Anna Hossnieh
Anna Hossnieh is comedy producer at iHeartRadio (The Daily Zeitgeist, Creature Feature, Couples Therapy, and The Ron Burgundy Podcast) and host of Ethnically Ambiguous. Follow her on Twitter, and follow Ethnically Ambiguous on Twitter here.
Describe your show in a tweet-length description.
Ethnically Ambiguous is a podcast about being a person of color in America from two friends: one Syrian (Shereen Younes) & one Iranian (Anna Hossnieh.)
What do you hope the show does for people?
I hope the show brings comfort to people who experienced the same upbringing as us. Also we want to inform people about what is going in the Middle East especially since people have such a daunting view of that region. I think normalizing Middle Eastern culture and Islam is a big part of the show. We are all just people doing our best to survive in this world!
Do you over prep, under prep, or perfect prep for your episodes?
I would say I under prep cause my job as a podcast producer tends to suck up my life. I have to compartmentalize a lot of my work to not lose my mind from the stress. I have always been a crammer cause I feel I retain more info if I compile and study my work right before I go into a podcast recording. I like to be in the zone and not be distracted with other little things throughout my day or week. Also sometimes I feel better just being free and not so scripted on the show. I feel more relaxed when I can just freestyle and joke around and not feel rushed to put out concise, direct information. That sounds crazy but I like to be silly and not be so strict in my show style. Also that is what editing is for! (our poor editor Dan - sorry Dan!!)
Dream guest for your show?
We had our dream guest - We had Reza Aslan which was a dream guest but a few others include Hasan Minhaj, Christiane Amanpour, Ilhan Omar, AOC, Jameela Jamil, Rashida Tlaib, Linda Sarsour, Mehdi Hasan, Riz Ahmed, Hari Kondabolu, Aparna Nancherla, and Negar Mortazavi to name a bunch. Any of those people would be wonderful!
If you were going to start another podcast that would be wildly successful no matter what (so don't worry about it succeeding...this is JUST for you...) what would it be?
I would just talk about reality tv cause that is all I really care about. I want to joke and laugh and make fun of reality tv for hours. Will this possibly happen soon? Maybe... stay tuned!
Can you remember any of the first podcasts you started listening to?
First show I ever listened to was Comedy Bang Bang. I was so young, so naive. Didn't know what was out there!
Give us a podcast recommendation.
Last Podcast On The Left till the day I die! Also Everything Is Alive is amazing. They interview inanimate objects and it is hilarious.
Anna, what's it like working on The Daily Zeitgeist every day?
Daily Zeitgeist is a beast to work on. It's a commitment like no other. Every morning we come in and research stories, compile a document with the show outline, and then record it by noon. After that I compile all the footnotes and create the podcast page. On top of that I book all the guests and keep the schedule straight for everyone. It can be hard not to get jaded and exhausted. Jack and Miles do a great job of keeping it fun but there are definitely days where my eyes are rolling to the back of my head cause I am just so brain dead. Taking days off is key. I will skip a show here or there to clear my head. It's a wonderful show to work on and I feel so informed and on top of the news, though. It helps me develop and record Ethnically Ambiguous episodes. So I guess, overall, it's good, but I can't wait till we make it the weekly zeitgeist, one day.