The Best of Enthusiasts
An introduction to my podcast and links to the best episodes of it!
About the show: Enthusiasts is a podcast about the most passionate of passionate people. From fandom members to conspiracy theorists, this series uses a mix of stories and research to explore why people grow emotionally invested.
Purpose: Cultivate curiosity, open-mindedness, and understanding by learning not just what people love, but why they love it.
The show is for fans of: Critics at Large, Culture Study Podcast, The Town with Matthew Belloni, Fever Dreams
The audience spans 53 countries and counting, and over 65 episodes are currently available!
The show is available: Wherever you get your podcasts and at the links to the best episodes below!
Maureen Ryan on TV’s Evolution, The Writers Strike, and “A Call for Change in Hollywood”: My conversation with Maureen “Mo” Ryan, author of Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood. Mo describes what it has been like to watch streaming change everything about TV show creation, to witness multiple writers strikes over the years, to see Hollywood enable concerning behaviors and attitudes, and to envision what a better culture could look like after real systemic change.
Stream this episode on Spotify here!
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Stream this episode elsewhere here!
American Girl’s Historical Characters: Allison Horrocks, a trained historian and co-host of the American Girls podcast (now called Dolls of Our Lives), joins me to break down the ways perspectives on the American Girl books change with age, how the American Girl historical characters effectively get people interested in history, how much the American Girl brand really has or has not changed since Mattel’s acquisition, the importance of learning history, and much more!
Stream this episode on Spotify here!
Stream this episode on Apple Podcasts here!
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The Past, Present, and Future of Boy Bands: My conversation with Maria Sherman, author of Larger Than Life, about the often-overlooked parts of boy band history, the factors that led to One Direction’s massive popularity, how BTS is breaking boy band stereotypes, and much more!
Stream this episode on Spotify here!
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Harry Styles: My conversation with Professor Louie Dean Valencia, who created and teaches a course on Harry Styles at Texas State University! He explained what to expect from the course, different lenses through which to view Harry Styles’ discography, the ways Harry’s music relates to today’s society and vice versa, and more!
Stream this episode on Spotify here!
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Tony Hsieh and the Quest for Happiness: While this five-part series is about one extraordinary man who deserves as much name recognition as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, it’s also about the many overlapping contexts that explain his successes, his tragic downward spiral, and his evergreen comments on how to be happy. Tony Hsieh spent his life studying and trying to create and spread happiness, implementing elements of rave culture, the Silicon Valley lifestyle, Howard-Hughes-level renovation ideas, and outside-the-box theories. The results: a shoe company where meetings were more like pep rallies, Tony’s llama obsession was apparent, and decor and toys abounded; a Vegas project set on creating the happiest city on Earth in just five years; a “Happiness Tour” that spread fun and games nationwide; and even more pursuits. However, Tony’s ambitious projects also brought chaos, misery, loneliness, and confusion to many - including, unbeknownst to some, himself.
Each episode in this mini-series covers both Tony Hsieh’s life story and seemingly unrelated stories that took place simultaneously. At the end, the different puzzle pieces will form a clear picture, one that shows what happiness is, was, and could be.
This is part one: Tony Hsieh’s early years, during which he pulled off one clever and amusing marketing gimmick after another and tried everything from selling buttons to running a restaurant; the comeback of a “ghost town;” two bizarre characters’ published ramblings from when they were high on laughing gas; turn-of-the-century, over-the-top bashes that kept outdoing each other; and a new idea for a workplace overhaul.
Stream this episode on Spotify here!
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Kelly Weill on All Things Conspiracy Theories: My conversation with Kelly Weill, a reporter for The Daily Beast and author of the book OFF THE EDGE: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything. We discuss the history of the Flat Earth Movement, the overlap among conspiracy theory groups online, the implications of de-platforming misinformation-spreaders, ways to bring conspiracy theorists out of an alternate reality, and much more.
Stream this episode on Spotify here!
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D.B. Cooper: D.B. Cooper, who committed the only unsolved hijacking in commercial airline history, has become something akin to a folk legend among citizen sleuths. “Cooperites” and other true-crime enthusiasts still pour over theories and potential suspects to this day, both in online forums and at in-person meet-ups like CooperCon. Part of the enduring fascination with D.B. Cooper’s story is the amount of unknowns: did he survive his jump off the airplane? Was his bomb real? Did he act alone? What suspects seem the most and least likely? Why do so many people suspect they know “the REAL D.B. Cooper”? And how is the emotional investment in his daring mission still prevalent nearly fifty years after he pulled it off? I talk to Darren Schaefer, host of The Cooper Vortex, to find out.
Stream this episode on Spotify here!
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Bonnie J. Wallace Talks Dove Cameron, Disney Channel, and Going from “Hometown to Hollywood”: As the mother of actress and singer Dove Cameron and as a well-known consultant, author, and podcast host who covers all things Hollywood, Bonnie J. Wallace is uniquely positioned to clear up misconceptions about the industry. In this conversation, Bonnie pulls back the curtain on auditions, “stage parents,” fan-idol relationships, Disney Channel, and so much more.
Stream this episode on Spotify here!
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Astroworld: The Investigation: A grand jury decided not to pursue criminal charges against anyone affiliated with the 2021 Astroworld Tragedy. Since then, over 1,200 pages from the crowd-crush investigation have been made public: 911 calls, interviews, emails, text exchanges, and more. The documents form a timeline that starts months before the Travis-Scott-hosted event, goes through the minute details of what unfolded that tragic night, and describes the varied reactions afterwards from the companies and people fearing legal consequences. I poured over these documents, and in this episode, I share the most revealing excerpts from them: insights into who should have stopped the show the second the first medical emergency started, why it took so long to stop the concert, what red flags were raised during the festival construction process, what theories the investigators ruled out, and so much more.
Stream part one on Spotify here!
Stream part one on Apple Podcasts here!
Stream part one elsewhere here!
Stream part two on Spotify here!
Stream part two on Apple Podcasts here!
Stream part two elsewhere here!
Other episode topics include…
True crime
Virtual artists like Miku Hatsune
Movie and TV characters
Toy brands
Musicians
Disney Parks
Sports
UFOs
And more!
View the rest of the back catalog here!