Thread by @hasufl

The other day I checked what my most-listened-to crypto podcasts are and was surprised to see @laurashin's Unchained/Unconfirmed on top of the list. As I tried to put the finger on why I like this show better than others, I came up with two reasons.

First, she asks uncomfortable questions. It's hard to do this delicately, and sometimes you get a crazy show like EP78 with Dominic Williams of Dfinity who practically collapsed from her (modest!) pushback. But overall, modest pushback makes shows much better.

That a host should see eye-to-eye with the guest seems obvious, so why don't other crypto podcasts do this as much? I think the answer lies in the relatively high supply of podcasts, and relatively low supply of interesting guests.

When too much leverage resides with the guests, interviews will be worse because guests can select easy conversations over hard ones. Who wants to face hard questions on-air when there are ten other podcasts with the same audience?

Hence, any podcast without a significant moat in reach either gets mediocre guests and good interviews or good guests and mediocre interviews. Good guests and good interviews require that the value of the podcast to the guest is high even when questions are hard.

The second reason is that @laurashin keeps asking until she understood. I can't remember how many times I was annoyed with other shows where a guest gives an insufficient explanation of a concept or thing that happened, and it's 100% obvious the host didn't get it.

This frustrates me because when the host didn't get it there's a good chance I, the listener, didn't get it either. But whether to not look bad, or not make the guest look bad, hosts typically don't follow up and push for better explanations until it clicks. This happens _a ton_.

There are other reasons, e.g. that most other podcasts are too long and force you to skip the first 30 minutes of ever-repeating "what's your background" questions instead of giving a 60-sec summary and then jumping right into the action.

Overall, these are great podcasts for one because Laura is a great host that checks her ego at the door and doesn't pretend she gets something when she doesn't. And second, her show has enough of a moat that she can ask uncomfortable questions and still get high-profile guests.

What practices do _you_ really like in podcasts and what practices do you want to see less off?

What podcasts (crypto or not) execute these practices perfectly?