Welcome to the next in the Podcast Showcase series, where we share podcasts with you in the words of the podcasters themselves. This time, we talk to T&J.
Sum up your podcast in three sentences
T&J is an independent, limited series podcast devoted to sixth century Byzantium and the greatest recorded love story on earth – that between Empress Theodora and her husband, the Emperor Justinian.
Who is your ideal listener? Who loves your show?
My ideal listener is anyone who enjoys women being weird.
What made you start this podcast?
The pandemic, initially. I knew when Covid-19 hit that the very first pandemic occurred during Justinian’s reign, which got me interested in exploring this period of history in more depth.
But then, the more I read, the more I understood that there was a theme there for me story-wise; that I was really the right person to bring this busy and unbelievable menagerie of people and events to life.
And unlike a book or a TV series, a podcast wouldn’t require anyone else’s permission to be broadcast to a wider audience.
What have you learned about your subject thanks to this podcast?
Theodora was truly the OG mother of reinvention and funny AF. Women, historically, tend to have a pretty limited selection of attributes, and Theodora is the only one I know of who is funny. Her wit and her jokes still land over a millennia and a half later.
What has your experience of podcasting been? What do you love / hate about the process?
The experience of creating the podcast itself, since I do everything, has been a lot of work, but really rewarding. Especially now, six episodes in, I know how to better realize what I want and the steps required.
What I genuinely hadn’t considered was that making a great podcast was only 40% of the work of podcasting. The other 60% is promotion and building your audience, which I wish I could say I enjoyed and excelled at.
Neither is true at the moment, but here’s to hoping for a breakthrough!
If someone wants to start listening to your podcast, which episode would you recommend they start with? Why?
I recommend people listen in order, beginning with Episode 1: Bread and Circuses. Not only because I present everything you need to know about this period of Roman history very systematically, but Theodora and Justinian’s story is woven throughout each episode chronologically – so I don’t want anyone to miss anything.
But what I also encourage people to do is to listen to the episodes, which can be quite dense with information, more than once. I think of them more like the songs of an album than one-and-done episodes.
Let them wash over you, and let different elements of each one stick each time.
Which other podcasts do you love listening to?
Oh, man. I love podcasts and have a pretty broad diet. #
At the moment, I’m subscribed to Normal Gossip, If Books Could Kill, You Must Remember This, Deux U, Scam Goddess, Children of Tendu, You’re Wrong About, and Today, Explained.
Old favorites of mine are: Lolita Podcast, Heaven’s Gate, Who’s Afraid of Matthew MaGill, Shameless Acquisition Target, Dead Eyes, and Moby Dick Energy.
If people want to find you online, where can they do so?
T&J is available wherever you get your podcast, including Apple and Spotify. I also have a Patreon where folks can get bonus episodes and video content! The only social media platform we’re on currently is Twitter/X.
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