The RELEVANT Podcast

Irish folk trio Kingfishr joins us right as everyone's playlist turns to fall vibes. We talk about how they went from a self-described rip-off band to leaning all the way into traditional Irish music, the old farmhouse with walls thick enough to start a band in and what's giving them hope right now.

In Slices, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan says plainly that Jesus is his Lord and Savior and that he doesn't care what it costs him. Derek brings a new study about the surprising group of married couples that are having the best intimacy, and Jesse checks into sleep tourism, where people are paying huge amounts for a hotel room whose main attraction is being unconscious.

We also debut Marty’s Life Hack of the Week, and we bring back our annual Mascot Bracket Challenge!

Highlights:

00:52 — Diddy's prison perks and the only sneakers you can buy behind bars

04:47 — Derek's coffee-shop intervention for Cameron

06:02 — Marty's Life Hack of the Week: The accidental text on purpose

09:27 — Jesse, a leaking car and the cul-de-sac group text

10:37 — Derek explains who this will not work on

14:25 — Therapists, please diagnose Marty in the comments

15:33 — The steakhouse butter hack

18:50 — Slices: People are paying $1,700 a night just to sleep

23:53 — Aaron Rodgers and the darkness retreat

24:57 — Who's having the most sex? Derek has a study

27:01 — Wait, who paid for this survey?

29:06 — Are Billy Corgan and Bill Burr half-brothers?

31:50 — Billy Corgan calls Jesus his Lord and Savior

36:24 — Why our parents banned Smashing Pumpkins

37:45 — Kingfishr on trad Irish roots, the farmhouse and what's giving them hope

43:10 — The annual Mascot Bracket Challenge

45:36 — The spiritual round: Demon Deacon vs. Sun Devil

48:09 — We don't think about kangaroos enough

56:38 — The Final Four

Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac joins us as NBA teams kick off training camp this week. We talk about what happens when Christians put an athlete on a pedestal, the upcoming NBA season — his 10th — and how his faith-based athletic brand UNITUS has evolved over the last few years.

In Slices, Jesse found the 26-cent coin that just sold for $17,000 and has a retirement plan for whoever works at the Mint. Derek brings the new study showing Gen Z and millennials are drinking less (while Gen X picks up the slack). And Marty explains why Gen Z is buying CDs again without owning a CD player (K-pop, mostly).

Also, Marty keeps his raw denim in the freezer, started collecting Ralph Lauren stamps and is starting to worry about what California is doing to him. Derek has questions. Plus Jesse is going to a silent disco, Cameron debunks the Christopher Nolan Darth Vader rumor and we relitigate the time Derek wore a Rodman jersey in Cameron's courtside seats.

Question of the Week: What's your creative, unexpected Halloween costume idea for 2026? Drop it in the comments and we'll read the best ones next week.

Highlights:

00:30 — Marty's "life hack" that is just backing up your phone

02:55 — Derek's NBA 2K theory of why people don't take responsibility

04:39 — Marty keeps his $400 jeans in the freezer and Derek has questions

10:44 — Why we're running the whole Jonathan Isaac conversation uncut

15:26 — Cameron apologizes to a Magic coach in a Vegas casino

17:09 — Derek wore a Rodman jersey in Cameron's courtside seats

18:28 — Does Cameron need a signature courtside look?

21:44 — Slices: A 26-cent coin sold for $17,000 and Jesse has a plan for the Mint

24:58 — Marty bought a Ralph Lauren stamp collection and is worried about himself

30:54 — Jesse is going to a silent disco

34:43 — Gen Z and millennials are drinking less. Gen X is drinking a lot more

42:20 — The Christopher Nolan Darth Vader movie is not real

44:11 — CD sales are up 59% and half the buyers don't own a CD player

48:16 — Question of the Week: Halloween costume ideas for 2026

49:34 — Jonathan Isaac on year 10, faith under the spotlight and UNITUS

This week, the crew gets philosophical fast. Jesse makes the case that cornhole can cure the loneliness epidemic, Derek wants to bring back boredom and we figure out how doing nothing on a flight became an achievement. Derek also plays his new single 'Lift Me Up' and explains why he built it on the old synths instead of the easy way.

In RELEVANT Buzz, Greta Gerwig cast Meryl Streep as the voice of Aslan in the upcoming Narnia movie, and the comments did what the comments do. Jesse defends it, Derek explains it with potato salad and a text from someone who's actually seen the movie changes the conversation. 

Then Christian Bale opens a village so foster siblings don't get split up, which makes him the real Batman. Elevation Worship and Chandler Moore's 'God I'm Just Grateful' just did something a worship song hasn't done since 'Oceans.' And Jesse brings a CDC report that says most of us are exhausted, which turns into Bob Goff quitting something every Thursday and why no one ever preaches "pray for less." 

Then a new game, Take Sides, closes it out: Chick-fil-A vs. Raising Cane's, window vs. aisle, Waffle House as a life stage and Derek's very strong feelings about hot tubs.

Highlights:

01:28 — Jesse's plan to cure loneliness with cornhole

07:54 — Derek deleted social media. Bring back boredom

10:33 — Raw dogging a flight and the David Puddy origin story

17:22 — Derek's new single 'Lift Me Up' and curating Apple Music's Elevate playlist

24:09 — RELEVANT Buzz: The CDC says 3 in 4 Americans are exhausted (guess who's most tired)

29:35 — Bob Goff quits something every Thursday

32:15 — Why nobody preaches "pray for less"

34:14 — Warren Buffett hands Berkshire to his son

35:00 — The real Batman: Christian Bale's foster village opens

38:32 — Meryl Streep as Aslan? The Narnia fight

42:04 — Derek's potato salad theory of Narnia

48:34 — A text from inside the movie

50:51 — Elevation Worship & Chandler Moore crack the Hot 100

53:01 — Take Sides: Chick-fil-A vs. Raising Cane's, hot tub vs. pool

It's a special (shorter) episode this week! Andrew Garfield joins us — we talk about his new Paul Greengrass film 'The Uprising,' why he keeps coming back to characters who are searching and what he thinks faith has to do with justice.

Then pop artist Claire Rosinkranz talks with us backstage at Lollapalooza. She gets into the moment she says she heard God at 11 years old, what her therapist told her when she felt like she'd stopped hearing Him and why she grieves her younger self. (Plus some lighter stuff too.)

And then Cameron briefly takes us through the new fall digital issue of RELEVANT, which is out this week. Make sure to check it out at RELEVANTmagazine.com!

Highlights:

02:41 — Andrew Garfield on 'The Uprising'

15:35 — Claire Rosinkranz

25:01 — Inside the new issue of RELEVANT

This week Cory Asbury joins us. He walked away from worship music five years ago—we talk about what pulled him back and why it's different this time. His new worship record, Outsing the Angels, is out September 18.

In Slices, Jesse brings up the Tesla Cyber Cab, which is now driving around Austin with no steering wheel, no rearview mirror and no brake pedal, and the federal government has questions. (He also has a theory about what’s actually driving them.) Derek tells us how Skilla Baby’s prayer took over The Breakfast Club this week, and Marty tells the story of the 1986 Zelda art where Link is kneeling in a church praying to Jesus.

Also, water parks are the last lawless place in America, and somebody in Virginia Beach burned down a 50-foot gorilla named Hugh Mungus.

Then One Has to Go closes it out: find out what slow jams, Good Charlotte, and Fast and Furious have in common.

Highlights:

03:00 — Water parks: the last lawless place in America

06:22 — Hugh Mungus, the 50-foot gorilla an arsonist burned down

11:17 — Slices: Tesla's Cyber Cab shipped without a brake pedal, and the feds noticed

18:48 — Marty walks away from a Waymo wreck

21:38 — Skilla Baby's prayer alarm goes off on The Breakfast Club

26:06 — Link was praying to Jesus, and Nintendo of America took it out

31:53 — Bible Adventures, bootleg cartridges and the Christian Marvel comics

33:52 — Cory Asbury on leaving worship music and what brought him back

42:39 — One Has to Go

This week SEU Worship joins us — we talk about the SEU Outpouring and their new album 'Found in the Field.' 

In RELEVANT Buzz, 'Scary Movie' star Anna Faris opens up on Chelsea Handler's podcast about her 14-year-old son and the conversations he keeps having with her about Jesus. Then the biggest artist in music right now, Ella Langley, is rewriting the record books and getting bolder about God from the stage. We play what she said at a recent show. Then there's 'Death of the Pastor's Wife,' the new Netflix series about Mica Miller, the South Carolina pastor's wife whose death became a national story.

In Slices, a 47-year-old Bay Area pastor made a college football roster and is now a defensive end at a community college. And scientists have worked out how to turn plastic bottles into protein cookies for disaster zones and deep space crews (nobody has actually eaten one yet). 

We close the show with a bracket game ranking five years of Emily’s time at RELEVANT: the Eras Tour, girl dinner, jalapeño poppers, a church prom photo. It's her last episode with us, and we send her off the right way.

Coincidentally, we also let you know about some new job openings over at RELEVANTmediagroup.com. 

Highlights:

02:24 — Derek on teenagers again

04:52 — The lame duck era

08:59 — Derek's Dell call center exit stories

13:37 — Jesse quits Kmart

17:06 — RELEVANT Buzz: Anna Faris on her son Jack's faith

21:58 — Ella Langley's record-breaking run and her mini sermon

26:26 — 'Death of the Pastor's Wife' on Netflix

30:33 — SEU Worship on 'Found in the Field'

38:34 — Slices: a 47-year-old pastor makes a college football roster

44:09 — Slices: plastic bottles into protein cookies

47:17 — The Emily Brown Bracket Challenge

58:34 — Five years of Emily Brown

59:37 — We're hiring

This week we're joined by Michael Cochren, the soul-and-blues frontman of Cochren & Co. He talks about the eight years he spent waiting on an answer from God and why he refuses to say God is good just because things finally worked out. We spotlight the band's new album, 'Runs in the Blood.'

In RELEVANT Buzz, Cory Asbury posted and deleted a shirtless workout photo, apologized for it and then got roasted by every friend he has in Christian music. Also, survivors launched the first national database of Protestant leaders accused of abuse, years after the SBC voted to build one and then let it die. And The Promised Land, the Moses workplace mockumentary that started as a YouTube pilot, just signed Lionsgate and got a second season.

In Slices, Columbia House is finally shutting down, which mostly raises the question of how it was still open, and one of us confesses to running a stack of accounts under slightly different names to get free CDs as a teenager. And a woman in New Zealand went into cardiac arrest in a supermarket parking lot, got revived by a stranger and then got a parking ticket for it. 

Also in here: a follow-up on the resting heart rate situation, a public service announcement about energy drinks, and the actual reason last week's episode showed up five days late.

One Has to Go closes it out. And we're still taking answers to last week's question: What's something you wish you'd known going into your freshman year of college? Drop it in the comments or @ us. We're running your answers in a piece this week.

Highlights:

01:21 — Marty's new house and the California no-AC problem

04:07 — Is the house haunted

06:15 — The resting heart rate follow-up and a Celsius warning

07:48 — C4, Sour Patch Kids flavor and two hours of pins and needles

11:35 — David Blaine, stunt magic and the four kinds of magician

19:15 — Emily is podcasting from what appears to be a TJ Maxx dressing room

21:04 — Kohl's cash

22:13 — RELEVANT Buzz: Cory Asbury takes down the shirtless photo and apologizes

28:08 — Survivors launch the first national database of accused Protestant abusers

30:09 — The Promised Land gets a second season and Lionsgate

31:33 — Michael Cochren of Cochren & Co.

39:12 — Slices: Columbia House is shutting down after 71 years

43:34 — She died in a parking lot and still got a ticket

48:34 — Why last week's episode was late

50:05 — One Has to Go

This week, "This Is How We Do It" singer Montell Jordan joins us. He and his wife, Kristin, went from platinum records and world tours to planting a church, and they talk about what was missing in the middle of all that success. Also on the show, Ryan Ellis, who spent a decade writing worship music and now shows us what else he’s got. We spotlight his new album, ‘No Halo.’

In RELEVANT Buzz, Saints quarterback Drew Brees went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and built his speech around the day Christ changed his life. In other sports news, the Chicago White Sox handed out a record-breaking number of Pope hats. A new Harvard study suggests the loneliness epidemic may not be for the reasons we assume. And Stranger Things actor Caleb McLaughlin opens up about his faith journey.

In Slices, the FAA solved its air traffic controller shortage by advertising the job to gamers, and a guy in San Francisco bought a billboard for an AI chatbot that turns out to be him. One Has to Go closes it out, and we tell you about four open positions we’ve posted at relevantmediagroup.com.

Editorial Question of the Week: What's something you wish you knew before starting your freshman year? Drop it in the comments or on our socials. We'll read the best ones on next week's show and turn them into an article at relevantmagazine.com.

Highlights:

01:53 — Derek on teenage boys 

04:15 — New York smells and we fix it

08:36 — Cameron's resting heart rate becomes a group intervention 

17:20 — RELEVANT Buzz: Drew Brees' Hall of Fame speech 

19:03 — The time Oprah tried to wipe off Drew Brees' birthmark on live TV 

23:11 — The White Sox gave away 40,000 Pope hats 

26:02 — Harvard says loneliness tracks with income, not gender 

31:05 — Caleb McLaughlin on the faith he found on his own 

34:41 — Montell and Kristin Jordan 

40:30 — Ryan Ellis 

47:34 — Slices: The FAA recruited gamers to run air traffic control 

51:26 — The San Francisco AI chatbot that is one guy typing 

59:10 — Editorial Question of the Week 

59:45 — One Has to Go

This week we're joined by Lily Hooten of Housefires, the Atlanta worship collective, to talk about their new album House Church Vol. 001. She talks with Emily about how the record came together and where the collective is going from here.

In RELEVANT Buzz, “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” singer Mike Posner is going public about finding faith, his baptism and laying out what he thinks being a Christian actually requires of him. We also get into a Gen Z trend that gives singleness a rebrand, plus the A-list artists selling mystery concert tickets for a low price to combat rising concert prices. 

In Slices, The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers says he's thinking about quitting music and points at his dad as the reason, and Cameron brings a story about maybe the real reason people are stealing those Flock surveillance cameras. Somewhere in there Jesse invents the meeting poncho, which he is convinced is a great idea. And Emily has a can’t-miss announcement at the end of the show.

Editorial Question of the Week: What's a worship song lyric you can't unhear once you notice it? Drop your answer in the comments or @ us. We're reading them on next week's episode.

Highlights:

02:52 — Jesse's home alone and after 10 hours the house is already destroyed

11:22 — The meeting shirt, and the case for a back flap

16:07 — SkyMall is somehow still online

18:19 — Sharper Image vs. Brookstone, peak capitalism

22:27 — RELEVANT Buzz: Mike Posner gets baptized

28:06 — Gen Z, dating apps and solo maxxing

33:24 — Mystery concert tickets, with one catch

36:15 — Lily Hooten of Housefires

43:36 — Slices: Brandon Flowers on quitting music

47:35 — Google's AI said Flock cameras are full of gold

52:50 — Editorial Question of the Week

53:43 — Emily has an announcement

This week, adventurer Bear Grylls joins us to tell us about The Chosen in the Wild, his new Prime Video series debuting Sunday. He takes the cast into Utah canyons and the Great Basin Desert, and tells us what Jonathan Roumie is actually like off camera.

We also have Emily’s recap of a memorable Lollapalooza this past weekend, Spider-Man: Brand New Day making U.S. box office history, and movie theaters having a record-setting comeback. We also get into the professor who found a way to catch students using AI on exams, and Arizona State announcing a new degree that’s getting a lot of ridicule, but Jesse thinks is a great idea. And we tell the tale of Katy Perry getting stuck in a human-sized inflatable water bottle at a recent concert.

This week’s question of the week: what's a random habit you picked up that's genuinely improved your life? Drop your answer in the comments or @ us. We're reading them on next week's episode.

Highlights:

01:25 — A father-sons weekend in New York

03:22 — The Devil Wears Prada 2, reviewed from the runway

05:44 — Lollapalooza recap: Grant Park is enormous

07:15 — The case for wheels on your feet

11:47 — Lorde, Olivia Dean and a very wet weekend

14:54 — The rain delay, a canceled set and The Neighbourhood's missing instruments

18:34 — Lolla fashion: vintage NBA jerseys and brat crop tops

20:29 — Charli xcx, "Rock Music" and what artists owe their fans

25:20 — Marty moves on up

27:26 — Sitcom shared universes

30:12 — RELEVANT Buzz: Spider-Man breaks the all-time box office record

36:05 — The professor who caught 32 students using AI

38:12 — Bear Grylls on The Chosen in the Wild

42:02 — Slices: Arizona State's influencer degree

46:49 — Slices: Katy Perry vs. a giant water bottle

50:56 — Question of the Week