W. Kamau Bell's 'Who's With Me?' Launches May 27 as Video Podcast
TL;DR: W. Kamau Bell is turning his Substack newsletter into a weekly video podcast on May 27, 2026, distributed by Pushkin Industries across YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. The show features guests like Delroy Lindo, Margaret Cho, and Robert Reich, and it's rooted in Bell's existing newsletter audience of 137,000 subscribers.
W. Kamau Bell just converted his newsletter into a full-scale video operation. On May 27, 2026, the comedian, documentary filmmaker, and former CNN host launches "Who's With Me?" — a weekly podcast produced by his Los Angeles-based Rabbit Grin Productions and distributed through Malcolm Gladwell's Pushkin Industries.
The announcement landed on May 20, 2026, via Variety. What's striking is that Bell isn't starting from zero. His Substack newsletter of the same name—running since January 2024—already counts 137,000 subscribers. That's not an audience you build from a publicity push. That's people who've already opted in, week after week, to hear what he thinks about politics and culture.
The format is less "celebrity chat show" and more what happens when a stand-up comedian who's interviewed KKK members and Oprah Winfrey decides the moment calls for a weekly conversation space. Each episode opens with Bell riffing on that week's newsletter—usually something grinding his gears in the political or cultural landscape—before a guest joins to talk about their work and, per Pushkin's description, "how to make the world a better place." Actionable steps included.
The Lineup: Who's Showing Up
Here's the guest roster confirmed by Variety so far:
- Actors: Delroy Lindo, Ted Danson, Daveed Diggs, Nava Mau
- Other talent: Ballet dancer Misty Copeland, chef Kristen Kish, restaurateur Eddie Huang, U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, comedians Maria Bamford and Margaret Cho
- Public figures: Economist and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich
- Children's author: Mo Willems
Many guests have Oakland connections—Bell's hometown. That's intentional, not incidental. The show is deliberately rooted in a specific geography and community rather than floating in some generic celebrity space.
Where to Watch (and When)
May 27, 2026. Weekly thereafter.
Access points:
- YouTube — free, video format
- Spotify — audio and video (India included from launch)
- Apple Podcasts — audio and video
- All major podcast platforms
If you're tracking where this lands on streaming services—especially in India—Movie OTT has current platform availability mapped across regions. YouTube is the immediate access point for Indian audiences; Spotify India has over 100 million monthly active users as of late 2024, making podcast distribution there genuinely viable from day one.
What Bell Actually Said About This
In a statement through Pushkin, Bell was unusually direct: "'Who's With Me?' is one of the most basic and necessary questions you can ask in these hectic times. When everywhere we look it feels like the powers-that-be want to push us apart, I wanted to create a space where curiosity and empathy lead the way and conversations actually move us forward."
Then he added something sharper: "As a stand-up comedian, I know that, especially right now, one of us needs to try to clean up the cultural and political mess that so many of my stand-up comedy brethren have made."
Hard to miss the target there—though he didn't name names. (Given the timing, and the podcast-to-Netflix pipeline that's minted several comedians as political commentators going the opposite ideological direction, the subtext isn't subtle.)
Corinne Gilliard Fisher, VP of Podcasts at Pushkin, offered the network's take: "W. Kamau Bell is a rare talent who combines sharp wit with profound empathy. He has an incredible gift for the interview format, and we are beyond excited to collaborate with him."
Bell's Actual Credential Stack
This isn't a comedian deciding to start a podcast. It's a credentialed filmmaker and media figure expanding into a new format.
The résumé:
- Hosted CNN's "United Shades of America" for six seasons (2016–2022), which won a Peabody Award
- Directed and produced "We Need to Talk About Cosby" (2022, Showtime)—a four-part series that sparked serious critical conversation about separating art from artist. The first episode alone, which opens with archival footage of Cosby's "Pound Cake" speech before cutting to survivor testimony, set the tone for the entire project.
- Won season three of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" in 2025
- Bestselling author of "Do The Work! An Antiracist Activity Book"
- ACLU Artist Ambassador for Racial Justice for over a decade
- Upcoming children's book "Rock Paper Scissors Cheese" (co-written with Adam Mansbach) drops October 27, 2026
Pushkin's roster—"Revisionist History," "Against the Rules," "Cautionary Tales"—trades in intellectual credibility. Bell fits that sensibility without being a copycat of it. But here's the real read on this pairing: Pushkin hasn't had a politically progressive weekly show with a live-audience feel since launching in 2018. Their catalog skews cerebral, historical, contrarian. Bell doesn't just diversify the roster demographically; he gives Pushkin a format they've never attempted—topical, reactive, personality-driven. That's a bigger strategic bet than the press release lets on.
The theme song comes from Chris Dowd of Fishbone, the legendary L.A. funk-punk band, who wrote "Don't Give Up on Yourself" specifically for the show. Fishbone also named Bell their "Ambassador." That's either genuine Oakland solidarity or the most niche endorsement in podcasting. Probably both.
The Real Strategy Here
The thing nobody mentions is that Bell isn't launching a podcast—he's building a media ecosystem. Newsletter. Comedy tour. Now a weekly video podcast. All under the same brand name.
Think of it like Conan O'Brien's "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend," which started audio and expanded into video and live events. Bell's running that playbook in reverse—starting with an established newsletter audience of 137,000 and building outward. The bet Pushkin is making isn't really on Bell's interview skills (those are proven from six seasons of CNN). It's on whether a politically engaged, Oakland-rooted, explicitly antiracist video podcast can build a durable weekly audience in an increasingly crowded, increasingly visual podcast market. That's the actual open question. And the competitive context matters: Bell launches the same week as the returns of both "SmartLess" (season four on SiriusXM's video channel) and "Call Her Daddy" (which pulled 4.1 million YouTube views on its most recent premiere episode). Crowded week. Real test.
For tracking where the show eventually lands on subscription platforms—Netflix, Max, Peacock—Movie OTT's streaming database updates weekly across major regions including India, the UK, and North America.
What Happens Next
Bell's already touring. The live comedy shows run concurrent with the podcast launch, which means "Who's With Me?" is being stress-tested across multiple formats simultaneously. Whether that creates synergy or dilutes focus is something only a few months of data will answer.
Watch for two things: first, whether Pushkin secures a video deal with a major subscription platform (all three—Netflix, Max, Peacock—make sense given Bell's CNN history). Second, whether the Substack subscriber count breaks 200,000 within 60 days of launch. That would signal genuine crossover momentum, not just existing fan migration.
For the latest on where "Who's With Me?" streams across your region—including any future India platform pickups—Movie OTT has you covered.
