A Brief Intro
Here are Jon, Jon & Tommy on Colbert the night of the State of the Union in 2018. And if you watch Colbert tonight they’ll be on again for a big announcement.
Who is Crooked Media?
Almost all of the founders served in the Obama administration in some form at some point. Favreau served as Barack Obama’s head speechwriter from 2005–2013, Lovett was a speechwriter for Hillary Clinton and as a presidential speechwriter in the Obama White House. Tommy worked for President Obama as his National Security Spokesman and is able to explain the foreign policy side of decisions in Pod Save the World. Dan Pfeiffer served President Obama for eight years as his Communications Director on both the 2008 Campaign and in the White House and finally as Senior Advisor to the President.
Pod Save America
Pod Save America is the most popular political podcast out there with something like 250 million downloads. This twice weekly podcast will breakdown the news of National events, ramifications of a tweet storm and even bring you interviews with guests like Parkland, Florida students Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, activist Matt Rivitz of Sleeping Giants and even President Obama, Vice President Biden and Hilary Clinton. This fall they are bringing their podcast to HBO leading up to the mid-term elections. Pod Save America will air on Friday nights will follow the live format of “Pod Tours America.”
Pod Save the World
Tommy worked as President Obama’s National Security Spokesperson which gives him a unique perspective on foreign policy matters. In Pod Save the World he explains it in a way I can understand it. From understanding the politics of the World Cup, to what is NATO. My favorite podcasts are:
Disastrous European Vacation – Breaking down the meeting with Putin
Infiltrating al Qaeda – an interview with an undercover FBI agent who worked his way into an al Qaeda cell.
War on Peace – Discussing Ronan Farrow’s book about the State Department
Pod Save the People
DeRay Mckesson, Brittany Packnett, Clint Smith, Samuel Sinyangwe, hosts Pod Save the People. photo from Crooked Media
DeRay Mckesson is a civil rights activist who focuses primarily on social justice issues and he brings his knowledge to Pod Save the People. His co-hosts, Brittany Packnett, Clint Smith and Samuel Sinyangwe talk about activism and political and cultural issues with a diverse leaders. DeRay was named as one of the World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine in 2015 and as one of the 30 Most Influential People On The Internet by Time Magazine in 2016. A favorite recent episode includes an interview with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. As with every episode, I learned so much. DeRay has written a book and you can find that here: On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope
New Pod! @deray, @samswey, @ClintSmithIII and @MsPackyetti discuss DACA and how white Americans support welfare programs — but only for themselves. Guest @BetoORourke talks immigration, challenging Ted Cruz, and the future of Texas.https://t.co/bimszlp5Wc
— Pod Save The People (@PodSaveThePpl) August 7, 2018
Lovett or Leave It
Lovett or Leave It tapes in Los Angeles and I’ve been fortunate enough to go to a few shows, especially on key weeks when it’s been crazy you need a little Lovett in your life. The last episode I went to Lovett had Naomi Ekperigin, Guy Branum and Planned Parenthood’s Dawn Leguens for a fantastic discussion on reproductive rights, Michael Cohen flipping and why we need a Fraiser reboot. From games to the Rant Wheel to asides from Lovett about truffle oil, if you’re in LA get tickets to the Improv and see this show.
Keep It!
This week on Keep It! hosts are joined by Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu to discuss what the film means for Asian representation in Hollywood. (L to R Louis Virtel, Ira Madison III, Jon M. Chu, Kara Brown) photo from Crooked Media
Keep It! is a great pop culture breakdown from Ira Madison III, Kara Brown and Louis Virtel as they talk about things like the Oscars new category, or this week, they talk to Jon M. Chu and discuss representation in Hollywood. Louis has savant level Oscar knowledge which I love!
The Wilderness
I did not always vote Democrat and this documentary podcast by Favreau on the history of the party is a fascinating deep dive into “The Wilderness.” A 15-part story on topics like Obama’s legacy, fixing what’s wrong with the Democratic Party, winning back people who are disenfranchised with the party.
Hysteria!
The latest addition to the Crooked family is Hysteria, a female driven podcast with diverse voices from across the country. Hosted by Erin Ryan and includes a rotating set of co-hosts: Alyssa Mastromonaco, Blair Imani, Grace Parra, Kiran Deol, Megan Gailey, and Ziwe Fumudoh. These fantastic women tackle things like workplace harassment, Roe v. Wade, the ERA and how things in the news affect women specifically. Alyssa has a book called Who Thought This Was A Good Idea about her time working for President Obama. It’s on my too read shelf.
With Friends Like These
With Friends Like These is an offering from Crooked hosted by Ana Marie Cox where she talks about how to keep relationships and friendships in current political climate. Ana talks to liberals and conservatives, religious leaders, writers, activists, and people you should know for a show that’s about listening instead of arguing. My favorites have been her podcast with Arjun Sethi author of American Hate: Survivors Speak Out and W. Kamau Bell where he discusses the racial bias training Starbucks workers had to take and what that means and more personally for me when she spoke with the Atlantic’s McKay Coppins on “Mormon Pundit Mode” and how Mormons fit into the Republican party.
Ana sat down with @onesarahjones last week for a conversation about how she became a secular activist, and why she left the church behind. Give it a listen: https://t.co/oa1Fj6wXK3 pic.twitter.com/dRo2RFCP4a
— With Friends (@crooked_friends) August 2, 2018
Majority 54
Like Ana, Jason Kander has been talking to people and helping them talk to each other about divisive issues. Jason is a former Army Captain who served in Afghanistan, and Missouri’s former Secretary of State, and now he’s running for Mayor of Kansas City, MO. He also started Let America Vote in February 2017 to fight back against proposals across the country that make it harder for eligible voters to exercise their constitutional right to cast a ballot. His Crooked podcast is Majority 54 where they get into things like the minimum wage, opioid epidemic and unions. He also wrote a book called Outside the Wire. Here’s Jason on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Crooked Conversations
Crooked Conversations are just that, conversations with hosts, contributors, specials guests, that are deep dive conversations into topics that aren’t making the headlines or if they are, they are getting a more in-depth look from some of the brightest minds. Ben Rhodes talks about what it was like writing for Obama. Julissa Arce talks with UCLA Law professor Hiroshi Motomura about what would happen if we abolished ICE. Some conversations are 25 minutes, some are an hour. Both Ben and Julissa have books that you might be interested in. Ben’s book: The World As it Is is a memoir on working for President Obama. And Julissa’s book comes out next month called: Someone Like Me: How One Undocumented Girl Fought For Her American Dream.
Long Form Articles
Earlier this year, after the Parkland, FL shooting, Lovett wrote an article about lowering the voting age to 16. It’s one of many long form articles from the team at Crooked Media. These articles can range from topics like The Supreme Court, Healthcare, Immigration, or Propaganda. Obviously not a podcast but in case you didn’t visit their website, I wanted to make sure you knew where to find them.
