The Art of Small Talk
The Art of Small Talk
Podcast Description
Hilarious and practical advice for how to up your small talk game from comedians, actors and self-appointed experts on chit-chat, Casey Wilson and Jessica St. Clair.
Prepare to be schooled in the art of conversation by dynamic duo Casey Wilson and Jessica St. Clair. Dismissing the notion that small talk is a painful social obligation, these self-proclaimed small talk maestros share their gift of gab in this laugh-out-loud and instructive audiobook. With their help you might find yourself excitedly asking your barista about the weather…and maybe you’ll get a free coffee. Who knows!
In The Art of Small Talk, Casey and Jessica share six simple rules for how to engage in small talk and achieve the connectedness we all crave with any and everyone. Backed by scientific research (conducted by real experts), they’ll teach you how to move past the perceived misery of idle chit-chat and start making magic out of the mundane.
The audiobook features smart humor, genuine advice, and conversations with both the famous and the intellectual. Hear from folks like Amy Poehler, Colin Quinn, Tony Hale, Malcolm Gladwell, June Diane Raphael, and a range of experts with their takes on not only the how but also the why. Filled with entertaining tips to take you from Hostile Beginner to Confident Expert, compelling insights on the significance of chatting up strangers, plus transformational tape of a real, live, Small Talk trainee in action, The Art of Small Talk breathes new life into a lost art and explores its profound impact on our human experience.
After listening to the undisputed Patron Saints of Small Talk, you will have all the tools and gumption at your disposal to take your headphones off on the tarmac and ask your mate in 20C: Have you listened to the Art of Small Talk by Casey Wilson and Jessica St. Clair? It will change your life.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Explores the art of small talk through humor and practical advice, featuring topics like developing conversation skills, understanding the psychology behind chit-chat, and real-life small talk examples. Notable episodes include insights from celebrities and experts like Amy Poehler and Malcolm Gladwell addressing the importance of casual conversation.

With Pushkin+ audiobooks, you’ll get access to a new Pushkin+ audiobook every other month. That’s 6 free audiobooks a year! From November 1 to December 31, listen to Inside Voice: My Obsessions with How We Sound by Lake Bell. Pushkin+ subscribers also get access to ad-free listening, exclusive bonus episodes of podcasts like Cautionary Tales, full binges to our top true crime shows like Deep Cover, and more. Sign up now on the Apple show page or at pushkin.com/plus.
A humorous, insightful, and personal deep dive into our most outward-facing, least-appreciated trait: our voice.
Raise your hand if you cringe at the sound of your own voice, worry that you actually do sound like your mother, or have spent a sleepless night wondering if your inner and outer voices are in sync.
Now, hands down, headphones on. Lake Bell is going to tell you why you’re not alone and why your voice matters in the most deeply personal ways.
Inside Voice unpacks the writer-director-producer-actor’s obsession with voice and all its permutations. It takes us on a journey to discover how this vital piece of our identity serves as an x-ray of our personal histories. Bell explored the power of voice in her critically-acclaimed and award-winning film, In a World, which she wrote, directed, and starred in. With this audiobook, she dives back into the rabbit hole to deliver a fun, whip-smart exploration of the psychology, social science, cultural constructs, and mechanics of our voices.
When you hear the iconic voices of Drew Barrymore, Susie Essman, Tracey Ullman, Jeff Goldblum, or Pam Grier (all contributors to the book), you know right away who they are. Interviews with these legends as well as poets, doctors, linguists, voice coaches and conversations with pedestrians on the street get to the heart of why the way we sound matters so much. Voice can be why you laugh at a certain joke or decide to trust someone or even fall in love.
Uniquely suited to audio, Inside Voice is symphonic; complete with interactive games and exercises, and an original score by Chris Bear (Grizzly Bear). You might want to buckle up. This listen is a ride.
In Inside Voice you’ll hear from: Malcolm Gladwell; Drew Barrymore, Susie Essman; Jeff Goldblum; Pam Grier; Kunal Nayyar; Tracey Ullman; Eric Bauza; Amanda Montell; Dr. Emily Morse; President of the Linguistic Society of America, Prof. John Baugh; speech language pathologist, Dr. Amee Shah; linguistics professor Victor Fernández-Mallat; dialect coach Liz Himelstein; Dr. Randolph Schnitman; writer John Colapinto; poet Sam Sax; journalists Becca Andrews and Samantha Allen; and filmmaker David Thorpe.
From actor & director Lake Bell, Pushkin Industries presents Inside Voice.
A humorous, insightful and personal deep dive into our most outward-facing, least-appreciated trait: our voice. Subscribe to Pushkin+ to hear the full audiobook: apple.co/pushkin
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