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There’s a certain kind of show that feels a little too close to the bone, and The Audacity seems built to live right there. The new AMC and AMC+ series drops viewers into a Silicon Valley ecosystem full of ego, ambition, and moral shortcuts, where tech billionaires, therapists, and their orbiting families all try to convince themselves they’re the heroes of their own story. When the cast and creator (Jonathan Glatzer, a writer/producer on Succession and Better Call Saul) spoke with Kyle Meredith, the conversation circled around how this darkly comedic world came together and why it feels so familiar right now. Listen above or wherever you get your podcasts.
For Glatzer, the setting wasn’t exactly a leap so much as an inevitability. “How can you not land on Silicon Valley?” he says, pointing out that most of us are already living inside its influence every time we pick up our phones. That constant presence makes it fertile ground for satire, even if the show leans hard into drama. “It’s a perfectly good place to have as a backdrop that does a lot of heavy lifting,” he explains, adding that satire itself is a sign of power: “When you are satirized, it means that you have power.” That perspective fuels the show’s tone, which walks a line between absurdity and something far more unsettling as it examines how tech culture shapes behavior at every level.
That tension carries into the performances, especially for Billy Magnussen, who plays a CEO built from the headlines. “These people are out there,” he says of his character’s larger-than-life narcissism, noting that the role became about pulling traits from real-world figures rather than inventing something new. “I’ve just picked from those names that we all know to make a mixture.”
Meanwhile, actors like Simon Helberg, Rob Corddry, and Meaghan Rath wrestle with characters who believe they’re doing the right thing, even as their actions say otherwise. “They all genuinely believe they’re making the right choices,” Rath says. And as Paul Adelstein adds, the real danger comes from scale: “It’s one thing if you’re in an acting class… it’s another thing if you’re building machines that change how we think and talk to our kids.” Even the younger cast, including Everett Blunck, Thailey Roberge, and Ava Marie Telek, see their roles as the last chance for something better, with Roberge noting, “The kids are the hope… they decide their own fate.”
Listen to Billy Magnussen, Jonathan Glatzer, and more talk about The Audacity in the new episode above or by watching the video below. Keep up on all the latest episodes by following Kyle Meredith With… on your favorite podcast platform; plus, check out all the series on the Consequence Podcast Network.
English (US) · 