Crooked Media, the podcast company formed by a trio of former Obama staffers, continues to spread its wings beyond its progressive-politics roots.
The company’s latest development slate includes entertainment, pop culture and history. There’s also a show about how the internet is ruining people’s minds.
Coming this fall is weekly interview show “Offline,” hosted by co-founder Jon Favreau, as a spinoff of Crooked’s popular flagship series “Pod Save America.” In the new podcast, Favreau will engage in conversations with “some of the brightest minds and biggest newsmakers” about whether the internet is slowly damaging our brains and changing the way we think, and what we can do about it.
Crooked Media claims that “Offline” will provide “more of what audiences love most about Pod Save America, including the fun, no bullshit approach.” The podcast feed for “Pod Save America” and Crooked’s YouTube channel will host the show.
Coming soon: Other Crooked podcasts
- “X-Ray Vision” is a weekly look at the web’s most popular fandoms and entertainment brands. It features everything from “The Lord of the Rings” Middle-earth to Waystar Royco of HBO’s “Succession.” The show’s executive producer Jason Concepcion (formerly of Crooked, “Binge Mode” and “Take line”)
- Chenjerai Kumanyika, Peabody Award winner, hosts “Untitled History of Policing Project”. This project will present a narrative history of American police in popular culture.
- “544 Days”, an autobiographical account of journalist Jason Rezaian’s imprisonment in Iran’s political prison, was produced in partnership by Spotify’s Gimlet (A24). This limited series of nine episodes will only be available on Spotify from September.
- Phillip Picardi will host Season 2 of “Unholier than Thou,” a fan-favorite series that examines the intersection between the saintly, secular. Picardi will present a series of 10 episodes that continues his introspective examination on the role of religion/spirituality in our everyday lives, with a particular focus on “resurrection” after the pandemic.
Crooked is also adding “Crooked history” to its YouTube-exclusive content. This marks Crooked’s first nonfiction narrative video series. This show will feature Crooked network personalities Erin Ryan (“Pod Save The World”), Kaya Henderson (“Pod Save People”), and Ben Rhodes (“Missing America”) as well as Kaya Henderson (“Pod Save the People”), who cover “important lessons that your history teacher might have missed.”
Crooked Media’s head for creative development and production, Sarah Geismer, stated that the company had worked to “diversify and content to increase brand awareness while still staying true to our core mission to provide sharp, entertaining social commentary.”
Crooked Media also announced its primary 2021 campaign from Vote Save America. This is the company’s political engagement and political action arm. The campaign “No Off Years” aims to re-engage voters by providing remote volunteering opportunities, targeted donations, and education about what’s at stake in the next year.
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Favreau, Lovett, former Obama speechwriters and Tommy Vietor, founded Crooked Media in 2017. Crooked’s full-time staff has increased by 25% to 70 employees in the past year. Crooked claims that its content team which includes development, production and digital, has grown 43%.
Recent business deals include a deal with Team Whistle for sports content distribution on Snapchat; syndicating Jon Lovett’s “Lovet or Leave It” podcast via Audacy; as well as expanding international sales through Acast’s partnership.