Second Thought

In this episode, Suzy Weiss and Dan Ahdoot unpack this week’s *very* important culture news and highlight the bizarre, fascinating stories that you probably missed.  They dissect Taylor Swift’s unhinged Madison Square Garden wedding, from the “schizophrenic” buffet menu and Chanel bag raffle to the bizarre guest list (why was George Stephanopoulos there?)—plus how one artist made money by sel...

Few public figures have a résumé as eclectic as Mayim Bialik’s: child star, sitcom icon, neuroscientist, Jeopardy! host, “crotchety” feminist, and unapologetic Zionist. On this episode of Second Thought, she joins Suzy Weiss for a  conversation about growing up as a child actress, finding fame on Blossom, spending a decade on The Big Bang Theory, and why Hollywood has never quite felt like home. ...

According to Luke Burgis, our biggest social problem isn’t loneliness or polarization or the decline of trust in institutions. Our problem is that most of us don’t even really understand ourselves. We dress dress alike, flock to the same restaurants, and chase the same goals not because we’re adjusting our behavior to fit in, but because the people around us have fundamentally transformed our inne...

Roast comedy is one of the last places where truly unfiltered commentary still lands in public, says “Roastmaster General” Jeff Ross. Few people understand the art of the insult better than Ross, who has presided over the brutal, hilarious takedowns of everyone from Joan Rivers and Justin Bieber to Charlie Sheen. Today, he joins Suzy Weiss to break down his new Netflix special, Take a Banana for t...

For a year, tech writer Joanna Stern turned herself into an AI guinea pig. She let artificial intelligence into every corner of her life: testing robot assistants, commuting in autonomous vehicles, reading AI bedtime stories to her children, and even going on a road trip with her AI boyfriend, Evan.  That experiment became her new book, I Am Not a Robot. In this episode, Joanna breaks down what we...

Scooter Braun reflects on how he became one of pop music’s most powerful kingmakers, helping to engineer the careers of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande—and the controversies that reshaped his public image, from Kanye West’s antisemitic spiral, which ended their relationship, to the Taylor Swift masters dispute that turned Braun into one of the internet’s biggest villains. Braun says he barely knew...

In this episode, Suzy Weiss sits down with writer Freya India to discuss how the internet, influencer culture, and therapy-speak have made adolescence more miserable than ever for girls. India’s new book, Girls®: Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything, examines how algorithm-driven platforms push young users toward extremes in beauty, body image, mental health, and relationships. It’s...

Read Allan Loeb in The Free Press: https://www.thefp.com/p/hi-my-name-is-allan-and-im-a-compulsive On this week’s episode of Second Thought, Suzy Weiss sits down with screenwriter Allan Loeb—he wrote, among other films, 21, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Dilemma, and Just Go with It—for a wide-ranging, entertaining conversation about Hollywood, AI anxiety, compulsive gambling, and the strang...

Ben Kawaller just flew to South Korea to inject salmon sperm into his face. On this week’s episode of “Second Thought,” Suzy Weiss, Dan Ahdoot, and Ben unpack the bizarre rise of the male beauty economy. Ben recounts his surreal trip to Seoul, where he underwent a series of cutting-edge cosmetic procedures—including “Crowtox,” laser treatments, and the infamous Rejuran salmon DNA injections.  They...

From The Hills to Glee to the rise of girlboss media—Sophia Rivka Rossi has seen and shaped our culture from the inside out. Today, she pulls back the curtain. On this week’s episode of Second Thought, Sophia joins Suzy Weiss to unpack the machine behind reality TV, the secret sauce behind Ryan Murphy’s dominance, and what happens when you finally stop outsourcing your inner life to online psychic...

On this week’s episode of Second Thought, Suzy Weiss sits down with comedian, media mogul, and professional pop culture savant, Claudia Oshry, for a conversation about what it actually takes to survive, and even thrive, online. As host of one of the internet’s most popular pop culture podcasts—The Toast, which she hosts with her sister Jackie—Claudia talks about the reality of being “internet famo...

Today, Suzy Weiss sits down with Dan Ahdoot to talk about the big stories of the week, including Justin Bieber’s Coachella performance, the supposed unmasking of Satoshi Nakamoto, and whether $40 is too much to pay for half a rotisserie chicken. Follow Suzy Weiss: Twitter: https://x.com/SnoozyWeiss Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzyisonline/ Follow Dan Ahdoot: Twitter: https://x.com/standup...

Today, on our inaugural episode of Second Thought, Suzy Weiss sits down with one of the most influential people in YouTube’s history: Casey Neistat. Casey has millions of followers and billions of views to his name—and he saw early on that YouTube would change everything. It certainly changed his own life. In this conversation, Casey talks about riding the wave of the YouTube tsunami, his love of...

Pop culture is fun—but we take it very seriously. And so should you. Catch Second Thought every Friday wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices