Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comNancy and Sarah dive back into the faked death of romance novelist Susan Meachan, thanks to journalist Ellen Barry, who did a deep dive in the NYT. After learning details of her (actual) life, do we have any more empathy for Meachan and her seduction by and escape into Romancelandia?Next we look at the scandal around Andrew Callaghan, YouTube star of All Gas No Brakes who was hit with allegations of sexual coercion on the eve of his HBO debut. Nancy is suspicious of the timing, as well as the request for money from one of his accusers. Sarah thinks this kerfuffle raises good questions about coercion, alcohol, and sex. They both found Callaghan’s four-minute apology video like a bingo card of social-justice catch phrases.Also: Why can’t we stop talking about sex with dead chickens? And Sarah gets dinged on Twitter by someone accusing her of “agreeing with the boss’ wife about Justice Kavanaugh.” Nancy is confused. Isn’t she Sarah’s boss?In the bonus, it’s onto (into?) the new reality series MILF Manor, which Sarah is mainlining and whose title Nancy can barely bring herself to say. The journalistas took the “Are You a MILF?” quiz. We reveal who scored higher, what’s in our hotboxes, and news about upcoming live events.And speaking of events! Nancy and Sarah will be appearing onstage with Meghan Daum and Sarah Haider (of A Special Place in Hell) on Thursday June 22, as part of the University of Austin’s 2023 Forbidden Courses event. Despite the name of the university, the event is actually being held in Dallas, 7:30-9pm central, at the Old Parkland.For full episodes, go to our Substack page: https://smokeempodcast.substack.com/podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comNancy has been enjoying the audiobook of Harry Windsor’s blockbuster memoir, “Spare,” but Sarah thinks a more fitting title might be “Spare Me.” They debate the controversial figure of Prince Harry, grieving son in a golden cage but also emblem of millennial entitlement and empty social-justice activism. Sarah has a problem with the ghostwriter’s heavy hand, while Nancy has a problem with cruise ships, which becomes relevant when the terrific film “Triangle of Sadness” (which takes place on a boat) prompts a debate on 21st-century American masculinity. Do men still know how to build a fire? What about fixing an engine? And just how manly is it to get frostbite on your penis — and is that even possible?In the bonus: We discuss the life of the late Lisa Marie Presley, who grew up as American royalty, and how far (if at all) she was allowed to fly from the golden cage. Were her marriages to troubled men an attempt to help the troubled father who died when she was nine? Plus, we revisit lustrous moments from the Golden Globes and — again! — Sarah and Nancy disagree about an award-winning film.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comHave you ever known someone who came back from the dead? (Aside from JC and Manti Te'o's girlfriend.) Well, you do now: Susan Meachan was a prolific writer of self-published romance novels when, following reports of online bullying, her suicide was reported in 2020. Alas, Meachen apparently found being dead a bit boring, and announced her resurrection this month. We dig into this story, leading to a discussion about the scorned but popular genre of romance, the endurance of boy bands, endless social media frauds, and how far people will go for love and attention. Susan, if you’re reading this: Sarah has questions.We then look at the latest university scandal, which PEN America calls “one of the most egregious violations of academic freedom in recent memory”: An adjunct art history professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, showed the class a painting of the Prophet Mohammed. While she’d alerted the class in a syllabus as well as prior to the discussion, a Sudanese student nevertheless described herself as “blindsided”; a forum was held, accusations of Islamophobia and misconduct flew, and the whole thing wound up in the New York Times.Also discussed: What is nonbinary workwear? Is Sarah a nicer person than Nancy? Is it morally acceptable to have sex with a chicken if said chicken is dead? And what is a robot kitten (or as Nancy puts it, “kit-ten”)?Bonus content: The Menu is the dark foodie satire we need. We rediscover our love for Ralph Fiennes and praise Anya Taylor-Joy (recently of The Queen’s Gambit) and disagree on whether foodie culture has gone too far. Also: How much did Nancy pay to eat at the fabled Chicago restaurant Alinea, and who doesn’t have a crush on Harry Styles?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com2023 is off to a roaring start, as the Twitter vultures rip apart the carcass of podcaster Lex Fridman’s reading list of the classics. (On the Road? Biiig mistake.) We discuss the passing of TV pioneer Barbara Walters, whose gently probing style allowed her to act as a kind of collective consciousness. She merged soft celebrity and hard-hitting politics to become a fixture in the American home. (And we didn’t even mention “The View”!) Did you know Walters filmed a TV segment dressed as a Playboy bunny a year before Gloria Steinem’s famous expose? The woman had one hell of a career.Vice assembled a genuinely diverse panel of nine women to discuss feminism, and oooh boy, it was fascinating. Arguments over abortion, trans women in sports, beauty privilege, #MeToo, the hour-long conversation was a real intersectional shit show. Is feminism dead? Maybe. Definitely. Certainly not. As Sarah says, “Feminism is an ongoing project that shape-shifts over time.” What’s cool about the panel is also what made it so contentious. These conversations are fraught, and no one agrees.In the bonus: New Year’s resolution talk about food and writing, let’s not bring Darren to the party, possible book club reading list, and Sarah makes a weird but touching offer to Nancy should they ever get stranded in the Sierra Mountains.Episode Notes:“A Murder in Portland,” by Nancy Rommelmann (Washington Examiner Magazine)“The Reality Portland Does Not Want to See: Everything modern Portland did led up to the horrific, predictable murder of Rachael Abraham,” by Nancy Rommelmann (Nancy’s Substack — go ahead and subscribe!)I mean, the guy was just asking to be cancelled …It’s all good!“Barbara Walters, a First Among TV Newswomen, Is Dead at 93,” by Alessandra Stanley (New York Times)“Cindy Adams remembers her friend Barbara Walters,” by Cindy Adams (NY Post)“Monica, you have been described as a bimbo, a stalker, a seductress. Describe yourself.” Barbara Walters interviews Monica Lewinsky on 20/20:Barbara Walters learns “the Bunny Dip”: “Slow Burn podcast: The Clinton Impeachment”“Why I Hope top Die at 75,” by Ezekiel J. Emanuel (Atlantic)“Headlong: Missing Richard Simmons” podcast by Dan Taberski“A Psychologist Explains Why Life is Easier For Attractive People,” by Romano Santos (Vice)“'Ugly Ducklings' On How People Treated Them When They Got Hot,” by Amelia Tait (Vice)“Anti & Pro Feminists Debate Abortion, Trans Rights, and #Metoo” | VICE Debates:“I did want to acknowledge the violence brought to my trans and non white counterparts during this whole thing,” Mindie Lind’s Instagram “The Problem With Intersectional Feminism,” by Helen Pluckrose (Areo)You’ve been called a bimbo, a stalker, a seductress, but with one simple text field, you could become a paid subscriber.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comIt’s our year-end wrap-up, and a flirtatious/contentious one! Nancy and Sarah spar over “Glass Onion,” the latest “Knives Out” mystery, before running down the most memorable moments of the past year (and 49 episodes!), from Will Smith’s slap to Teal Swan’s manipulation. We chat celebrity, cults, and spiritual voids. (Kwanzaa turns out to have a pretty bleak history, but Joyous Kwanzaa to you, anyway.) Why is Nancy so drawn to narcissistic liars? Why is Sarah so willing to defend terrible people? The tension grows thick. Will our hosts ever stop quibbling and admit they’re in love? (That’s for the paid subscribers, people.)Bonus content: Who are our picks for person of the year? Villain of the year? We share our favorite movies, TV shows, and books, and make our bid for the most important news story of 2022. Then we confess all our secrets. Or at least, like, two.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comMeghan Daum is an acclaimed essayist who hosts two podcasts, the interview show “The Unspeakable” and the current topics-based “A Special Place in Hell” with Sarah Haider. Meghan is an inspiration to many, including Sarah. While Nancy bakes pie in some upstate New York location, Sarah engages in a far-ranging solo interview with Meghan that somehow includes: Terry Gross, Michael Barbaro and his noises of affirmation, Fran Lebowitz, Meghan’s unconventional childhood of music theory and tiny adulthood, Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell, the birth of “call outs,” Roxane Gay and Bad Feminist, why heterodox writers might be the new counter-culture, the invisibility of Generation X, whether Meghan and Sarah are “conservative” despite identifying as liberals (and what “conservative” even means in an era of political realignment), why neither of us became mothers, and if there’s any truth to Candace Owens’ crack about childless women that “if you don’t use your eggs, they scramble.”On the paid-subscriber-only episode (Ed. note: It’s really good): The perils of writing about people in your life, why Sarah dates younger men, the most controversial claim Meghan can make about herself, marriage versus singlehood, and how feminist discourse got swallowed by gender ideology.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comThe Los Angeles trial of Harvey Weinstein ended with jurors proclaiming the disgraced movie mogul alternately guilty, not guilty, and [shrug emoji]. Nancy and Sarah plumb deeper on the trial, centered on the allegations of four Jane Does (including one spouse of a California governor). The two-month trial gained little traction in the press, perhaps because Weinstein was convicted in the court of public opinion five years ago. People are done with him, the monster in his cage. But not Nancy and Sarah! The latter goes deep on Weinstein’s childhood, his bullying mother, the forces that shaped him. Nancy reminds us how much young women will sacrifice to step into the Hollywood magic machine. They discuss Ken Auletta’s book Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence, and Ronan Farrow’s HBO docuseries Catch and Kill.In the paid-subscribers-only content (sign up on Substack): Why are people talking about “nepo babies”? Also: Twitter, twittered, twittering. What we gain (and maybe lose) when we step away from social media, and why it’s always better to complicate the picture.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comTwitter seemed so simple at first. Both of us joined in 2009, and Nancy loved the economy of form, though Sarah was confused by the purpose and character count. She wound up live-tweeting things like, “Her hat is weird.” Thirteen years later, Twitter is the white-hot center of a cultural debate over politics, civility, and the future of journalism. Elon Musk is trying to build the plane while he flies it, and it’s unclear whether that plane is finding new altitude, or crashing into a mountainside.We discuss former head of Trust & Safety Yoel Roth, ambitious world-builder/left-wing pariah Bari Weiss, and of course Musk himself, who has become #1 hero and public enemy. (This was recorded before Musk polled Twitter users to ask if he should step down. They voted yes, by the way.) Nobody knows where this wild ride is heading, but Sarah cautions against what folks in AA call, “Contempt prior to investigation.” Nancy agrees, with a parable about how she actually does like eggplant.In the paid-subscriber-only content (on Substack): Sex sells, but who’s the customer? Not Nancy, who has zero interest in hearing about other people’s sex lives (or discussing her own). Not so fast, says Sarah. Sex is an expression of character, one of the deepest connections you can find with another human, and the problem is not sex writing but the shallow, performative way it’s written. Then we discuss: MILF Manor!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comNancy and Sarah watched the Harry and Meghan series on Netflix so you don’t have to. Actually, they never finished it, but that doesn’t stop them from having opinions. “I’d rather watch an hour-long ad for Purina cat food,” Nancy declares, while Sarah is still processing how the Prince was first drawn to Meghan after seeing a SnapChat photo where she’d used the filter of a puppy dog.Then it’s on to the Golden Globes nominations. Sarah and Nancy disagree about “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” Sarah rants about not liking “The Banshees of Inisherin,” and they clash over the value of shopping malls. Debate for another time. The Golden Globe noms did have a few snubs, such as season two of “Reservation Dogs” (which Nancy raves about again, and not for the last time). And no female film directors were nominated, notably Gina Prince-Bythewood for “The Woman King” and Sarah Polley for “Women Talking.” But what’s up with these lame titles? (See also: “She Said,” discussed on episode 44).

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comThe New York Times stages a (one-day!) strike, and Nancy and Sarah debate unions, or what Sarah sees as a “20th-century infrastructure being dragged to 21st-century.” We also talk the Twitter Files, in which Elon Musk releases thousands of internal Twitter documents to two independent journalists, and legacy media lose their collective minds. The first Twitter Files dump (ew!) came a week ago Friday, a 40-plus thread by investigative reporter Matt Taibbi, who was swiftly labeled savior, has-been, and scumbag. “I take it all back, TWITTER IS THRILLING,” Sarah texted Nancy around tweet #15.Sarah also got sucked in to the second season of The Vow, the HBO documentary on NXIVM, the human-potential company better known as a “sex cult.” The six-part doc (much better than season one) follows the trial of leader Keith Raniere, a master manipulator who teaches personal empowerment as he exerts a scary control. Talking with apostates and true believers, The Vow asks: When are we responsible for our own behavior? It’s a haunting tale about belief, coercion, and our need for belonging.Our paid-subscriber-only content includes a favorite topic, lying sociopaths — in this case, Grey’s Anatomy writer Elisabeth Finch, whose fake cancer and sympathy scams were exposed in a Vanity Fair article discussed in episode 11. Now comes a follow-up where Finch, “disgraced and in exile, explains what made her do it.” But does she?Plus! A special on-air appearance by bingo-card favorite and Fifth Column co-host Matt Welch, whose thoughts on Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em are …All this and much more!You can fill that “un-fillable love hole” and get access to juicy bonus content when you become a paid or free subscriberEpisode Notes:“NY Times staffers walk out — but two key reporters cross picket line” (New York Post)Nancy was live at the scene:“Ousted NY Times Reporter Donald McNeil Jr. Speaks Out: ‘I’ve Been a Jackal Circled by Jackals’” by Lindsey Ellefson (The Wrap)“NYTimes Peru N-Word, Part One: Introduction,” by Donald McNeil Jr. (Medium)“Unionizing Salon Is Easier Said Than Done: 'We're Incredibly Frustrated,' Staffer Says,” by Dave Jamieson (HuffPo)“Elon Musk, Matt Taibbi, and a Very Modern Media Maelstrom,” by Michael M. Grynbaum (New York Times)Transcript from the Munk Debates: "Be it Resolved: Don't Trust Mainstream Media" (TK News) Bari Weiss resignation letterJournalists having trouble authenticating anything Jim Baker says? That’s not new.No, not that Jim Bakker!“Controversial Take: It’s Bad To Put Words In The Mouths Of Murder Victims,” by Jesse Singal (Substack)“Twenty years ago, in Moscow, Matt Taibbi was a misogynist asshole—and possibly worse,” by Aimee Levitt (Chicago Reader)NXIVM Wikipedia entry is a solid crash course“Inside Nxivm, the ‘Sex Cult’ That Preached Empowerment,” by Keith Raniere (New York Times)