The Substack Podcast

Mara Wilson knows good storytelling. As a child, she starred in Matilda, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Miracle on 34th St. Today she writes about what it was like to grow up as a child star, decide to leave acting, and figure out what she wanted to do with life.

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It’s hard to get 20,000 people to sign up for your email list, but Walt Hickey has done it with his daily newsletter Numlock, which tells the news by numbers. When I asked him how, he kept coming back to three big ideas: write every day, deliver via email, charge readers directly.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com

It’s hard to get 20,000 people to sign up for your email list, but Walt Hickey has done it with his daily newsletter Numlock, which tells the news by numbers. When I asked him how, he kept coming back to three big ideas: write every day, deliver via email, charge readers directly.

Get on the email list at on.substack.com

This week, I spoke to Matt Taibbi, contributing editor to Rolling Stone, journalistic heir to Hunter S. Thompson, and author of serial novel The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing: Adventures of the Unidentified Black Male (published on Substack).

I started the discussion by asking Taibbi about his views of the current state of the dopamine-driven attention economy, where loudmouths and outrage merchants are outcompeting journalists to drive popular narratives. “You’re just constantly checking and checking and checking, and it’s this anxiety generating behavior pattern that pushes people to places that they’ve never been before in the media.”

Indeed, in late 2017 Taibbi was caught up in a social media-driven storm that tainted his reputation. After some satirical and highly objectionable passages from a 2000 book Taibbi co-authored with Mark Ames in Russia were circulated on Twitter, Taibbi was branded a misogynist and lumped in with Harvey Weinstein as a #MeToo offender. While Taibbi’s former female colleagues have defended him and some publications have issued corrections, the damage was done. Taibbi discusses the fall-out and his regrets at length in this interview.

“Once the genie’s out of the bottle, it just never goes back in. And once something’s on the internet, it’s like a social disease—it just never goes away. It was a devastating experience and it was also a very chastening experience.”

Taibbi has continued to write for the Rolling Stone, building on his reputation as a reporter who excoriates political grift, shines a light on America’s darkest policies, and holds Big Finance to account (he famously described Goldman Sachs as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity”). Here, he talks about his career, how he sees the mission of the journalist, and his fears about the slippery slope of state-sponsored censorship. He also tells the behind-the-scenes story of what really happened to Racket, the Pierre Omidyar-funded publication that never was.

Taibbi is one of the most fascinating figures in contemporary American media and this interview is packed with personal reflection, insight, and little flecks of optimism. I hope you’ll find it worthwhile.

—Hamish

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com

This week, I spoke to Matt Taibbi, contributing editor to Rolling Stone, journalistic heir to Hunter S. Thompson, and author of serial novel The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing: Adventures of the Unidentified Black Male (published on Substack).

I started the discussion by asking Taibbi about his views of the current state of the dopamine-driven attention economy, where loudmouths and outrage merchants are outcompeting journalists to drive popular narratives. “You’re just constantly checking and checking and checking, and it’s this anxiety generating behavior pattern that pushes people to places that they’ve never been before in the media.”

Indeed, in late 2017 Taibbi was caught up in a social media-driven storm that tainted his reputation. After some satirical and highly objectionable passages from a 2000 book Taibbi co-authored with Mark Ames in Russia were circulated on Twitter, Taibbi was branded a misogynist and lumped in with Harvey Weinstein as a #MeToo offender. While Taibbi’s former female colleagues have defended him and some publications have issued corrections, the damage was done. Taibbi discusses the fall-out and his regrets at length in this interview.

“Once the genie’s out of the bottle, it just never goes back in. And once something’s on the internet, it’s like a social disease—it just never goes away. It was a devastating experience and it was also a very chastening experience.”

Taibbi has continued to write for the Rolling Stone, building on his reputation as a reporter who excoriates political grift, shines a light on America’s darkest policies, and holds Big Finance to account (he famously described Goldman Sachs as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity”). Here, he talks about his career, how he sees the mission of the journalist, and his fears about the slippery slope of state-sponsored censorship. He also tells the behind-the-scenes story of what really happened to Racket, the Pierre Omidyar-funded publication that never was.

Taibbi is one of the most fascinating figures in contemporary American media and this interview is packed with personal reflection, insight, and little flecks of optimism. I hope you’ll find it worthwhile.

—Hamish

Get on the email list at on.substack.com

Will there ever be a "Netflix for Podcasts?" How is the podcast advertising business evolving? And how do you build a focused newsletter into a full-time job, while staying sane? This week's episode of The Substack Podcast answers these questions and more.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com

Will there ever be a "Netflix for Podcasts?" How is the podcast advertising business evolving? And how do you build a focused newsletter into a full-time job, while staying sane? This week's episode of The Substack Podcast answers these questions and more.

Get on the email list at on.substack.com

Ann Friedman has crafted a journalism career on her own terms, combining freelance writing for major national outlets with a weekly newsletter and Call Your Girlfriend, a podcast she co-hosts with Aminatou Sow.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com

Ann Friedman has crafted a journalism career on her own terms, combining freelance writing for major national outlets with a weekly newsletter and Call Your Girlfriend, a podcast she co-hosts with Aminatou Sow.

Get on the email list at on.substack.com

Tim Urban explains how he grew Wait But Why into one of the most popular blogs on the internet.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com