Sounds Like A Cult

Tue, 29 Apr 2025

hej!   don’t forget to grab a blue bag upon stepping off the escalator, you’ll need it for th...

Tue, 22 Apr 2025

 We are thrilled to be lovingly feeding you this episode as if it were a delightful sugar cube, and...

Mon, 21 Apr 2025

Listen to I'M RIGHT YOU'RE WRONG Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, or wherever you get...

Tue, 15 Apr 2025

Playboy sold the world a fantasy of luxury and sexual liberation, but behind the velvet curtains, th...

Tue, 08 Apr 2025

There’s a chance you’ve brushed paths with this week’s cult in a West Coast farmers market or ...

Tue, 01 Apr 2025

Wowowow, today’s episode, which originally aired in December of 2023, features Jill and Derick Dil...

Tue, 25 Mar 2025

Strip clubs sell the dream of financial freedom, empowerment, and an intoxicating nightlife, but beh...

Mon, 24 Mar 2025

Listen to I'M RIGHT YOU'RE WRONG Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, or wherever you get yo...

Tue, 18 Mar 2025

The bass pounds in your chest. Multicolored strobe lights flicker across your eyes so fast you can’...

Tue, 11 Mar 2025

From ‘90s teen heartthrob to yacht-hopping, model-dating, climate-crusading enigma, Leonardo DiCap...

Tue, 04 Mar 2025

Although we do famously love/write/worship books over here at team SLAC, our adventure into this wee...

Tue, 25 Feb 2025

What is it about Jeeps that inspires such intense devotion? In this week’s episode, Amanda, Chelse...

Tue, 18 Feb 2025

If you’ve ever met a kid who could knit a scarf before they could read, you might already be famil...

Tue, 11 Feb 2025

You’re walking through the mall or driving down the street, and there it is again: a pastel-colore...

Tue, 04 Feb 2025

Few pop culture phenomena have commanded such fierce devotion while hiding so many skeletons in thei...

Tue, 28 Jan 2025

Very rarely does a culty news topic compel us to the mic as urgently as this week’s subject, a ner...

Tue, 21 Jan 2025

 A missive has arrived in your mailbox, dear cultie!  What’s this? An invitation to an excl...

Tue, 14 Jan 2025

Calling all beauty ~insiders~ 💄👽 Prep your prayer, ahem, swatching hands and scrounge together...

Tue, 14 Jan 2025

Listen and subscribe on Spotify Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts! Foll...

Tue, 17 Dec 2024

Buy tickets to The Big Magical Cult Show in Vancouver, Canada on February 21, 2025! Time for Part 2!...

Tue, 10 Dec 2024

Buy tickets to The Big Magical Cult Show in Vancouver, Canada on February 21, 2025! Father is back!...

Tue, 03 Dec 2024

It's officially Countdown to Cultmas! Make yourself a falalatte and keep your expectations for plot ...

Tue, 19 Nov 2024

~A cosmic new episode of Sounds Like a Cult lies in your near future, Virgo~ No? Capricorn? Pisces, ...

Tue, 12 Nov 2024

Brew yourself a giant pot of Luke's coffee because we’re diving deep into the fast-talking world o...

Tue, 05 Nov 2024

Munch on some ice chips and PUSHHHHH (sorry) play on this week's episode, in which we dare to apply ...

Tue, 22 Oct 2024

BOO! ‘tis the spookiest time of the year, dear culties, and this year we’ve whipped out our caul...

Tue, 15 Oct 2024

Grab your trusty #2 and find the desk with your name tag on it, because class is in session this wee...

Tue, 08 Oct 2024

NOT going to lie, this episode was a wee bit nerve racking to record!!! Despite the, ahem, LARGE num...

Tue, 01 Oct 2024

Who’s your #mommy culties: Taylor or Whitney? That’s right, fresh(ish?) off the release of Hulu’...

Tue, 24 Sep 2024

Settle in with a Kirkland brand sparkling water and a rotisserie chicken because this week, Amanda a...

Tue, 17 Sep 2024

We’re baaaAAAAAaaaaack!!! Join us for a 🪐transcendent🪐 new season of Sounds Like A Cult, who...

Tue, 10 Sep 2024

This is Sounds Like A Cult, a show with two sparkling new cult leaders, ahem, co-hosts!!!!!!  We’...

Tue, 13 Aug 2024

New Age love & wellness influencers turned baby NXIVM: That's kinda the best way we can succinctly d...

Tue, 06 Aug 2024

Pack your hammer and your lack of cultural awareness, because this week on Sounds Like A Cult, we're...

Tue, 06 Aug 2024

Get Tickets to Isa Medina's Live Comedy Show in NYC August 24th! Click Here!  Follow Isa on Insta...

Tue, 30 Jul 2024

Oops a politically flavored episode of Sounds Like A Cult!!!!! Would you believe it if we told you w...

Tue, 23 Jul 2024

Learn more about host Amanda's Italian writing "cult" ;) It's a Live Your Life!!!  https://trovatri...

Tue, 16 Jul 2024

From TV executives abusing kids on sets to Scientology's "Celebrity Center," the cult of the enterta...

Tue, 16 Jul 2024

Listen to Isa's new podcast: I'm Right You're Wrong! Isa is the co-creator and former host of Sounds...

Tue, 09 Jul 2024

You culties preyed and preyed for us to analyze the cult of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, and at ...

Tue, 25 Jun 2024

Class is in session and boy oh boy is it perturbing. Teaching is not just a profession, it's a calli...

Tue, 18 Jun 2024

Catch Amanda back on tour this summer! July 29: The Age of Magical Overthinking book talk at Ellio...

Tue, 18 Jun 2024

Listen to Isa Medina NEW PODCAST – I'm Right You're Wrong on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or whereve...

Tue, 11 Jun 2024

Catch Amanda back on tour this summer! July 29: The Age of Magical Overthinking book talk at Ellio...

Tue, 04 Jun 2024

Catch Amanda back on tour this summer! July 29: The Age of Magical Overthinking book talk at Ellio...

Tue, 28 May 2024

Catch Amanda on tour! First of all, we are downright GIDDY to share two iconic voices on this week’...

Tue, 28 May 2024

Hi Culties

Tue, 21 May 2024

Catch Amanda on tour! Lace yourselves up for this haunting and twinkle-toed episode covering one of ...

Tue, 14 May 2024

Introducing the Magical Overthinkers podcast, a show for thought spiralers, exploring the subjects w...

Tue, 07 May 2024

For our ~true followers~, behold a wee bonus episode to tide you over during our mid-season break, w...

Tue, 16 Apr 2024

You culties have been THIRSTING after this episode, and it’s finally here! With the help of the pi...

Tue, 09 Apr 2024

Host Amanda's new book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality is out TODAY!...

Tue, 02 Apr 2024

Order a copy of Amanda's new book The Age of Magical Overthinking! Catch Amanda on tour!!! Stereotyp...

Tue, 26 Mar 2024

Order Amanda's new book! https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Age-of-Magical-Overthinking/Aman...

Tue, 19 Mar 2024

Come party with Amanda on tour!!! Ahoy, and welcome to our first ever "Interview a Listener" episode...

Tue, 12 Mar 2024

It's a cult of one dynamic almost too frightful for this show. When your very own caregiver poisons,...

Tue, 05 Mar 2024

First of all, what the hell is going on with culty leggings companies that have too many Ls in their...

Wed, 28 Feb 2024

You're invited to The Big Magical Cult Show!!! Catch host Amanda on tour this April to celebrate her...

Tue, 20 Feb 2024

Would you sacrifice your phone, passport, dignity, and freedom to move into an isolated pod for 10 d...

Tue, 13 Feb 2024

Grab your rosary and slap on your plaid skirt (although you WILL need to recite six “Our Fathers”...

Tue, 06 Feb 2024

We have NEVER had such a hard time finding a guest brave enough to appear on the show than we did fo...

Tue, 30 Jan 2024

Sorry in advance for all the crack vs. quack wordplay coming in this week's episode, which we alread...

Tue, 23 Jan 2024

A clandestine society aimed at indoctrinating a fleet of nationalist spies with an extensive entranc...

Tue, 16 Jan 2024

Welcome baaaAAAAaaaAAaack, culties!! Time to *ascend* to the 2024 era of Sounds Like A Cult 👽 Kic...

Tue, 12 Dec 2023

Florals for spring may not be groundbreaking, but you know what is? Today’s brain-tingling intervi...

Tue, 05 Dec 2023

Wowowow, today’s episode featuring Jill and Derick Dillard (whom you might recognize from TLC’s ...

Tue, 28 Nov 2023

Sounds Like A Cult has covered doomsday cults, political cults, religious cults ... and this week is...

Tue, 21 Nov 2023

ChatGPT could never!!! Over the past year or so, A.I. buzz has obviously risen to cult status, but i...

Tue, 14 Nov 2023

iF yOuRe rEaDiNg thiS yOuRe iN tHe CuLt o.0 This week we are covering the most meta cult yet and one...

Tue, 07 Nov 2023

It’s me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me, here with an update to one of our most-streamed episodes of...

Tue, 31 Oct 2023

At long last, the man/myth/legend, Amanda's dad, Craig Montell, whose riveting stories of his childh...

Tue, 24 Oct 2023

If you've been paying attention at all, you know that this weeks cult is growing at a mighty pace. T...

Tue, 17 Oct 2023

Behold, a re-air of our most popular episode of 2023—The Cult of Momfluencers—which takes on new...

Tue, 10 Oct 2023

Anyone who grew up evangelical Christian and/or plugged into teen celebrity news circa 2008 will be ...

Tue, 03 Oct 2023

The Cult of Bachelorette Parties is one we have all been a part of, whether from an observational di...

Tue, 26 Sep 2023

To his fanatics, he's an inspiring businessman, marketing guru, tough-love motivational speaker, and...

Tue, 12 Sep 2023

Why does it seem like certain "life coaches" are exactly the kinda folks who shouldn't be giving lif...

Tue, 05 Sep 2023

Strap on your steampunk lewks and get ready to blast off to the dusty, glittery, and undeniably cult...

Tue, 29 Aug 2023

Before we return with regularly structured episodes next week (stay tuned for the "cult" of Burning ...

Tue, 22 Aug 2023

A heavily controlled, totally isolated group of women who worship one "charismatic” male figure an...

Tue, 15 Aug 2023

Time to spill some never-before-heard culty tales: This week, Amanda and Isa are reacting to shockin...

Tue, 08 Aug 2023

For an episode spicier than an inflight bloody Mary, Isa and Amanda are joined by comedian and frequ...

Tue, 25 Jul 2023

~Join us~ as Isa and Amanda unpack the "cult" of the Peace Corps—its peculiar rituals of initiatio...

Tue, 18 Jul 2023

Get ready for some no holds barred sh*t-talking, culties, because this week, Amanda and Isa are join...

Tue, 11 Jul 2023

You're sure to *devour* this week's episode analyzing four generations of wealthy men who, in our li...

Tue, 04 Jul 2023

It sounds like an episode of Black Mirror: 18-year-old kids are sacrificing their futures and signin...

Tue, 23 May 2023

Volunteering to subject yourself to isolation, starvation, and desperation on a remote island under ...

Tue, 16 May 2023

The Hippocratic Oath says do no harm. Explain elitism, secret societies, and debilitating physical a...

Tue, 09 May 2023

America's favorite buxom, rhinestone-clad Southern songstress, Dolly Parton, has a "cult following" ...

Tue, 02 May 2023

This *highly* requested topic has all the makings of a modern-day cult: mystery, unquestioned loyalt...

Tue, 25 Apr 2023

What began as a Woodstock-esque alt music fest in the '90s for fans of indie electronica to get frea...

Tue, 18 Apr 2023

One of our fav episodes to date tbh. The promises include acceptance, stability, and fertility, but ...

Tue, 11 Apr 2023

It's time to dynamically synergize mission-critical alignments. Let's go ahead and fungibly communic...

Tue, 04 Apr 2023

Fame, wealth, fraud, backstabbing, plastic surgery, hidden power hierarchies... are we talking about...

Tue, 28 Mar 2023

Pinkies up and wallets out for this week's quaffable "cult": the elitist, jargon-packed, ritual-soak...

Tue, 21 Mar 2023

Stocks? The economy?? Don't get us started! Look, any industry that allowed the biggest Ponzi scheme...

Tue, 14 Mar 2023

Kayaking, friendship bracelet making, and oh yeah, threats of eternal damnation! What better way for...

Tue, 07 Mar 2023

As Keenan Thompson said in a recent SNL parody of the Miss Universe pageant, "Welcome back to Miss U...

Tue, 28 Feb 2023

Did the first episode of HBO Max's Sex And The City reboot turn you off of Peloton? That makes one o...

Tue, 21 Feb 2023

Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, and Daniel Radcliffe are all survivors of today's "cult," and so is ou...

Tue, 14 Feb 2023

In 2005, this week's guest Sarah Edmondson joined what she thought was a personal development progra...

Tue, 07 Feb 2023

Allegations of right-wing dogma, unquestioned power dynamics, charismatic leaders, freaky rituals, a...

Tue, 31 Jan 2023

Motherhood is hard, lonely, and exhausting... except, apparently, if you're a momfluencer. Since the...

Tue, 24 Jan 2023

The end of the world... but make it cute and consumerist! "Preppers" are the latest iteration of doo...

Tue, 17 Jan 2023

The stigma around the green text bubble alone could ruin a man's life. How has Apple's secretiveness...

Tue, 10 Jan 2023

We’re baaaaaaack! We can barely record an episode of this podcast without a snack, so how are mill...

Tue, 08 Nov 2022

Remember the Juniper Latte? Wasn't it just about the strangest thing you ever tasted? Yet, you still...

Tue, 01 Nov 2022

A cabal of black-robed elites who preside, unquestioned, over all our rights and freedoms… hmmm…...

Tue, 25 Oct 2022

Happy Cultyweeeeeeen! Our favorite holiday at Sounds Like A Cult is here, and to celebrate the spook...

Tue, 18 Oct 2022

I was never good at telling jokes but the punchline goes: If Taylor told her Swifties to kill a man,...

Tue, 11 Oct 2022

Summer 2022, it seemed like everyone and their cult leader was *devouring* the TV show The Bear: an ...

Tue, 04 Oct 2022

Cults tend to thrive during times of broader cultural questioning and turmoil, when institutional su...

Tue, 27 Sep 2022

We've all joked about Gwyneth Paltrow's *candle.* But does this boho Hollywood elitist girlboss ever...

Tue, 20 Sep 2022

If you don’t worship at the altar of this week’s “cult,” then simply sashay away! One of the...

Tue, 06 Sep 2022

Did you know Dr. Phil is not actually a medical doctor?? When “physicians” like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz...

Tue, 30 Aug 2022

Weddings: Filled to the brim with ritualistic ceremonies, patriarchal traditions, power abuse, bank-...

Tue, 23 Aug 2022

Welcome to our life-changing, missional, intentional ministry for young people from all walks of lif...

Tue, 16 Aug 2022

The Kardashians: a harmlessly entertaining reality TV family or a dynastic conformist controlling ca...

Tue, 09 Aug 2022

We’re in for a shocking one this week: The Troubled Teen Industry has for decades promised parents...

Tue, 02 Aug 2022

For the last week of Cult Girl Summer, another juicy bonus episode: This time, Isa and Amanda are li...

Tue, 26 Jul 2022

A much-requested Part 2 to continue Cult Girl Summer. Our 12-Step Program episode sparked much debat...

Tue, 19 Jul 2022

How much would you risk in pursuit of perfection? It’s another installment of “Cult Girl Summer”...

Tue, 12 Jul 2022

A flirty little topic for another installment of Cult Girl Summer: five weeks of bonus episodes wher...

Tue, 05 Jul 2022

Welcome to Cult Girl Summer, five weeks of bonus episodes where Isa and Amanda are sharing unfiltere...

Tue, 28 Jun 2022

Known to her loyalists as the “spiritual catalyst” but to her critics as the “suicide catalyst...

Tue, 14 Jun 2022

From his Jesus-like hair, erratic on-set antics, and fanatical 30 Seconds to Mars music fandom to hi...

Tue, 07 Jun 2022

From The Yale Whiffenpoofs to Pitch Perfect’s Barden Bellas, a cappella groups are not just your a...

Tue, 31 May 2022

Anonymity, prayers, sitting in a circle and sharing your deepest secrets and traumas, an intimate me...

Tue, 24 May 2022

From voraciously consuming gruesome podcasts by the dozen to amateur sleuthing gone wrong to fetishi...

Tue, 17 May 2022

Fast Fashion (think: brands like Forever21, Zara, and Shein) could be described as an industry that ...

Tue, 10 May 2022

Co-host Isa joined the “cult” of stand-up comedy four years ago in LA but didn’t realize until...

Tue, 03 May 2022

The New York Times described him as “at once a capitalist hero, a glossy magazine celebrity and a ...

Tue, 26 Apr 2022

POV: You work at Denny's. It's 12 AM. You want to go home. And from outside you hear it... your wors...

Tue, 19 Apr 2022

Lavender can cure headaches and tea tree oil can clear your acne (and heal Covid/your whole life)? T...

Tue, 12 Apr 2022

The life-changing magic of tidying up gave a shiny new rebrand to age-old ideas that owning less stu...

Tue, 05 Apr 2022

Did you know PhD actually stands for “Probably Heavily in Debt” and “Pretty Heavily Depressed”...

Tue, 29 Mar 2022

Blackout dates, Genie lines, Magic Keys, Storyliving, DCP, D23... If any of these terms got you feel...

Tue, 22 Mar 2022

Serums, lasers, influencer skincare routines, oh my! There seems to be no end to how many expensive ...

Tue, 15 Mar 2022

Veganism isn’t just a diet, it‘s not just a lifestyle, it’s a whole identity, aesthetic, commu...

Tue, 08 Mar 2022

Defrauded Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has become the subject of countless books, podcasts, documen...

Tue, 01 Mar 2022

This week, with the help of special guest Dan Savage (relationships advice columnist and host of the...

Tue, 22 Feb 2022

A 2015 Harvard Divinity School study reported that among many young people, CrossFit has become a bo...

Tue, 15 Feb 2022

A pseudo-family dynamic, decades-long commitments, physical peril, members who "would literally die ...

Tue, 08 Feb 2022

If you have an Instagram account, you’ve probably seen those beautifully curated infographics expl...

Tue, 01 Feb 2022

Trader Joe's, the most beloved "neighborhood grocery store" in America, has a super-loyal "cult foll...

Tue, 25 Jan 2022

We're back and more culty than ever! Sounds Like A Cult, your favorite comedy-cult podcast about the...

Tue, 04 Jan 2022

We're going weekly! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tue, 23 Nov 2021

On theme for Thanksgiving, we've got a bonus episode for you on the "cult" of America's most zealous...

Tue, 19 Oct 2021

In the wake of the zealously consumed LuLaRich docuseries on Amazon Prime, we’re releasing a bonus...

Tue, 28 Sep 2021

Season 2 of Sounds Like A Cult is coming December 7th! We are so grateful for all you loyal Culties ...

Tue, 17 Aug 2021

Super-wealthy motivational speaker Tony Robbins physically towers over his thousands of adoring acol...

Tue, 10 Aug 2021

Omg, is mercury in retrograde?? Or is this week’s episode analyzing the “cult” of astrology ju...

Tue, 03 Aug 2021

One of our favorite topics to date: In this can’t-miss episode, we’re unpacking the wave of tren...

Tue, 27 Jul 2021

Welcome to the world of fitness trackers, high-performance athletic gear, nutrition goo, obsessively...

Tue, 20 Jul 2021

A slightly NSFW episode of your favorite cult podcast comes courtesy of this week’s two special gu...

Tue, 13 Jul 2021

Ask and you shall receive! This week, we’re covering our single most listener-requested topic: The...

Tue, 06 Jul 2021

“Why does it feel like everything that has to do with tradition is actually a cult?” Such is one...

Tue, 29 Jun 2021

Intense secrecy and exclusivity, unquestioned protocols and rituals, deception, isolation, hierarchi...

Tue, 22 Jun 2021

These days, the lines between celebrity, religious figure, political leader, lifestyle guru, and bes...

Tue, 15 Jun 2021

We always thought of “flat earthers” as nothing but a bunch of spoofable Devil advocates with to...

Tue, 08 Jun 2021

A heavily controlled, totally isolated group of polygamists who worship one charismatic figure and a...

Tue, 01 Jun 2021

SoulCycle is without question a “cult-followed” brand, but is this exclusive boutique workout st...

Tue, 25 May 2021

This is Sounds Like A Cult, a podcast about the zeitgeisty cults that have inducted us all—from So...

Thu, 13 May 2021

Do you think SoulCycle is a cult? What about Elon Musk stans? Or the Royal Family? What about spirit...