Trends Like These

Trends Like These treats the internet as both a newswire and a funhouse mirror. The show follows stories that are circulating hard online, then turns them into a chatty, joke-dense roundup of politics, pop culture, disasters, tech, celebrity, and viral weirdness. It is not a detached headlines show. The speakers bring clear political frustration, especially around Trump, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, the DNC, pandemic policy, and the emotional weight of voting choices. That bluntness gives the show bite. At the same time, the mood can swing quickly into musical-theater analysis, video game plugs, fake cereal riffs, strange sponsor reads, and arguments about whether a word sounds gross. The Cats bonus episode captures its pop culture side especially well. It spends serious comic energy on choreography, editing, Broadway performers, Taylor Swift, catnip, and the peculiar choices behind a major movie musical. Other episodes range across coronavirus, Australian bushfires, impeachment, Notre Dame, Star Wars, folding phones, the Mueller report, Homestar Runner, Dr. Oz, Dolly Parton, and bizarre internet scandals. The show’s recurring engine is the collision between a grim timeline and people trying to stay funny inside it. It notices when important stories fail to trend. It also questions headlines, sharing habits, and the way social media can reward shallow outrage over reading the actual story. The pacing is conversational rather than tidy. Jokes get missed, repeated, corrected, and sometimes turned into the bit itself. Callouts and closing stumbles often stay in the texture of the show, which makes the whole thing feel more like a lived-in hang than a polished broadcast. That informality is part of the appeal. The show can be earnest without getting solemn, and silly without pretending the world is fine. It is best for listeners who want topical comedy with strong opinions, internet fluency, and a tolerance for messy human momentum. It is less suited to anyone looking for straight news briefs or detached analysis.