Dan Taberski on the Podcast Hysterical

Exploring the strange illness that afflicted a group of girls in the New York town of LeRoy

Matt here. Welcome back to Origin Stories! Our guest is Dan Taberski, who is a writer, director, and former producer at The Daily Show.

He joins Origin Stories to discuss the podcast “Hysterical,” which centers on a strange illness that afflicted a group of girls in the New York town of LeRoy. “Hysterical,” a 2025 Pulitzer finalist in the audio reporting category, went on to win a range of awards, including Show of the Year at the Ambies, the podcasting equivalent of the Oscars.

I'm envious of Dan’s interview style, which almost always yields unexpected responses from his sources. There's a connection between Dan and the people he's writing about – a clear one – and I wanted to understand how he goes about achieving it.

Dan discusses his reporting and outlining approach and the importance of treating subjects (and their stories) with care and respect.

“People have real wisdom about their own experience,” Dan says. “I'm not looking for somebody to retell the story. I'm looking for people to sort of tell me what they got from it. Like what was that experience like as a person?

And very often people have thought about that. It’s sort of a fool's errand to go into these situations thinking that you know what you want people to say because you don't. Also, it would be so boring if you did.”

Watch now or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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And send me questions or guest ideas at originstories@campsidemedia.com.

Thanks,

Matt