David Nadelberg
David Nadelberg is a writer and producer best known as the creator of Mortified-- which began life as a stage show and evolved into a podcast, book series and various TV adaptations. He’s also been a contributor to Snap Judgment (episode Lost in Vegas) and has produced the kid’s podcast, Ooh You’re in Trouble. He’s currently a story producer on Rock that Doesn’t Roll, a show about the surprising history of Christian rock.
Describe Mortified in ten words or less.
Mortified is a podcast where adults share the embarrassing things they created as kids-- diaries, letters, poems, lyrics-- in front of total strangers.
When I found out the show was done I threw myself onto the floor and threw a tantrum then fell asleep in a puddle of my own tears. But it’s coming back! Explain!
Yes, the new season is a blast. We’re celebrating the project’s 20th anniversary all season long with behind the scenes peeks, specials guests, new formats, and moreover, lots of laughter. Last year, my producing partner Neil Katcher and I really needed a change of pace, so we put it on hiatus to work on other projects.
How has the podcast part changed in 9 years?
While the show’s premise has remained consistent, one of the things I love about producing it, is that we are always trying new formats within it. We’ve done curveball episodes that offer audio documentaries (ep 196), game show formats (ep 176), celebrity interviews (ep 106, 198) and beyond.
So it went from stage show to book to TV to game…what’s next? What’s your biggest dream?
Neil and I have been secretly making pilots for new shows and working on other non-Mortified projects-- films, TV, books. I’m very excited to tackle new adventures.
Does listening to Mortified make you less embarrassed about your own mortifying moments?
It makes me celebrate it more. In fact, our first episode of the new season (ep 253) is an origin story about Mortified’s creation. It began as a result of a love letter that I wrote in high school but was too afraid to send to my crush. The episode features never-before-heard audio from Mortified’s debut show. We’re devoting the entire season to Mortified’s 20th anniversary, so it is finally the right time to share it.
Which Mortified episode has stuck in your mind?
My favorite episodes are ones that showcase the elaborate and brilliant fantasy worlds that kids create-- especially kids who are struggling in life. A few of my favorite episodes that achieve this include: an episode on Lord of the Rings fandom (ep 148), an episode on Horse Girls (ep 185), and an episode about Will Seymour (ep 47), who, as a kid in the 1980s, essentially created a precursor to podcasting-- a subscription-based radio show. If you watch our 2018 miniseries, The Mortified Guide (currently streaming for free on Tubi and Amazon’s Freevee), there’s an episode that features a heartbreaking tale of a boy, Shawn, who escapes into a fantasy world filled with drawings of unicorns.
How do you prep storytellers?
Everything is curated by a story producer who works directly with the participant in the weeks before they get on stage. We work with them to figure out which excerpts to share and moreover, what context to provide. It’s a very collaborative, hands-on process.
Any cool listener / fan stories you’d like to share?
The best letters are ones where a listener tells us that the show inspired them to make a change in their life. Over the years, we’ve had people reveal they reconnected with a long lost parent, they’ve become more open (sharing their own stories with people), and even that a story in the show inspired them to come out of the closet. Our goal is to make people laugh and feel connected to each other. Learning it’s impacted people in larger ways is amazing.
What other podcasts have you worked on?
Currently, I’m helping produce Rock That Doesn’t Roll, a show about the history of Christian pop music. It’s a fascinating peek into a genre that few people discuss. As someone who was raised Jewish, I find myself learning something new each episode.
I’m also wrapping up work on a new audio documentary about a very unusual and quirky story involving Neverland Ranch. It’s a labor love that I made with Neil. Last year, I produced a story for Snap Judgment. I’m not sure where this new story will end up yet. It’s not technically a Mortified story, but we might just wind up sharing it in the show’s feed.
What are you most proud of that you’ve done / worked on?
I’m still very proud of Ooh You’re in Trouble, an educational show I made for kids ages 9-13. It’s one of the best professional experiences of my life. In a way, it was like making “Mortified Junior Edition.” (Which is also a fun idea to consider.) It’s a show where people share true stories about a moment in life when they broke the rule and what that taught them. Secretly, however, it was a show about ethicals. It’s aimed at kids but adults love it too. Parents often told us how it fostered philosophical conversations with their kids. We still get messages from fans begging us to make more. If we can find a company to get behind it, I’d reboot it in a heartbeat.
Sadly, the kid’s podcast world is tricky. Advertisers are still skittish about the genre, and when they do fund shows for kids, it’s usually a show that is aimed at a much younger audience. Television has lots of shows for 11 year olds, podcasts not as much. I love making content for kids and how to do more of it.
Are there too many podcasts?
I’d say there are not too many podcasts, however, there are too many redundant podcasts. One reason I love Neil Brennan’s show Blocks is that he put a unique spin on the format of longform celebrity interview shows.
That said, the real challenge for the podcast industry is not too many shows-- it’s the barriers of discoverability. Platforms like Youtube, Instagram and TikTok are amazing at exposing audiences to new content. Podcasts apps, however, remain antiquated in their efforts to get listeners to sample new shows. This has a domino effect that hurts the industry. It makes launching a new show harder than ever. In turn, it forces podcast networks to rely more on launching shows that are hosted by people with large platforms. It also means networks are less risk averse when it comes to launching new formats. That’s simply not the case with Youtube or IG-- even streaming services like Netflix-- where I’m constantly discovering and sampling something new, often from talent that I’ve never heard of before. Podcast apps have struggled to remedy this over the years but if the industry wants growth, it means fixing this issue.
Thanks, David!