Welcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes. After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture podcast. Party hopping between what you're watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
Latest episodes
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55 min
Bonus: Code-switching and Cussing
Audie and Ari recently joined one of their favorite people, writer and journalist Anne Helen Peterson, on her podcast Culture Study. They talked code switching, gay slang, Southie…
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36 min
Why We Hate the Surveillance State but Love Receipts
We’re living in an age of surveillance anxiety. And yet, hand us a leaked DM or security footage of Kelly Clarkson at a Brooklyn toy store and we’re here for it. Are we feeding int…
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37 min
For Nathan Fielder, the Truth Is a Joke
In You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder sets his reality-distorting comedic documentarian talents on disgraced tech founder Elizabeth Holmes. The movie had the internet in a chok…
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37 min
Is Sobriety the New Flex?
Former Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio got sober before “sober-curious” was trending. As an original arbiter of internet culture, he’s got a long view of today’s drinking discourse — a…
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37 min
How a Lesbian Bar Sparked a Week of 'Woke 1' Whiplash
From a viral story on a lesbian bar’s masking policy to Nikole Hannah-Jones' essay on making school segregation a personal issue to the “Cornell Seven,” Audie and Ari connect the d…
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28 min
Kandi Burruss on Life After Reality T.V.
It's been 20 years since Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise changed the face of reality T.V. In this special bonus episode, former Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss joins Aud…
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36 min
Letterboxd Is the Last Best Corner of the Internet
The film review app Letterboxd is a social hub for movie fans everywhere. But has democratizing criticism somehow lowered the bar, or is this the last truly great social media app?…
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48 min
The Novel of the Century Is NSFW
With The Disappearers, Marlon James has written an explicit and violent epic that’s been called “the novel of the decade, if not the century." He joins the party to talk about quee…
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31 min
Should Nepo Babies Embrace the Label?
Nepo babies have sparked debate for years, but chart-topping singer-songwriter Stella Lefty, who also happens to be the daughter of a billionaire, is reigniting the conversation. A…
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38 min
Dating Apps Were Never About Romance
The internet is full of dating horror stories and think pieces the death of traditional romance. It’s a concept built for virality. But is the moral panic real? Audie and Ari turn…
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38 min
Television's Prestige Hangover Era Is Here
Television's golden age is over, replaced by one that’s decidedly more, as they say, “mid.” Audie and Ari weigh in on whether TV really got worse, the industry's post-prestige iden…
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32 min
RushTok is Southern Soft Power
This week, the internet turned its eyes to an annual 2020s tradition: watching freshman girls rush sororities at big Southern state schools via an endless stream of social videos.…
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42 min
Lauren Weedman From 'Hacks' Has Main Character Energy
As generational warfare feeds TV scripts from Beef to Hacks, Emmy nominee Lauren Weedman joins the party to talk about hanging with Gen Z on the Hacks set, the art of scene stealin…
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39 min
How Ella Langley Won the Electoral College of Culture
"Choosin’ Texas" broke the Billboard charts – so why can’t we all agree it’s the Song of Summer? Audie breaks down why the answer may say more about the state of the music industry…
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35 min
Eddie Huang and the Power of "Sad Boy Lit"
Writer and chef Eddie Huang joins the party for a conversation about "sad boy" literature, finding love, and the worst relationship advice he's ever received. Like what you heard?…
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48 min
Gen Z's '90s Nostalgia Has Some Gaps
The '90s are everywhere these days — clothes, music, TV — and brands are doing everything they can to capitalize on the revival. Audie and Ari explore what’s driving the modern fas…
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38 min
'The Odyssey' Is Epic But The Discourse Is Not
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey isn't just a movie — it's an event. Audie and Ari sift through the hype, backlash, and what the online chatter says about the cultural moment. Plus:…
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32 min
Will Meta’s AI Glasses Ever Be Cool?
Meta’s trying hard to sell people on its AI glasses, but will partnering with Ray-Ban and celebrities like Kylie Jenner let them shed the pervasive take that they’re creepy and cri…
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39 min
The Summer of Peptides and Celebrity Weddings
Is this officially the summer of peptides and celebrity weddings? Audie and Ari consider what Serena Williams’ Wimbledon comeback means for the rise of GLP-1s and the evolution of…
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42 min
‘Nunmania,’ the Woke Pope, and Gen-Z's Loneliness Content
From pop stars like Rosalía and Lilly Allen in habits to nuns blessing Spurs players and praise for the “woke Pope,” Catholicism is in, and everywhere. But is it just about the aes…