Follow Friday

(Full transcript available on FollowFridayPodcast.com)

Big news: Starting today, for as little as $1 a month, you can support Follow Friday on Patreon!

Other than the warm fuzzy feeling you get from helping an indie podcaster out, you'll also get cool stuff when you back us: A shout-out on the show, your name in the show notes, sneak peeks at upcoming episodes, AND — most importantly — bonus mini-episodes! Today on the podcast, we're playing three examples of what those minisodes will sound like.

These are never-before-heard bonus recommendations from three popular recent guests: Flash Forward host Rose Eveleth, EZPR founder Ed Zitron, and Washington Post humorist Alexandra Petri. They talk about an accessibility consultant who knows how to break writers' block, a semi-anonymous teenager who's more knowledgeable about the NFL than anyone on ESPN, and a comedian/podcaster whose tweets capture the zeitgeist.

To get even more cool people to follow every month, visit patreon.com/followfriday and become a backer today. And if you have something you want to promote on the show, or a podcast or other creative project you want help with, check out the higher tiers there as well.

Follow us:

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Like the show? Please visit LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday and leave a review on any of the platforms listed there. Your review will encourage new listeners to take a chance on Follow Friday.

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan. Additional music by Purple Planet Music.

(Full transcript of this episode available here).

If you want to know what's going to win an Oscar in a couple years, you should talk to film and TV producer Franklin Leonard. Since 2005, he and his team at The Black List have circulated an annual list of the best screenplays floating around Hollywood that haven't yet been made into movies. But films that make it to the Black List — such as Argo, The King's Speech, and Promising Young Woman — often find later success.

When he's not making movies or helping screenwriters win trophies, however, Franklin is a soccer obsessive, a student of history, and a leader trying to educate himself about good allyship. On today's Follow Friday, he talks about an exceptionally generous young soccer star; two activists breaking barriers for disabled people everywhere; a powerful publishing executive who's spilling his industry's secrets on Instagram; and two writers who are starting important conversations about race and American history.

Follow us:

- Franklin is @franklinleonard on Twitter and @franklinjleonard on Instagram

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Like the show? Please visit LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday and leave a review on any of the platforms listed there. Your review will encourage new listeners to take a chance on Follow Friday.

Subscribe to the LightningPod newsletter — a free, weekly(ish) email with exclusive insights on the podcasting industry and updates on our latest work.

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan. Additional music by Purple Planet Music.

(A full transcript of this episode is available at FollowFridayPodcast.com)

Washington Post humorist and avowed pun enthusiast Alexandra Petri writes columns with headlines like, "Are you a Brood X cicada, or just someone emerging from pandemic isolation?"; "We must get everyone in America a yacht to protect them from gun violence!"; and "I do not wish to learn anything more about my wealthy husband's near demise (which would have been sad)."

Her interests extend far beyond comedy and wordplay, however. Today on Follow Friday, she talks about being a diehard fan of newspaper comics, what she learned from visiting a UFO convention, why philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a "nightmare person," and more.

Alexandra also talks with Eric Johnson about four people she follows online: A self-proclaimed "comics curmudgeon" who has hot takes about Mark Trail and Mary Worth; an astrophysicist studying how the universe might suddenly end (whatever!); a mysterious YouTuber who reads creepy stories from Wikipedia and Reddit; and a literature phD who also celebrates trashy movies like 2019's "Cats."

Follow us:

- Alexandra is @petridishes on Twitter, @petrifying on Facebook, and @thisusernameisterrible on Instagram

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Like the show? Please visit LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday and leave a review on any of the platforms listed there. Your review encourages new listeners to take a chance on Follow Friday.

Subscribe to the free BumbleCast email newsletter — big news coming soon!

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan. Additional music by Purple Planet Music.

(A full transcript of this episode is available at FollowFridayPodcast.com)

For more than six years, Rose Eveleth has hosted one of the best science podcasts around, Flash Forward. In every episode, she takes listeners on a trip to the future to explore "possible (and not so possible)" scenarios, such as: What if we killed all the mosquitoes? What if every volcano on Earth erupted at the same time? What if we never fixed any of the Y2K bugs?

The podcast has also spawned an illustrated companion book, featuring comics based on Flash Forward episodes from artists such as Matt Lubchanksy, Sophie Goldstein, and Ben Passmore.

On today's show, Rose talks with Eric Johnson about four people she follows online: A fellow enthusiast about marine biology she wants to be friends with; a brilliant writer she's already friends with who sends her top-notch TikToks; an award-winning science journalist who has inspired her to keep podcasting; and a one-of-a-kind consultant who's fluent in the languages of both journalists and scientists.

Follow us:

- Rose is @roseveleth on Twitter

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Please leave a rating or review by going to LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday

Want to advertise on this show? Visit FollowFridayPodcast.com/Advertise

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan. Additional music by Purple Planet Music.

(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.

Follow us:

- Ed is @edzitron on Twitter

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Please leave a rating or review by going to LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday

Want to advertise on this show? Visit FollowFridayPodcast.com/Advertise

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan. Additional music by Purple Planet Music.

(Full transcript of this podcast available here).

On the podcast they co-host, Underunderstood, journalists Adrianne Jeffries and Regina Dellea answer the questions that you can't resolve with a simple Google search. For example: Why does everyone in Japan attribute this one quote to Snoopy from Peanuts? Are America's telephone area codes all part of a big conspiracy? And why did people all over the US receive "mystery seeds" in the mail from China last year?

But when they're not solving mysteries, Adrianne and Regina have been spending a lot of time on TikTok recently, so they went all-in for today's episode of Follow Friday: Four accounts they love on TikTok, including a comedian and her dorky husband; a polymath who also roasts McMansions; a trans musician and former Vine star; and a journalist/writer who makes feminism accessible to everyone.

Follow us:

- Adrianne is @adrjeffries on Twitter

- Regina is @woahitsregina on Twitter

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok (new!)

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Please leave a rating or review by going to LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday

Want to advertise on this show? Visit FollowFridayPodcast.com/Advertise

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan. Additional music by Purple Planet Music.

(Full transcript of this podcast available here).

On his YouTube channel Lessons From the Screenplay, Michael Tucker and his colleagues have analyzed the stories of films like The Dark Knight, Get Out, Casino Royale, and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

On today's episode, Michael explains why he likes having his assumptions challenged by the podcast Revisionist History and learning about visual effects from one of the best communicators in the industry, Todd Vaziri. He also talks about how the movie producer Sev Ohanian inspires him, and why he wants to be friends with another YouTube star, Tom Scott.

Follow us:

- Michael is @michaeltuckerla on Twitter

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter and Instagram

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Please leave a rating or review by going to LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday

Want to advertise on this show? Visit FollowFridayPodcast.com/Advertise

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan. Additional music by Purple Planet Music.

Slate senior editor Allegra Frank usually writes about things that have a big cultural footprint — movies like Godzilla vs. Kong, or TV shows like the Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But one of her all-time favorite social media accounts has only 45 followers and hasn't posted in two years.

"I've read their entire Twitter feed many times," she says.

On today's episode, Frank also talks with Eric Johnson about her love of s**tposting, endearing comedy videos, Instagram art, and more.

Read a full transcript of this episode here

Follow us:

- Allegra is @legsfrank on Twitter, and her podcast is @awylatt on Twitter and Twitch

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter and Instagram

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Who Allegra follows:

- Ray Sipe (watch the Shrek video)

- Grace Freud

- Julie Kwon (check out Allegra's favorite drawing)

- George Ice Cube

Donate to Trans Lifeline: TransLifeline.org

Rate us: LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday

Advertise: FollowFridayPodcast.com/Advertise

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan. Additional music by Purple Planet Music.

Nick Quah has been chronicling the growth of the podcasting industry since 2014 in his email newsletter, Hot Pod, and he also offers up regular podcast recommendations in the Vulture newsletter 1.5x Speed. But he's not only listening to the big, prestigious shows you've heard of.

"One of my favorite things to do is to pick up a chat show about a subject that I know absolutely nothing about and just listen to people go at it," Nick says on today's episode of Follow Friday.

He also shares his complicated feelings about representation in Hollywood, what a YouTuber has taught him about the future of entertainment, why food and sports writing matter, and which chat podcast in particular he got hooked on recently.

Follow us:

- Nick is @nwquah on Twitter

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter and Instagram

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Who Nick follows:

- Justin Chang

- mxmtoon

- Danny Chau

- Into the Aether

Rate us: LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday

Advertise: FollowFridayPodcast.com/Advertise

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

On her podcast about language, The Allusionist, Helen Zaltzman has covered everything from cryptic crosswords to translations to public apologies. But don't worry: She's not judging your vocabulary when she's reading something for fun.

"When I'm not forced by work to do this kind of interpretation, I like to switch that part of my brain off," she says.

On today's episode of Follow Friday, Helen talks with Eric Johnson about poorly-spelled names, stand-up comedy, blind dates, the word "queer," horrifying kitchen gadgets, witch doctors, and more.

Follow us:

- Helen is @HelenZaltzman on Twitter and Instagram

- This show is @followfridaypod on Twitter and Instagram

- Eric is @heyheyesj on Twitter

Who Helen follows:

- Jo Neary

- TheGuyliner

- Nancy

- Rhik Samadder

Rate us: LoveThePodcast.com/FollowFriday

Advertise: FollowFridayPodcast.com/Advertise

Theme song written by Eric Johnson, and performed by Yona Marie. Show art by Dodi Hermawan. Additional music by Katherine Chang and Purple Planet Music.