The 14 Best Reply All Episodes

Last updated on May 6th, 2019

Few podcasts have found such a perfect balance between deep, relevant investigative reporting  and hilarious, off-the-cuff dialogue as Gimlet Media’s Reply All. Hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman, the five-year-old show has gained a cult following for its stories about the internet and life online. In addition to well-researched stories about odd corners of the web, there are also recurring segments like “Super Tech Support” where Goldman tries his best to solve bizarre tech problems, or “Yes Yes No” where Vogt and Goldman explain memes, Tweets and other oddities to Gimlet co-founder Alex Blumberg. Though it was difficult, we were able to narrow it down to (what we feel) are the best Reply All episodes to date.

Despite the techie topics, Reply All is hardly a “tech podcast,” and you will never hear product reviews, startup gossip or even anything too technical. The real focus of the show is how technology influences people, and how people influence technology, and stories always have a human aspect. The hosts are as concerned in how certain digital problems are affecting the people involved as they are in actually figuring out what the solution is.  

You can listen to all 130+ episodes of Reply All at gimletmedia.com/reply-all. The show is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, with new episodes released on Thursdays.

1. Long Distance, Parts I and II

Episode 102, July 27, 2017

Episode 103, August 3, 2017

Episode 102 and 103 of Reply All show how the podcast has managed to set itself apart from other similar shows. After getting a bit too invested in a scam call from India, host Alex Goldman does what any adventurous podcaster would do and books a flight to Delhi to track the caller down. What follows is a true story that feels almost like fiction, a true radio adventure for the 21st century.

Reply All has done a few similar episodes on scam calls and robocalls, including a recent look at how robocalling has found a place in the healthcare industry (#135 “Robocall: Bang Bang”), but the effort and risk in this pair of episodes sets “Long Distance” apart. So often, internet reporting takes place from behind a computer, but Goldman proves that to truly get to the bottom of something you need to dig a little deeper.

2. Today’s The Day

Episode 36, August 27, 2015

Podcast hosts and editors will love this beautifully-produced piece of radio storytelling where Vogt and Goldman decide to go outside for a day. After an interview falls through, the two co-hosts go on an adventure through New York City that takes them all the way from Central Park to Coney Island. It is a truly special piece of radio that shows off Vogt and Goldman’s friendship and proves how their chemistry has made their podcast so successful.

3. The Russian Passenger

Episode 91, March 2, 2017

The perfect episode of Reply All is one where Vogt and Goldman dive into a tech problem and the listener immediately can relate it to an issue they faced, or heard about a friend having. “The Russian Passenger” is an investigation into how Alex Blumberg’s Uber account was hacked, digging deep into common and easily solvable problem. As the hosts go through possible causes for the hack and consult an expert to get a more complete answer, Vogt and Goldman share truly helpful information about the benefits of password managers and how to avoid being hacked yourself.

This episode continues with two follow up episodes, #93 “Beward All” and #111 “The Return of the Russian Passenger” that actually reveal how the account got hacked.

4. Exit & Return, Parts I and II

#23, May 7, 2015, #24, May 14, 2015

Above all else, Reply All is a podcast about people interacting with the Internet, and this pair of episodes about Hasidic Jewish man reflecting on his first introduction to the Internet perfectly captures the human experience of life online. The two episodes, produced by Sruthi Pinnamaneni, at times felt more like episodes of This American Life because of their deeply personal nature.

At the beginning of the episode, Goldman introduces the episode as “a story of the internet destroying someone’s life completely” and then “the internet transforming someone’s life for the better.” What follows is an emotional look into not only the role of the Internet in Hasidic communities, but also introduces corners of the Hasidic web that listeners probably did not even know existed.

5. Shine On You Crazy Goldman

#44, November 5, 2015

This is the episode where PJ Vogt and producer Phia Bennin microdose on LSD and report on if it could bring about positive change in their lives. The conclusion is that it is probably not a habit they will continue, but the reporting gives a better perspective and more insight into microdosing than most over coverage that was happening on the trend at the time.

Unlike so many gonzo reports on drug use, this is not about Vogt and Bennin proving they are “cool” or trying out a trendy drug just for the thrill of it. Instead, there is a clear objective to see if in fact LSD microdoses can lead to more productive work days. The show starts with an interview with a psychedelic researcher and manages to stay educational and insightful, despite the trippy topic.

6. Lost In A Cab

#76, September 8, 2016

Another episode of “Super Tech Support” that takes Alex Goldman offline and into the real world to investigate, this episode revolves around trying to track down a camera that was left behind in a New York City taxicab. After explaining some of the bureaucracy of New York City taxis, including the massive Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) and a semi-affiliated website called, YellowCabNYC.com, Goldman realizes just how hard it is to not only recover items lost in taxis, but also get even the simplest answer from the TLC.

The story takes an unexpected twist when Vogt shares an anecdote about Delta Airlines that turns out to have more in common with taxis than either host expected. As the episode continues, Goldman and Vogt share their findings on how taxis, airlines and other online customer service forms and lines have come to be and the role that Google ad search may be playing in making it impossible to get your questions answered.

7. Why Is Mason Reese Crying?

#16, March 18, 2015

Jonathan Goldstein is the affable host of storytelling podcast Heavyweight, and in this early episode of Reply All he stepped in to offer a similar look into the life of former child actor Mason Reese. Goldstein also spent several years reporting for This American Life and is known for his weird, sometimes too personal looks into the lives of regular Americans.

In this story, he noticed a series of videos being uploaded to Youtube that featured Mason Reese, and were uploaded by Reese himself. Taken aback by why a former child actor would be uploading his whole archive of work to Youtube some 40 years later, Goldstein tracks down the now 53-year-old and asks. The resulting conversation with Reese is an open and honest reflection on falling out of childhood fame.

8. Apocalypse Soon

#114, January 18, 2018

In “Yes Yes No” episodes, Goldman and Vogt bring in a guest, usually Gimlet co-founder Alex Blumberg, and explain a certain aspect of the internet to them. The episodes begin with the guest explaining what something they encountered on the internet, and the group going around and saying if they understand it (thus, “Yes, Yes, No.”

This episode from 2018 stands out because of just how much Internet trivia gets touched on as Goldman and Vogt dive into a semi-viral Tweet that features references to Logan Paul, Tide Pods, Smash Mouth and more. While most of the memes and cultural moments mentioned in the episode have come and gone, the hilarity that ensues as the hosts peel back the layers of the Tweet still make for a great listen.  

9. Reply All’s 2018 Year End Extravaganza

#133, December 20, 2018

While the first half of this show where Vogt, Goldman and some of the show’s other producers check-in and update listeners on stories from the year is certainly worth a listen, it is the final fifteen minutes of the show that hit the hardest. From time to time, Reply All has opened up their phone lines for calls from listeners on a wide range of topics. To close out the year end extravaganza, a collection of calls from listeners in remote, lonely or unexpected places is played.

The calls take us to the mountains of Ethiopia, the coast of India and a wooden bridge near Melbourne, Australia. It is a short segment but the messages Reply All received are moving, inspiring and heartbreaking. Bringing together a collection of calls from isolated places also has a profound effect on listeners, who somehow feel like they are able to join the caller in that place. In the end, it can make everyone feel less alone.

10. The Takeover

#29, June 25, 2015

17-year-old Thomas Oscar is the subject of this story, which details to rise and decline of Stackswell and Co., a totally made up company that Oscar imagined up in the form of a Facebook group. After putting out a call for applications and “hiring” his friends, the teenager from Australia enjoyed several months of mundane office role-play before noticing that the group, which essentially served as a digital meeting room for the fake company, was skyrocketing in popularity. New members were requesting to join, applying for jobs if you will, and changing the tone of Oscar’s dull online office place.

After a new member introduces a swarm of imaginary iguanas to the office, Oscar loses it and the whole company goes spiraling down. What is discussed in “The Takeover” is not so much a pressing issue of the Internet, but instead a great example of how the web can bring us together and also tear us apart. It is a sweet, humorous story with just enough at stake to matter.

11. Zardulu

#56, February 25, 2016

Everyone remembers Pizza Rat, the viral rodent that was seen crawling through the New York City subway with a slice in hand, but few know the real story behind that image. In this episode, Vogt and Goldman attempt to track down the illusive Zardulu, the performance artist who has taken responsibility for the viral moment and alleged it was staged. Described by Vogt as an “art villain,” the story shares Zardulu’s background and features interviews with New Yorkers that were involved in the Pizza Rat scheme and other viral rat attempts.

One of the highlights of the show is Vogt’s description of what Zardulu actually looks like from a photograph a source provided. Although Vogt and Goldman never get the interview with Zardulu that they so desperately want, their reporting is fun, revealing and feels like it is getting much closer to the truth than lots of the other news about Zardulu that came out when it was first introduced that Pizza Rat may be a hoax.

12. The Snapchat Thief

#130, November 8, 2018

Revolving around the story of Lizzie, a Snapchat user whose account was hacked and “hijacked,” this episode goes deep into the world of OG handles and SIM swapping. If those terms are new to you, don’t worry. Reply All is here to explain it.

After getting locked out of her Snapchat account, Lizzie consulted Goldman to see if he could get to the source of the hack. Lizzie’s Snapchat username was “lizard,” meaning it was an OG handle, or a rare, single word handle without any numbers, shorthands or other complexities. Goldman’s research puts him in contact with a group of European teenagers who track down OG handles that may be hackable, lock out the original user and then resell the username. The episode ends with an especially satisfying conclusion and has a great balance between technical insight and detail and personal narrative.