Lolcows and the Internet's "Digital Freakshow"

From Never Post by Charts & Leisure

March 26, 2026 · 38 min

About this episode

The episode explores the concept of lolcows and their relation to online politics and historical spectacles.

Executive Producer Jason Oberholtzer speaks to Dr. Jess Rauchberg about how the lolcow — a vulnerable Internet persona interacting with an unreliable and often malicious audience — relates to contemporary politics online and historic medieval spectacle. – Become a Never Post member at https://www.neverpo.st/ for an ad-free version of the show and bonus content – Find Jess Rauchberg: The lolcow paper – Call us at 651 615 5007 to leave a voicemail Drop us a voice memo via airtable Or email us at theneverpost at gmail dot com – Never Post’s producers are Audrey Evans, Georgia Hampton and The Mysterious Dr. Firstname Lastname. Our senior producer is Hans Buetow. Our executive producer is Jason Oberholtzer. The show’s host is Mike Rugnetta. – Never Post is a production of Charts & Leisure and is distributed by Radiotopia

People in this episode

Host: Mike Rugnetta

Guest: Dr. Jess Rauchberg

Topics covered

lolcows
Internet culture
digital personas
politics
medieval spectacle

Keywords

lolcow
Internet persona
audience interaction
politics
medieval spectacle

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Charts & Leisure, Radiotopia