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The podcast wasThe New Yorker Comment,a weekly reading of the magazines Comment section.

I loved playingMaddenand hated that I loved it.
Is it embarrassing to like things?
Congratulations to@samttaggartand@georgeciverison being named Forbes' most morally corrupt LGBTQ creators!!
Though they cosplay as chemists, the show is largely anthropological.
Discussions are critical and raunchy, honest and insincere.
Youre just as likely to hear someone called a little stinker as a neoliberal democrat.
The two serve as charming foils.
Inan episode with comedian Sandy Honig, the three create a sexual taxonomy of condiments.
Barbecue sauce is closeted.
Soon theyre debating whetherGirlsis good.
Digressions are vital to the illusion of intimacy many podcasts seek to create.
The best ones give listeners the impression theyre hanging out with good friends.
The conversation is uncomfortable Taggart doesnt know how to respond to Harriss guilt.
He brushes it aside; he forgives Harris; he assures him everythings fine.
Worse, sincerity isembarrassing.Personally, I fear being vulnerable even more than I fear being exploited.
If this sounds like a paradox, it is.
The paradox is what makes the experiment work.