Panic World
A weekly podcast, hosted by Ryan Broderick, about how the internet warps our minds, our culture, and eventually reality.
Episodes
December 17, 2025 • 80 mins
2025 wasn’t exactly a “good” year, but how “bad” was it? Well, that depends on what you think is good or bad. We’ve reconvened the connoisseurs of the worst things on the internet together again to look back at the year and make a call. Katie Notopoulos joins Garbage Media’s Cates Holderness, Josh Fjelstad, and Ryan to inflict some really great stuff on an unsuspecting and out of control Grant. Has working on Panic World broken his...
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December 10, 2025 • 78 mins
Today, we’re examining the idea that the Republican Party and its co-option of extremist online culture like 4chan and Kiwi Farms — and all of their posters and lurkers alike — has turned into one of their key political weapons. June Sternbach and Josh Boerman of Ill Conceived join us to look back at one of the earliest and darkest examples of this, through the story of Chris Chan and the invention of “lolcows” (don’t worry, if you...
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December 3, 2025 • 62 mins
Even now our beloved host Ryan doesn’t know what he thinks about Russian interference in the 2016 election. So, he is joined by Garrett Graff, a journalist and author who continually re-examines the question: What is the truth behind the “Russia, Russia, Russia” scandal? How real and deep was their involvement in US politics in the past decade, and how important ultimately was it — or the idea of it?
Our guest is Garrett Graff, ...
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November 19, 2025 • 58 mins
We’re joined by No Such Thing for a crossover episode to (try to) get to the bottom of some of the most infamous conspiracies we (aka millennials) heard in middle school. We’re talking about the false rumors that Ciara was intersex, Marilyn Manson removed his own rib, and the whole panic around “jenkem” — and explore how these wild rumors even spread without the aid of social media.
You can find No Such Thing at https://www.nosuch...
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November 12, 2025 • 69 mins
Today we’re talking about the relationship between “influencers” and politics. The two have perhaps never been more entwined, but what is the difference? Is there one? Who were the original influencers in politics over the years? Both influencer and political candidate, Kat Abughazaleh, joins us again to talk about how her experience tangling with right-wing commenters online prepared her for running for office, and what it’s like ...
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November 5, 2025 • 68 mins
From Aziz Ansari to Adam22, especially since the proliferation of the internet and social media, there’s no shortage of people who have gotten canceled. But what is the state of cancel culture today? We’re joined by leading experts in the cancellation field, Cancel Me, Daddy hosts Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi, to look back at some of the biggest moments in cancel culture, its presence in society now, and ask if we can use c...
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October 29, 2025 • 64 mins
Politics has always been an ugly game, but with Trump’s return to the White House and the proliferation of AI, we’re a far cry from the days when wearing a beige suit caused controversy. Today, we’re talking about how Trump is using the federal government’s massive communications apparatus into a rage bait factory — from immigrants to trans people and the “Radical Left Democrats,” blaming anyone except billionaires, corporations, a...
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October 22, 2025 • 67 mins
From Goop to MAHA, health/wellness movements might just look like a grift, but each features a real critique of the healthcare industry or medical science at their core. Today we’re talking about wellness and how it connects to the spread of fascism across the globe. Bridget Todd and Heather Holdridge join us to talk about how these wellness trends take advantage of misinformation and exploit our fears, and ultimately can lead peop...
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October 15, 2025 • 60 mins
Why is the right-wing media machine so massive and able to dominate digital media, while liberals and progressives struggle to keep up? Jon Favreau joins us to discuss the critical players and outlets in the early 2000s that led us to where US politics is today, along with looking back at what he’s learned from launching Pod Save America back in 2016.
Our guest Jon Favreau is the host of Pod Save America, Offline, The Wilderness,...
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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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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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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