#DeleteMonday with Dear Joan and Jericha

by Samyuktha Varma

I woke up one morning last December and decided that I had to cut my hair. I couldn’t bear the version of myself I was looking at, and that person seemed to have outgrown everything, her clothes, her taste in music, her love of black t-shirts…. her taste in podcasts?

The one thing podcasts are good at is making you grow deep attachments to hosts whose personalities and voices you come to depend on to take you to the mental spaces you need to go. Like when I need a little kick to remind me not to give into my escapism, I really rely on Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher’s Pivot to remind me to stay outraged and vigilant. And when I need to remember that there will soon be a time when I can go to a museum again, I listen to Katy Hessel’s The Great Women Artists Podcast. But what do you listen to when you have no idea what you want to listen to? Or when your routine has changed? Or when you feel like you’ve exhausted all of the things you were obsessed with and are facing a deep void?

For the past month, I’ve been in a state of hungry dissatisfaction, clicking around, never finishing a whole episode, scanning constantly, and reading reviews. I love my old podcast pals but until I find someone more in sync with my new, still unknown interests, I’m in limbo.

This past week I had some relief thanks to Radhika Viswanathan’s recommendation of Dear Joan and Jericha, which is a fictional, sexist, agony aunt, comedy podcast, (yes, that is the correct description) that is so shocking and so darkly funny, it sucked me right in.

It’s been exactly the right kind of serious nonsense for this weird time — the rinse and repeat life of COVID, the gloomy impact it’s had on women, and my confusion about who I am going to be with my new hair. I’ve started at the beginning and am three episodes in, so I recommend episode 1 where they help a 62 year old woman trying to spice up her sex life with her husband. While discussing ‘Celia’s’ options, they suggest that she uses her ‘AIDsy, nutty, gaunty look’ and ‘gender fluid-y’ appearance as part of the role play with her husband. I warned you, it’s mad!

You’ll be red-faced, confused, and then you’ll laugh madly, listening to Joan and Jericha offer their hilarious dry British wisdom confirming women’s worst fears, and supporting all filthy regressive ideas about women. I find it weirdly comforting and dare I say relieving, to not have to pretend that that’s not the world we live in.