Smoke Show

Welcome back to the Smoke Show podcast, now available in VIDEO FORMAT with CLIPS INVOLVED because this show has taken over my life!Find the video here: & subscribe to me on YouTube if you like literally seeing the words come out of my mouth. Also because hey, why not? If you haven’t read the original ‘stack about the towels of Heated Rivalry you can check that out here: Thank you to the incredible commenters who pointed out the first and last towel scenes in this show! Feels like we’re all part of a group project about towels now and I love that so much.Where to find me online:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ohhiclaireTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ohhiclaiirePrompts & Writing & Thoughtfulness Newsletter: OKAY THANK YOU SO MUCH WE’RE BACK EVEN THOUGH MY BONG IS BROKEN SO I DID A DIFFERENT LIGHTER FLICK TO LIGHT A CANDLE FOR THE BEGINNING!!!!In the words of Ilya Rozanov, I love you! Get full access to Smoke Show at smokeshow.substack.com/subscribe

Watched the new Bama Rush documentary on HBO last night and was so enraged by how vacuous and empty it was when it had SUCH RIPE subject matter that I’ve now recorded two different hour-long episodes in response (the second, calmer version is this very episode which turned out far more cohesively than the one recorded at 1:30 am last night)!I know too much about the University of Alabama’s rush process because I love weird youtube subcultures and getting glimpses into systems I’ll never be part of and now, six years later, it all pays off because now the rush process has gone viral twice over on TikTok so now more people in culture want to examine what we find so captivating about the experience!And this documentary…fails to do much at all. So I’m here to critique it, give my two cents, and contribute my thoughts on lives being lived in front of multiple cameras. The rituals, the narrative of achieving self-acceptance via gaining cultural capital, the lack of critical analysis of what these organizations promise vs. deliver, the racism, the hazing, the self-policing nature of eating disorders, The Machine, and all of the underexplored themes. Plus, a walk-through of what rush week entails because the documentary didn’t cover that part!Anyway, I never want to watch anyone film a TikTok during a documentary again please and thank you!!!Linky dinks!Watch the Bama Rush Week YouTube video that started it allRead about The Machine and it’s real-world impact on Alabama’s governmentGetting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Let’s make that easy 🤠Apple PodcastStitcherSpotify This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Oh baby the podcast is back! For how long, who knows, but this week I bought some legal weed so we’re talking all about the most recent cheating scandal on Vanderpump Rules.I get into the Shakespearean nature of conflict-driven reality television, why Vanderpump Rules is one of the most watchable TV shows of all time, and the liability that comes with building a restaurant brand upon the personalities of historically messy people. For a ~serious journalistic recap of the #scandoval, check out The Cuts article here!(Of course, the fast and furious nature of gossip means that some of my information was outdated within 20 minutes of recording, but honestly my broader points still stand!) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

This week I had my sister on to talk all about journaling! What it’s allowed us to know about ourselves, how we journal (and where and when and with what materials), why our posture matters, headspaces to get into, scribble journaling, putting our phones on do not disturb, and how we can comprehend the idea that time isn’t linear.We laughed, we cried, we wrote a lot, and managed to find compassion and give ourselves the best opportunities to grow!(We used to have to look for content & things to consume and now things want to consume us. Oh no!)Twelve (point five) Journaling Prompts To Try* What did you do today?* How are you? No really, how are you?* Where’s the most comfortable place you sat today?* What are you not protecting right now?* The thing I know I did for other people today is…* I want to give myself credit for…* I love ___ about myself* A cool thing I saw today is ___* The thing I feel people don’t get right now is ___* I hope they know ___* I’m angry about ___* I’m really anxious about ___* (Now what does my calm and centered self think about ___)Link It Up Baby, Link It UpSubscribe to Meg’s Friday Email!A Letter To Myself Six Months Ago - (& subscribe to my Substack!)Elizabeth Gilbert on Journaling - Glennon Doyle’s podcastThe Extended Mind by Anna Murphy PaulSapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (and check out the interview on WNYC that made me go immediately get this book!)Breath: The new science of a lost art - BookSplit linear curved keyboard - YouTube Video This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Hey hi hello! Trying something new with the format today, basically giving an overview of the NXIVM cult, how it trapped people, and ultimately led a select few of them into an extremely sinister sex cult that few managed to escape before outside forces were finally able to topple the leader.MAJOR TRIGGER WARNINGS for: sexual abuse, manipulation, cult phenomena, and eating disorders. I tried to avoid explicit details but it’s impossible to talk about this cult and it’s leader without mentioning all of those things. Cults are terrifying and this one is particularly heinous and graphic.Most of this is based on my reactions to everything I’ve learned about the cult over the years through the HBO documentary The Vow, Starz’s documentary Seduced, Escaping NXIVM podcast, and Sinisterhood’s episode on the cult. I also just have a lot in my brain from my years of watching/reading about cults so some of that trickles in as well. Definitely not the most comprehensive guide out there!If this caught your attention and you want to learn more, I definitely recommend the Seduced documentary, but it was by far the most upsetting (due to the comprehensiveness) so just want to make sure to mention that. If you are interested in learning more about Scientology, I definitely recommend Leah Remini’s series Scientology and the Aftermath which is currently on Netflix.There is a long history of cults and high control groups in America and specifically in Upstate New York for some reason so maybe I’ll figure out how to dig up all of my old notes from college and just talk about why the rurality of NY seems to lend itself extremely well towards these groups. But hey! They finally shut down the 12 Tribes run Mate Factor in Ithaca so good job!!Link it up baby, link it upOrphans of Jonestown by Lawrence Wright - The New YorkerEscaping NXIVM - CBC PodcastNXIVM: Revisited - Sinisterhood PodcastThe Gateway - Podcast about Teal SwanGetting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Let’s make that easy 🤠Apple PodcastStitcherSpotify This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a

Hey babe hey, welcome back to another episode of Smoke Show! This time, someone (me) who is not interested in sports talks about sports documentaries for 20 straight minutes and then deep dives into the Crossfit Games for another 20. Anomaly alert!!Anyway, I hope you enjoy my absolute unhingedness when it comes to Crossfit and the concept of competitive working out. I only mock it because I’m vaguely obsessed with the entire notion of it.Link it up baby, link it upDon’t Forget Meg Ryan episode on Every Little Step - Apple PodcastsCrossfit Documentary 2021 - YouTubeJessica Lee Goldyn "The Music and the Mirror" - YouTube This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Content Warning: this episode briefly mentions diet culture/ED in regard to that Taylor Swift music video!Hey hi hello, and welcome back to the pod! This week—internet culture and how the Supernatural fandom is responsible for a lot of bad stuff, the reflexive nature of rank culture & Taylor Swift’s fandom eating itself, plus why practicing being kind all the time and with everyone isn’t easy but it IS good and probably necessary!If you know someone who has been a bigger person in a situation recently, it’s always nice to recognize kindness when we see it wherever it happens!Link it up baby, link it upBreath: The Lost Art Of Breathing - GoodreadsOmegaverse Lawsuit - YouTube VideoErika Costell & Cambrie do Miami Swim Week - Podcast EpCaroline Calloway Explainer - Podcast EpJulia Fox beach towel dress - Twitter This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Oooh hoo hoooo we’re back with…a podcast this week! I’ve still got a head cold so this episodes got a bit of a different vibe! I’m mostly ranting about: Eric Adam’s trash and sanitation “fixes”, landlords being the woooorst, Shein ruining the planet, people not being entitled to trend, the fall of Fashion Hauses, car-to-building building-to-car culture, how much I hate the sans serif balenciaga bag, and why shopping in the men’s section at Crossroads is always the right move for me! (Plus if you listen to the end, a tiny update on my thoughts around BTS enlisting!)Link it up baby, link it upRat Announcement Presser - Twitter ThreadShein Is Even Worse Than You Think - The CutFashion Is Still Trying To Greenwash Away Its Problems - Vogue NYC Sanitation Uniforms - ArticleMary Kate wearing Samba’s - Twitter This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

We’re doin’ it y’all, it’s finally the day to talk about Lance Armstrong, his pedagogy when it came to doping, the legacy of PED’s across all sports, why I can’t stand men who know the dangers of American Football but then shrug at their continued desire to watch it, and how state sponsored doping is waaaaay more common than we think.Plus! The trickle down of ‘roids culture from Gym Shark to Bachelor In Paradise, why I think there should be a league for people who dope, and a teeny tiny bit about Crossfit because I just can’t help myself! And I didn’t even get into Betsy Andreu and Lance’s whole thing so, there’s even more to say somehow about that and the culture of intimidation but also just like…Lance’s very clear use of misogyny to discredit his accusers is clearly evident throughout his coverup.Also at one point I say “russian gymnasts” but I’m talking about the Figure Skaters. (Nothing like doing a podcast to make me aware of how little I emphasize the subject of a sentence!)Also I didn’t get to talk about Michele Ferrari’s outfits at all but I just want you to know that I want to steal every single one of the jackets that man wore in the 90s and early 2000’s.Link It Up Baby, Link It UpIcarus documentary on NetflixStop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story documentary on AmazonThe Festina Affair - WikipediaReport on the abuses within US Womens Soccer - NYT ArticleVictor Conte - How Olympians Beat Drug Tests - YouTubeThe Problem With Gym Shark - YouTube Concerns about Russia’s Figure Skating Team - Vox ArticleTyler Hamilton Q&A about Doping - YouTube Video (long one, like an hour)Podcast with Chellsie Memmel about Strength & Conditioning as an adult gymnastGetting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Let’s make that easy 🤠Apple PodcastStitcherSpotify This is a public episode. If you would like to

Hi hello welcome to another episode of Smoke Show, this time featuring my favorite person to play video games with: Dan! What are the best Nintendo GameBoy plug-ins and why am I still obsessed with the medical mask they made for kids in hospitals? Is Vermont the place with the stickiest N64 controllers in America? What happened to Big Head mode and why won’t people just let me play a horse game in PEACE?Plus, how the WiiFit body shamed me in high school and why I have political issues with the new Spiderman game!Thanks so much to Dan for popping on to chat with me, there’s truly SO MUCH more to say so we’ll definitely be back with an episode about Pokemon and maybe even a playlist of the best Just Dance songs.Link It Up Baby, Link It UpGameBoy Fishing Sonar (There’s even a Wikipedia entry for all of the GameBoy adapter plugins)NakeyJakey’s Review of The Last Of Us 2Getting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Let’s make that easy 🤠Apple PodcastStitcherSpotify This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Hi hello welcome (back) to Smoke Show! Today we’re getting into the messiness that went down on Twitter yesterday over resident Wife Guy Ned from the Try Guys getting caught having an affair with an employee. It’s a lot of yikes but it also opens up SO MANY questions about the future of that business, the consequences of being a public relationship, and how containing your brand within your being simply cannot be healthy for anyone.Plus, uhhh ~juicy details about my breakup that happened a year ago and my personal views on cheating! So fun. Someone please give me a ballpark figure of how much money in Adsense their channel made yesterday!!Also, this podcast will now be coming out on Wednesday’s going forward!Link it up baby, link it upDunzo Podcast on Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez’s relationship: Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4The Justin Bieber/Selena Gomez/Hailey Baldwin timelineFollow Imani Barbarin on Twitter!(& feel free to follow me on Twitter if you want to!) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Oooo today’s episode is a little all over the place but it all centers around the central crux of my inner examination this week: what am I using Instagram (and social media) for and is it making me happy?Spoiler: the answer was no. But tracing the history and evolution of my snark consumption was extra illuminating when it came to why the internet makes me feel bad more often than not. And also, I think it was making me a meaner person.Am I getting rid of all social media? No! Do I have judgment for anyone who still has and uses Instagram? Of course not! Is all snark bad and bannable? Nah, definitely not, gossip is an inherent part of how we share humanity, but my interactions with it have gone on for a long time and I don’t like the road I’m seeing ahead.So, somehow this also got traced back to the origins of the modern internet: the early beauty youtube gurus who built several multi-billion dollar industries on their back. Also got to talk a little bit about the Caroline Calloway subreddit and how I read it as a form of (light) self-bullying. Plus! The mini me-too movement of YouTube, why NYC influencers are uniquely strange in their content, and why normies getting on the internet might be the ultimate downfall of it.Links!Offline with Jon Favreau - The Inside Story of How Silicon Valley Rewired Our BrainsNBC article about the Trisha Paytas Subreddit This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Ooooo we’re getting into The Real Housewives franchises, what they contribute to the overall landscape of women on television, the importance of the early seasons of RHONY, the ethics of the depictions of alcoholism & abuse that the show delves into, and why Alex McCord actually had the best townhouse of them all. Justice for Alex!! (“Is that a buffalo coming down the stairs?”)«Stefon voice» these shows have everything: medical fraud, open marriages, and make it nice meltdowns—it’s that thing where doing coke turns out to be the only thing that balances you and when you go on vacation with no access to it you have meltdowns at the table about people making a light joke about a birthday cake.Widows being candid about how dealing with tragic death has affected their realities! A dinner party from hell with one of the first e-cigs being smoked on camera while the psychic smoking it is yelling at Kyle Richards about how “your husband will never fulfill you. Know THAT!” as the host of the party refers to Faye Resnick as “the morally corrupt Faye Resnick” and brings up her Playboy spread! Kelly Bensimon running in the streets of New York with her hair down slowing down taxis! The iconography never stops tbh!(Every time I say “debutante” in this ep, plz replace it with socialite, I was v stoned while recording and just want to make clear that Tinsley was not 16 during the height of her NY fame!)CW: this episode discusses domestic abuse, mentions of suicide, disordered eating, and alcoholism.Link It Up Baby, Link It UpA Definitive History of Socialite RankThe Number-One Girl (Socialite Rank)Brooklyn Heights Preschool DramzYolanda Hadid’s letter to BellaTaylor Armstrong Cat Meme has its own Wikipedia page??Getting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Let’s make that easy 🤠Apple PodcastStitcherSpotify This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Today’s episode is getting into modern standom, how artists have to walk a very delicate line because fans feel so entitled to them, the addictive nature of attention, and how it’s become shockingly easy to just completely erase the lines of traditional human boundaries when it comes to celebrities.Come for the standom analysis, stay for my random tangents about MTV’s Teen Wolf! (Also plz know that when I talk about fanfic and the downsides I think that’s a tiny percentage of what’s happening but ignoring it is dangerous and part of why fandom can often feel like a runaway traaaaain!)Link It Up Baby, Link It UpHarry Styles Rolling Stone InterviewOne Direction Solo Time Standard Deviation TikToks (oh my god tiktoks are so hard to search for, plz know this took a full fifteen minutes to find and is so worth it!)Zayn + Liam - He’s only got two eyesLindsey Ellis Omegaverse LawsuitGetting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Let’s make that easy 🤠Apple PodcastStitcherSpotify This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Content Warning: this episode discusses sexual assault, rape, and death.Well, I watched a documentary and then had so many thoughts I watched four other documentaries about Woodstock and now I’m here to talk about how communes were really the miracle at work in the ‘60s! How quickly did individualism poison society? Why was Michael Lang ever allowed to continue promoting music festivals after the first Woodstock? And how are we still treating sexual violence as an unfortunate byproduct and not the distillation of the terrible ideals and rape culture of the time?A festival allegedly promoting Peace & Love was held on a literal military industrial complex. You can’t make this shit up!Mostly, what I came away with feeling after learning everything I did about the ‘69 and ‘99 festivals was that there wasn’t really a difference in greed (they were super bummed about how many people “got away” with not paying for the first festival) but there was a massive difference in care and personal respect for one another—and love really is what keeps us together. (And degrading women constantly will tear us apart.)Anyway, take a toke every time I blame Woodstock ‘99 directly on Ronald Reagan!Link It Up Baby, Link It UpNetflix Docuseries - Trainwreck (three parts, lots of history, graphic images throughout of sexual assault)HBO Documentary - Woodstock 99: Peace Love and Rage (spoke more about the death and medical emergency aspects, more blaming of everything on MTV by my nemesis John Scher, if you don’t have time or want to watch the Netflix one, this was interesting)Documentary on ‘69 - Woodstock: Three Days That Defined A Generation (my fave doc that I watched throughout this thing, just voiceovers to original footage from the ‘69 festival. Spent most of the doc amazed at the quality of the film they shot on)Documentary on ‘69- Woodstock Three Days of Peace & Love (Director’s Cut—if you want to watch a lot of performances, this is the one! Kind of THE doc and has the most influence on how the festival was remembered.)Washington Post Article in ‘99 about the sexual assaults (and lack of action by security—we DID know how bad it was back then, the promoters are absolute shitheads, I will be enraged forever) (cw: very graphic and horrific descriptions in this article

Hi hello welcome to a rambly episode that’s just about my thoughts & feelings these days at the near end of summer! Had a lot of feeeelings lately about service, life, age, community, forgiveness, and growth so I got a lil’ stoned, sat down, and chatted with a microphone about some of those realizations.And about how hearing birds outside in nature is physiologically calming for anxiety because our anxiety is part of the caveman brain that’s trying to alert us about real danger, and if we hear birds chirping, our bodies know that there is no immediate danger. Isn’t that fucking neat?? Anxiety is wild.Anyway, here’s to hoping for great days ahead and more “afternoon” realizations about the joy of living! (I’ll be back next week with a less self-indulgent episode 🕶) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

The timely pop culture takes continue with an hour long chat about the dueling Fyre Fest documentaries. You may be saying to yourself “wait didn’t those come out like three years ago?” and the answer is, chyeah they did but I still have a lot of opinions about Fuck Jerry’s thinly veiled rehabilitative documentary to parse out in live time on a microphone babeyyy!(I also get to have a fun moment of self-reflection about standom and the Climate Criminal, Taylor Swift.)Who is responsible for due diligence, why is Instagram so uniquely good for scam artists, and is this the last gasp of millennials being at the absolute center of pop culture? Some scams are, in fact, worse and more harmful than others! The Theranos trial should have been about medical malpractice but it was instead about War Criminals R Us getting their millions back that they unduly invested in a company they should have been wildly more skeptical about!Link It Up Baby, Link It UpGaslit Nation episode about Jan 6th TrialsSarah Kendzior’s book Hiding In Plain Sight (this book is truly the most insightful text about how our political system got so corrupt, one of the most haunting and important texts I’ve ever read)Fuck Fuck JerryGetting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Let’s make that easy 🤠Apple PodcastStitcherSpotify This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

In today’s episode, I smoked a big ol’ bowl and let myself talk for an hour about all of my thoughts around TSwift, her fame, her lyrics, her fans relationship with her, blind items, classic PR machines, how much Pitchfork suuuucks, and the Pepe Sylvia vibes that have picked up across all fandoms these days. (And how the bleedover of fandom spaces into mainstream culture is…bad and damaging and we need to start reckoning with it and get some Adults In The Room when it comes to how media reports on it too!)(Admittedly, I do think a sleepover at her Cornelia Street apartment would be a very good time, but please stop inviting fans into your home Taylor!)Link It Up Baby, Link It UpLas Culturistas Tayla vs Taylor EpisodeTaylor Swift Grammy Museum Performance of Wildest DreamsBeyond The Blinds Podcast Episode about Dianna AgronGetting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Let’s make that easy 🤠Apple PodcastStitcherSpotify This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

“Lauren will always be known as the girl who didn’t go to Paris.”Today’s episode is all about the heyday of MTV reality shows in the mid-2000s. Mostly it’s about The Challenge and how that became the ultimate representation of how MTV evolved away from exploring the human condition and more into exploiting people for every last drop of drama mode. (And I get to rant a lil’ bit about CT and how America remembers every few months that it gets real horned up for Boston townie accents and attitudes.)Do I have more to say? Uh yeah, I cut out a solid hour of content from this pod so let me know if you want a Laguna Beach/The Hills standalone ep! Justice for DanceLife!Getting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Links below!Apple PodcastStitcher SpotifyAlso, I didn’t manage to touch on it during the episode but another key thing to keep in mind about Reality TV is that the boom really happened because of the Writers Guild Strike in 2008 and it’s probably…not great that a huge chunk of our media was made because they had to circumvent an entire group of people who were just trying to get paid adequately for their work! There are writers on reality television they’re just called story editors!!Smoking game for this episode, take a hit every time I say “wild”.Link It Up Baby, Link It UpAndy Warhol’s 15 Minutes Don’t Forget Meg Ryan Episode 26 - MTV’s Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search For The Next Elle WoodsDirtcast Episode - Interview with the Rock Of Love producer (part 1)Jersey Shore Producer Reddit AMASpeidi Documentary on VimeoPopCultureDiedIn2009 on TwitterYou can follow me on twitter @hiiclaire This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com

Today’s the day! The sun is shining, the tank is clean, and we are uploading the inaugural episode of the Smoke Show podcast!In this episode I talk about journaling, how it’s helped me get through the last few months, and my best tips and encouragements for anyone who wants to start. But, tbh, in the words of the most brilliant marketer Nike ever hired: just do it.Not interested in listening to me chatter about journaling but want the advice? I’ve got ya!* You can write about anything! Literally anything. It doesn’t have to make sense, it doesn’t have to be linear, it can be boring, nonsensical, riddled with syntax and grammar errors, it truly does not matter what matters is that you put something on the page.* Set an attainable goal and then build. One sentence, one paragraph, one page, give yourself the lowest bar you possibly can and then enjoy clearing it easily.* Give yourself a system — figure out when you have time that you can set aside/carve out, time how long it takes you to get through your goal, and then wedge it on in every day.* Find a journal you love (but won’t be too precious about) and the pen that works best for you. Want to fill up pages and get that soul satisfaction faster? Use a thicker pen!* It’s okay if you don’t think you’re a writer, you can still totally do this. Rarely are we asked to express ourselves in whatever form of writing feels best in a reflective sense for an audience of no one, and it can feel like there’s still someone somewhere judging what we have on the page—but that’s not true! Writing in a journal is just for you, and it’s a great way to get to know yourself, your emotions, and it’s really fucking fun to have a book full of your own thoughts!* If you find it hard to start, give yourself a set opening line. Just keep moving the pen after!Getting this through the Substack and want to subscribe on the podcatcher of your choice? Links below!Apple PodcastStitcher Spotify This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeshow.substack.com