Proxy with Yowei Shaw

Y3 Productions

It’s the knot you can’t untangle - a problem so specific, it makes you feel alone. But what if you could talk to someone who gets it? On Proxy, we find just the person you were looking for, a stranger who's lived something close enough to help you get a little less stuck. It’s not therapy - it’s emotional investigative journalism™️. Yowei Shaw, former co-host of Invisibilia, at your service.

If you’re just discovering the show, a good place to begin is Bisexual Wife Guy, Mic Chooses the Wrong Life, or Brian Can’t Stop Fact-Checking His Mother-In-Law.

The team is hard at work investigating another batch of cases, with new episodes publishing in April 2026 🚀

Proxy is an independent podcast, supported mostly by listeners. If you want to help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon. Membership starts at $5 a month and includes bonus episodes, ad-free listening, and access to our group Zoom hangs. You can also join our Patreon for free to get the newsletter 🍏

Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

839140

If you’re just discovering the show, a good place to begin is Bisexual Wife Guy, Mic Chooses the Wrong Life, or Brian Can’t Stop Fact-Checking His Mother-In-Law.

The team is hard at work investigating another batch of cases, with new episodes publishing in April 2026 🚀

Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

839140

21hr 19min

Thumbnail for "Connor Ratliff's Dead Eyes".

August 6, 202436min 59sec53.26 MB

Thumbnail for "Presenting: Market Failure (with Scene On Radio)".

January 27, 202641min 33sec100.24 MB

Thumbnail for "Presenting: Manifesting: How Powerful Are Our Thoughts? (with Science Vs.)".

January 13, 202632min 58sec84.13 MB

Thumbnail for "Nicole Can't Stop Being Aggro".

December 2, 202553min 36sec130.11 MB

Thumbnail for "Bob and the Forgiveness Spell".

November 4, 202545min 39sec123.97 MB

Thumbnail for "Yaroslava Can't Go Home".

October 21, 202541min 55sec102.07 MB

Thumbnail for "The First Ever Extrovert-Introvert Cage Match".

October 7, 202544min 26sec108.1 MB

Thumbnail for "An Estrangement Mystery".

September 30, 202541min 4sec115.12 MB

Thumbnail for "JC's Kids Won't Talk To Her".

September 23, 20251hr158.96 MB

Thumbnail for "Alex and the Impossible Ask".

September 9, 202555min 59sec148.8 MB

August 26, 202531min 53sec77.96 MB

August 12, 202537min 5sec90.47 MB

Thumbnail for "Zakiya Used to Be So Fun".

July 15, 202540min 30sec98.65 MB

Thumbnail for "Amanda and the Nonstop Narrator".

July 1, 202556min 30sec137.05 MB

Thumbnail for "Brian Can't Stop Fact-checking His Mother-In-Law".

June 17, 202553min 53sec137.14 MB

Thumbnail for "Is It Time To Break Up the Band?".

June 3, 202555min 30sec141.01 MB

Thumbnail for "Aparna and the Self-Loathing Introvert".

May 20, 202543min 16sec105.32 MB

Thumbnail for "Mic Chooses the Wrong Life".

May 6, 202548min 8sec129.96 MB

April 22, 202553min 8sec141.93 MB

Thumbnail for "The Utility of Self-Delusion (and Big Show Update)".

March 19, 202517min 59sec50.06 MB

The story of someone who suffered alone in secret for 8 years with a problem he was too afraid to Google - and then he stumbled into a support group. In this episode, we dive into the emotional dynamics of support groups with Jason Yu. Why did...

December 3, 202452min 27sec75.54 MB

Thumbnail for "Is there anything we can actually do about polarization?".

Whoever wins the election, Americans will still want to rip each other's heads off. Social psychologist Jay Van Bavel helps us understand why we should care about polarization, how we got here, and what, if anything, we can do about it. ...

October 29, 202441min 48sec100.33 MB

Thumbnail for "So many tears but what do they say?".

We all know that moment - when you feel like you need to cry in front of other people, but don't want to cry. In this episode, Yowei talks to Heather Christle, the author of , to parse what’s happening in that moment, what tears are saying and how...

September 26, 202424min 28sec35.24 MB

Thumbnail for "Did we make our goal???".

Finally, a campaign reveal. Did we get additional funding to hire Kim for more hours? Plus, some updates for what’s in store for Proxy. Episode credits: Produced by and Kim Nederveen Pieterse Mixed by Proxy is...

September 5, 20248min 5sec32.7 MB

Thumbnail for "The Mechanics and Magic of Ritual".

The final installment of Yowei's quest to solve the mystery of proxy converations. In this episode, Yowei talks to a ritual expert and tries explaining what she's learned about proxy conversations to her mom. From the...

August 21, 202423min 43sec56.93 MB

Thumbnail for "Psychodrama: The 2nd Oldest Psychotherapy You've Never Heard Of, But Have Definitely Tried".

Part 3 of Yowei's extremely meta quest to solve the mystery of proxy conversations. In this episode, Yowei learns about psychodrama, a psychotherapy that has similarities to proxy conversations and used to be a dominant modality in the...

August 15, 202439min 41sec95.24 MB

Thumbnail for "The Incredible Healing Powers of Vicarious Restorative Justice".

Yowei has a problem. She's having trouble explaining the show to people who don't get it. She knows proxy conversations work. But why? How? Part 1 of a 4-part quest to solve the mystery of proxy conversations. Yowei learns about a proxy...

July 24, 20241hr146.36 MB

Thumbnail for "The Layoff Trilogy 3: HR by Proxy".

With every layoff, there's the blackbox of what's really going on behind the scenes. Why did it go down the way it did? Was it really not about your performance, like they told you? How does the layoff list get made anyway? In our inaugural...

May 23, 202449min 39sec47.68 MB

Thumbnail for "The Layoff Trilogy 2: Danger Day".

Please note: This story contains brief mention of suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 9-8-8, or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. ...

May 23, 202441min 54sec56.56 MB

The Layoff Trilogy 1: Layoff Girl

May 22, 202442min 25sec40.73 MB

May 15, 20241min 12sec17.31 MB

Connor Ratliff's Dead Eyes

August 6, 202436min 59sec

Part 2 of Yowei's quest to solve the mystery of proxy conversations. Why do they work? How? Can Yowei figure out how to explain the show to people who don't get it? In this episode, Yowei gets advice from actor, comedian, and proxy conversation expert Connor Ratliff. Over 20 years ago, Tom Hanks fired Connor from a small role in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers - apparently for having "dead eyes." But is that really what happened? Connor made a podcast to investigate, and had 30 episodes worth of proxy conversations before talking to Tom Hanks himself.

From the episode:

Follow Connor Ratliff on Instagram @connorratliff
Listen to Connor Ratliff's podcasts: Dead Eyes, Tiny Dinos, and The George Lucas Show

Proxy is an independent podcast and we rely mostly on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon starting at $5 a month. You’ll get exclusive premium episodes, ad-free episodes, and access to the chat. To just get our newsletter, join our Patreon for free 🍏

Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com