Laughter In The Dark

Having survived the 2016 election, the far-left podcast Chapo Trap House doubles down on its radical satire. If you’re not laughing, you’re not paying attention

- Brian Heather

The Brooklyn apartment that serves as home base for the political-satire podcast Chapo Trap House feels more like a dorm room than a recording studio. Graphic novels line the walls, attended by a drinking bird, and the coffee table is covered in mike cords, cups and rolling papers.

Around that table sit hosts Felix Biederman, Will Menaker, Matt Christman, Amber A’Lee Frost and Virgil Texas. Producer Chris Wade sprawls on a beanbag, searching for enough microphones to cover the co-hosts and a guest who has yet to arrive. The episode they’re about to tape will be beamed to 25,000 Grey Wolves, the show’s loyal listeners, named ironically and somewhat arcanely for a Turkish ultranationalist movement.

Recording hasn’t started, but the crew is already bantering about John McAfee, Prince and Eva Braun. It’s Earth Day and one of the first truly nice days of the year. There’s a fleeting mention of how beautiful it is outside. Everyone agrees, and then it’s back to examining Kanye’s most recent run of crazy tweets. When recording begins, there’s very little change in the tenor of the room.

In its purest form, podcasting is a casual conversation recorded for posterity, and few shows capture that magic in a bottle as well as Chapo Trap House. As Menaker puts it, “The social atomization that has been created by the current conditions means that we have now created a new type of artist — basically ‘professional friend.’ ” To the podcast’s following, which has only grown since the election, this friend moonlights as both therapist and, amid the laughs, sibling who calls you on your shit.