The Gist
For thirty minutes each day, Pesca challenges himself and his audience, in a responsibly provocative style, and gets beyond the rigidity and dogma. The Gist is surprising, reasonable, and willing to critique the left, the right, either party, or any idea.
1401
Hungry for Murder
Why are we so obsessed with true crime?
25 min
1402
Comedy Week: Late-Night
Has the late-night show lost its political teeth?
32 min
1403
Comedy Week: Film
How have streaming and comedic taste changed the comedy movie?
29 min
1404
Comedy Week: Podcasts
Talking to your funny friends might be the ticket.
34 min
1405
Comedy Week: Improv
Is kindness the next step in comedy?
36 min
1406
Comedy Week: Stand-Up Comedy
Has the world gotten too sensitive for stand-up comedy?
35 min
1407
Do the Hustle
Lorene Scafaria on directing Hustlers
30 min
1408
Leave It to Lovett
Jon Lovett’s roundtable podcast is a liberal hit, but does everybody agree too much?
28 min
1409
The Ousting of Donald Sterling
How the NBA purged their ranks.
30 min
1410
The Made-for-TV President
Anti-heroes are great TV characters, but terrible real-world leaders.
25 min
1411
Scientific Solutions to Absurdity
Randall Munroe on how to approach ridiculous problems with scientific rigor.
27 min
1412
It’s an Economist’s World
Number crunchers weren’t always at the levers of power in America—and we should question where their groupthink has led us.
29 min
1413
How We Speak Internet
Time spent scrolling and typing has shaped our vocabulary. And emojis are just the start.
28 min
1414
Lobbying for Good?
Most people think of lobbyists as political manipulators, but really they’re just playing the game the Constitution created.
37 min
1415
The Big Power of Right-Wing Radio
How Rush Limbaugh wrote the playbook on hijacking political discourse.
28 min
1416
To Greta Goes the Glory?
Not everyone has two weeks to sail across the Atlantic like Sweden’s young activist just did. But of course, that’s the point.
29 min
1417
The Mystery of Ivanka Trump
Vanessa Grigoriadis’ new podcast dives deep on the first daughter and the Trump cult.
30 min
1418
They Tried to Cancel You
Katie Herzog went through it in 2017 and now filmmaker Rhys Ernst endures it with his new film Adam.
29 min
1419
What’s in a Face, Anyway?
When Sadie Dingfelder mistook a stranger in a grocery store for her husband she realized she had a thing called face blindness.
30 min
1420
David Koch Was Bad. But Evil? Eh.
The billionaire poured money into enacting his libertarian values. But he sincerely believed—however benightedly—that these were best.
31 min
1421
Visiting the Migrant Families in Crisis
Sen. Jeff Merkley knows we can do better.
31 min
1422
Trump Is America
At least to him and the rest of the world.
27 min
1423
When the CIA’s “Dark Side” Works
28 min
1424
Tim Ryan’s Big Plans
His ideas would sound out there if he didn’t also know how to implement them.
31 min
1425
What Happened to Sha Na Na
And who were they?
30 min