Back to the complete issue
Thursday, 2 March 2023

A computer scientist and conversational wizard’s rise to podcast fame

If Joe Rogan was smarter, had better guests, more meaningful topics (and a lot less on-air imbibing): Podcast interview shows seem of late to be the preferred side-hustles of comedians, celebrities, reality stars, and influencers. And it shows in the quality of the content being pumped out there, with interviews devolving into conspiracy theories of the flat-earth variety, astrology, peddling questionable goods — to say nothing of advice on what to do in every room in the house, from the kitchen to the bedroom. It is perhaps surprising that the Lex Fridman Podcast — hosted by the eponymous computer science PhD holder whose natural speaking voice has all the monotony of the Stephen Hawking voice box — has broken the mold to become arguably the second most popular interview podcast show after the Joe Rogan Experience.

Like the latter, Lex Fridman has no qualms with the type of guests and topics he covers: From cybercriminals to the cybersecurity officials who caught them — and from leaders and pioneers to deranged pseudo-celebrities. What differentiates Fridman is the nuance of his approach, which gives every guest the seriousness that arguably some do not deserve.

A masterclass in podcast interviewing: Ironically, the same monotonous voice that drives first-time listeners away appears to make his guess comfortable opening up. The show is also helped by the fact that Fridman is genuinely interested in a broad variety of topics, including tech, politics, history, business, philosophy, psychology, and (being the Russian-American that he is) chess. Episodes on any of these topics are a hit. As people who engage with and interview people with a story to tell, we’ve definitely taken cues from his show.

Some episodes we most definitely recommend include:

The Lex Fridman Podcast is available on all platforms: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anghami | Google Podcasts | YouTube.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.