Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, theologian, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West's primary philosophy focuses on the roles of race, gender, and class struggle in American society. A socialist, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the black church, democratic socialism, left-wing populism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism. Among his most influential books are Race Matters (1993) and Democracy Matters (2004).
Mayim Chaya Bialik is an American actress, author and former game show host. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom Blossom. From 2010 to 2019, she played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, for which she was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2015 and 2017. Bialik shared hosting duties of Jeopardy! with Ken Jennings on a rotating basis between August 2021 and December 2023.
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III is an American game show host, author, and former game show contestant. He is the highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,700 on the U.S. game show Jeopardy! From 2021 to 2023, Jennings and Mayim Bialik alternated as hosts of that show, as well as Celebrity Jeopardy! In 2023, Jennings received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Game Show. In December 2023, Jennings was announced as Jeopardy!’s permanent main host.
Shiksa is an often disparaging, although not always, term for a gentile woman or girl. The word, which is of Yiddish origin, has moved into English usage and some Hebrew usage, mostly in North American Jewish culture.
John Morgan Roderick is an American musician, singer, songwriter, podcaster, and politician. He is the lead singer and guitarist of the rock band The Long Winters, was a touring member of the rock band Harvey Danger, and co-hosts the podcasts Roderick On The Line, and Omnibus.
Arden Myrin is an American actress and comedian. Myrin was a cast member on the Netflix series Insatiable, playing the role of Regina Sinclair, and starred in the 2016 production of Steve Martin's play Meteor Shower at the Long Wharf Theatre. Her television credits include Insecure, Grey's Anatomy, Conan, Orange Is the New Black, Hung, Key & Peele, Inside Amy Schumer, W/ Bob & David, Psych, Bones, Fresh Off the Boat, Suburgatory, 2 Broke Girls, Reno 911!, Shameless, Gilmore Girls, and Secret Chef.
Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given general knowledge clues in the form of answers and they must identify the person, place, thing, or idea that the clue describes, phrasing each response in the form of a question.
Tricia Rose is an American sociologist and author who pioneered scholarship on hip hop. Her studies mainly probe the intersectionality of pop music and gender. Now at Brown University, she is a professor of Africana Studies and is the director of the Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity in America. Rose also co-hosts a podcast, The Tight Rope, with Cornel West.
Andrew Cameron Schulz is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. In addition to his stand-up, he is known for his work on MTV2's Guy Code and its two spinoffs, the Flagrant podcast with Akaash Singh, and The Brilliant Idiots podcast. Schulz's first Netflix special, Schulz Saves America, premiered on December 17, 2020. As an actor, he has appeared in IFC's Benders and the Amazon original series Sneaky Pete.
Radiotopia is a podcast network founded by 99% Invisible host Roman Mars and run by the Public Radio Exchange. The network is organized as a collective of some two dozen shows whose producers have complete artistic control over their work. Since its launch, podcasts in the network have been downloaded over 19 million times per month.
Anthony "Tony" Vinciquerra is an American film executive who is the current Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. He was previously president and CEO of Fox Networks Group.
Austin David "Buzzy" Cohen is a recording music industry executive and trivia enthusiast from Los Angeles, California, best known for his association with the game show Jeopardy!. Cohen was the winner of the 2017 Tournament of Champions and later appeared in the All-Star Games in 2019 and as a guest host for the show's 2021 Tournament of Champions following longtime host Alex Trebek's death.
Dustin Hodge is an American television writer and producer. He is the founder of Hodge Productions, a Colorado media company. He is known for working on a variety of nonfiction content. His most notable works are as the showrunner for Little Britches Rodeo and a producer for The Tight Rope podcast. His work primarily focuses on under-served and under-represented communities and issues: the convergence of cultural and ethnic borders on indigenous peoples, the sustainability and resilience of impoverished areas, and the struggles of first-generation students.
Yeah, But Still was an American podcast hosted by Jack Wagner and Brandon Wardell. The podcast was typically recorded at Wagner's house in Los Angeles, although there have been a few recorded performances at other venues, notably at the Kennedy Center. Yeah, But Still has been covered in the press by Rolling Stone, Paper, and XFDR; Rolling Stone listed Yeah, But Still as part of their "Best New Comedy Podcasts of 2018" list. They praised the podcast for giving a glimpse into the lives of its hosts with an exclusive lens previously only accessible to Hollywood insiders. Paper focused on the comedic value inherent in the unstructured conversations between Wagner and Wardell. XFDR focused on the show's credibility as a source of insider knowledge in the field of popular internet meme culture.
TrueAnon is an American political podcast hosted by Brace Belden and Liz Franczak. The podcast focuses on left-wing analysis of political issues and events, particularly those concerning deceased financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The title of the podcast is a parodic reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Cum Town was a comedy podcast that was hosted by New York City-based comedians Nick Mullen, Stavros Halkias, and Adam Friedland, and produced between 2016 and 2022. During its run, it was consistently one of the most popular podcasts on Patreon and concluded as one of the top 25 comedy podcasts on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. In July 2022, it was succeeded by Mullen and Friedland's spin-off podcast and interview show The Adam Friedland Show.
The Socially Distant Sports Bar is a comedy/sports podcast hosted by sports journalist and academic Steffan Garrero with comedians Elis James and Mike Bubbins. It was created in response to the lack of live sport during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Swan Song is a 2021 American science fiction romantic drama film written and directed by Benjamin Cleary. The film stars Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Awkwafina, Glenn Close, and Adam Beach.
As They Made Us is a 2022 American drama film written, directed and produced by Mayim Bialik, in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Dianna Agron, Simon Helberg, Candice Bergen, Dustin Hoffman, Julian Gant, Charlie Weber and Justin Chu Cary. The plot follows Abigail (Agron) and the last moments that she and her family spend with her dying father (Hoffman). It was released in theaters and on video on demand by Quiver Distribution on April 8, 2022. It received positive reviews from critics.
Ologies with Alie Ward, also known as Ologies, is a weekly science podcast hosted by Alie Ward. Each episode, Ward interviews an expert from a distinct scientific field. Ologies is usually one of the top three science podcasts on Apple Podcasts. It is often cited by university newspapers and blogs as an example of how to make science communication more accessible and interesting.
