To interview Monica Padman is to interview an interviewer. Padman is the cohost of the astronomically popular podcast Armchair Expert, cohosted by actor Dax Shepard, of the television shows Parenthood and Punk’d. In 2019, Forbes listed Armchair Expert second on its inaugural list of top-earning podcasts; in 2020, Forbes estimated its monthly audience to be twenty million listeners. In 2021, Padman and Shepard signed a deal with Spotify that was rumored to be eight figures. Their guests have ranged from public figures (Barack Obama, Monica Lewinsky) to Hollywood stars (Gwyneth Paltrow, Kerry Washington) to “experts” (Ronan Farrow, Atul Gawande), to Shepard’s mom, in a refreshingly surprising mix, all guided by Shepard’s wide-ranging intellectual interests. Since the show premiered, in February 2018, the team has released over five hundred episodes. Now, in addition to Armchair Expert, Padman and Shepard produce eleven shows under their “Armchair Umbrella.” 

When I first learned about Armchair Expert, the concept did not appeal to me. A celebrity talking to other celebrities? I’d been listening to hyperproduced podcasts like This American Life and Serial, and conversational podcasts like the madcap Mike and Tom Eat Snacks or Marc Maron’s WTF. What I loved about those shows was their specificity. Their hosts weren’t massively famous, and that resulted in more interesting conversations. Celebrities spoke through the neutered filter of PR, or so I thought. But Armchair Expert surprised me. Shepard and Padman’s guests—celebrity or otherwise—were strangely willing to just… speak. They were vulnerable, and compelling in their vulnerability. Often these conversations were a far cry from other, more carefully polished interviews. The cohost combination was unique: as an actor, Shepard could draw guests from his rarefied world. But Padman interested me too. She didn’t speak much during the conversations between Shepard and the guests. But her voice was heard prominently on every episode’s “fact-check,” when she verified details that had been stated on the show. The fact-checks were not particularly rigorous: she did not adjudicate every fact. Instead, the segments were an opportunity for Padman and Shepard to catch up on each other’s lives, with equal parts vulnerability and transparency—to an audience of millions.