🦞Hello, It's Your Call-In Girlfriend™ Lauren🦞

The lazy and narcissistic edition

Bonjour. Today is Monday, March 23, 2026. I was on a Disney Cruise with my daughter and mom last week, not tied to my computer, so I don’t have a regular issue of Podcast the Newsletter for you.

Instead:

OK so Arielle Nissenblatt and I call ourselves Call-In Girls™ because if we hear a podcaster say on a podcast “call in if you…” we have already started dialing before we know the complete prompt. It is because of this that I have been on the most random podcasts for the most random things (see: this episode of Death, Sex & Money with a rant about blue balls.) I have gotten good at calling in because I know what producers and hosts look for, which I believe has made me good at my 9-5, which is pitching my clients to be on podcasts, too. I am THEIR Call-In Girl™.

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✍️A note about Call-In Girls™: They aren’t just calling into podcasts all the time, they are ACCEPTING THE CALL / answering the phone when someone says, “Lauren, will you be on my podcast to talk about…how you think The Donner Party wasn’t that hungry and resorted to cannibalism a bit too early?” A Call-In Girl™ will always say yes.

[side story that you do not have to read: When I was four my parents took me to Mystic Seaport and there was an impromptu lobster presentation on the street with some lobster handler and his lobsters. They made the kids sit in the front and the adults in the back, it was a big crowd. At the end of the demonstration the lobster guy goes: “does anyone have any questions?” My hand jetted up. My parents got nervous. They knew well to worry about what I was about to say. “Are lobsters nocturnal?” I asked. A sigh of relief. That was a pretty good question! The lobster guy agreed! They are nocturnal! But then I kept raising my hand again and again, the questions got weirder and weirder, and my parents couldn’t get to me from the back row. By the time they could grab me I had gotten to the question, “my neighbors have a pool and one time they found a dead frog in it,” which isn’t a question. Who knows what questions would have been next. I think this is deeply connected to why I love to call into podcasts.]

notes

✨Yesterday, Arielle featured 5 honest podcasts about what happens when love stops working in EarBuds.

✨A GREAT issue of Podcast Marketing Magic that is very important to me:

🤖Why We Don’t Use AI at Tink

✨The latest from Podcasts We Text About:

Screenshots of Our Listening Queues & What Other Podcasts People Are Listening To | The Nosy Edition👃👂

FINALLY, and I swear we will get to the good stuff soon, a note to my paid subscribers: holy shit, thank you. I’m only speechless when it comes to thinking about my appreciation for you. Sometimes I look at your names and squeal and feel quite undeserving but in the end just so grateful. For the first time ever I’m offering something special for you, go to the end. And if you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can totally be one:

Anyhoo here 10 podcast episodes that I was on as a guest, MEMEMEMMEME lol enjoy here you go.

Judge John Hodgman, “Mr. Commode’s Wild Ride”

My mom used to always joke that when she died she wanted me to flush her ashes down the toilet in Walt Disney World because they recycle the toilet water for watering the flowers. I mean I thought she was joking until I was almost 40 and found out she wasn’t. John Hodgman and Jesse Thorn had me and my mom on Judge John Hodgman to settle the dispute that arose from this miscommunication. It is truly a thrill to get to be on a podcast that I’ve been goo-goo-gah-gahing for as long as I can remember, although every so often I wake up in a cold sweat because I failed the cultural reference, which was painfully obvious. This was a big moment for me and I froze.

Judge John Hodgman, “Small Claymations Court”

Last year Arielle was visiting, along with my parents, and she overheard us arguing about this long-running fight we have about who is the most Gumby-like, the most Pokey-like, and the most Blockhead-like, and how I was going to call Judge John Hodgman and make him settle it. Without us knowing, she actually started recording the conversation, which I used to pitch Judge John Hodgman’s producer Jennifer Marmor. Click the arrow button below and you can hear it. I’m not sure if this will make you want to listen more or less. (You will notice and when I say “I have an important email to write” I am referencing my pitch letter to Jennifer.)

Outside/In, “Why we get scared—and why we like it”

Outside/In let me on to talk about my Trypophobia. I remember the conversation being pretty interesting and funny but I don’t like to think about this stuff so I haven’t relistened and I don’t wish to talk about it at this time. Don’t google Trypophobia.

Natch Beaut, “The History of Makeup with Alie Ward”

OK I’m not ON this episode but I influenced it, and it’s an example of how I have been a Call-In Girl™, a podcast fan, and a podcast wannabe-collaborator for ten years, before I started working in the industry. At the time of recording, 2017, I was just a fan listening to Jackie Johnson’s hilarious beauty podcast Natch Beaut (RIP, I miss it) at my desk for my book publishing job. At the time we were also publishing a book by pioneering makeup artist and photographer Kevyn Aucoin called Making Faces that was accompanied by a really cool set of palettes and we had extras. Without clearing it with anyone at the publishing house I emailed Jackie and was like, “Want me to give you like 5 sets of books and palette kits for you to give away to your listeners?” She said yes and did an entire episode walking through the book and kit with guest Alie Ward. When I told my book publishing house that she did this, I thought everyone would be thrilled but nobody really gave a shit. The episode didn’t even make the weekly roundup of press hits for the book! I think this sort of thing would be unthinkable now without a hefty price tag, maybe it was just a bit before its time. Anyway, you can listen to Jackie talk about how I emailed her (she says she thought I was probably a “young cool executive” like Hillary Duff on Younger” lololol) and my first real podcast collab.

You Are What You Love, “Calvin & Tinkerbell”

I REALLY love the premise of You Are What You Love, where Marissa Tandom interviewed guests about their unbridled joy for things in media that have made them who they are and the fandoms they are part of. For SOME reason she decided to have me on (she has some much better guests on there) and I chose to discuss not one but two of my influences, Calvin and Hobbes’ Calvin and Tinker Bell. I learned so much about myself talking to Marissa about why and how these characters who have formed who we are as a person (it truly felt like a therapy session) but also about what it means to be a fan of something and be proud of it, how lucky it is to have something in your life you love, no matter how dorky or cool it may be. Marissa also offers an argument for why Disney princesses are not corrupting our youth, which I truly appreciated, and an ethical quandary at the end that had me flipping back and forth, and will give you something to think about, too.

My Unsung Hero, “Lauren Passell’s Story”

Hidden Brain has his side podcast, My Unsung Hero, a collection of short, beautifully produced stories about one person who reached out to help another person in a time of need. I am on this podcast, not because I helped anyone but because someone pretty much saved my life. It’s about some strange coincidences that make me believe in guardian angels, the most pain I’ve ever experienced, and a woman who relentlessly offered help when I needed it more than ever. This woman and I are still in touch. She recently sent Stella a projector for her ceiling with a few of the galaxies of the universe. She truly has given me SO MUCH.

Relationscapes, “Letting Down the Drawbridge”

My daughter was a few months old when Blair Hodges launched Relationscapes, a podcast about the shifting terrain of relationships, gender, and sexuality. One of the first episodes was with someone I admire, Angela Tucker, who wrote the book “You Should Be Grateful:" Stories of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption. I studied that episode and sent to my entire family. Now, more than a year later, Blair had me on the show for a mini-episode to talk about my own experience with adoption. I have talked about adoption before (if you get me alone I will tell you about the traumatizing time I was on a podcast talking about adoption, ten years ago!) but this was my favorite, because Blair is a great interviewer. I felt so understood. His ability to listen closely while his guests are talking is next level, which allows him to ask perfect questions and guide his guests to great, unexpected places. I was comfortable enough to get really really really honest about what it’s been like. Thank you for the great interview, Blair. Listen if you want to hear more about me and my family, or just hear how a good interviewer works. And check out the rest of the episodes—they cover all sorts of topics about family and identity, I really think there’s something for everyone.

The Alarmist, “BALLOONFEST ‘86: WHO IS TO BLAME?”

One of my favorite history / comedy / hilarious history podcasts is The Alarmist, where Rebecca Delgado Smith figures out who’s to blame for the biggest disasters of all time to because…”they say history repeats itself…not on Rebecca’s watch!” It was a treat to get to be ON an episode not just because I have been obsessed with this show since episode one, but because it was WITH Arielle Nissenblatt whom I love even more than The Alarmist AND it was about my motherland Cleveland, Ohio AND Disneyland and balloons. There’s a lot going on in this episode.

Weirdly Helpful, “Tapping Into Childhood”

Weirdly Helpful is one of my favorite corners of the internet and Zak Rosen is one of my favorite people in audio. He is a wonderful producer and Weirdly Helpful is a podcast that lets us learn about the strange and beautiful things people do to get through their days. Years ago, I was a guest on Weirdly Helpful (when it was called “The Best Advice Show” to talk about Shower Belly, a routine I have been doing in the shower every day for as long as I can remember. It explains a lot about me. Bonus: my dad was on Weirdly Helpful, too. His lovely episode is called “Drive-By Hugging.”

They Had Fun, “Glitter Is The STD Of Arts & Crafts”

On They Had Fun, one of New York’s funnest girls Rachel Josar asks people to tell them about their most fun day in NYC. When I moved out of New York it was too painful to listen, I missed my city too much, so I stopped, and I have only been able to go back and dive into the archive. I love this podcast for the same reason I love The New York Times’ Metropolitan Diaries. (Do you read it?) This episode, by the way, is about a Halloween in New York City that had me searching the streets for my husband in a bear costume and also a pretty legendary walk of shame, sort of.

✨ I love you!