NYT "The Interview" Podcast With Serena Williams On Retirement

 I admit upfront this number is sketchy. Approximately 25 percent of all podcasts are interview podcasts, where a host or co-host interviews a guest, or guests. That is often a default format for podcasters because they believe that preparation is much easier since you are not researching a topic like the Bolivian Striped Mosquito (Not a real bug). 

Here's the thing. Conducting an interview is hard. It's one of those activities that seems easy and seamless, yet it has the degree of difficulty of a Reverse 2 1/2 Somersault springboard dive.

Check out Elaine Appleton Grant's Sound Judgment podcast for how to conduct an interview. It's a masterclass. Grant will tell you that anyone can do an interview, but only a few can do it well. Then she will help you learn to be a more skilled interviewer.

My point here is that interview podcasts done well are worth the time. Those podcasts with a celebrity or celebrities who once worked together on a TV show in the 90s and now hold "unfiltered conversations" with a guest who is selling a product, service or themselves are self-replicating in the audio world. It's branding that is blunt force trauma, battering listeners with the same three talking points the guest was given by the P.R. team.

To blunt some of my snobbishness about interview podcasts, let me recommend an excellent one -- the New York Times' The interview podcast. 

NYT's marketing pitch is: "Conversations with the world’s most fascinating people. Each week, hosts David Marchese and Lulu Garcia-Navarro talk to compelling, influential figures in culture, politics, business, sports and beyond"

Unlike most marketing hard-sells, this podcast delivers on its promise.

 
So far, the podcast has interviewed famous people about what's changed in their lives, not a rehash of their past achievements or a platform to sell their latest project.

 

For example, a recent episode had director, Richard Linklater, whose latest movie, Hit Man, is a bit of a departure for the director, who has made some of the most acclaimed and influential indie films of the last 30-plus years.

Another recent episode had Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Here's the podcast setup to that interview: "At some point in almost every performance she gives, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has this look. If you’ve watched “Seinfeld,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine” or “Veep,” you know it — the perfect mix of irritation and defiance. As if she were saying, Try me.Louis-Dreyfus’s performances in those shows — from the eccentrically self-actualized Elaine Benes in “Seinfeld” to the completely un-self-aware Selina Meyer in “Veep” — were comedic master classes. But in recent years, she has been moving toward more introspective and serious work."

This week is tennis great Serena Williams. Here's the podcast listening proposition: "A lot of people reach middle age having achieved some career success and ask themselves: Well, now what? Apparently this happens even if you’re Serena Williams."

 

"Williams, who’s now 42, retired from competitive tennis a little under two years ago. She won 23 Grand Slam tournaments, more than any woman in the Open era and one shy of the record. Her level of fame and achievement — both on and off the court — broke boundaries for Black women and female athletes in general. She is, by most accounts, the best ever at what she did. Since retiring, Williams has directed that drive at her family and several new projects. But the tennis court still calls."

In the latest episode of The Interview, the legendary tennis player spoke to David Marchese about trying to find her new normal in retirement, the uncertainty of pushing children to achieve their full potential, her thoughts on “Challengers” and more.

“I always look at my dad, and I think, How were you able to do that?” Williams reflects. “Because I’m like, Oh, they’re so cute. I just want them to relax, and I don’t want to over-push them. But I would be devastated if I wasn’t pushed, because we wouldn’t be having this interview and there would never have been a Serena Williams. So I feel so fortunate that I had an opportunity to have that extra oomph. But for whatever reason, I’m having a hard time connecting to that extra push, and that’s something I’ve been trying to figure out myself, how to give that extra motivation to my daughters… I always say I wouldn’t trade anything that I’ve done. So why in the world am I not pushing my daughter a little bit more?”

Check out this latest episode.  Some interview podcasts go shallow because that's what the guest wants and the listeners expect. Here, the backhoe is out and going deep. Put on your miner's hat.