Actor Joshua Malina Becomes New Co-Host Of Unorthodox Podcast

Host of the podcast PR After Hours, Alex Greenwood, recently penned an article called The Power Of Niche In Podcasting. 

In the article, Greenwood writes, "One of the remarkable aspects of niche podcasts is their ability to build vibrant communities around specialized interests. These shows bring together people with a shared passion, fostering discussions, debates, and connections among like-minded individuals."

 That's exactly what the podcast Unorthodox accomplishes. Niche doesn't necessarily mean small in number, but instead a specific community of listeners. Unorthodox bills itself as, "the universe’s leading Jewish podcast." That hyperbole aside, the podcast delivers on its boast and even delivers on its tagline that "you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy it."

Podcasting for a very specific audience does have its trap doors and moral conundrums. Consider how discovery material from the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News uncovered how hosts didn't believe the propaganda about election fraud they pushed on their audience. In essence, Fox News decided to pander rather than risk exposing the truth and alienating its audience. 

Thankfully, Unorthodox is a thinking person's podcast. It doesn't want listeners to nod in mindless agreement. Instead, it would like listeners to scratch their heads and embrace complexity, ambiguity, and diversity of opinion. To prove that point, the podcast has a "gentile of the week" segment.

 To demonstrate that Unorthodox continues to grow and improve, Tablet Magazine has announced that Joshua Malina, whose breakout role was in the beloved presidential television drama The West Wing,
will be joining the Jewish publication’s popular podcast, Unorthodox.

He will join current hosts Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz. Malina’s first episode as co-host will be available to stream and download on May 25, wherever you get your podcasts, and on the Unorthodox website.

Unorthodox, which has been airing weekly since 2015, has a passionate audience of tens of thousands of listeners,
who call themselves the J-Crew. Each episode features a segment called News of the Jews, as well as interviews with both a Jewish guest and Gentile of the Week.

Previous guests have included actors Nick Kroll, Kathryn Hahn, David Duchovny, and Clive Owen; food personalities Molly Yeh, Jake Cohen, and Adeena Sussman; spiritual leaders Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Father James Martin, Swami Tyaganada; designers Jonathan Adler, Isaac Mizrahi, and Rebecca Minkoff;
comedians Judy Gold, Alex Edelman, and Zarna Garg; writers Gabrielle Zevin, Nick Hornby, and Zibby Owens;
elected officials including Joe Lieberman, Jared Polis, and Katie Porter.

Over the years, Unorthodox has become required listening across diverse Jewish communities worldwide, and has also become assigned listening in rabbi-led conversion classes. Building on their reputation as conveners of thoughtful and fun Jewish conversation, the show’s co-hosts published a best-selling book in 2019, titled The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything In Between.

Responding to calls for high-quality Jewish audio content, the team behind Unorthodox launched Tablet Studios in 2020, producing such acclaimed podcasts as Dara Horn’s Adventures With Dead Jews; Radioactive: The Father Charles Coughlin Story, produced in association with WNET; and Gatecrashers, a podcast about the history of Jews in the Ivy League

  Upon graduation from Yale University with a B.A. degree in Theatre, Joshua Malina made his professional acting debut in the Broadway production of A Few Good Men, written by Aaron Sorkin. Joshua went on to star as Jeremy Goodwin in Sorkin’s critically-acclaimed television series Sports Night.

He worked with Sorkin once again on The West Wing, joining the cast in the fourth season, as Will Bailey. On the big screen, he has
appeared in Bulworth, In the Line of Fire, and A View from the Top, among others. More recently, Joshua starred as U.S. Attorney General David Rosen in ABC’s hit show Scandal, and President Siebert in The Big Bang Theory.

This is not Malina’s first foray into podcasting: Together with Hrishikesh Hirway, he hosted the hit PRX show The West Wing Weekly. More recently, he was the co-host, with Rabbi Shira Stutman, of PRX’s Chutzpod!

Co-host Stephanie Butnick is co-founder of Tablet Studios and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. She is also the author, together with Liel Leibovitz and Mark Oppenheimer, of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything in Between. 

Co-host Liel Leibovitz is co-founder and editorial director of Tablet Studios as well as the host of Take One, a daily podcast about the Talmud. A contributor to a host of publications, including The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Commentary and First Things, he’s the author of several books, including biographies of Leonard Cohen and Stan Lee, and, most recently, the editor of Zionism: The Tablet Guide.

“There’s a term in linguistics called cooperative overlapping, which basically means excitedly interrupting each other,”
said Butnick and Leibovitz. “It’s how Jews speak, and we very much look forward to cooperatively overlapping with Joshua Malina. We’ve been his fans for years, and think that his passion and commitment to being a loud and proud Jew will bring a new and joyful spirit to the show.”

New episodes of Unorthodox are released every Thursday on all
platforms where you listen to podcasts. You can learn more about Unorthodox and Tablet Magazine by visiting TabletMag.com.

Finally, in the course of doing this article, I listened to several episodes, and one of my recent favorites is episode # 358 in April with podcast expert Arielle Nissenblatt and Andrea Wakefield on Italian American cooking.  This episode combines two of my great passions -- podcasting and Italian food. 

In the interview, Nissenblatt -- who may not sleep since she's so busy -- mentions my favorite, underappreciated podcast, Mobituaries with Mo Rocca. Listeners should also check out Nissenblatt's podcast recommendation website, EarBuds Podcast Collective, and the Trailer Park podcast, where anyone can submit their podcast trailer for review.

The interview with Nissenblatt reveals how the tenor of the podcast reflects the culture of its listeners. While interviewing Nissenblatt, the co-hosts comment that a Jewish podcast always operates at a sped-up rate, with interruptions and people talking over each other.

And that's exactly what happened. While interviewing Nissenblatt about her fascinating journey in podcasting, there was fast talk, interruptions, and multiple people talking. Such sonic chaos would be corrected by any self-respecting podcasting trainer. Yet, miraculously, this cultural dissonance works and even sparkles.

Malina is a thoughtful, reflective man who will add to the depth of the podcast. He's not a vacuous, self-absorbed actor with little going on upstairs when he doesn't have lines to read. He will definitely add to the mishegoss (Yiddish for craziness). He joins the podcast on March 25th.

I also recommend Tablet Magazine. It's high-level journalism, and it doesn't matter what religion or ethnic background you are.

Hosts of Unorthodox: Stephanie Butnick, Liel Leibovitz, and Joshua Molina.