Interview podcasts are the present-day commodity equivalent to perfumes in the mid-2000s. That is to say, every celebrity has one. For better or worse, they’ve become the mainstay of the podcasting industry. They’re fast, dynamic, and relatively inexpensive to make. Most guests will waive their normal appearance fees to flog their latest book — or even worse, to promote their new podcast. These shows often become a snake eating its own tail, with nobody to blame but us for tuning in. There’s a reason that storytelling podcasts like This American Life still sound fresh; when interview podcasts become mechanical, they lose the human interest angle. And sadly, there are a lot of poor interviews out there. Many claim to platform today’s brightest luminaries. That’s no excuse for a lack of fact-checking or click-bait titles designed to inflame already charged issues. The best interview podcasts illuminate topics through thoughtful discussion, regardless of their subject matter. They shine in this saturated podcast genre. — Alice Florence Orr
We’ve been fans of The Dream since Jane Marie launched her first season in late 2018. It was a limited series that explored the murky world of Multi-level Marketing (MLMs) that resonated with true crime fans and the sort of people who watch video essays on YouTube. While many scam podcasts have come and gone, we stuck with The Dream through two more enjoyable but flawed seasons.
Against a difficult financial landscape, Jane Marie has relaunched The Dream as a weekly interview podcast that platforms the fascinating witnesses and experts that were once the backbone of her investigative series. Think ex-cult members, MLM whistleblowers, and cultural commentators. While I was sceptical of the transition at first, I’m delighted to say that I’m enjoying most of these episodes as much as her later series on self-development and wellness trends. — AFO
When it comes to interviewing big names with humor and intention, few people have mastered it better than Marc Maron. From Anthony Bourdain to Michelle Yeoh, it often feels as if he has interviewed everyone in the business on his podcast.
Each episode of WTF begins with a diary entry-like monologue. They sound like they were recorded in a murky motel room. Maron often sounds downtrodden and world-weary; long-time followers will know he’s dealt with addiction and loss. The Atlantic’s James Parker puts it well: “There’s a grinding, a gnawing, in his delivery, something slightly serrated that tells of terrible nights in toilet clubs, of jokes ceasing to be jokes and entire sets going south.”
Maron has honed his interview style down to a sharp point. He knows what makes interesting conversation and what doesn’t. Sometimes, like in an episode with Robert Siegel, you can almost hear the cogs whirring in Maron’s head as his guest begins to bore him. His questioning can be abrasive, his guests pressured to deliver interesting content or risk interruption. Nonetheless, Maron is a master. He has no time for spiels or soliloquies. He is very much on-stage with his guests, chewing the fat about where they grew up, duking it out for the benefit of the audience, and bouncing off each other for impromptu comedy routines. Maron doesn’t force poignance where there isn’t any but occasionally you hear one of those gob-smacking WTF moments where both Marc and his guest realise something for the first time as they are recording. It’s worth tuning in for. — Matthew Seaton
Alastair Campell and Rory Stewart have become household names in the UK not for their respective stints in government (Campell was a Labour strategist in the ’90s and Stewart is a former Tory MP), but for their popular podcast The Rest is Politics. As the biggest podcasts in the country, they can command an impressive calibre of guest on their sister show Leading. While they provoke ire from listeners on the more radical ends of the political spectrum, Campell and Stewart have succeeded with a pragmatic, cooperative, and centrist approach that extends to their roster of high-profile guests. They have interviewed former politicians on both the left and right, and are especially good when engaging with figures working in international development or European politics.
Leading is better than its peers for three reasons: Campbell’s interviewing, Stewart’s knowledge of global events, and the interrogative approach they bring to every interview. This pair have rarely shied from challenging interviews, such as with the former head of Mossad and the new president of Syria. While their main show may be an easier listen, as it is essentially a news analysis podcast, Leading is essential for everyone interested in current events, politics, and finding common ground. — AFO
The Assignment With Audie Cornish
Audie Cornish has been a big name in podcasting for a long time. Her interview podcast, The Assignment, is a case study of nuanced conversations on often misunderstood topics like online culture, gender identity, and political policy. Cornish takes a different approach to these topics than your conventional interviewer. Instead of engaging only with high-profile experts or politicians, she interviews people directly affected by the issue up for discussion. It seems obvious, yet few podcasts interview people at ground zero on any given topic. It’s a shame.
The Assignment stands out for its balanced questioning. Cornish gives her guests grace to express their experiences without letting the conversation become derailed. If you’re tired of click-bait interview podcasts on the most important issues of our day (you know the ones I’m talking about), then try The Assignment on your next commute.
Since moving from Vox to The New York Times, writer and journalist Ezra Klein has reinvented his show as one of the most politically relevant podcasts available. Klein’s methodology is simple: use quality guests to challenge, question and refine the ideas that he writes about in his column. He draws connections between key political issues while developing a serious, sustained conversation on contemporary life.
When Klein is away, his show’s producer takes the interviewer chair, with the same keen attention and inquisitive manner. You realise that behind Ezra is a whole team working away, which gives the rest of us some relief when wondering how to match the man’s incredible work ethic. The research that goes into each episode makes it a cut above any other show discussing politics and social science. If you’re not tuning in, you’re missing essential conversations about our world and the way we live. — MS
Listening to musicians talk about their work is fascinating. It allows you to understand not just how technically complicated their craft is, but how professionally savvy you need to be to make it. Then again, avid music listeners already know all of this, so why keep listening to a music interview podcast like Broken Record? One thing is the mysticism. “Why did you make this album?” the show’s hosts might ask. “I had a good vibe and I just went with it,” often comes the reply. It might sound faintly ridiculous stuff, like a visionary or soothsayer in the wrong era, but the proof is in the outcome: the music is incredible. In these in-depth interviews, we are listening in to creatives whose inspiration is rarely easy to put into words.
Interviews are taken by one of the four hosts: Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, and Justin Richmond. Each is effective in a different way, though my pick is music producer veteran Rubin, who often conducts his interviews as if he were the guest’s family member, supportive and deeply understanding. Just like us, he is fascinated by the mystery of music-making. And despite the name, it never becomes repetitive. — MS
When I first reviewed Call Her Daddy in 2019, I could never have foreseen that what was once an immature and unpalatable babble between “friends” would become one of the biggest interview podcasts in the world. But after a highly public break-up between current host Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn (as well as a clever rebrand), Call Her Daddy is not only popular, it served an essential role in 2024’s “podcast election” when Presidential nominee Kamala Harris joined Cooper for an extended interview.
Beyond politics, Cooper has steered Call Her Daddy from an uninhibited sex and dating show into a celebrity interview podcast that uses the “exclusives” it splashes across socials to drive growth. One such exclusive was a surprise conversation with The Bachelor contestant Rachael Kirkconnell mere days after her shock breakup from Matt James. It was what everyone wanted. But only Cooper wasn’t afraid to ask for it.
Call Her Daddy is a show designed to generate viral sound bites. By transitioning away from the shock approach that Barstool originally designed for the show, Cooper has captured a more enduring interest: our fascination with celebrity gossip. The interviews are still about dating, sex, and Los Angeles, but from the perspectives of deeply flawed, almost childish celebrities who already have established fan bases. It’s an easy model to scale.
Conversely, Cooper has grown up. She is now a married businesswoman who shines not as a provocateur but as an empath for the famous and infamous. — AFO
Jordan Harbinger’s podcast is described as “real intelligent talk” with visionary change-makers and creative leaders. While many shows claim a similar calibre of podcast interviews, Harbinger follows through. This former Wall Street Lawyer turned podcaster has a knack for compelling conversation, presenting every interview not as an ego-building exercise for the guest, but as a source of learning for the listener. And while there’s plenty of conventional self-development content here, the scope of its interviews elevates The Jordan Harbinger Show from a conventional interview podcast to something special. From authors to explorers to economists, you could easily rename this show to “Really Interesting People”. If it’s not already on your weekly inspiration rotation, add it now. — AFO
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
This award-winning podcast from actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld) was created to champion the voices of older women. While full of wisdom, these women are often pushed aside after a certain age, so Wiser Than Me‘s premise goes. Since launching in 2023, Louis-Dreyfus has interviewed dozens of funny and compelling women, from Nancy Pelosi to Patti LaBelle. And the result is wonderful. Louis-Dreyfus has a comic mind, but it is her empathetic and charismatic interview style that makes Wiser Than Me an exemplary interview podcast. — AFO
¤
Alice Florence Orr is a staff writer and managing editor for Podcast Review. She is a writer and freelance media strategist.
Matthew Seaton contributed to this article. He is a writer based in Glasgow and is a founding editor of the event-zine chewgulpspit.