Michelle Obama is opening up about her experience as a podcast host and revealing one of her favorite guests to appear on her hit podcast, IMO.
The former First Lady joined her brother and co-host, Craig Robinson, for a live recording of their podcast at SXSW London on Tuesday (June 2), per Variety, where they reflected on launched a podcast together and some of the memorable guests they’ve spoken with since the show debuted in March 2025.
Michelle admitted that hosting a podcast wasn’t something she ever imagined herself doing.
“It’s that courageous thing, right? The feeling that, OK, I guess we can do this because we did all these other things. The bravery makes you brave to try anything at any age,” she said. “I mean, I lived in the White House. I was the First Lady. That wasn’t my plan, I had no training for that. Wasn’t my idea! But we figured it out.”
She added, “I figured, if I can be First Lady, I can do a podcast with my brother!”
Michelle Obama names Dave Chappelle as one of her favorite podcast guests
Since its launch, IMO has welcomed a wide range of guests, including Jimmy Kimmel, Jamie Lee Curtis, Conan O’Brien, Halle Bailey, Dave Chappelle, and more.
During the SXSW London event, Michelle singled out Dave Chappelle as one of the podcast’s standout guests.
“Dave Chappelle is one of the smartest people on the planet, the funniest, all get out,” Michelle said. “Once he became himself, he moved back, bought a farm and has raised his family on this farm. One of the questions was, ‘Why here?’ And he said, ‘I wanted to have the financial freedom to be courageous.’ And I was like, ‘Bars,’ you know? And that’s the truth, and what I would say to young people and to my girls: Live smaller than you need to.”
Dave Chappelle responded to transgender joke controversy on the IMO podcast
Per Variety, Michelle and Craig asked Dave about the controversy surrounding his jokes targeting transgender people in some of his comedy specials.
In response, the comedian said, “People would think it’s me vs. the gay community. I never looked at it like that. I always thought it was corporate interest and culture negotiating itself. So, you know, most of those people who were critical of what I was doing didn’t seem like they were of it. It’s like they had their faces pressed against the glass, commenting on what we were doing in there, but they weren’t in there doing it.”
“Nothing makes a comedian madder than reading his joke wrong in the paper. You know, and reading a joke is nothing like hearing one or being one, and the intention of a comedy show is a very unique intention. We are playing with whatever the culture is made of, and we break it down and we get it right or we get it wrong. But in all art, if it’s going to be good or even hopefully great, you gotta have a margin of error.”
Earlier this month, former President Barack Obama shared how Donald Trump caused “tension” in his marriage to Michelle.
Posted To:Craig Robinson Michelle Obama
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