The Sam Sanders Show

Big Freedia is best known as the Queen of Bounce, but her new gospel album Pressing Onward showcases her holy roots. 

She tells Sam about growing up as a young gay church kid in New Orleans, what moved her to make a gospel album, and how twerking and praising God go hand in hand. Plus, Big Freedia breaks down her iconic feature on Beyoncé’s 2016 hit single &ldquo...

Beyoncé just wrapped her Cowboy Carter era, which saw an acclaimed world tour, historic Grammys wins, and a lot of backlash. So what does her massive crossover really mean for country music and its politics?

Writer and cultural critic Tressie McMillan Cottom joins Sam to unpack whether or not country music still has a race problem (spoiler alert: it does), the reaction to Beyonc...

This week, writer Anne Helen Petersen unpacks the idea of Feminist Exhaustion — a term she coined to describe the burnout, backlash, and disillusionment many women feel toward the hollow promises of modern feminism. Sam and Anne explore how pop culture shaped (and warped) our ideas of empowerment through shows like Scandal, Girls and basically every recent Nicole Kidman project. Plus, they di...

We’re halfway through the year, so it’s time for a pop culture check-in! 

Sam is joined by two of your faves  — Linda Holmes (Pop Culture Happy Hour) and Ronald Young Jr. (Leaving the Theater, Weight For It) — to break down the best and worst of the year so far. From Sinners to The Studio to Love Island and the online discourse that kept us all talking...

Atsuko Okatsuka’s comedy is bright and joyful, yet rooted in trauma. In this episode, she joins Sam to talk about her wild childhood, including being kidnapped by her grandmother, growing up undocumented in LA, and navigating her mother’s schizophrenia. They also talk about Atsuko’s new Hulu special Father, and what it reveals about marriage, mental illness, and emotional survival...

Today we’re sharing an episode from our friends at The Big Flop!

Every week, the show unpacks pop culture’s most fascinating flops, frauds, and fiascos. In this episode, host Misha Brown throws back to Woodstock '99 with Sam and Lindy West (Text Me Back!). The music fest was meant to commemorate the original 1969 festival with “three days of peace and music” but...

Allison Williams became a millennial icon as Marnie on HBO’s Girls — but her second act is even more thrilling. From Get Out to M3GAN, she’s carved out a new space as a horror star and unexpected scream queen. In this episode, Allison joins Sam to unpack what draws her to morally messy characters, and why she keeps playing women we love to hate. They dive into her newest film, M3G...

We’re taking a little break from the show week, but very excited to share an episode from the Normal Gossip podcast. It’s a hilarious show with a simple premise: listeners send in the strangest, juiciest gossip they’ve heard, then host Rachelle Hampton dishes it all out. In this episode, Sam and Rachelle break down a case of “accidental” love-bombing at a Colombian hos...

Actor Jeff Hiller opens up about his journey from church kid in Texas to queer fame in Hollywood. Jeff and Sam swap stories of growing up gay in conservative Christian spaces, where church was both a sanctuary and a source of shame. They unpack the complicated ways faith and queerness collide. They also break down how Hollywood struggles to tell stories about people who are queer, religious, workin...

This week, we’re building the ultimate Queer Hollywood Mount Rushmore. Who belongs on the mountain of the most iconic LGBTQ+ entertainers in history? 

Sam is joined by comedians Cameron Esposito and Jay Jurden for a fast, funny, and heartfelt debate covering everyone from RuPaul to Little Richard, Janelle Monáe to George Michael, and Abraham Lincoln. Yes, we put Linco...

We all know the saga of Britney Spears. Her meteoric rise, followed by a grim downfall and a troubling conservatorship. Her story captured a generation. But what does it say about America and ourselves?

Sam reflects on it all with journalists Andrea Domanick and Jeff Weiss. They break down Britney’s impact on music, the tabloids that encroached on her private life and how she bec...

Comedian Zainab Johnson joins Sam for a smart, funny, and unfiltered conversation about identity, comedy, and power. 

They dive into her standup special Hijabs Off (now on Prime Video), where Zainab explores what it means to be Black, Muslim, and a woman in America — and why that trifecta still feels radical. She opens up about performing in a post-DEI Hollywood, navigating ...

Some movies are so bad, they become iconic. Think Cats, Joker: Folie à Deux, Madame Web, and The Flash—massive flops that cost studios millions and spark endless debate. 

Sam breaks down why these high-profile films failed – and whether Hollywood is learning anything from its most embarrassing box office bombs. Lizzie Bassett and Chris Winterbauer of the Wh...

The ice bucket challenge is back, Lady Gaga’s making dance-pop again, and everyone’s hoarding tinned fish. Could it all mean… a recession?

Comedians Zach Zimmerman and Eliot Glazer join us to unpack the internet’s funniest (and eeriest) recession indicator memes — from “recession blonde” to layaway coachella tickets to the return of vampire mo...

After almost 20 years of box office dominance, is the Marvel Cinematic Universe starting to fall apart? 

Sam dives deep into the highs and lows of Marvel with two sharp pop culture minds, Kyle Buchanan (NY Times) and Tracy Brown (LA Times), exploring what’s gone wrong in recent years — and whether Thunderbolts* marks a real reset or just more of the same. They dig into...

This episode is nothing but hot takes!

In a world drowning in opinions, Sam and friends serve up their spiciest ones — the kind that spark debate, start drama, or are just too real to admit out loud.

TV writer and producer Kara Brown (Swarm, She-Hulk, Grown-ish) joins to argue that spoilers aren’t actually bad — and she means it. But not so fast: Sam&rsqu...

How is entertainment changing with our current political moment? 

Hollywood networks are scrapping trans storylines, DEI pipelines set up after 2020 are shutting down, and the conservative universe is thriving online. Are big studios chasing Donald Trump voters like the last time he was elected? Or is the chokehold of social media influencing how everyone else does business? Sam unpacks it all...

Marsai Martin became a star at just 9 years old on Black-ish. Now 20, she’s holding her own opposite Viola Davis in the new action thriller G20. Sam talks with Marsai about growing up in Hollywood, why she avoids “Black pain” roles, and how her Texas upbringing keeps her grounded. Plus, her mom Carol joins the conversation to share the family values that helped Marsai thrive in th...