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Slow Burn’s Leon Neyfakh leaving Slate to go solo with new venture

Leon Neyfakh is departing Slate. He announced his exit in a Twitter thread that was first picked up by Hot Pod. Neyfakh is a reporter as well as the host and narrator of the Slow Burn narrative podcast. He’s leaving to start a new show called Fiasco in partnership with “an innovative platform you’ll be hearing more about soon,” according to the tweets. Neyfakh will be working with producer Andrew Parsons and researcher Madeline Kaplan at this new venture.

“I’m excited to be heading into these new waters, and going independent at a time when podcasting is in the middle of what feels like a creative inflection point for the medium,” Neyfakh told Hot Pod. “There are going to be so many good podcasts coming out over the next few years! Andrew, Madeline, and I feel incredibly lucky to have a chance to make some of them, and to do so under our own shingle.”

Fiasco will have a similar premise to Slow Burn: “why the history we half-remember played out the way it did, and what marks it left on the world we live in.” It already has two seasons in the works, one about the Bush versus Gore presidential election and one about the Iran-Contra affair. Slate will retain the intellectual property for Slow Burn and will continue to release new episodes of the show next year with a new host.

Anna Washenko

One Comment

  1. Leon Neyfakh is a brilliantly talented chronicler of recent political history. He’s made some really memorable podcasts with Slate. Wishing him well in this great new venture…

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