Star Treatment
Does prominence change the questions? Every guest, plotted: their public prominence (rated 1–10 by an LLM, methodology below) against the host pushback they met, measured from every diarized word of their episodes.
An aggregate AI reading of public interviews: pushback per exchange, plotted against guest prominence. It describes questioning patterns across the whole catalogue, not any single guest, and every point opens to its episode. full disclaimer →
-0.01pushback per +1 prominence
2.9/10host pushback, prominence 8–10
2.9/10host pushback, prominence 1–4
220guests measured
dot size = rated episodes · gold line = average per prominence level · every dot links to the person
All guests, by prominence
| Guest | Prominence | Host pushback | Guest pushback | Eps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elon Musk CEO, Tesla and SpaceX | 10 | 2 | 2.8/10 | 9 |
| Sergey Brin Co-founder, Google | 10 | 2 | 2/10 | 3 |
| JD Vance Vice President, United States | 10 | 2.5 | 2.3/10 | 4 |
| Jimmy Donaldson Founder and CEO, Beast Industries | 10 | 2.5 | 3/10 | 2 |
| Donald J. Trump President, United States | 10 | 2.7 | 2/10 | 16 |
| Sundar Pichai CEO, Alphabet and Google | 10 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Gwyneth Paltrow Founder & CEO, Goop | 10 | 3.5 | 2/10 | 2 |
| Demis Hassabis CEO & Co-Founder, Isomorphic Labs | 9 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Jamie Dimon Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase | 9 | 1 | 2/10 | 2 |
| Sheryl Sandberg Former COO, Meta | 9 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Dr. Lisa Su | 9 | 1 | 0/10 | 1 |
| Megyn Kelly Host, The Megyn Kelly Show | 9 | 1.5 | 3/10 | 2 |
| Dr. Mehmet Oz Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | 9 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Paul Levesque (Triple H) Chief Content Officer, WWE | 9 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Tony Robbins Chairman, Robbins Research International | 9 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Senator Ted Cruz U.S. Senator from Texas, United States Senate | 9 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Dave Portnoy Founder and Owner, Barstool Sports | 9 | 2 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Jared Kushner Founder & CEO, Affinity Partners | 9 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Michael Dell Founder, Chairman & CEO, Dell Technologies | 9 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Ray Dalio Founder and Mentor, Bridgewater Associates | 9 | 2.3 | 2.3/10 | 4 |
| Jensen Huang Founder and CEO, NVIDIA | 9 | 2.7 | 2/10 | 3 |
| Travis Kalanick CEO, Atoms | 9 | 2.7 | 2.9/10 | 7 |
| Ben Shapiro Co-Founder and Host, The Daily Wire | 9 | 3 | 2.8/10 | 4 |
| Peter Thiel Partner and Co-Founder, Founders Fund | 9 | 3 | 3.5/10 | 2 |
| Charles Koch Chairman & Co-CEO, Koch, Inc. | 9 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Bill Ackman Founder and CEO, Pershing Square Capital Management | 9 | 3 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Eric Schmidt Founder & Chair, SCSP | 9 | 3.5 | 3/10 | 2 |
| Larry Summers President Emeritus, Harvard University | 9 | 3.5 | 5/10 | 2 |
| Tucker Carlson Founder, Tucker Carlson Network | 9 | 3.8 | 4.6/10 | 5 |
| Satya Nadella Chairman and CEO, Microsoft | 9 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Mark Cuban Co-founder, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company | 9 | 4 | 5.3/10 | 3 |
| Donald Trump Jr. Executive Vice President, The Trump Organization | 9 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Sam Altman CEO, OpenAI | 9 | 4.4 | 3.1/10 | 7 |
| Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | 9 | 5 | 4.5/10 | 2 |
| Pete Buttigieg Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation | 9 | 6 | 7/10 | 1 |
| María Corina Machado National Coordinator, Vente Venezuela | 8 | 0 | 0/10 | 1 |
| Michael Ovitz Chairman, Treville Capital Group | 8 | 0 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Tony Hinchcliffe Host, Kill Tony | 8 | 1 | 6/10 | 1 |
| Joe Manchin Former U.S. Senator, United States Senate | 8 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Tulsi Gabbard Former Director of National Intelligence | 8 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Nico Rosberg Founder and CEO, Rosberg Ventures | 8 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| John Collison Co-founder & President, Stripe | 8 | 1 | 2/10 | 2 |
| Naval Ravikant Co-founder and Chairman, AngelList | 8 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Jonathan Haidt Professor of Ethical Leadership, NYU Stern | 8 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Dan Loeb Founder, CEO & CIO, Third Point LLC | 8 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Bryan Johnson Founder, Project Blueprint | 8 | 1.3 | 1/10 | 3 |
| Howard Lutnick Commerce Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce | 8 | 1.8 | 2.3/10 | 4 |
| Changpeng Zhao (CZ) Founder, Giggle Academy | 8 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Joe Tsai Chairman, Alibaba Group | 8 | 2 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Paul Buchheit General Partner, Standard Capital | 8 | 2 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Senator Ron Johnson U.S. Senator, United States Senate | 8 | 2 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Patrick Collison Co-founder & CEO, Stripe | 8 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Kyrsten Sinema U.S. Senator, United States Senate | 8 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Ryan Cohen Chairman and CEO, GameStop | 8 | 2 | 4/10 | 1 |
| Bill Gurley General Partner, Benchmark | 8 | 2.4 | 3/10 | 7 |
| Vinod Khosla Founder, Khosla Ventures | 8 | 2.7 | 2.3/10 | 3 |
| Aaron Levie Co-Founder & CEO, Box | 8 | 2.8 | 2.3/10 | 4 |
| Brian Armstrong Co-Founder & CEO, Coinbase | 8 | 3 | 1.5/10 | 4 |
| Adam Carolla Host, The Adam Carolla Show | 8 | 3 | 5/10 | 1 |
| Scott Bessent Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Department of the Treasury | 8 | 3 | 2.6/10 | 7 |
| Roelof Botha Partner, Sequoia Capital | 8 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Dara Khosrowshahi CEO, Uber | 8 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Rand Paul U.S. Senator, United States Senate | 8 | 3 | 3/10 | 2 |
| Jared Isaacman Administrator, NASA | 8 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Jeffrey Sachs University Professor, Columbia University | 8 | 3 | 3.5/10 | 2 |
| Tim Dillon Comedian & Host, The Tim Dillon Show | 8 | 3 | 4/10 | 1 |
| Joe Lonsdale Founder & Managing Partner, 8VC | 8 | 3 | 3.7/10 | 3 |
| Andrew Schulz Stand-up Comedian and Podcast Host | 8 | 3 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Tobi Lütke Co-Founder and CEO, Shopify | 8 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Vivek Ramaswamy Co-founder, Strive Asset Management | 8 | 3 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Nate Silver Founder & Author, Silver Bulletin | 8 | 3 | 3/10 | 2 |
| Draymond Green NBA Player, Golden State Warriors | 8 | 3 | 5/10 | 1 |
| Pat Gelsinger General Partner, Playground Global | 8 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Rahm Emanuel Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan | 8 | 3 | 6/10 | 1 |
| Keith Rabois Managing Director, Khosla Ventures | 8 | 3.3 | 3/10 | 4 |
| Palmer Luckey Founder, Anduril Industries | 8 | 3.3 | 3.7/10 | 3 |
| Alex Karp Co-founder & CEO, Palantir Technologies | 8 | 3.6 | 3.6/10 | 5 |
| Ari Emanuel CEO, TKO Group Holdings | 8 | 4 | 5/10 | 1 |
| Cathie Wood Founder & CEO, ARK Invest | 8 | 4 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Marc Benioff Chair, CEO & Co-Founder, Salesforce | 8 | 4 | 3.5/10 | 2 |
| Steve Bannon Host and Creator, War Room | 8 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Balaji Srinivasan Founder, The Network School | 8 | 4 | 4/10 | 1 |
| Josh Shapiro Governor, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania | 8 | 4 | 6/10 | 1 |
| John Fetterman U.S. Senator, United States Senate | 8 | 4.5 | 4.5/10 | 2 |
| Andrew Ross Sorkin Co-Anchor, CNBC | 8 | 4.8 | 3.3/10 | 4 |
| Vlad Tenev Co-Founder & CEO, Robinhood | 8 | 5 | 3/10 | 2 |
| Ezra Klein Columnist & Podcast Host, The New York Times | 8 | 6 | 7/10 | 1 |
| Chris Christie Managing Partner, Christie 55 Solutions | 8 | 6 | 5/10 | 1 |
| Neal Mohan CEO, YouTube | 8 | 7 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Eric Swalwell Former U.S. Representative, California | 8 | 7 | 4/10 | 1 |
| Reid Hoffman Partner, Greylock | 8 | 7 | 5/10 | 1 |
| Dr. Marty Makary Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University | 7 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Orlando Bravo Founder & Managing Partner, Thoma Bravo | 7 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Francis Suarez President, Alpha Wave Global | 7 | 1 | 1/10 | 2 |
| Aravind Srinivas Co-founder & CEO, Perplexity AI | 7 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Arthur Mensch Co-Founder & CEO, Mistral AI | 7 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Alexandra Botez Co-founder & Content Creator, BotezLive | 7 | 1.5 | 2/10 | 2 |
| Hemant Taneja CEO & Managing Director, General Catalyst | 7 | 2 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Rick Caruso Founder and Executive Chairman, Caruso | 7 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Doug Burgum Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior | 7 | 2 | 1.5/10 | 2 |
| Kelly Loeffler Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration | 7 | 2 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Chris Williamson Host and Creator, Modern Wisdom | 7 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Cyan Banister General Partner, Long Journey Ventures | 7 | 2 | 2.5/10 | 2 |
| Akash Singh Stand-up Comedian and Actor | 7 | 2 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Mark Pincus Founder & Executive Chairman, Zynga | 7 | 2 | 1.7/10 | 3 |
| Matt Taibbi Publisher, Racket News | 7 | 2 | 4/10 | 1 |
| Prince Reza Pahlavi | 7 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Dave Ricks Chair & CEO, Eli Lilly and Company | 7 | 2.5 | 2/10 | 2 |
| Stephen Wolfram Founder & CEO, Wolfram Research | 7 | 2.5 | 2.5/10 | 2 |
| George Kurtz Co-founder & CEO, CrowdStrike | 7 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Anatoly Yakovenko Co-Founder and CEO, Solana Labs | 7 | 3 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Chris Wright Secretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy | 7 | 3 | 2/10 | 2 |
| Brooke Rollins Secretary of Agriculture, USDA | 7 | 3 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Ryan Petersen Founder & CEO, Flexport | 7 | 3 | 1.3/10 | 4 |
| Nikesh Arora Chairman & CEO, Palo Alto Networks | 7 | 3 | 3.5/10 | 2 |
| Bari Weiss Founder, The Free Press | 7 | 3 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Graham Allison Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School | 7 | 3 | 2.5/10 | 2 |
| Glenn Greenwald Host and Publisher, System Update | 7 | 3 | 5/10 | 2 |
| Eric Weinstein Former Managing Director, Thiel Capital | 7 | 3 | 5/10 | 1 |
| John Mearsheimer Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago | 7 | 3.3 | 3.3/10 | 3 |
| Molly Bloom Author, Molly's Game | 7 | 3.5 | 3/10 | 2 |
| Phil Hellmuth | 7 | 3.8 | 2.4/10 | 5 |
| Brad Gerstner Founder & CEO, Altimeter Capital | 7 | 4 | 2.8/10 | 26 |
| Rene Haas CEO, Arm | 7 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Tim Urban Co-Founder & Writer, Wait But Why | 7 | 4 | 4/10 | 1 |
| Senator Dave McCormick U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania | 7 | 4 | 4/10 | 1 |
| Bill Maris Founder and General Partner, S32 | 7 | 4 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Ro Khanna U.S. Representative, U.S. House of Representatives | 7 | 4.8 | 3/10 | 5 |
| Senator Eric Schmitt U.S. Senator, U.S. Senate | 7 | 6 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Adena Friedman Chair and CEO, Nasdaq | 7 | 6 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Sarah Friar CFO, OpenAI | 7 | 6 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Tom Emmer House Majority Whip, U.S. House of Representatives | 7 | 7 | 4/10 | 1 |
| Spencer Pratt Founder, Pratt Daddy | 6 | 1 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Keller Rinaudo Clifton | 6 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Bob Sternfels Global Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company | 6 | 2 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Colin Rosenblum Co-Host, The Colin and Samir Show | 6 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Samir Chaudry Co-Host & Co-Founder, Colin and Samir | 6 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Coleman Hughes Author & Host, Conversations with Coleman | 6 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Paul Atkins Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission | 6 | 2 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Shervin Pishevar Co-Founder, Sofreh Capital | 6 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Emil Michael Under Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense | 6 | 2 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Trey Stevens | 6 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Antonio Gracias Founder & CEO, Valor Equity Partners | 6 | 2.3 | 1.7/10 | 6 |
| Jeremy Allaire Co-Founder & CEO, Circle | 6 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Michael Shellenberger Founder and Editor, Public | 6 | 3 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Mar Hershenson Founding Managing Partner, Pear VC | 6 | 3 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Dean Phillips Former U.S. Representative, Minnesota's 3rd District | 6 | 3.5 | 2/10 | 2 |
| Philippe Laffont Founder & Portfolio Manager, Coatue Management | 6 | 4 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Tekedra Mawakana Co-CEO, Waymo | 6 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Shayne Coplan Founder & CEO, Polymarket | 6 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Antonio Garcia Martinez Director of Ads, Base (Coinbase) | 6 | 4 | 6/10 | 1 |
| Jan Crawford | 6 | 4 | 5/10 | 1 |
| Steve Hilton Founder and CEO, Golden Together | 6 | 4 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Matt Mahan Mayor, City of San José | 6 | 4 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Mati Staniszewski Co-founder & CEO, ElevenLabs | 6 | 4 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Sagar Enjeti | 6 | 5 | 6/10 | 1 |
| Jan Sramek Founder and CEO, California Forever | 5 | 0 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Woody Hoburg Astronaut, NASA | 5 | 0.5 | 1/10 | 2 |
| Alex Filippenko Professor of Astronomy, UC Berkeley | 5 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Jenny Just Co-Founder and Managing Partner, PEAK6 Investments | 5 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Michael Intrator Co-Founder and CEO, CoreWeave | 5 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Chase Lochmiller Co-Founder & CEO, Crusoe | 5 | 2 | 1/10 | 2 |
| Tareq Amin CEO, HUMAIN | 5 | 2 | 0/10 | 1 |
| Chris Power Founder & CEO, Hadrian | 5 | 2 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Rob Henderson Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute | 5 | 2 | 2.5/10 | 2 |
| Robin Rombach Co-founder & CEO, Black Forest Labs | 5 | 2 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Shyam Sankar CTO & EVP, Palantir Technologies | 5 | 2.3 | 1.7/10 | 3 |
| Andrew Feldman Co-Founder and CEO, Cerebras Systems | 5 | 2.7 | 1.7/10 | 3 |
| Adam Goldstein Founder & CEO, Archer Aviation | 5 | 3 | 2/10 | 2 |
| Michael Kratsios Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy | 5 | 3 | 2/10 | 3 |
| Kyle Samani Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital | 5 | 3 | 2/10 | 2 |
| JoeBen Bevirt Founder & CEO, Joby Aviation | 5 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Tom Goldstein Co-Founder, SCOTUSblog | 5 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Amy Howe Blogger & Legal Analyst, SCOTUSblog | 5 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Will Marshall Co-Founder and CEO, Planet Labs PBC | 5 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Gavin Baker Managing Partner & CIO, Atreides Management | 5 | 3.5 | 2.4/10 | 11 |
| Thomas Laffont Co-Founder & Senior Managing Director, Coatue Management | 5 | 3.8 | 2/10 | 4 |
| Haralabos Voulgaris Owner and President, CD Castellón | 5 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Bob Mumgaard Co-founder & CEO, Commonwealth Fusion Systems | 5 | 4 | 1/10 | 1 |
| David Kirtley Co-founder & CEO, Helion Energy | 5 | 4 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Dr. Peter Fankhauser Co-Founder & CEO, ANYbotics | 5 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Professor Jonathan Hurst Co-founder & Chief Robot Officer, Agility Robotics | 5 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Jason Koon Professional Poker Player & Ambassador, PokerStars | 5 | 4.5 | 3/10 | 2 |
| Alan Keating High-Stakes Poker Player & Venture Investor | 5 | 4.5 | 3.5/10 | 2 |
| Michael Tracey Independent Journalist & Political Commentator | 5 | 5 | 6/10 | 1 |
| John Martinis Co-Founder & CTO, Qolab | 4 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte Founding Scientist and SVP, Altos Labs | 4 | 1 | 0/10 | 1 |
| Dr. Nicole Paulk CEO & Founder, Siren Biotechnology | 4 | 1 | 0/10 | 1 |
| Daniel Roberts Co-CEO & Co-Founder, IREN | 4 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Jake Loosararian Co-Founder and CEO, Gecko Robotics | 4 | 1.5 | 1/10 | 2 |
| James Litinsky Founder, Chairman & CEO, MP Materials | 4 | 1.5 | 0.5/10 | 2 |
| Ingo Uytdehaage Co-CEO, Adyen | 4 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Brian Yutko VP of Product Development, Boeing Commercial Airplanes | 4 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Adena Hefets Co-founder & Former CEO, Divvy Homes | 4 | 3 | 3/10 | 1 |
| John Cohen Founder & CEO, TrueDot | 4 | 3 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Chase Koch EVP of Origination and Partnerships, Koch, Inc. | 4 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Anton Osika Co-Founder & CEO, Lovable | 4 | 3 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Nick Shirley Independent Investigative Journalist & YouTuber | 4 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Bernt Børnich Founder & CEO, 1X Technologies | 4 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Kelly Rodriques Chief Executive Officer, Forge Global | 4 | 6 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Rich Lyons Chancellor, UC Berkeley | 4 | 7 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Sian Beilock President, Dartmouth College | 4 | 7 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Caleb Ward Co-founder and CEO, Curious Refuge | 3 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Dino Mavrucas Co-Founder and CEO, Saronic Technologies | 3 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Vib Altakar Co-Founder & CTO, Saronic Technologies | 3 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Phil Deutsch Founder & Managing Partner, NGP Energy Technology Partners | 3 | 2 | 2.5/10 | 2 |
| Michael Selig Chairman, CFTC | 3 | 2 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Claire Cormier Thielke Global Head of Product Development, Prologis | 3 | 3 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Garrett Langley Founder & CEO, Flock Safety | 3 | 3 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Max Junestrand Co-founder and CEO, Legora | 3 | 4 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Kevin Bass Publisher, Forbidden Science | 3 | 5 | 6/10 | 1 |
| Sarah B. Rogers Under Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State | 2 | 1 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Andrew Stevens | 2 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
| Tandice Urban Co-Founder, The Lanby | 2 | 2 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Michael Newman Political Analyst | 2 | 3 | 3/10 | 1 |
| Dan Dreyfus Founder and CIO, Bornite Capital Management | 2 | 4 | 1.5/10 | 2 |
| Amanda McMaster Executive, Boston Dynamics | 2 | 4 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Oleg Noodleman Investor, EcoR1 Capital | 2 | 6 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Aaron Cowan Founder, CEO & CIO, Suvretta Capital Management | 2 | 6 | 2/10 | 1 |
| Dr. Ron Carlsberg Clinical Professor of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai | 1 | 1 | 1/10 | 1 |
host and guest pushback: scored 0-10 per topic segment by an LLM with a published rubric over the diarized transcript; an episode’s number is the peak-weighted p75 · prominence: rated 1–10 by an LLM from the person's public profile · full method on /methodology.