The Read

The Read is a weekly pop culture podcast. One of several podcasts affiliated with the Loud Speakers Network,[1] The Read is hosted by American comedians Kid Fury and Crissle West and based in New York City.

The Read
Presentation
Hosted by
  • Kid Fury
  • Crissle West
FormatPopular culture podcast
Created by
LanguageEnglish
Length60 - 180 minutes
Production
No. of episodes490+
Publication
Original releaseMarch 4, 2013
ProviderLoud Speakers Network
Related
Websitethisistheread.com

History

Prior to starting The Read, Kid Fury became popular online through his YouTube stand-up series Furious Thoughts and met co-host Crissle West through Twitter, where the two bonded and Fury asked West to start a podcast together.[2]

The first episode of The Read was released on March 4, 2013. The Read is distributed via the iTunes Store, iHeartRadio Talk, SoundCloud, Spotify, and Stitcher. On iTunes, the podcast peaked at number three in the "New and Noteworthy" section charts and at number one in the comedy section charts.[3] As of 2019, the podcast had over 85 million listens around the world, and received over 1.5 million unique listens every month.[4] Fury and West have hosted several live shows for The Read, including one at the Essence Festival in 2018, where they became the first podcast to be a headlining act.[2]

In 2019, Missy Elliott was awarded the MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, where she thanked Kid Fury and Crissle for helping to make it happen.[5]

In 2021, it was announced that Issa Rae's audio company Raedio signed a record deal with The Read to produce a comedy album with pop culture commentary from Kid Fury and Crissle and music from up and coming recording artists.[6]

Format

During podcast episodes, Kid Fury and West discuss and analyze pop culture and current events.[7][8] The podcast's format has five sections:

  1. Black Excellence[9]
  2. Hot Tops, (previously known as Sick Sad World, Hot Topics, Shade in Full,[9] and Bitch, You Guessed It[2]) consists of the hosts discussing entertainment news from the week.[10]
  3. "Kid Fury's SPORTS SHORTS!" This segment, introduced in 2020, is not a consistent bit and features Kid Fury passionately describing sports news and culture with varying degrees of accuracy.
  4. Listener Letters (the segment is changed to Listener Questions when done during a live show), where the hosts read emails sent in from listeners and offer advice.[2]
  5. Crissle's Couch, where West shares some of the wisdom she has learned from her mental health therapist. This segment was added to the show in July 2018 but does not appear every week.
  6. The Read, where Kid Fury and West "read" (African American gay slang for giving one's harsh opinion which originated in the 1980s) a person or topic.[11][3]

Television show
Main article: The Read with Kid Fury and Crissle West

On March 13, 2019, it was announced that Fuse had greenlit a variety/talk show based on The Read, titled The Read with Kid Fury and Crissle West.[4] Kid Fury and West served as executive producers, as did Chloe Pisello, David Martin, Jon Thoday, and Richard Allen-Turner.

The show premiered on October 11, 2019, on Fuse.[12]

Reception

Critical reception

Tre'vell Anderson of Out called The Read "Black queer excellence", writing, "The pair consistently, and quite remarkably, have crafted a show that is more than just a pop culture recap, deftly melding together conversations about politics, social justice, the importance of therapy, career advice, and self-help."[10] Writing for Ebony, Elizabeth Aguirre called the podcast "so unapologetically Black it hurts" and wrote, "Hosts Kid Fury and Crissle start off innocently enough, but by the end of the show, the duo will have you rolling in your seat."[9]

HuffPost's Taryn Finley referred to The Read as "a fun, slightly raunchy, expletive-filled, brutally honest podcast that doubles as a safe space for black people", and stated that, with The Read, Fury and West "made a definitive mark" and "have helped usher in a wave of black podcasters after them".[2] For The Guardian, Lilah Raptopoulos wrote in 2014 that "[Fury and West's] is a casual but energising voice in the podcast world," adding, "The podcast world is one dominated by straight white male comedians reaching middle age. Kid Fury and Crissle are black, gay, young and cool. Their perspective is more sensitive to race, sexual identity and the minority experience than any other podcast that exists right now."[11]

Accolades
Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2014 Black Weblog Awards Best Podcast The Read Won [13]
2019 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards Best Multi-Cultural Podcast Nominated [14]
2020 Best Podcast of the Year Nominated [15]
Best Comedy Podcast Nominated
Shorty Awards Best Podcasters Kid Fury and Crissle Nominated [16]
2021 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards Best Comedy Podcast The Read Won [17]
Best Pop Culture Podcast Nominated [18]
2022 Queerty Awards Best Podcast Nominated [19]
2023 NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Arts and Entertainment Podcast Nominated [20]

References
  1. Sands, Darren (24 July 2013). "KID FURY: The Kid Stays in the Picture: Kid Fury's Journey From YouTuber to Black Twitter Kingmaker - Pop-culture truth-teller rides the podcast wave". New York Observer. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  2. Finley, Taryn (June 22, 2018). "'The Read' Is Home To The Podcast World's Favorite S**t-Talkers". HuffPost. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  3. Lopez, Linette (December 16, 2013). "How 2 Friends Started The Most Hilarious Podcast Of The Year By Being Brutally Honest". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  4. Pedersen, Erik (13 March 2019). "Fuse Unveils Upfront Slate: New & Returning Series, Premiere Dates, More". Deadline. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  5. Ifeanyi, K. C. (2019-08-27). "This podcast helped Missy Elliott finally get her MTV VMA Vanguard Award". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  6. Mangum, Trey. "Issa Rae's Raedio Signs 'The Read' To History-Making Record Deal Including Original Comedy Album". Shadow and Act. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  7. Pires, Kevin (December 11, 2013). "Flavorwire Interview: 'The Read' Hosts Kid Fury and Crissle West Talk Race, Miley Cyrus, 'Scandal,' and Who They Want More (and Less) of in 2014". Flavorwire. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  8. McDonald, Soraya Nadia (November 14, 2013). "Q&A: 'The Read's' Kid Fury and Crissle West". Washington Post.
  9. Jamison, Shantell E. (September 20, 2016). "Listen Up: 5 Black Podcasts to Add to Your Arsenal". Ebony. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  10. Anderson, Tre'vell (August 14, 2019). "'The Read' Is Coming to Your TV in October". Out. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  11. Raptopoulos, Lilah (July 16, 2014). "Listen to This: The Read, with Crissle and Kid Fury". The Guardian. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  12. Fury, The Read with Kid; West, Crissle. "'The Read with Kid Fury and Crissle West' Officially Has a Premiere Date!". Fuse. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
  13. Sachs, Adam (July 13, 2015). "The Read's Crissle West on Making a Living with Podcasting". The Wolf Den. Midroll. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  14. "iHeartRadio Podcast Awards 2019 Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. January 18, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  15. "iHeartRadio Podcast Awards 2020 Winners Revealed". The Hollywood Reporter. January 17, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  16. Perelli, Amanda (January 21, 2020). "Exclusive: The full list of nominees for the Shorty Awards, including Jeffree Star, Sophie Turner, and Baby Yoda Sipping Tea". Business Insider. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  17. Spangler, Todd (January 22, 2021). "2021 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards Winners: 'Office Ladies' Wins Podcast of the Year". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  18. "iHeartRadio Podcast Awards: Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey's 'Office Ladies' Tops Nominees (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. December 8, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  19. "Podcast / The Queerty Awards". Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  20. "2023 NAACP Image Awards Nominations: See the Full List | Entertainment Tonight". www.etonline.com. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
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