Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary joins Mixed Signals to talk about his buzzy turn as a ruthless tycoon in Marty Supreme — and how it felt playing a fictionalized version of himself. Max and Ben dig into what lessons he took from working with Josh Safdie and Timothee Chalamet, why Mark Cuban isn’t on Shark Tank anymore, and why he believes movie theaters aren’t going anywhere. They also talk about O’Leary’s media omnipresence, how his defense of Trump helped him influence the Republican tax bill, what he told  Zohran Mamdani when they met in New York, and why he thinks respect is more valuable than being liked.

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani
If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]

What happens when TikTokers replace TV hosts and interviewers, and presidential candidates start begging to be on their shows?

Brian Reed sits down in a Brooklyn wine shop with four of the internet’s biggest creators: Caleb Simpson, who gets people on the street to take him up to their apartments; Julian Shapiro-Barnum who interviews kids on Recess Therapy; Anania Williams of the LGBTQ quiz show Gaydar; and Jack Coyne, host of the music game show Track Star. Their videos reach more people than many major news outlets. But who gets control over what they run? When is money changing hands? What do they do when politicians like Kamala Harris and RFK Jr. come calling?

A frank conversation about the blurry grey area between this new form of entertainment and journalism.

Check out Question Everything's Substack, with more reporting on the war over truth, free speech, and tech’s role in it all. 

“Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.

The Ankler’s Janice Min and FeedMe founder Emily Sundberg join Mixed Signals for a candid roundtable lookback at a disorienting year in media. They sound off on everything from YouTube’s domination, to the Charlie Kirk saga, and the increasingly niche areas of coverage for newsletters. Max and Ben also ask about Substack’s evolution, creator economics, and what media moments might be top of mind for 2026.

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani

If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri joins Mixed Signals to talk about what Instagram actually is in 2025, and what it isn't. Max and Ben ask about the platform’s new move onto TV screens, the dominance of Reels and DMs, and whether “everything is becoming television.” Mosseri also explains how the company is competing with TikTok and YouTube, and whether "AI slop" is a legitimate concern for social media feeds.

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani

If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]

Comedy veteran and longtime Conan O’Brien sidekick Andy Richter joins Mixed Signals for an existentially funny conversation about surviving three decades in entertainment. Max and Ben ask Andy about how he became late night’s most adaptable performer, whether he ever worried about becoming “the next Ed McMahon,” and why acting work has become so elusive in Hollywood. Andy also talks about the decline of late night as a cultural force, and how “Dancing With the Stars” accidentally turned him into a TikTok phenomenon.

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani
If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]

The New Yorker’s longtime editor-in-chief David Remnick joins Mixed Signals for a candid conversation about a new Netflix documentary about the magazine, and the New Yorker’s past, present, and uncertain future. Max and Ben ask Remnick how a century-old institution adapts to the digital age, and about what he’s learned from nearly three decades on the job. Remnick also reflects on magazine subscriptions models, Max's reporting about who should take his job , and why he’s grateful he never joined Twitter.

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani

If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]

Paula Kerger, the chief executive of America’s public broadcaster, joins Mixed Signals at a moment when public broadcasting is facing its most existential threat in decades. Max and Ben ask her about the political onslaught from the Trump administration and Congress, and what losing federal support will mean for hundreds of local stations. Kerger makes the case for kids’ programming, and spars with Ben about the relevance of broadcast television in the first place.

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani
If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]

New York Times investigative reporter Jodi Kantor joins Mixed Signals to explain how she’s revealed the secrets of internal deliberations behind the ceremony and black robes of the US Supreme Court. Max and Ben ask whether the court is actually leaking more, how newer justices are reshaping its public face, and what Kantor has learned about the culture of secrecy and power inside a long-impenetrable institution. She also reflects on the post–#MeToo media landscape and the fracturing of “factual consensus.”

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani
If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]

Is television the final form of all media? Derek Thompson, the co-author of Abundance, podcaster, and Atlantic writer joins Mixed Signals to explain what he sees as the forces behind what Ben and Max keep observing: The way in which podcasts and other forms of journalism appear to be getting their largest audience in an endless, passive feed of videos first observed by analysts of 20th century television. Derek discusses all that as well as his own turn toward independent media, and his personal pivot to video.

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani
If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]

Will Welch is the global editorial director of GQ, and has been the editor-in-chief of its US operation since 2019. On this week’s Mixed Signals, Welch talks to Ben and Max about how the magazine plans to address men amid the prominence of the manosphere, the value in covering niche subcultures, and how the parties thrown by the magazine operate as content creation mechanisms. Welch also talks about how he works with celebrities, praising Robert Pattinson as a more creative collaborator than he’s used to.

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani

If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]