Follow Friday

Former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé first became an internet meme before most people knew what memes were: At Nintendo's presentation at the gaming expo E3 2004, he turned heads by announcing, "My name is Reggie. I'm about kickin' ass, I'm about takin' names, and we're about makin' games."

"I received a message from my teenage son who told me, 'Dad, you're famous,'" Reggie says. "They weren't called memes at the time — these were Photoshopped images. He sent me these images of me blowing up a competitive console; me dressed up like Sylvester Stallone from one of his movies; me looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger from TheTerminator."

Today on Follow Friday, Reggie shares the backstory of another press conference that made him even more internet-famous, and talks about his new book Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo.

And he explains why we should follow "Originals" and "Think Again" author Adam Grant (@Adamgrant on Instagram, @AdamMGrant on Twitter and LinkedIn); Pivot co-host and New York Times writer Kara Swisher (@karaswisher on Twitter and Instagram); The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon (@jimmyfallon on Instagram and Twitter); and the founder of The Game Awards, Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley on Twitter).

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Danielle, Elizabeth, and Sylnai. On our Patreon page, you can pledge any amount of money to get access to Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows.

That feed has an extended-length version of this interview in which Reggie talks about what he has learned from following author and executive advisor Roger L. Martin.

Also:

• Follow Reggie @Reggie on Twitter and buy Disrupting the Game
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter
• Email us! [email protected]

This show is a production of Lightningpod.fm, hosted and produced by Eric Johnson

Music: Yona Marie

Show art: Dodi Hermawan

Social media producer: Sydney Grodin

On the internet, body shaming is alive and well, nutrition advice can be wildly inaccurate, and it's a lot easier to scroll through Instagram for hours than to get up and go for a run. But Danielle Friedman, who literally wrote the book on women's fitness, says there's one extremely good thing that social media has done for our bodies, which we shouldn't ignore.

"Body acceptance activist Virgie Tovar told me that social media has given a voice to the people who have always been the majority in number, but not in influence," Danielle says.

"You don't have to go through all of the traditional channels to be visible. You can just start posting selfies and find an audience and build an audience that way. And I know it's easier said than done, but in spending years researching this history, that is a significant shift."

Today on Follow Friday, Danielle talks about what else she learned while researching Let's Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World. And she opens up about four of her favorite people she follows online:

• Someone who she just started following: Katie Sturino, @katiesturino on TikTok and Instagram
• Someone who makes her laugh: 70s Dinner Party, @70sdinnerparty on Instagram and @70s_party on Twitter
• Someone who makes her think: Laura McLaws Helms, @laurakitty on Instagram
• Someone who makes the internet a better place: Jessamyn Stanley, @mynameisjessamyn on Instagram and TikTok, @JessamynStan on Twitter, and @JessamynStanley on YouTube

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Elizabeth, Sylnai, and Matthias. On our Patreon page, you can pledge any amount of money to get access to Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows.

That feed has an extended-length version of this interview in which Danielle talks about someone who's an expert in a very specific niche she loves: Dr. Natalia Mehlman Petrzela.

Also:

• Follow Danielle @daniellefriedmanwrites on Instagram and @DFriedmanWrites on Twitter
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter

This show is a production of Lightningpod.fm, hosted and produced by Eric Johnson

Music: Yona Marie

Show art: Dodi Hermawan

Social media producer: Sydney Grodin

When her college friend Amber invited her to the beach five years ago, T.J. Raphael had no idea that saying "yes" would change the course of her career. On the beach, Amber told T.J. about discovering — thanks to an at-home DNA kit — that her biological father was not the man who helped raised her. Instead, her "bio-dad" was a formerly anonymous sperm donor, and Amber was not his only child finding out about him.

Reporting out the story of Amber's parentage opened the door to all kinds of stories about the "baby business," which T.J. explores in her acclaimed new podcast BioHacked: Family Secrets.

Today on Follow Friday, T.J. talks about the reporting process for BioHacked as well as four of her favorite people she follows online:

• Someone who makes her laugh: Sydney Battle, @sydneybattle on Twitter and @sydbattle on Instagram
• Someone she doesn't know, but wants to be friends with: Dan Savage, @dansavage on Instagram and Facebook, and @fakedansavage on Twitter
• Someone she just started following: Kenzo Mizumoto, @kenzomizumoto on TikTok and Instagram
• Someone who makes the internet a better place: Christi Steyn, @christi.steyn on TikTok and Instagram

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Elizabeth, Sylnai, and Matthias. On our Patreon page, you can pledge any amount of money to get access to Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows.

That feed has an extended-length version of this interview in which T.J. talks about someone super-talented who's still under the radar: Comedian Shelby Wolstein.

Also:

• Follow T.J. on Twitter @tjraphael, and listen to BioHacked: Family Secrets
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter

This show is a production of Lightningpod.fm, hosted and produced by Eric Johnson

Music: Yona Marie

Show art: Dodi Hermawan

Social media producer: Sydney Grodin

Charlie Harding says he "procrastinates" by watching YouTube videos about sound design. But it's not an aimless hobby, because Charlie is a musician and the co-host of Switched on Pop, Vulture's podcast about the making and meaning of popular music.

"Reporting on music, I'm like, 'I need to understand every little thing about how the songs are made,'" he says. "I frequently will actually recreate songs before I think about how to report on them, because I almost want to get inside the creative mind of the person making it."

Today on Follow Friday, Charlie talks about four of his favorite people he follows online:

• Someone who makes the internet a better place: Scary Pockets, @scarypockets on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
• Someone he's jealous of: Cat Zhang, @CatZhang1 on Twitter
• Someone he has a crush on: Bess Kalb, @bessbell on Twitter
• Someone who's an expert in a very specific niche he loves: Dan Worrall, @DanWorrall on YouTube

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Elizabeth, Sylnai, and Matthias. On our Patreon page, you can pledge any amount of money to get access to Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows.

That feed has an extended-length version of this interview in which Charlie talks about someone he doesn't know, but wants to be friends with: Musician and comedian Reggie Watts.

Also:

• Follow Charlie @charlieharding on Twitter and listen to Switched on Pop
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter

This show is a production of Lightningpod.fm, hosted and produced by Eric Johnson

Music: Yona Marie

Show art: Dodi Hermawan

Social media producer: Sydney Grodin

Justin Myers is a writer for British GQ and the author of three novels, most recently The Fake-Up. But he's probably best known for his blog The Guyliner, where since 2014 he has added his own commentary to a long-running dating column from the British newspaper The Guardian. Today on Follow Friday, Justin talks about four of his favorite people he follows online:

• Someone who makes the internet a better place: Daytime Snaps, @daytimesnaps on Twitter
• Someone who makes him think: Annie Lord, @annielord8 on Twitter and Instagram
• Someone who makes him laugh: R Eric Thomas, @oureric on Twitter
• Someone he doesn't know in real life, but wants to be friends with: Dame Joan Collins, @joancollinsDBE on Twitter and Instagram

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Elizabeth, Sylnai, and Matthias. On our Patreon page, you can pledge any amount of money to get access to Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows.

That feed has an extended-length version of this interview in which Justin talks about someone he has followed forever: Comedian Mollie Goodfellow.

Also:

• Follow Justin @theguyliner on Twitter and Instagram, and at theguyliner.com
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter

This show is a production of Lightningpod.fm, hosted and produced by Eric Johnson

Music: Yona Marie

Show art: Dodi Hermawan

Social media producer: Sydney Grodin

Josh Fruhlinger is better known to the internet as the Comics Curmudgeon, and for something like 15 years, he's been riffing on the oddities of newspaper comics at joshreads.com. If you want to know which Mary Worth character got into a fight with a cat, Josh is your guy.

Today on Follow Friday, Josh talks about four of his favorite people he follows online:

• Someone who's an expert in a very specific niche that he loves: Numble, @numble on Twitter
• Someone he's followed forever: Katie Notopoulos, @katienotopoulos on Twitter
• Someone he's jealous of: Annie Rauwerda, @anniierau and @depthsofwiki on Twitter, @depthsofwiki on Instagram, and @depthsofwikipedia on TikTok (and here's the skeleton picture Josh mentions)
• Someone he just started following: WHH Haters Posting Their L's Online, @WHHHLsonline on Twitter

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Elizabeth, Sylnai, Matthias, and Shima. On our Patreon page, you can pledge any amount of money to get access to Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows.

That feed has an extended-length version of this interview in which Josh talks about someone who makes the internet a better place: Today in Tabs writer Rusty Foster.

Also:

• Follow Josh on Twitter @jfruh and read the Comics Curmudgeon at joshreads.com
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter

This show is a production of Lightningpod.fm, hosted and produced by Eric Johnson

Music: Yona Marie

Show art: Dodi Hermawan

Social media producer: Sydney Grodin

(Full transcript)

Traci Thomas is the host of The Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them. Today on Follow Friday, she talks about four of her favorite people she follows online:

• Someone she has a crush on: Jason Reynolds, @jasonreynolds83 on Twitter
• Someone she doesn't know in real life, but wants to be friends with: Shea Serrano (@sheaserrano on Twitter, @shea.serrano on Instagram) and Larami Serrano (@laramiserranophoto on Instagram)
• Someone who makes the internet a better place: @KieseLaymon on Twitter and Instagram
• Someone who has stopped posting but needs to come back: Still Processing, a podcast hosted by Jenna Wortham (@jennydeluxe on Twitter and Instagram) and Wesley Morris (@wesley_morris on Twitter, @wsslyy on Instagram)

And on our Patreon page, you can pledge any amount of money to get access to Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows. That feed has an extended-length version of this interview in which Traci talks about someone super-talented who’s still under the radar: Floral designer Whit McClure.

Also:

• Follow Traci @bitracial on Twitter and listen to The Stacks podcast
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan.

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Elizabeth, Sylnai, Matthias, and Shima.

When she's not tweeting about sumo oranges or her podcast Lecture Hall, Broti Gupta is a writer for The Simpsons. And the long gap between when a Simpsons script is written and when the animated episode makes it to the air means Gupta and her colleagues have to think carefully about what aspects of internet culture have the staying power to be referenced on the show.

"It wouldn't reference Bean Dad, but we might have an episode of our own 'bean dad,'" she says.

Today on Follow Friday, Broti talks about four of her favorite people she follows online:

• Someone she's followed forever: Dylan Gelula, @dylangelula on Twitter and Instagram
• Someone who's an expert in a very specific niche she loves: The Cincinnati Zoo, @cincinnatizoo on Twitter and Instagram
• Someone who makes her laugh: Helena, @freshhel on Twitter and @bugsizechihuahua on Instagram
• Someone who makes her think: Sarah Hagi, @KindaHagi on Twitter

And on our Patreon page, you can unlock Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows. That feed has an extended-length version of this interview in which Broti talks about someone super-talented who’s still under the radar: Amelia Elizalde, a writer for Clickhole and Reductress (plus some bonus material about Dylan Gelula).

Also:

• Follow Broti on Twitter @brotigupta
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan.

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Elizabeth, Sylnai, Matthias, and Shima.

(Full transcript of this podcast available here).

When he's not writing about the media and running a PR agency, Ed Zitron is probably on Twitter, where he's curated a perfect experience for himself: He follows fascinating people who represent what he cares about, and aggressively mutes what he doesn't care for, including words like "doge," "stonk," and "Gamestop."

"It's a melting pot of crap, just like my brain," he says.

On today's show, Ed puts talks about four of his favorite accounts on Twitter: A baseball analyst who seems like a genuinely fun person to hang out with; a talented videographer who makes cool stuff look cooler; a musician/webcomic artist who might kick your ass (at the right place and right time); and a corporate account that posted the greatest tweet in the history of Twitter.

And on our Patreon page, you can pledge any amount of money to get access to Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows. We had recorded a bonus follow with Ed for the page, but it's already available to the public in this episode.

Also:

• Follow Ed @edzitron on Twitter and subscribe to his newsletter, Where's Your Ed At
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan.

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Elizabeth, Sylnai, and Matthias

Hrishikesh Hirway is a prolific creator: A podcaster, a newsletter writer, a TED speaker, a composer, and more. And he's also a musician who has collaborated with everyone from Lakeith Stanfield to Yo-Yo Ma; his first EP since 2011, Rooms I Used to Call My Own, comes out March 30.

Today on Follow Friday, Hrishikesh talks about four of his favorite people he follows online, including a collaborator who helped him get over writer's block while making that album:

• Someone he just started following: Sumesh Hirway, @sumeshhirway on Instagram
• Someone he doesn't know in real life, but wants to be friends with: Rose Matafeo, @rose_matafeo on Twitter and @rosematafeo on Instagram
• Someone super-talented who's still under the radar: John Mark Nelson, @johnmarknelson on Twitter and Instagram
• Someone who's an expert in a very specific niche he loves: Erik Agard, @e_a_rly on Twitter

And on our Patreon page, you can pledge any amount of money to get access to Follow Friday XL — our members-only podcast feed with exclusive bonus follows. That feed has an extended-length version of this interview in which Hrishikesh talks about someone he has followed forever: The award-winning artist and illustrator Susie Ghahremani.

Also:

• Follow Hrishikesh @HrishiHirway on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to his newsletter, Accept Cookies
• Follow us @FollowFridayPod on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Eric @heyheyesj on Twitter

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan.

Thank you to our amazing patrons: Jon, Justin, Amy, Yoichi, Elizabeth, Sylnai, and Matthias