Sounds Like A Cult

Nov 19 2024 142 ep. 51 mins 8.6k
Sounds Like A Cult Podcast artwork

A podcast about the modern-day “cults” we all follow. Each episode asks the culty questions we’re all wondering… Do you think SoulCycle is a cult? What about Elon Musk stans? Or the Royal Family? What about spiritual influencers? Is Instagram itself a cult? Sounds Like A Cult, hosted by Amanda Montell, author of Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, analyzes a different zeitgeisty group every week to try and answer the big question: This group sounds like a cult, but is it really? And if so, how bad is it? 

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Podcast Instagram - @soundslikeacultpod 

Host Amanda Montell - @amanda_montell (Preorder her new book!)

  Comedy  Society & Culture
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The Cult of Astrology Apps

Nov 19 2024 68 mins  
~A cosmic new episode of Sounds Like a Cult lies in your near future, Virgo~ No? Capricorn? Pisces, maybe? Whatever your sign is, today’s episode is sure to deliver all of the celestial wisdom you’ve been seeking straight from the comfort of your mobile device, much like today’s cult of discush, astrology apps! The astrologically inclined have fully infiltrated Silicon Valley

The Cult of Gilmore Girls

Nov 12 2024 78 mins  
Brew yourself a giant pot of Luke's coffee because we’re diving deep into the fast-talking world of Stars Hollow. That’s right, the cult Gilmore Girls. We know what you're thinking! It's just a TV show! It'a not a cult! Relax! But hear us out: From the intense rituals (hello, annual re-watch), patron saints (looking at you, Luke Danes), and fan behaviors that border on worship,

The Cult of Free Birthers

Nov 05 2024 63 mins  
Munch on some ice chips and PUSHHHHH (sorry) play on this week's episode, in which we dare to apply our culty analysis to the ever-polarizing "free birther" community. Free birthing is a controversial catch-all term in and of itself, generally describing a style of medically unassisted birth that has turned into not just a movement but possibly a cult—why? Because this is America

The Cult of Reborn Dolls

Oct 22 2024 69 mins  
BOO! ‘tis the spookiest time of the year, dear culties, and this year we’ve whipped out our cauldrons to cook you an up episode on one of the scariest topics we could think of… complex emotions?! That is only half a joke, because this week Reese is equally embarrassed and excited to bring Amanda into the weird and wacky world of reborn dolls with the help of Corrine Vien and

The Cult of Boarding Schools

Oct 15 2024 63 mins  
Grab your trusty #2 and find the desk with your name tag on it, because class is in session this week at Sounds Like a Cult! Our /pedagogically inclined/ episodes are always RIPE with juicy insight, and today’s topic is no different. Be it Hogwarts or Pacific Coast Academy, boarding schools have long shrouded themselves in an air of mystery and exclusivity that has most recently

The Cult of Dave Ramsey

Oct 08 2024 67 mins  
NOT going to lie, this episode was a wee bit nerve racking to record!!! Despite the, ahem, LARGE number of requests we received for this topic (which would make you think it was ubiquitously reviled), the acolytes in this group ride HARD for their leader! Money and religion are the twin engines that make the world go ‘round, dear culties, and as such, they are the perfect mediums

The Cult of Mormon #MomTok

Oct 01 2024 52 mins  
Who’s your #mommy culties: Taylor or Whitney? That’s right, fresh(ish?) off the release of Hulu’s Secret Lives of Mormon Wives reality series (for which Amanda and Reese attended a blissfully tinsel-adorned premiere party #notsponsored lol), this week we are covering the cult of Mormon MomTok. This coalition of young Mormon mothers turned TikTok stars raises a truly baffling

The Cult of Costco

Sep 24 2024 67 mins  
Settle in with a Kirkland brand sparkling water and a rotisserie chicken because this week, Amanda and Chelsea are going IN on the us/them dynamics, strange rituals, manipulation tactics, over-the-top passion, and lore of your favorite membership-only cathedral of affordable excess, Costco. Based on this episode’s fervent listener call-ins alone, it’s clear Costco is more than

The Cult of Dance Moms

Sep 17 2024 74 mins  
We’re baaaAAAAAaaaaack!!! Join us for a 🪐transcendent🪐 new season of Sounds Like A Cult, whose opening episode features Chelsea Charles, one of our sparklingly hilarious new co-hosts. An unscripted TV producer by day, Chelsea joins returning host Amanda to unpack this week’s nightmarish topic: Dance Moms. Indeed, we’re exploring every culty corner of the fanatically fol

The Cult of Sounds Like A Cult (Meet Your New Co-Hosts!)

Sep 10 2024 24 mins  
This is Sounds Like A Cult, a show with two sparkling new cult leaders, ahem, co-hosts!!!!!! We’ve been keeping this secret for months, and it feels downright ~transcendent~ to let you culties know: Joining host Amanda for the next season of Sounds Like A Cult are two brilliant, kind, warm, and hilarious recurring voices—unscripted TV producer Chelsea Charles and theatre/rhetor