A Lacanian friend suggested this podcast to me sometime late 2019/early 2020 and I immediately became hooked. Since then Todd and Ryan’s work has been massively influential in my theoretical and clinical formation. This podcast feels like sitting in on an intimate seminar in a way that’s refreshing for someone experiencing disillusionment with mainstream academia. It’s also refreshing to have a podcast that doesn’t constantly bombard you with sponsored messages. These guys do this as a passion project, and it shows in every aspect of the pod. Super grateful for this podcast and for Todd and Ryan’s labor.

not every ep is for me (love film, don’t love film theory, oddly enough) but this is the best theory podcast as far as thoughtfulness, HUMOR, entertainment value and grounding in culture goes that i’m aware of. Not much can get me to listen to men these days but this archive is such a comfort for me.

Fantastic show! Can’t stop listening and learning. As someone with misophonia, soooo many loud swallowing sounds ahhhhh lol

Always look forward to new episodes and have been listening to past ones — even the ones that seemingly are irrelevant to me or my interests like sports or Christmas movie end up generating questions and ideas for me that I wish I would earnestly pursue.

Why Theory is, without question, my favorite podcast. Todd and Ryan have that rare kind of chemistry that makes even the most difficult philosophical and psychoanalytic ideas feel alive, engaging, and surprisingly accessible without ever dumbing them down. There’s a rhythm between them—intellectually sharp, genuinely funny, and deeply human—that makes each episode feel less like a lecture and more like being invited into an ongoing conversation you can’t wait to keep listening to. What continually amazes me is their ability to take incredibly dense concepts—Lacan, Hegel, ideology critique, desire, enjoyment, subjectivity—and not only explain them clearly, but connect them to film, politics, culture, and everyday life in ways that suddenly make everything click. They don’t just teach theory; they demonstrate why theory matters. As both a person and a practicing psychotherapist, this podcast has made an indelible mark on me. It has shaped the way I think about desire, relationships, culture, and even the therapeutic encounter itself. Few podcasts have genuinely changed how I see the world. Why Theory has done exactly that. If you’ve ever thought big ideas were inaccessible or irrelevant, this podcast will completely change your mind.

Ever wondered how does cultural analysis sounds like? Listen to Ryan and Todd and make your day!

Just a reminder that these two make this podcast for free in their spare time. They never have any sponsors, ad breaks, and not even a patreon. If you leave a less than 4 star review and fail to mention that then you are not a deep thinker about what a review system is for. Perhaps they should do an episode about rating systems.

I listen to Why Theory regularly and find Todd’s input to be highly educational if not downright entertaining. I looked forward to this particular episode as I have watched The Family Man every year since its release. In fact, I have found it to be one of my favorite movies until recent years when, like alluded to in this episode, have found myself liking it less and less. I can’t tell you how incredibly disappointed I was as I listened to Ryan describe the scene in which Jack is going through the box of personal belongings given to him by Kate. I cannot believe someone who has seen the movie “millions” of times and purports to be a film aficionado say that the bottle Jack pulls out, inspects and smells is a bottle of alcohol! The power of that scene is that he pulls out a bottle of English Leather- a reference to their earlier life together at a time that only those who lived then would appreciate the cologne. Ryan’s credibility as a critic was sorely diminished. (I’m a bit surprised that Todd didn’t correct him!)

It's not Poe's fault police get a bum rap in mysteries, they really earned it.

Nuff said

How many times should 2 PhDs use the word “great” in an hour? These guys completely lack an evaluative-analytical vocabulary. They talk like undergrads or pseuds who think of their audience as dorm-dwellers. It would be “great” if they didn’t name drop Lacan without any attempt to explain the relevance. Very disappointing superficiality.

An invaluable podcast. Great at teaching/discussing so that people who are experts understand without not reducing the complexity of concepts. If I had heard this podcast in college, i would have studied psychoanalysis earlier

The show brings me a lot of joy even though they say be wary of stuff that makes you feel good. I guess I like it because it makes me feel smarter…

Can Ryan let Todd talk a bit more without interrupting him as much?

Such a great podcast if you are a lover of psychoanalysis and philosophy. Where’s their Patreon?? I want to give these guys some $$$

There’s a sharp thinker to learn from directly and a dull thinker to argue with in your head — powerful duo

My favorite part is the sexual tension

It’s a good show.

Been listening to this show for several years. The hosts have a way of explaining some pretty out there ideas in ways you can actually grasp even if you’re dumb like me. Also refining long familiar concepts you thought you understood but didn’t quite. And also go read Ryan’s piece on the techno feudal implications of streaming mentioned in the ep of 2/16/2025

Hegel explained by Casablanca, I wish I’d thought of that

i listened to all the episodes but they keep making more 👍 and i’m here for it

And would you please do an episode on Baby Reindeer?

Absolutely amazing podcast. The hosts are phenomenal ;) I would love their take on the Pittsburgh Hegelians (especially Brandom’s semantic reading of the intro to the Phenomenology).

Todd was a fantastic professor of mine at Southwest Texas State University…now Texas State Umiversity. So happy I found him here…happy to hear him again, etc. BRIAN W

But can we stop saying “like” twice in every sentence? Makes everything sound, like, American juvenile.

I started with this pod when it first came out and over the last several years I’ve been able to read more and more theory. Thanks to these guys who are also generous in their responses when I’ve asked.

I just listened to your Barbie podcast & to your point about freedom from responsibility in fascism, I’d like to recommend doing an episode on Steven King’s The Stand. King deftly explored this topic in this book from way back in ‘78. I think it’d make a great pod. Thanks

I often benefit from the clarity Ryan and Todd will shed on different corners of theory. Yet, they frequently segue into what sounds to me like basic MSNBC politics, which tends to snap me out of the experience because the connections seem tenuous, and I get the sense that the politics precede the theory and shape where they are willing to go with critique.

You guys have made reading philosophy so much less overwhelming for me and helped me see how fascinating theory can be. I really appreciate the recommendations, especially the filmic ones, so keep them coming. <3

I mean they’re just spewing absolute nonsense in both episodes. No original thought, just twitter regurgitations. It’s a shame because they’re obviously smart guys (at least in a certain type of way), but they’ve become absolutely delusional in the current climate

In listening to the Film Noir episode, I was disappointed to hear the bigoted, casually anti-Catholic references to Joseph Breen. Without the Production Code there would have been no Golden Age of Hollywood. It would have been 1974 in 1934. Not only would it have been bad for cinema if there was no Code, but it would have been a fractious dissolute culture that needed to face WWII and the conquering of the Depression.

Great program; I’d love to see these folks play ringolevio with the lads from Very Bad Wizards.

Five stars

McGowan and Engley are intelligent, intelligible, funny, informative, and entertaining all at once. If you guys ever made a Patreon, I’d be first in line to donate. Also I second whoever suggested an episode on Deacon Blues. Might be hard to wring an hour of content, but a theory approach to Steely Dan would be the coolest thing ever.

Someone suggested this already but I would like to add on if you can improve the sound quality, it is hard to hear, thanks

We need a Jung episode and it needs to be 5 hours long

Is there any way to boost the decibels of these recordings? It’s the only podcast I listen to that’s too quiet to listen to on the subway.

You guys should do a list episode. What’s the theory take on end-of-year lists? What’s on your list?

Are you going to deal with it??? Isn’t there theory about the fact that the ecology is collapsing around us?? Or it’s of no concern outside the Critical Theory Tenure Tower?

Amazing show. Wild how you can hear the hosts coming up with great ideas and reactions in real time. Or at least they make it sound like they are coming up with the ideas during the show? It’s about time Freud returned from the realm of the repressed

Love the podcast! I’m a psychoanalyst and philosophy professor so it was more or less made for me. Also, I got my undergraduate philosophy professor into the show and he’s loving it too. Only one weird thing and I don’t know if it’s Apple or some kind of internal resistance on my part but every time I subscribe to the show a few days later it’s gone and I have to add it again. This never happens with any other show, just this one.

Available on Plex

The episodes I’ve listened to anyway. I keep my ears pretty open. And I hear things here that I want to talk to people about that I don’t hear anywhere else.

Can y’all please provide more complete show notes that include the books, authors, films, etc., that you mention (sometimes in passing)? I would be eternally grateful.

Huge fan of your podcast. It’s made me a Lacanian. Can you guys dedicate an episode to Seminar X “Anxiety”? Can you explain Lacan’s graph of anxiety, which seems more successful at inducing anxiety than explaining it. If anything, I want to hear you guys discuss “the lack of the lack.”

Love the show- can y’all do one on work and leisure?

The hosts are knowledgeable and engaging. They cover a decent range of topics and are always entertaining.

Been a listener for a while and admittedly helped me on my journey to pursue being a lacan psychotherapist. But also I have a request if y’all could do a review and analysis of Julia Ducournau’s film Titane (2021). There’s a transgressive, transformation of bodies as well as so much more. It’s quite a dense film and one of the things that interested me was how it presented sublimating aggression and the desire of penetrating orafices. But yes would love to hear both of you guys thoughts on the film! Thanks as always for the great discussions; basketball tangents and all. 🤗✨

Overall probably my favorite philosophy or theory podcast. Todd and Ryan do a good job elucidating difficult ideas. They’ve gone a long way towards winning me over to Lacan/Hegelian thought. If I have to gripe, it would be that they tend to be too rigidly wedded to the Lacan/Hegel framework, and can seem a bit uncharitable to other lenses. I appreciate the proselytes zeal, but perhaps there is a willful confusing of the map for the territory at times. Still great and illuminating content.

Browns fan here. Congrats Todd. Now do Levinas.