Panic World
A weekly podcast, hosted by Ryan Broderick, about how the internet warps our minds, our culture, and eventually reality.
Episodes
October 8, 2025 • 67 mins
Witches, curses, magic, and the internet overlap much more than you’d think — and not just because of the Etsy witch that cursed Charlie Kirk. The very online Peter Berkman and Luke Silas of the band Anamanaguchi join us to talk about the history of internet witches and witchcraft, and the spooky connections between the supernatural and digital worlds.
Our guests are members of Anamanaguchi, who you can catch on tour until October...
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October 3, 2025 • 23 mins
(SPOILER ALERT!) Grant hosts Ryan on his podcast to share their thoughts on One Battle After Another and what it says about the current state of the US, dads, Gen X, and compare its political commentary to Eddington and Weapons.
Check out the whole conversation on our Patreon — as well as ad-free episodes, bonuses, and other exclusives — and get the first month for just $0.50 with code PANICYEAR at https://www.patreon.com/PanicW...
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October 1, 2025 • 71 mins
Like many things, there used to be a bipartisan consensus that in a disaster, you help as many people get through it as quickly and safely as possible. In the past 20+ years, though, we’ve seen a shift in how the right responds to climate catastrophes — including building out a robust selection of conspiracy theories from chemtrails to Flat Earth. Will Menaker from Chapo Trap House joins us to discuss right-wing conspiracy theories...
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September 24, 2025 • 39 mins
Two of 2025’s biggest movie releases so far, Eddington (basically Panic World: The Movie) and Weapons, are not the same genre but they both offer interesting looks into the state of our society today. Grant joins Ryan to talk about the thematic links between them and examine the question: how do you cover moral panics, mass hysteria, and the internet without just commenting on everything else that’s already been said?
Check out th...
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September 17, 2025 • 76 mins
If you’ve spent any amount of time online in November, unfortunately you’ve heard of “No Fap,” a movement started over a decade ago by a subsection of very aggressive men who’ve created a pseudo-religion around the concept that all problems can be solved if you simply stop masturbating. Jeff & Kitty of the Free Country USA podcast join us to talk about the thousands-year-old history of anti-masturbation efforts and why it’s found s...
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September 12, 2025 • 70 mins
Ryan & Grant talk about the fallout from Charlie Kirk's killing, including what we know about the suspect in custody and what this means for current political climate in the US.
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September 10, 2025 • 58 mins
The band The Velvet Sundown broke through the music charts with millions of streams in months after coming from nowhere — and being an entirely AI band. Is it an existential threat to the health of the music industry and the internet when you can’t even tell if the “song of the summer” was sung by an actual human, or a robot? Music critic Anthony Fantano joins us to discuss.
Anthony Fantano runs The Needle Drop, where he reviews a...
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September 8, 2025 • 29 mins
On Wednesday, June 27th there was a shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school, killing two kids and injuring a dozen more people. The shooter took her own life, and left behind two YouTube videos and a manifesto that were dogwhistles for both The Order of Nine Angles (O9A) and 764, the latter of which we've previously covered on the show. Ryan & Grant talk about both of these networks and how the mainstream news and the internet ha...
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September 3, 2025 • 66 mins
They’re full of slime, weird crime, and seemingly a lot of fetish stuff. Today, we’re talking about the sloppiest of slop online these days, mobile game ads. An expert on the form, Chelsey Weber-Smith, joins us to talk about the history of the genre, from the earliest games like Evony to today’s prolific Lily’s Game, as well as what psychological tactics are being deployed in these banner ads, what makes anyone play these games, an...
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August 29, 2025 • 72 mins
This is a rerun from February this year, when 17 states in the US had banned PornHub. The tally now stands at 21, and both Mike Johnson and the Supreme Court don't seem fussed to stop there.
Have a listen, especially if you haven't already, before we come back with new episodes next Wednesday, September 3.
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As of this recording, 17 states don’t have access to PornHub. You might assume that’s because of very normal people like...
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August 27, 2025 • 27 mins
Hi, everyone!
We're out this week, but we wanted to share an episode of How Is This Better? featuring our very own, Ryan Broderick.
The episode covers the evolution of everyone's favorite: Mark Zuckerberg.
We'll be back next week with an all new Panic World, but for now – make sure you follow/subscribe to How Is This Better? wherever you get your podcasts!Subscribe to How Is This Better? on:
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
...
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August 20, 2025 • 71 mins
We made it nearly a year without having to cover Epstein, but with Trump and his allies consistently committing own-goals and bringing him up, the day has come. Today we’re talking about the Epstein files and what appears to be Trump’s most consequential weakness so far. Josie Duffy Rice joins us to talk about how and why Epstein became so central to the MAGA movement, and whether this could be the thing that finally cracks Trump’s...
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August 13, 2025 • 71 mins
If a fandom exists long enough in isolation, does it inevitably become toxic or at least, very strange? This is the main question we’ll be exploring today, through a story that begins in 1989. That’s the year that Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers premiered. More importantly, it’s when the world was introduced to a sweet little mouse girl, Gadget Hackwrench. Gadget became quite popular on a certain part of the internet, and PJ Vogt join...
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August 8, 2025 • 23 mins
Ryan and Grant discuss that American Eagle ad and why everyone is arguing about Sydney Sweeney's "good jeans."
Want to hear the rest of their conversation, and enjoy other cool stuff like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our Discord? Sign up for just five bucks a month at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld.
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August 6, 2025 • 65 mins
Eating disorder content has been a problem on the internet since as early as 2001, but it accelerated with the advent of social media. Today we’re examining why it’s become more prevalent than perhaps at any other time. EJ Dickson, a writer who investigated the #SkinnyTok community for The Cut, joins us to talk about the introduction of eating disorder content in the mainstream internet, its causes and characters.
Our guest EJ Dic...
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July 30, 2025 • 69 mins
Often, like in the case of the Momo Challenge, when parents freak out about a thing online, it’s probably not really a thing. But, today we are talking about one panic that is real — “764,” the comm-network that is gamifying committing crimes and abuse. Joining us is Marcus Parks of The Last Podcast on the Left, to dive into this conspiracy that’s more than a theory.
Our guest Marcus Parks is a host of The Last Podcast on the Left,...
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July 23, 2025 • 67 mins
What is the creepiest thing you’ve ever seen on the internet? For many people, it was Slenderman. This particularly lithe fellow started off as kind of a fun, spooky thing, and then of course got out of hand and caused a panic both on- and offline. We’re joined by Kaelyn Moore of Heart Starts Pounding to talk about his role taking creepypasta mainstream, and how Slenderman is still lurking in our cultural consciousness over 16 year...
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July 16, 2025 • 64 mins
In April this year the UK Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a “woman” excludes trans women. Then — apparently celebrating her years-long TERFdom — JK Rowling tweeted an image of herself on a yacht, smoking a cigar, and captioned it with “I love it when a plan comes together.” The question we’re looking at today is: was it Rowling who changed or was it the world that changed? Matt Bernstein joins us to trace Rowling’s...
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July 9, 2025 • 57 mins
When did fandom become so zealous? Today we’re looking back at the release of the “Snyder Cut” and the people who still think that Zack Snyder should make all of the DC movies. Open Mike Eagle joins us to talk about where the world of fandom in entertainment is and why we’re so desperate to root ourselves in pop culture that it can become like a religion.
Our guest is rapper, comedian, podcaster, and streamer Open Mike Eagle. You c...
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July 2, 2025 • 7 mins
We've got a (good) announcement about the future of the show. We'll be back with your regularly scheduled panic next week. Enjoy the Fourth!
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