Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase

In this intimate evening of live storytelling, the stars of the CBC’s hottest podcasts flip the mic on themselves, sharing personal stories they’ve always wanted to tell.

Hear broadcast legend Anna Maria Tremonti (Welcome to Paradise) and comedian Gavin Crawford (Let’s Not Be Kidding) offer vivid accounts of the closely held secrets they struggled for years to share. Hear acclaimed playwright and Buffy host Falen Johnson (The Secret Life of Canada) and journalist Matthew Amha (The Africas vs. America) uncover hidden histories, and discuss what happens when community stories hit close to home. Watch as Kaitlin Prest, the acclaimed audio artist and beloved host of The Heart, brings a story of sisterly love—and conflict—to thrilling life in the theatre. And hear from renowned journalist Jayme Poisson (Front Burner), as she reveals what it took to go public with something that so many new parents keep hidden.

Inspired by some of the country’s most lauded and popular podcasts, reinterpreted live for the Hot Docs Cinema stage, this will be a night of surprising and candid stories from Canada's most gifted audio storytellers.

Radiolab is a giant within the audio landscape—a radio show-turned-podcast on science, ideas, and culture that’s been hailed across the planet as one of the true marvels in the history of the medium.
Now, this award-winning show from WNYC Studios brings its insatiable curiosity to Hot Docs, presenting a thrilling live event based on its Mixtape series, a rich cultural history of the cassette tape. Led by Simon Adler, the show’s senior producer and resident mixtape expert, we’ll take an immersive journey through an earth-shattering technology that upended politics and brought us all together in new and surprising ways. With live music and stories, a post-event Q&A with co-host Latif Nasser, and the innovative sound design for which the show is famous, this will be an immersive, one-of-a-kind evening with one of the world’s most influential podcasts.

In this wildly popular, twice-weekly podcast from New York magazine, legendary journalist Kara Swisher picks the brains of the world’s leading thinkers from the arenas of politics, tech, media and culture. Whether she’s grilling Mark Zuckerberg, talking politics with Hillary Clinton, or trading movie memories with stars like Geena Davis, Kara’s insightful questions, deeply sourced reporting and irreverent sense of humour always get to the heart of what makes the powerful tick.

In this exclusive live episode, presented on the Hot Docs stage, Kara sits down with YouTube pioneer, comedian and author Lilly Singh for a candid conversation about the Canadian renaissance woman’s latest creative projects. Hear Kara and Lilly share their unique insight into the evolving business of creativity, and what it will take to make the media more inclusive for women. Experience the magic of a thrilling live conversation with two of the world’s most insightful media minds.

A smash hit since its triumphant debut last year, this addictive, Ambie Award-winning series from Wondery unpacks epic stories of deception from the worlds of social media, fashion, finance, health and wellness. For their first-ever live show in Canada, Canadian co-hosts Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi return to their roots to headline Hot Docs' Saturday night Podcast Festival Showcase. They'll present a live version of a never-before-heard story packed with fast cars, ridiculous yachts, and a whole lot of Ontario-based hijinks. This is Scamfluencers live.

In this exclusive live episode, Laurie teams up with best-selling author and podcaster Gretchen Rubin, author of the #1 bestselling book The Happiness Project and host of the top-ranked podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, to explore the surprising insights and stories from Gretchen's new book, Life in Five Senses, a deeply engaging and highly practical guide to using our senses to connect to the physical world.

Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature and their own decades of research, Laurie and Gretchen tune into the mysteries and joys of the physical senses and how they can offer a path to a mindful and meaningful life.

Join two of the world's most brilliant happiness thinkers and gain a fresh perspective that will activate your senses—and help you move through the world with vitality and love.