Servant of Pod with Nick Quah

The job of a podcast editor can be hard to efficiently explain, because they do many little things in the service of one big thing: to make the show better for more people. They think about structure, emphasize tension, tighten language, and consider how the presentation of the story comes across to different types of people...

Here’s something a little different. There’s this somewhat parodic but also very real assertion that pornography tends to be at the forefront of new technologies: high-speed internet video, virtual reality, that kind of thing...

College football and Major League Baseball are hanging by a thread. A Floridian bubble is home to multiple sports leagues, all playing out experimental seasons. Stadiums and arenas are largely empty, filled in with artificial crowd noises and, in some cases, papered over with digital fans. Persisting within a pandemic, the sports world has never been stranger...

Richard’s Famous Food Podcast is pretty hard to describe. It’s technically a podcast that deals in food documentaries, but it’s also a cartoonish acid trip that rarely follows a straight line. Genuinely one of the most bizarre things you’ll ever hear, the show is also distinct for the fact that it’s all the creation of one person: Richard Parks III, a food writer, documentarian, filmmaker, and audio producer...

Paul Bae is one of the more prominent creators of fiction podcasts. Since 2015, he co-created The Black Tapes (with Terry Miles), created the anthology series The Big Loop, directed a podcast project from Marvel, and has two shows in development for Spotify. Paul is also part of a growing cadre of podcast creators that’s finding work in Hollywood, with a few television opportunities bubbling up on the horizon...

Chenjerai Kumanyika is a man of many roles: academic, artist, organizer, journalist. He’s also a maker of podcasts, most notable for his work as the co-host of the Peabody award-winning Uncivil along with two acclaimed seasons of Scene on Radio, “Seeing White” and “The Land That Has Never Been Yet.” All three projects are united by a radical sensibility: to fundamentally rethink a core aspect of American society...

Gretchen Rubin’s been keeping it positive, despite the circumstances. Then again, that’s probably what you’d expect from one of the most prominent voices on the subject of happiness...

In these really rough times — and things sure do seem to get rougher by the day — it’s important to take care of yourself. However, the concept of “self-care” has become an increasingly complicated one in recent years, as it’s drifted further into the territory of rampant consumerism and corporate branding...

Nick offers a pair of podcast picks this week. You’re Wrong About and The Ringer’s The Cam Chronicles.

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Last month marked ten whole years of 99% Invisible, Roman Mars’ podcast about design, architecture, and things that quietly shape our world. That’s a long time to be making the same show, even if it’s one that’s recognized and beloved by millions. On this episode, Nick talks to Mars about the origins of 99% Invisible, the grind of making a weekly show for a decade, and how he thinks about the legacy of the podcast, and himself...