Advertise on podcast: The Sauce with Maya Gurantz and Rebecca Cohen

Rebecca and Maya talk about the explosive popularity of Romantasy. Smut with maps! Elf porn! Dragons! Centaurs! Also, boobies! What is it about this specific confluence of genre fiction that’s hitting the spot (ahem) for readers right now?

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has zero high level political experience, multiple credible misogyny accusations, and a b******t “white working class” persona… not to mention a NAZI TATTOO. Is this the future of the Democratic party? Maya and Rebecca dig into what it all means about the state of left-wing politics in America.

As we head into the midterms, Maya and Rebecca break down the discourse about Democratic campaign messaging, asking the perennial question: Is there anything Democratic candidates can say that voters can actually hear?

What in the ever-loving f**k has Trump been doing in Iran? Maya and Rebecca try to unpack Trump and Netanyahu’s recent misadventure in the Middle East, as it becomes clear that, in fact, no one involved understands what the f**k they’re doing in Iran.

On the release date of Michael, the (by all accounts terrible) Jackson-estate approved hagiography of the Gloved One, Rebecca and Maya revisit our episode from a year ago about Cirque du Soleil’s insane Michael Jackson show, and unpack what it teaches us about how to make a spectacle out of a very bad man.

Maya and Rebecca deploy their years of expertise at ruining the Manosphere to ruin Louis Theroux’s new Netflix documentary, INSIDE THE MANOSPHERE. We pinpoint what Theroux missed, what he got right, and what’s going on with sad, angry men these days.

Was Star Wars Antifa all along? Rebecca finally convinced Maya to watch ANDOR, and they both have a lot of thoughts. Can a show about fighting space fascims in a galaxy far, far away shed light on our current moment, and maybe even help inspire the IRL rebellion?

Maya and Rebecca talk about Ryan Coogler’s Sinners with special guest David F. Walker, author of Black Film, a new illustrated history of Black cinema and Hollywood. Together we uncover how Sinners fits into that long, illustrious, yet definitely under-appreciated history.

Maya and Rebecca ruin ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar-littered opus, outlining just what made it such irresistible bait for Academy voters (hint hint: prestige white guys being “political”).

This week, we’re joined by friends in Minneapolis to hear eye witness reports of a city under siege by its own government. Maya and Rebecca welcome very special guests, artists/professors/activists Lisa Channer and Sonja Kuftinec, who join to talk life under federal occupation, how hyper-local mutual aid networks are saving the day, and how art and activism operate together to make effective organizing possible.

Is “everyone is 12” the unifying theory of our times? Through the power of dramatic reading and drawing upon their experience wrangling actual 12-year-olds, Maya and Rebecca explore whether we can survive the immaturity of those currently in power and holding guns. Drinking highly recommended.

How did gay hockey player smut become the most galvanizing pop culture artifact of our fascist times? Very Special Guest Guy Branum joins us to figure out why HBO’s HEATED RIVALRY is making so many people freak out, and to talk cottaging, c**k-sucking, house porn, and what happens when straight romance novel tropes meet the … Continue reading "Heated Rivalry (with Very Special Guest Guy Branum)"

Huh, people are talking about Trump and dementia? Funny, WE TALKED ABOUT THIS A YEAR AGO! Rebecca and Maya revisit our episode where we investigate Trump’s lapses in memory, behavior and language and ask how well they match up with the medically defined symptoms of frontotemporal dementia.

Who is Pete Hegseth, how in hell did he end up Secretary of Defense, why is he renaming it the Department of War, and what were he and Trump doing calling 600 top generals into a room for a Big Boy Pep Talk? Very Special Guest John Armenta–an army vet and communications professor who studies … Continue reading "VetBros and Pete Hegseth (with Guest John Armenta!)"

Why were flags at half mast for a grifting podcaster? In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, Rebecca and Maya break down his life and the aftermath of his death–along the way noting flagrant political opportunism, right wing abuses of “free speech”, and key differences between various terminally online young male subcultures.