Mike is a clear-eyed journalist and observer of the human condition. His knowledge and understanding of everything from sports to history to comedy to current events to vexillology and everything in between is bewildering. Highly recommended! And the Pesca Plus membership is totally worth it.

I have a giant bald head and giant arms. I will look like a gorilla. This is good. People will see this picture and think..”my new favorite podcast!” He’s a centrist! It’s reasonable! Donald Trump is bad sort of? I love his hair it’s beautiful. The self satisfied smile? It’s beautiful. I love you hero.

You have become akin to Chappelle and Maher with your lurch to the right (no it is you and not the rest of society). Your obsession with transgender athletes and “woke” issues is disgustingly predictable for downloads.

I truly want to understand libertarian philosophy but can’t see beyond a juvenile seeming view. Liz Wolfe talks about DOGE taking care of the low-hanging fruit - but then acknowledges the problem with firing probationary employees - so what are the low-hanging fruit they took care of? They’re tossing the beautiful fruit into the gutter! Liz Wolfe really needs to do more research: the point of the job protections in the public sector is that an employee is not fearful of doing their work in a way that might be unpopular with powerful private sector players, and even unpopular with their own managers. The job protections allow employees to expose problems and not fear retaliation. Has Liz Wolfe spent any time understanding how the government works? This “smaller is better” is some opinion without a true point: what’s small enough? What’s the right size? If each additional IRS employee brings in a huge multiple of their salary by enforcing tax regulations then why should there be fewer IRS employees? Intellectually half-baked.

I wonder if your guest thought it was a constitutional crisis when President Biden defied the Supreme Court on student loan forgiveness. This whole show is about what President Trump might do. The selective outrage of the crisis precious. Come on Mike you’re better than that

A lot of research that save lives is done Outside of major universities. One of the reason hi fliers like Harvard and Yale were targeted in the 15% cap was because of their very large untaxed endowments. Please don’t overstate the usefulness of university research. There is a lot of overspending and we will cut.

Lots of different perspectives. Fast-paced, funny, smart, cheerful, playful, short. I like the guests. I like that I don’t agree with every single thing. I like that it’s daily.

Pesca is able to interview a range of people with whom he agrees or disagrees and ask illuminating, differentiated questions. He listens well and follows up.

Love The Gist for the interesting topics, efficient delivery of current events, and in the right moment - funny and full of fine puns. Mike’s good energy helps me get through the day.

Hard pod to rate, since there are some very good interviews and he can be very entertaining. But at times, he just rants based on his gut feelings, which aren’t always very good or very entertaining. While 80% of an ep will be great, he can then be incurious and haughty and mean, which just isn’t my thing.

The Gist is a great listen! Host Mike Pesca has a fair, interesting perspective. I appreciate his experience and journalistic rigor. He is conversant in wide ranging topics and has consistently knowledgeable guests. His personality is always entertaining and he throws in just enough quirks, wordplay and offbeat humor to bring out a laugh or appropriate groan here and there.

I’ve been listening to Mike from the beginning. He was an acquired taste, to be sure, but I find more often that his take is a refreshing look at the world when others are pushing particular agendas. Mike asks thoughtful questions of his guests and does the homework to know where to push. The Gist is one of a few podcasts I won’t miss, even if I’m not 100 percent on board with Mike all the time. It’s a great source of honest journalism in an increasingly siloed media landscape. All that being said, Mike, my man, I don’t mind the songs so much, but you HAVE to work on staying on the beat.

Garbage

I love to get Mike’s take on things going on in politics but also sports and entertainment. He’s an excellent interviewer and also helps me get out of my bubble and think differently about various topics. Keep up the great work Mike!

Alllowing Mike Yard to talk about immigration in complete ignorance - a parroting of MAGA propaganda is unforgivable, especially with this election so raw to those who pay attention. It’s not even both siderism. I don’t know why this nonsense went unchallenged. It was more than just a bit, it was a reason that we have Trump 2.0. Upgrade to paid? Unfollow!

Pesca is an incredibly good interviewer as well as quite funny. I don’t always agree with him but always learn something, which is why I like listening to the show.

If you hunger for thoughtful analysis that’s outside the traditional echo chamber of mainstream media. While I often disagree with the host Mike Pesca he always makes thought provoking points, asks terrific questions and often talks to worthwhile & important guests. He’s also likable with a light sometimes cheesy humor. Absolutely one of the best if you want to think about what’s going on in a nice compressed entertaining package.

Was referred to this podcast and found it interesting. However, a pre-election episode bashed Trump and encouraged others to vote for Harris. Should’ve left out political view.

Mike often takes a very moderate position and strives for fairness. I truly appreciate this. He’s extremely well spoken and good at arguing his points. He seems to care about hearing the opinions of people on all sides of an issue and doesn’t shy away from changing his view in light of new information. He covers a lot of topics I don’t necessarily find interesting but has a way of making them interesting in his style of speaking. For a daily podcast this is excellent, not every episode is a hit but sometimes there are really stellar ones that stick with me for a while. And forgive me for being a little mushy: he seems like a really nice and good person.

I really like this show, but Mike has a tendency to be exceptionally pedantic with the added bonus that he seems to think that he can talk you into being as pedantic as he. It can be exhausting.

Excellent job per usual Mike. Long time first time. Great to hear someone intelligently engage the youths. Keep it up

Mike was always upfront about his left bias but in the past he did a good job of fairly challenging Democrat doctrine. This built trust that he was an honest broker. Lately he’s given himself over to the accepted left narratives: the causes of racial wealth gaps (racism!), barely warmed-over stories of Emmet Till (Really? Again?) and most recently (Knucklehead episode) an apoplectic Democrat strategist slinging the most specious far-left arguments that went completely unchallenged. Once the host gives up any pretense of neutrality what’s left? Another Pod Save America.

Mike fails to understand. Trump bringing up eating cats as the most remembered thing from the debate puts the spotlight on the immigration crisis. Immigration is one of trumps strongest issues. With a little bit of time the debate was a strong plus for Trump.

I don’t always agree but I appreciate the way the arguments are structured to give the best possible counter to my beliefs. Highly recommend it to all sides of the political spectrum.

Same dynamic in German army currently. May the institutions hold!

A daily go-to podcast for current events and cultural relevance. Mike is the rare moderate ...criticizing the right and keeping the left honest. The show also balances the trivial with consequential, with editorial format, bookending the shows substantial interview in the middle.

I wouldn’t mind the host’s somewhat overbearing style if I was into the issues and people he covers. But I think it comes down to my just not being interested in what seems to be pop culture — or at least subject matter that’s a bit too superficial for what interests me.

His weak support of the trans “woman “ at the Olympics pummeling the real woman made me sick. His writing is mostly good but he must get paid by the number of words he can put down on paper.

Frequently wrong, never in doubt. Hot takes, but almost never asks the right questions.

I have been listening from the beginning. You made the rare request for a review. But I’m always in the gym listening! This time I’m in Heathrow waiting to board. Mike, thank you for your work, edgy & unapologtic commentary, superb interviewing technique. You are my never miss podcast. I read WAPO, NYT, WSJ everyday. Economist every week. Regular suspect other podcasts and audio books. You never fail to give me a new perspective. Thank you Pesca

Found out about this podcast from BAR Pod, and appreciated this guys voice there. Here he speaks w a level of certainty and lack of humility that even Katie Herzog doesn’t reach

I have listened to nearly every episode of The Gist since it launched, and I always liked Mike’s reporting from his NPR days. One reason I have stuck with it is even though I often disagree with his takes (and always presenting himself as the smartest and wittiest person in the room), he challenged my own notions of the world and made sure I wasn’t always in a news/ideological bubble. However, over the years I find him most off putting when he glazes over things he gets wrong (assertions of fact, style critiques of media or even minor things like names and dates) as the cost of doing business in a daily podcast. He like all journalists (including myself) make mistakes. That is expected. And his occasional antantwig segments sort of account for that. But even then I think he glosses over how many mistakes he makes with a kind of “Oh well, it’s podcasting. Waddaya gonna do?” explanation. I have never gotten the sense that he “regrets the error” in the journalism parlance or that he wants to take any real steps to lessen errors in the future. I don’t think he takes seriously how media credibility hinges on trying to prevent errors and how contrite one is after making them. Everyone needs an editor, even daily opinion/interview podcasters. I think Mike would do well to consider some of the criticisms he makes of other media outlets and journalists and whether he would benefit from other people challenging his ideas and scripts before they go live.

Mike it’s strange to see you bend over backwards to help uri to make his argument. He definitely needed your help to make it and we can sense your loyalty. He seems like a person later in his career who has lost the plot. The example of college debt coverage was underwhelming! This is the example he gives? I didn’t get my college debt forgiven but I’d much prefer my tax dollars spent on that than on bombs. Knowing nothing about this issue - other than your extensive coverage - it’s left me with the opposite conclusion than the one you seem at pains to lead us to. I’m younger and a woman so that may be why it seems clear, he’s just a old white guy who is being left behind by the era. NPR is less popular because of podcasts. Be careful that you don’t get too sidetracked by this issue.

I had assumed when the Slate feed of the gist went dead a few years ago that Mike Pesca was cancelled or something and was seriously bummed. I only recently rediscovered the podcast feed and am glad it’s back in my life. Love the show!

Not too right; not too left. Helpful insights abound and I like the humor and wordplay.

Great show. The sheer number of times that his White Bonus lady Invokes the rhetorical crutch “…right?” in her advocacy is so off putting. I did really want to hear the data she’s mined here and appreciate what’s she is tryna get at but at a certain point i feel gaslit. (Related to NPR voice / editorial…) Re: NPR - let it rip, speak your truth lol. It can only help reform an institution i value in spite of its recent insistence on speaking to me like a kindergartener.

Always thought-provoking and interesting. I am as far from a MAGA Republican as you could possibly be, but at the same time, I don’t feel like I have a real home on the progressive left, and I think that’s where a lot of people (including Mike) find themselves. More power to people who look for nuance and who are not afraid to cut against the grain when necessary. And yes, I would like to hear more about the situation at NPR. Thank you.

I enjoy learning about this. I’m also a disappointed fan of npr. Old enough to remember the wonder of the early years. And the CBC As It Happens.

The Gist was here before Trump was a candidate, and there’s a reason it has worked for so long. It’s that Mike Pesca’s curiosity and playful energy happens to be far stronger than a pure desire to get high ratings. This leads him to pursue genuinely interesting and diverse topics while resisting the siren song to give red meat for a tribal audience. I’ve returned to the Gist after several years of absence, and it is refreshing. I’d admit I spent some of those years listening to heterodox podcasts that were enjoyable in the way they exposed the lunacy of some on the left. But they also became predictable and downright annoying when many of them drifted rightward due to audience capture. The Gist, after all these years, still holds to those center-left values that I hold dear: Be curious, follow the truth fairly where it leads, and don’t be a jerk.

When The Gist launched, I heard one episode and called it quits. Who has time to keep up with a 30-minute daily show of news that I'm already reading on the same six news outlets that the host seems to follow? A year or so later I gave it another try and now it's the only podcast I never miss. Pesca is independent, clever and conscientious. He's a quirky voice of reason and respect in a media audioscape of screamers and haters.

Other podcasts may be heavier, cohosts can certainly tip the scales, but Pesca’s in a different class. That’s why you have to use the “pound for pound” measurement. The point is THIS particular podcast us much better than your current favorite podcast.

Awesome job, Mike! You’re a better man than me, with the patience you show with these Progressive Bozos. They’re straight up delusional. I thought the MAGA Heads were bad, but these losers are sooooooooooooooooo bad that they make Trump look decent! Keep up the good work Champ!

It’s a good podcast

I’ve always appreciated Mike’s dedication to objectivity. “Articulate” is an understatement as it pertains to his command of the English language.

This may end up being my favorite podcast ( and I listen to a lot if podcasts). Love the humor and the culture references. Move over lexicon valley and on the media. Pesca rules! Thanks. Updating in 2024: Absolutely my favorite podcast and 1 of only 2 that I support monetarily. Sometimes I don’t know what to think about an issue until I hear Mike’s take. Other times, I think I’m insane for thinking something about an issue, until Mike reveals that he has the same opinion. Speaking of insanity, The Gist has made me look like a crazy person as I walk my dogs and laugh out loud at one of his fantastic quips.

Do better

I have been a faithful listener of The Gist for about six years now. I don’t want all my information to come from an echo chamber, and I liked that Mike Pesca would sometimes present a viewpoint that challenged my own. Having said that, it feels more and more to me that he is often just playing the contrarian for his own sake. His jokey use of puns and rhymes no longer feels cute to me. He comes off as someone who feels like he is the smartest person in the room, and it has become stifling. He often will play an audio clip of a political figure being asked a question and then haughtily tell us what a far better reply he would have given. Really all of this has come to a head with some of his recent Gists I found to be just plain wrong if not offensive. I am not trying to get him Cancelled, and I just want to cancel my subscription and let you know why. Continued listening would cause me some harm, to have to put up with any more of Pesca’s smarm

Consistently excellent and thought-provoking even when you disagree with the host or the guests. Give it a listen or three (or 3,000) before you believe the naysayers.

Mike Pesca is great, but I lost a lot of admiration for him when he started advertising gold. Gold, seriously?

Got recommended this podcast. Where’s the substance? The discussion was so superficial and simplistic lacking any depth or nuance. Nothing of value was gained here. I feel like the host posits an idea(s) but simply never dives deeper than the surface. He seems more interested in establishing himself as arbiter of wisdom and knowledge rather than actually pursuing those values. Really it all just seems to want to exploit the binary zero sum logic concept of politics he seems to want to decry? Best of luck but found this show to be nothing but a waste of time and energy.