Apple Podcasts Names Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ “Wiser Than Me,” from Lemonada Media, as the 2023 Show of the Year

It was announced today that Apple named Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ hit podcast Wiser Than Me from Lemonada Media, as the 2023 Show of the Year -- a recognition given each year to honor a show that demonstrates quality and innovation in podcasting. The award-winning series held the #1 spot for 29 days straight, the longest streak on Apple Podcasts this year so far.

“Wiser Than Me” debuted in April 2023, and featured interviews with icons such as Jane Fonda, Isabel Allende, Carol Burnett, Darlene Love, and Amy Tan, among others. Season one launched to #1 on the Apple Podcasts charts in the U.S. overall. Lemonada recently announced the hit show will return with an all-new season in spring 2024.

Each week on the show, Louis-Dreyfus has candid conversations with women who have a ton of life experience. She sits down with these legends to get their take on life, how they’ve lived it in the past, and how best to live it right now. Each episode of the podcast ends with Louis-Dreyfus having a call with her 89-year-old mother, Judith, to unpack what she learned from that week’s guest.

“All of these women have demonstrated how to live a life,” Louis-Dreyfus says of her guests. “That doesn’t mean they didn’t make mistakes, but there’s something about being older where perhaps you feel not as protective in terms of sharing. And so I’ve taken advantage of the intimacy that it offers. That availability to be real and to be open is a great gift.”

A big part of Wiser Than Me’s appeal is Louis-Dreyfus’s willingness to be playful and stretch the bounds of the typical interview-podcast format, explains Stephanie Wittels Wachs, co-founder and CCO of Lemonada Media, the podcast’s home network. “Julia never wants to have a typical conversation,” she says. “She wants to play and weave and bob, and do all the fun things that you expect from something unexpected.”

“Wiser Than Me” also won big at the 2023 Signal Awards, where the show was named “Best Interview or Talk Show,” by both the judges and listeners choice, and Louis-Dreyfus was named as “Best Host.” The Hollywood Reporter named Louis-Dreyfus as one of the “40(ish) Most Important People in Podcasting in 2023.”