With Friends Like These

By Crooked Media

What's With Friends Like These about?

On this season of With Friends Like These, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, host Ana Marie Cox looks at post-Trump America and tries to find models for how we forgive people, and if we should.

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With Friends Like These episodes:

12.17.2021
Friend Goals: W/ Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond
Old 97’s band members and old time friends, Rhett Miller and Murray Hammond, join us for a conversation about songwriting, falling into friendship love and how a band is like an open marriage. For a transcript of this episode, please visit...
12.10.2021
The Sound of Nashville
Rising artist, Ciara Rae shares her experience of living in Nashville as a songwriter and musician. She tells us about the ups and downs of surviving in a forever evolving industry, staying true to her music and how songwriting helped...
12.03.2021
What Was Going on with the Go-Go's with Kathy Valentine
The Go-Go's made history as one of the most successful all-female bands ever. Bassist Kathy Valentine's new memoir puts their story in context and highlights her own rocky path to recovery, success, and serenity.. The author of ‘All I Ever...
11.19.2021
Is a bar a bar without booze? On sober socializing with Chris Marshall
The creator of Sans Bar, the bar without booze, Chris Marshall joins us for a conversation on recovery, community and how to make the perfect mocktail. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/withfriendslikethese.
11.12.2021
Why you eat what you eat on Thanksgiving
This week is the 400th anniversary of what America knows as Thanksgiving. Join us as food historian Linda Civitello takes us through how the traditional meal has evolved through the decades and what items we love to indulge in owe...
11.05.2021
Andrew Zimmern: The Road to Recovery
Emmy and James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, writer and teacher, Andrew Zimmern joins the show to talk about Food politics, the restaurant industry post pandemic, and his journey with sobriety. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/withfriendslikethese.
10.29.2021
Adam Serwer: What Texas Can Teach Us
Writer for the Atlantic and Author of the book The Cruelty is the point: The Past, Present and Future of Trump’s America, Adam Serwer, joins the show to talk about Texas’ politics, the misconceptions about the state and how to...
10.15.2021
Daisy Haggard on Female Felons: From Villain to Human
Comedic writer and actress Daisy Haggard joins the show to talk about her work creating the Showtime series “Back To Life,” which follows an underdog female character who returns to her hometown after serving an 18 year prison sentence. Daisy talks...
10.08.2021
Sophie Santos on Lesbian Identity: From Denial to Pride
Comedian Sophie Santos joins the show to talk about her memoir -- “The One You Want to Marry ---and Other Identities I've Had.” It details Sophie’s life growing up as an Army brat in the South, while also being white, Hispanic,...
10.01.2021
Eric Garcia on Autistic Self-Advocacy: From Patients to Citizens
Reporter Eric Garcia's new book -- “We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation” -- springs from his experience as a political correspondent and autistic person. Frustrated with the myths and stereotypes about autism found in the media, he set out to...
09.24.2021
Lizz Winstead: From Comedy Writer to Pro-Abortion Activist
Lizz Winstead is best known as the co-creator of The Daily Show, a program that reinvented late-night, and showed a new generation of comedians how to combine news with satire and activism. Her next act was founding Lady Parts Justice,...
09.17.2021
How to Craft A Life Worth Living
After enduring what she calls “700 bad days” in a row, author Kelly Williams Brown realized that simple rituals and crafty projects were often what got her through her most difficult days. In her new book “Easy Crafts for the...
09.10.2021
The Power Struggle Behind Who Does The Dishes with John Hodgman
For the past 10 years, actor, author and humorist John Hodgman has hosted the podcast “Judge John Hodgman” where he helps friends, roommates and romantic couples negotiate their long-standing quibbles: Things like: “Which one of us is loading the dishwasher...
08.27.2021
The Anti-Black History of the Second Amendment w/Carol Anderson
Best-selling author of "White Rage" Carol Anderson explores the anti-Black history of the Second Amendment. There is structural racism built into our Bill of Rights! The story of white Americans' fear of black Americans with guns starts with the enslaved...
08.20.2021
The Lawsuit About the Indian Child Welfare Act That Isn’t About the Children
Fellow Crookedian Rebecca Nagle joins us to talk about Season Two of “This Land.” From the “boarding schools” of the 19th century to the good intentions of the Indian Child Welfare Act — and the big money campaign to repeal...
08.13.2021
Everything You Thought You Knew About the Alamo Is Wrong
The co-author of “Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth,” Bryan Burroughs, debunks the Anglo-centric fables surrounding Texas’ founding myth — with a cameo appearance from Phil Collins. (In the myth, not as a guest on...
08.06.2021
Brian Broome Is His Own Man with Brian Broome
Brian Broome’s dad used to threaten to hit him so hard he’d go to heaven — “punch him up to the gods” — if he didn’t conform to the ideal of Black masculinity. Broome joins to discuss his memoir, “Punch...
07.30.2021
Growing Up Girl with Melissa Febos
Former young girl and memoirist Melissa Febos joins to discuss the pressures and paradoxes in how society treats female children. Her most recent book is called “Girlhood.” For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/withfriendslikethese.
07.23.2021
Straight Up Fangirling Simone Biles with Alyssa Roenigk
This podcast is now a Simone Biles stan account. ESPN’s Alyssa Roenigk joins to talk about the Olympics as a problematic fave and Biles as an unproblematic one. Women’s gymnastics did a number on a lot of us as young...
07.16.2021
Ask What Kind of Help People Want with Ruby Welch
Restorative justice advocate Ruby Welch brings the perspective of a previously incarcerated person to policy. She’s not a fan of how most people (even well-meaning people!) prioritize the needs of the recently released. Find out what it means to be...
07.09.2021
The Science of Online Outrage with Molly Crockett
Yale psychologist Molly Crockett joins the show to talk about the latest research on online outrage and how it affects us all. Then on this week's Adorables segment you'll hear from Rutherford Falls star Jana Schmieding about the two cats...
07.02.2021
The Secret to Talking About Hard Things Is to Listen, with Anna Sale, PLUS Moby's #adorable
On her podcast, “Death, Sex and Money,” Anna Sale has delved into topics most people avoid, but what she learned has to do with the questions you ask and not the answers you want. We also discuss her book, “Let’s...
06.25.2021
Andy Richter Needs a New Job
Andy Richter’s relationship with Conan O’Brien has extended over decades; overall, it’s lasted longer than most marriages (the average US marriage ends after eight years, sadface). The Conan show on TBS comes to an end on June 25 and we...
06.18.2021
Greenwood After the Tulsa Race Massacre with Carlos Moreno
We’ve begun to recognize the tragedy that happened in Greenwood a hundred years ago, but Greenwood is more than a memorial. It had a bustling past, an amazing recovery, and, sadly, a second ransacking — and it’s recovering again. Carlos...
06.11.2021
That’s Not Funny, THIS Is Funny, with Negin Farsad
Negin Farsad calls herself a “social justice comedian” and she’s been using her skills to leverage entertainment into opening minds for years now – both in her book, “How to Make White People Laugh,” her documentary, “The Muslims Are Coming!”...
06.04.2021
“When Statues Do Pratfalls” with Jana Schmieding
"Rutherford Falls" writer and actress Jana Schmieding joins to talk about Indigenous humor, being a "person of size" playing a romantic comedy lead, and the best way to make fun of podcasters, racist, snobs, small-town reactionaries, and academics. And on...
05.28.2021
Filling Your Existential Portfolio with Moby
Ground-breaking musician Moby joins to discuss his sobriety and all that comes with it: humility, serving others, and looking somewhere else beside fame to fill the emptiness inside. His new auto-bio-pic, “Moby Doc,” is in limited release to theaters now....
05.21.2021
Doing what’s in your pleasure with Andrew Gillum
Former mayor of Tallahassee and Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum joins to talk how about recovery influenced his perspective on politics and his own sense of self as a former politician, bi-erasure, and what Matt Gaetz’s behavior can tell us...
05.14.2021
More Than the Worst Thing He’s Done with Vince Granata
Vince Granata starts his book, “Everything Is Fine,” with the truth: His brother, in the midst of a schizophrenic episode, murdered his mother. The rest of the book tells the story of how and why Vince never stopped loving him. And...
05.07.2021
OFF-FIELD ISSUES WITH Mina Kimes
ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes comes on to give her hot take on how analysts should and shouldn’t talk about sexual assault and institutional bad behavior. One idea: Never again utter the phrase “off-field issues.” And introducing "With Adorables Like These" -...
04.30.2021
Unf*ck the Police with W. Kamau Bell
“United Shades of America” host W. Kamau Bell joins to discuss the miserable job performance of the police, who are our employees! Also: how trauma can make you funnier and why marginalized folks have to have bigger and better imaginations...
04.23.2021
“Boys State” Star Isn’t Ready to Run Again
Documentary “Boys State” was short-listed for an Oscar for its engrossing portrayal of Texas teenagers’ cutthroat politics. One of its stars, Steven Garza, stops by to discuss if the kids are alright. Spoiler alert: Maybe not! For a transcript of this...
04.16.2021
How to Be Fearless with Tig Notaro
Stand-up Tig Notaro comes by to talk about being free and fearless, and how that makes you a better person and funnier comedian. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/withfriendslikethese.
04.09.2021
If It’s Not Fixed, Don’t Break It (with Elizabeth Kolbert)
New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert’s new book, “Under a White Sky,” explores the damage to the planet humans have done (or could do) in trying to fix the damage they’ve done: everything from electrocuting carp and to sprinkling the sky...
04.02.2021
When Your Parents Don’t Know You (with Rebecca Carroll)
Rebecca Carroll grew up as the only Black person in her adopted family, and in her small town. Her memoir, “Surviving the White Gaze,” is about exactly what it says.
03.26.2021
Debts to Society
Harvard Law professor Martha Minow has an idea: what if we forgive debts to society with the same generosity that we forgive the debts of corporations?
03.19.2021
Toxic Avenger
New York Magazine's Rebecca Traister expands on her reporting about Andrew Cuomo's reckoning and suggests broadening our understanding of what sexual harassment and abuse look like.
03.12.2021
Love and Death in the Time of Covid
Intercept senior writer Liliana Segura has been reporting on the death penalty for years, including the Trump administration’s lame-duck killing spree. She comes on to discuss the legacy of putting people to death during a pandemic — and to share...
03.05.2021
Sympathy for the Executioner
Maurice Chammah, author of the NYT Editor’s Pick “Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty,” joins us to talk about how enforcing the death penalty poisons everyone who is a part of it.
03.04.2021
Forgiveness & Reconciliation (New Season Trailer)
On this season of With Friends Like These, host Ana Marie Cox looks at post-Trump America and tries to find models for how we forgive people, and if we should.
02.26.2021
These Friends
To celebrate With Friends Like These 200th episode, we talk with Rolling Stone senior writer Jamil Smith about how he helped inspire the show, what the pandemic has taught us about grief, and being careful about who you call a...
02.19.2021
Who Watches the Weight Watchers?
CW: Eating disorders, dieting. Aubrey Gordon, of Maintenance Phase and “Your Fat Friend,” joins to take us through the twisty history of Weight Watchers and its founder, Jean Nidtech. Stops on the tour include Heinz ketchup and Maya Angelou! Aubrey’s new...
02.12.2021
The Sheraton Experiment
After the National Guard descended on Minneapolis to enforce an 8PM curfew on the streets, advocates for those living on the streets bought a block of rooms at a shuttered Sheraton to house them. The volunteers decided to impose as...
02.05.2021
The Berkeley Socialist Behind Mass Incarceration (with Heather Ann Thompson)
Robert Martinson was a radical anti-racist activist in the 1960s: He ran for mayor in Berkeley as a socialist. He was arrested in Mississippi for participating in Freedom Summer. And then he authored the academic paper that became the political...
01.29.2021
“Hope Is a Strategy"
New York Magazine senior writer and Friend of the Pod Rebecca Traister joins to talk us through how Biden’s missteps around issues of gender and race made him the white guy who could win in 2020.
01.22.2021
The Future Reminds You of Your Responsibility
The Atlantic's Adam Serwer comes on to talk about the inauguration and the future of this fragile democracy.
01.15.2021
Mothers of Invention
We love to love mothers, except when we don’t — like when they’re Black, or queer, or too thin, or too fat, or want to end their pregnancy, or do it alone, or have a glass of wine. Friend of...
01.08.2021
You Can’t Change the World If You Hate Yourself
“The only sustainable foundation for a changed world is internal transformation” — that’s the message of Sonya Renee Taylor, author of “The Body Is Not an Apology.” Her mission is to take us out of the realm of mere “body...
01.01.2021
When Denouncing White Nationalism Isn’t Enough (Encore)
Derek Black thought he was done with the white nationalist movement when he wrote a public letter renouncing the ideology he grew up in. Then he realized that white nationalism wasn’t just the racists that used to listen to his...
12.25.2020
“Scared to Believe” (Encore)
Santa isn’t the only myth we use to keep children in line! In the 1990s, evangelical churches bought and gave away thousands of copies of the book, “Left Behind,” hoping its overwrought depiction of the End Times would frighten unbelievers...

What's With Friends Like These about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

With Friends Like These episodes:

Friend Goals: W/ Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond

The Sound of Nashville

What Was Going on with the Go-Go's with Kathy Valentine

Is a bar a bar without booze? On sober socializing with Chris Marshall

Why you eat what you eat on Thanksgiving

Andrew Zimmern: The Road to Recovery

Adam Serwer: What Texas Can Teach Us

Daisy Haggard on Female Felons: From Villain to Human

Sophie Santos on Lesbian Identity: From Denial to Pride

Eric Garcia on Autistic Self-Advocacy: From Patients to Citizens

Lizz Winstead: From Comedy Writer to Pro-Abortion Activist

How to Craft A Life Worth Living

The Power Struggle Behind Who Does The Dishes with John Hodgman

The Anti-Black History of the Second Amendment w/Carol Anderson

The Lawsuit About the Indian Child Welfare Act That Isn’t About the Children

Everything You Thought You Knew About the Alamo Is Wrong

Brian Broome Is His Own Man with Brian Broome

Growing Up Girl with Melissa Febos

Straight Up Fangirling Simone Biles with Alyssa Roenigk

Ask What Kind of Help People Want with Ruby Welch

The Science of Online Outrage with Molly Crockett

The Secret to Talking About Hard Things Is to Listen, with Anna Sale, PLUS Moby's #adorable

Andy Richter Needs a New Job

Greenwood After the Tulsa Race Massacre with Carlos Moreno

That’s Not Funny, THIS Is Funny, with Negin Farsad

“When Statues Do Pratfalls” with Jana Schmieding

Filling Your Existential Portfolio with Moby

Doing what’s in your pleasure with Andrew Gillum

More Than the Worst Thing He’s Done with Vince Granata

OFF-FIELD ISSUES WITH Mina Kimes

Unf*ck the Police with W. Kamau Bell

“Boys State” Star Isn’t Ready to Run Again

How to Be Fearless with Tig Notaro

If It’s Not Fixed, Don’t Break It (with Elizabeth Kolbert)

When Your Parents Don’t Know You (with Rebecca Carroll)

Debts to Society

Toxic Avenger

Love and Death in the Time of Covid

Sympathy for the Executioner

Forgiveness & Reconciliation (New Season Trailer)

These Friends

Who Watches the Weight Watchers?

The Sheraton Experiment

The Berkeley Socialist Behind Mass Incarceration (with Heather Ann Thompson)

“Hope Is a Strategy"

The Future Reminds You of Your Responsibility

Mothers of Invention

You Can’t Change the World If You Hate Yourself

When Denouncing White Nationalism Isn’t Enough (Encore)

“Scared to Believe” (Encore)