
Advertise on podcast: The Assignment with Audie Cornish
Rating
4.6from
This podcast has
252 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
CNN PodcastsExplicit
No
Date created
2022/11/04
Latest episode
2026/10/16
Average duration
38 min.
Release period
7 days
Description
Every Thursday on The Assignment, host Audie Cornish explores the animating forces of this extraordinary American political moment. It’s not about the horse race, it’s about the larger cultural ideas driving the conversation: the role of online influencers on the electorate, the intersection of pop culture and politics, and discussions with primary voices and thinkers who are shaping the political conversation.
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Podcast episodes
Check latest episodes from The Assignment with Audie Cornish podcast
For Nathan Fielder, the Truth Is a Joke
2026/10/16
In You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder sets his reality-distorting comedic documentarian talents on disgraced tech founder Elizabeth Holmes. The movie had the internet in a chokehold even before its release. Are there lessons in Fielder’s theater of the awkward and the cringe comedy genre for traditional journalism?
About the show: Welcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes. After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture video podcast. Party hopping between what you're watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
Subscribe to the Engagement Party newsletter! The weekly send lets you catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Is Sobriety the New Flex?
2026/10/09
Former Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio got sober before “sober-curious” was trending. As an original arbiter of internet culture, he’s got a long view of today’s drinking discourse — and advice for anybody questioning their relationship with their vices.
About the show: Welcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes. After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture video podcast. Party hopping between what you're watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
Subscribe to the Engagement Party newsletter! The weekly send lets you catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How a Lesbian Bar Sparked a Week of 'Woke 1' Whiplash
2026/10/02
From a viral story on a lesbian bar’s masking policy to Nikole Hannah-Jones' essay on making school segregation a personal issue to the “Cornell Seven,” Audie and Ari connect the dots on the internet’s reckoning with "Woke 1.”
About the show: Welcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes. After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture video podcast. Party hopping between what you're watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
Subscribe to the Engagement Party newsletter! The weekly send lets you catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kandi Burruss on Life After Reality T.V.
2026/09/29
It's been 20 years since Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise changed the face of reality T.V. In this special bonus episode, former Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss joins Audie to talk about why reality shows feel so different these days, Kandi's about-to-be-very-public divorce, and what it’s like watching her daughter on her own new Bravo show.
About the show: Welcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes. After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture video podcast. Party hopping between what you're watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
Subscribe to the Engagement Party newsletter! The weekly send lets you catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Letterboxd Is the Last Best Corner of the Internet
2026/09/25
The film review app Letterboxd is a social hub for movie fans everywhere. But has democratizing criticism somehow lowered the bar, or is this the last truly great social media app? Plus, how makeup "dupes" sparked the internet’s latest class conflict.
About the show: Welcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes. After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture video podcast. Party hopping between what you're watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
Subscribe to the Engagement Party newsletter! The weekly send lets you catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Novel of the Century Is NSFW
2026/09/18
With The Disappearers, Marlon James has written an explicit and violent epic that’s been called “the novel of the decade, if not the century." He joins the party to talk about queer Jamaican culture, ’80s music icons, and the gay sex scene that even his editor thought he should leave out.
About the show: Welcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes. After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture video podcast. Party hopping between what you're watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
Subscribe to the Engagement Party newsletter! The weekly send lets you catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Should Nepo Babies Embrace the Label?
2026/09/11
Nepo babies have sparked debate for years, but chart-topping singer-songwriter Stella Lefty, who also happens to be the daughter of a billionaire, is reigniting the conversation. Audie and Ari debate how the rich and privileged should navigate fame and success — and they don't entirely agree. Plus, why an Ivy League dean wants you to be skeptical of the explosion of college admissions content online.
About the show: Welcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes. After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture video podcast. Party hopping between what you're watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
Subscribe to the Engagement Party newsletter! The weekly send lets you catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture online. On deck: an Emmys watch party drinking game (booze optional, laughs guaranteed).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dating Apps Were Never About Romance
2026/09/04
The internet is full of dating horror stories and think pieces the death of traditional romance. It’s a concept built for virality. But is the moral panic real? Audie and Ari turn to relationship writer Karley Sciortino to talk navigating romance in the age of the apps.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Television's Prestige Hangover Era Is Here
2026/08/28
Television's golden age is over, replaced by one that’s decidedly more, as they say, “mid.” Audie and Ari weigh in on whether TV really got worse, the industry's post-prestige identity crisis, and the ingredients for making some of your favorite shows with TV’s best director, Hiro Murai (Widow's Bay, Atlanta, Station Eleven).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
RushTok is Southern Soft Power
2026/08/21
This week, the internet turned its eyes to an annual 2020s tradition: watching freshman girls rush sororities at big Southern state schools via an endless stream of social videos. What does our obsession with RushTok tell us about the South, the internet, and America? Plus, what's up with the influencer backlash on Nantucket, and why is mahjong so hot right now?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lauren Weedman From 'Hacks' Has Main Character Energy
2026/08/14
As generational warfare feeds TV scripts from Beef to Hacks, Emmy nominee Lauren Weedman joins the party to talk about hanging with Gen Z on the Hacks set, the art of scene stealing, and finding main character energy after 50.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How Ella Langley Won the Electoral College of Culture
2026/08/07
"Choosin’ Texas" broke the Billboard charts – so why can’t we all agree it’s the Song of Summer? Audie breaks down why the answer may say more about the state of the music industry than Ella Langley. Plus: Boy Throb is Ari’s latest summer music obsession, and he doesn’t care if it’s a psyop.
Like what you heard? Sign up for our newsletter to catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture.
Something in your feed you want us to talk about on the show? Email us a video at [email protected] and we’ll feature you on the show.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eddie Huang and the Power of "Sad Boy Lit"
2026/07/31
Writer and chef Eddie Huang joins the party for a conversation about "sad boy" literature, finding love, and the worst relationship advice he's ever received.
Like what you heard? Sign up for our newsletter to catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture.
Something in your feed you want us to talk about on the show? Email us a video at [email protected] and we’ll feature you on the show.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gen Z's '90s Nostalgia Has Some Gaps
2026/07/24
The '90s are everywhere these days — clothes, music, TV — and brands are doing everything they can to capitalize on the revival. Audie and Ari explore what’s driving the modern fascination with a decade they lived through, what Gen Z's rose-colored glasses miss about the era, and what they wax nostalgic for (mix tapes!). Plus, comedian Rob Anderson joins Audie to discuss why nostalgia is so damn funny.
Like what you heard? Sign up for our newsletter to catch up on the latest trends, obsessions and culture.
Is there something in your feed you want Audie and Ari to talk about? Email us a video at [email protected] and we might feature you on the show.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
'The Odyssey' Is Epic But The Discourse Is Not
2026/07/17
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey isn't just a movie — it's an event. Audie and Ari sift through the hype, backlash, and what the online chatter says about the cultural moment. Plus: how Venmo is warping our relationships with money and each other, and why Love Island watch parties rival ones for the World Cup.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Podcast reviews
Read The Assignment with Audie Cornish podcast reviews
ReadingandListening 2026/10/14
Fave new podcast
I've been listening since the beginning and this show is so good. I love all their new segments, even as they take the time to work out the names of e...
Adr_San 2026/08/17
Two of my favorites people babbling about cool stuff
Just started listening so have lots to catch up on.
K Keefe 2026/08/15
Dream team
Love this DC-based NPR-alum duo!!
Analama 2026/08/07
So Good
I was amazed to find out that two of my favorite NPR people are now CNN people! Love love love this new podcast and I look forward to each new episode...
Faigaleh 2026/08/04
Wish it Was Daily!
Ari and Audie have awesome chemistry! I could listen to them chat about anything. Wish they were on more than once a week. A great, light listen.
ClaudioRestrepoZapata 2026/07/31
My new favorite podcast
Audie and Ari have great chemistry, great guests, and it’s a fun time! Check it out.
MemoryCO 2026/07/25
Love this NPR Reunion!
A friend recommended this to me. I was bummed when Audie Cornish left NPR, and I’m so pleased to have found her and Ari reflecting on culture from dif...
MLeBire 2026/07/22
My new favorite!
Fun, authentic, Rio, and down to earth. These two are just a joy to listen to. Makes me smile and laugh every episode.
Wise Old 2026/07/17
Love the show!
Would love your take on two of my favorite books . West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge and Twice by Mitch Albom.
Gennanicole 2026/07/15
My favorites!
Ari and Audi were two of my favorite NPR hosts, and I’m so glad to hear their voices again in this context. They provide insight and humor into intere...
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