Offline with Jon Favreau

This week we're giving you a feed drop from Crooked’s very own Hysteria! In this excerpt, Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco cover some lighter news — Don Lemon being an idiot, Jimmy Carter being a legend, governors supporting abortion, Wisconsin election wins — before Julissa Arce and Kara Klenk join to discuss how to deal with the world being terrible. Then, the crew dives into their moments of Sanity (featuring good television on Peacock) and Petty (trying to get answers about your own health can be so annoying sometimes). You can catch new episodes of Hysteria every Thursday wherever you get your podcasts and don’t forget to subscribe to Hysteria on YouTube too!

Hasan Piker, viral political streamer, joins Offline to talk about Tucker Carlson’s demise, the 2024 election, and what it is about wokeism that makes him twitch. Hasan has been one of Gen Z’s most influential commentators for years, and his 8-hour daily streams blend current events, leftist ideals and pop culture savvy. Hasan talks to Jon about his approach to political persuasion, how to appeal to the next generation, and what it’s like streaming your consciousness. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast. 

Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project and author of Men Who Hate Women and Fix the System, Not Women, joins Offline to shed light on one of the darkest corners of the internet: the manosphere. Made up of tens of thousands of incels, pick up artists, and white supremacists, the manosphere is an online hotbed of misogyny with violent real-world implications. Laura describes how she went undercover to infiltrate these platforms, and what she learned about protecting men and boys from radicalization. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

John Green, bestselling author and YouTube Vlogbrother, joins Offline to share lessons from his most recent book, The Anthropocene Reviewed. His collection of essays rates historical events, philosophical musings and personal anecdotes on a 5-star scale that, these days, feels both inescapable and indispensable. The Jo(h)ns talk through the faults in these stars, and the importance of finding ways to live meaningfully and hopefully in a world of mixed reviews. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

This week we’re bringing you the TikTok debate we wish we had from Congress. Featuring perspectives from V Spehar, host of TikTok’s Under the Desk News; Senator Mark Warner, lead sponsor of the RESTRICT Act; and Graham Webster, Chinese technology expert. Over three interviews, Jon and Max offer a smarter debate for and against banning TikTok. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast. 

Jon welcomes Max Fisher, Crooked’s newest team member, to the Offline family! Max, former New York Times reporter and author of The Chaos Machine, joins the show as a recurring contributor, bringing fresh commentary, segments, and even interviews to Offline. This week he and Jon put their heads together to decode AI hysteria, the TikTok ban, and whether big tech has passed its prime. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast. 

Andy Kroll, author and ProPublica journalist, joins Offline to discuss the one thing Fox News fears: lawsuits. Kroll’s new book, A Death on W Street: The Murder of Seth Rich and the Age of Conspiracy, recounts how conspiracists co-opted a young man’s tragic death, the role of Fox News in perpetuating those lies, and how the Rich family fought back and won. He and Jon talk about what this means for the Dominion lawsuit, and whether Fox has finally met its match. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

Margaret Atwood, famed author, poet and “dystopia prophet,” joins Offline to talk about fighting tyranny and finding hope. Much like her latest book, Old Babes in the Wood, Atwood’s conversation with Jon sandwiches her thoughts and fears on the present between poignant chapters of the past. They discuss censorship, religion, parenting and how to listen for what you can’t hear. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

Jason Parham, senior writer at WIRED, walks Jon through the evolution and legacy of Black Twitter. Parham’s three-part series, “A People’s History of Black Twitter,” follows the online community from its early days of late night takes, through an era of platform dominance, and into an uncertain future. He joins Offline to discuss how Black Twitter has shaped the last ten years of discourse and activism, how the internet complicates cultural appropriation, and what will happen if Twitter fades away. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast. 

Offline's crew is *offline* this week but we're excited to share one of our favorite recent episodes of Crooked's podcast Work Appropriate hosted by Anne Helen Petersen. In this episode Anne, along with guest Rainesford Stauffer, author of the forthcoming All the Gold Stars: Reimagining Ambition and the Ways We Strive, field listener-submitted questions about the real-life issues they're running into at work due to their ambition and discuss how ambition could be used as a positive force outside of work. You know, like in your actual life. Go figure. Like what you hear? Check out new episodes of Work Appropriate every week wherever you get your podcasts. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.