The Gist

Mike Pesca, award-winning journalist and longtime podcast host, joins for a wide-ranging conversation. They dig into lifelong psychology of weight management, personal histories with weight, and the limits of the Healthy at Every Size extremes. They debate the politics and economics of GLP-1 drugs, whether they can jumpstart change, and Mike’s own “bliss molecule” advantage against anxiety.

Jena Friedman, comedian, writer, and filmmaker behind Soft Focus and Indefensible, talks about crafting risky political and dark humor. She discusses why abortion jokes changed after Dobbs. She explains making true-crime comedy, handling grief on stage after losing her mother, and the tension between acerbic satire and sincerity.

Jamie Denbo, comedian, actress, and writer best known for her alt-comedy character Beverly Ginsberg and TV writing on Grey's Anatomy, returns to Jewish-centered comedy. She talks about reviving Beverly, her departure from Grey's Anatomy after feeling marginalized post-October 7, contrasts in workplace sensitivity training, and satirical takedowns of self-help culture.

Brian Platzer, novelist and middle school teacher best known for The Optimist, speaks about the real-life teacher who inspired his book. He discusses crafting a narrator who loses speech, researching assistive technology, and balancing readability with experimental form. He also shares his experience caring for a mentor after a stroke and living with a baffling neurological disorder.

Gina Gershon, actress and memoirist of Alpha Pussy, shares wild Hollywood stories and how a tequila-fueled roast led to a Curb Your Enthusiasm role. She talks about growing up in the Valley, spotting predators, setting firm boundaries, and practical safety habits. Also discussed: how changing bodies altered others' treatment of her.

Eli Lake, national security journalist and author who covers intelligence and geopolitics, explains how this air campaign is unlike Iraq. He dissects Iran's missile defenses, interceptor limits, and the race to secure nuclear material. He also weighs the prospects for air-only leadership strikes, regional spoilers, and how long such a campaign might be sustainable.

A lively conversation about the broken pipeline in modern journalism and shrinking newspaper opportunities. They unpack FCC pressure tactics aimed at late-night comedy and the concept of stochastic self-censorship chilling speech. The tradeoffs and freedoms of political comedy and podcasting get debated. The group also wrestles with whether newsroom neutrality should shift when democratic institutions are under threat.

James Kimmel Jr., a former lawyer turned researcher who studied revenge at Yale, tells a raw origin story from rural Pennsylvania. He describes violent retaliation, the near-fatal turning point that stopped him, and how revenge lights up brain reward circuits. The conversation covers honor cultures, who becomes violent, and how grievance can be channeled into achievement rather than harm.

Andrew Egger, White House correspondent for The Bulwark, and Austin Berg, Chicago policy leader and public affairs veteran, parse Trump’s marathon State of the Union and whether it aimed to persuade or to farm clips. They debate the timing of a Supreme Court tariff ruling, the Pentagon’s showdown with AI firm Anthropic over autonomous weapons, and the political risks of politicizing frontier tech.

C. Thi Nguyen, philosophy professor and author who studies belief, games, and social psychology. He explores why beliefs act like tools we use rather than absolute truths. Short takes cover curing chronic pain by retraining the brain, using rumination logs and mental contrasting instead of manifesting, and why placebo effects keep getting stronger.