#Mayim Bialik Says Joe Rogan’s Podcasting Style “Inspires” Her, Teases Hope to Reboot ‘Blossom’ but “Not as a Sitcom”

Mayim Bialik is looking to Joe Rogan for a little podcasting inspiration.

The actress and Jeopardy! co-host recently spoke to Vanity Fair about how her mental health podcast, Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown, has developed since launching in January 2021 amid people’s anxieties around the COVID-19 pandemic.

While discussing her own stances on the link between mental and physical health, getting actors to open up about deeply personal topics, and her strategies around working with her longtime partner Jonathan Cohen, Bialik shared her approach to interviewing guests. It’s a style that takes inspiration from a seemingly unlikely place: Joe Rogan.

“Joe Rogan’s had tremendous success, and while I don’t emulate everything he does, his style inspires me,” she said. “I’m just generally fascinated by people: Where did they come from? How did they become the way they are? There’s almost always something in someone’s family — drama, intensity, alcoholism, death — to be uncovered.”

Bialik went on to reveal that while Rogan has been an inspiration for her podcast, where she’s gotten high-profile Hollywood names to open up about everything from their addictions to their relationships, she didn’t walk into the podcast with her own interview style, nor did she have any formal training.

“Jonathan, my co-host, he’s the one who trained me most about how to interview,” she explained. “I’m really shy to ask people sometimes about things that are too personal — especially if they’re public figures. Jonathan is much more skilled at podcasts, so he’s given me some general guidelines.”

At another point in her interview, the Jeopardy! co-host also offers an update on the reboot of her ’90s sitcom Blossom, which starred Bialik as a young teen being raised in a household run by men.

“I’m happy to tell you that, yes, it’s true. All of the cast and the original creator and producers are on board, and we believe a reboot can and should exist once the strike ends,” she said.

According to the actress, when work on the show does resume, the team hopes it won’t just be a continuation of the sitcom fans already know. “We’re hoping to reboot it not as a sitcom,” she said. “We want to bring back these interesting, deep characters — a child of divorce, a recovering drug addict, an alcoholic — to see them in a whole new way.”