Zak Rosen

Zak Rosen is the host of The Best Advice Show and former host of Pregnant Pause. He produces and/or edits How To Survive the End of the World, Shattered, and Space Curious. Follow him on Twitter here. Follow The Best Advice Show on Twitter here. You can listen to my episode of The Best Advice Show here.

What's it like to talk to random people about advice almost every day? How has that changed you?
I’ve always felt so lucky to use my microphone as a kind of passport to connect with strangers. Since I’ve been cooped up for the last year, the show has been a lifeline. To have an excuse to talk to strangers in general is a gift, but to then get to glean a real, tangible, often soulful piece of advice from them is really rewarding. Not just for me but also as an exercise in reminding my interviewees that they are experts in making it through this challenging life we’re living.

What advice has stuck with you?
Practice freedom. Talk to yourself like you’d talk to your best friend. Fart in-front of your partner. Eat oranges in the shower. Feed your dog berries. Investigate your shame. Don’t hate on your early work.

What do you hope The Best Advice Show does for people?
I love the idea of my listeners being able to actively practice the advice they’ve just heard on that day’s show. Ultimately, I hope my show explicitly improves listereners’ quality of life. I also want to delight, delight, delight.

I was on your show (and so were my parents!) so I know a lot of editing goes into each episode. How long does it take and what is that process like?
It really depends. I probably spent a good 20-30 hours on this episode. But your episode was super easy and took less than 2-hours. There’s very little narration in the show, and what there is of it, I try not to write but instead just riff till it sounds natural. The big lift is booking this beast. A new episode everyday takes a lot of coordination and I am not as organized as I should be!

What’s something listeners don’t understand about podcasts and what goes into making them?
I don’t think listeners have a sense of how deeply we hosts/producers care (uh, obsess) about our shows or how much their feedback means to us.

What shows do you love?
My first podloves were Dawn and Drew and What Would Rob Do? More recently, I fell hard for the Short Cuts episode, Self-Portrait featuring How to Remember by Axel Kacoutié. Also, Sharon Mashihi’s Appearances and Phoebe Unter’s series on The Heart, Race Traitor. Annie McEwen’s Radiolab episode, Red Herring, was delightful. Still Processing is consistently excellent. And the Bruce Springsteen interview on Broken Record was amazing. You Might Actually Be In Love With Your Best Friend on The Cut was really memorable. I’ve also been making my way through the back-catalogue of Employee of the Month, hosted by the late, Catie Lazarus. There are few interviewers I can think of who so deftly combine humor with interesting, probing questions like Lazarus did. What a loss.

Thanks, Zak!