In October 2021, it was announced that Hobbes was leaving the podcast and the show would continue with Marshall and guests. The independent nature of the show is rooted in moral concerns about critiquing the media and potential constraints inherent to sponsorship. The podcast is a part-time effort for both hosts and relies on crowd-funding. Books covered include the satanic ritual abuse book Michelle Remembers, Jessica Simpson's autobiography Open Book, and Objection! by American lawyer and television personality Nancy Grace. The related episodes differ from the regular format as they focus on a single book with one host having read it and the other learning about it over the course of multiple episodes. In March 2020, the podcast began a quarantine book club in response to COVID-19 lockdowns. The discussions include references to primary resources used during the research process along with and direct quotes from media coverage interviews with relevant players. Witty observations and pop-culture references are woven in throughout the discussion. Together they then explore the topic in a generally chronological manner, discussing relevant public responses and dominant societal trends from the era, before debunking that response and the subsequent media coverage. Each episode begins with the less informed host sharing what they remember about the person or event in question. ĭuring each episode, Hobbes and Marshall trade off on researching the show's topic, with one host taking on the research and analysis of a topic and the other coming to the discussion with little-to-no knowledge about the relevant details. The pair only met in person after recording the show remotely for the first five months. The show began after Hobbes reached out to Marshall and proposed that they try to recreate their deep-dive research processes in audio format. She is known for an interest in the mischaracterization of women by the mainstream media best demonstrated in her 2014 long-form profile of Tonya Harding. Sarah Marshall is an American writer whose work has appeared in BuzzFeed, The Believer, and The New Republic. He is also the co-host of the podcast Maintenance Phase with Aubrey Gordon. Michael Hobbes is an American journalist and a former reporter for HuffPost.