Look, everyone has parasocial relationships on the internet these days, and I’ve had my fair few, past and present, but none are stronger these days than my relationship with Michael Hobbes, he of a trio of my favoritefavoritefavorite podcasts:
I first stumbled onto You’re Wrong About waaaay late in the game for that show with his five-part series on Princess Diana, and after that, I couldn’t stop listening as he and co-host Sarah Marshall covered everything from sexting to Tonya Harding to Gary Hart, and all of them FASCINATING.
Michael’s laugh makes me laugh, especially when he and Maintenance Phase co-host Aubrey start giggling together, I can’t help but laugh myself. Plus, their podcast has helped me unpack SO much weight-related shit in my worldview. I owe them a debt for sure.
His topics are nuanced, upsetting, amazing, hysterical and meticulously researched, including the books on If Books Could Kill with another winner co-host in Peter Shamshiri, all the titles of which are both cringey and hysterical.
But for me, it’s Michael. I’ve learned a ridiculous amount about things I knew nothing about, and a ridiculous amount about things I thought I did, and it was like learning it from a super-smart, super-sassy, super-well-researched friend who describes himself as a short king gay man living in Berlin who wrote for the Huffington Post. We have nothing in common, but we’re besties. 😉
Obviously, our paths aren’t going to cross, but I’m so glad I can maintain my side of the relationship.. by listening as his laugh cracks me up every week. Need a new podcast? I highly recommend all three!
–Marissa
stubbornsunshine.com 