Featured image credit: My Life At Speed

Ike is up way too early this episode to chat with Matt Hardigree, Executive Editor, Publishing Partnerships at Gizmodo Media Group. Oh yeah, and he used to run this little car site called Jalopnik. They talk about his car history, their shared love of Volvos, and how he started in journalism and joined Jalopnik, which was basically “Fake it till you make it, or they ruin your career.” Matt reminisces about the glory days of Gawker Media, their unconventional journalism philosophy, and tells us how he transitioned out of Jalopnik to manage videos and events for all of Gawker’s sites. They talk about the Hulk Hogan lawsuit that ultimately killed Gawker and how it affected Matt personally. Finally, they discuss what story Matt would do with an unlimited budget, the Hardibird phenomenon and “asshole commenters on the internet,” and that matzo ball soup is Jewish penicillin. (My Jewish wife confirms that this is true.)

Listen here on mobile.

Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram. He also says to follow @ballabanfans, just because.