Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Nancy and Sarah are joined by the Great Mike Pesca, one-time Jeopardy ! contestant and host of news podcast The Gist , to talk about dudes and dude-related topics. They discuss men’s-only spaces and whether women’s workout wear has become hyper-sexualized (and is that a bad thing?). They also break down Gavin...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com “It was a very bad night for American boobs,” Sarah observed of the 2025 Oscars, where a conspicuous fashion trend has gone mostly unnoticed. Nancy and Sarah are on record for believing boobs are magic, so why did so many gorgeous actresses hide their tractor beams under a bushel? Could it be a sign of fashio...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Eli Lake is not a historian but a “journalist who loves history.” The former “Re-Education of Eli Lake” host and current Free Press contributor comes on Smoke for the second time to discuss his latest pop-history podcast, “Why We’re Obsessed with JFK Conspiracies.” As usual, Lake puts his own distinctive spin...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com You might know Meghan McCain from her stints at FOX, The View , SiriusFM, but surely you know her as the daughter of the late Arizona senator John McCain. “Nepo baby!” McCain jokes during her podcast introduction, but McCain is much more than that. She’s a savvy media fixture who has very strong opinions abou...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com “Would you have Elon Musk’s baby?” Sarah texted Nancy the other day, to which she responded, “Fuck no.” Thus launches the latest Smoke ‘Em debate, in which our co-host who is without child confesses she’d take some of that SpaceX sperm. Has she lost her mind, or is she merely responding to nature’s imperative...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Nancy and Sarah celebrate Valentine’s Day with a civil disagreement on how stupid the holiday actually is. Also: Sex trivia! The conversation ranges from how people can masturbate in an MRI to Super Bowl controversies and the greatness of Janet Malcolm. Also discussed: * All New Yorkers go to Miami? * Sarah e...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com “Ready to go ten rounds?” Nancy asked Sarah, when Sarah asked her to watch Emilia Pérez , a Spanish-language musical for which there is no shortage of agitation on both the right and the left. Trans activists hate it, Ben Shapiro called it garbage, Mexican film goers are apparently asking for their money back...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Sarah and Nancy discuss the Atlantic story “The Anti-Social Century,” about how much of modern life is being lived in isolation. They talk about eating alone, parasocial relationships, and why Sarah feels completely nailed by the data point that “the typical female pet owner spends more time actively engaged...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Reading Noah Rothman’s new piece in Commentary, “ A Clockwork Blue: How the Left Has Come to Excuse Away and Embrace Political Violence ,” I felt as though he had written it just for me; this, because he called to account institutions and individuals who proclaim violence from the left justified, a trend I fo...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Nancy and Sarah dive into the messy New York magazine cover story on literary superstar Neil Gaiman, accused of sexual assault by multiple women. The story broke over the summer in a British podcast — which Nancy and Sarah listened to, and much preferred — and they zero in on the story’s different presentatio...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Be warned, beloveds: Lots of sex talk here; hide the kiddies and the squeamish. Also! Due to some ghost in the machine, our last episode, “ Meghan Daum on What We've Lost in the Los Angeles Wildfires ,” may have included a paywall that we did not put there. It is free for all, and it’s fixed now. No worries i...

Essayist and Unspeakable pod host Meghan Daum joins Nancy and Sarah to talk about the worst fires ever recorded in Southern California — what it was like to learn that her house in Altadena burned down, the blame game that both sides are playing, the surreal celebrity angle, and why you don’t actually have to tweet. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com “I am still waiting for my bathrobe, and until you give it to me, I am going to be forced to do this podcast in the nude,” Kat Rosenfield tells Nancy and Sarah, who really need to move on this gift they keep promising her for repeat appearances. Kat is here to discuss her recent Free Press column on Blake Liv...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Nancy and Sarah share their highs and lows from the year that was. Which movie did Nancy love, and Sarah despise? (Hint: It’s not the Bob Dylan movie.) Which book did Sarah love, even though Nancy finds the author “twee”? Plus, Sarah quizzes Nancy about momentous events in 2024, and Nancy mostly bombs, no cap...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com It’s the end of 2024, and Sarah and Nancy wonder if two recent media phenomena represent a paradigm shift in two areas: porn and the collective consciousness. On one side: “I’m Lily Phillips, and today I’m getting run through by a hundred guys.” On the other side: “This groundbreaking series challenges everyt...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Nancy and Sarah discuss the very online experience of watching both the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the capture of the man named as his killer, Luigi Mangione. We discuss the memes, conspiracies, tasteless jokes, and crushes on the alleged shooter. Did the tragic incident offer a pressur...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Smoke ‘Em welcomes favorite repeat guest and self-proclaimed “absolute newspaper romantic” Matt Welch. He talks with Nancy and Sarah about whether legacy papers can ever make a comeback and how they ignore local news at their own peril, plus whether civility might be on the upswing. Also discussed: * Pink hai...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Nancy and Sarah discuss two recent dust-ups between men and women: One is fraught and potentially career-damaging, the other is (arguably) romantic, but also potentially legacy-damaging. Trump’s nominee to lead the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is facing scandal that stems from a 2017 encounter at a Rep...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com After a brief discussion of the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight, Nancy and Sarah talk about health, weight, and other confusions. The inspiration is a recent New York Times story that three-quarters of Americans are overweight or obese, a report that coincides with the rise of new gurus like Dr. Casey Means, who r...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com “I didn’t transition to replace cis women in sports,” begins Brianna Wu, the straight-shooter who chats with Sarah and Nancy this week. “I transitioned because I wanted to get along.” Joined by Kelly Cadigan, who co-hosts their new podcast “Dollcast,” both women talk openly about the frustration of watching t...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Rats in the walls, ghosts in the bull rushes and some extreme reactions to the election of Donald Trump as president. What to do? Swear off sex? Buy a blue bracelet at Target? Excise at least 53% of Americans from your life? Sounds tragic. Maybe what we need is a child actress from the ‘80s to deliver some co...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Trump won, Kamala lost. People have feelings about this (including us). But it’s not going to get easier imagining that 50% of Americans are racists, misogynists, or whatever other -ist can be deployed to explain how Republicans pulled off a stunning victory on Tuesday, which some worry is ushering in an unpr...

Sarah is scared to fly, Nancy is freaked out by moldy cheese, and both of them have scary stories related to times they got in a car they shouldn’t have. In honor of Halloween, we talk about classic horror movies, break out some October 31 trivia, and discuss what scares Americans most. Also discussed: * Is Jaws a horror movie: a debate! * Nancy’s almost-star turn in said same movie * 2023’s #1 Ha...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com “The election is a week from tomorrow, thank God,” says Sarah, speaking for the rest of us, feeling as though we are Danny in The Shining and the candidates are the twins… We take a break from political news (well, kind of) to talk about two recent TV distractions: Anatomy of Lies , a three-part docuseries ab...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com Let’s say you want to promote a book and you have a little ad money to burn. If you are author and communications consultant Melanie Notkin , you might contact Shelf Awareness , which sends free newsletters to, per its Instagram bio, “booksellers, librarians, publishers, book collectors, literary antiquarians...