Christine Laskowski

Christine Laskowski is a Berlin-based award-winning video journalist, development producer, social media editor, and is currently the creator and host of the podcast, T&J. When she’s not working, which is most of the time, she enjoys listening to 80s Finnish rock while sipping on a Last Word, her favorite cocktail. 

Describe T&J in ten words or less.
Campy, raunchy, end-of-empire (are hyphens cheating?), scheming, surprising, seductive, illuminating … 

Who did you make the show for?
Myself, mostly. I’m a video journalist, but I’ve done print, broadcast news, documentary, longform explainers, TikTok … throughout my career I feel like I can count on one hand the people who believed I could do the damn thing beforehand, you know? T&J is the expression of something I knew I had in me and that I wanted to prove, especially to audio folks, as a video person, that I could do. 

Why are you the perfect host for it?
Oof. And yes. I am. Which is why I bothered pouring so much of my labor into this at all. I think you need to believe that to take on anything creatively. Otherwise, you’re a shill. And I mean, in this economy, fine. But doubtful you’re making art. Which we need. Desperately. 

Why do you think nobody knows about the Byzantium Empire? (Or was that just me?)
It’s not just you! Because Byzantium is confusing, or rather, complicated. It doesn’t fit neatly into this narrative we’re given about ancient Rome ->  Middle Ages -> Renaissance. Because while digestible, that’s not how it went down. Rome didn’t fall; it faded. But first, it shifted east and became Christianized. And the period of Byzantine history I focus on, which I call the T&J Era (450 to 570 AD as I sing), is kinda tough to parse. It’s messy! But that’s what I adore about it. The historical record is limited, and, as I touch on, mainly gossip. At the same time, this gossip is really elucidating because that’s not what the historians (read: men) were jotting down (openly). Soooooo much of our orientation of history is focused on what those men cared about, i.e. dynastic succession and military battles, which I do not really give a shit about. I’ll touch on it, sure, but what were people eating, wearing? Who were the pop stars, the sports stars? What was cool? How did women figure? That’s what I’m interested in. And LOVE. I love love. I’m an insufferable romantic. 

What’s your background in audio?
LOL. I’ve tried! Believe me, I’ve tried. I got a few generous breaks from an EP at WBUR in Boston’s ‘Only a Game’ and the early days of the Chemical Heritage Foundation podcast circa 2012. But this was pre-podcast boom. I’d just moved back to New York at 27 and couldn’t live on the serf “wages” of WNYC’s $20 per diem as an intern or whatever paltry amount it was back then to try and get my foot in the door. No one was considering me for audio jobs. I’d lived in China for a couple of years and worked as an Arts and Culture editor there, which is how I nabbed my first broadcasting gig at a SinoVision (a Chinese TV station) because I had decent Mandarin and a China background. That got me started in video, where I’ve been, more-or-less, ever since. But I’m also a musician and singer-songwriter, so that’s my true background in audio, I suppose. 

Did any other podcasts (or movies, TV shows books plays songs poems) inspire you? The sound is unique.
I owe so much to Karina Longworth’s You Must Remember This. She absolutely pioneered cultural analysis in podcasting, in my opinion. Like, I’m going to research this topic and guide you through it for an entire hour and keep you in my articulate grip badass-ery. Particularly her Charles Manson series early on. Incredible. Also, her roping in her friends for guest roles, that I totally stole. I’d also say Today, Explained, which is my friend Sean Rameswaram’s daily news show on Vox, which embraces music and sound design, but also really goes big and bold on catchy, mnemonic hooks. Beyond that, my happy place for art and the locus of my inspiration has always been women being weird: Tori Amos, Bjork, Alice Coltrane, Niki de Saint Phalle, Clarice Lispector, Frida Kahlo, Ursula K. Le Guin, Nina Simone, Hilma af Klint … 

Why’d you choose this time in history?
I talk about this in the intro of Episode One ‘Bread and Circuses,’ but basically, I’d decided to move to Berlin in the summer of 2019. Six months later, the pandemic hit and I was stuck in an apartment, alone, in winter (which here is suuuuuper bleak), and just being a nerd, I got to thinking about the first pandemic. I decided to order some books to read up on it, and this podcast, T&J, is, well, the product of that inquiry.

Fill in the blank: If you like _____ you will also like T&J.
Jackée Harry.

What’s the craziest thing you learned about T&J?
For me, it’s how fucking funny Theodora was. Comedy is a weapon and a shield and Theodora, like Madonna, Josephine Baker, Marilyn Monroe, Cardi B, seduced people through her wit. What was insane to me, when finally reading the ‘Secret History’ was just how much her jokes land. Like, as a woman in the 21st century, I am DYING. Where it’s clear the historian of record was too threatened and get-off-my-lawn to understand it. But that’s hilarious, too. 

If you were going to make another podcast, don’t worry about any of the logistics, or whether or not anyone would like it, your budget is $1M, what would it be?
I have ideas: Agents! Production companies! Directors! Call meeeeeeee!!!  

Are there too many podcasts?
No. However, I think it’s terribly difficult, if not impossible, to get something made without a celebrity attached or that fits a predictive, long-term model. I spent months shopping this (a limited series as a video journo non-entity) around to podcast production companies before I finally decided to go it alone, which, given the time it’s taken me – fair – but there doesn’t seem to be an organization able to take risks on outside talent. And I say that not in a woe-is-me way, necessarily. Just that we’re really in a grim spot as far as risks and experimentation in the form. 

What’s a podcast you love that everyone else already knows about?
In keeping with my obsession with the ‘Secret History,’ I love gossip podcasts: Normal Gossip, Deux U, and Beyond the Blinds. Ob-sessed.  

What’s a podcast you love that not enough people know about?
A friend of mine I met in Berlin told me about a podcast called Children of Tendu, back when I was trying (and still failing!) to break into scripted television. It’s such an elitist and impregnable black box, grrrrr, but Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Jose Molina are so generous with what they’ve learned. Even if you’re not trying to get into an LA writer’s room, they paint such an honest portrait of what it’s like to navigate that world. It’s incredibly moving. Moving and informative. A unique combo! 

How much thought did you put into marketing the show?
None. But I was incredibly naive! 40 percent is making the thing as incredible as you possibly can and 60 percent should be reserved for marketing, which I did not do. That is, I did the former percent and not the latter percent. Or, rather, I’m teaching myself about it as I write this because it’s a completely different, hard-earned skill. 

What did you learn about yourself making T&J?
I’m good at this!

Hot take: Make your weird shit as best you can. And be honest. 

Thanks, Christine!