The nominees for the first Golden Globes best podcast award are “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard,” Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy,” “Good Hang with Amy Poehler,” “The Mel Robbins Podcast,” NPR’s “Up First,” and “Smartless” hosted by comedic actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes.
Among the most notable omissions — despite their large audiences — were political-leaning programs like “The Joe Rogan Experience,” “The Ben Shapiro Show,” “The Megyn Kelly Show,” “The Tucker Carlson Show,” Candace Owens’s “Candace” and liberal favorite “Pod Save America.”
The nominees were drawn from a list of 25 shows granted consideration, including the political-leaning group.
Qualifying podcasts were required to contain original content and to have produced a minimum of six episodes between Jan. 1, 2025 and Sept. 30, 2025 running at least 30 minutes. A winner will be announced Jan. 11.
“The quality, creativity, audience engagement and impact” of the six programs will be judged by Globes to determine a winner.
Professor and chair of the journalism department at Quinnipiac University Ben Bogardus suspects the Globes’ voting body aimed to avoid inviting a controversial podcaster who could use the awards ceremony to ruffle feathers.
“They’re trying to bill themselves as an award show that is for the masses and non-controversial, celebrating the best in entertainment,” Bogardus said. “Having this political sideshow, I think they just wanted to avoid that.”
With News Wire Services
