WILD ABOUT WELLNESS
POOG Podcast with Jacqueline Novak + Kate Berlant
You might know Jacqueline Novak from her smash hit off-Broadway show, Get on Your Knees, a worldly, meandering take on the art of oral pleasure, or her appearances on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers. You might know Kate Berlant from Netflix’s The Characters, her extensive comedy touring, or her voice from Bojack Horseman and HBO’s Animals.
What you surely didn’t know? How wildly obsessed with wellness the two of them are.
From that mutual obsession came the seed for POOG. The preview for the podcast lays their mission out bare:
“Look, we’re healthy. We’re happy. We are not sick. Nonetheless, we’re looking to heal. Why? Y’know, we’re addicted to wellness. This is our hobby. This is our hell. This is our naked desire for free products. This is POOG.”
Whether they’re digging deep into the wisdom about yoga mats, the joys of serums, or the jiggly power-punch of a Theragun, nothing is off the wellness massage table.
Taking time away from balancing her chakras, Jacqueline recently caught us up on how POOG came to be:
How did the idea for POOG start? Was it something that you and Kate obsessed over?
JN: It was Kate’s idea, she had tweeted something to the effect. We were nude at a Korean bath house. We were going to saunas together near weekly, doing hydrotherapy. We got stronger each week in our efforts with the icy plunge pool, which was satisfying, to become old pros at the plunge pool. I had recently moved to LA. I tend to hide out and resist making plans, but Kate always wants to hang, and she realized she could always lure me out by suggesting we meet at a spa. Our seriousness made me laugh, the intensity of how we’d trade rumors back and forth about “I heard infrared light cooks you from the inside out…in a good way!” We realized we were both independently pursuing these things and there was ecstasy in discussing it.
How’s the feedback been on it? What are people loving?
JN: People seem to like that it’s one of the two-friends talking podcasts, fly on the wall to a conversation, which is good because that’s the only style we’re comfortable with. It’s that thing where “it’s about wellness, but it’s not about wellness.” Thank God. It’s more like wellness is the room we’re in or the store we’re strolling, while having the conversation that is POOG.
What is about wellness that makes it such a rich topic for discussion?
JN: Chasing healing, whether from a specific ailment or the human condition…is a wellspring, because it’s a never ending. You’re never satisfied or done. You get minor triumphs along the way with fixing small ailments, but they don’t make you, metaphorically, leave the pharmacy. Chasing larger healing isn’t something you’ll ever feel done with. You get to stay. They’ll have your business forever. They’ll never stop selling you shit, and that’s something you can rely on. It’s a joyful addiction to us, and laughing about it together, is probably the best version of us courting that addiction. Our eyes light up — we even stop blinking — when discussion of a new serum or supplement comes up. Feeling that spark of desire for something, especially knowing it won’t satisfy you, feels good. I prefer an endless cookie chase versus the small dark square of “satisfying” dark chocolate the magazines tell you to savor like the French. I don’t want satisfaction, I can be satisfied when I’m dead!
Where do you see wellness going from here? What’s the next frontier and how outlandish do you think it could get?
JN: Next frontier better be gadgets that help you astral project! Otherwise, I think medical research is gonna come through for us around certain things that currently seem fringe now. Like those red light, infrared therapy caps. They look absurd, but the medical research seems promising. I do enjoy the moment before something is mass produced or cheap, and you’re hunting for parts, trying to put together your own therapy lamp. It’s fun and dangerous!
Any favorite moments from the pod so far?
JN: I cried recently on an episode, which was good. People enjoy observing a cry and I’m happy to provide tears. I can always go get more.
New episodes of POOG drop every Tuesday. For a taste of what it’s like, check out Jacqueline and Kate’s recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers:
