Robert "Bobby" Finger (born April 22, 1986) is an American journalist, podcaster, and pop culture critic, best known as the co-creator and host of the '' Who? Weekly'' podcast alongside friend and fellow writer Lindsey Weber. He previously was a regular contributing writer for the US culture website '' Jezebel'' from 2015 until 2018.

Career

Finger graduated from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 2008. After moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he worked as a copywriter at an advertising agency before transitioning into becoming a full-time pop culture writer and podcaster in 2015. Finger's bylines have appeared in outlets including ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and '' Vanity Fair''. Finger has also appeared as a guest on podcasts including '' Blank Check with Griffin and David'', ''It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders'', and ''Little Gold Men''. In 2016, Finger, alongside Lindsey Weber, started the podcast ''Who? Weekly'', based on a newsletter and focused on B-list celebrities. The podcast quickly became popular, amassing a large group of fans known affectionately as 'Wholigans'. The podcast has received a positive critical response with celebrity fans including Lena Dunham and Lea DeLaria. In 2019, ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' named the show as one of the top ten conversational podcasts that shaped the genre. The show also received national attention in 2017 after fans identified that then- White House Press Secretary

Sean Spicer Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is a former American political aide who served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump in 2017. Spicer was communications dire ...

had an open account on mobile payment service Venmo, leading to it being doxxed. In 2017, Finger published a series of articles on ''Jezebel'' critically reviewing episodes of ''

Megyn Kelly Today ''Megyn Kelly Today'' is an American daytime talk show that was broadcast by NBC. Premiering on September 25, 2017, it replaced ''Today's Take'' as the third hour of NBC's national morning show ''Today''. The program was hosted by Megyn Kelly, wh ...

'', entitled "''Megyn Kelly Today'', Today", which led to show host

Megyn Kelly Megyn Marie Kelly (; born November 18, 1970) is an American journalist and media personality. She currently hosts a talk show and podcast, ''The Megyn Kelly Show'', that airs live daily on SiriusXM. She was a talk show host at Fox News from 200 ...

inviting Finger to appear as a guest on the show. ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'' called the segment "hilariously awkward". In 2019, Finger began hosting ''I'm Obsessed With This'', a podcast reviewing new

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

programming. In 2022, Finger's debut novel "The Old Place" was published by Penguin Random House. "A bighearted and moving debut about a wry retired schoolteacher whose decade-old secret threatens to come to light and send shockwaves through her small Texas town.".https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/703745/the-old-place-by-bobby-finger/ "The Old Place" was selected by Vanity Fair as one of the best books of the year in 2022.

Personal life

Finger is from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York City. He married Josh Fjelstad, Co-host of the Exp. Share podcast, in 2018.

References

External links

Who? Weekly official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finger, Bobby Living people American podcasters American feminists University of Texas alumni 1986 births