NPR's Rachel Martin debuts gamified podcast 'Wild Card'

Caption

NPR's Rachel Martin on her new podcast, "Wild Card"

Credit: NPR

NPR’s Rachel Martin has made a career out of thoughtfully interviewing people. Now, she’s trying a fresh approach to the standard Q&A with just a deck of cards. Her new podcast, Wild Card with Rachel Martin, is part game show, part interview, and always enlightening.

Martin invites actors, artists, and thinkers to join her in a game that lets them open up about their fears, their joys, and how they’ve built meaning from experience – all with the help of a very special deck of cards.

Guests include comedian Jenny Slate, actor Chris Pine, and actress and writer Issa Rae. Martin recently discussed her exciting new project with GPB's Pamela Kirkland.

Wild Card with Rachel Martin debuts Thursday May 2nd. New episodes drop every Thursday wherever you get your podcasts.

TRANSCRIPT:

Pamela Kirkland You know her voice. You love her interviews. Now, NPR hosts, the one and only Rachel Martin. She's getting ready to debut a new Q&A style of interview with her new podcast, Wild Card. I'm so glad to say Rachel joins me now.

Rachel Martin Hey, Pamela, thank you for having me.

Pamela Kirkland Thank you for being here. So first, tell me about the concept behind Wild Card and what inspired you to create this unique format?

Rachel Martin I knew that I wanted to build a show around big existential questions that are universal in nature. Really, they're the kinds of questions that that all of us grapple with to some degree or another. Questions about what it means to be alive, what it means to be alive now in this time, how we make sense of the world, what kind of beliefs shape our outlook? What kind of experiences made us who we are? So I knew that's the stuff I wanted to do, but the game sort of came later when we realized, honestly, that that the best way to get people to open up about big, intimate, personal things like that is to make it fun and surprising and lighter, you know, because sometimes the conversations can go to really heavy, profound places. And, and I learn a lot from those moments and they can be really moving. But to have this kind of lighter architecture around those conversations just it it totally works. It makes it playful, it makes it accessible. It makes it something that people who are listening at home can play along with. They can ask themselves these questions. It has been amazing to me how well people have responded, and they're totally eager to engage in these questions. And something about the game opens people up.

Pamela Kirkland Do you think the gamified aspect just kind of relaxes people? Like it's not an interview, we're just playing a game here.

Rachel Martin Yeah, we're just playing a game and I'm in it with you. You know, I think it's not fair for me to expect people to come in and share all this deep, personal, intimate stuff unless I'm willing to do the same. And so we are partners in this whole game journey, and it ends up creating, I don't know, like a safe space to do it with within this framework, the game. The game is like another character in the conversation, you know, because a lot of it is, is random. The questions come from a deck of cards that my producers and I have put together. But the way they get chosen, I mean, the guest chooses at random. And so I don't even know where the conversation's going to go. And I absolutely love that, because as you know, when you're doing news interviews, you're often reverse engineering questions to elicit a certain answer. And and sometimes there's not a whole lot of surprise in that. And I was desperate to be surprised by people again and to, to be able to let in on someone's interior life this way, feels it feels magical.

Pamela Kirkland On that note, I've had the pleasure of watching you in action. And I mean, just one example. You interviewed Don King at the 2016 GOP convention on the fly. And there's there's something unique that comes out of that, the spontaneity in those interviews. How does Wild Card capitalize on that element of surprise?

Rachel Martin You just go with it. You just get to go with it. You know, if someone says something totally crazy, you know, as a news person, you have to have a certain amount of authority, and it's not totally appropriate for you to bring your whole self into those interviews. It's just not. But I get to do that here. And so I get I get to go down the rabbit hole with people. I get to, you know, respond like a normal human and say, what? That's insane. I can't believe you said that, Don King. And, you know, go from there. And it's really it's totally liberating. And I also I just wanted to make a show that that felt real, that felt authentic, that felt, like an actual, an actual conversation. And so it's still funny to me that this actual, authentic conversation is coming in the form of a highly contrived game, because it is. There's something about just we're on to the next card. I don't know what it's going to be. You don't know what it's going to be. Let's just see where it takes us. And it it it creates amazing moments.

Pamela Kirkland It sounds like a really fun journey. So if it's not a spoiler, do you have a favorite card in the deck or one that you're most looking forward to having a guest chat about?

Rachel Martin I love that you asked that question. There are so many because really, the the work of this show is putting together the questions because we don't want them to be trite. We don't want them to be expected. So we try, even if it's a question you. Think you've played around with before. We try to play with the language, so it's a little bit surprising. You know an example like what does what does silence do to you? I love that question. It's and it's just the it's not like, how comfortable are you a silence it's like, what does silence do to you? And that can be pejorative. You know, maybe silence makes someone really uncomfortable. But also, you know, what does it do to me? It opens doors for me, like silence, into silence. I can sit there for a while. So we play with that language. The question that I'm really hot about, though, is, is questions about what makes a good life. And, and especially people who've lived some of it, you know, to, to be able to reflect on how is your idea of what it means to lead a good life changed over time.

Pamela Kirkland As far as the timing goes? I mean, you picked a presidential election cycle.

Rachel Martin Counterprogramming. Yeah. Counterprogramming.

Pamela Kirkland And so, yeah, that's my question to you. Is this kind of a little relief, a little counterprogramming for listeners?

Rachel Martin You got it. That's exactly what it is. And I want NPR to be everyone's home for all that information. You need to be an informed citizen in this year and every year. But yeah, it takes on more weight in a presidential year. But, you know, we decided that that this is actually the perfect time because because of the relentlessness of the news, we can't put our head in the sand about it. I don't want anyone to do that because we're all we're all responsible in our corner of the universe, right? For for making good and creating good and and being informed. But but I also want people to feel inspired and lifted up and less lonely and and we get to do that on this show.

Pamela Kirkland Rachel, thank you so much for speaking with me on Morning Edition.

Rachel Martin Oh, it was so fun. Thank you so much.

Pamela Kirkland You can listen to Wild Card wherever you get your podcast. The first episode is out May 2nd. New episodes publish every Thursday.

Pamela Kirkland It's GPB.