Over the past few years, a specific sort of interview style has gained traction: one where the interviewer scoffs, stares blankly, aims retorts at their interviewee and exudes a general aura of stand-offishness. Essentially, they do all the things a regular interviewer, who likely fought hard with PRs, agents and personal assistants to secure time with that celebrity, wouldn’t ever dream of doing.
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00:00 Can we please let the rude interview format die?
00:03 Bobbi Althoff is the latest interviewer to adapt this stony-faced interview technique
00:08 a la Emilia de Moldenberg's cult Chicken Shop Dates format,
00:11 and it's not going down well.
00:13 De Moldenberg became known for her stunted,
00:15 deadpan interviews with rappers, actors and footballers,
00:18 a technique which has earned her mainstream fame,
00:21 landed her a Levi's ambassadorship,
00:23 and made her a regular red carpet interviewer
00:25 at events like the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes.
00:28 But then came Bobbi Althoff, who has appeared seemingly out of nowhere
00:32 with a podcast mic, insanely famous guests,
00:34 and an eerily familiar approach to interviewing.
00:38 Althoff hasn't received nearly the same acclaim as De Moldenberg for her technique.
00:42 Instead, she's come under fire for her seemingly rude approach to interviews,
00:46 most recently with the rapper Offset,
00:48 where she was caught revealing that she didn't even know who he was before interviewing him.
00:52 Why do you want to get to know me?
00:53 Um, I didn't.
00:58 You did.
00:58 Your team reached out to mine.
01:00 Don't cap.
01:00 The method Althoff uses exposes just how unfair
01:04 this untrained, ungrateful interview format can be.
01:07 There are plenty of hip-hop podcasts,
01:10 black female-fronted podcasts,
01:11 or actual music journalists who I'm sure would be beyond grateful
01:14 for an interview with a rapper of this scale
01:16 and would make meaningful content out of it.
01:19 Now that's not to discredit De Moldenberg,
01:20 who does her research and uses her awkward interviewing presence
01:24 to disarm her guests into producing genuinely funny reactions.
01:27 Can you remember any of the rap that you did?
01:29 My money don't jiggle-jiggle, it folds.
01:31 I'd like to see you wiggle-wiggle, for sure.
01:34 Althoff feels like a cheap imitation,
01:36 and ultimately, like all things, we just didn't need an American version.