Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy

Author Mary Harrington sits down to discuss her new book Feminism Against Progress . She and Bridget discuss how it’s always taken for granted that progress is a good thing, but in order to view it that way you need to narrow your focus and ignore everything that doesn’t fit into the narrative, and the disturbing fact that slavery exists today and it’s never been more profitable. They cover Critic...

Podcast host and journalist Josh Szeps sits down with Bridget for a conversation about the appeal of the rabbit holes that normal, intelligent people seem to find themselves falling down, the conspiracy theories that bring them there, the loss of faith in the media and our institutions, and why uncertainty can be a good thing. They also cover parenthood and being an "older" parent, wheth...

Stand-up comic Ian Lara stops in to talk about the ups and downs of his career in stand-up comedy, how he veered from a political science & engineering background and pre-law trajectory into stand-up, and how his parents who immigrated from the Dominican Republic reacted to the change. They talk about his favorite parts of being on the road, competition among comedians, the delicate dance of n...

Fred Mwangaguhunga, founder of urban celebrity news site, Media Takeout , sits down for a conversation about entrepreneurship, the three businesses he's started, what he learned from each of them, and why you should always see your mistakes as an opportunity to learn. He and Bridget talk about parenthood and what it's like as the father of triplets, why families need more support than th...

Wilfred Reilly, professor & author, sits down with Bridget for a fascinating conversation about the disconnect between what people in upper middle class America believe and reality, the power of victimization, and racial dynamics in the US. They cover the true stats on police killing unarmed civilians, interracial crimes, the politicization of Covid and the vaccines, and people in leadership m...

Bridget sits down with comic Byron Bowers for a wide ranging conversation that covers his entry into standup, his burgeoning acting career, and their shared experience of being raised by someone with mental illness. They discuss separating the message from the messenger, transhumanism, homelessness, evolving past being carbon-based life forms, spirituality & religion, trusting your gut and the...

Michael Shermer stops in to talk about his new book Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational . He and Bridget discuss trying to diffuse the pejorative nature of the word “conspiracy”, the difference between a hypothesis and a conspiracy, why a lot of conspiracy theories turn out to be true, the eroded trust in our institutions, and why we still have to maintain some of that trust or we...

Katherine Dee, writer and internet historian, sits down with Bridget to discuss the strange corners of the internet she's explored and how she manages to predict coming trends in our culture. They talk about internet culture & internet history, whether you can really tell who someone is via Twitter, drunk Tweeting, the definition of a lolcow, feedback loops, the coming wave of sexual nega...

Comedian Phil Hanley drops in to talk about his new stand up special Oh La La . He and Bridget discuss what it was like for him growing up with undiagnosed dyslexia, the challenges but also the gifts of dyslexia, the book he is writing about it, and the most important thing he thinks parents should know about raising a child who is dyslexic. They talk about the failures of the school system to sup...

Mediated Series - Part 5: Published in 2005, Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live In It , became Bridget's bible for understanding the changing media landscape and how it is affecting our society and behavior. Now she sits down with author Thomas de Zengotita for a multi-part series discussing the book chapter by chapter.  In Part 5 Bridget and Thomas discuss identit...

Joel Stein (columnist, author & podcast host) joins Bridget for the first video edition of Walk-Ins Welcome! They sit down for a fun and wide-ranging conversation about their obsession with super yachts, the one-upsmanship of the super wealthy, why people in rural America know all about liberals yet liberals know nothing about them, Joel's propensity for smugness, and why he thinks our di...

Bari Weiss is a journalist ( New York Times , Wall Street Journal ) and author of How to Fight Antisemitism . She and Bridget have an in-depth conversation about how full personhood is not possible on the internet, faux outrage and what it's doing to us, the explosion of independent media, the dangers of exploring TikTok, and why the end of Trump's presidency means you're suddenly y...

Matt Taibbi, author and journalist, drops in to discuss the state of modern journalism, why it's increasingly difficult to source news you trust, "soft" censorship, link rot and stories that disappear, the instinct to conformity that is an epidemic in newsrooms right now, and why eventually the mob will always come for you. They cover Matt's background, how he comes from a fami...

Zak Williams is CEO and founder of neurotransmitter health company PYM , and is passionate about developing products for supporting optimal mental wellness and alleviating anxiety. He and Bridget sit down to talk about the concept of mental hygiene vs. mental health, dealing with the suicide of a loved one, not knowing how to manage depression and anxiety, discovering mental health advocacy, reali...

Noam Blum, Chief Technology Officer at Tablet magazine, sits down with Bridget for a conversation about Twitter and the online space. Known on Twitter as @neontaster, Noam talks about having his identity revealed, the different versions of online anonymity, and the consequences of not revealing himself on his own terms. They discuss online activism, how Twitter is a concentrated version of the dil...

Heather Pasternak, stand-up comic and old friend of Bridget's, stops in to talk about her new comedy special Slay At Home Mom . She and Bridget discuss being new moms, being neurotic and having a child, feeling both terrible and magical when you're pregnant, how being a parent is a double edged sword, the pressure in the Mommy World - particularly on Instagram, and why getting back to wo...

Rina Raphael is a journalist and author who covers health, wellness, and women's issues. She sits down with Bridget to discuss her new book The Gospel of Wellness , where she looks at the recent explosion of the wellness industry, the fads, the gimmicks, the marketing strategies, and what lies underneath it all. Rina is a reformed wellness addict herself, and became aware of the dark side of...

Tara Henley, journalist and author of Lean Out: A Meditation on the Madness of Modern Life , joins Bridget for a free ranging conversation about starting her career as a hip-hop critic, the transcendence of music and live music in particular, how quickly humans can adapt to anything, and how having colon cancer in her 20s taught her at a fundamental level that life is out of our control. They disc...

Jennifer Briney, host of the Congressional Dish podcast, sits down with Bridget to talk about her mission to read the bills and laws passed by Congress, to find out what is being done with our taxes, explain what is hidden in bills over 1000 pages long, and to create a community of people who were interested in Congress’s effect on our lives. They cover how living abroad during the US invasion of...

Chris Williamson, host of the Modern Wisdom podcast, sits down with Bridget to talk about how he got where he is. They cover his start as a nightclub owner, model, and reality TV star, why he always tried to get himself into a position where people needed him for something, how he didn't think he was worth that much unless he was offering people something else in return, and the existential c...

Bridget sits down with Sarah Haider, writer, activist and podcaster, for a wide ranging conversation covering Sarah's thoughts as an ex-Muslim on the reaction of the Progressive left when you criticize Islam, how little the lived experiences of those who disagree with the woke orthodoxy matters, why she thinks Western feminism died a while back, her experience immigrating from Pakistan as a c...

Ariel Pink is an American musician, singer, songwriter and indie rock icon. However, his attendance at the January 6th Trump rally at the White House - an event he would like made very clear in its distinction from the violence at the Capitol hours later - led to his subsequent cancellation among fellow musicians and fans alike, being dropped from his music label, and left him looking around bewil...

Mediated Series - Part 4: Published in 2005, Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live In It , became Bridget's bible for understanding the changing media landscape and how it is affecting our society and behavior. Now she sits down with author Thomas de Zengotita for a multi-part series discussing the book chapter by chapter.  In Part 4 Bridget and Thomas discuss the ext...

Bridget and Cousin Maggie sit down to celebrate the 200th episode of Walk-Ins Welcome . They marvel at the fact that they've been consistent with a project for 4 years, take stock and look back on how far they've come, reminisce about the Days of Soup and Toast and why turning down $10k at her brokest was a good lesson for Bridget, and ponder the invisibility cloak that seems to surround...

Comedian and political commentator Lee Camp drops in for a conversation about his political awakening, why we should turn off all mainstream corporate media, working for RT America before it was shut down, seeing independent media and voices being purged from the internet, and what we do when the culture has lost faith in all news outlets. They also discuss where Lee gets his news, America's...