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After recording about 90 episodes of “Hard Fork,” a weekly New York Times podcast about technology and business, life is pretty much the same for its hosts, Kevin Roose and Casey Newton. That is, apart from the occasional encounter with a fan, which is a new and sometimes surprising experience for them.
“Just last night, I had dinner with two friends who were visiting from out of town,” Mr. Newton said. “As I was returning from the bathroom, a man stopped me. At first I thought I had met him before because I am basically face blind. But then it turned out that he recognized me from our YouTube channel.”
Since the podcast’s first episode in October 2022, Mr. Roose and Mr. Newton have discussed and debated topics such as the impending ban of TikTok by US lawmakers, Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and the pros and cons of digital companionship. They have interviewed guests such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI.
Along the way, Mr. Roose and Mr. Newton have teased the podcast format, inviting listeners to send in their questions, for example. But their mission remained the same: to inform and entertain.
In an interview, Mr. Newton and Mr. Roose shared their goals for the future of the podcast and their dream guests. These are edited excerpts.
How did you first meet?
CASEY NEWTON My memory of first meeting Kevin was being invited to a party for his Young Money book at the home of Evelyn Rasley, who is a former Times reporter. I remember walking in and being so annoyed that he was younger than me and already on his second book. I don’t even remember the meeting. I’m sure I said hello. I would just keep running into Kevin over the years and we developed a friendship.
KEVIN ROOSE I’ve been a subscriber and big fan of Casey’s newsletter, Platformer, which is a must-read here in Silicon Valley. Platformer is very good and also quite serious, covering topics such as content moderation and technology legislation. I also knew that Casey had this other side to him. I knew he had done improv comedy. I knew he was very funny and insightful and quick-witted, and that it was a lot of fun to talk about those things. So I asked myself, “Could the person who writes this very important, very serious newsletter also be the co-host of the podcast?”
“Hard Fork” is almost two years old. What is the feedback from listeners so far?
NEWTON The typical email says we use the word “like” too much, there are too many “ums,” too many phonetic slurs. They ask why we talk so much about artificial intelligence.
ROUGE Casey is a sandbag. We’re getting the best feedback of any project I’ve ever worked on in my career as a journalist. We hear from a lot of people who have really good and smart ideas. It’s very humbling to work on a show where your listeners are smarter than you and have PhDs in molecular biology or are AI researchers.
What is the biggest challenge in creating the podcast?
NEWTON Besides Kevin’s personality? The hardest thing is that sometimes there aren’t three things I want to talk about in one episode. There are a lot of tech shows out there with that consensus by committee, like, “These are the three most important stories of the week, and we’re going to talk about them no matter what, even if we don’t feel like we have a strong point.” Kevin and I really try not to do that. We try to take the podcast where our own curiosities go and only talk about things where we have something to say.
What are your goals for the future of “Hard Fork”?
NEWTON I want to make sure the show continues to inspire surprise and inventiveness. One of my initial thoughts about “Hard Fork” was that it should be like “The Price Is Right” in terms of games and segments. You never know what segments or games will appear in a given week. Right now, we’re brainstorming other kinds of segments that belong on the show and feel more at home with what we’re doing and also let us explore more creatively. We want to grow the audience. We want to be the biggest tech show in the world.
ROUGE I want to be the biggest show in the world, not just a tech show. I want Joe Rogan to kneel before us. This is my goal.
Who is your dream guest?
NEWTON It’s interesting because a lot of the big names end up not being great interviews. But I will say that Sarah Jessica Parker responded to me on Threads and said she was a fan of the show. If we could get her to come on the show, that would be a dream.
ROUGE When we started the show, we actually had a long list of dream guests. I looked at it the other day and we’ve had a lot of interviews, so I’m really happy with it. I would love to be invited to a ketamine with Elon Musk and interview him under the influence.
What is your favorite thing about working together?
NEWTON Kevin was really the only person I wanted to do a podcast with. There’s something about the way he talks that is so aligned with me. Kevin and I see eye to eye on a lot of things. Even though our opinions sometimes differ on issues, we see the world the same way. So there’s comfort when you go into the studio with him.
ROUGE That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me.
NEWTON OK, don’t use any of these.
ROUGE Casey is a wonderful reporter and a good friend. He is the funniest person I know and has an unusually strong moral compass. It was truly impressive to me how Casey did not abandon his moral core in the pursuit of journalistic excellence. It’s still really principled. I’m not going to say it’s rare, because a lot of journalists are, but I feel like it’s a particularly strong example of it.
