The Trajectory of Jenkins & Jonez

My favorite podcast didn't get renewed and that had me in my feelings so I wrote about it

Jenkins & Jonez is like the Twitter equivalent of Inside the NBA. Tyler, aka Dragonfly Jonez, is the pod’s Shaq, a first ballot Twitter Hall of Famer sharing analysis from the perspective of one of the greatest to ever do it. John, aka LaJethro Jenkins, is Chuck, another Hall of Famer who could take the conversation off the rails at any moment. And Mike, aka Guardi B, is Ernie, the beloved host who tries his best to keep the pod on track when he can. (If you expand on this analogy further, I guess Jackson and Josh are Adam Lefkoe and The Chat is Candace Parker).

And like Inside the NBA, it was recently announced that the current version of Jenkins & Jonez is coming to an end as their contract with the Volume was not renewed. I was bummed out when I first got the news, but then I started to look back on all of the things that make this podcast special. And as I sat and reminisced, I decided to try and put all of that it into words.

When people ask me what Jenkins & Jonez is about, I usually fumble for an answer. Is there an easy way to describe a Twitter podcast that’s also an NBA podcast that also makes time to debate whether peanut butter or jelly is more important in a PB&J sandwich (I’m on Team Peanut Butter with John)? Not really, but I think the best way to describe the pod is to describe how it feels to be listen to it. .

Listening to Jenkins & Jonez feels like roasting your homies at the lunch table. It feels like riding around the city four-deep in your friend’s mom’s Honda. It feels like sitting in the kitchen of your college apartment at 2 am having ridiculous arguments with your roommates. The beauty of Jenkins & Jonez is that you feel like you’re a part of the conversation. Long before they did live pods and introduced The Chat, Jenkins & Jonez made it feel like they were talking WITH you, not to you.

It’s a little bit weird to say you’ve grown close with podcast hosts you’ve never met, but that’s exactly how I feel as a longtime listener of Jenkins & Jonez. I was there from SoundCloud to Patreon to Amazon to YouTube. I listened to John switch from claiming he would never settle down to saying he was born to be a father. I’ve followed along as Mike’s kids have grown up, and I refer to them as my pod-cousins. I was there when Tyler revealed that he was actually a human man, not a sentient Grand Marnier bottle (I said “Holy shit!” so loud when I first saw Tyler’s face that my wife came in from the other room to check on me). After 7+ years of following along, I feel like I am a part of Jenkins & Jonez.

I love Jenkins & Jonez because it’s an incredibly funny podcast. Few things have made me laugh harder than the Mike Tirico segment and I still make sure to take the full nine minutes to rewatch it whenever it pops up on my timeline. It is the pinnacle of podcasting. This pod also made the Kendrick-Drake beef so much more enjoyable to keep up with, and the same can be said about every topic they discuss. And I know that whenever I need a good laugh, this pod will deliver.

I love Jenkins & Jonez because they aren’t afraid to be ridiculous. Who else is having spirited debates about whether a rat or a squirrel is more athletic? (It’s obviously the rat). Where else are you going to get BBQ recipes for smoked triceratops shoulder? This is the podcast that saved the summer of 2023 with the invention of the Beast Bracket. They’re a welcome reminder to never take yourself too seriously.

I love Jenkins & Jonez because they’re just good people. They’re Wife Guys and they’re loving fathers and they’re involved in their communities. Their mailbag episodes feel like you’re getting life advice from your older cousins. They’re honest, open, and vulnerable as they offer a refreshing version of masculinity in a media market that’s oversaturated with the exact opposite. And the world could use a lot more of that.

I write this all with certainty that we have not seen the last of Jenkins & Jonez. This podcast was built on the friendship of Tyler and John, and that grew to include Mike, Jackson, Josh, dozens of hilarious guests, and a growing community of fans and listeners over the years. The way I see it, that community still has a lot more room to grow (and they still haven’t gotten Vince Staples on the pod yet). These guys might not actually be “willing to die for this podcasting shit”, but I don’t think they’re done just yet. I know that the trajectory of Jenkins & Jonez is only going up.