Jonquilyn Hill chases one listener question per episode to the experts who can answer it.
Explain It to Me starts with ordinary questions that feel bigger than they look: pricey coffee, clutter, credit cards, accents, sugar, ADHD, hope. The show pairs listener stories with accessible explanations, keeping dense subjects conversational without sanding off their complexity.
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Explain It to Me is an interview-format explainer show produced by Vox, hosted by Jonquilyn Hill (credited in places as Jonquan Hill or JQ), with Miranda Kennedy as executive producer. Each episode opens with an ordinary, often personal question -- about clutter, sugar cravings, accents, gas prices, or hope -- and the host spends the episode interviewing two or three subject-matter experts to work toward an answer. Guests are typically university researchers and clinical specialists (a UC Davis nutrition scientist, a Fordham historian, Duke and University of Richmond psychologists, a UC Berkeley sociophonetician) alongside journalists from outlets like the AP, Bloomberg, and Business Insider, plus occasional grassroots organizers describing on-the-ground work. Recurring subject areas include consumer economics and inflation, mental health topics such as ADHD, psychology of motivation and belief, food science and nutrition, religion's place in American culture, linguistics, and mutual aid or community organizing. The tone throughout is educational and conversational rather than academic, with the host translating expert explanations into everyday terms and grounding abstract research in specific case studies (a Chapel Hill mutual aid group, a Portland clown parade, a $4 gallon of milk). Episodes are consistently around 30 minutes and follow the same question-then-experts structure rather than a serialized narrative. Listeners get a practical, sourced answer to the question posed at the top of the episode rather than an open-ended discussion. The show does not appear to focus on one vertical (e.g., pure finance or pure health) but instead rotates across whatever everyday question a listener sends in. People drawn to explainer journalism who want a single expert-vetted answer to a specific question, rather than an ongoing debate or op-ed format, are the core fit.
Made for: Listeners who want a single well-sourced answer to a specific everyday question, from personal finance to health to culture, in about 30 minutes.
What sets it apart: Structured around listener-submitted questions rather than a single beat, pairing each one with academic and clinical experts instead of op-ed style commentary or a fixed topical lane.
Should I buy a house? Why do I say “like” so much? Should Gen Z bother to save for retirement? Explain It to Me is the hotline for the issues that matter to your life. Send us your questions about health, personal finance, relationships, and anything else that matters to you. Host Jonquilyn Hill will take you on a journey to find the answers, whether it's to the halls of Congress or the local bar. You’ll get the answers you were looking for, and sometimes ones you didn't expect — and always with a dose of humor. New episodes every Sunday. Part of Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Jonquilyn Hill connects everyday frustrations to the economic, historical, and psychological forces quietly shaping them.
Explain It to Me takes questions that surface in ordinary life and traces the social machinery behind them. Jonquilyn Hill moves from credit-card habits and rising coffee prices to accents, clutter, public rudeness, and arguments over empathy.
A $10 latte becomes an economics lesson before your sticker shock has finished steaming.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded, humane argument for optimism as a practiced response to hard reality.
Optimism is treated here as a skill to be tested against bad news, not as a sunny mood. John Glenn Hill opens with the ambient dread many listeners will recognize: unstable work, shaky institutions, a volatile economy, and a future that can feel hard to plan for.
A practical explainer for anyone wondering why coffee, pizza, and kids' activities have started to feel so expensive.
Everyday sticker shock gives this episode its shape: youth sports fees, a pricey Domino's order, an oat milk iced coffee edging toward $10, and the cheese choices that can change the cost of a pizza.
A clear, socially aware explainer on why accents reveal more than geography.
Your accent... explained turns a familiar question into a compact lesson on how speech works in public life. UC Berkeley sociophonetician Nicole Holliday gives Jonquilin Hill a clear entry point: the way listeners can form an instant mental picture from a voice, drawing on sound…
A social-media question becomes a sharp, accessible history of Mormonism's fraught path into the American mainstream.
A question about why Mormon influencers seem so visible opens into a concise history of how Mormonism moved from persecution toward the American mainstream.
A clear, practical look at sugar that separates chemistry and craving without turning the subject into a moral panic.
Sugar comes through here less as a villain than as a habit, a comfort, and a piece of basic chemistry. Explain It to Me opens with the everyday pull of sweet snacks, dessert, coffee syrup, and treats that seem to appear everywhere, then uses that familiarity to ask a more useful…
A thoughtful, practical look at why clutter feels emotional and how to let go without treating attachment as a failure.
Your clutter is holding you back takes a familiar household split, one person saving boxes and keepsakes, another wanting empty space, and turns it into a useful lesson about why letting go can feel so draining.
A clear, humane look at ADHD as lived experience, clinical history, and a condition shaped by environment.
ADHD is framed here as both lived experience and a diagnosis whose meaning has changed over time. Molly Schmerling's story gives the episode its emotional center: as a child, she felt too kinetic, too loud, and outside an invisible social rule book; later, in graduate training,…
A clear, context-rich look at how credit cards became useful, risky, and hard to treat casually.
Credit cards come through as both everyday convenience and a system designed to stretch payment into the future. Explain It to Me opens with the pressure point: Americans owe nearly $1.3 trillion in credit card debt, with an average balance around $6,500, and the fear around…
Three hosts and psychologist Dr Emily talk vulnerability, therapy, and imperfection with guests.
Fearne Cotton interviews guests like Boy George and Bryony Gordon about mental health and identity.
Dr. Joy Harden Bradford pairs therapy insight with Black TV recaps, maternal health, and history.
Hope gets a stress test.
Explain It to Me host Jonquan Hill investigates why everyday prices for gas, coffee, and milk have risen sharply, interviewing three economists and commodity reporters.
Accents say a lot.
Why are there so many Mormon influencers?
Sugar is everywhere.
Clutter gets heavy fast.
School was complicated.
Credit cards start out scary here.
Community is the question the episode keeps coming back to.
Sexy TV is back.
Can empathy go bad?
People feel less polite now.
Southern sorority rush can look like glittery fun from far away.