Podcast Summary: We Came to the Forest – Introducing: Origin Stories

Podcast: We Came to the Forest
Host: Matt Sher (Origin Stories, Campside Media, Wondery)
Guest: Dan Tabursky (host, Hysterical)
Date: September 10, 2025

Episode Overview

This special episode serves as a crossover introduction to Origin Stories, in which host Matt Sher explores the genesis of acclaimed creative projects with leading podcasters, writers, and directors. The featured segment is a deep, candid interview with Dan Tabursky, known for his narrative podcasting style and celebrated series Hysterical. Together, Sher and Tabursky discuss the creative process behind Hysterical, Tabursky's career transition from television to podcasts, the challenge of reporting on complex subjects such as mass psychogenic illness, and what it really takes to make award-winning audio storytelling.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction to Origin Stories and Dan Tabursky's Work

Timestamps:

• [00:02]–[01:17]: Matt Sher introduces his new podcast and guest lineup.

• [01:24]–[04:11]: Summary of the Hysterical podcast and Tabursky's career trajectory.

• Matt Sher discusses the purpose of Origin Stories: “Intimate and incisive, instructive and eye-opening. Origin Stories is the ultimate podcast for anyone curious about the workings of the creative mind.” ([00:13])

• Dan Tabursky is introduced as a pioneer of narrative podcasting, known for Finding Richard Simmons, 9/12, The Line, and Hysterical, the latter recently awarded Podcast of the Year at the Ambies and a Pulitzer finalist.

2. Dan Tabursky’s Path to Podcasting

Timestamps:

• [04:17]–[05:55]

• Tabursky’s background: Started in television (NBC News, The Daily Show), ran a production company making comedy and game shows.

• Turning point: “The industry evolved...I kind of didn’t want to make what TV people wanted to make anymore, and TV people didn’t really want to make what I wanted to make anymore.” ([04:56])

• He made a short documentary, then attempted one on Richard Simmons, which turned into his breakthrough podcast.

3. Translating TV Skills to Audio & Developing a Distinctive Voice

Timestamps:

• [05:58]–[07:16]

• Writing in others’ voices, getting comfortable on mic, and the value of “scratch track” work at The Daily Show.

• Tabursky’s defining style: "I've always been a little too familiar with people, and sometimes that can backfire. But also, sometimes it makes people really comfortable, especially when we've only got an hour or two and we're trying to get somewhere interesting.” ([07:16])

4. Thematic Threads Across Projects

Timestamps:

• [07:57]–[09:18]

• Tabursky's subjects often touch on navigating large, uncontrollable systems—be they media, law enforcement, or public health:

  • “What does it feel like to end up on the show Cops?...These people don't have any way to sort of navigate the larger system...those are sort of the themes that I find myself coming up against.” ([08:34])

5. The Genesis of Hysterical and Mass Psychogenic Illness

Timestamps:

• [09:20]–[11:22]

• Initial interest stemmed from researching Havana Syndrome; questions about belief and legitimacy of certain illnesses led him to the Leroy High School case.

• Tabursky on challenging both journalistic ethics and empathy:

  • “It feels so wrong to look somebody in the face who's ill and say, are you sure this isn't a mass psychogenic illness?...I didn't want to make people feel dumb...But I did think it was interesting that reporters were having a hard time even asking the questions.” ([09:49])

• Discussion on the tensions between medical skepticism, women not being believed, and real suffering:

  • “It is 100% real...But just that where those symptoms would be coming from might not have an organic cause...your experience is valid, but there are other things to consider in terms of you getting better.” ([11:22])

6. Pre-Production & Pitching Process

Timestamps:

• [12:15]–[14:36]

• Research-heavy approach, informal early interviews, intense selectivity in pitching only projects he wants to make.

• Collaboration with Pineapple Street Media for development, then to distributors like Wondery.

7. Navigating the Podcast Industry & Project Selection

Timestamps:

• [14:37]–[16:31]

• Tabursky’s disinterest in true crime, yet notes the mysterious symptoms in Hysterical carry a “true crime” style hook:

  • “When you think about 19 girls all coming down with Tourette syndrome at one high school...it might as well be true crime in terms of just...a mystery that really goes.” ([14:50])

• The importance of starting reporting before official greenlights; treating all projects as worthwhile even if not immediately commissioned.

8. Field Recording, Collaboration, and Experience

Timestamps:

• [16:31]–[17:23]

• Prefers traveling and working with producers: “I like having a producer. I like having somebody to talk to and work with, somebody else to go through the experience with you. Because I think that's what podcasts are.” ([16:48])

9. Story Structure & “The Open”

Timestamps:

• [17:23]–[20:00]

• Challenges of crafting story openings; Tabursky never knows the opening in advance:

  • “God, no, no, no, I would never. No, I never know where it’s gonna start.” ([18:18])

• He relies on collaborative input and iteration, noting that the cold open for Hysterical was not his idea.

10. Narrative Drive: Questions, Mystery, and Depth

Timestamps:

• [20:05]–[22:43]

• The dual engines: surface mystery (“What’s happening to the girls?”) and philosophical dilemma (“What do you do when people say it’s all in your head?”):

  • “The second more philosophical question is what do you do when people tell you it's all your head? That was sort of the thing that really drove me.” ([21:17])

11. Writing Process: Visual Tools & Outlining

Timestamps:

• [23:17]–[24:58]

• Uses a combination of index cards, outlines, mind maps, drawings: “I think you need to handle a story over and over and over and over...Just keep picking it up and putting it down.” ([23:28])

• Preparation is key, but flexibility enters as reporting unfolds.

12. Interview Philosophy: Seeking Wisdom Over Soundbites

Timestamps:

• [25:13]–[25:49]

• Looks for insight and subjective meaning:

  • “I'm not looking for somebody to retell the story. I'm looking for people to...how did they put it in their lives? What was that experience like as a person?” ([25:13])

• Prioritizes good experience for subjects—no mechanical “line readings.”

13. Scripting and Editing: Tape-Driven Narrative

Timestamps:

• [26:15]–[27:34]

• Organizes by listening to all potential tape, pulling notable moments, and writing narration around those:

  • “It’s easy to write to somebody saying something really interesting that's hard to get to than it is to just say what it is I wanted them to say in the first place.” ([26:26])

• Difference with print: in audio, the tape is the skeleton, writing is connective tissue.

14. Balancing Multiple Characters and Perspectives

Timestamps:

• [28:13]–[29:42]

• Structural challenge: avoiding repetition by not needing every subject's full testimony; focusing on a few representative voices.

• “You can only lock onto a couple of their stories.” ([29:16])

• His approach values individual engagement over recitation of facts: “I like the people. I do like the people that I'm talking to. And the point…is to learn something about them and then get the information. It's like a two step thing.” ([29:42])

15. The Toll of Creative Work & Recognition

Timestamps:

• [30:04]–[33:22]

• Admits to deep focus and occasional burnout:

  • “Right now. Right now. I am in it. I'm like so mad and so...I'm blocked. I'm just trying to write and it's not coming and it's very frustrating.” ([30:56])

• On awards and recognition:

  • “It's all great. It can be really lonely work. And it's really nice when you're like, oh, my God, somebody listened to it and actually had something to say about it.” ([32:19])
  • Pulitzer recognition was “life-defining...just unbelievably strange and just wonderful and intimidating.” ([33:07])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the core of great podcasting:
  • “It's a much larger sort of conception process. I don't pitch easily...If you don't want to make it, there's no point in doing it.” ([13:32], [22:53])
• On the story engine:
  • “The question of what is happening to the girls...it might as well be true crime in terms of just. It just has a mystery that really goes...” ([14:50])
• On interviewing:
  • “I'm not looking for somebody to retell the story. I'm looking for people to tell me, give me something that...how did they put it in their lives?” ([25:13])
• On the writing process and struggle:
  • “I'm literally like, I'm stuck. Like, I have…I'm filled with anger and just frustration.” ([18:50], [30:59])
  • “I've been doing this long enough to know that something will happen that will alleviate the pain that I'm in right now.” ([31:21])
• On recognition and creative motivation:
  • “A lot of it's just a function of making my next project possible…Any recognition goes into, like, somebody else giving me another chance to do it and allowing me a little breathing room to sort of make it happen.” ([32:19])
  • “Pulitzer like that, to me, just feels, like unbelievably strange and just wonderful and intimidating and life-defining, right?” ([33:07])

Additional Insights

• Tabursky values collaboration but also deeply internalizes each project, at times to the point of creative overload.
• His process is tactile and iterative—cards, boards, diagrams, scripting, tape review—a mosaic of methods, not strictly linear.
• He continually stresses respect—for his subjects, for the integrity of their stories, and for the listening audience.
• Recognition matters emotionally and practically (“gives me another chance to do it”), but storytelling is always at the core.

For listeners and creators alike, this episode delivers a nuanced, engaging look behind the scenes of top-tier narrative podcasting—with honest wisdom about the art, craft, and internal dramas of making audio that matters.