Podcast Corner: Jon Ronson among the three shows worth checking out this week
Podcast Corner
Jon Ronson follows up last year’s Things Fell Apart, a series about how America is the way it is, via abortion, racism, and conspiracy theories, with The Debutante, focused around the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 people. Rather than a close examination of Timothy McVeigh, who was executed in 2001 having been found guilty on all counts related to the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history, Ronson, as is his wont, finds a loose thread in the story. The title of this six-parter relates to Carol Howe, a charismatic, wealthy former debutante turned white supremacist spokeswoman turned undercover informant.
He first came across Howe when researching a book about extremists in the 1990s. She’s interesting, to say the least: After a shotgun wedding in her early 20s, she soon cajoles her new husband into getting huge Nazi symbol tattoos. The Debutante, like Ronson’s previous work, slowly reveals conspiracy theories relating to the bombing such as ‘John Doe 2’, a possible suspect who the police seemed to just stop investigating. Was McVeigh really working alone? Do Howe’s diaries hold the key to the truth? As Ronson says: “This is that rare thing: A conspiracy theory that could actually be true.” For now, The Debutante is only available on Audible, but should be widely available later in the year.
Considering the ads riddled across recent recommendations such as Stiffed, it is refreshing to listen to Audible’s podcasts - The Debutante flows like an audiobook, with no interruptions. Another big series arrived on the service on April 27 with Think Twice, from Audible and Wondery. Over ten episodes, presented by acclaimed journalist and podcaster Leon Neyfakh, who hosted the first two seasons of Slow Burn, and hip-hop radio veteran Jay Smooth, it seeks to investigate Michael Jackson and his legacy in relation to the allegations which dogged him. “To me, Michael Jackson is the most interesting person who has ever lived. But what Jay and I realized as we dove into this project was that his story is not just about him, but everyone he influenced with his art, and everyone connected to his tortured personal life,” says Neyfakh.
Our favourite show of 2022, Normal Gossip, returned for its fourth season at the start of April. Long, juicy, strange, funny stories that may or may not be true - you’ll lap it up. Salt Fat Acid Heat author Samin Nosrat joins Kelsey McKinney for the first episode, with the second episode about how wrong a group text can go at Disney World.
