisher pays Offline a visit to take stock of the year in memes, conspiracy theories, and information siloes. He and Jon meet the ghosts of twitter fights past and future, compare notes on staying off their phones, and chat about what they’re watching right now…besides Zohran and Trump flirting. For a…
Nov 22, 2025 Zohran Mamdani’s Offline Campaign
There’s a lot of tired discourse about whether or not a Democratic Socialist like Zohran Mamdani could win in places that aren’t as blue as New York City. But what’s not getting enough attention is that Mamdani and his campaign somehow cracked the code for producing online content with offline results: getting people off the couch to connect with strangers face to face over a shared political goal. How’d they do…
Nov 15, 2025 James Talarico Wants to Fight with Love
Is there anything wrong with Democratic leadership being so devoutly…secular? Jon sits down for a conversation with Texas State Representative James Talarico, who put becoming an ordained minister on hold to run for US Senate. They discuss how genuine connection is the only road toward persuasion in our divided world, whether James can flip a Senate seat on a platform of loving thy neighbor, and how Republicans are…
Nov 8, 2025 Have the Democrats Decided to Win?
Something happened in 2016 that led Democrats to campaign on unpopular issues. Researcher Simon Bazelon digs into extensive polling data—and on-the-ground-results from tight races—to explain where elites steered us off course, how we can neutralize Trump’s advantages, and why voters might not actually want radical change. Then, he and Jon discuss the pitfalls of an attention economy that gives clicks but NOT votes…
Nov 1, 2025 Is AI Too Big to Fail or Too Dangerous to Succeed?
Will the AI bubble pop or will AI permanently reshape our society? Jon sits down with Stephen Witt, an investigative journalist and author of “The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip” to talk about Stephen’s dire warning in the New York Times about an AI prompt that could end the world. The two discuss the data centers taking over towns across America (and propping up our…
Oct 25, 2025 Democrats Need to Care About Getting Attention
Chris Hayes, MSNBC host and author of The Siren’s Call, returns to Offline to talk about Democrats’ posting problem…they’re too afraid of controversy, too stingey with their appearences, and too focused on fundraising. Have the content firehoses diluted cancel culture? What’s the secret to Zohran Mamdani’s press strategy? Is John Fetterman the Democrats’ John McCain—and is there a lesson to learn in that? Also:…
Oct 24, 2025 Introducing: Runaway Country with Alex Wagner
Being an American right now is a wild ride. Every day brings a new controversy, with breathless media narratives and the same loud voices rushing in to score political points. Then another Truth Social post drops and the circus moves on. But all that noise is drowning out the actual story. On Crooked Media’s new podcast Runaway Country, veteran journalist Alex Wagner talks to the voices at the center of the…
Oct 16, 2025 Are Men Okay?
53% of American men are now dying before the age of 75—and that trend is getting worse. Clinical psychologist Zac Seidler, Director of Men's Health Research at Movember, joins Offline to delve into how men misconstrue wellness in an increasingly digital world. Zac's work exposes how male influencers, podcasters, and cultural and political figures are shaping young men's views on masculinity, their relationships,…
Oct 9, 2025 Is America Still a Liberal Nation?
Cass Sunstein, Harvard professor and author of the new book On Liberalism: in Defense of Freedom, joins Offline to examine whether small-l "liberal" values like freedom, human rights, and the rule of law will be able to survive an illiberal president. Cass compares and contrasts what Trump and Vance are doing with the actions of the Bush and Reagan administrations, debates whether liberalism is a strong enough…
Oct 2, 2025 Dramatize the Injustice
Should protests be about expression or persuasion? What makes for an effective protest? And is it still possible for protests to effect change in a fractured, algorithmic media environment? Jon talks to Dr. Omar Wasow, a professor at UC-Berkeley, about his famous study on the effectiveness of civil rights protests in the 1960s. They discuss why the protests of the early 60s led to more political change than those…
Sep 25, 2025 How Trump, Memes, and Algorithms Transformed The Way We Speak
Skibidi rizz Labubu Dubai matcha. The internet—and its algorithms—have reshaped the words we use and the way we speak—but are those changes also affecting our politics? Adam Aleksic, known online as Etymology Nerd, joins Offline to talk to Jon about his new book “Algospeak” in which he makes sense of our new, internet-optimized linguistic landscape. Jon and Adam discuss how that landscape is changing our politics,…
Sep 18, 2025 Inside the MAGA Reaction to Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Charlie Kirk’s assassination has rattled people on both sides of the aisle and terrified those whose jobs, like Charlie’s, involve talking about politics on the public stage. Jon reflects on the aftermath of the killing, what he finds most alarming, and his disappointment with leaders on the right and followers on the left. Then, the Bulwark’s Will Sommer joins the show to break down how important Charlie Kirk was…
Sep 11, 2025 Can The Left Reclaim America's Story?
Democrats need to defend democracy without undermining it—but how? John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke and the "Unpopular Front” substack, joins Offline to interrogate why Democrats have ceded nostalgia about the past to Republicans, how they should be resisting the America's autocratic slide, and what it says about our political moment that his “Trump is dead” tweet went viral. John and Jon discuss the pros…
Sep 4, 2025 JD Vance and the Post-Liberal Right's War on America
As the U.S. slides into autocracy, Americans need to be reminded that liberalism can still solve the problems that Trump uses to fear monger. Jerusalem Demsas, founder and editor in chief of “The Argument,” joins Offline to explain what solutions for immigration and the economy would look like, her beef with the post-liberal left, and why she’s staying on Twitter...and maybe you should too. Plus, what she’s seeing…
Aug 21, 2025 Have Our Screens Made Us Too Distracted For Democracy?
Ben Rhodes—bestselling author, Pod Save the World co-host, and fellow Obama administration alum—joins Offline to explain how America is being torn apart by short-term thinking and the technology that stokes it. Ben recently wrote a piece for the New York Times on the topic, and he and Jon connect the dots between big tech, the attention economy and domestic dogmas, drawing on fifty years of foreign policy to…
Aug 14, 2025 AI's Threat to Gen Z's Jobs, the FartCoin Economy, and Why the Internet Wants to Check Your ID
Kyla Scanlon, author and economic commentator, joins Offline to explain why our economy feels so weird. She and Jon talk about the ways AI — and Labubus — have taken over the markets, whether big tech has become overly reliant on the attention economy, and why Gen Z is feeling so down about their longterm economic prospects. But first! Jon sits down with The New Yorker's Kyle Chayka to talk about internet age…
Aug 7, 2025 QAnon Reacts to Epstein, Laura Loomer Gets Loomered, and Jon Gets Caught Up in the Syndey Sweeney Discourse
As the Trump administration manufactures conspiracies to distract from the president’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, some on the right are blaming the deep state while others are finally calling foul. The Bulwark’s Will Sommer has been covering the far right conspiracy beat for years, and he joins the show to break down the Epstein drama, run through the kooks in charge of federal law enforcement, and compare…
Jul 31, 2025 Trump Bans Woke AI, TikTok Cancels Sydney Sweeney, and How MAGA Became Multiracial
Why are non-white voters moving towards Trump? Yale professor and author Daniel Martinez HoSang sits down with Jon to examine how Democrats’ multiracial coalition fell apart during and after Obama’s presidency, what minorities see in Trump (and why they have no remorse about voting for him) and what the left can do to win them back. But first! Max is back to hash out the news of the week: Trump has announced his AI…
Jul 24, 2025 Trump’s Epstein Nightmare, Jubilee’s Fascist Debate, and the Movie Twitter Wrote
Living through a deadly plague as we watched the country descend into political violence on our screens might've left us with some...unresolved issues. Director Ari Aster sits down with Jon to break down his new dark comedy, “Eddington,” which depicts the violent unraveling of a small town as it faces pandemic, polarization, and AI proliferation. But first! MSNBC’s Brandy Zadrozny joins Offline to unpack the latest…
Jul 17, 2025 Raising Boys in the Era of Incels, MAGA, and the Manosphere
Boys today are being told to man up by the right and sit down by the left. Coming of age in the shadow of #MeToo and wading through algorithms rife with manosphere content, many young men are accepting the far right’s simple answers and leaning into traditional masculinity…without realizing it’s stunting their emotional development. Others are letting technology isolate and depress them. What is it about boys'…
Jul 10, 2025 Peter Thiel's Antichrist, JD Vance's Split with the Pope, and Ross Douthat's Scientific Case for Believing in God
Religion in the US has been on the decline for many years, but does atheism make us unhappier? Ross Douthat, New York Times Opinion columnist and author of Believe, joins Offline to explain why he thinks believing in God is a rational choice, why secular humanism feels worse in the age of Trump, and what he makes of Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance’s recent misanthropic comments on his "Interesting Times" podcast.
Jun 26, 2025 Hugs From Your Late Mom, Interdimensional Chats, and College Cheating: The AI Future Is Here
We don't really know how AIs like ChatGPT work...which makes it all the more chilling that they're now leading people down rabbit holes of delusion, actively spreading misinformation, and becoming sycophantic romantic partners. Harvard computer science professor Jonathan Zittrain joins Offline to explain why these large language models lie to us, what we lose by anthropomorphizing them, and how they exploit the…
Jun 19, 2025 The Truth About Young Men's Shift Towards Trump
Why are young men — of all races — moving toward Trump? Are high prices to blame? Their media diets? The Democrats? John Della Volpe, the nation’s leading youth pollster, joins Offline to discuss “Speaking to American Men,” a new $20 million effort to bring young men back into the Democratic coalition. John and his colleagues surveyed more than 1,000 men under 30 and conducted dozens of focus groups to understand…
Jun 12, 2025 Succession’s Creator Takes on the Tech Billionaires
Jesse Armstrong, the Emmy Award-winning creator of HBO's "Succession," joins Offline to chat about how he made a mockery of Silicon Valley tycoons in his new movie, “Mountainhead.” He and Jon discuss why the men who run social media companies are so anti social, how hard it is to satirize people who are already parodies of themselves, and compare notes on their writing process. Then, Offline welcomes an old friend…
Jun 5, 2025 Momfluencers, Baby Gadgets, and the Perils of Parenting in The Digital Age
Are we surveilling our children too much? Do we need fancy gadgets to track their sleep? Should we be taking so many pictures of them? Longtime New York Times culture critic Amanda Hess joins Offline to discuss why the optimization of childhood may just be another empty promise of the information age. Amanda's new book, Second Life, follows her digital identity crisis as she grapples with her newborn baby's rare…
May 29, 2025 AI News Anchors, Dems $20 Million Plan to Study Men, and Max Bids Farewell to Offline
To celebrate his final appearance on the pod, Max takes Jon on a trip down memory lane, sharing his favorite Offline clips from the past two years—including lessons he learned while trying to take control of his screen time, insights about loneliness in the digital age, and a touching reflection on what it means to pay attention to what you pay attention to. But first! Your favorite millennials discuss a terrifying…
May 22, 2025 Elon's Offline Challenge, Grok’s White Genocide Glitch, and Silicon Valley's New Religion
The tech elite believe AI is just a few years away from displacing most computer-based jobs, and they seem…excited about it? Atlantic staff writer Matteo Wong joins Offline to discuss why Silicon Valley thinks AI is more important than anything happening in politics or the economy, and why it’s all eerily similar to their optimism around social media in the 2010s. But first! Max shares a personal update that we all…
May 15, 2025 Jon Gets Hacked, Woke Offline Pope, and How Jia Tolentino’s Brain Finally Broke
Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror and staff writer at the New Yorker, joins Offline to discuss how it’s becoming harder and harder to make sense of reality, especially with AI taking over our feeds. She and Jon talk about how online distrust bleeds into life offline, parenting in this moment of endless horrors, and the inspiration (or lack thereof) behind her latest essay, "My Brain Finally Broke." But first!…
May 8, 2025 Pope Trump, Zuckerberg’s AI Friends, and the Shocking Truth of How Teens Live Online
Lauren Greenfield, director of the acclaimed FX docuseries “Social Studies,” sits down with Jon to talk about the year she spent shadowing a group of LA teens as they navigated their very online lives. The kids gave Lauren permission to screen record their phones for the duration of filming, and the result is an intimate, frenetic and often horrifying account of what it's like to be underage on the internet. But…
May 1, 2025 The Global Elite’s Secret Group Chats, Gen Z's Lifestyle Subsidy, and Meta's Sex Bots
Pete Hegseth isn’t the only one who loves a group chat—turns out Silicon Valley's descent into Trumpism was powered by a constellation of Signal and WhatsApp chats between America’s tech overlords. Max and Jon walk through the Marc Andreessen-powered phenomenon, then discuss how Jeff Bezos was forced to kiss Trump’s ring this week by walking back Amazon's response to his tariffs. Next up: how will Gen Z's lifestyle…
Apr 28, 2025 Terminally Online: Larry David v. Bill Maher, TikTok Mystics, and the White House Correspondents' Dinner
This Terminally Online preview breaks down the liberal media’s response to the back-and-forth between Larry David and Bill Maher, right-wing transvestigations, and TikTok’s “broken bone theory.” For the full episode and more Terminally Online, subscribe by April 30th to enjoy 30 days of Friends of the Pod for free! Support Crooked’s mission while unlocking ad-free episodes for Offline with Jon Favreau, exclusive…
Apr 24, 2025 Could Blowing Up Google Save The Internet? Plus MAGA's Birth Obsession and Your Questions Answered
Google’s antitrust trial is all gas no breaks this week, with the Justice Department asking a federal judge to break up the $1.81 trillion dollar company. Jon and Max discuss all the possible outcomes, and why Google’s products have stagnated the more they’ve come to dominate the internet. Then, new research finds that people who deactivated Facebook or Instagram before the 2020 presidential election became…
Apr 17, 2025 Zuck Takes the Stand, ChatGPT Turns on Lovett, and the Surprising Ties Between Our Biology and Our Politics
Free speech warrior Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand this week to defend Meta in a big antitrust case that, if successful, could break up the social media giant. Max and Jon run through the trial thus far, and discuss how Silicon Valley tycoons skewered themselves by supporting Trump. Then, the guys delve into the ever-improving state of AI, with help from Offline AI correspondent Jon Lovett. To round it all…
Apr 10, 2025 Real Men Love Tariffs, Elon Gets Cyberbullied, Meta Whistleblower Testifies
Ryan Broderick, host of Offline’s most-cited newsletter “Garbage Day” joins Jon to talk tariff turmoil—how it will affect the TikTok deal, whether Trump has lost the faith of bro voters, and why the online right thinks a collapse of the global economy could solve America’s masculinity crisis. Then, is Elon Musk getting Ramaswamied? Was his nerd king persona ever more than a PR stunt? And what did we learn from…
Apr 3, 2025 Jon’s Twitter Fight with JD Vance and Elon’s Scheme to Buy Votes
How does J.D. Vance have so much time to fight with Jon on X? Why are the courts letting Elon Musk buy votes in Wisconsin? And are we, as a society, ready for xAI to be trained on tweets from Catturd and Libs of TikTok? With Max out on vacation, Jon is joined by The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel to process this week's online maelstrom—from horrendous deportations to Studio Ghibliesque edge lords—and to share what it…
Mar 27, 2025 Offline PC Small Group
They weren’t war plans, they were BATTLE plans—that’s the White House's new, extremely believable spin on why J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth and countless other Trump officials were using a Signal chat to coordinate a military strike. Jon and Max relish the idiocy of what’s now become the most famous group chat in the world, and then dive into Snapchat’s latest feature that’s making teens even more glued to their…
Mar 20, 2025 The Book Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Want You to Read
Meta has called an emergency arbitration hearing over a tell-all memoir by Facebook's former Director of Global Public Policy. The author, Sarah Wynn Williams, has had to cancel all her book promotion…including coming on Offline this week. Jon and Max protest Sarah’s gag order by delving into her book, Careless People , and platforming her allegations of sexual harassment, the company’s role in Myanmar's genocide,…
Mar 13, 2025 Shocking Facebook Secrets Revealed, JD Vance Meme Wars, and a $10,000 Conspiracy Bet
A new Facebook whistleblower has come forward with shocking allegations—seems like company execs have been trying to cozy up to everyone from the Chinese Communist Party to their own employees. Max and Jon break down the drama, check in on Trump's TikTok sale, and discuss how this week’s viral J.D. Vance memes reflect the war for dominance between Democrats and Republicans. Then, audio journalist Zack Mack joins…
Mar 6, 2025 Elon Musk v. Dollar Store Jon Favreau and How the UFC Conquered America
Not too long ago, Donald Trump, Joe Rogan, and Dana White—Offline’s favorite power brokers—identified UFC as a pathway for reshaping culture and politics around their idea of masculinity. Rolling Stone Magazine’s Jack Crosbie joins the pod to explain the parallel rise of MAGA and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and break down why the sport is so appealing to young men. But first! Jon and Max run through some…
Feb 27, 2025 Elon Wellness Check, The Anti-Doge Revolt, and Some Actual Good News
Twenty-one DOGE staffers resigned this week, citing the agency’s meddling in the federal government. Meanwhile, top DOGE Elon Musk was brandishing a chainsaw onstage at CPAC. And closer to home, a new armed-driver app purports to be “Uber with guns.” Jon and Max sift through it all, translate Musk’s claim that, “I am become meme,” and debate whether he intends to train Grok on the private data he’s stolen. But it’s…
Feb 20, 2025 Why Elon Lies About DOGE and How To Fix Your Focus
Special Government Employee Elon Musk has attempted to access our most personal data. Meanwhile, Billionaire Tech Mogul Elon Musk attempted to take over one of the biggest artificial intelligence companies in the world. Coincidence? In other news, Edgelord Elon Musk and his band of misfit fanboys are trying to uncover massive fraud and corruption, reading the data wrong, and making up stories that feels right to…
Feb 16, 2025 What Post-Democracy America Looks Like
U.S. democracy is likely to break down during this second Trump presidency, but what lies ahead isn’t a traditional dictatorship. Dr. Steven Levitsky joins Offline to explain competitive authoritarianism—what it looks like, how Trump and his cronies are enacting it already, and why it’s more popular than the fascism of yore. But first! Max and Jon discuss how the MAGA regime is silencing critics, including with two…
Feb 9, 2025 Can Democracy Survive the Attention Wars? with Chris Hayes
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes joins Offline to discuss how our society’s commodification of attention has made us miserable while empowering authoritarians like Donald Trump. Chris’s new book, The Sirens’ Call , explains how humans mistake online engagement for social connection, why the media is beholden to flashy headlines, and why no one can bear being alone with their thoughts. He and Jon discuss how Democrats need to…
Feb 2, 2025 Fighting the Broligarchs with Senator Chris Murphy
Senator Chris Murphy joins Offline with a warning for his fellow Democrats: the longer we take to counter Trump’s horrifying shock and awe strategy, the harder it will be to get up off the mat. The Connecticut Senator shares how the pardoning of January 6th protestors has impacted his personal security, what the Republican party is getting right about helping people find purpose, and why the handover of power to…
Jan 26, 2025 Trump's TikTok Dilemma, Crypto Cons Debunked, and The Truth About the Loneliness Epidemic
TikTok is back from the dead... at least for now. After a self-imposed shutdown and a shameless appeal to President Trump, the countdown to the TikTok ban has restarted. Meanwhile, the rest of Silicon Valley is taking turns kissing the ring. Jon and Max discuss the list of tech oligarchs vying for Trump's favor, explain what they have to gain from the President's new Stargate AI announcement, and debate if it's…
Jan 19, 2025 The Episode China Doesn’t Want You to Hear
The Supreme Court is the latest branch of government to kicktok TikTok to the curb—at least under its present Chinese ownership. Max and Jon break down what may happen to the app over the next few days and explain how a newly inaugurated President Trump could change its fate. Until then, Americans are fleeing the presumed CCP-controlled platform for an explicitly CCP-controlled platform: RedNote. The guys wade…
Jan 12, 2025 Lina Khan on Fighting Big Tech
Offline’s favorite foe of Big Tech, FTC Chair Lina Khan, joins the show to talk to Jon about standing up to Meta and Amazon, how the internet has changed the way monopolies operate, and why her work has made her an unlikely folk hero. Plus: Max and Jon sit down to talk about the misinformation spreading about the Los Angeles fires, Meta’s decision to abandon fact checking, and the last ditch efforts to save TikTok…
Dec 22, 2024 The Surgeon General's Very Offline Parting Message (and a Comically Online Holiday Segment)
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy joins Offline to share his final prescription for the nation. He and Jon talk about why his parting message is all about community, the online reaction to the United Healthcare assassination, and how young people are struggling to find depth and meaning in a culture that glorifies fame and wealth. Then, Max and Jon answer listener-submitted questions, Jon recommits himself to posting on…
Dec 15, 2024 Was Luigi Mangione Too Online?
The more we learn about the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the more his digital footprint falls into the Offline wheelhouse. Luigi Mangione has posted about Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price; on Twitter he follows everyone from AOC to Ezra Klein to Joe Rogan. And don’t get us started on his Goodreads profile! Jon and Max talk through the internet's embrace of a suspected murderer, and…
Dec 8, 2024 Can Talking to Strangers Fix Our Politics?
How often do you talk to someone you disagree with—not in a Twitter pile on, but face to face? With Donald Trump’s inauguration fast approaching (plus holidays full of opinionated relatives), Jon sits down with Dave Isay, the founder of StoryCorps, to talk about the healing power of conversation. StoryCorps is a segment on NPR’s Morning Edition, a podcast and the largest single archive of personal narratives in the…
Dec 1, 2024 Subscriber Exclusive: Terminally Online
While Offline is on a break this week, enjoy some of the best moments from the Crooked subscription exclusive show Terminally Online. Listen to learn more than you ever needed to know about the nuanced art of Balkan breakfast, RFK’s horny TikTok history, the ghosts in Tucker Carlson’s bedroom, and the complex backstory of the Costco Guys. If you want more, head to Crooked.com/Friends and subscribe! You'll get…
Nov 24, 2024 Do Libs Need a Social Media Safe Space? Did Misinfo Hurt Kamala? How Much Should the Left Influence Democrats?
Jon got piled on last week for tweeting that activist groups have pushed the Democratic Party out of supermajority territory. Waleed Shahid, a progressive strategist who’s worked for Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Justice Democrats, joins the show for an offline version of his and Jon’s online debate. Waleed explains why he thinks the blame is misplaced, and Jon weighs in on who—or what—is behind Democratic leaders…
Nov 17, 2024 Why Democrats’ Media Problem is Deeper than “Liberal Joe Rogan”
Somehow the interminable “who is the liberal Joe Rogan” debate is still raging a week after the election. Jeremiah Johnson, co-director of the Center for New Liberalism and author of the substack “Infinite Scroll” joins Offline to explain what the Rogan question gets wrong, how Democrats should expand their tent, and why we all need to stop scrolling and start making things. But first! BlueAnon is at it again. Jon…
Nov 10, 2024 Where We Go From Here
Yeah, rough week. Jon and Max reckon with Tuesday’s result and break down how Donald Trump — once again — was able to grow his coalition. They dissect how Trump won despite his very online campaign, not because of it — and why that may be cause for hope. Then they share their own experience knocking doors in swing states, talk about the role misinformation and foreign interference played in the election, and return…
Nov 3, 2024 Offline’s Anti-Anxiety Election Special
The 2024 election is almost upon us, and if you’re not anxious…please give us some of whatever you’re taking. Barton Gellman, Senior Advisor at the Brennan Center for Justice, joins Offline to talk about how election officials are safeguarding your vote. This spring, Gellman co-lead a series of table top exercises involving current and former politicians, military officers, and analysts. Together, they played out…
Oct 27, 2024 Elon Kills the Block Button, AI Comes for Podcasts, and The Good Liar's Guide to Talking to Trump Voters
The Good Liars, a MAGA trolling comedy duo, join Offline to share what it’s like on the ground at Trump rallies this close to the election. Davram Stiefler and Jason Selvig have been churning out political satire since they occupied Occupy Wall Street, and they talk to Jon about finding the humor and holes in the Trump camp’s rhetoric. But first! This week the app formerly known as Twitter announced a major change…
Oct 20, 2024 Biden’s Weather Machine, Leaked TikTok Docs, Elon’s MAGA Ground Game, and Big Porn to the Rescue?
Why are FEMA workers being threatened for trying to help clean up after Hurricane Helene? Jon and Max break down the misinformation spreading on social media, including the now infamous girl-with-puppy AI image. Then, they discuss the leaked documents that show TikTok knows exactly how harmful their app is, and check in on Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO is going all out to help Trump’s campaign, but fortunately the porn…
Oct 13, 2024 Hasan Piker on the Bro Vote, Kamala Harris, and the 2024 Election
Hasan Piker, Gen Z’s favorite left wing political commentator and Twitch streamer, joins Offline to talk about the Trump campaign’s bro-first election strategy, the right wing’s dominance of the digital media landscape, and why, 25 days until the election, he’s feeling mostly…tired. Jon and Hasan debate the Biden-Harris policy agenda, particularly with regard to immigration and Israel-Palestine, and Hasan shares…
Oct 6, 2024 Silicon Valley’s Newest Bad Idea, Vigilantes Infiltrate the Far Right, and Should We Buy Infowars?
Alex Jones’ conspiracy media network, InfoWars, is up for sale, as is the at-home genetic testing service 23andMe…and potentially the DNA of 15 million people who used it. Meanwhile, TikTok grifters are using AI to fake defecting to North Korea, and it’s for a dumber reason than you could possibly imagine. But first! Silicon Valley thinks it’s finally figured out how to make smart glasses that someone will actually…
Sep 29, 2024 Trump Truths vs. Trump Tweets, Chappell Roan's Non-Endorsement, and Behind the Scenes at Elon's Twitter
New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger joins Offline to discuss Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, a new book she coauthored with Ryan Mac. It’s the best coverage out there of Elon’s takeover and the subsequent deterioration of the platform, with behind-the-scenes reporting on how and why he bought the company, and the decisions he’s made since. But first! Jon and Max discuss whether the danger of…
Sep 26, 2024 Why "Blade Runner" Still Defines How We See Tech
Critic Emily St. James and Crooked’s Halle Kiefer join Max to discuss “Blade Runner,” the 1982 classic that asks the question: could an AI chatbot become so hot that it would be unethical to delete it? Perhaps no other movie has had as big an impact on sci-fi or the aesthetic of futurism as Ridley Scott’s film. Is this Harrison Ford’s peak hotness? Which Silicon Valley Overlord is our Tyrell? If life imitates art,…
Sep 22, 2024 GOP's "Black Nazi" Porn Posting, Instagram's New Rules, and Tristan Harris's Guide to Humane Technology
Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and ex-design ethicist at Google, joins Offline to chat about the attention economy, why tech execs don’t let their own kids on the apps, and how our AI arms race is one giant game of Jenga. But first! Jon and Max break down Instagram’s new sweeping changes for teen users—do they address child safety concerns? Why now? Will kids be able to outsmart the…
Sep 19, 2024 How “Fight Club” Created a Generation of Sh*tposters
Since “Fight Club” hit theaters in 1999, the movie has become both a cinematic cult classic and a building block of how people (mostly men) express themselves online. Film critic Emily St. James and Crooked’s Erin Ryan join Offline Movie Club to talk about whether David Fincher’s opus deserves its top tier rankings, how the movie has been misappropriated by disillusioned Gen Xers and online chauvinists alike, and…
Sep 15, 2024 Robert Putnam on Barack Obama, Taylor Swift, and Making America Social Again
Robert Putnam, renowned political scientist and author of Bowling Alone and The Upswing, joins Offline to explain why bowling alone and scrolling alone are two sides of the same coin. Putnam has spent his life deciphering why social capital—our connection to each other and our communities—has been withering away for the last 50 years. The consequences of this trend are the focus of a new documentary, “Join or Die,”…
Sep 12, 2024 “Tár” with Jon Favreau and Amanda Hess
This week Offline Móvie Clúb takes on “Tár,” the 2022 film about a music conductor whose narcissism and abuses of power bring about her very public downfall. Max is joined by New York Times critic at large, Amanda Hess, and Offline critic at large, Jon Favreau, to examine the movie’s takes on cancel culture, identity construction and the limits of control—especially online. Should we feel pity for cancelled…
Sep 8, 2024 Trump Tours the Manosphere, Russia Funds MAGA Influencers, and Hawk Tuah Girl Cashes In
It’s not just supplements and energy drinks fueling the manosphere. Your favorite right-wing podcaster may be sponsored by…Vladimir Putin! Jon and Max discuss the new federal indictment alleging that the Kremlin has been funding right-wing internet personalities, including Tim Pool. Then they break down why the Brazilian Supreme Court has blocked access to X and why the “Hawk Tuah” girl’s new podcast showcases the…
Sep 5, 2024 How "Zola" Explains Social Media Brain
Has there ever been a more dramatic Twitter thread than A’Ziah King’s 2015 saga about a roadtrip turned kidnapping? Erin Ryan and Josie Duffy Rice join Max to discuss “Zola,” the movie adaptation of those tweets. The film tells the (mostly true) story of a young stripper getting whisked away to Florida by a new acquaintance and her pimp. Its searing commentary on sex trafficking is studded with notification sounds…
Sep 1, 2024 Obama's Offline Speech, Zuck Fears Trump, and the Crank Political Divide
Max and Jon sit down to break down a very online DNC, diving into Obama’s anti-social media convention speech, the MyPillow guy’s embarrassing troll attempts, and a Taylor Swift & Beyonce rumor that spun out of control. Plus: Mark Zuckerberg’s fear driven turn towards Trump and the new political divide: cranks vs. everyone else. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here . For a transcript of this…
Aug 29, 2024 How “The Truman Show” Explains Life in 2024
Jon Lovett and Erin Ryan join Max to discuss how “The Truman Show,” predicted our current era of continuous surveillance and content mining. The movie may be from 1998, but its insights are just as applicable 25 years later—from cults of celebrity, to Fox News, to Instagram. Is Ed Harris’ dome over Burbank a cautionary tale about fascist governance? Do we all hide parts of personalities, depending on context? Why…
Aug 25, 2024 How Peter Thiel Became the Right’s Tech-Authoritarian Kingmaker
Peter Thiel isn’t as rich as Elon Musk or as notorious as Steve Bannon. But over the last 10 years he has grown from Silicon Valley’s oddball conservative to an ideological anchor of the Trump era. And, unfortunately for us, he thinks the country would be better off without voting. Bloomberg Businessweek reporter, Max Chafkin, has written a book about Thiel and his mind boggling worldview: The Contrarian . He joins…
Aug 22, 2024 “WarGames” with Jon Lovett and Ben Rhodes
Jon Lovett and Ben Rhodes join Max to explore how 1983’s “WarGames” predicted the internet era. The film is a fascinating time capsule of Reagan era tech optimism, nuclear war doomerism, and Matthew Broderick’s puckish charm. Ben dives into the foreign policy behind the movie, drawing on his own experience traveling the country with Obama and a briefcase of nuclear codes. Lovett reminisces about 80s computing,…
Aug 18, 2024 Trump and Elon’s Trainwreck Interview & J.D. Vance’s Real Tech Agenda
Elon Musk hosted Donald Trump for a two and a half hour ramble on Twitter’s garbage live streaming platform—and if you think SpaceX flubs launches…well, they’ve got nothing on X Spaces. Max sits down with Hysteria’s Erin Ryan to recap the most head-smacking parts of the conversation, and ask the question of our generation: if Elon doesn’t call it X, why should we? After that, Katie Paul, director of the Tech…
Aug 11, 2024 How Tim Walz’s Big Dad Energy Went Viral
Why is Tim Walz, a 60-year-old dad from Minnesota, so internet savvy? And why is he so good at making right wingers look not just weird, but also extremely, chronically and dangerously online? Jon and Max discuss the meme appeal of Harris’ new VP pick, why Republicans are sinking deeper into weirdness with transphobic attacks on Olympians, and what X’s latest legal tantrum is really about. For a closed-captioned…
Aug 4, 2024 JD Vance, Project 2025, and How the Right Got Weird
All of a sudden, nearly every Democrat in the country has started calling out Republicans for being really damn weird. And with JD Vance’s pronatalist views and Trump’s insistence that Kamala Harris isn’t actually Black, the GOP isn’t beating the allegations. When did Republican rhetoric go from fear-inducing, to groan-inducing? Jon is joined by Laura K. Field, a researcher and political theorist who recently…
Jul 28, 2024 Kamala Harris’ Coconut-Pilled Brat Girl Summer
Kamala Harris memes are bringing together leftists and wine moms, neolib shills and NeverTrumpers, political wonks and pop stars across every platform. Why is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president breaking the internet and right-wing brains? Jon and Max discuss the danger of the VP leaning into the memes, MAGA trolls' reaction to her candidacy, and how much of Silicon Valley is all in on Trump. For a…
Jul 21, 2024 Why Kamala Fandom is Rocking the Internet – and the Trump Assassination Isn't
We still don’t know why a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania opened fire on Trump last weekend. Lone shooters whose paths from normalcy to vigilantism seem esoteric, obscure, or perverse have become a familiar pattern—but there’s actually a lot we do understand about the origins of political violence. Max sits down with terrorism scholar J.M. Berger to understand the psychology of violent extremists and what role the…
Jul 14, 2024 The Biden Reckoning Will Be Tweeted; plus, Interviewing Nazis with Elle Reeve
Elle Reeve, CNN commentator and author of the new book Black Pill, joins Offline to share her reporting on the darkest corners of the internet. For over a decade, Reeve has tracked the emergence of the alt-right, watched them radicalize on sites like 4chan and 8chan, and documented their migration off the web and into the streets of Charlottesville and halls of the Capitol. She and Jon talk about how this new brand…
Jun 30, 2024 Why The Music Industry Is Embracing AI
Chat GPT isn’t going to top the Billboard Hot 100 any time soon, but something is happening with AI and music—something’s BEEN happening. Unlike in entertainment and journalism, big music labels and even musicians like Drake and Grimes are cautiously embracing the latest in AI. And the results are not all bad! New Yorker writer John Seabrook sits down with Max to explain why the music industry has historically…
Jun 23, 2024 Social Media Warning Labels, LA Kids Go Offline, and the Rise of Slop AI
Has this pod saved America…from phone addiction?! We got Jon Lovett to take a rather extreme version of the Offline challenge in Fiji, AND America’s top doctor and friend of the pod Vivek Murthy is now calling for a Surgeon General’s warning label on social media platforms. Max and Jon bask in their success, then mourn the dismantling of the Stanford Internet Observatory, the nation’s leading mis- and…
Jun 16, 2024 Have Smartphones Created an Anxious Generation? with Jonathan Haidt
The kids are not alright, and the culprit is their phones. That’s the thesis of social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s new book, The Anxious Generation. He joins Offline to discuss why he thinks smartphones and social media are fueling a teen and adolescent mental health epidemic, the evidence behind his claims, and the criticism his anti-phone crusade has received. Then he and Jon dive into the four recommendations…
Jun 9, 2024 How the Right Won the Internet and How the Left is Fighting Back
Why are Republicans apologists for misinformation? How should campaigns respond to online trolls? Are Democrats still using an Obama-era digital strategy? Journalist Sasha Issenberg joins Offline to talk about his new book, The Lie Detectives , and to break down how to defeat conservatives in a truth-agnostic world. He and Jon discuss how today’s political class is adapting to a tumultuous and Trumpy social media…
Jun 6, 2024 How "Wall-E" Reveals Our Changing Feelings Toward Tech
Critic Emily St. James and Crooked’s Halle Kiefer join Max to talk about “WALL-E.” The 2008 Pixar film depicts a future in which humans are so addicted to their screens that it takes a robot mutiny led by a mobile trash compactor to get them to log off. Why did the filmmakers opt for a trashpocalypse? How problematic is the movie’s portrayal of fatness? Why wasn’t there cancel culture aboard the spaceship? Find out…
Jun 2, 2024 Trump’s TikTok Edge and Why Birds May or May Not Be Real
Birds Aren’t Real founder, Peter McIndoe, joins to talk about the impact of the satirical conspiracy that captured the imagination of Gen Z and what he learned about the appeal of false realities after spending years in character as one of the nation’s leading conspiracy theorists. But first: Is TikTok helping Trump win? Why is Google telling people to eat rocks? And what’s the story behind the “All Eyes on Rafah”…
May 30, 2024 How "The Matrix" Created Modern Silicon Valley
Are we all living in The Matrix? Eh, probably not. But our tech obsessed, social media driven world is a lot closer to the reality The Matrix posed in 1999 than the Wachowskis probably ever dreamed of! New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie and host of Hysteria Erin Ryan, join Max to watch the beloved sci fi film and break down the ways The Matrix inspired a generation of tech bros and why so many people — from the…
May 26, 2024 ScarJo v. AI, the Digital Guillotine, and Why We Play Make Believe with Misinformation
Do we treat political affiliation like a religion? Which parts of our identity are based off factual belief vs. imaginary belief? This week, Max talks to Professor Neil Van Leeuwen about the difference between thinking and believing, the power of groupish thought, and the similarities between religious creeds and political ideologies. But first! Jon and Max break down the drama between Scarlet Johansson and OpenAI,…
May 23, 2024 Why "Her" Reveals How We Really Feel About AI (with Ezra Klein)
Ezra Klein joins Offline Movie Club to discuss “Her,” the movie that more or less incited this week’s Scarlett Johansson v. OpenAI drama. Back in 2013, when ChatGPT was just a twinkle in Sam Altman’s eye, no one thought a writer falling in love with his sentient virtual assistant was a near-term scenario. But here we are! Ezra, Max and Jon debate what AIs mean for relationships, how “Her” introduced emotional…
May 19, 2024 AI’s Flirty Upgrade, Facebook’s Zombie Internet, and Why We May Be Doing Mental Health Wrong
ChatGPT has officially entered its “Her” era! Jon and Max talk about the flirty AI that debuted this week, whose husky voice and warm enthusiasm evokes Scarlett Johansson. But not all the tech titans are doing so hot; Facebook’s noxious combo of AI-generated content and the real people who are falling for it has been coined the “zombie internet.” The guys discuss Meta’s spam problem, then take a look at how mental…
May 16, 2024 How “You’ve Got Mail” Explains '90s Internet Culture
Leave it to Tom Hanks to make internet catfishing seem so darn charming! This week, Offline’s Movie Club is watching “You’ve Got Mail,” the cozy, capitalist, and kind of creepy 90s classic. Remember when being online was a choice? When online dating was stigmatized? When Meg Ryan flounced around with unparalleled charisma? Max is joined by Jon Lovett and Crooked Executive Producer Kendra James to soak up the…
May 12, 2024 TikTok vs Biden, Kendrick vs Drake, AI vs Loneliness
Is it time for you to make an AI friend? Jon and Max weigh the pros and cons of robot affirmation, sink their teeth into a new study on smart phone bans in schools, and then turn their attention to something they’re both very qualified to talk about: the rap beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake that’s reanimating Twitter. Plus, a new East vs. West feud takes shape as the guys face off for Vote Save America’s…
May 9, 2024 How Bo Burnham’s “Inside” Inspired Offline
Bo Burnham’s comedy has long captivated and caricatured the internet, but the era his songs skewer the best is the hyperactive, blood-thirsty, online world of peak-pandemic lockdown. Max, Jon and comedian Jamie Loftus discuss “Bo Burnham: Inside,” in which a child of the internet breaks it down and breaks down . Was 2021 the peak of performative virtue signaling? Which host impersonated a flamingo on stage with Bo…
May 5, 2024 How Cognitive Bias Explains Taylor Swift, Donald Trump, and Internet Malaise
We all have a caveman brain—at least when it comes to navigating the internet. Amanda Montell, author of the new book The Age of Magical Overthinking, joins Offline to explain how the “cognitive biases” that we developed to make snap decisions in prehistoric times aren’t well suited to handle the volume and pace of the information era. She and Jon talk about biases like the halo effect, zero-sum biases, and…
May 2, 2024 How “The Social Network” Explains Silicon Valley
When did we collectively agree that a hoodie-clad coder could wreak havoc on our society? Probably not long after “The Social Network” came out. This week we’re kicking off a new bonus series: the Offline Movie Club! The hosts will dive into one of their favorite films about the internet and technology to discuss what the movie gets right and wrong, and how it shapes our understanding of the digital era. This week…
Apr 28, 2024 The Biden Campaign’s Plan to Beat Trump Online
Can Biden outpost Trump in the run up to 2024? Why is the president on TikTok if he wants to ban it? Rob Flaherty, former White House Director of Digital Strategy and current Deputy Campaign Manager for Biden joins Offline to explain. Jon and Rob talk about the ways the media environment has changed since 2020, how the Biden campaign is cutting through the noise this time around, and the importance of acknowledging…
Apr 21, 2024 Right Wing Media Collapse, Trump Trial’s Repost King, and How To Live Like You’re Not Dying
We did it folks! Jurors for Trump’s hush money trial are getting to read their resistance tweets to his face as Meta’s crackdown on news is slowly asphyxiating conservative media. Jon and Max celebrate the good news, and then dive into the much more somber topic of dating in the Internet Age. It turns out Gen Z is abandoning dating apps in favor of social media and the “old school” approach of meeting people in…
Apr 14, 2024 Trump’s Stock Crash, AI Gets Junkier, and Paying to Delete Social Media
Is FOMO the only thing keeping you on social media? Have we already reached peak artificial intelligence? And are Max and Jon too old to enjoy Glorb, a Spongebob Squarepants AI that’s become the hottest rapper on the internet? The guys cheer on the nosedive of Trump’s media company stocks, break down the latest research in why your friends want you to quit social media, and answer mailbag questions like “will Jon…
Apr 7, 2024 Are You Treating Politics Like a Hobby?
Are college educated Democrats going to cost Joe Biden the election? Eitan Hersh, a Political Science professor at Tufts, joins Offline to take a closer look at “political hobbyists,” aka people who think that getting involved in politics means following the news and forming political opinions. Eitan’s book, Politics is for Power, lays out a roadmap for folks who are tired of online takes and ready to get involved…
Mar 31, 2024 How to Be Happy with Dr. Laurie Santos
Dr. Laurie Santos, Yale University's “Happiness Professor,” joins Offline to lay out a scientific guide to finding happiness. On her podcast The Happiness Lab and in her course Psychology and the Good Life (the most popular in Yale’s 300 year history), Laurie educates people on the way our brains lie about what makes us happy and helps them reorient their priorities to find genuine happiness. She sits down with Jon…
Mar 24, 2024 Is Trump Benefiting from Our 2020 Amnesia?
Eric Klinenberg, sociologist at New York University, joins Offline to discuss why our failure to process 2020 may lead to another disastrous Trump term. His newest book, 2020 , breaks down the year that reshaped our politics, unveiled cracks in our society, and transformed the ways we live, work, and interact with each other. Eric and Jon unpack how Trump’s Covid-era leadership politicized public health and left…
Mar 17, 2024 Kate Middleton MIA, UFOs, and How Conspiracies Got Fun
Kate Middleton sightings have dipped below UFO sightings, and the internet is having a heyday! It’s conspiracy theory week at Offline, with Max and Jon offering up their own takes on the missing Princess of Wales. Then, they break down the latest developments of the House’s proposed TikTok ban––including content creators’ ludicrous theories behind what’s really going on. To cap it off, Max sits down with Vox Senior…
Mar 10, 2024 TikTok Ban Returns, AOC Hounded by Protesters, and Jon Ronson on the End of Public Shaming
Jon Ronson, author of So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and host of the BBC podcast “Things Fell Apart,” joins Offline to discuss culture wars—why do they originate in America? Are they going too far? Are we all becoming immune to the public-shaming superbug? But first! Max and Jon break down the latest bombardment of everyone’s favorite algorithm (TikTok ban) and everyone’s favorite politician (AOC being screamed…
Mar 3, 2024 Woke AI, Libs of TikTok DESTROYED, and the Offline Reality of Long COVID
Zeynep Tufekci, sociologist and New York Times opinion columnist, joins Offline to discuss why long covid has unleashed so much online vitriol, united the Senate, and exposed just how little Americans trust institutions. Jon also sits down with his producer, Emma, to talk about her firsthand experience with the disease, and how she navigates an information environment rife with suffering and confusion—but also…
Feb 25, 2024 An Ex-Tucker Carlson Employee Tells All
Tina Nguyen, national correspondent at Puck News , joins Offline to talk about her new memoir, “The MAGA Diaries.” The book sheds light on the conservative movement’s college recruitment pipeline, and how it’s propelled a new generation of alt-right leaders to the upper echelons of American politics, courts, and social movements. Tina chronicles how this shadowy network helped her start out in the world of…
Feb 18, 2024 The Neuroscience of Why We’re Susceptible to Lies, Outrage, and Fascism
Cass Sunstein, Harvard professor and coauthor of the forthcoming book, Look Again, joins Offline to discuss the dangers of habituation. When things become so commonplace that they blend into the background of our everyday lives, we stop appreciating the good and identifying the bad. Jon and Cass examine how authoritarian regimes are normalized, whether you can pay people to quit their social media addictions, and…
Feb 11, 2024 Authoritarians or A-holes? Kara Swisher on Tech's Biggest Egos
Kara Swisher, longtime tech reporter and author of the forthcoming memoir Burn Book, joins Offline to talk about the tech tycoons who think they’re qualified to run our country. She and Jon break down Silicon Valley’s ever growing self importance, whether its leaders are more or less fascist than we think, and how big tech ate the media industry alive. But first! Max and Jon explain why Apple’s Vision Pro headset…
Feb 4, 2024 What's Really Behind the Media Apocalypse?
Peter Hamby, host of Snapchat’s Good Luck America and a founding partner at Puck News, returns to Offline to discuss whether journalism is headed towards extinction. With the latest round of media layoffs hollowing out the industry more than ever before, how will people stay informed—and do they even want to? Has the news lost its primacy in the American mind? But first! Max and Jon break down Zuckerberg & co.‘s…
Jan 28, 2024 Are Algorithms Making You Boring?
Kyle Chayka, New Yorker staff writer and author of “Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture,” joins Offline to expose how online feeds push us into the mainstream and away from each other. He and Jon examine how machine-guided curation changes not only what we consume, but the quality of what gets made in the first place. But first! Max and Jon talk about how introverts have taken over the economy, the moment…
Jan 21, 2024 Were Trump’s Opponents Too Online? Plus, R. F. Kuang on Her Twitter Era Novel
RF Kuang joins Jon to talk about Yellowface, her biting satire about the internet, publishing industry, and cultural appropriation.
Jan 14, 2024 The Science of Achieving (and Enjoying) Your New Year’s Resolution
When it comes to sticking to a New Year’s resolution, willpower alone won’t cut it.
Jan 7, 2024 Dry January, Cali Sober, Soft Sober: Why Gen Z is Breaking Up With Booze
Maybe, your friend announced they’re not drinking anymore, or your sister’s now “California Sober,” or maybe your entire office is participating in Dry January. It’s not just you, going sober is the hot new thing, with 41% of Americans aged 18 to 35 saying they don’t drink at all. Today, we explore the changes in drinking culture, in how we think about wellness and health, in how we socialize and spend our free…
Dec 17, 2023 Millennials v. Gen Z, Twitter v. Threads, Social Media Trends for 2024: Jon & Max Answer Your Questions
With 2024 fast approaching, Jon and Max sit down to answer listener-submitted questions. Does the show have a millennial bias? What’s the guys’ screen time 6 months after the Offline Challenge? Will Max stage a coup when Jon goes on paternity leave? Plus favorite social media trends, favorite films and favorite co-hosts of 2023. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here . For a transcript of this…
Dec 10, 2023 Best Of: How To Change Alt Right Minds, with ContraPoints
YouTuber Natalie Wynn, better known as ContraPoints, may be the internet’s most persuasive political commentator. Known for her carefully produced, elaborate video essays, Natalie has an uncanny ability to attract and de-radicalize viewers with reactionary, right wing politics. She sits down with Jon to talk about the importance of style in political persuasion, explain how the internet became fascist in 2017, and…
Dec 3, 2023 Is a $16 McDonald’s Order Going to Elect Trump?
Jeff Stein, White House economics reporter at the Washington Post, joins Offline to talk about the $16 McDonald’s meal that captivated the internet—and whether Bidenomics is to blame. Conservative media outlets sunk their teeth into the story a few weeks ago, so Jeff and Jon dig into the burger narrative to examine today’s economy: why, amid stagnating inflation and a hot job market, do voters still disapprove of…
Nov 26, 2023 Inside 2024 - Preview | Favreau + Tommy Talk Election Night
Happy holidays from the Offline team! Here’s a special sneak peek of our new subscriber exclusive series Inside 2024. In this preview Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor take you behind the scenes of election nights like Barack Obama’s 2008 winning campaign. It’s a show we’re really proud of and we hope you enjoy. Producer Caroline Reston moderates. If you want to hear the rest of the episode, or future ones, be sure to…
Nov 19, 2023 How Jezebel Changed Media and Why TikTokers Are Rizzing Up Osama bin Laden
Anna Holmes, the founder of jezebel.com, and Crooked’s own Erin Ryan—the site’s former managing editor—join Offline to discuss the origin and legacy of a publication that redefined feminism for millions of women. With Jezebel shuttering last week, Anna, Erin and Jon question whether the site was a victim of its own success, to what extent it shaped identity politics, and if it’s fair to blame Jezebel’s readers for…
Nov 12, 2023 The Truth About TikTok’s Spin on Israel-Gaza
Jon and Max get into the numbers behind TikTok’s supposed pro-Palestinian tilt— is the bias real, what do “views” signify, and how many of these videos are spreading misinformation? With content creators surpassing legacy media as Americans’ primary source of news, the guys discuss the future of getting credible information on social media. And to round it out, Jon updates Max on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s higher…
Nov 5, 2023 Naomi Klein on What Happens When You’re Mistaken for a Conspiracy Theorist
Naomi Klein, activist and bestselling author, joins Offline to talk about her new book, Doppelganger, and the woman who inspired it, anti-vax crusader Naomi Wolf. The two are often mistaken for each other, and in Doppelganger Klein wades into the confusion to tell a broader story about the morass of the internet today. She and Jon talk about what it means to build a personal brand in the attention economy, how the…
Oct 29, 2023 Why Do People Love Joe Rogan?
Johnny Harris, filmmaker and journalist, joins Offline to talk about Joe Rogan—how he became the world’s most famous podcaster, where he stands (or doesn’t) on censorship, and how he created a brand of anti-woke contrarianism. Johnny argues that people who are tired of polarization and tribalism see Rogan’s openness, curiosity, and resistance to mainstream labels as a breath of fresh air. But Rogan’s guests also…
Oct 22, 2023 Jon Stewart, Donald Trump, and How Comedy Changed Politics
Jesse David Fox, senior editor at Vulture and author of the forthcoming “Comedy Book,” joins Offline to break down how the internet changed comedy and how comedy changed politics. Jesse and Jon trace how the erosion of broadcast journalism under Reagan created a trust vacuum in America that comedians inadvertently filled. Jesse explains why this trust is misplaced, and the implications for entertainment, political…
Oct 15, 2023 Why Has Social Media Made It Impossible to Follow the Israel-Hamas War?
As fighting intensifies between Israel and Hamas, Jon and Max break down the ways social media is terribly equipped for delivering news about the war, helping us process it, and recognizing people’s humanity. What’s more, the platforms have basically given up on content moderation and fact checking. The guys explore how the combination of these factors made last week the single worst breaking news experience on…
Oct 8, 2023 Heather Cox Richardson on Donald Trump, Democracy, and Taylor Swift
Heather Cox Richardson, historian and author of the Substack’s most-read newsletter “Letters from an American,” joins Offline to explain why she’s still hopeful about the future of American democracy. Heather’s new book, "Democracy Awakening," pushes past the clamoring 24-hour news cycles and delves deep into US history: how does Trump’s rise compare to those of other authoritarian leaders? Can Americans use…
Oct 1, 2023 Fox News’s Succession Battle, Breaking Up Amazon, and Twitter CEO’s Disastrous Q&A
Brian Stelter joins to unpack what Rupert Murdoch’s retirement means for broadcast media, American democracy, and his four kids.
Sep 24, 2023 Fetterman’s Body Double, Biden’s Misinformation Strategy, and OpenAI’s Secret & Scarier AI
Simon Rich, writer and creator of TBS’s Miracle Workers, joins Offline to explain how he got his hands on an AI that makes Chat GPT look like a kindergartner. Simon and two friends used the indefatigable (and often unhinged) code-davinci-002 to generate poems on birth, art, love and death. The resulting collection, I Am Code, is the first book “written” by an AI. Simon and Jon talk through the alarming questions…
Sep 17, 2023 The U.S. v. Google, Elon’s Secrets Revealed, and Why Trolls Got Nastier
The Atlantic's Kaitlyn Tiffany joins to break down how telling people to die on the internet became normal.
Sep 10, 2023 How to Survive the 2024 Election, Tech Predictions for the Decade, and the Best Life Advice
Jon and Max are back and ready to answer your mailbag questions! But first, a post mortem on the Offline Challenge: best practices that remain, where their screen time stands now, and why on earth Jon logged 17 hours in one day. The two discuss parenting the Internet Generation, their tech predictions for 2033, and how to stay sane in the run up to the 2024 election. Then they dive into their favorite media…
Sep 3, 2023 A Very Online Summer (Friends of the Pod Preview)
We're off for Labor Day! Please enjoy this exclusive episode of Terminally Online, our new Subscription show and loosest pod here at Crooked Media. Every week Pod Save America hosts are joined by your favorite Crooked producers and staffers to commiserate about being way too online as they make their shows. Get episodes of Terminally Online, ads free Pod Save America and so much more by signing up for Friends of…
Aug 27, 2023 How Social Media is Changing Movies — and Their Place in Society
Maia Wyman, or Broey Deschanel as she’s known on Youtube, joins Offline to talk about her generation of movie critics and influencers—spoiler alert, they’re not the same! Her nuanced video essays break down films, analyzing everything from the political themes of Parasite to why Barbie had to spoon-feed feminism to its audience. But for every voice like Maia’s, there are many others who don’t leverage the social…
Aug 20, 2023 Welcome to the Take Recession
Kate Lindsay on why, after years of battling bad-faith critics online, some people are finally keeping their opinions to themselves.
Aug 13, 2023 How Facebook Changes Us, Influencer Riots, and AI Gets Funny
Is it possible that Facebook didn't ruin politics?
Aug 6, 2023 How Taylor Swift Conquered the Internet, Plus: Xtra Xtra the Bird is Dead
Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard, hosts of The Ringer’s “Every Single Album” podcast, join to break down how Taylor Swif has navigated the internet era to build one of the most successful music careers of all time.
Jul 30, 2023 The Strike to Keep Hollywood Human, with Adam Conover
Straight off the picket line, comedian and WGA negotiator, Adam Conover gives a behind the scenes look into Hollywood's historic dual strike.
Jul 23, 2023 Big Tech vs. Hollywood; AI vs. Journalism; Socialists vs. Bananas
Will Big Tech break Hollywood? Futurist Madeline Ashby on the evolving entertainment industry. Max + Jon on bananas under socialism.
Jul 16, 2023 Is 2024 the AI Election? Plus, an OG Twitter Exec on Elon, Threads, and Tech Bros
Jason Goldman, former Chief Digital Officer in the Obama White House, joins Offline to break down “the AI election.” He and Jon talk through their fears for AI in politics, the ways they wish they could have used AI during their stints in the White House, and Jon asks Jason, a former VP at Twitter, his thoughts on Elon Musk’s leadership at the the app he helped build. Plus: Max and Jon talk about Sarah Silverman’s…
Jul 9, 2023 QAnon is Thriving, Twitter is Dying, Zuck to the Rescue?
Will Sommer joins Offline to break down QAnon. Max + Jon join Threads.
Jun 25, 2023 Joe Rogan Debates Vaccines, Elon Challenges Zuck, and the Submarine Discourse
Jon and Max answer your questions about AI, unions, writing and fallen titans — submersible and tech leader alike. Plus, America Dissected’s Dr. Abdul El-Sayed joins Offline to talk about how the internet age endangers public health, how to persuade people to get vaccinated, and why debates are the wrong setting to talk about science, especially when RFK Jr. is involved.
Jun 18, 2023 Why You Should Make Silly Things
Simone Giertz, YouTube’s favorite inventor and robotics enthusiast, joins Offline this week to discuss the joy of building useless things and why adults should be able to play like kids do. She and the guys talk about overcoming perfectionism, the joys of “forward facing” activities, and how branding pastimes as productive vs. meaningless undermines the creative process. Jon and Max train their sights on Simone’s…
Jun 11, 2023 How to Break Your Phone Addiction
Catherine Price, science journalist and author of How to Break Up with Your Phone, joins the show to close out The Offline Challenge.
May 28, 2023 The Kids Are Not Alright. Is Social Media to Blame?
Social media is ubiquitous among young people. But is it safe? Dr. Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States, joins Offline to break down a new Surgeon General’s Advisory that warns social media may be harmful to children and offers Jon a doctor’s perspective on how to overcome his phone addiction.
May 21, 2023 Is Fox News Doomed?
Kat Abu and Andrew Lawrence watch Fox News every night so you don’t have to. As researchers at Media Matters, a right-wing media watchdog, it’s their job to monitor the conspiracies and propaganda spreading on the network. Andrew is one of the nation’s leading Fox experts, having watched primetime Fox since the 2016 campaign and Kat has recently brought their work to new audiences, breaking down Fox News in weekly…
May 14, 2023 Did Clickbait Kill Buzzfeed and the Digital Media Era?
Ben Smith, Semafor founder and former Editor-in-Chief of Buzzfeed News, joins Offline to discuss what the shuttering of newsrooms at Buzzfeed and Vice means for the future of journalism. Ben’s new book, Traffic, traces the rise and fall of the digital media era. He and Jon talk about the personalities and publications that caused this phenomenon, the value of clickbait, and how the race to go viral was doomed from…
May 7, 2023 Jon and Max Surrender Their iPhones
Introducing Offline’s Unplug Challenge! Jon and Max reflect on how their screen addictions have worsened their focus, hijacked their social lives, and even broken some bones. Faced with damning screen time reports, the guys take a big first step towards overcoming their compulsive smartphone habits. Offline Unplugged is a multi-week series that will invite hosts and listeners alike to rediscover the world that’s…
May 3, 2023 How is Collective Grief Rewiring our Brains | Hysteria Excerpt
A feed drop from Crooked’s very own Hysteria!
Apr 30, 2023 Hasan Piker Wants the Left to Persuade, Not Scold
Hasan Piker, viral political streamer, joins Offline to talk about Tucker Carlson’s demise, the 2024 election, and what it is about wokeism that makes him twitch. Hasan has been one of Gen Z’s most influential commentators for years, and his 8-hour daily streams blend current events, leftist ideals and pop culture savvy. Hasan talks to Jon about his approach to political persuasion, how to appeal to the next…
Apr 23, 2023 How the Internet is Radicalizing Young Men
Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project and author of Men Who Hate Women and Fix the System, Not Women , joins Offline to shed light on one of the darkest corners of the internet: the manosphere. Made up of tens of thousands of incels, pick up artists, and white supremacists, the manosphere is an online hotbed of misogyny with violent real-world implications. Laura describes how she went undercover to…
Apr 16, 2023 John Green Doesn’t Think the World is Ending (Yet)
John Green, bestselling author and YouTube Vlogbrother , joins Offline to share lessons from his most recent book, The Anthropocene Reviewed. His collection of essays rates historical events, philosophical musings and personal anecdotes on a 5-star scale that, these days, feels both inescapable and indispensable. The Jo(h)ns talk through the faults in these stars, and the importance of finding ways to live…
Apr 9, 2023 Should America Ban TikTok?
This week we’re bringing you the TikTok debate we wish we had from Congress. Featuring perspectives from V Spehar, host of TikTok’s Under the Desk News; Senator Mark Warner, lead sponsor of the RESTRICT Act; and Graham Webster, Chinese technology expert. Over three interviews, Jon and Max offer a smarter debate for and against banning TikTok. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here . For a…
Mar 26, 2023 The End of Big Tech as We Know It
Jon welcomes Max Fisher, Crooked’s newest team member, to the Offline family! Max, former New York Times reporter and author of The Chaos Machine, joins the show as a recurring contributor, bringing fresh commentary, segments, and even interviews to Offline. This week he and Jon put their heads together to decode AI hysteria, the TikTok ban, and whether big tech has passed its prime. For a closed-captioned version…
Mar 19, 2023 How to Beat Fox News
Andy Kroll, author and ProPublica journalist, joins Offline to discuss the one thing Fox News fears: lawsuits. Kroll’s new book, A Death on W Street: The Murder of Seth Rich and the Age of Conspiracy, recounts how conspiracists co-opted a young man’s tragic death, the role of Fox News in perpetuating those lies, and how the Rich family fought back and won. He and Jon talk about what this means for the Dominion…
Mar 12, 2023 Margaret Atwood on Good, Evil and Stupidity
Margaret Atwood, famed author, poet and “dystopia prophet,” joins Offline to talk about fighting tyranny and finding hope. Much like her latest book, Old Babes in the Wood, Atwood’s conversation with Jon sandwiches her thoughts and fears on the present between poignant chapters of the past. They discuss censorship, religion, parenting and how to listen for what you can’t hear. For a closed-captioned version of this…
Mar 5, 2023 What Do We Lose if We Lose Black Twitter?
Jason Parham, senior writer at WIRED, walks Jon through the evolution and legacy of Black Twitter. Parham’s three-part series, “A People’s History of Black Twitter,” follows the online community from its early days of late night takes, through an era of platform dominance, and into an uncertain future. He joins Offline to discuss how Black Twitter has shaped the last ten years of discourse and activism, how the…
Feb 26, 2023 What Happened To Your Ambition? | Work Appropriate
Offline's crew is *offline* this week but we're excited to share one of our favorite recent episodes of Crooked's podcast Work Appropriate hosted by Anne Helen Petersen. In this episode Anne, along with guest Rainesford Stauffer, author of the forthcoming All the Gold Stars: Reimagining Ambition and the Ways We Strive, field listener-submitted questions about the real-life issues they're running into at work due to…
Feb 19, 2023 Are We Amusing Ourselves to Death?
Megan Garber, staff writer at the Atlantic, joins Offline to explain how we’re already living in the Metaverse––not with headsets and legless avatars, but via a continuous stream of immersive entertainment. Jon and Megan discuss how our internet jargon, scandal-to-miniseries pipeline, and former reality TV president all reflect a blurring of fact and fiction. And they ask: when everything becomes entertainment,…
Feb 12, 2023 What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from an 84 Year Study on Happiness
Dr. Robert Waldinger, Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, joins Offline to talk about his new book “The Good Life: Lessons From the Longest Study on Happiness.” Bob and Jon discuss how close relationships are the secret to a fulfilling life, why technology can make us lonelier, and what 84 years of data teach us about coming together and growing apart. For a closed-captioned version of this episode,…
Feb 5, 2023 Who Can Own the Most Libs? Tim Miller on the ’24 GOP Primary
Tim Miller, former Republican operative, current Never Trumper, and contributor at the Bulwark, joins Jon to kickoff the GOP’s very online, very weird 2024 presidential primary. The two discuss Donald Trump’s return to Facebook, Ron DeSantis’ culture wars, and the competition for MAGA media’s stars, trolls, and grifters. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here . For a transcript of this episode,…
Jan 29, 2023 What’s With All the Tech Layoffs?
Amazon, Google, Facebook and the entire tech sector just laid off tens of thousands of employees. How did America’s fastest growing industry become its most troubled? Annie Lowrey, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins Offline to break it down. She makes the case that while this moment may be particularly bad for tech, for the rest, better days are probably right around the corner. For a closed-captioned version of…
Jan 22, 2023 Do Dating Apps Make it Harder to Find Love?
Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz and Lakshmi Rengarajan, hosts of the newest season of The Cut’s Land of the Giants, join Offline to talk about how apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble have redefined romance. They’ve named the season “Dating Games” and ask whether the goals of dating app companies are aligned with our romantic aspirations. Jon talks to them about the ways internet dating has gamified romance, what the current…
Jan 15, 2023 Two Writers Wonder If They’ll Be Replaced By AI
Evan Puschak, also known as The Nerdwriter, joins Offline to discuss ChatGPT, the revolutionary artificial intelligence chatbot from OpenAI. In his most recent video essay, “The Real Danger of ChatGPT,” Puschak explores how AI could erode our fundamental ability to understand ourselves and the world around us. He sits down with Jon to discuss that essay, evaluate the strengths and limitations of ChatGPT, and talk…

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Offline with Jon Favreau

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