Offline with Jon Favreau
Episodes
How Screens Have Warped Morality
02 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Megan Garber, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the new book Screen People, joins Offline to explain how we’re no longer just an audience f...
God In The Machine
25 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
With Pope Leo XIV stepping up his criticisms of the Trump administration this month, the president is out for blood...and not the transubstantiated ki...
The Revolt of the College Grads
18 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
New York Times journalist Noam Scheiber stops by the pod to talk to Jon about his new book Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working...
Sam Altman's Big Little Lies
11 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
New Yorker journalist Andrew Marantz joins Offline to break down his new investigation into Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Over...
Big Tech's Big Tobacco Moment
04 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Zuckerberg is finally being held accountable–not by government regulators, board members or shareholders, but by two lawsuits. Tech journalist ...
Optimism In Our Age of Anxiety
28 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Why fight for a better future if we don't believe one is possible? Why organize, why vote? Dr. Deepika Chopra, the "Optimism Doctor," joins the show t...
What We Lose When We Bet On War
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Life or death decisions are being gamified for profit on online prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. But these platforms may also have the p...
Trump's Memeification of War
14 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist and historian Anne Applebaum joins Offline to discuss America’s slide towards autocracy, as illustrated through Trump's war of choice in...
Endless Slop, Cancer Cures, or Robot Apocalypse? Derek Thompson on Our AI Future
07 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Derek Thompson, journalist and co-author of Abundance, joins Offline to hash out some hard truths about AI: who it will actually replace, why we have...
224: The Big Tech Critic Trump Is Trying To Deport
28 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, joins Offline to talk about the horrifying trends his team has unearthed across social me...
223: Zuckerberg Takes the Stand, Pete Hegseth vs. AI, and Max-Maxxing with Max Fisher
21 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Max Fisher returns to the show to podmaxx with Jon about the latest Offline-worthy news, including the landmark court case that's put Mark Zuckerberg...
222: The Philosopher Teaching AI to Be Good
14 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AI company Anthropic has a new, values-oriented “constitution” that they’re feeding their chatbot, Claude. Amanda Askell, the company’s in-hou...
221: Can Truth Survive the Trump Era?
07 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie Warzel, Atlantic staff writer and host of the "Galaxy Brain" podcast, joins Offline to break down the news of the week: how Elon Musk's negli...
220: Adam Friedland Just Wants to Understand
31 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Friedland sits down with Jon to make sense of his unlikely rise from the self deprecating (and self defecating) cohost of Cum Town to…a public ...
The Fight to Liberate Minnesota (and America)
24 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Minneapolis isn’t just protesting ICE—it’s fully organizing against it. Lydia Polgreen, journalist and opinion columnist at The New York Times,...
The Enshittification of the Internet (with Cory Doctorow)
17 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist, blogger, and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow stops by the studio to talk to Jon about “enshittification,” his theory that explain...
ICE Killings and the Death of Shared Reality
10 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Does misinformation even matter if no one can agree on a shared reality? The New Yorker’s Jay Caspian Kang joins Offline to explain how the ICE shoo...
What Comes After Trump?
20 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does 21st century authoritarianism look like in the United States? Author and Atlantic staff writer George Packer joins Offline to talk about Ame...
The Movement to Protect Kids from Big Tech
13 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Julie Scelfo, founder of Mothers Against Media Addiction, sits down with Jon to talk about the impacts AI and social media are having on our kids…an...
A Techno-Optimist’s Case for AI
06 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Economist and techno-optimist Noah Smith, author of the Noahpinion Substack, joins Offline to debate the promise of artificial intelligence, the benef...
Max Returns! AI Bubbles, Info Silos, and 67
29 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the AI bubble bursts, how did Meta get away with it yet again, and…is Elon “Bubba”? Max Fisher pays Offline a visit to take st...
Zohran Mamdani’s Offline Campaign
22 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a lot of tired discourse about whether or not a Democratic Socialist like Zohran Mamdani could win in places that aren’t as blue as New Yo...
James Talarico Wants to Fight with Love
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is there anything wrong with Democratic leadership being so devoutly…secular? Jon sits down for a conversation with Texas State Representative James...
Have the Democrats Decided to Win?
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Something happened in 2016 that led Democrats to campaign on unpopular issues. Researcher Simon Bazelon digs into extensive polling data—and on-the-...
Is AI Too Big to Fail or Too Dangerous to Succeed?
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Will the AI bubble pop or will AI permanently reshape our society? Jon sits down with Stephen Witt, an investigative journalist and author of “The T...
Democrats Need to Care About Getting Attention
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Hayes, MSNBC host and author of The Siren’s Call, returns to Offline to talk about Democrats’ posting problem…they’re too afraid of cont...
Introducing: Runaway Country with Alex Wagner
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Being an American right now is a wild ride. Every day brings a new controversy, with breathless media narratives and the same loud voices rushing in t...
Are Men Okay?
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
53% of American men are now dying before the age of 75—and that trend is getting worse. Clinical psychologist Zac Seidler, Director of Men's Heal...
Is America Still a Liberal Nation?
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cass Sunstein, Harvard professor and author of the new book On Liberalism: in Defense of Freedom, joins Offline to examine whether small-l "liberal" v...
Dramatize the Injustice
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Should protests be about expression or persuasion? What makes for an effective protest? And is it still possible for protests to effect change in a fr...
How Trump, Memes, and Algorithms Transformed The Way We Speak
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Skibidi rizz Labubu Dubai matcha. The internet—and its algorithms—have reshaped the words we use and the way we speak—but are those changes also...
Inside the MAGA Reaction to Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie Kirk’s assassination has rattled people on both sides of the aisle and terrified those whose jobs, like Charlie’s, involve talking about p...
Can The Left Reclaim America's Story?
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Democrats need to defend democracy without undermining it—but how? John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke and the "Unpopular Front” substack, j...
JD Vance and the Post-Liberal Right's War on America
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As the U.S. slides into autocracy, Americans need to be reminded that liberalism can still solve the problems that Trump uses to fear monger. Jerusale...
Have Our Screens Made Us Too Distracted For Democracy?
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ben Rhodes—bestselling author, Pod Save the World co-host, and fellow Obama administration alum—joins Offline to explain how America is being t...
AI's Threat to Gen Z's Jobs, the FartCoin Economy, and Why the Internet Wants to Check Your ID
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kyla Scanlon, author and economic commentator, joins Offline to explain why our economy feels so weird. She and Jon talk about the ways AI — and Lab...
QAnon Reacts to Epstein, Laura Loomer Gets Loomered, and Jon Gets Caught Up in the Syndey Sweeney Discourse
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As the Trump administration manufactures conspiracies to distract from the president’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, some on the right are blamin...
Trump Bans Woke AI, TikTok Cancels Sydney Sweeney, and How MAGA Became Multiracial
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why are non-white voters moving towards Trump? Yale professor and author Daniel Martinez HoSang sits down with Jon to examine how Democrats’ multira...
Trump’s Epstein Nightmare, Jubilee’s Fascist Debate, and the Movie Twitter Wrote
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Living through a deadly plague as we watched the country descend into political violence on our screens might've left us with some...unresolved issues...
Raising Boys in the Era of Incels, MAGA, and the Manosphere
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Boys today are being told to man up by the right and sit down by the left. Coming of age in the shadow of #MeToo and wading through algorithms rife wi...
Peter Thiel's Antichrist, JD Vance's Split with the Pope, and Ross Douthat's Scientific Case for Believing in God
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Religion in the US has been on the decline for many years, but does atheism make us unhappier? Ross Douthat, New York Times Opinion columnist and auth...
Hugs From Your Late Mom, Interdimensional Chats, and College Cheating: The AI Future Is Here
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We don't really know how AIs like ChatGPT work...which makes it all the more chilling that they're now leading people down rabbit holes of delusion, a...
The Truth About Young Men's Shift Towards Trump
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why are young men — of all races — moving toward Trump? Are high prices to blame? Their media diets? The Democrats? John Della Volpe, the nation’...
Succession’s Creator Takes on the Tech Billionaires
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jesse Armstrong, the Emmy Award-winning creator of HBO's "Succession," joins Offline to chat about how he made a mockery of Silicon Valley tycoons in ...
Momfluencers, Baby Gadgets, and the Perils of Parenting in The Digital Age
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are we surveilling our children too much? Do we need fancy gadgets to track their sleep? Should we be taking so many pictures of them? Longtime New Yo...
AI News Anchors, Dems $20 Million Plan to Study Men, and Max Bids Farewell to Offline
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate his final appearance on the pod, Max takes Jon on a trip down memory lane, sharing his favorite Offline clips from the past two years—i...
Elon's Offline Challenge, Grok’s White Genocide Glitch, and Silicon Valley's New Religion
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The tech elite believe AI is just a few years away from displacing most computer-based jobs, and they seem…excited about it? Atlantic staff writer M...
Jon Gets Hacked, Woke Offline Pope, and How Jia Tolentino’s Brain Finally Broke
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror and staff writer at the New Yorker, joins Offline to discuss how it’s becoming harder and harder to make sense...
Pope Trump, Zuckerberg’s AI Friends, and the Shocking Truth of How Teens Live Online
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lauren Greenfield, director of the acclaimed FX docuseries “Social Studies,” sits down with Jon to talk about the year she spent shadowing a group...
The Global Elite’s Secret Group Chats, Gen Z's Lifestyle Subsidy, and Meta's Sex Bots
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pete Hegseth isn’t the only one who loves a group chat—turns out Silicon Valley's descent into Trumpism was powered by a constellation of Signal a...
Terminally Online: Larry David v. Bill Maher, TikTok Mystics, and the White House Correspondents' Dinner
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This Terminally Online preview breaks down the liberal media’s response to the back-and-forth between Larry David and Bill Maher, right-wing transve...
Could Blowing Up Google Save The Internet? Plus MAGA's Birth Obsession and Your Questions Answered
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Google’s antitrust trial is all gas no breaks this week, with the Justice Department asking a federal judge to break up the $1.81 trillion dollar co...
Zuck Takes the Stand, ChatGPT Turns on Lovett, and the Surprising Ties Between Our Biology and Our Politics
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Free speech warrior Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand this week to defend Meta in a big antitrust case that, if successful, could break up the so...
Real Men Love Tariffs, Elon Gets Cyberbullied, Meta Whistleblower Testifies
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan Broderick, host of Offline’s most-cited newsletter “Garbage Day,” joins Jon to talk tariff turmoil—how it will affect the TikTok deal, wh...
Jon’s Twitter Fight with JD Vance and Elon’s Scheme to Buy Votes
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does J.D. Vance have so much time to fight with Jon on X? Why are the courts letting Elon Musk buy votes in Wisconsin? And are we, as a society, r...
Offline PC Small Group
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
They weren’t war plans, they were BATTLE plans—that’s the White House's new, extremely believable spin on why J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth and cou...
The Book Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Want You to Read
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Meta has called an emergency arbitration hearing over a tell-all memoir by Facebook's former Director of Global Public Policy. The author, Sarah Wynn ...
Shocking Facebook Secrets Revealed, JD Vance Meme Wars, and a $10,000 Conspiracy Bet
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A new Facebook whistleblower has come forward with shocking allegations—seems like company execs have been trying to cozy up to everyone from the Ch...
Elon Musk v. Dollar Store Jon Favreau and How the UFC Conquered America
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Not too long ago, Donald Trump, Joe Rogan, and Dana White—Offline’s favorite power brokers—identified UFC as a pathway for reshaping culture and...
Elon Wellness Check, The Anti-Doge Revolt, and Some Actual Good News
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty-one DOGE staffers resigned this week, citing the agency’s meddling in the federal government. Meanwhile, top DOGE Elon Musk was brandishing a...
Why Elon Lies About DOGE and How To Fix Your Focus
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Special Government Employee Elon Musk has attempted to access our most personal data. Meanwhile, Billionaire Tech Mogul Elon Musk attempted to take ov...
What Post-Democracy America Looks Like
16 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
U.S. democracy is likely to break down during this second Trump presidency, but what lies ahead isn’t a traditional dictatorship. Dr. Steven Levitsk...
Can Democracy Survive the Attention Wars? with Chris Hayes
09 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes joins Offline to discuss how our society’s commodification of attention has made us miserable while empowering authoritarians ...
Fighting the Broligarchs with Senator Chris Murphy
02 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Senator Chris Murphy joins Offline with a warning for his fellow Democrats: the longer we take to counter Trump’s horrifying shock and awe strategy,...
Trump's TikTok Dilemma, Crypto Cons Debunked, and The Truth About the Loneliness Epidemic
26 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
TikTok is back from the dead... at least for now. After a self-imposed shutdown and a shameless appeal to President Trump, the countdown to the TikTok...
The Episode China Doesn’t Want You to Hear
19 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Supreme Court is the latest branch of government to kicktok TikTok to the curb—at least under its present Chinese ownership. Max and Jon break d...
Lina Khan on Fighting Big Tech
12 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Offline’s favorite foe of Big Tech, FTC Chair Lina Khan, joins the show to talk to Jon about standing up to Meta and Amazon, how the internet has ch...
The Surgeon General's Very Offline Parting Message (and a Comically Online Holiday Segment)
22 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy joins Offline to share his final prescription for the nation He and Jon talk about why his parting message is all about c...
Was Luigi Mangione Too Online?
15 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The more we learn about the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the more his digital footprint falls into the Offline wheelhouse. L...
Can Talking to Strangers Fix Our Politics?
08 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How often do you talk to someone you disagree with—not in a Twitter pile on, but face to face? With Donald Trump’s inauguration fast approaching...
Subscriber Exclusive: Terminally Online
01 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While Offline is on a break this week, enjoy some of the best moments from the Crooked subscription exclusive show Terminally Online. Listen to learn ...
Do Libs Need a Social Media Safe Space? Did Misinfo Hurt Kamala? How Much Should the Left Influence Democrats?
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jon got piled on last week for tweeting that activist groups have pushed the Democratic Party out of supermajority territory. Waleed Shahid, a progres...
Why Democrats’ Media Problem is Deeper than “Liberal Joe Rogan”
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Somehow the interminable “who is the liberal Joe Rogan” debate is still raging a week after the election. Jeremiah Johnson, co-director of the Cen...
Where We Go From Here
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Yeah, rough week. Jon and Max reckon with Tuesday’s result and break down how Donald Trump — once again — was able to grow his coalition. They d...
Offline’s Anti-Anxiety Election Special
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 2024 election is almost upon us, and if you’re not anxious…please give us some of whatever you’re taking. Barton Gellman, Senior Advisor at ...
Elon Kills the Block Button, AI Comes for Podcasts, and The Good Liar's Guide to Talking to Trump Voters
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Good Liars, a MAGA trolling comedy duo, join Offline to share what it’s like on the ground at Trump rallies this close to the election. Davram S...
Biden’s Weather Machine, Leaked TikTok Docs, Elon’s MAGA Ground Game, and Big Porn to the Rescue?
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why are FEMA workers being threatened for trying to help clean up after Hurricane Helene? Jon and Max break down the misinformation spreading on socia...
Hasan Piker on the Bro Vote, Kamala Harris, and the 2024 Election
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hasan Piker, Gen Z’s favorite left wing political commentator and Twitch streamer, joins Offline to talk about the Trump campaign’s bro-first e...
Silicon Valley’s Newest Bad Idea, Vigilantes Infiltrate the Far Right, and Should We Buy Infowars?
06 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Jones’ conspiracy media network, InfoWars, is up for sale, as is the at-home genetic testing service 23andMe…and potentially the DNA of 15 mi...
Trump Truths vs. Trump Tweets, Chappell Roan's Non-Endorsement, and Behind the Scenes at Elon's Twitter
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger joins Offline to discuss Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, a new book she coauthored with Rya...
Why "Blade Runner" Still Defines How We See Tech
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Critic Emily St. James and Crooked’s Halle Kiefer join Max to discuss “Blade Runner,” the 1982 classic that asks the question: could an AI chatb...
GOP's "Black Nazi" Porn Posting, Instagram's New Rules, and Tristan Harris's Guide to Humane Technology
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and ex-design ethicist at Google, joins Offline to chat about the attention economy, wh...
How “Fight Club” Created a Generation of Sh*tposters
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Since “Fight Club” hit theaters in 1999, the movie has become both a cinematic cult classic and a building block of how people (mostly men) expres...
Robert Putnam on Barack Obama, Taylor Swift, and Making America Social Again
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Putnam, renowned political scientist and author of Bowling Alone and The Upswing, joins Offline to explain why bowling alone and scrolling alon...
“Tár” with Jon Favreau and Amanda Hess
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week Offline Móvie Clúb takes on “Tár,” the 2022 film about a music conductor whose narcissism and abuses of power bring about her very pu...
Trump Tours the Manosphere, Russia Funds MAGA Influencers, and Hawk Tuah Girl Cashes In
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not just supplements and energy drinks fueling the manosphere. Your favorite right-wing podcaster may be sponsored by…Vladimir Putin! Jon and...
How "Zola" Explains Social Media Brain
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Has there ever been a more dramatic Twitter thread than A’Ziah King’s 2015 saga about a roadtrip turned kidnapping? Erin Ryan and Josie Duffy Rice...
Obama's Offline Speech, Zuck Fears Trump, and the Crank Political Divide
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Jon sit down to break down a very online DNC, diving into Obama’s anti-social media convention speech, the MyPillow guy’s embarrassing tro...
How “The Truman Show” Explains Life in 2024
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jon Lovett and Erin Ryan join Max to discuss how “The Truman Show,” predicted our current era of continuous surveillance and content mining. The m...
How Peter Thiel Became the Right’s Tech-Authoritarian Kingmaker
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Thiel isn’t as rich as Elon Musk or as notorious as Steve Bannon. But over the last 10 years he has grown from Silicon Valley’s oddball cons...
“WarGames” with Jon Lovett and Ben Rhodes
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jon Lovett and Ben Rhodes join Max to explore how 1983’s “WarGames” predicted the internet era. The film is a fascinating time capsule of Reagan...
Trump and Elon’s Trainwreck Interview & J.D. Vance’s Real Tech Agenda
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk hosted Donald Trump for a two and a half hour ramble on Twitter’s garbage live streaming platform—and if you think SpaceX flubs launches...
How Tim Walz’s Big Dad Energy Went Viral
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why is Tim Walz, a 60-year-old dad from Minnesota, so internet savvy? And why is he so good at making right wingers look not just weird, but also extr...
JD Vance, Project 2025, and How the Right Got Weird
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
All of a sudden, nearly every Democrat in the country has started calling out Republicans for being really damn weird. And with JD Vance’s pronatali...
Kamala Harris’ Coconut-Pilled Brat Girl Summer
28 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kamala Harris memes are bringing together leftists and wine moms, neolib shills and NeverTrumpers, political wonks and pop stars across every platform...
Why Kamala Fandom is Rocking the Internet – and the Trump Assassination Isn't
21 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We still don’t know why a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania opened fire on Trump last weekend. Lone shooters whose paths from normalcy to vigilantism se...
The Biden Reckoning Will Be Tweeted; plus, Interviewing Nazis with Elle Reeve
14 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Elle Reeve, CNN commentator and author of the new book Black Pill, joins Offline to share her reporting on the darkest corners of the internet. For ov...
Why The Music Industry Is Embracing AI
30 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chat GPT isn’t going to top the Billboard Hot 100 any time soon, but something is happening with AI and music—something’s BEEN happening. Unlike...
Social Media Warning Labels, LA Kids Go Offline, and the Rise of Slop AI
23 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Has this pod saved America…from phone addiction?! We got Jon Lovett to take a rather extreme version of the Offline challenge in Fiji, AND America’...
Have Smartphones Created an Anxious Generation? with Jonathan Haidt
16 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The kids are not alright, and the culprit is their phones. That’s the thesis of social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s new book, The Anxious Generat...