Comedy veteran and longtime Conan O’Brien sidekick Andy Richter joins Mixed Signals for an existentially funny conversation about surviving three decades in entertainment. Max and Ben ask Andy about how he became late night’s most adaptable performer, whether he ever worried about becoming “the next Ed McMahon,” and why acting work has become so elusive in Hollywood. Andy also talks about the decline of late night as a cultural force, and how “Dancing With the Stars” accidentally turned him into a TikTok phenomenon.

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The New Yorker’s longtime editor-in-chief David Remnick joins Mixed Signals for a candid conversation about a new Netflix documentary about the magazine, and the New Yorker’s past, present, and uncertain future. Max and Ben ask Remnick how a century-old institution adapts to the digital age, and about what he’s learned from nearly three decades on the job. Remnick also reflects on magazine subscriptions models, Max's reporting about who should take his job , and why he’s grateful he never joined Twitter.

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Paula Kerger, the chief executive of America’s public broadcaster, joins Mixed Signals at a moment when public broadcasting is facing its most existential threat in decades. Max and Ben ask her about the political onslaught from the Trump administration and Congress, and what losing federal support will mean for hundreds of local stations. Kerger makes the case for kids’ programming, and spars with Ben about the relevance of broadcast television in the first place.

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New York Times investigative reporter Jodi Kantor joins Mixed Signals to explain how she’s revealed the secrets of internal deliberations behind the ceremony and black robes of the US Supreme Court. Max and Ben ask whether the court is actually leaking more, how newer justices are reshaping its public face, and what Kantor has learned about the culture of secrecy and power inside a long-impenetrable institution. She also reflects on the post–#MeToo media landscape and the fracturing of “factual consensus.”

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Is television the final form of all media? Derek Thompson, the co-author of Abundance, podcaster, and Atlantic writer joins Mixed Signals to explain what he sees as the forces behind what Ben and Max keep observing: The way in which podcasts and other forms of journalism appear to be getting their largest audience in an endless, passive feed of videos first observed by analysts of 20th century television. Derek discusses all that as well as his own turn toward independent media, and his personal pivot to video.

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Will Welch is the global editorial director of GQ, and has been the editor-in-chief of its US operation since 2019. On this week’s Mixed Signals, Welch talks to Ben and Max about how the magazine plans to address men amid the prominence of the manosphere, the value in covering niche subcultures, and how the parties thrown by the magazine operate as content creation mechanisms. Welch also talks about how he works with celebrities, praising Robert Pattinson as a more creative collaborator than he’s used to.

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Ken Burns has been telling the story of America through his entire career with genre-defining documentaries on the Civil War, the Vietnam War, and now the American Revolution. This week, Ben and Max bring on the renowned documentarian to talk about his latest series, the parallels he sees between America’s founding moment and today’s media environment, and what we can learn from our history. They also discuss what he makes of the Trump administration’s cuts on PBS, and – after spending 10 meticulous years making a 12-hour documentary – his take on short form video and talk podcasts like this one.

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American Eagle’s summer campaign with Sydney Sweeney blew up in ways no one could’ve imagined – but chief marketing officer, Craig Brommers, knew they were going to hit a cultural nerve. This week, Ben and Max bring on the AE CMO to give us an inside look into the “Great Jeans” campaign, what he made of the controversy that surrounded it, and how Donald Trump and JD Vance boosted their sales. They also discuss how marketing today is like running an entertainment company, why he ignored the advice of what he calls the “crisis communication industrial complex,” and whether their campaign with Travis Kelce was timed to Kelce’s engagement to Taylor Swift.

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Chicago is either a war zone quickly spiraling out of control, or a peaceful city under siege by an overreaching federal government. It all depends on who you ask — and which channel they watch. This week, Ben and Max bring on Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to talk about how he’s navigating a communications crisis and a messaging battle against the Trump White House in the new media landscape. They also talk about how conservative media is shaping the situation on the ground, what he thinks of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s trolling approach to Trump, and whether we should bet on the Chicago Bears.

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Alison Roman was one of digital media’s first food stars – she’s had recipes go viral since 2018 and an infamous ‘cancellation’ in 2020. Now, with her latest cookbook, Something From Nothing, she’s trying to move away from life on the Internet. This week, Ben and Max bring on the chef and author to talk about food media, the value of a physical cookbook in a digital world, and how AI is influencing her recipes. They also talk about why cooking, and her new book, are the ‘antithesis of the Internet.’

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Blackbird Spyplane, a style and culture newsletter, launched in 2020 as one of the early adopters and success stories on Substack. This week, Ben and Max bring on co-author and longtime magazine journalist, Jonah Weiner, to talk about how the newsletter has evolved, how it changed his marriage, and why he’s ‘grossed out’ by affiliate links. They also talk about if he wants to expand the business further, and why Obama epitomizes ‘the state of the art of dad pants.’

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