Come for The Daily sausage-making, stay for the Mikey Barb “Happy Bday” mashup

Deez Links’ fangirl level for the NYT’s The Daily podcast is a total open secret (yours truly may or may not have co-hosted a Michael BarBBQ over the summer…), but we still learned a lot from this Nieman Lab interview with Barbaro on being a podcast personality.

Highlights include a logistical rundown on how each episode gets made over a 12-hour day, insight into Barbaro’s crazy deep NYT network that allows such genuine rapport to shine through in convos, and the backstory of Maggie Haberman’s singing going on air. I also loved how The Daily consciously takes cues from the NYT model of cultivating readers’ habits and knows that its greatest resource is the immense collective expertise of the Times staff.

BUT ALMOST NONE OF THAT MATTERS because most importantly, the story, in referencing the infamous “sounds” that Barbaro makes in interviews, has graciously linked us to this “happy birthday” mashup of the best of his hmms and hmmfs. God, I know it’s excessive, but it’s so great.

Like Deez Links? Forward to the Maggie to your Mikey.