💀 Can comedy and true crime mix?

Presented by Cozy Critters

🤖 You’ve Got to Be Better Than the New Easy Thing

Every creative revolution has its shortcut. The printing press made scribes obsolete. The camera made portrait painters nervous. Now, AI is making us wonder if using it is the only way to stay competitive in a creative field.

But here’s the truth: the easy thing has always existed. The difference now is that it’s faster, cheaper, and more ubiquitous.

So what do we do?

We get better than the easy thing.

AI can mimic your words, but it can’t mirror your weirdness. It can generate a story, but it can’t live one. Your edge isn’t efficiency. It’s experience.

So yes, use the tools. Let the robots fetch the groceries. But the soul work, the work that takes time, requires effort, and is uniquely ours? That’s still on us.

🎙️ Signal Flow: Jodi Tovay

Industry game changers and valiant minds share their wisdom, adversities, and paths to innovation.

Jodi Tovay is a four-time Emmy® Award-nominated and Telly Award-winning producer with more than 20 years of experience in true crime television, media, and documentary storytelling. After leaving her full-time job at Warner Brothers Discovery, Jodi took a vacation to Scotland and while seeking shelter from the rain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, she stumbled into a small pop-up comedy club. There, she discovered a new voice that would unexpectedly shape the next nine years of her life. Onstage was a little-known comedian named Edd Hedges, whose performance sparked more than just curiosity—it sparked a long and transformative journey.

Editor’s note: The following interview has been edited for flow and clarity.

The idea for Wisecrack started in the most unexpected way…while hiding from the rain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I ducked into a small pop-up comedy show, and onstage was this young British comedian named Edd Hedges.

He told a story that was dark, funny, raw, and completely alive. I’d spent years being told that crime and comedy don’t mix. But in that moment, I realized they absolutely can, if the storyteller is good enough. Edd proved that humor and tragedy can live side by side, the way they do in real life.

Nine years later, we’ve turned that spark into a limited true crime podcast that’s equal parts comedy special, thriller, and investigation. Finding the right balance between those tones was its own odyssey. We went through countless versions, trying different cuts, shifting beats, moving jokes, and rewriting narration. None of us knew if it was working. But that’s what creative risk looks like — a lot of trial, a lot of error, and a lot of play. You have to trick yourself into failing forward.

I think of it as a dance between structure and instinct. Every time something felt too light, we asked ourselves, Does this honor the real people in this story? Every time it got too heavy, we asked, Where’s the humanity? What guided us was Edd’s own storytelling, his ability to find humor in pain, to make you laugh and then gut you in the same breath. That rhythm became our compass.

I’m a television producer turned podcast producer. After two decades in true crime TV, I was drawn to podcasting because it strips storytelling down to its purest form. It’s just words and voices. There are no visual tricks to hide behind. You can hear truth (or the absence of it) in someone’s tone. That’s what I find so challenging and fascinating about this medium. You can’t fake authenticity in audio.

What I’ve learned is that podcasting gives you a kind of freedom that television rarely allows. The flexibility of working from a home studio, being able to record when inspiration strikes, it’s a gift. And I love that metrics are transparent. In TV, the numbers are guarded. In podcasts, you can see when people skip ads, where they stop listening, and what makes them stay. That data sharpens your storytelling. It’s not a mystery audience; it’s a relationship.

I’ve always preferred to stay behind the lens or the microphone. But when you create your own project, you become the free talent. There’s something both terrifying and liberating about that. Luckily, I had my dear friend and writer alongside me, providing the checks and balances I needed to stay honest. When it’s your own voice, you can lose perspective. Having someone you trust to say, “You’re overthinking it” or “You’re missing it” is everything.

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Of course, producing across countries added its own challenges. British law enforcement is far more private than in the U.S., and getting information through Freedom of Information requests was an uphill battle. They have a thousand ways to stall you. I learned quickly that persistence and creativity matter more than credentials. A friend taught me that you can sometimes FOIA private ambulance companies because they’re connected to the government. Tricks like that make all the difference.

It’s been years of chasing this story, building trust, earning access, and not giving up. When I first pitched this project, every network passed. They didn’t think comedy and true crime could coexist. I pitched it again and again, until finally, someone said yes. Then, years later, the people who said no came back and admitted, “We should’ve done that one.” That almost never happens in this business.

The creative risk I’m proudest of is how it ends. What became the emotional core of the story wasn’t the plan. The ending found us, not the other way around. It taught me the most valuable lesson in storytelling: listen to the material. It knows more than you do.

If I had one piece of advice for other creators, it’s this: don’t give up. Not when it’s hard, not when it’s quiet, not when every door is closed.

I started this nine years ago with nothing but an idea and a conviction that it mattered. It took years of pitching, rejection, and waiting for the right collaborators. But stories like this only happen if you refuse to let them go.

🎧 Podcast of the Week: The Anthropocene Reviewed

In The Anthropocene Reviewed, author John Green reviews different aspects of the human experience on a five-star scale, from sunsets to Diet Dr Pepper to the capacity for wonder. It’s part essay, part memoir, and entirely human. Every episode feels like a deep breath in the chaos of modern life, tender, funny, and quietly profound.

🥾 Further Exploration: The Truth About Audio-Only Podcasts in 2025

Curious whether audio-only podcasts are still a viable format in 2025? This article from The Podcast Host unpacks the data and reveals that while video can help some heavy hitters break through, many successful shows still thrive purely in audio.

ICYMI:

🪐 Inside the Star Trek podcast rewriting a legend

🎙️ Steve Burns’ podcast is full of clues about being human

💀 This true crime podcast puts you to sleep

💡 The Quiet Spark

A weekly question to ignite fresh thinking, stir self-reflection, and fuel your creative process behind the mic.

What part of your creative process feels the most alive? What part feels like routine?