.jpg)
In 2026, are you even a celebrity if you don’t have a podcast? Or, actually, are you even a celebrity if you haven’t been on your fellow celebrity friend’s podcast to promote your new product/show/album/tour/documentary/AI-slop venture? It’s long been said that these podcasts are more enticing for A-listers than traditional press. Who could blame them. I too would like to have a Good Hang with Amy Poehler (Amy, please, call me) or sit in Owen Thiele’s bed figuring out how to get famous or receive Kid Cudi’s infinite, brotherly wisdom or tell Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers that I don’t think so, honey.
At least I’d be safe in the knowledge that I probably won’t be asked anything too difficult. For Jake Shane, influencer, actor and host of the ever-popular Therapuss podcast, there is no chance he’ll ask you a tough question – but he might ask a dumb one. Take the Vanity Fair Oscar’s Party, when hired as an actual red carpet correspondent alongside Quen Blackwell and Brittany Broski, he asked both Julia Fox and Damson Idris the same question: “But wasn’t the kid annoying?” about Rose Byrne’s fictional, terminally ill child in the Oscar-nominated If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Both Fox and Idris had the same reaction: a uncomfortable mix of cringe and disbelief.
The 26-year-old’s latest run in with the internet police – post-VF debacle – comes courtesy of Kacey Musgraves. Promoting her new (fantastic) album, Middle of Nowhere, country music’s perennial darling recorded a Therapuss episode with Shane. He tells her that one of his favourite lyrics of hers is “In Tennessee, the sun’s going down / But in Beijing, they’re heading out to work” from 2018’s “Slow Burn”, which is one of Kacey’s favourite songs she has written. He asks her what that lyric means, to which Kacey responds: “It literally just means what it means”. The interaction was posted in isolation on social media and, has once again, reignited the conversation of whether influencers and celebrities should be doing the jobs of journalists.
X content
Admittedly, moments like that make for tough viewing. To watch people with huge platforms – duly earned or not – interview interesting subjects and ask flat, awkward, under-researched questions is, as a journalist, demoralising. There I said it! We live in a media landscape that changes every single day. Forget the long-read profile, it’s all about the short-form video now. Some might go as far as saying journalism is in free-fall – have you seen The Devil Wears Prada 2? – so it stings to see A-listers prioritise friendly conversations with their mates and sometimes skip traditional press altogether.
That being said, these podcasts do have a place in the world – just not the same one occupied by a meticulously researched profile or journalistic deep dive. Many of them are genuinely funny and entertaining. And who doesn’t want some light relief when the times we live in are actual hell and horror? I for one don’t mind a bit of mindless gabber. And, look, Jake Shane is a great at talking! As he said himself in an interview, he doesn’t consider himself a journalist anyway, and says it is “insulting to journalists to say what I do is journalism”. He continued: “I’m not a journalist. There are real journalists out there asking real thoughtful, hard questions. What I am having with people is a conversation… I want to create a comfortable, friendly environment for my guests.”
When I’m deciding what to download for my never-ending, 5G-less commute, it will sometimes be one of the podcasts mentioned in this very article. I want to be – gasp – amused or, in rare cases, actually let out a laugh. But if I want hard-hitting, Pulitzer-worthy reporting – which I often do – I’m not looking to Jake Shane for that. No offence.
