Material Girls

Latest Episodes:

Ceremony: The Unexpected Task (Book 4, Chapter 22) | Harry Potter and the Sacred Text Jul 15, 2025

Show notes

If you’ve been following Witch Please Productions since the early days, then you know our roots go back to Harry Potter with our show Witch, Please. Hannah and Marcelle wrapped up seven seasons of the reboot in 2023 but they occasionally hop onto Harry Potter and the Sacred Text to talk about the book series, again. Today, we’re dropping in an episode from that show about Book 4, Chapter 22. In the conversation, Marcelle and Hannah chat with the charming and brilliant Matt Potts about dress robes, Fred and Angelina, and the joy and horror of school dances. Every episode of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text focuses on a theme and a central question. In this episode we ask: when is ceremony just a formality, and when does it signal a genuine transformation?

For more Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, find the show everywhere you get your podcasts or head to www.harrypottersacredtext.com. If you want to visit or rediscover our show Witch, Please, you can find all our episodes in this feed by scrolling back! Or you can go to ohwitchplease.ca where we have listed all episodes of our original run and our reboot. We’ll be back next week with another drop-in episode, but until then, later, Witches.

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Proactive Kinship with Hannah McGregor | Gender Playground Jul 08, 2025

Show notes

As we continue our July break, we are dropping into your feed with an episode of Gender Playground! If you don't yet know, Gender Playground is a show about the joys of gender-affirming care for kids — and it's hosted by Marcelle. We love this show and we’re currently releasing new episodes every Thursday. Today we’re dropping in the first episode of season two featuring Hannah McGregor. If you like this episode, please subscribe to Gender Playground wherever you get your podcasts to get new episodes sent straight to you audio player.

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Should I Quit Drinking? with Marcelle Kosman | The Real Question Jul 01, 2025

Show notes

As we mentioned last month, Material Girls is taking a summer break for the month of July! We’ll be releasing drop-in episodes from other podcasts that we think you'll enjoy. Today, we're sharing The Real Question: Should I Quit? — a podcast from our friends at Not Sorry. Marcelle was a guest on the show in 2023 and in her episode she considered the question: "Should I quit drinking?" The conversation with host Vanessa Zoltan is frank, funny and goes places you might not expect.

Thanks for listening. If you enjoy the episode, be sure to check out the The Real Question wherever you get your podcasts.

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To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with another drop-in, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team! Thanks again to all of you who have already made the leap to join us there!

Music Credits:

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Material Concerns: Marcelle and Coach Have One-on-One Time Pt. I | Ad-Free Jun 24, 2025

Show notes

No Hannah on this episode! But we still have fun! So much fun, we didn't record a part two... The burnout is real, but we're still so sorry! Part two is coming by the end of the week! Please enjoy this one-on-one chat between Marcelle and Coach until then! And be sure to scoop tickets to our live show in Vancouver! https://riotheatretickets.ca/events/36331-material-girls-podcast-live

Part II will be out later this week on Patreon! For as little as $54/year, you'll get ad-free episodes, bloopers, a backlog of content and part two of all Material Concerns episodes! Head to patreon.com/ohwitchplease now to join a tier that works for your budget!

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Music Credits:

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A Million Little Pieces x Life Writing with Traci Thomas Jun 17, 2025

Show notes

As a podcast all about the zeitgeist, we've wanted to do an episode about James Frey's memoir A Million Little Pieces — and the 2005 controversy around it — for years. So when Traci Thomas (she/her) agreed to join us on Material Girls, we were thrilled to finally have the perfect guest to help us dig in.

Among numerous other accomplishments, Traci Thomas is the creator and host of the critically acclaimed literary podcast, The Stacks, as well as the writer behind the incredible Substack, Unstacked. Through her insights into celebrity book clubs, Oprah's cultural positioning in the early aughts, publishing norms and reader expectations, Hannah and Marcelle make sense of one of the most fascinating scandals of the last 20 years.

Note — if you don't care about the controversy, but you've always wanted to understand the differences between memoir, autobiography and auto-fiction, then you should give this episode a listen. :)

To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team! Thanks again to all of you who have already made the leap to join us there!

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Material Girls is a show that makes sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.

*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment.

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Material Concerns: Watching the Empire End Pt. I Jun 10, 2025

Show notes

After a quick and dirty check-in, Hannah, Marcelle and Coach dive into Apocalypse Toolkit (music edition!)! They then jump into a very thorough Make It Make Sense and listen to a Voice Memo Dispatch! Happy listening.

Head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease to listen to Part II. For as little as $54/year, you'll get ad-free episodes, bloopers, a backlog of content and part two of all Material Concerns episodes! Head to patreon.com/ohwitchplease now to join a tier that works for your budget!

Looking for our Apocalypse Toolkit Playlist? Check it out here!

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Music Credits:

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The Traitors x Celebrity with Matt Wildcat Jun 03, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Hannah and Marcelle welcome guest Matt Wildcat (he/him) to discuss the hit reality TV show, "The Traitors." Marcelle and Matt begin by offering a quick rundown of the game's mechanics and its charm (TLDR: Alan Cumming). Whether you're a fan, like Marcelle, or you've never watched the show, like Hannah, this episode is for YOU. Tune in for an hour deep dive into the lasting effects of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023 and the rise of reality star celebrities.

To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back in two weeks with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team! Thanks again to all of you who have already made the leap to join us there!

***

Material Girls is a show that aims to make sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.

*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment.

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Material Concerns: "Egh" (the Noise of 2025) Pt. I May 27, 2025

Show notes

Enjoy this new Material Concerns episode featuring a classically chaotic check-in that is largely about Coach's fixation on pudding and Marcelle's forthcoming political career. We then jump into Ok, Hear Me Out (menstruation, sticker charts, budgeting!), followed by No Time! (a clip from our Sapphic episode). We wrap Part I of the episode with Apocalypse Toolkit and save Make It Make Sense (Matcha!)and Creature Report for part two.

Head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease to listen! For as little as $54/year, you'll get ad-free episodes, bloopers, a backlog of content and part two of all Material Concerns episodes! Head to patreon.com/ohwitchplease now to join a tier that works for your budget!

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Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fourth Wing x the Author Function May 20, 2025

Show notes

There are no book spoilers in this episode!

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Entangled Publishing) was an undeniable hit in the world of romantasy fiction. But in a saturated market, how did Fourth Wing rise to such fame?

To get to the bottom of this book's popularity, resident publishing expert, Hannah explains how Entangled's market-driven approach to publishing and reader engagement set Yarros up for a certain kind of success. They then dig into the complexities of authorship and copyright in a rapidly evolving literary landscape — particularly in genres like romance and fantasy (i.e. genres that consistently play with and rely on tropes). To add some much-needed theory to the mix, Hannah draws on Foucault to consider "authorship" and the "the author function."

At the end of the episode, Hannah offers a thesis about authorship, originality and modern publishing that is not to be missed!

If you liked this conversation, be sure to check out these related episodes:

Bridgerton x Reading the Romance

Twilight x Girl Culture

The Night Circus x Reading Ecosystems

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*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment.

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Material Concerns: Left On the Table Pt. I May 13, 2025

Show notes

Here comes another Material Concerns episode containing new and familiar segments! In this episode, Marcelle gets an opportunity to sing her Kreacher Report remix (facilitated by our wonderful sound engineer, Malika) and Coach gives an update on Jodie. Hannah talks about her time in Duncan and Coach wreaks havoc with a new segment that stirs up some drama.

Reminder to head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease to get part two!! For as little as $54/year, you'll get ad-free episodes, bloopers, a backlog of content and part two of all Material Concerns episodes! Head to patreon.com/ohwitchplease now to join a tier that works for your budget!

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Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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