Best Joey Lewandowski Podcasts (2025)

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The Fast and the Furious (Lap 16) 1:46:50

Play Pause

2d ago1:46:50

1:46:50

We’re back and kicking off Lap 16 with Barry Hertz (author of Welcome to the Family: The Explosive Story Behind Fast & Furious, the Blockbusters that Supercharged the World) to talk about The Fast and the Furious! (We cannot stress this enough: buy Barry’s book!) We ask Barry if writing the book changed his thoughts about the franchise before we sh…

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vineland by thomas pynchon 53:54

8d ago53:54

53:54

our 1990s module kicks off with vineland by thomas pynchon and an existential dilemma: are we starting off this module with a lie? after talking about getting our hands on media before its release date, we detour to discuss radiohead’s live “hail to the thief” album, which shreds expertly weaves right into the novel description via paul thomas ande…

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Heart Eyes (2025) 1:03:27

9d ago1:03:27

1:03:27

Happy Halloween! We're finally, officially, closing out Lap 15 with another movie we should have covered already: Heart Eyes! After Joe recounts his unforgettable theater experience when he saw Heart Eyes for the first time, Joey shares a bit of information about the horror pedigree behind the scenes. We talk about the reasons this movie works well…

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season seventeen theme and reading list 12:59

16d ago12:59

12:59

it’s time to unveil our next full-length module, which comes as a surprise to joey, too: we’re heading back to the 1990s. after shreds reveils the ungodly length of the original form of this module, we discuss how the form of this module is yet another one that we could cycle through. shreds announces the titles while confirming what we all know: w…

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Fast & Furious 6: #2F2F Commentary 2:06:43

17d ago2:06:43

2:06:43

It's wedding season, so we're taking a three-week #2F2F Commentary interlude. After recording commentaries for the first three movies way back in Lap 11, we're continuing our journey through the franchise with the next three installments. Our final commentary, for now: Fast & Furious 6! Even though we've covered this movie fifteen times already bef…

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the demon by hubert selby, jr. 52:27

23d ago52:27

52:27

the second book in our second great american novel module is the demon by hubert selby, jr. does it pair well with the sound and the fury? that’s what we’re discussing. first, though, we check in with shreds to see if this is the novel that he remembered reading, what his history with it is, and what it inspired him to want to do. we talk about the…

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Fast Five: #2F2F Commentary 2:08:07

24d ago2:08:07

2:08:07

It's wedding season, so we're taking a three-week #2F2F Commentary interlude. After recording commentaries for the first three movies way back in Lap 11, we're continuing our journey through the franchise with the next three installments. Next up: Fast Five! Even though we've covered this movie fifteen times already before, there's still plenty to …

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Fast & Furious: #2F2F Commentary 1:43:03

1M ago1:43:03

1:43:03

By Joey Lewandowski and Joe Two

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the sound and the fury by william faulkner 36:38

1M ago36:38

36:38

our second great american novel module kicks off with the sound and the fury by william faulkner. joey explains his difficulties with parsing the text and how he approached it, while shreds talks about the character he identifies with. we explore a time when authors were less afraid to reckon with big ideas — as well as the authors still doing it n…

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Lap 15 Tune-Up (Recap/Relap) 18:15

1M ago18:15

18:15

We're closing out our "Oops, We Should Have Covered This Already!" lap and welcoming in Lap 16 in our mechanic-prescribed Lap 15 Tune-Up. With no lap-long guest this lap (or next lap), and no Patreon sponsor of either lap, our tune-up is quicker than normal -- that's probably good news for a car, right? -- as we look back at the lap that was and an…

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season sixteen theme and reading list 13:49

1M ago13:49

13:49

we’re back to find out what will be in store in our next great american novel module. also, we wonder: could we run out? does shreds enjoy reading? after a refresher on how this works (and teasing future great american novel modules), we discuss whether or not this is what the podcast “should” be, and if these mini-modules are the purest version of…

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One of My Favorite Brothers in the World | Life in the Fast Lane #56 1:37:28

2M ago1:37:28

1:37:28

We're back with our final Life in the Fast Lane for Lap 15, and it features one of my favorite brothers in the world! We kick off, as usual, with the Tokyo Drift Minute (#22), which is the type of minute we've been "fearing" (but it turns out okay!) and wherein Joey explores who Toshi is. We Run the VIN, where we find that Vin's Fast family is also…

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danielle chelosky interview (author of cheat, show me your face, pregaming grief, baby bruise, female loneliness epidemic) 49:50

2M ago49:50

49:50

after covering her work for the past several episodes, we talked to danielle chelosky. we asked about fiction vs. nonfiction (specifically with regard to the right way to read her work), nonfiction being treated by reviewers as gossip, and how danielle attempts to capture the feeling of specific moments without seeming cringe. she talks about how s…

1
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) 1:35:06

2M ago1:35:06

1:35:06

We welcome back our in-house MCU experts, Nico Vasilo and Kevo Risse, to talk about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2! Will it hold up in an era of superhero burnout? Will Nico and Kevo like it more than they did when they covered it for mcu.html? We find out! After Nico takes James Gunn down a peg, we compare this Guardians film to Superman (2025), t…

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baby bruise and female loneliness epidemic by danielle chelosky 52:09

2M ago52:09

52:09

it’s another double dip of danielle chelosky’s writing this episode, as we cover baby bruise and female loneliness epidemic. after lamenting what twitter has become (and what we lost), we talk about the title of chelosky’s short story collection, how frank o’hara’s meditations in an emergency relates to the work, and how we continue to approach her…

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Effort, is on you… Xander (Xandar?) | Life in the Fast Lane #55 1:16:46

2M ago1:16:46

1:16:46

It's time for Life in the Fast Lane, Tokyo Drift Minute 21, and a deep dive into Bow Wow... and Frankie Muniz? After reviewing a surprisingly low amount of Vinstagrams -- Effort, is on you... -- we uncover a wild fact about Planet X that shakes us to our cores. We discuss the reception to The Smashing Machine in Venice, what hours Cha Cha Cha is op…

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Fast X (Lap 15) 1:26:53

2M ago1:26:53

1:26:53

We are welcoming Emily Slade to the show to chat about Fast X. Important to note: she's never seen a single Fast & Furious... until now! After finding out why she hadn't seen any before joining us to cover Fast X, we get her initial thoughts and whether or not she enjoyed being thrown into the deep end. She talks about her surprise that this movie …

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pregaming grief by danielle chelosky 29:58

2M ago29:58

29:58

our danielle chelosky module continues with pregaming grief, her first published piece of long-form writing. we talk about its ties to cheat, whether it could (canonically) be in the gossip girl universe, and how auto-fiction relates to this novel, her work as a whole, and the wider literature. we explore pregaming grief as a covid-era novel, albei…

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Are You My First? | Life in the Fast Lane #54 1:02:23

2M ago1:02:23

1:02:23

It's Life in the Fast Lane Time, and we're kicking things off with Tokyo Drift Minute 20 and a newfound respect for Twinkie. After talking about the wares he has for sale, Joe takes a Hostess snack cake quiz. We then check in on Vin Diesel's Instagram and find that he has cooled (way) off since our last check-in. Are we going to be in Sung Kang's n…

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Change of Habit (1969) 1:12:11

3M ago1:12:11

1:12:11

It's the season finale of Viva Pod Vegas as we've finally arrived at Elvis Presley's final film: Change of Habit! After getting over the fact that we're concluding on another late-career Elvis movie that isn't really starring him, we talk about the "Queen of Comedy" moniker, this film's surprising cinematographer, and what level of respect this mov…

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Bullet to the Head (2012) 1:20:41

3M ago1:20:41

1:20:41

Fan favorite Garrett Smith returns to the podcast to talk about Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, and Jason Momoa in Walter Hill's Bullet to the Head! After talking about "hard" Stallone vs. "soft" Stallone, Garrett lends some much-needed Walter Hill-related context. We try to make sense of the tone of this movie and what it's trying to do, before ask…

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cheat and show me your face by danielle chelosky 37:50

3M ago37:50

37:50

our danielle chelosky module kicks off with a pair of chapbooks that she self-published: cheat and show me your face. (it’s our first-ever “two books in one podcast” episode, and we do our best to keep ’em separated.) we talk about how both titles are very sexual and sexualized, but almost devoid of joy and not at all sexy, by design. we explore th…

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Europe in the Summer. What a Beautiful Place. | Life in the Fast Lane #53 1:14:38

3M ago1:14:38

1:14:38

We're back for another Life in the Fast Lane, and what could be better? Europe in the Summer. What a Beautiful Place. We kick things off with the Tokyo Drift Minute, wherein Joe explains Japanese high school lunch service. Then, in a shocking turn of events, we re-order the Fast Lane agenda (again) to move right into Running the VIN as we enter eve…

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season fifteen theme and reading list 6:11

3M ago6:11

6:11

we’ve done it. we’ve closed the big account, ghostbusters-style, and landed another author focus module. this time, we’re talking about the work of danielle chelosky. we discuss other authors whom we’ve spoken with who have praised her work and what we believe we can expect from her work. shreds describes how we will put together questions for her …

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F9 (Lap 15) 1:28:14

3M ago1:28:14

1:28:14

We’re heading to Montequinto and Edinburgh (and a few places in between) to talk about F9 with Dr. Alicia Kozma! After Alicia tells us about her academic approach to F&F (and how she uses it in her teaching and programming work), we learn about her introduction to the Fast and the Furious, and we get a new style/form of rankings. Joey teases a seri…

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ohio by stephen markley 57:41

3M ago57:41

57:41

we’re closing out our ohio module with ohio by stephen markley, who honored us by naming this book after our module. we talk about the impact of the title and writing about where you’re from, how the deluge serves as somewhat of a retroactive pre-read for this book, and how markley is one of the best social realist authors of our time. we talk abou…

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Family Vacations with My Brother, The GOAT, Michael Jordan | Life in the Fast Lane #52 1:12:11

3M ago1:12:11

1:12:11

It's time for another Life in the Fast Lane, and we're talking about Family Vacations with My Brother, The GOAT, Michael Jordan! First, though: a Tokyo Drift Minute with a transition to Sean at school (and a new actress whose filmography we can explore). While there's no real news, Vin continues to post through it. As we Run the VIN (happy birthday…

1
Southland Tales (2006) 1:16:40

4M ago1:16:40

1:16:40

We're finally talking about Southland Tales, the first-ever Dwayne Johnson (not "The Rock") movie, and we're joined by Resident Historian Mike Manzi! After trying to parse the dense and complicated narrative in this movie, we talk about the critical reaction to the film as well as why this doesn't feel like a bomb/spectacular failure. Mike talks ab…

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outside in by doug cooper 52:29

4M ago52:29

52:29

our ohio module continues with outside in by doug cooper and some “ohio facts” (island facts?) about the town of put-in-bay. after learning about island culture in ohio — we want to go so bad — we talk about an inciting incident that the novel does not reflect on at all, how shep shows no signs of darkness at all (and no flaws), and our issues with…

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Fast & The Shirtless: my thespian father just loves the chemistry | Life in the Fast Lane #51 1:18:16

4M ago1:18:16

1:18:16

It's Life in the Fast Lane! Welcome to the Fast & The Shirtless: my thespian father just loves the chemistry. (It'll all make sense in time, or not.) In our Tokyo Drift Minute, we finally get to Noodle Grandma -- but leave with mysteries and AI hallucinations. We cover lots of news, including the biggest Fast and Furious news in months: Vin Diesel'…

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Hobbs & Shaw (Lap 15) 1:06:09

4M ago1:06:09

1:06:09

We’re returning to the Fastiverse’s side story, Hobbs & Shaw, and we’re bringing Ross Benes (1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times) along to talk about it! We ask how he defines “low culture” in his book, then ask the hard-hitting question: is Fast and Furious low culture? Ross shares his abbreviated history…

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The Trouble with Girls (1969) 1:02:49

4M ago1:02:49

1:02:49

It's time for The Trouble with Girls: a good title that does not describe its action at all and, sadly, Elvis's penultimate film. After getting some more advice about what to cover next, we run through the film's wild cast and lament how almost none of the many high profile actors spend any time interacting with one another. We also talk through th…

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omensetter's luck by william gass 40:10

4M ago40:10

40:10

our ohio module keeps on truckin’ with both a pop quiz about the state and a discussion of omensetter’s luck by william gass. we talk about the difficulty in reading the novel (and how the first two sections sort of fake you out a bit), what william gass is “doing” in this text, and why regional writing tends to be set back in time. shreds explains…

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Three-Time Undisputed Optimistic Theatrical Experience Champion | Life in the Fast Lane #50 1:28:04

4M ago1:28:04

1:28:04

It’s time for another Life in the Fast Lane, featuring the Three-Time Undisputed Optimistic Theatrical Experience Champion! After a very uneventful Tokyo Drift minute, we work our way through lots of news, which is mostly tangential to the franchise, including: some cool YouTube videos, upcoming movies starring the Family, and a weird takedown by C…

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Fastivus Special 2025 15:59

5M ago15:59

15:59

Happy Fastivus! For the third year in a row, we celebrate the date that marks the release of the original The Fast and the Furious. Shoutout to Reaction Rocket for creating the holiday -- and for getting retweeted by Ludacris! After quick recapping the rules for the Fast and Furious Hall of Fame ballot and voting process, we recap the enshrined ind…

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the bluest eye by toni morrison 48:05

5M ago48:05

48:05

our ohio module kicks off with a known quantity: the undeniably great debut novel from toni morrison, the bluest eye. after briefly reflecting on the states so far, we talk about famous people from ohio as well as whether the bluest eye feels specific to ohio. we talk about its thematic ties to ryan coogler’s sinners, as well as the text’s generati…

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Striking Distance (1993) 1:07:45

5M ago1:07:45

1:07:45

Shout-out to the 412 — we’re covering Striking Distance this week in honor of Pittsburgh. After finally explaining the pick and why we’re covering it now, Joe reviews the movie’s Pittsburgh bona fides. We discuss Bruce Willis as Tom Hardy, Sarah Jessica Parker as “a baddie,” and Tom Sizemore as the film’s most egregious red herring. We break down t…

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season fourteen theme and reading list 11:05

5M ago11:05

11:05

it’s time for another card drawing on lottery pod, and even though we don’t say it in this episode: suck shit, sufjan stevens. after we struggle to remember which states we’ve already covered, we make picks and predictions for both the states that we’re most excited about and the states we think will come up in the drawing. (spoiler: shreds is almo…

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... Great Value Theatrical Experience ... | Life in the Fast Lane #49 1:29:53

5M ago1:29:53

1:29:53

It's time for a ... Great Value Theatrical Experience ... in Life in the Fast Lane #49! We start off by discussing Tokyo Drift's fifteenth minute, with a deep dive into "Woman at Boswell's Apartment," played by Yoko Maki. We then move on to the news, including: is Fast X Part 2 actually about to start filming? The Rock is teaming up with A24 once a…

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open water by caleb azumah nelson 34:51

5M ago34:51

34:51

we’re closing out our second-person module with one of our strongest books yet: open water by caleb azumah nelson. after talking about the pitt (and the mount rushmore of tv), we talk about the lack of irony in open water and the way its naturalistic style makes you forget it’s written in second-person. we talk about the way nelson writes about med…

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The Fate of the Furious (Lap 15) 1:15:29

5M ago1:15:29

1:15:29

We welcome Alex Steed (You Are Good: A Feelings Podcast About Movies) to the show to talk about The Fate of the Furious! We learn about Alex's history (from afar) with the Fastiverse, which leads to an immediate question: where'd that baby come from? We talk about how the movies exist in a time and place where driving is still a centerpiece of cult…

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Charro! (1969) 48:25

5M ago48:25

48:25

We have made it to 1969, the final year of Elvis Presley's film career, and we're kicking things off with Charro! This means we have just two movies to go, but we may have finally accomplished something special: did we finally find a good tagline? We talk about how Charro! is a movie featuring no songs (other than the title/theme song) sung by Elvi…

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Megalopolis (2024) 1:30:57

6M ago1:30:57

1:30:57

We pledge allegiance to our human family, and to all the species that we protect, and to Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis! Joining us is Mark Hofmeyer (Movies, Films & Flix). First, we must begin by apologizing how hard this is to find and watch -- we explain why. We work our way through the twisted history of Megalopolis and Coppola's history of…

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a man asleep by georges perec 30:49

6M ago30:49

30:49

our penultimate book in the “you” module is a man asleep by georges perec, which is a return to form as it’s once again french as hell. we talk about how it compares to suicide by édouard levé and the malady of death by marguerite duras, as well as the refreshing nature of variation in the module. shreds talks about the other short story in the col…

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You Sign Your Mother's Day Painting with That Name? | Life in the Fast Lane #48 1:14:57

6M ago1:14:57

1:14:57

It’s time for another Life in the Fast Lane, and at long last, we’ve made it: today is the seventh. It’s Tokyo Drift Minute #14, and it’s time to explore who Major Boswell (Brian Goodman) is. Also: Joe has a new thought on the seventh debate. Also: the 2 Fast 2 Forever Hall of Fame voting is now open! Vote here. We Run the VIN and discover that he’…

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D.E.B.S. (2004) 1:15:42

6M ago1:15:42

1:15:42

Leesa Charlotte (Sweetbitter Podcast) returns to the show to talk about Jordana Brewster and Devon Aoki in D.E.B.S.! After Lisa gives us a brief history of gay cinema, Joey talks about Holland Taylor in Bosom Buddies. We admire Jordana Brewster as the villainous Lucy Diamond (especially her lip syncing scene) in a role that finally lets her have fu…

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the night circus by erin morgenstern 41:59

6M ago41:59

41:59

our “you” module is winding down, so it feels like the perfect time to cover a book that shouldn’t be in the module at all: the night circus by erin morgenstern. first, though, we talk about the film magazine dreams (with heavy spoilers): what makes it a mess, what went wrong, and how shreds would have ended the movie. then, we pivot to the night c…

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Please... #FuelFest | Life in the Fast Lane #47 52:51

6M ago52:51

52:51

It's time for another Fast Lane, and this one comes with potentially lore-changing implications. Please... We kick things off as Joey messes up -- and catches himself -- and then messes up again -- and doesn't notice until he edited the episode. Joe tells a story about accidental Pittsburgh pride in Tokyo. We confirm a long-suspected mystery about …

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Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) 1:04:25

6M ago1:04:25

1:04:25

Viva Pod Vegas returns with Live a Little, Love a Little -- Elvis's third and final film from 1968, and one of his most fun to date! After reading some emails suggesting things to cover in our near future -- and asking if Elvis love dogs more than anything else -- we run through the film's six (!) taglines, which Mike finds issue with. We talk abou…

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Furious 7 (Lap 15) 1:07:19

6M ago1:07:19

1:07:19

Jordan Polan-Clarke returns to the show to talk about Furious 7 (and the narrative complexity added to the franchise by this movie)! After talking about how a Star Wars-esque scroll could work to abbreviate this film's opening, we look this film up on RunPee and wonder what Deckard has against hospitals and emergency wards. Jordan shares her favori…