Apple Podcasts names Hysterical the 2024 Show of the Year
Host Dan Taberski reflects on the standout seven-part investigation in a special Creator Conversation
Apple is proud to celebrate Hysterical with the Apple Podcasts Award, a recognition given each year to honor a show that demonstrates quality and innovation in podcasting. The seven-part series, produced by Wondery and Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios, investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York.
Hysterical debuted on Apple Podcasts in July 2024, and quickly rose to No. 1 in the Top Shows chart. Since then, fans have continued to listen and recommend the series, and Hysterical ended the year as the No. 9 most popular new show of the year in the Top Charts of 2024 on Apple Podcasts.
Creator Dan Taberski was compelled to pursue this story when news of “Havana syndrome” — a mysterious illness impacting thousands of diplomats and hardened CIA agents around the world — started to spring up in the media. He recalled the story about a group of high school girls in Le Roy, New York, who were affected by a separate mysterious illness several years prior. Drawn to the potential parallels between these unlikely groups of people, he thought, “What if it’s a hysterical illness?”
“A lot of people still think it was an attack from some sort of microwave weapon,” Taberski says of the Havana syndrome news. “The media was pontificating about it, and they were interviewing all these people who were suffering from it, but everybody was really afraid to say, ‘What if it’s all in your head?’ So I thought it would be interesting to pair that story in Le Roy with what was happening to these diplomats and CIA officers to show that it can happen to anybody.”
“Dan Taberski has continually been at the forefront of podcast documentary, and with Hysterical, he is operating at the top of his game. He uniquely taps into the zeitgeist with humor, insight and a breeziness that listeners have always flocked to,” said Jenna Weiss-Berman, Audacy’s executive vice president of Podcasts. “We’re so grateful for the work Apple Podcasts does to showcase Dan’s voice and to continue advancing this genre.”
“We could not be more excited that Apple Podcasts has chosen to recognize Hysterical as its Show of the Year,” said Marshall Lewy, Wondery’s chief content officer. “Dan is a breakthrough storyteller and a true podcast auteur — he has a singular ability to present questions, and with his own unique approach, he will leave you completely enraptured and ready to go down the rabbit hole with him. Investigative limited series like Hysterical give listeners an opportunity to dive into complex, real-world stories that have no easy answers and take audiences on a journey. There’s no one better than Dan at this.”
In a special conversation available today on Apple Podcasts for Creators, excerpted below, Taberski discusses how he knows when he has an intriguing story, the importance of questions that lead to more questions, and his team’s approach to uncovering new aspects of the mystery in each episode.
On pursuing the right story: “When I’m trying to decide if I want to do a project, the more time I spend with it, the more questions I have to have. If the questions dry up pretty quickly, you kind of know it’s not worth it. But, if the more time you spend with it, the more unsure you are, the more questions you have, the more doors it opens, the more things there are to wrestle with — that I think the listener would be interested to wrestle with as well — that’s when I get really into it. When I’m properly confused, and I really have questions, and I’m excited to sit down with as many people as possible and ask them about it, and to get answers — once I’m at that confused state, I’m ready to go.”
On bringing together the right crew: “I work with a team of collaborators that has been pretty consistent, and that sort of creative relationship really builds over the course of years. It’s really helpful to have people who are interrogating it with you as you’re going along. It’s part of the fun. There’s also something about the fact that podcasting and the format of narrative audio documentary is still pretty new.”
On enjoying the journey: “There’s something that’s so fresh about it, and you really are figuring it out as you’re going along, and the people that you’re working with are figuring it out as you’re going along, even though they are able to build on what they already know and what they’ve already learned, and that struggle keeps it really interesting. Enjoying that struggle instead of freaking out about it is a big part of how to approach a limited series.”
These excerpts have been edited for clarity and brevity.
All episodes of Hysterical are available now on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe to Wondery+ for access to ad-free episodes.
Apple Podcasts also recently announced new ways for listeners to celebrate and discover narrative series with a new Top Series chart, a new Series category, and Series Essentials, a feature recognizing one series every month that best defines the category.