As some podcast companies that have been throwing big offers at talent during the past several years have pulled back, it is opening an opportunity for others. Lemonada Media is among those taking advantage of the changing market. After inking deals with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Meghan Markle, it is adding actor and author David Duchovny to its roster. Duchovny will launch his first podcast called Fail Better this spring.
The series will fit nicely into Lemonada’s “make life suck less” content strategy. It says the podcast will see Duchovny sitting down with guests to explore the topic of failure in all its forms, from the professional to the personal, and the ways in which failure, shame, and falling short shaped his life and that of others. Confirmed guests include actor Ben Stiller, singer Bette Midler, author Gabor Maté, comedian Sarah Silverman, and “Freakonomics” author Stephen J. Dubner.
“I’ve been a connoisseur of failure for a long time, obsessed with the mistakes we make or the fear of making. I like thinking about how those mistakes, coupled with the futility of trying to avoid them, shapes our lives. If failure is something we all do so often, why are we so afraid of it?” Duchovny said in a statement. “Working with Lemonada to explore this part of human nature is a gift in itself, and a meta-exercise for me in doing something new – hosting a podcast – which frankly fills me with my own fear of failure.”
Produced in-house by Lemonada, the seasonal weekly series will premiere this spring.
“David brings an intellectual depth and honest curiosity, coupled with delightful threads of humor and humility, to the way in which failing, shame and ego shape our trajectories.,” Chief Creative Officer Stephanie Wittels Wachs said. “The conversations he’s having with his guests have sparked our team to think deeply, and we’re looking forward to sharing this new series with the world in May.”
Duchovny’s signing follows the announcement by Lemonada earlier this month that it has inked a partnership with Achewell Audio, the company headed by Prince Harry and Megan Markle. Under the deal, Markle will create a new series for Lemonada and the earlier episodes of Archetypes, which had been exclusive to Spotify, will be rereleased and widely distributed across all podcast apps.
In recent days it has also added the pop culture podcast Podcrushed and the comedy series Threedom to its lineup when new seasons debut this spring. Lemonada will oversee ad sales and distribution for both shows which had been at SiriusXM’s Earwolf. The company’s podcast slate also includes Wiser Than Me With Julia Louis-Dreyfus, which was named the 2023 show of the year by Apple Podcasts.