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April 8, 2025 - Lionel Nation
13:29
Michelle Obama’s Podcast TANKS: No One’s Listening & Here’s Why! 🚨
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You're going to be hearing that Michelle Obama's, I guess her podcast with her brother IMO or something like that, that it's been a bomb or it's bombed or nobody cares.
It's not her podcast.
It's her.
Nobody cares about her.
This is absolutely critical.
Very, very critical.
There's no way around it other than to say this.
So let's look at what this is all about.
And I find it fascinating.
It's about hubris and it's about Michelle Obama, the former first lady, which apparently she doesn't really like or care that much about because she's always talking about how horrible it was.
Apparent.
What she thought was a media darling, best-selling author that nobody that I know has ever purchased her book or read, or at least Amazon says.
You know what I mean?
Anyway.
She's now entered the podcasting arena with her brother, Craig, who, by the way, get a load of Craig.
In a show titled IMO, in my opinion, and with this Kind of a flashy rollout, this high-profile press coverage and everything.
And the full weight of, I guess, Higher Ground, you know, the Obama's media company, Higher Ground.
They have a media company.
Anyway, with that behind it, you'd think this podcast would be a runaway hit, you know?
I mean, this is the first one, everybody loves it, but instead, this has quickly become the but.
Of every podcast joke in America.
And despite launching in early March with glowing headlines and media buzz and adulation, the results are in.
It's a flop.
An absolute total flop.
And not just a little underwhelming.
I mean a flop.
Bad thud.
We're talking ambient in audio form levels of boring.
I mean a snooze fest.
Soporific.
Stultifying.
Even with guests like Seth Rogen and Kiki Palmer and you name it, the podcast has sputtered along like, well, like nothing.
Like flat soda.
I don't know whatever metaphor you want.
According to Spotify, IMO is hovering around the 34th most listened to show.
Not third, not...
Even 13th, the 34th.
And that's a participation ribbon.
That's a congratulations.
Thanks for coming.
Not a victory lap.
Anyway, Amy Poehler's podcast, Good Hang, which launched a month later with fewer episodes, is outperforming it dramatically.
Think about that.
Ranked second on Apple and third on Spotify.
So let's face it.
The audience has spoken, and they'd rather hang with Poehler than nap with Michelle and Craig.
Now, Apple Podcasts ranks the Obama sibling duo at 19, trailing behind motivational guru Mel Robbins, and a bunch of other people I've never heard of, and of course, podcast Godfather, the paterfamilias, Mr. Joe Rogan.
Now, to say this is embarrassing, For the woman who once commanded global stages is an understatement.
This is like giving a TED Talk and realizing halfway through the room, or halfway through the show, that the room is filled with mannequins.
It's horrid.
Michelle and Craig started their podcast with an episode titled, You Should Start a Podcast with Your Sibling.
Oh!
The Ribble Dream.
If only someone had stopped them.
It's not that their chemistry is bad.
It's that it's astonishingly safe and sanitized and shockingly mundane and boring!
It's the podcast version of plain toast or lint.
It's nothing.
It's anodyne.
I mean, you keep listening hoping something's going to happen and nothing ever does.
I mean, it's brutal.
It is absolutely brutal.
In fact, I would suggest it could be used as an alternative to waterboarding.
You know, headphones and any of it.
Now, Michelle's brother Craig adds about as much spice as vegetable broth.
You know what I mean?
Their conversations feel like the verbal equivalent of dishwater or something.
I mean, it's nothing.
Barely comforting, maybe.
I don't know.
But not something that you say, God, I've got to hear what you have to say.
And the second episode featuring Issa Rae.
I have no idea who this is.
I'm never going to tell you.
I don't even know if I'm pronouncing the name correctly.
I don't know.
Issa?
Issa?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Anyway, it was entitled, Some Friendships Need to Go Away.
Sorry, Some Friendships Need to Go.
It was ironically prophetic, and many listeners felt the same about hearing the particular podcast.
So even Obama's production muscle can't save it.
Higher Ground, the same company behind award-winning films like Rustin and Leave the World Behind, I know, poured his resources into IMO, yet the audience numbers are just staggeringly weak because nobody cares.
Michelle's YouTube channel, where the podcast is also released, has about 67,000 subscribers.
That's pretty good.
And for perspective, Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy boasts 1.2 million.
Now, with all due respect, There are kids in the Philippines who unbox curling irons who get 1.2 million.
Joe Rogan, try 19.6 million.
And Jay Shetty, 3.9 million.
Look, if Charles Manson had a podcast, he'd get a lot of people to do it.
Does that make it good or worthwhile?
But it wouldn't be boring.
See, boring is a problem.
Not the content.
Are you bored by it?
You're even...
Eleanor Roosevelt wasn't boring.
I mean, you know, Bess Truman.
Now, in the podcast world, Michelle Obama is kind of a small fish in a tank of whales.
I understand that.
But you would think by virtue of who she is, the story she could tell.
Adding insult to injury, Barack Obama recently admitted he's in a deep deficit with Michelle.
What the hell does that mean?
Divorce rumors have been circulating, fueled by Obama's solo appearances at events like Jimmy Carter's funeral, President Trump's inauguration, while Michelle tries to hold the narrative together, whatever the hell the narrative is, with Instagram selfies and Valentine's Day love notes.
Did you see that picture of her?
Whew!
Man!
Whew!
Wow!
Anyway, listeners can't help but sense the...
Kind of the tension, especially when Michelle drops pointed remarks about how she never wanted Barack to run for office in the first place.
Oh, that's great!
Isn't that good?
Doesn't that fill in the narrative?
So in a desperate push to salvage momentum or something, the Obamas have trotted out an all-star lineup of guests, you know, like Seth Rogen and wife Lauren, Dr. Laurie Santos.
Kiki Palmer, I guess.
Jay Shetty.
But even with those names, I don't know who they are.
But I'm just reading the list of the people.
They have a list of the people she has.
I'm just reading.
I don't know who they are.
Anyway.
The show, despite those powerhouse names, it lacks that essential spark.
There's no controversy, no hot takes, no...
No, did you hear that?
No viral moments?
No, nothing.
Just PC, politically correct, mindless, anodyne, vanilla banter.
And the kind of advice you'd expect from your HR department's wellness newsletter.
You know, nothing exactly.
You know what I mean?
Now, if the Obamas thought that they could create the, I don't know, Joe Rogan of the left, well, this it ain't.
I don't know if anybody could do that.
IMO sounds more like a podcast designed by committee.
It's wrapped in bubble wrap and it's delivered straight to the NPR crowd with a note that reads, we hope this doesn't offend anyone.
It was very, very, again, anodyne.
It had no hits, no runs, no errors.
Meanwhile, Democrats are reportedly scrambling to find someone, anyone, who can speak to young voters the way that Rogan or Ben Shapiro or even Charlie Kirk can.
Let me give you a hint.
It's not going to be the woman who once told school children to eat kale and exercise more.
I'm just telling you.
Not that that's not good advice, but...
Now, this podcast, The Future, also raises a bigger question.
Is the left losing the culture war in new media, or are they just boring?
Where are the bold voices, the firebrands, the funny people, the risk-takers?
Kathy Griffin?
Samantha Bee?
Where?
Because right now, All they've got is Michelle Obama telling stories about how Barack used to be late to dinner.
Riveting!
Riveting!
Now, the Obamas have always leaned into their curated image, you know.
But in podcasting, you see, there's this thing called authenticity.
You've got to sort of, maybe, I don't know, what, like the person?
You can't manufacture edge and controversy.
You can't script soul.
And IMO has none of it.
It's less.
Yes, we can and more.
Maybe later I'm tired.
I don't know.
I don't know what it is.
I mean, it's really bad.
So what's next for Michelle Obama?
Well, maybe a cooking show and ASMR channel.
Maybe that might be good.
Even that doesn't work.
It's supposed to be meditative and calming.
How about a tail or a line of inspirational potholders?
Maybe she and Hillary Clinton can kind of mix, because Hillary wears those oven mitt clothes.
So whatever it is, whatever this thing is, one thing is absolutely sure.
IMO will go down as one of the most boring, mindlessly stultifying celebrity podcast launches in recent memory, if not history.
A show sold all.
It makes C-SPAN book notes look like a G.G. Allen concert.
American tuned in for a voice of inspiration or something and got a nap time audiobook.
I'm serious.
Michelle, a lot of people love you.
I mean, they really, really care about you.
But this ain't it, honey.
It's just not...
It's you.
You gotta let go.
It's not enough today where people have to be Tantalized and reminded, remember, I'm going to say something too, which is going to drive you crazy.
A lot of people don't even remember you.
So what do you think?
Are we being too unfair?
Do you like Michelle Obama's podcast?
Have you heard it?
Do you find her scintillating?
And if you do, what the hell are you watching me?
What are you doing?
So again, like this video, subscribe to the channel, hit that little bell so you're notified of live streams of new videos.
And whatever you do, I'm going to put a series of questions.
I want you to answer the questions or answer all of them or answer one of them.
And for the love of God, comment.
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