Megan Tan is back and teaching us to quit hitting the snooze button in her heartwarming podcast ‘Snooze’
Many of us are hitting “Snooze” on things that aren’t just alarm clocks. We’re putting off taking that vacation, searching for a new job, breaking up with a partner, getting our driver’s license. And that’s okay, but at some point, we need to stop hitting the snooze button and bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to be. That’s where Megan Tan comes in.
With her new LAist Studios podcast “Snooze,” she is hoping to inspire us to ask ourselves what it is that we’ve been snoozing on – to face our fears and more importantly, face ourselves. She’s speaking with all sorts of people who have put off all sorts of things but conquered their fears and finally turned off the alarm clock. Through some impeccable sound design, fabulous podcast production, and Megan Tan’s brilliant storytelling, “Snooze” podcast is anything but a snooze.
Literally a brand new podcast from the LAist, the “Snooze” podcast debuted its first episode at the start of May. Just a handful of episodes have been released so far, each wavering around the 40-minute mark.
From the start of the first episode, Megan is achingly authentic and immediately compelling. She tells us her story: once the host of the hit podcast “Millennial,” which she hosted and produced from 2014 to 2017 (originally from her bedroom and then with Radiotopia), Megan’s passion project began to suck the passion out of her. She had achieved everything she wanted with her massively successful podcast, but she found herself entirely burnt out.
So, she quit. She ended her show. In the first minutes of “Snooze,” she shares the audio of an interview she did after she ended the show, her voice flat and lifeless, so different from the woman we are listening to now. And she tells us that while “Snooze” is for so many people, it’s also for her, because the thing that she’s been putting off is getting back in front of the microphone.
But she is here, and she is utterly brilliant. Every episode of her “Snooze” podcast is an engaging soundscape honing in on one person’s inspirational breakthrough. In the first episode, she somehow intertwines Los Angelenos’ love for basketball into the story of Jessica Pilot, who has been putting off learning to drive for eight years. Together, the two dissect why Jessica has put off even getting her learner’s permit for so long and why she’s choosing to do it now.
In subsequent episodes, Megan speaks with a woman named Abby, a Korean adoptee who just got married and wants to have a baby – but not before she knows more about herself. And all of the secrets about herself can be found in a simple book. She just has to read it.
She speaks to actress Rosario Dawson about when the right time to break up with someone is and how to commit before you quit. She also speaks with Sara, a pastor’s daughter, whose feeling of obligation to being the perfect Christian daughter directly interferes with her dreams.
Megan’s energy is infectious in “Snooze.” It’s obvious how much she loves hearing these stories and helping people tell them, all while finding her own personal breakthroughs. Her “Snooze” podcast is a beautiful ode to trusting the process, trusting ourselves, and finding joy in the journey, not just the outcome.
Audiences are thrilled to have Megan back on the microphone and we couldn’t agree more. “Snooze” is joyous and light, yet filled with purpose and guts. Take a listen to “Snooze” to see what we mean.
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