The Bobbi Althoff Interview You’ve Been Waiting For

0
The Bobbi Althoff Interview You’ve Been Waiting For


Content warning: This story contains details about depression and attempted suicide.

In real life, Bobbi Althoff is far from the self-assured, sarcastic interviewer she plays on her podcast. When she signs on to our Zoom meeting with an iced coffee in hand, she seems nervous as she settles in, giving me a shy smile and wave. This is her first time doing a real magazine interview since her cringe-inducing conversation with Drake went viral. Viral, like, in the four weeks since clips of the podcast first hit the internet, it’s racked up about 55 million views across Bobbi’s YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and oh, she’s already number 3 on Spotify’s comedy podcast charts. Yeah, old-school internet viral. But today, Bobbi is just a 26-year-old working mom taking our call in the front seat of her car because her two kids (known on TikTok as “Richard” and “Concrete”) are at home and her younger sister is staying in the office/guest room.

So how did The Really Good Podcast, which Bobbi originally conceived of as a parody of How I Built This With Guy Raz and which only dropped its first official episode just two months ago, land her here—talking to Cosmopolitan, with a shiny new contract at the WME Agency and a publicist in tow? And who, Googlers would like to know, is the real Bobbi Althoff and, um, what does she do?

cosmo

Bobbi’s interview style falls somewhere between Ziwe’s confrontational deadpan and Amelia Dimoldenberg’s awkward chicken shop flirting—it’s agonizing, upsetting, and also hilarious, like watching someone faceplant in slow motion. She tells Drake she’s never heard any of his music, criticizes his drink of choice (something fruity and delicious-looking, for those of you who haven’t seen it yet), and asks questions like “Why do you follow so many people on Instagram?” and “Are you gonna buy me a flight home?” It’s the kind of interview that would kill a journalist’s career—so it’s a good thing that’s not what she’s doing. Bobbi Althoff, the person, has been perfecting Bobbi Althoff, the podcast persona, for over two years now.

Ninety minutes into our interview, Bobbi has finished her iced coffee and given me her entire origin story: From her humble-doesn’t-even-cover-it beginnings to the nepo baby accusations lobbed at her today. For a woman who rose to fame for extreme social stiffness, she’s actually quite comfortable talking about herself—or, as she puts it, oversharing. Here we go.

cosmo

Okay, so the question that is literally at the top of my list and everyone else’s: How did you get Drake?

When I started my podcast in April, I wanted to do interviews with celebrities, but I didn’t know how I was going to get there. It was really hard to get guests, so I made a video on TikTok saying that I would give $300 to any person who successfully connected me to a celebrity for a podcast. Rick Glassman, the comedian, was the first person I was able to interview because somebody tagged him, and he was like, Okay, I’ll do it. So I sent her $300 and did the episode with Rick Glassman.

Then I got a random comment on TikTok asking if I had heard of Funny Marco [a comedian also known for his dry interview style]. I took a screenshot of the comment, posted it on my Instagram Stories, and tagged him, saying, “Marco, if you want to make this girl $300, DM me.” He had over 4 million followers at the time, and I only had 500,000. I was like, He’s not going to see this. But he replied, like, a second later. So I sent the girl $300 and he came on the podcast. Our video together got so many views, and Drake Liked it. Then he followed me.

I decided to just go for it and shoot my shot. I DMed Drake and asked if he wanted to be on my podcast, and he said yes. He sent me his touring schedule, and I knew that I needed to make it happen fast, so my friend and I flew to Memphis two days after the original DM was sent to record the episode.

abby silverman bobbi althoff

My jaw is on the floor. And you did that with Lil Yachty too? All that without agents?

Yeah, and I’m still self-funding my flights—everything. I had an agency for brand deals, but I was doing the podcast fully on my own. It wasn’t until I posted the first preview clip of the Drake interview and it went viral that WME reached out to me.

So it’s safe to say you’re not an industry plant.

I am not. I think that’s the funniest thing and it’s really fun to lean into.

Your interview style is so specific—it’s almost not really an interview at all. How do you prep and make sure your guest is in on the joke?

There’s no prep, and that’s the fun of it. I think that’s why celebrities are down to do it. They know it’s a character, and we just wing it. It’s not a real interview. I’m not trying to get hard-hitting information about you—I’m not trying to uncover anything. It’s just a conversation. It’s really a parody of a good interview.

How would you categorize yourself: podcaster, journalist, or entertainer?

I would definitely say I’m more of an entertainer and comedian. I’m the worst journalist, and I don’t claim to be one. The podcast is supposed to be entertaining. It’s fun for fans to see my guests in a way that they don’t normally see them.

cosmo

Is that what you want to do beyond podcasting—be an entertainer?

I want to stay true to myself. I like dry humor; that’s what comes most naturally for me, so I want to see where that takes me. I would love to get into acting. That’s definitely where I see myself going.

Before that happens, do you have any dream guests for The Really Good Podcast?

I love Post Malone. I would love to interview him. I saw him in a Buffalo Wild Wings back in the day. He just walked in with his entourage and I remember thinking, Oh my god, he’s so normal. Why is he walking to Buffalo Wild Wings? I just love him. And then Tyler Hoechlin from Teen Wolf. He went to the same high school as me.

I’m sure they’d be down, especially now that you’ve blown up with your Drake interview. What was it like to wake up one day and have everybody talking about you?

As someone who’s been on social media for a while, I always hoped that it was going to take off. I call it “my Alix Earle moment.” I never knew what it would feel like. I thought I was just going to be doing things the same as usual, but my life has changed in so many ways because of that interview. I used to get recognized by my mom fan base that loved my mom parody. But it’s completely changed. It’s weird having so many people know who I am. My exposure is much bigger.

cosmo abby silverman bobbi althoff

There are a few theories about how you got Drake on your podcast, but probably the most popular is that you’re a nepo baby. In your interview with Drake, you mention that your dad did some work for Snoop Dogg. Is that really true?

It is very true. My dad’s a contractor, and he was working on Snoop Dogg’s neighbor’s house. Someone from Snoop Dogg’s team asked if he’d do some work for them—he was throwing away a set of doors. Instead of taking them to the dump, my dad just kept them. They’re literally in his house right now.

That was my claim to fame for so long, that we had Snoop Dogg’s doors. When we got really poor, my dad would sell everything. There was a time when I’d come home and my bed frame would be gone because he needed money. Those doors, we never got rid of.

That’s very far from a nepo baby.

I could not be further from someone with connections and with money. People are like, “Her dad had connections with Snoop Dogg.” My dad was a handyman. I remember the year that Toms were really popular, I wanted Toms so bad, and my mom bought me Bobs. And I was so embarrassed, I threw them away. I was so embarrassed of how broke my family was growing up. In high school, everyone had nice cars, and my family’s cars were always getting repossessed. I rarely got to get a yearbook because that $50 was too expensive for us.

cosmo

“I could not be further from someone with connections and with money. People are like, ‘Her dad had connections with Snoop Dogg.’ My dad was a handyman.”

In some of your earlier podcast episodes, it does feel like you’re kind of playing into that nepo baby angle a little bit. Was that on purpose?

When I started my podcast interviews, the character was someone who pretended to be super connected. Now my character is just a very dry, sarcastic person who doesn’t have connections and just wants money and success. It’s a very exaggerated version of my actual truth.

I’m very insecure, and the character that I’ve created is made up of my biggest insecurities. I’ve just made her into someone who’s proud of who she is. I’ve always been so embarrassed about being socially awkward. Now, I’ve exaggerated that and made it even worse for this character. It’s a fun way to take control of this thing that’s been horrible for me my whole life.

Let’s back up a little bit. How did you get into TikTok in the first place?

My whole childhood, I wanted to act. At some point, I went from wanting to be an actor to dreaming of having a corporate job. I dreamed of waking up and getting coffee and sitting in an office and typing. But I still had two more years left of college and with COVID and everything, I ended up not finishing. Instead, I started a TikTok and it took off.

And you would have been dating your now-husband then, right?

I prefer to keep my relationship private.

“I’m very insecure, and the character that I’ve created is made up of my biggest insecurities. I’ve just made her into someone who’s proud of who she is.”

Sure thing, I understand wanting to keep parts of your life for yourself. Speaking of, when you started your TikTok page in 2020, it was mostly MomTok content, which included personal details about your eldest daughter. You’ve since deleted any personal information about your kids online. How did you make that decision?

This was when I was very early in my second pregnancy. I was getting really overwhelmed—people can just be so mean on the internet—and one night, I was like, I’m done. This is my daughter. It’s my job as her mom to protect her, and I no longer felt like it was the right decision. So one night, I scrubbed everything.

There was a drop in followers, but I actually gained a lot of respect from that decision. And because I was a parody of a mommy vlogger, it wasn’t a very difficult decision to make. She was never the focal point of my videos. Nothing really changed for me besides the fact that I deleted stuff.

cosmo

Is that when you started thinking about launching a podcast?

I was burnt out from being on my own. I wanted to collaborate with other people, and I was trying to figure out how to make my TikTok page more of a career. Then I was on TikTok one day and I saw Jenna Palek’s video about how doing podcasts paid all her bills. That night, I was like, I’m going to start a podcast.

As a podcast host, you play a character, but you also blend in some real elements, like mentions of your kids, but are those stories about your babies—like you missing your daughter’s 1st birthday to interview Drake—even true?

That was true, actually. It was my first time ever leaving my kids overnight. And Drake posted a picture that we took that night and you can see the cords of my pump. I was over there just, like, pumping and stuff.

We celebrated her birthday the weekend before, and she’s 1. She doesn’t know anything. It’s like any other day to her. People are so dramatic. They were like, You did this for Drake? I don’t even know what my parents did for my 1st birthday. They probably worked. I know that I’m a good mom. It was work, and it was very much needed.

Hello, college fund? The best gift you could give!

I know! My parents couldn’t pay for my college. They couldn’t even afford to help me in high school. They couldn’t afford anything. There was such financial insecurity. I didn’t know if the bank was going to take our house or if our car was going to be outside when I got home. I didn’t know if this check my dad wrote was going to bounce. And the fact that my children are not going to have to worry about that…it makes me feel so good that they are provided for. And I don’t know how to explain it other than to say it’s a really great feeling.

cosmo

Critics can have a lot to say. How do you maintain your self-worth, especially about being a mother, when you get hate online?

The overwhelming majority of the feedback I’ve seen has been positive, but it’s obviously hard to read negative comments. That’s what’s nice about not putting the real me out there too much. They’re really judging a character, not me. I know I’m a good person. I know that I’m a good mom. There are these truths to myself that I know, and no one can take them away from me.

I wanted to be a mom my whole life. I love my kids. I’m doing everything for these two girls. I’m proud of myself as a mom and who I am to my girls. It’s hard to balance a career with two little kids, but when I’m not with them, I know they’re taken care of.

I think part of the reason people aren’t sure what to think about you is that you’re a relatively young mother, which is unusual for millennials and Gen Zers, who are on average having their first kids later in life. What made you want to become a mom?

I had such a bad childhood, I desperately wanted to grow up. I thought it might never happen. I was suicidal in high school, and I tried to kill myself. I was actually really angry that I survived. And I thought having a kid would give me a reason to live. Even to this day, as someone who struggles with depression, my kids are my reason to live. There are times when I think that if I didn’t have my kids, I wouldn’t be here. When I don’t feel like the world needs me or that I have a place here, I know that my kids need me and that I owe it to them to keep trying.

Negative comments don’t get to me, but my self-doubt does. I know that at any moment, my 10 seconds of fame could die down, and then what? But it doesn’t matter because my life is bigger than me. My kids are my purpose, and if I have to get a job at freakin’ McDonald’s after all of this, that’s what I’ll do. My kids need a mom to provide for them, and I will.

Though I wouldn’t tell people that getting pregnant will fix all your problems. Having kids is challenging and it has been both the greatest blessing and the hardest thing that I’ve ever done in my life.

“There are times when I think that if I didn’t have my kids, I wouldn’t be here. When I don’t feel like the world needs me or that I have a place here, I know that my kids need me and that I owe it to them to keep trying.”

cosmo

You just spoke about your mental health. Your TikTok page is mostly satirical, but then there are these videos about your experience postpartum. Why is that something you’re willing to be more genuine about?

I try to share things that I feel aren’t talked about enough. And I like to lean into my insecurities. My boobs are a huge insecurity of mine. And it’s hard because I had this mom base, and now my demographic is shifting. So I get re-embarrassed. I’m like, Oh, shit. I was comfortable showing my boobs to all these women, but now I have men looking at me and I’m embarrassed again. And I find myself trying to hide it. But the reason I shared it in the first place is because I want moms to feel better.

I hate my body. I hate my boobs. Hate them. But I know there are other moms out there that also look in the mirror and hate their bodies. It’s my way of showing other moms that they’re not alone.

cosmo

“I try to share things that I feel aren’t talked about enough. And I like to lean into my insecurities. My boobs are a huge insecurity of mine. And it’s hard because I had this mom base, and now my demographic is shifting.”

Before I let you go, would you be willing to ask me a few questions in character?

It’s so funny because it’s always so awkward to start the interview. I get uncomfortable about it every time. I guess I would start by removing any smiles from my face right now and just be like, Why are you doing this interview? Do you see me being successful one day?

And just like that, the nice, open Bobbi I’d been talking to for over an hour is gone. In her place is a straight-faced, unamused Bobbi, whose voice has simultaneously softened in volume and sharpened in tone. I am immediately reeling, but I got myself into this mess. Now I have to try to keep up.

Yeah. I think you’re successful.

You do already?

Well, hopefully. I haven’t seen your bank statements, I guess.

No. They’re not good. Now what do you think?

I am now starting to overheat and internally freak out. I’m completely convinced that I have overstepped and made an enemy of a woman with millions of fans.

I think you’re going to be successful. I think you’ll be a big star one day, but I wouldn’t call you a household name yet—at least not to people who aren’t online.

That’s a little bit insulting, but I’ll take it. Thank you for that honesty.

You’re welcome…Oh my god, I’m sweating. But I see why people want to come on your podcast. I feel like I’ve never been funnier in my life.

It really gives people an outlet to just be creative. And it’s really interesting to see how every celebrity encounters this character and everybody gets a unique take on it. No interview is the same because no person I interview is the same.

Headshot of Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Editor

Olivia Truffaut-Wong is an entertainment and culture writer and editor who will never turn down a romance or superhero movie. Her work has been featured in The Cut, Refinery29, Teen Vogue, Polygon, Bustle, and more.  





Source link