The Legend of the Great Sigourney Weaver

My latest Badlands episode was pitched to me with a helluva challenge. My editor Zeth came to me and said, “We want to do an episode about Sigourney Weaver,” which made me raise an eyebrow. As far as I was aware, Sigourney Weaver wasn’t really someone with a reputation for sex, drugs, and other lurid activity, ya know? I feel like she’s a pretty wholesome person.

But Zeth had an idea. There was – as I learned — apparently a really fucked up murder case that got into all kinds of slippery complications in the legal system. And the killer — who, to be clear, definitely did it — apparently had a serious mental break that involved worshiping Sigourney Weaver as a goddess.

So that would be my “in” to the story. Tell the story of Sigourney Weaver’s life, through the veil of this horrifying crime.

I always do a lot of research for these podcasts. But this is the only time I found myself looking up old court transcripts and appeals. Badlands is a stylized show, and I wanted to honor that pulpy aesthetic without glamorizing the horror and trauma at the center of it. I wanted to approach it with empathy and truth, inasmuch as I could in this situation.

I think I did a pretty damn good job, if I do say so myself.

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My new BADLANDS episode on Diego Maradona is out now!

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I’m not much of a sports guy — but that doesn’t stop me from writing a helluva’n anti-imperialist crime yarn! And that’s exactly what I did for my latest Badlands episode, which focuses on the football legend Diego Maradona.

Diego Maradona was busted for drugs, prostitution, and shooting an air rifle at reporters. He was also associated with one of the biggest and oldest organized crime families in Italy. Despite all of this, Diego Maradona somehow still showed up the next day and played a great game of soccer. He even turned a soccer match into a weapon during a centuries-long war between England and Argentina. Diego Maradona was more than one of the greatest of all time on the pitch – he was also one of the most infamous.

You can check it out below, or wherever you listen to your podcasts:

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Exploring the lurid life of Armie Hammer on BADLANDS

My script for the Season 5 premiere of the Badlands podcast could not be more opposite from the script I wrote for the Season 4 finale. Okay well maybe that’s not entirely true — they both involved a lot of sensitivity and careful wording. In the case of Robin Williams, that was because of the tragedy surrounding his suicide. In the case of Armie Hammer, that was, uhhh, because of ongoing legal matters and some really dark sexual fetishes that I don’t want to kink-shame but also went to some pretty disturbing places.

So, ya know. Tread lightly and all. But in very, very different ways.

Here’s the synopsis for the Badlands Season 5 premiere, written by me, titled “Armie Hammer: Dirty Texts, Bloodthirsty Fetishes, and a Cannibal Kink”

With his chiseled jawline and matinee idol good looks, Armie Hammer could have been another leading man like Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt. But Armie Hammer was not most movie stars. He wasn't even most people. On the surface, his life was perfectly curated and appeared picture-perfect, with no major public scandals or dirt-digging by the press. But his increasingly bizarre appearances in interviews and on social media, not to mention leaked videos and texts, led to shocking revelations about what was really going on behind closed doors. And what was going on was more wild than the untamed dreams of a Hollywood screenwriter.

You can listen to the episode below, or wherever you get your podcasts:

Hear me talk for 3+ hours on CEREBRO about Irishness, DILFs, and Mutant Superheroes

Connor Goldsmith's CEREBRO podcast — "where a homo and his friends dive deep into the history of Homo Superior," also known as the X-Men — has been one of my favorite podcasts over the last two years. And I'm not alone: Ezra Klein is a fan, and Entertainment Weekly even named it one of the 10 best podcasts of 2021. I've shared a few episodes here as well, including Spencer Ackerman's wonderful exploration of the radical politics and Jewishness of Magneto.

I had the privilege of speaking to Connor for an episode focused on the X-Men's token Irishman, Sean Cassidy AKA Banshee. A three-hour deep dive into mutants and Irishness is basically what I was born to do, and I had a wonderful time doing it (which I hope comes through in the episode!).

In addition to being an absolute Himbo DILF, Banshee is also the long-time paramour of Moira MacTaggert, who was recently revealed to be the most important character in the Marvel Universe — a complicated but fascinating retcon that we got into on the episode, which recasts their relationship in an intriguing new light. We also talk about the difference between Irish and Irish-Americans, and breakdown some of the stereotypes that have plagued the character, including the IRA and Banshee's cop past, as well as his castle full of leprechauns who were the first to reveal Wolverine's real name. And of course, no discussion of Banshee is complete without bringing up his cousin, Black Tom, whose long-standing relationship with Juggernaut hasn't been canonically acknowledged as gay on-page, but like, c'mon, the subtext is even less sub than Juggernaut himself.

You can hear for yourself on your preferred podcast network.