Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast

It’s the morning after the Super Flower Blood Moon, Sarah needs to pack for the Depp-Heard trial in Virginia, and Nancy’s in a hotel bed in Austin, but first! More on Grey’s Anatomy writer/fabulist Elisabeth Finch (in scrubs, above), who faked cancer (and a kidney transplant, and the suicide of her brother, and and and …) because “she loved the attention so much.” Sarah wonders why we’re so fascin...

Sarah goes deep on the Duke lacrosse rape scandal — the complicated true story, the troubled woman who filed the claims, the abdication of due process, and the false narrative promoted by key figures including Duke faculty members calling themselves the “Group of 88.” The goal was to exact justice “regardless of the truth.” A bunch of preppy white athletes needed a historical comeuppance, though i...

by Sarah Hepola It was my third morning at an Austin spa so dedicated to self-care they charged $375 if you lit up a cigarette. The sky was still dark, and I was sitting at a wedding spot tucked off the highway, a mile from where I was staying. I’d stumbled upon this place the first morning of my low-key rebellion, because I needed a quiet spot to smoke, and I’d followed a sign that said “historic...

Nancy and Sarah tackle the curious case of Frank Langella, the celebrated actor fired from Netflix’s Fall of the House of Usher after a young actress complains about an on-set interaction, while Fred Savage gets disappeared from The Wonder Years reboot for “abusive behavior,” though we’re not sure what kind. On the Depp-Heard beat, Nancy and Sarah consider body language in the courtroom, “mutual a...

Live, from Chinatown NYC, a reading of this past weekend’s essay about the best of the best true crime books . Just want the list? That’s below, with links. Speaking of Chinatown: let me know if you’re interested in reading The Snakehead , by Patrick Radden Keefe (his Say Nothing is included here), which I started last night and which takes place in my exact part of Chinatown. Thinking of starting...

After a ten-minute chat on why we love boobs (any size), Nancy gives an update on the Vicky White/Casey White jail break, and Sarah brings us up to date on the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial, with an eye on Heard’s small-town Texas past and her first appearance on the stand. But the story of the day is Roe v. Wade, which Sarah knows particularly well, since the case started in Dallas. Nancy admits...

Prison escapes, death row visits, and how to handle (and not handle) homicide. No it’s not an episode of one of those murder-as-snack podcasts, it’s Sarah and Nancy discussing serial killers, lovelorn prison guards, manipulative prisoners, and why people who make it their business to cover murder might do it with a little more delicacy. Plus the surgery Sarah cannot talk about, a wee bit of we-tol...

A forensic psychologist says Amber Heard has borderline personality disorder, and Nancy and Sarah diagnose social media with the same. Also on the docket: Johnny Depp’s blind spot on drinking + the possible decline of political correctness + the mediocrity of journalist Margaret Sullivan versus the greatness of journalist Tom Junod + a gripping piece on sexual violence at Penn State + the invisibl...

Welcome to episode 5 (previous episodes archived here ), wherein six hours after recording in Paloma Media with the Fifth Column boys, Sarah has to make do with Nancy eating pie in her nightgown. But there’s discussing to be done! Including: * Sarah wondering whether Amber Heard is a synecdoche (a word Nancy can neither pronounce nor spell) for the cultural moment that is #MeToo * Why monster is a...

Nancy Rommelmann and Sarah Hepola are back! Talking about: + Why they love the Ben Dreyfuss essay "The World is Not Full of Monsters" + Who they listen to in the bathtub (Nancy: Elon Musk's new TED talk; Sarah: Ben Franklin by Ken Burns) + "Who is Max Boot? Did he write for Gawker?" + And speaking of Gawker... + The NYT interview with 8 "conservative" men + Who's allowed to say the C-word and why...

Entanglements, they're everywhere! In this episode, Nancy Rommelmann and Sarah Hepola look at: + The Will Smith-Jada Pinkett Smith turmoil + The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard mess + Online's "cruelty in the name of justice!" flamers Plus the modern complications of monogamy, Veronica Lake's hair (good!), the world of child actors in Hollywood (mostly bad), why John Updike got it right when he said, "Cel...

Nancy Rommelmann and Sarah Hepola hop back into the studio to talk Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, faking orgasms, crying (women v. men), why young Ben Franklin is hot (electricity!), why Sarah always dated Tom Waits, Nancy's religious experience at a Trail Blazers game, and much more! EPSIODE NOTES Fan-cam dancing to "Since You Been Gone" at Spurs game " America's Girls ," podcast about the Dallas Co...

Journalist, author, and podcast series creator Sarah Hepola and Nancy Rommelmann met online two weeks ago and decided they needed to speak for about 80 hours. On deck today: Hepola's recent essay "The Things I'm Afraid to Write About" and why she isn't afraid anymore; her 2015 memoir, "Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget" and the difference between a blackout and passing out; why bo...