A Literal Captive Audience

The TMZ Secret Sauce (with Lauren Vino)

When TMZ reports on a tragedy in Los Angeles, chances are, it’s true. How does this tabloid source its seedy confidential information, and why do TMZ and its founder Harvey Levin remain such powerful forces in the land of pop journalism? Joining Tess to talk TMZ sleaze is comic and journalist Lauren Vino @boxedvino [https://www.instagram.com/boxedvino/] (Playboy, GQ, Mel Magazine, Black Out Diaries)  Read “The Digital Dirt” by Nicholas Schmidle  [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/22/inside-harvey-levins-tmz?_sp=8cba7d8a-4b5d-4092-905c-5a67549e8091.1780268704200] Read the LA Times Coverage of the fallout from Mel Gibson’s arrest [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-sep-08-la-me-mel-gibson-deputy-20100908-story.html] Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter [https://x.com/popmysterypod], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/popmysterypod/], and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@popmysterypod] @popmysterypod  Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker [https://www.instagram.com/tesstifybarker/?hl=en]. Produced by Tyler Hill.  Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d [https://www.instagram.com/rickw00d/]. Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod [http://patreon.com/PopMysteryPod] Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady [https://ladytoladycomedy.com/] and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toxic-the-britney-spears-story/id1565880473] wherever you get your pods.  Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A Literal Captive Audience

After Tess learns about a shocking method of filling live studio audiences, she is sent on a long journey to get to the bottom of a clandestine and widespread practice.  In her search for the truth, Tess talks with comics Allen Strickland Williams (@allenstricklandwilliams) and Julia Hladkowicz (@juliacomedy).  Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, [https://x.com/popmysterypod] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/popmysterypod/?hl=en], and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@popmysterypod] @popmysterypod  Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill. Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d. Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady [https://ladytoladycomedy.com/] and Toxic [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toxic-the-britney-spears-story/id1565880473] wherever you get your pods.  Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Terrifying Face Behind Those Pass It On Billboards (from the vault)

This is dark money hiding in plain sight. Tess revisits the twisted reality of those strange ads  the in one of her favorite vault episodes.  There’s something unsettling about those “Pass It On” billboards that feature celebrities like Dolly Parton, Whoopi Goldberg, and William Shatner. These ads don’t seem to be selling anything except abstractly positive concepts like perseverance and resilience. But what’s really going on here? Investigative journalist and pop culture junkie uncovers the dark truth behind these seemingly banal signs.  Featuring Judd Legum [https://popular.info/]of the Popular Information newsletter.  Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, [https://x.com/popmysterypod] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/popmysterypod/?hl=en], and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@popmysterypod] @popmysterypod  Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill. Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d. Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady [https://ladytoladycomedy.com/] and Toxic [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toxic-the-britney-spears-story/id1565880473] wherever you get your pods.  Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Exposing “Girls Gone Wild” (with Courtney Kocak)

Few commercials were as ubiquitous in the early aughts as the ones for the video series “Girls Gone Wild.” The premise of these videos was so dumb it seemed funny: girls being treated as zoo animals as they flashed the camera. A deeply disturbing truth permeated this cultural phenomena, however. Joining Tess to talk through her own first hand experience with the franchise is comic, writer, and podcaster Courtney Kocak [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-parts-unknown-sex-love-around-the-world/id1154304419] (Private Parts Unown) [https://open.spotify.com/show/1A577x91QotwCsfN4JxF2q].   Read Courtney Kocak’s memoir “Girl Gone Wild” [https://bookshop.org/p/books/girl-gone-wild-courtney-kocak/f3c06a53692352f1?ean=9781949487541&next=t&next=t&affiliate=85623] Watch “Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story”  [https://tv.apple.com/us/show/girls-gone-wild-the-untold-story/umc.cmc.3llwj7fbnn7wuz29mdfx1cnbg] Read Scaachi Koul’s “From Girls Gone Wild to Your Body, My Choice.”  [https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/12/girls-gone-wild-to-your-body-my-choice.html] Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter [https://x.com/popmysterypod], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/popmysterypod/], and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@popmysterypod] @popmysterypod  Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker [https://www.instagram.com/tesstifybarker/?hl=en]. Produced by Tyler Hill.  Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d [https://www.instagram.com/rickw00d/]. Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod [http://patreon.com/PopMysteryPod] Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady [https://ladytoladycomedy.com/] and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toxic-the-britney-spears-story/id1565880473] wherever you get your pods.  Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Settlement: What Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer Doesn’t Want Us to Know

Blake Lively’s case against Justin Baldoni has settled. Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman has been doing a media tour in an attempt to frame this as a “victory.” Yet, for all Freedman has been talking, he doesn’t seem to be giving us the full story.  Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter [https://x.com/popmysterypod], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/popmysterypod/], and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@popmysterypod] @popmysterypod  Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker [https://www.instagram.com/tesstifybarker/?hl=en]. Produced by Tyler Hill.  Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d [https://www.instagram.com/rickw00d/]. Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod [http://patreon.com/PopMysteryPod] Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady [https://ladytoladycomedy.com/] and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toxic-the-britney-spears-story/id1565880473] wherever you get your pods.  Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.