Alex Cooper, Amy Poehler, ‘SmartLess’ Among First Golden Globes Best Podcast Nominees

The Golden Globes announced its first-ever nominees for best podcast, with Alex Cooper, Amy Poehler and the trio behind “SmartLess” among those receiving nods in the category.

The six nominees in the best podcast category are: “Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard”; Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy”; “Good Hang With Amy Poehler”; “The Mel Robbins Podcast”; “SmartLess” from Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes; and NPR’s “Up First.”

SiriusXM has distribution and ad-sales deals with three of the nominees: “Call Her Daddy,” “SmartLess” and “The Mel Robbins Podcast.” Dax Shepard has a deal with Amazon’s Wondery and Poehler’s podcast is produced with and distributed by Spotify’s The Ringer.

The Globes announced plans in May to add the best podcast award starting with the 2026 ceremony, in recognition of “the extraordinary and diverse talents in podcasting.” The category will debut at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, scheduled for Jan. 11, 2026.

The six nominees for the Golden Globes’ first podcast award were selected from among the 25 most popular podcasts deemed eligible and include both audio-only and video podcasts. The list of the qualifying podcasts was determined by Globes data partner Luminate based on listener metrics. Here is the full list of podcast titles that were eligible for nomination:

Joe Rogan, whose “The Joe Rogan Experience” consistently ranks as the most popular podcaster in the biz, was eligible for a Globes nomination but missed the cut. The comedian’s interview podcast has been the No. 1 podcast on Spotify for five straight years and also topped the Apple Podcast and YouTube rankings for 2025.

Conservative-leaning podcasts that were eligible for noms but were shut out include Candace Owens’ “Candace,” “The Ben Shapiro Show,” “The Megyn Kelly Show” and “The Tucker Carlson Show.” Other popular podcasts that were eligible included “Crime Junkie,” “Dateline NBC,” “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” The New York Times’ “The Daily” and “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von.”

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Here is the full list of the 25 podcasts that were eligible for Globes nominations:

Disclosure: The Golden Globe Awards, Dick Clark Prods. and Luminate are owned by Penske Media Corp., parent company of Variety.