CAFE (media company)
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| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Owner | Some Spider, Inc. |
| Key people | Vinit Bharara, Bryan Carmel, Paul Smurl, Rob Whisman, Blake Zeff |
| Industry | News and Entertainment |
| Website | www |
| Current status | Active |
CAFE is a new media company that covers and pokes fun at news, issues, public figures and institutions of the day. With original content on nine different platforms - from video to podcasts to Snapchat - it currently reaches 50 million people monthly on social media.
CAFE is part of Some Spider, a digital media and entertainment company backed by Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara. It is led by a team that includes the former co-founder of Diapers.com (sold to Amazon), the head of digital at The New York Times, and the Entertainment Industry Manager at Facebook.
Its content team includes Blake Zeff (formerly of BuzzFeed, MSNBC & Salon), Bryan Carmel (formerly head of comedy at Fusion) and Rob Whisman (referred to by CollegeHumor as “the funniest person on Twitter”).
Carl Diggler is a fictional American journalist created by CAFE who became a viral sensation during the 2016 presidential election campaign. Diggler, a middle-aged, centrist pundit who prides himself on his “Inside the Beltway” knowledge of the Washington, D.C. political scene, is the purported author of a column published at CAFE and a keen, if clueless, Twitter user. Portrayed as a smug, ignorant blowhard, the character comments on political news and delves into backstory from his personal life, particularly the details of his failed marriage and protracted family court proceedings for custody of his son Colby. Diggler also hosts The DigCast, a podcast featuring weekly guests and Carl's millennial intern.
Girl Friday is a critically acclaimed podcast hosted by Erin Gloria Ryan, co-hosted by Amanda Duarte, and produced by Briana Haynie, in which they talk about news of the week and their lives, with a new guest each week. The podcast has received positive reviews, and reached #59 on the iTunes chart in early 2017.
According to AV Club's Podmass:
If ever there was a podcast buoyed purely by the strength of its hosts’ personalities, this is it. While there are currently a glut of shows in which a handful of media types prate about the news, Girl Friday is something more—more interesting and more entertaining, thanks to the charisma and comity of the three women at the center of the show. The Daily Beast’s Erin Gloria Ryan might be the most recognizable name, but without Amanda Duarte and Briana Haynie on the mics beside her, the show’s alchemy would be off. In this bonus episode, the trio sit at a literal kitchen table in D.C. immediately after participating in protest history, and they share their experiences with emotion, empathy, irreverence, and a surprising amount of scatological humor. Laughter is a major element of the show, as is particularly evidenced in a recent episode featuring Teen Vogue’s Lauren Duca. The hosts obviously enjoy each other’s company, and it’s infectious. Girl Friday is an intelligent show for intelligent people who nonetheless enjoy stupid jokes about national tragedies.
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