Maybe Baby
The Maybe Baby podcast is a mixed bag of interviews, advice, and unfiltered thoughts on the topics of culture, politics, the internet, and being alive. It's a supplement to a weekly written newsletter. New episodes are released every Wednesday.
Episodes
Dear Danny: My bf's addicted to junk food
Today we’ve got: a recently out queer person who’s new partner is pressuring them to become poly for political reasons, a friend who’s gone “eyebrow blind,” a boyfriend who recently confessed to being a “deeply closeted bisexual,” a toxic ex our questioner wants to sleep with, an in-law’s mortgage gift offer gone wrong, and finally a boyfriend who eats so much junk food it’s giving our questioner
#237: Blame it on the beauty industry
Hey!Last week I wrote about personal and political scapegoats and the heaven/hell of having something to blame all your problems on. The original inspiration for that essay was, randomly, a recent experience I had taking a new license photo, which had me thinking about the beauty industry in a new way, as a kind of scapegoat industrial complex. In the end, I didn’t mention beauty in the essay beca
Dear Danny: Should I get a boob job?
A forbidden work crush, a boyfriend who’s taking a new hobby too seriously, an “overprotective” boyfriend, a hot guy who isn’t good in bed, a woman questioning whether to get a boob job, and a meet-cute involving rabies. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit haleynahman.substack.com/subscribe
Dear Danny: Can we discuss my friend's selfie face?
Hey!Welcome back to Dear Danny. Today we’ve got seven questions: On an unfortunate selfie face (obviously we talk about this for like 30 minutes), an ill-conceived butt slap, a semantic in-law problem, a fear-of-authoritarianism relationship gap, a nose-picking coworker, a friend fully ignoring another friend’s pregnancy, and a married neighbor who won’t stop hitting on our question asker. Great q
Dear Danny: How do I make peace with marrying the wrong guy?
Hey!Welcome back to Dear Danny. Today we chit chat for a loooong time then answer six reader questions. We discuss:* a meet-cute-gone-wrong (when she finds his Instagram)* how much a woman can expect her husband to change his lifestyle when they’re trying to get pregnant (and his semen analysis was so-so)* whether it’s gauche to invite yourself to social events* what to do when you’re several year
Dear Danny: Should my boyfriend give me money?
Ladies (gender-inclusive),It’s that time of the month! Danny’s back and we’re answering seven questions today. We have a will-they-won’t-they (on a trivia team), stoner in-laws who want to take care of the baby, a new kind of depression, a little choir drama, an annoying friend who wants to take a roadtrip, a guy who won’t help out his broke girlfriend, and someone who’s being extorted by her mail
🎧Voice Note: Before you set a resolution
Hello!So happy to be back with a Voice Note, a.k.a. solo podcast, for the first time in a while. This week I’m talking about a big lesson I learned last year (in my case about childcare) that might be relevant as you think about setting goals or resolutions for 2025.Missed you,Haley This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visi
🎧Dear Danny: Decoding the love-bomber
Hello and welcome back to Dear Danny!Today we’ll be discussing the ethical boundaries of “boys night,” who should foot the bill on a date, the complexities of addiction inside a relationship, the reason men love-bomb (from a love-bomber himself), how to handle a relative falling for a romance scam, and a bachelor trip gone sus. Reallllly good questions everyone. We love you so much.Also, if you’re
🎧Dear Danny: The in-law episode
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit haleynahman.substack.comHey!It’s mid-month which means it’s time for Danny and me to answer your burning questions. So hard to choose. This round we picked six: On navigating PMS-inspired fights (when you don’t want your feelings invalidated but also know you’re being a little cuckoo), how to have a serious reckoning with some difficult
🎧Dear Danny: Can I innocently cheat?
Hi!Welcome back to Dear Danny. Today we’ve got NINE questions to answer: on “innocent” cheating, a boyfriend with a coke habit, a clingy coworker, a 12-year relationship that’s never felt exactly right, a friends-to-lovers arc, three separate questions on sex-troubled relationships, and a regretful ex-boyfriend. So much to cover so little time! Thank you as always for trusting us with your great q
🎧Dear Danny: Should I end my relationship?
Hey!Welcome back to Dear Danny. Today we’ve got: an anxious husband, a bad kisser, a two-year breakup pattern, a move-in crisis, a narcissistic brother, a boring relationship, and the mystery of love! I already published the introduction to this episode on the 3rd, so we’re going to be diving straight in. I apologize for the diarrhea story—was ultimately a non sequitur.Thanks for listening,Haleyp.
🎧 Expectations vs reality: baby edition
Hey!As a followup to my conversation with Harling and Crystal, I wanted to hone in on my most frequently asked question: What’s surprised me about motherhood? In this episode I tell you nine things about having a baby that have turned out totally different than I expected, in good ways and bad.Also curious to hear your own answers to this question, or reactions to mine!Thanks for listening,Haleyp.
🎧 Baby gossip (w/ Harling & Crystal)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit haleynahman.substack.comHi!!I’m back on the sauce (listening to my own voice a sickening amount). Kicking things off with an episode about having a baby, with my friends Harling and Crystal, who also just had babies. I do want to apologize for talking about our buttholes, but certain things needed to be said. This will be a 2-part conve
🎧Dear Danny: Am I allowed to want abs?
Hey!Your boy is back this week for an extra long round of Dear Danny. As I mentioned this past Sunday, today we’ll be answering four written questions and two call-ins that cover what to do when a joyful relationship with food and exercise becomes haunted by the pursuit of abs, why an open relationship might seem fun in theory then feel terrifying in practice, whether cheating “hall passes” are re
🎧 Dear Danny: Should I move to the sea?
Hello!It’s time for another episode of Dear Danny. Today we’ll be answering questions about whether sexual attraction is 100% necessary at the beginning of a relationship, what to do if your friends are never on time, what to do if you see your romantic partner do something TRULY DISGUSTING (this one had us dying), how to deal with ennui about where you live, and whether it matters if you dislike
🎧: The morality of the influencer
Hello!I got a great question in my Dear Baby bank last month that felt better suited to a solo podcast than my written column, so I’ve decided to dedicate an entire episode to it. It concerns influencing, sponcon, advertising, selling out, and what constitutes a morally impactful choice in any of those realms. This episode is sort of a sequel to my answer to last month’s question about navigating
🎧: A big Q&A about “trying”
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit haleynahman.substack.comHey!After revealing on Sunday that Avi and I are trying to have a kid, I am finally prepared to unload the 1,000+ thoughts I have on this process, the decisions that led to it, and what I’ve learned since I started. I have neverrrrrr recorded this long of a solo podcast. I had so many things to stay I was literal
🎧 Dear Danny: Should I rat out my boss?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit haleynahman.substack.comHey!Welcome to another episode of Dear Danny, Danny’s-on-a-haunted-ranch edition. Today we’ll be answering six questions, about asymmetrical friendships, whether to rat out a lying boss, an ethical-non-monagomy-related pickle, how to trust yourself, how to deal with friends who won’t stop talking about the same p
🎧 Dear Danny: Does romance count if you're high?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit haleynahman.substack.comHey!It’s Dear Danny time. This week we’re answering questions about friend envy, birthday sadness, romance on drugs, regrettable favors, body hair, and falling in love with a friend.Thanks for listening,Haley
🎧 Voice Note: The false promise of "settling down"
Hi!Back with a Voice Note today about aging, and especially the cultural scripts around what happens as you do it. On Sunday I mentioned that my 30s have been more dynamic than cultural scripts indicated they would, and in this episode I talk more about what I meant by that. This is not a diatribe about what it means to be any particular age, but rather what I think it means to age (a.k.a. continu
🎧 The Nathan Fielder Rorschach test
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit haleynahman.substack.comThis week I invited Avi and Harling back on the podcast to debrief on Nathan Fielder’s new show The Rehearsal and all the dramatic discourse surrounding it. Two pieces we reference are “The Cruel and Arrogant Gaze of Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal,” by Richard Brody for The New Yorker and “Missed Connections: How
🎧: Secret daydreams, w/ Harling Ross
Good morning,I asked my good friend Harling Ross to come back onto the podcast today to discuss Leslie Jamison’s essay “Dreaming in Broad Daylight” for Astra Mag, which we both loved. This conversation is about the piece specifically, but also about what it means to write honestly (versus “authentically” or through confession), why a lot of modern writing falls short, and in the last segment, what
🎧 Dear Danny: I found my boyfriend's secret Twitter account
Hi!Danny’s back and rested up like a good boy. Today we have a full ep for you answering five questions: on finding a boyfriend’s secret Twitter account, on grappling with the politics of weddings, on dreading going to weddings, on the loneliness of living alone, and how to know if it’s worth committing to a partner forever. Thank you so much as always for calling in. Your messages literally make
🎧: Good luck & bad choices w/ Dr. Barry Schwartz
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hey!Very excited to welcome the psychologist Dr. Barry Schwartz to the podcast today. I first spoke with Barry for this piece I wrote for the Times (and loved him), and was super grate
🎧 Dear Danny: Is infidelity a deal-breaker?
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hey!Welcome back to Dear Danny, my podcast version of Dear Baby wherein my friend Danny and I discuss your questions and more. Today we’ll be talking about cologne, body image, infidel
🎧: Which celeb shall we project on today?
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hi!Welcome back to Pop Quiz, my semi-regular pop culture roundup, this time with returning expert Avi Bonnerjee and perfect human Michelle Uranowitz (maybe you remember her from this e
🎧 Dear Danny: Can we split the bill?
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hi!Today we’re back with another episode of Dear Danny, in which my friend Danny comes on to discuss and debate five reader questions with me. Up this week:* Do you think it's possible
🎧: 13 going on 34 w/ Avi
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hi!Today, random man Avi Bonnerjee comes on the pod to discuss this month’s Dear Baby newsletter, which covered woke culture, turning 30, going to therapy, putting out creative work wh
🎧: Who gets to be beautiful? w/ Jessica DeFino
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hey!This week I invited beauty critic Jessica DeFino on the pod to talk about beauty culture. This is a followup to my Sunday newsletter about beauty anxiety. We discuss everything fro
🎧: Spiraling: An Instagram Story
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hi!So happy to have on my friend Michelle Uranowitz this week to discuss Instagram. Michelle is an actor, filmmaker, and teacher, and I think you’ll love her as much as I do. In this e
🎧: Behind the scenes of couples therapy
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hey!Today’s episode is inspired by how earnestly I cried at the end of the second season of Couples Therapy last week (which just dropped on Showtime). If you’re not familiar, Couples
🎧 Dear Danny: Should I blow up my life?
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hey!My friend Danny is back for another round of Dear Danny, the darker-but-more-fun counterpart to Dear Baby, wherein the two of us review the questions and answers in my last advice
🎧: Marriage & kids (or neither) w/ Leslie Price
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hi!This week’s episode is about getting married and having kids, or choosing to do neither. I invited on my former editor and deadpan friend Leslie Price, who is both married and a par
🎧: "Good taste" versus "on trend" w/ Connie Wang
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hey!This week I brought on my friend Connie Wang, executive editor of Refinery29, to talk about consumerism and the pathologies we develop around what we buy. Connie is a cultural comm
🎧: F*****g up as a good thing w/ Verena von Pfetten (part 2)
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hi!Welcome back to part 2 of my convo with Verena von Pfetten. Dare I say who she is again…? Ok sure she’s the cofounder of Gossamer magazine, and a friend and mentor to me. She’s very
🎧: F*****g up as a good thing w/ Verena von Pfetten (part 1)
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hi!Excited to share part 1 of my conversation with Verena von Pfetten, cofounder of Gossamer magazine. Verena was my first-ever editor and has been a mentor to me over the past five ye
🎧: Good horny v. bad horny w/ Allison P Davis
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hey,This week I invited Allison P. Davis onto the podcast to talk about horniness! It would be really wild if I chose that topic arbitrarily but I didn’t: Allison is writing a book rig
🎧 Dear Danny: On virginity, dysmorphia, & fashion faux pas
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hi!So happy to say it’s time for another round of Dear Danny: my monthly visit with fan-favorite Daniel Nelson, where he weighs in on the questions I answered for Dear Baby. This time,
🎧: "Good on paper" relationships w/ Catherine Saint Siena (pt 2)
My Tuesday podcast is typically for paying subscriber of Maybe Baby, but I’ve just unlocked all my 2020 episodes as an end-of-year thank you. (Ty!) To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app” from your phone.Hello!Last week I aired part 1 of my conversation with my friend Catherine Saint Siena, which was about workism (shitty jobs, following dreams, living to work vs working to
🎧: How to work w/ Catherine Saint Siena (pt 1)
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hello!This week’s podcast is special because the guest is my friend and comedian Catherine Saint Siena, whom I was this close to starting a podcast with earlier this year before everyt
🎧: Big nepotism energy w/ Avi & Harling
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hello!Thrilled to share I’ve invited my team of pop culture analysts, Avi Bonnerjee and Harling Ross, back on the podcast today to discuss nepotism in America (especially Hollywood), i
🎧: How to be sad w/ Nora Taylor
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Good morning!Today I brought on my favorite sad girl, Nora Taylor, to discuss melancholy, sadness, and depression, as explored in my last newsletter, #32: Stimulants. But it’s also fun
🎧: Planet Hollywood w/ Laura Bannister
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Good morning!This week I brought on my friend and talented writer Laura Bannister to discuss the themes I explored in Sunday’s newsletter (#31: Lunacy), such as Looney Tunes, the US el
🎧: Dark & private thoughts ft. my siblings
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Good morning on this average Tuesday,This week I invited my favorite people in the world, Kelly and Andy Nahman, my older siblings, onto the podcast to discuss my last newsletter, #30:
🎧: Digesting internet snark w/ Alicia Kennedy
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hey!This week I brought on culture, food, and climate writer Alicia Kennedy to talk about what it’s like to be a semi-public figure (and receive public criticism), how to get yourself
🎧: The 'Emily in Paris' ep! Ft. Avi & Harling
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Coucou!Welcome to a special Emily in Paris extravaganza, featuring my boyfriend Avi Bonnerjee, lover of awful pop culture (and singer of today’s intro song), and good friend Harling Ro
🎧: Life, death, & internet haters, with T Wise
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week.Hello!This week I brought on my good friend and brilliant writer T Wise to talk about the themes in my last newsletter, #27: The pain/pleasure paradox. I met T when I was his editor at
🎧: Teen feelings w/ Amalie and my parents
You’re receiving my Tuesday podcast because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.” Then it should automatically populate there every week like a real girl.Hey everyone,The day has come…my parents are on the pod. Per a question I answered in my last newsletter, #25, I brought them on to discuss what it’s like to read my w
🎧: Unpacking Emrata's feminism w/ Mallory Rice
You’re receiving this email because you’re a paying subscriber of Maybe Baby. Thank you! This is my Tuesday weekly podcast. To listen in your preferred app, click “Listen in podcast app.”Hi!Thanks so much for all your thoughtful engagement under my last newsletter, “#24: The Emily Ratajkowski effect.” It’s been one of the more nerve-wracking but ultimately satisfying writing experiences I’ve had i
🎧 Talking s**t w/ the infamous Danny
G’day and welcome to the Maybe Baby podcast,In today’s episode I chat with my good friend Danny about everything from peeing in the shower to middle school style, fashion week, and the point of siblings (he’s an only child). Around the 20-minute mark we tell the famed story of when I took Danny to a fashion show, one of my favorite New York memories. I met Danny through my brother, Andy, whom we r
🎧: Avi & I talk death and David Blaine
The warmest and steamiest of hellos…Excited to share that not unlike my peers I have yet again recorded a podcast. This week I brought my boyfriend Avi back to discuss death, recklessness, and David Blaine, and for some reason I admit to cheating in college. Is it material that we didn’t change out of our pajamas until 4pm the day we recorded? Because that was the energy we were bringing. Also: I
🎧: A very (!) special episode, ft. Avi & Harling
Hi everyone!I’m really excited to share this week’s episode. Based on some feedback I received last week, I decided to take a different approach with the podcast this time and bring on some guests to talk about my last newsletter instead of just reading it alone in a dark cave. In #21: Dear Baby, which you received on Sunday, I answered five reader questions. Today I’ll be tackling three of them:
🎧: Who are you online?
What’s up!(Trying out a new greeting, lmk your thoughts.) I’m here to present you with the next episode of the Maybe Baby podcast, which includes a reading of #20: “Who are you online?” along with some truly off-the-leash monologuing. A question for you: Do you like hearing me talk out my recommendations? Sometimes I think they aren’t super conducive to audio explanation and I wonder whether peopl
🎧: Mystery calls
Hey (maybe) baby,Thanks for letting me email you twice in a week, I really appreciate that. Here’s the latest episode of the Maybe Baby podcast: It’s a reading of newsletter #19 + some extra context and excerpts that I didn’t include in the written version. Hope you enjoy! Please don’t tell Avi I just ate all the m&ms out of our trail mix.Love to your pinkies,Haleyp.s. a few people have asked me a
🎧: Notes for Therapy
Hi squirrels and chipmunks,So crazy to run into you here on a day like this. If you care to stop & chat, I have the next episode of the Maybe Baby podcast for you right here, and it’s hot off the presses of my bedroom. This time I’m reading #18: Notes for therapy, which you received in written form on Sunday. I also include, as always, a little eXtra conteXt. I will warn that due to the list forma
🎧: Xanax for the human condition
Hi! Welcome to Tuesdays with Morrie a.k.a. the Maybe Baby podcast. Pardon the slight delay on this—was having some technical issues! This week I’m doing a reading of #17: Xanax for the human condition, with the help of a brand new mic that makes me feel deeply professional. I also offer a little context behind why I wrote about nostalgia this week, and why I recommended some of the things I did (l
🎧: On Man Repeller, queerbaiting, and "the one"
Hello!Honored to be in your electronic mailbox this morning to share the fourth episode of the Maybe Baby podcast. This week includes a reading of the newsletter (#16) you received on Sunday. In it I answer these five reader questions:* How did you come to accept that you were ready for a major career change?* What are your thoughts about everything that went down at Man Repeller in June?* How can
🎧: An announcement about Maybe Baby
Hey everyone!‘Tis my plej and honor to present the third episode of the Maybe Baby podcast. This week I’m talking about my decision to “go paid” (lol) and exploring some criticism I received on my last newsletter. It also includes an audio reading of #15 and more context behind my recommendations, if that’s your kink. As you may know, this will be my last free podcast—if you want to receive it in
🎧: My brain is melting in suburbia
Good afternoon to you and the blobfish only!Excited to share episode two of the Maybe Baby podcast, now featuring music! (I watched a YouTube video on editing and am feeling EMPOWERED.) Just like last week, this is a reading of my latest newsletter, “My brain is melting in suburbia,” plus some extra thots & context. I can’t believe how hard it is to physically say “maybe baby” (almost a dealbreake
🎧: Guess what? I made a podcast recording of my last newsletter
Hi!Some people have expressed interest in listening to my newsletter instead of reading it, so starting today I’m going to experiment with sending an audio version a couple days after the written one. These recordings will always come with a little behind-the-scenes info on what I’ve written and some extra context around my recommendations, so whether you didn’t have time to read or just want to k
