Offline with Jon Favreau
Crooked Media
Is the internet slowly breaking our brains, and if so, what can we do about it?
Offline with Jon Favreau is a place where you can take a break from doom-scrolling and tune in to deeper conversations about the impact of technology and the internet on our politics and culture.
Intimate interviews between Pod Save America host Jon Favreau and notable guests like Stephen Colbert, Hasan Piker, Chimamanda Adichie, ContraPoints, Margaret Atwood, and Rachel Maddow shed light on how our extremely online existence shapes the ways we live, work, and interact with one another. Together we’ll take on the most existential questions facing Americans right now, to figure out how to live happier, healthier lives, both on and offline.
New episodes drop every Saturday, wherever you get your podcasts and on the Offline YouTube channel.
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Episodes
Mentioned books
6 snips
Mar 28, 2026 • 55min
Optimism In Our Age of Anxiety
Dr. Deepika Chopra, clinical psychologist known as the 'Optimism Doctor' and author of The Power of Real Optimism, explains optimism as a learnable set of skills. She discusses why brains default to worst-case scenarios. She shares regulation tools like breathing and scheduled worry. She outlines an optimism quiz and how to model hopeful habits for children.
15 snips
Mar 23, 2026 • 44min
What We Lose When We Bet on War
Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut lawmaker pushing the BETS OFF Act to ban wagering on wars and government actions, joins with journalist Nancy Scola, who reports on how prediction markets reshape politics. They discuss the rise of platforms trading on conflict, insider-corruption risks, the limits of markets as public information, and how gamifying life-or-death choices reshapes civic norms.
41 snips
Mar 14, 2026 • 1h 3min
Trump's Memeification of War
Anne Applebaum, journalist and historian of authoritarianism, explains how Trump’s Iran war is being treated as meme-worthy theater. She discusses propaganda that dehumanizes conflict, how autocrats copy each other, Europe’s fraught responses, and why this chaos helps rivals like Putin. Short, sharp takes on strategy voids, propaganda tactics, and democratic erosion.
70 snips
Mar 7, 2026 • 1h 11min
Endless Slop, Cancer Cures, or Robot Apocalypse? Derek Thompson on Our AI Future
Derek Thompson, journalist and author who writes on economics, technology, and culture. He unpacks why AI’s labor impact is so hard to measure. He debates whether AI is a bubble or a boom. He explores AI in medicine, national-security risks like the Anthropic-Pentagon clash, and his 'Everything Is Television' take on how media and politics are changing.
39 snips
Feb 28, 2026 • 1h 1min
The Big Tech Critic Trump Is Trying To Deport
Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate and a tech accountability advocate, discusses facing deportation attempts after exposing social media harms. He recounts legal fights with tech billionaires, research that sparked intense backlash, and why platform design and Section 230 matter for public safety and democracy.
39 snips
Feb 21, 2026 • 59min
Zuckerberg Takes the Stand, Pete Hegseth vs. AI, and Max-Maxxing with Max Fisher
Max Fisher, journalist on geopolitics and tech and host of The Bigger Picture, returns to podmaxx. They unpack Zuckerberg testifying in a major lawsuit. They dig into AI company feuds, Pentagon ties, and Hollywood risks. They also explore citizen videos exposing ICE and the rise of Clavicular and looks-maxing culture.
81 snips
Feb 14, 2026 • 60min
The Philosopher Teaching AI to Be Good
Amanda Askell, a philosopher-turned-AI researcher at Anthropic who helped craft Claude’s values-oriented constitution. She explains translating moral theory into training, giving a model a character that resists sycophancy, and teaching nuanced judgment, uncertainty, and empathetic facilitation. Conversation covers safety trade-offs, bias in data, and whether AI might one day deserve moral consideration.
39 snips
Feb 7, 2026 • 59min
Can Truth Survive the Trump Era?
Charlie Warzel, Atlantic staff writer and host of Galaxy Brain, studies tech, media, and the internet’s social effects. He tackles bystander video and how phones reshape public truth. He discusses AI-only social sites like Moltbook and the risks of fast-moving agents. He examines how leaks and platform silence erode trust and why in-person organizing still matters.
22 snips
Jan 31, 2026 • 1h 6min
Adam Friedland Just Wants to Understand
Adam Friedland, comedian and host of The Adam Friedland Show, reflects on his journey from shock comedy to long‑form interviews. He discusses developing an interviewing style, researching guests, pressing politicians with unexpected questions, reactions to ICE raids and Minneapolis, and how societies normalize cruelty.
32 snips
Jan 24, 2026 • 1h 1min
The Fight to Liberate Minnesota (and America)
Lydia Polgreen, New York Times opinion columnist and former foreign correspondent, returned to Minnesota to report on federal immigration enforcement. She describes a wartime atmosphere in neighborhoods. She compares local tactics to conflict zones. She outlines organized, disciplined nonviolent resistance and the economic and political pressures shaping the struggle.
