September 18, 2023 • 18 mins
On this episode of "Podversations", join iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group CEO, Conal Byrne and the hosts of The Daily Zeitgeist podcast, Jack O’Brien and Miles Gray.
Listen in to find out how Jack and Miles look at an overwhelming mountain of news every day and boil it down to the essentials while using comedy to make it more accessible. How do they keep up with everything that is happening while still having a good time and offering listeners that same shared experience?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
iHeartRadio presents Conversations, a weekly discussion with the biggest names
and influencers in podcasting. I want to learn the secret
psycho rituals scrubstars Zach Braff and Donald Beson used before
Every Fake Doctor's Real Friends taping, how Vice News.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Parachutes into war zones to.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Rescue journalists from life threatening situations.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
For why Pagan Michael Key of Plumhouse believe three D
audio is the future of storytelling. Whether you're a newbie
trying to break into the podcast game or an exec
trying to refine your playbook, Conversations is the easiest way
to keep your pulse on the industry.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Hey, everybody, thank you so much for joining us again
on these Thursday speaker series that we've been doing. This
is very honestly my favorite thirty minutes in the week
when I get to take a break and talk to
people that I either really admire in the industry and
sometimes our friends of mine too, and today is definitely
both of those. Today is a very cool session for
(01:06):
me personally. I get to talk to two friends of mine,
but also just two creators that I think are at
the top of their game in podcasting and comedy. We
launched a show before we were part of iHeartRadio. We
were a company called Stuff Media and we've been building
a podcast network for almost ten years. And one of
the shows we launched, one of the last shows we
(01:27):
actually launched before getting acquired by iHeartRadio to become the
iHeartRadio podcast division, was a show called The Daily Zeitgeist,
and today we have two hosts from that show, Jack
O'Brien and Miles Gray joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Jack.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Miles, first of all, I know you guys are slammed
for reasons that we will get into as we talk
about what you do with your days and weeks, But
first of all, just thank you so much for joining today.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It really doesn't mean a lot to me.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
Thanks for having me, us for having us.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Jack, I'll start with you, so like, I think one
of the coolest things about podcasting is that it's still
a relative, simply new medium, and anybody in this medium
didn't start out as a podcaster. They were doing something
before they were doing podcasting.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I think that keeps it really interesting.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
We all have sort of diverse backstories, and we bring
a lot of other industries to the table, whether it's
TV or film or print or whatever the case may be. So, Jack,
what were you doing before you were doing podcasting full time?
Speaker 6 (02:23):
Sure, I started a website like a decade ago or
more called crack dot com. It was just like a
humor website. I was just out of college, and we
kind of steadily grew that over the course of a
decade to be a pretty massive humor site. But there
were just some things about the online publishing, whether it
be articles or videos, that were becoming more and more frustrating.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
You know, we were more and more reliant.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
On social media to get our content distributed, and social
media was more and more willing to throttle your content,
just depending on how much you pay it. Meanwhile, I
had also long a podcast for that website that I
hosted called the Cracked Podcast and very creatively titled. That
was just the most fun part of my job. I
(03:08):
loved podcasting. I loved the direct access that it gave
me to our audience. It also kind of gave a
look behind the scenes because I would just take the
most interesting conversations from our editorial room and like bring
them to our audience, and I just felt like there
was a huge opportunity there. And also it was just
(03:29):
the type of content I was consuming more than any
other type of content, and it just seemed like it
was kind of circumvented some of those issues we were
having in the online publishing space, whether it be video
or written stuff, because there's so many different paths in
podcasting to reach an audience, so you get directly plugged
(03:50):
into the people you're trying to reach.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Very cool Miles.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
What about you, man, what were you doing before being
a podcast full time?
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Before that?
Speaker 7 (03:57):
I mean going starting way back, used to work in
politics as a political consultant lobbyist for a number of years.
Got fully disillusioned by that, so I went into comedy
my first love, and from there I just basically was
like any comedian trying to become an improviser who got
on the office or parks and rec Eventually, once that
path dried out a bit, I started sort of making
(04:19):
viral video and viral content for different companies.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
So first started working for a radio station.
Speaker 7 (04:25):
In LA, then worked for YouTube, then Playboy, then Conde
Nast Entertainment was where I was right before coming to
the stuff media slash iHeart Network, where I was directing
and developing like video series for Condye nast entertainment. So
I've always kind of had my hands in the content space.
But I think like everything, like I was there the
(04:46):
beginning of digital video and then sort of like rowed
that out to like the top point, and podcasting was
just something that I was always consuming in the background
in my day to day.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
I was always making.
Speaker 7 (04:56):
Things for other people or other brands, and it felt, like,
you know, podcasting was just so appealing because it feels
like it's one of those places where the creators fully
in control of what they make. So it was an
anticipated switch that I made, and I haven't regretted it
since It's.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Pretty awesome to be able to sit in a room
and then this is a pretty good example of it,
like just the array of experiences that people bring to
this medium, the jobs they had before this medium. When
you guys rattle off all the stuff you were doing,
from political consultation to being you know, a member of
a founding team of a pretty big website, that I
think feeds all the creative muscle of this industry right now.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Is when you're in a room with.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
The executives who are leading it in green lighting shows
and developing shows, they're bringing a lot of other experience
to the table. So the daily zeitgeist, you guys developed
this idea. This has quietly built an insane super fan
base of listeners. And it's not even some niche anymore.
You're several million downloads a month on this show that
started out as a comedic take on pop culture and
(05:56):
the news cycle. Maybe I'll let you guys explain it
better than me, But now I think is evolved into
something a little more, maybe even more important than maybe
even you even thought to begin with. But we'll get
into that. Where did the idea come from Jack to
start with? Like, how did you guys sit down and say,
should probably do a show? This is the conceit this
is the format, this is what we wanted to be
a not be Just.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Walk us through that cycle a little bit.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
So, like I said, I podcasting was the way I
was consuming most content at the time that I came over,
and this was just a show that I wanted to
exist that didn't exist at the time. I found myself
refreshing my feed to like get the latest political podcasts
and pop culture podcast and there wasn't a show that
(06:38):
was daily that kind of brought them all together and
gave you kind of a survey of everything that was
going on, and then I've always just been passionate about
sort of wedding high and low culture. To Miles's point
about ninety day Fiance, I think his being in touch
with that part of the zeitgeist brings a lot of
insight to our show. Yesterday we had to really in
(06:59):
depth conversation on the show about the insights that you
can glean into our political moment based on what's happening
in The Bachelor at any given time, And like that
I think is the sweet spot for the show because
it's taking what is happening in sort of our collective
consciousness and tying it to you know, the political moment
and you know, some things that aren't always super fun
(07:22):
to talk about, but giving people an opportunity to experience
and stay up on those not fun things in a
way that keeps you feeling a lot.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And Miles, why did you hear about this and say
I want in that's the thing I want to put
a lot of my time against.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
That's exactly it what you drew to it.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
You know, like I was saying before I was a
condie nast and I was having a great time, like
making series like Google Auto Complete and like Accent Critique
and a lot of the.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Stuff that got a lot of views over there.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
But given the background of what was happening, I felt
that I had something more to offer aside from just
developing and directing little video content.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
I felt that I had a perspective that was pretty.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
Unique in that, you know, I've had my hands in
the machine politically from about two thousand and nine, and
you know, got into it very idealistically when Obama was
running for president, and then sort of once I began
to see for what it was, I you know, my
sort of perspective changed, and you know, Jack was asking
all kinds of people to gauge their interest to see
(08:26):
who would be like a good co host. But I
just felt having my feet in many different ponds and
working in different industries, it was like a really good fit.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
And again, like I was saying, it offered me.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
A moment to have a voice, really, and I never
really even thought of myself as someone who was going
to have a podcast or someone who would get into that.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
In my mind, I was like, yeah.
Speaker 7 (08:44):
I'll probably run a digital department doing video and.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
Stuff like that.
Speaker 7 (08:48):
But just the second Jack even asked me, like, all
these things clicked in my mind, and I was like absolutely, Actually,
I think this is the exact intersection of every job
and experience I've had that I can use to really
offer listeners something that will keep them engaged. And with
my background in political organizing, I realize, you know, apathy
is such a huge thing you have to fight against
(09:09):
when you want people to be politically engaged or to.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Be engaged at all.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
And this just felt like, Oh, it's just a great
opportunity where it's like, we're going to give you stuff
that is really meaningful, but you know, do it in
a way that feels conversational and accessible without just taking
all the doom in from it.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
You guys have launched an incredible show with a big
fan base now, but you are not just quote unquote
podcast hosts, right like you actually are part of the
leadership team that runs the iHeartRadio podcast networks La Studio,
and out of that studio we produce a ton of stuff, right,
So Will Ferrell's entire slate of shows, shondaland Audio produces
(10:05):
most of their stuff out of there. Shonda Rhimes's slate
of shows Chelsea Handler. The list goes on and on.
So Jack like, it's one thing to jump in and say,
I want to do a podcast. I have a very
clear idea what it is and what it should be about.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
It not about. But now you're executive producing a slate of.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Shows with truly some of the biggest creators of our
lives from any medium.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
What is that?
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Like?
Speaker 4 (10:28):
How do you shepherd somebody into this medium, like a
Will Ferrell who wants to bring this like conic ip
Ron Burgundy.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
How does that go?
Speaker 6 (10:36):
Yeah? Fortunately, the thing that's great about podcasting is giving
these incredibly talented people direct access to their audience without
a whole lot of mediation, even without a lot of cuts.
You're just letting people hear what it's really like to
be in a room with Ron Burgundy in some cases.
But Chelsea Handler, the Workaholics podcast, you know that was
(10:59):
one of my favorite shows.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
I know you really liked it. It was on Comedy
Central for seven seasons. But you know, we had one
meeting with these guys and we were like, Oh, that
show might as well have been a reality show. Like
they are their characters, the jokes that like they come
up with organically are the same like level of jokes
that like you were seeing on the show. They were
(11:21):
actually living in the Rundown house that they shot that
show in, So it was just we just got so
excited to be able to put that in front of
audiences and like, let the magic that is those guys
being in a room together just free and yeah, so
I mean a lot of it is super surreal. I
can still remember like going to Anchorman in movie theaters
(11:45):
and just having my world changed by just like how
brilliant that was. So like being in a room with
Will is unbelievable. But fortunately, because of this industry, it's
really easy to just tee them up and tee their team.
A lot of these folks just have these ecosystems around
them of people who are so good at the thing
(12:07):
they're good at, and so good at highlighting the thing
that they're good at. It's pretty easy in the podcast
space to tee those folks up and just let them
do what they do.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Miles, what's that moment like for you?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
And like you're brainstorming an episode a moment of bet
a shtick with a guy like Will Ferrell, and it's
weird because you're probably there, like dude is a comedic
hero of mine, but in that moment, you're the authority
because you know podcasting better than Will Ferrell does, Like
what's that like?
Speaker 5 (12:34):
It was one of those moments I remember.
Speaker 7 (12:37):
It was like, within a year and a half of
me leaving my job, if you had told me when
I had left to start working in podcasting just very
narrowly to work on Daily Zeitgeist and said you will
be giving notes to Will Ferrell and you will actually
be punching up some of his jokes and he will
say I like that and incorporated into a show. There's
(12:57):
no way I could. I saw no way to get there.
But that's shows you how immediately things have changed so quickly,
and like the amount of talent that's getting into the industry.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
It really is surreal.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
And it was actually one of the greatest moments I
think I've had. Is like one of the most validating
moments I've had where you're kind of reading a script
and you're like, uh, I think this joke could be better,
But who am I to tell Will.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Ferrell about this?
Speaker 7 (13:18):
But he's such a great collaborator that he'll stop and say,
I think maybe this could be better.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
What do you guys think?
Speaker 7 (13:24):
And he opens up the discussion for that and it
allows for I think that's truly like what makes this
all work really well is that it's collaborative and we're
allowing a lot of these creators to do a thing
that they actually themselves don't get to do a lot
because even for Will or the workaholics guys, there's standards
and practices, there's like legal stuff that goes to where
sometimes they might not be able to have a topic
(13:46):
or a joke. Not that necessarily that they're controversial, but
there are other stakeholders that have input, and I think
that's what is also really attractive, Especially for a lot
of these creators.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
It's like I'm everything.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
I'm the executive producer, I'm the show around, the writer
or I can call those shots. So it allows for
like really a new dimension of their creativity to come out.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
And it's just a blessing to.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Be there and yeah, with our knowledge and trust to
be able to you know, participate in that process is unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
I want to talk real quick before we wrap about
the brand's side of this.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
To switch gears for a second.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
I think that as podcasting hits one hundred million people
in the country now listening to podcasts every month, it's
also the best ad product out there.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And I think you.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Spoke to that a little bit, Miles when you say, like, look,
when creators come in, they realize they can own the
whole experience, and that is different and cool. And I
impress this upon new brands who're thinking about podcasting every day.
The ad load is light and we can define it.
Hosts will tell your message to their super fans. It
is the single best ad product in media right now.
(14:48):
Maybe just talk about that for a second, like, Miles,
from a creator's perspective, right, Like, it's one thing to
make a great show, and you guys do, but is
you being a part of and.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Controlling to some extent the ads as well? Is that
really meaningful to you? And maybe talk about a good
experience you had.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Absolutely.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
I mean I think you know, I used to make
branded video content before and it would be very stale,
Like I'd watch it and be like, man, I get
that this X company put a lot of money into
this branded video, but someone as a viewer is going
to be like, this is a branded video and I'm
going to check out. So when the opportunity came for
us to do ads or like, you know, like any
podcast you need to do ads, and you kind of
(15:26):
get like you're talking points and like there's no script
that I have to read verbatim. They're like, no, they
want you to express yourself. I'm like, that's perfect because
my personality isn't going to try and persuade someone that
I believe in a product by saying like and it
has been verified four out of five researchers like.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
No, I'm going to say, oh my wait, hold on,
how are you guys sleeping? What kind of better you want? Okay,
let me.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
Tell you about this thing I have because my back
hurts in this very specific place, Like I want to
be able to talk like I'm talking to somebody because
I'm very much like an advocate for things that I
love to people like early adopter and things like that.
So I'm always screaming from like the mountaintops about stuff
I love. So I think a great experience I had
personally was when Mazda wanted to do something with us.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
I drive a Mazda, so it was a no brain.
I love Mazda Cars.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
I just feel like I was like, I'm a fan,
so naturally I'm going to have a different connection with
it because I really believe in it and it's a
product I actually use. So I think that's really like
the X factor in it is that it allows a
for a creator to actually sincerely express themselves in service
of marketing something, but it's done in a way where
(16:33):
like a we can say who we choose to advertise with,
and then on top of that when we do, like
we're giving a great endorsement because we want to work
with them. It makes for like really fun adreads, and
I think our listeners also love that because we get
to be funny and it's not like a very straightforward
ad read.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
It's very much in the personality of the show.
Speaker 7 (16:49):
And so we get a lot of people who are
like still talk about old ads we've done, like for
the Economists or like Spotify, and they're like, do you
have that recorded somewhere And we're like, no, that was
just for a very brief window, but maybe we can
look yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I think some of the Ron Burgundy ad reads for
Sharman toilet Paper are some of the single best pieces
of content ever made by humans.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So good example.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
But look, it's not every day that you can say
like I'm making a great ad product for brands, I'm
also making a show that is just killer.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
So we are at time.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
I could genuinely talk to you guys for another half hour,
very easily, but I want to respect all our viewers
times too. Jack Miles, thank you guys so much for
taking a half hour to talk to us.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
I really do appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
It's one thing to launch a great comedy podcast. You
guys have done that, but I think it's another thing
to give something to listeners that's truly.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Thoughtful and meaningful through a comedic lens.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Usually in a year like this, it's actually content we need,
and so I really do deeply appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
And thank you guys for joining today. Thanks con thank
having us. Everybody. Stay safe. We will see you next Thursday.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Take care, guys, do know, n I don't know.
iHeartRadio presents Conversations, a weekly discussion with the biggest names
and influencers in podcasting. I want to learn the secret
psycho rituals scrubstars Zach Braff and Donald Beson used before
Every Fake Doctor's Real Friends taping, how Vice News.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Parachutes into war zones to.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Rescue journalists from life threatening situations.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
For why Pagan Michael Key of Plumhouse believe three D
audio is the future of storytelling. Whether you're a newbie
trying to break into the podcast game or an exec
trying to refine your playbook, Conversations is the easiest way
to keep your pulse on the industry.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Hey, everybody, thank you so much for joining us again
on these Thursday speaker series that we've been doing. This
is very honestly my favorite thirty minutes in the week
when I get to take a break and talk to
people that I either really admire in the industry and
sometimes our friends of mine too, and today is definitely
both of those. Today is a very cool session for
(01:06):
me personally. I get to talk to two friends of mine,
but also just two creators that I think are at
the top of their game in podcasting and comedy. We
launched a show before we were part of iHeartRadio. We
were a company called Stuff Media and we've been building
a podcast network for almost ten years. And one of
the shows we launched, one of the last shows we
(01:27):
actually launched before getting acquired by iHeartRadio to become the
iHeartRadio podcast division, was a show called The Daily Zeitgeist,
and today we have two hosts from that show, Jack
O'Brien and Miles Gray joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Jack.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Miles, first of all, I know you guys are slammed
for reasons that we will get into as we talk
about what you do with your days and weeks, But
first of all, just thank you so much for joining today.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It really doesn't mean a lot to me.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
Thanks for having me, us for having us.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Jack, I'll start with you, so like, I think one
of the coolest things about podcasting is that it's still
a relative, simply new medium, and anybody in this medium
didn't start out as a podcaster. They were doing something
before they were doing podcasting.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I think that keeps it really interesting.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
We all have sort of diverse backstories, and we bring
a lot of other industries to the table, whether it's
TV or film or print or whatever the case may be. So, Jack,
what were you doing before you were doing podcasting full time?
Speaker 6 (02:23):
Sure, I started a website like a decade ago or
more called crack dot com. It was just like a
humor website. I was just out of college, and we
kind of steadily grew that over the course of a
decade to be a pretty massive humor site. But there
were just some things about the online publishing, whether it
be articles or videos, that were becoming more and more frustrating.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
You know, we were more and more reliant.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
On social media to get our content distributed, and social
media was more and more willing to throttle your content,
just depending on how much you pay it. Meanwhile, I
had also long a podcast for that website that I
hosted called the Cracked Podcast and very creatively titled. That
was just the most fun part of my job. I
(03:08):
loved podcasting. I loved the direct access that it gave
me to our audience. It also kind of gave a
look behind the scenes because I would just take the
most interesting conversations from our editorial room and like bring
them to our audience, and I just felt like there
was a huge opportunity there. And also it was just
(03:29):
the type of content I was consuming more than any
other type of content, and it just seemed like it
was kind of circumvented some of those issues we were
having in the online publishing space, whether it be video
or written stuff, because there's so many different paths in
podcasting to reach an audience, so you get directly plugged
(03:50):
into the people you're trying to reach.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Very cool Miles.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
What about you, man, what were you doing before being
a podcast full time?
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Before that?
Speaker 7 (03:57):
I mean going starting way back, used to work in
politics as a political consultant lobbyist for a number of years.
Got fully disillusioned by that, so I went into comedy
my first love, and from there I just basically was
like any comedian trying to become an improviser who got
on the office or parks and rec Eventually, once that
path dried out a bit, I started sort of making
(04:19):
viral video and viral content for different companies.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
So first started working for a radio station.
Speaker 7 (04:25):
In LA, then worked for YouTube, then Playboy, then Conde
Nast Entertainment was where I was right before coming to
the stuff media slash iHeart Network, where I was directing
and developing like video series for Condye nast entertainment. So
I've always kind of had my hands in the content space.
But I think like everything, like I was there the
(04:46):
beginning of digital video and then sort of like rowed
that out to like the top point, and podcasting was
just something that I was always consuming in the background
in my day to day.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
I was always making.
Speaker 7 (04:56):
Things for other people or other brands, and it felt, like,
you know, podcasting was just so appealing because it feels
like it's one of those places where the creators fully
in control of what they make. So it was an
anticipated switch that I made, and I haven't regretted it
since It's.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Pretty awesome to be able to sit in a room
and then this is a pretty good example of it,
like just the array of experiences that people bring to
this medium, the jobs they had before this medium. When
you guys rattle off all the stuff you were doing,
from political consultation to being you know, a member of
a founding team of a pretty big website, that I
think feeds all the creative muscle of this industry right now.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Is when you're in a room with.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
The executives who are leading it in green lighting shows
and developing shows, they're bringing a lot of other experience
to the table. So the daily zeitgeist, you guys developed
this idea. This has quietly built an insane super fan
base of listeners. And it's not even some niche anymore.
You're several million downloads a month on this show that
started out as a comedic take on pop culture and
(05:56):
the news cycle. Maybe I'll let you guys explain it
better than me, But now I think is evolved into
something a little more, maybe even more important than maybe
even you even thought to begin with. But we'll get
into that. Where did the idea come from Jack to
start with? Like, how did you guys sit down and say,
should probably do a show? This is the conceit this
is the format, this is what we wanted to be
a not be Just.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Walk us through that cycle a little bit.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
So, like I said, I podcasting was the way I
was consuming most content at the time that I came over,
and this was just a show that I wanted to
exist that didn't exist at the time. I found myself
refreshing my feed to like get the latest political podcasts
and pop culture podcast and there wasn't a show that
(06:38):
was daily that kind of brought them all together and
gave you kind of a survey of everything that was
going on, and then I've always just been passionate about
sort of wedding high and low culture. To Miles's point
about ninety day Fiance, I think his being in touch
with that part of the zeitgeist brings a lot of
insight to our show. Yesterday we had to really in
(06:59):
depth conversation on the show about the insights that you
can glean into our political moment based on what's happening
in The Bachelor at any given time, And like that
I think is the sweet spot for the show because
it's taking what is happening in sort of our collective
consciousness and tying it to you know, the political moment
and you know, some things that aren't always super fun
(07:22):
to talk about, but giving people an opportunity to experience
and stay up on those not fun things in a
way that keeps you feeling a lot.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And Miles, why did you hear about this and say
I want in that's the thing I want to put
a lot of my time against.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
That's exactly it what you drew to it.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
You know, like I was saying before I was a
condie nast and I was having a great time, like
making series like Google Auto Complete and like Accent Critique
and a lot of the.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Stuff that got a lot of views over there.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
But given the background of what was happening, I felt
that I had something more to offer aside from just
developing and directing little video content.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
I felt that I had a perspective that was pretty.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
Unique in that, you know, I've had my hands in
the machine politically from about two thousand and nine, and
you know, got into it very idealistically when Obama was
running for president, and then sort of once I began
to see for what it was, I you know, my
sort of perspective changed, and you know, Jack was asking
all kinds of people to gauge their interest to see
(08:26):
who would be like a good co host. But I
just felt having my feet in many different ponds and
working in different industries, it was like a really good fit.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
And again, like I was saying, it offered me.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
A moment to have a voice, really, and I never
really even thought of myself as someone who was going
to have a podcast or someone who would get into that.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
In my mind, I was like, yeah.
Speaker 7 (08:44):
I'll probably run a digital department doing video and.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
Stuff like that.
Speaker 7 (08:48):
But just the second Jack even asked me, like, all
these things clicked in my mind, and I was like absolutely, Actually,
I think this is the exact intersection of every job
and experience I've had that I can use to really
offer listeners something that will keep them engaged. And with
my background in political organizing, I realize, you know, apathy
is such a huge thing you have to fight against
(09:09):
when you want people to be politically engaged or to.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Be engaged at all.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
And this just felt like, Oh, it's just a great
opportunity where it's like, we're going to give you stuff
that is really meaningful, but you know, do it in
a way that feels conversational and accessible without just taking
all the doom in from it.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
You guys have launched an incredible show with a big
fan base now, but you are not just quote unquote
podcast hosts, right like you actually are part of the
leadership team that runs the iHeartRadio podcast networks La Studio,
and out of that studio we produce a ton of stuff, right,
So Will Ferrell's entire slate of shows, shondaland Audio produces
(10:05):
most of their stuff out of there. Shonda Rhimes's slate
of shows Chelsea Handler. The list goes on and on.
So Jack like, it's one thing to jump in and say,
I want to do a podcast. I have a very
clear idea what it is and what it should be about.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
It not about. But now you're executive producing a slate of.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Shows with truly some of the biggest creators of our
lives from any medium.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
What is that?
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Like?
Speaker 4 (10:28):
How do you shepherd somebody into this medium, like a
Will Ferrell who wants to bring this like conic ip
Ron Burgundy.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
How does that go?
Speaker 6 (10:36):
Yeah? Fortunately, the thing that's great about podcasting is giving
these incredibly talented people direct access to their audience without
a whole lot of mediation, even without a lot of cuts.
You're just letting people hear what it's really like to
be in a room with Ron Burgundy in some cases.
But Chelsea Handler, the Workaholics podcast, you know that was
(10:59):
one of my favorite shows.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
I know you really liked it. It was on Comedy
Central for seven seasons. But you know, we had one
meeting with these guys and we were like, Oh, that
show might as well have been a reality show. Like
they are their characters, the jokes that like they come
up with organically are the same like level of jokes
that like you were seeing on the show. They were
(11:21):
actually living in the Rundown house that they shot that
show in, So it was just we just got so
excited to be able to put that in front of
audiences and like, let the magic that is those guys
being in a room together just free and yeah, so
I mean a lot of it is super surreal. I
can still remember like going to Anchorman in movie theaters
(11:45):
and just having my world changed by just like how
brilliant that was. So like being in a room with
Will is unbelievable. But fortunately, because of this industry, it's
really easy to just tee them up and tee their team.
A lot of these folks just have these ecosystems around
them of people who are so good at the thing
(12:07):
they're good at, and so good at highlighting the thing
that they're good at. It's pretty easy in the podcast
space to tee those folks up and just let them
do what they do.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Miles, what's that moment like for you?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
And like you're brainstorming an episode a moment of bet
a shtick with a guy like Will Ferrell, and it's
weird because you're probably there, like dude is a comedic
hero of mine, but in that moment, you're the authority
because you know podcasting better than Will Ferrell does, Like
what's that like?
Speaker 5 (12:34):
It was one of those moments I remember.
Speaker 7 (12:37):
It was like, within a year and a half of
me leaving my job, if you had told me when
I had left to start working in podcasting just very
narrowly to work on Daily Zeitgeist and said you will
be giving notes to Will Ferrell and you will actually
be punching up some of his jokes and he will
say I like that and incorporated into a show. There's
(12:57):
no way I could. I saw no way to get there.
But that's shows you how immediately things have changed so quickly,
and like the amount of talent that's getting into the industry.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
It really is surreal.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
And it was actually one of the greatest moments I
think I've had. Is like one of the most validating
moments I've had where you're kind of reading a script
and you're like, uh, I think this joke could be better,
But who am I to tell Will.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Ferrell about this?
Speaker 7 (13:18):
But he's such a great collaborator that he'll stop and say,
I think maybe this could be better.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
What do you guys think?
Speaker 7 (13:24):
And he opens up the discussion for that and it
allows for I think that's truly like what makes this
all work really well is that it's collaborative and we're
allowing a lot of these creators to do a thing
that they actually themselves don't get to do a lot
because even for Will or the workaholics guys, there's standards
and practices, there's like legal stuff that goes to where
sometimes they might not be able to have a topic
(13:46):
or a joke. Not that necessarily that they're controversial, but
there are other stakeholders that have input, and I think
that's what is also really attractive, Especially for a lot
of these creators.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
It's like I'm everything.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
I'm the executive producer, I'm the show around, the writer
or I can call those shots. So it allows for
like really a new dimension of their creativity to come out.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
And it's just a blessing to.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Be there and yeah, with our knowledge and trust to
be able to you know, participate in that process is unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
I want to talk real quick before we wrap about
the brand's side of this.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
To switch gears for a second.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
I think that as podcasting hits one hundred million people
in the country now listening to podcasts every month, it's
also the best ad product out there.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And I think you.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Spoke to that a little bit, Miles when you say, like, look,
when creators come in, they realize they can own the
whole experience, and that is different and cool. And I
impress this upon new brands who're thinking about podcasting every day.
The ad load is light and we can define it.
Hosts will tell your message to their super fans. It
is the single best ad product in media right now.
(14:48):
Maybe just talk about that for a second, like, Miles,
from a creator's perspective, right, Like, it's one thing to
make a great show, and you guys do, but is
you being a part of and.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Controlling to some extent the ads as well? Is that
really meaningful to you? And maybe talk about a good
experience you had.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Absolutely.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
I mean I think you know, I used to make
branded video content before and it would be very stale,
Like I'd watch it and be like, man, I get
that this X company put a lot of money into
this branded video, but someone as a viewer is going
to be like, this is a branded video and I'm
going to check out. So when the opportunity came for
us to do ads or like, you know, like any
podcast you need to do ads, and you kind of
(15:26):
get like you're talking points and like there's no script
that I have to read verbatim. They're like, no, they
want you to express yourself. I'm like, that's perfect because
my personality isn't going to try and persuade someone that
I believe in a product by saying like and it
has been verified four out of five researchers like.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
No, I'm going to say, oh my wait, hold on,
how are you guys sleeping? What kind of better you want? Okay,
let me.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
Tell you about this thing I have because my back
hurts in this very specific place, Like I want to
be able to talk like I'm talking to somebody because
I'm very much like an advocate for things that I
love to people like early adopter and things like that.
So I'm always screaming from like the mountaintops about stuff
I love. So I think a great experience I had
personally was when Mazda wanted to do something with us.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
I drive a Mazda, so it was a no brain.
I love Mazda Cars.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
I just feel like I was like, I'm a fan,
so naturally I'm going to have a different connection with
it because I really believe in it and it's a
product I actually use. So I think that's really like
the X factor in it is that it allows a
for a creator to actually sincerely express themselves in service
of marketing something, but it's done in a way where
(16:33):
like a we can say who we choose to advertise with,
and then on top of that when we do, like
we're giving a great endorsement because we want to work
with them. It makes for like really fun adreads, and
I think our listeners also love that because we get
to be funny and it's not like a very straightforward
ad read.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
It's very much in the personality of the show.
Speaker 7 (16:49):
And so we get a lot of people who are
like still talk about old ads we've done, like for
the Economists or like Spotify, and they're like, do you
have that recorded somewhere And we're like, no, that was
just for a very brief window, but maybe we can
look yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I think some of the Ron Burgundy ad reads for
Sharman toilet Paper are some of the single best pieces
of content ever made by humans.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So good example.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
But look, it's not every day that you can say
like I'm making a great ad product for brands, I'm
also making a show that is just killer.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
So we are at time.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
I could genuinely talk to you guys for another half hour,
very easily, but I want to respect all our viewers
times too. Jack Miles, thank you guys so much for
taking a half hour to talk to us.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
I really do appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
It's one thing to launch a great comedy podcast. You
guys have done that, but I think it's another thing
to give something to listeners that's truly.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Thoughtful and meaningful through a comedic lens.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Usually in a year like this, it's actually content we need,
and so I really do deeply appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
And thank you guys for joining today. Thanks con thank
having us. Everybody. Stay safe. We will see you next Thursday.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Take care, guys, do know, n I don't know.
Host
Conal Byrne
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