This used to be my favorite podcast. Now after a hiatus, the reboot is mostly repairing previous episodes, and then an update.

We all change and grow. I loved the original Strangers. The new iteration and the many self-absorbed chapters in between do not have the same magic.

I just listened to both of the episodes with Joshua Safran. The first one was amazing. Hearing his incredible story was healing. I was extremely disappointed in your follow-up conversation. You seemed to be only interested in his political opinions and quickly put him in a different category than you are in. You were preaching there are two sides to every story and you didn’t give him that grace. Instead of trying to understand, your guard seemed completely up and you were completely lacking empathy. I consider myself left-wing, so I understand how this conversation can be triggering. But to me, you dehumanized him. And that’s not okay. We are more than just political parties. This man has done a lot of advocacy and helped a lot of people and doesn’t deserve to be painted as a bad person because of differing opinions.

So I started listening to your podcasts about 14 years ago when you were recording STRANGERS. You were my original experience to podcast listening. Back then I enjoyed your raw honesty and stories about your life. Ya, you and Paul…etc Since then I have enjoyed listening to many different podcasts from reality, true crime and stories to help me sleep. I lost touch with you until one day I happen to find you again and thought I’d give you another try since I enjoyed listening to you so much in the past. And boy was I disappointed. I guess I didn’t realize what a liberal and opinionated person you were (are). I guess before TRUMP was elected our president there wasn’t much content for you to bash the Republican Party and our leaders. I’ve given you another try since I discovered this about you and yep same thing. I am not interested in your negativity and harsh opinions! So I’ll move on to podcasts that are more positive and give me more joy…..

I’m so happy she is back to podcasting after a long hiatus. My husband and I used to LOVE strangers and this series seems it will be similar.

Whatever story Lea wants to tell I want to listen! I deeply appreciate her perspective vulnerability and her curiosity. It's always genuine and human centered. Her stories make me feel less alone in this big wide world.

Thank you for coming back! I’d forgotten just how much I LOVED your stories & commentary about the stories. Thank you again!

Lea details all her efforts in a way that sounds effortless. A thoroughly pleasant, quirky, and captivating listen. Thanks for coming back!

I tried so hard to like this and couldn’t even get through the second episode. I loved Strangers and am not sure what has happened to Lea, but her self absorption and the lack of any narrative tension — any actual storytelling other than the minutiae of her own life — make this show a huge slog. There is something about her that is so negative, complainy and self absorbed, I don’t think podcasting is her strength anymore, sadly. I didn’t want to undermine her efforts with a bad review but listening to this was so unbearable I felt obligated to warn others.

I’ve missed Lea Thau’s work for so many yrs. Her voice is so comforting to listen to. Her stories — so captivating. You have my undivided attention and support Lea! Squeeeeee!

An adventure begins and I can’t wait to follow you, Lea, through this next chapter. Loved the music integrated in this episode and, as always, humanity and authenticity radiate through every bit of this audio ethnography. So great to hear Lea’s voice again. ❤️

I somehow found out about this, maybe from Stitcher and the related podcasts from another podcast. Binge listen situation

Just came across the show and binging all the episodes. Each episode makes me want more.

Fascinating series and would love to hear more.

For everyone saying please come back the show is still going. It’s just behind a paywall on supercast. Same name just search strangers.

Why only 11 episodes? Great story telling! Please add more lol :)

We are with you Lea ❤️ just working on myself and getting through some personal struggles, as I patiently wait your return, in your time.

Please come back to us!!!

We need you back in action, queen.

I absolutely adore every single episode. I never ever re-listen to podcasts, however that changed when I discovered you! I can listen over and over because your voice and the voices you bring to your show are so beautiful and special and meaningful. Thank you for sharing your talents and especially your personal stories and experiences that are deeply inspiring and so very real.

Most recent episodes about your early life have been enthralling. Well worth the price of subscription.

Just to start, your voice is mesmerizing. One of my top 5! Listening to these stories has me realize a lot about my own life. I’m counting my blessings. Thank you for this amazing podcast.

Love, love this podcast too bad it’s gone. Are you angry at some people from The Moth? You could recreate or continue this podcast and do better then any other one around, you are so talented please comeback.🙏

She’s an incredible interviewer and storyteller. I miss the stories so much! Please share more stories. I have been patiently waiting.

Luv the podcast but feel like I’ve been waiting forever for new episodes please make more!!

The stories in this podcast are so captivating and well told. I hope there will be more episodes sometime!

Lea, host of the Strangers podcast, highlights all aspects of life, growth and more in this can’t miss podcast! The host and expert guests offer insightful advice and information that is helpful to anyone that listens!

Lea, host of the Strangers podcast, highlights all aspects of people’s lives, stories and more in this can’t miss podcast! The host and expert guests offer insightful advice and information that is helpful to anyone that listens!

Please come back

Let’s go Leah! Miss you! Time to get back into it!

I discovered this podcast last week and I am sad to have already finished all of the episodes!! I can’t wait for new episodes! Great work

Lea your transparency is fascinating and much appreciated. I find it refreshing when you talk about your struggles in the moment without knowing where it will go. This pod is fantastic. Best of luck on your journey. I will be listening.

I was reading some of the bad reviews in this and just wow people are such buttholes. I really love this show. Lea is so passionate and real. And yes she does whine sometimes but I love that too because it’s real. There are struggles when your doing work that is an art and work that you enjoy. Usually work that you enjoy doesn’t pay a lot but takes so much passion, effort, time, and energy. Her Patreon episodes are great and I happily support her as a patron. She doesn’t flood you with adds even in the nonpatreon page. I just started a podcast myself and it takes so much time and writing and rewriting editing recording and re-recording. I appreciate Lea’s hard work in putting something together that I can enjoy and listen to and learn from. All her stories are so powerful and eye opening and told in a much different style that I’m used to. This podcast feels real. Lea feels like a friend I know. I feel like I’ve learned so much more about the world.

This podcast is hands down one of my favorites. Heart felt, full of souls, wonderful storytelling and always interesting. Listen! Please! You won’t regret it! So happy she is back, no one else could do it better. Get pushing through, we need this podcast in this crazy world.

And she’s back! I appreciate your vulnerability about the last few years. I’m here for the growth (yours and mine) ❤️🙏🏽

I missed you!

Lea, I love the stories you share and truly appreciate the work that goes into making them. Just subscribed through Patreon because I don’t want to miss a thing!

Enjoyable and intelligent listening ... great audio accompaniment to life. Lea Thau is a pioneer in the art of story telling ... her series on kidney donation was awesomeness and impactful ... holds up as the best podcast I have heard. Psyched Lea Thau is creating new content!

The people and stories that Strangers choose to highlight always seem to move me deeply. The episodes remind me of New Yorker articles, where I start out thinking, “uhh, do I really want to commit 40 minutes to someone who jumps off bridges?” But by the end, I’m blown away and recommending it to everyone I come across and researching the new things I’ve learned.

I saw that Strangers was recommended to me and thought that I would give it another try. Ugh - I forgot how pathetic, desperate and self indulgent Lea is. If you want a real storytelling podcast try Heavyweight or Invisibilia. And the Patreon “I want to be an artist and need to protect my children so I need a paywall, but don’t worry it’s only $1” conceit is painful in its hypocrisy.

It’s sad and difficult to listen to this host describe her deceptive behavior and thirst for drama with so little self-awareness.

I’ve followed Strangers since it joined Radiotopia, and greatly resonated with the Love Hurts episodes. I was so struck by her vulnerability and bravery to ask her past lovers what went wrong. She’s a fantastic, introspective and compassionate storyteller who takes you through the emotional process of creating. Since I’m a writer myself, I find her neuroses and occasional self doubt relatable. However, I can understand how her handwringing could come off as obnoxious to people who prefer podcasts where the host is not part of (and sometimes the entire) story. If you like authentic, introspective storytelling then this could be your jam too. I’m so glad that she’s back and I’m happy to support her talent through Patreon. I was balling at the episode about her friend, Anja. I’m rooting for Lea, and I’m grateful she shares her journey and the interesting stories she comes across with us.

I have followed Lea for years and recently became a Patreon. All I can say is Just Listen.

I’m so sad! I was looking for the Jack episodes. Ugh. I want you to come back!! This is my favorite podcast and would love it if you continued!! Came to write a new review to say “YAY! You’re back!! Please PLEASE keep doing these.”

The narrator took a good podcast concept and totally ruined it with her narcissism and whining. I’ve also had a hard couple of years- but don’t think my personal problems make a good podcast or that anyone should care. Lea’s problems are easily the least interesting of anyone one the planet. If she still wants to make a podcast she needs to start new - this one is over.

I’ve listened to a lot of the episodes and, while they often address interesting topics, the way that the narrative is so centered around the host is difficult to put up with. The general format is good and the host seems both kind and competent. However, too often there is always a moment when the host reframes the story around herself and her own impressions. In the early episodes, when the concept of the show uses her life changes a a springboard for social exploration, that’s totally ok. But as the podcast takes on broader topics, it begins to feel more and more like her own diary where she records her own surprises and insecurities rather than a medium for showcasing a diversity of opinion and worldview. While sharing her own views, she says a lot of things that highlight her seemingly total unawareness of what it is like to live outside of a life of material and political privilege, saying things that I find tone deaf and often inadvertently offensive. To make matters worse, anytime listeners point this out, she uses too much air time of the next episode apologizing and talking about what a bad person she is. I finally unsubscribed about a year ago when an entire episode was just her musing about why she is sad when her life is otherwise perfect, crying and getting her partner to reassure her that she isn’t a bad person. Hard pass! It’s a shame that this show has some real gems but they get lost in the swamp of the host’s own ego. The podcast could really benefit from having a harsh outside editor that edits for content rather than just cutting tape together.

Why keep saying something is coming if nothing comes. A few years ago you said you weren’t going to do so much about your drama yet the one episode you put out recently went on about you. It’s humorous at this point.

I can’t wait for more episodes .

I got ready to write a review and see I had written one back in 2018 where I said "Lea Thau is a gem." I still love her show, even though she dropped off the grid for about 2 years. I now pay Patreon $2.50/month (the lowest subscription rate for her show is only $1/month) because itis so good. She is a million times better than similar "concepts," such as "Death, Sex, and Money," the WNYC show with Anna Sale. The latter show gets lamer every day, whereas Thau is someone who continues to have uncompromising principles, integrity, is amazingly talented and genuinely interested in people and the world. Anna Sale, on the other hand, ever since she moved to California and had a baby (or two) turns out a weak, lazy show that is just boring and I wish WNYC would kill it.

Strangers used to be my favorite podcast - the first one I discovered on my own. I was so sad when it disappeared and often checked back for an update. Well it’s back but in Lea’s own words it’s being prepared for Patreon. I listen to a lot of podcasts and never have I heard a host whine so much about needing money, even to complain about the twenty cents on the dollar and waste show minutes breaking down all the different levels of support. Tacky - and gross that we are being asked to pay for older back catalogue. On top of that seems like the freebie episodes are mostly the Lea show, ugh, no thanks. I have to agree with the reviewer who calls it an incoherent, narcissistic mess. Sad to say, but I’m done with Strangers.