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Episodes from On with Kara Swisher
Louis Theroux Goes Inside the Manosphere. It’s Worse Than You Think.
Louis Theroux joins Kara to discuss his new Netflix documentary, "Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere." The film explores the online world of male influencers selling fitness, wealth and self-improvement through ultra-masculine and misogynistic ideologies. Louis focuses on the extreme fringes of the manosphere, where racist, homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric mixes with conspiracy theories – and his depiction of these influencers manages to be both hilarious and nerve-racking at the same time. Kara and Louis break down how the manosphere economy works, why so much of the content targets teenage boys and how tech platforms amplify it...
Sen. Tillis Unfiltered: Trump, Iran & What’s Next For the GOP
Since announcing his decision to retire last year, North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has become a kind of thorn in MAGA’s side, holding up appointments and voicing criticisms about legislation favored by President Trump. But his resistance raises a perennial question about Republicans in the Trump era: Why do lawmakers only push back when they’re on the way out? Kara and Sen. Tillis talk about his concerns over the Trump administration’s handling of the war in Iran; why he thinks newly confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin will be an imp...
Why the AI Race Is Leaving Humans Behind with Tristan Harris
Tristan Harris, a technology ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, studies how the tech industry’s platforms have become extractive and controlling. Kara first interviewed him in 2017, and after he was featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma,” his profile shot through the roof. Now he's featured in a new film called, "The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist," which explores the promises and existential risks of AI. Tristan joins Kara to discuss how the current AI arms race is driven by the wrong incentives, and why that's leading...
Inside the ICE Detention Boom: Soaring Abuse Claims and Little Oversight
While the Department of Homeland Security publicly claims to be resetting its tactics around immigration arrests, it's been building out its capacity to house detained migrants by buying up almost a dozen warehouses. If opened, they would dramatically expand a system that’s seen more than 40 deaths since Trump took office and is facing staggering accounts of human rights abuses. Kara speaks with three experts who’ve been tracking the Trump administration’s detention boom: Ximena Bustillo, Homeland Security Department and immigration policy correspondent for NPR; Austin Kocher, a political and legal geographer and a rese...
A Silicon Valley Satire That Feels Uncomfortably Close to Reality
"Raising money off frothy numbers to sugarcoat the rotten apple is what built this town.” That’s according to Duncan Park, the protagonist of "The Audacity," a new dark comedy from AMC about tech CEOs and their relationships with their families, therapists and enablers. Live from SXSW, Kara spoke with executive producer and showrunner Jonathan Glatzer ("Succession," "Bad Sisters," "Better Call Saul"), star Billy Magnussen, and executive producer Gina Mingacci ("Killing Eve," "Orphan Black"). The series follows Duncan, an ambitious, arrogant data-mining CEO determined to join Silicon Valley’s billionaire elite, and holds up a mirr...
Sen. Mark Warner On What Trump Is Risking With War in Iran
As the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Gang of Eight, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner is among the select few members of Congress who get to sit in on top intelligence briefings. But with the war in Iran now in its third week, Warner says the administration still hasn’t presented any plans to meet President Trump’s demands for the regime’s “unconditional surrender.” Kara and Sen. Warner talk about what he’s hearing from the administration about its timeline for the war, why the regime is unlikely to f...
Matt Belloni on WarnerMount, Disney Succession, Oscars & More
Kara sits down with Matthew Belloni, author of the flagship Puck newsletter What I’m Hearing and host of The Town podcast, to take the entertainment industry’s temperature just a few days before the Academy Awards. They dig into the Warner Bros. Discovery/Paramount/Netflix saga and the consequences of the Ellison-backed deal for creatives and crews. Then Kara and Matt debate whether consolidation can fix Hollywood’s broken economics and why legacy companies are facing a “Titanic-esque” moment as linear TV collapses. They also unpack the streaming wars, Netf...
Survivors Speak Out: Taking On the ‘Epstein Class’
It’s been more than a month since the Justice Department released the latest tranche of files related to its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein — around 3 million in total — yet the fallout shows no sign of slowing down. The release almost certainly wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for survivors who fought for transparency and accountability. In this episode, Kara sits down with three women who're still in that fight: Dani Bensky, Jess Michaels and Liz Stein. Kara, Dani, Jess and Liz talk about how Epstein’s survivors came together...
Friction Matters: Resistance Is a Feature, Not a Bug
Friction gets an bad rap, according Jennifer Vail. As a tribologist, she studies interacting surfaces in relative motion, and she’s worked on everything from aerospace materials to syringes to dog food. Her new book, Friction: A Biography, explores the science of rubbing surfaces, the history of lubrication, and why “frictionless” is a dangerous fantasy. Kara and Jennifer unpack everything from Roman chariot “pit stops” to ball bearings and how tiny tweaks in texture and lubricant chemistry can save massive amounts of energy. They end with a discussion of behavioral friction (the kind tech companies w...
Gavin Newsom on His Memoir, Trump, and Plans for 2028
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is the current front runner on the list of Democrats eyeing a 2028 White House run. While he hasn’t made his presidential ambitions official, he has a new memoir out, called “Young Man in A Hurry.” And his book tour conveniently has him passing through a lot of swing states and early primary states. In a live interview recorded at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theater on Saturday, Feb. 28, Kara and Gov. Newsom talk about his life growing up in the Bay Area, how he straddled the worlds of the working c...
Why ‘Playing It Safe’ In Your Career Doesn’t Pay with VC Bill Gurley
Bill Gurley, accomplished venture capitalist, longtime Silicon Valley “worrywart,” and early Uber backer, joins Kara Swisher to discuss how to build a career you love and the tech industry’s sharp turn to the right. Gurley’s new book Runnin’ Down a Dream, guides readers on how to find and nurture a truly fulfilling career — and his advice is the polar opposite of Scott Galloway’s “follow your talent, not your passion.” Kara and Bill talk about how to find your fascination, and why the best careers are built through craft, peers...
The Story Behind Netflix’s Most Popular Film Ever
Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” wasn’t just one of the biggest movies of 2025; it was Netflix’s most popular title — movie or show — ever. Four songs from the film’s soundtrack also simultaneously cracked the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list, a first for a movie soundtrack. Now, it’s up for two Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. For directors Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang, the megahit is also a celebration of Korean culture. Kara, Chris and Maggie talk about the ways Maggie drew on her Korean heritage...