From caricatures of misogynist bros to exploitative true-crime junkies with microphones, scores of shows are satirising podcast hosts. What can this tell us about the genre – and its listeners?
When Carrie Bradshaw was hauled back onscreen 17 years after the final Sex and the City episode aired for new spin-off And Just Like That, fans knew updates and changes were inevitable. But few saw the Vogue dating columnist swapping out her iconic feathered peacock headpiece for gigantic headphones and a Zoom audio. Bradshaw, to the surprise of many, had become a podcaster.
The elegant Bradshaw perched in a recording studio with a WeWork aesthetic is already an absurd situation. But the show she co-presents on the programme takes this a step further by wringing comedy out of the whole concept of the podcast. X, Y and Me is introduced to viewers as “the podcast that talks about gender roles, sexual roles and Cinnamon rolls – all the roles I care passionately about”. There’s also a co-host to “represent cis het men”, while sound effects featuring words like “woke moment” boom out across the show in a wrestling commentator-style voice.
