Author: Peach Fish Productions

On The Gist, who oh who will govern the state of Virginia?

In the interview, when Roger McNamee jumped in as an early investor in Facebook, he might not have figured he’d end up testifying about the company in front of Congress. McNamee charts Facebook’s worrying evolution in his new book: Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe.

In the Spiel, the State of the Union address is like baseball’s All-Star Game. Flashy, but without consequence.

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On The Gist, Gov. Andrew Cuomo still doesn’t understand puns.

In the interview, Lauren Greenfield has been documenting the wealthy for the past 25 years and has finally turned that into her new film Generation Wealth, an exploration of the rise of wealth culture and the implications it has on those immersed in it. Can money really make you happy? Is there any way for the rest of us to ascend to wealthy status? Would we even want to? Generation Wealth is currently available on Amazon.  

In the Spiel, who are the guests at the State of the Union?

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On The Gist, parsing president Trump’s one-on-one press interviews may be a fool’s errand, but at least it’s a fun one.

In the interview, the Washington Post’s Greg Miller has reported from the murkiest depths of the Trump swamp. He’s on The Gist to talk about Russia’s connections to the Trump campaign, the challenges of covering a hostile White House, and what he suspects Putin really has on Trump. Miller is the author of The Apprentice: Trump, Russia and the Subversion of American Democracy.

In the Spiel, Virginia governor Ralph Northam has to go, but we should still question the warp-speed guillotine that is the internet.

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On The Gist, throwback to Mike Pesca's unnecessarily censored yearbook quote.

In the interview, Seth Crossno, also known by his online persona William Needham Finley IV, thought it would be fun to go to the Fyre Festival with his buddies. And while the festival might have been a mess, being a part of two competing documentaries about the experience and winning a lawsuit about it was quite the trip. Crossno is here to discuss what it was like, and why he doesn’t understand how people found Fyre Festival scammer Billy McFarland so charming. 

In the Spiel, who can advertise during the Super Bowl. 

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On The Gist, get off of your phone and out of my way when it’s snowing. 

In the interview, there’s no one right way to raise a child, but a few hacks sure help. Podcaster, author, and mother Hillary Frank gives you permission to do what it takes to make your kid’s childhood easier on you, including turning tasks into games and telling white lies (call pork “chicken” if that’s all they’ll eat). Hillary Frank is the creator of The Longest Shortest Time and the author of Weird Parenting Wins. 

In the Spiel, centrism sucks. 

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On The Gist, this one is brought to you by the letter T.

In the interview, does using a stool really help your stool? Can the Squatty Potty offer any actual health benefits or is that smooth dookie all in your mind? Maybe the contraption’s popular just because it rhymes… Anyway, Maria Konnikova is here to judge, appropriately, whether that is bullshit.

In the Spiel, Medicare is only a minefield if Democrats make it one.

This episode is brought to you by Capterra. Try it today, for free, at Capterra.com/GIST.

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On The Gist, “the big game” is a dumb way to refer to the Super Bowl.

If you were to pick a moment in U.S. history that put it on the path to polarization, you could do worse than Watergate. What followed were the blue and red bubbles staked out by CNN in the '80s, Fox News in the '90s, and social media in the 2000s. Princeton professors Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer lived through that history, created a course on it, and cover it in their new book,Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974.

In the Spiel, Chris Christie’s new book.

This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Get started today at ziprecruiter.com/Gist.

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On The Gist, Nancy Pelosi is a skilled politician, sure… but she’s scoring her wins against an incompetent one in president Trump.

In the interview, we obsess about the lives of stars, but what about their not-so-famous siblings? Comedy Central’s The Other Two focuses on the brother and sister of a pre-teen who rocketed to pop stardom. Drew Tarver plays one of those siblings, and discusses what it’s like living in the shadow of a more famous family member (not just in this role, but in real life). The Other Two airs on Thursdays on Comedy Central. In the Spiel, on the eccentricities of Roger Stone and Randy Credico.

This episode is brought to you by Slack, the collaboration hub for work. Learn more at Slack.com.

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On The Gist, pairing 2020 candidates with this or that Oscar-nominated film.

In the interview, don’t take a shot every time Donna Brazile calls herself one of the Democratic Party’s “original gangsters.” But it’s true: she’s been at the heart of its workings for decades. In 2020, she plans on keeping out of the Democratic primaries, all while keeping up with the many rule changes they’ve adopted since 2016. Brazile is the co-author of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics.

In the Spiel, an analysis of Trump’s shutdown backdown.

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On The Gist, Necco Wafers are out this Valentine’s Day, but don’t shed a tear.

In the interview, some movies live for the twist. Steven Knight’s latest film, Serenity, is ostensibly about a sea captain’s Melvillian obsessions. Knight joins us to talk about how Matthew McConaughey gets it right, Saint Lucia, and writing screenplays in a detached state of mind (“It’s almost like accessing whatever the hell it is that creates dreams”). 

In the Spiel, journalists are losing their jobs. And there’s some BS out there about why that is.

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