[bellgrove]

Slightly of off topic, but how did Fridman get to the point that he could pull big tech C-execs and celebrities onto his podcast? He has such a monotone voice (no shade meant, I am the same way, no matter how hard I try otherwise) and - this might just be personal taste - but I feel like this unedited long-form interview format is the lowest bar. I would have thought that an excellent interviewer would generally be considered one who is efficient at extracting interesting data (or can at least edit it to appear so) and can engage with & challenge the interviewee; long-form seems like the opposite of this.

[aragonite]

> I would have thought that an excellent interviewer would generally be considered one who is efficient at extracting interesting data (or can at least edit it to appear so) and can engage with & challenge the interviewee ...

I agree with the earlier part but disagree with this part of the comment. If the interviewee is someone particularly interesting, I learn a lot more about them when the interviewer just throws softball questions to help the interviewee more or less free-associate. Most of the time when an interviewer tries to "challenge" or "ask hard questions" it comes across as cringeworthy and a waste of time that could have been better spent letting the interviewee speak their mind.

[TheAceOfHearts]

I enjoy Lex's podcast, but he's been extremely well connected from the start. His 6, 7, and 8th episodes were Guido van Rossum, Jeff Atwood, and Eric Schmidt respectively.

[nvarsj]

He's done a great job of marketing himself as a non judgemental platform for celebs. He's a super positive guy and basically lets his interviewees guide the conversation, and let's the viewer make up their own mind.

I actually like his interviews, because he typically speaks less than his interviewees and doesn't guide the viewer to a certain opinion. Even his interview with Kanye West was like this - it was pretty insightful into Kanye's state of mind and didn't need any commentary.

[CrimsonCape]

Lol! I guess I'm biased coming from a slightly-more-engineer perspective than Lex, but my opinion is opposite yours.

I find he drones on way too much, and way too many first-person pronouns. "I-me-me-me-I-I-I" - it's pretty narcissistic when the guest is politely sitting there across.

Surprised you also brought up the Kanye interview, that's a great example of Lex getting reprimanded by the guest. Lex couldn't let go at a particular moment and kept injecting his opinion that Kanye had to slap down.

[ShamelessC]

He kisses ass and helps replenish/bolster their image. See the Elon interviews where Elon clearly has no clue what he’s talking about.

[ChatGTP]

He often platforms assholes and makes them look good.

No real journalism involved, just talks about peace love and prosperity to some of the shadiest, shittiest businessman and politicians of our time.

[itsoktocry]

Be predictable, throw softballs and never challenge anything. Easy as that.

[relativ575]

Really? you don't think there are many people like that? how successful have they become?

[throwaway2037]

Larry King was incredibly famous and threw nothing but easy questions.

[febed]

Checkout Dwarkesh podcast, he has great questions and does comparatively better research.

[baby]

He’s a combination of good vibes (spread love), scientist, and long-form interview where you let the interesting person do most of the talking. It works with a lot of people including myself.

I’m guessing if you’re a famous scientist you probably don’t care/mind being interviewed by most poscasters, but Lex is the next-level thing to do

[syndacks]

I agree, this Lex guy is such a dud.