The Baby-Sitters Club Club is a comedy podcast hosted by Jack Shepherd[1] and Tanner Greenring.[2] The co-hosts read and analyze books from Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club series of young adult novels.[3] The first episode released in February 2016, and the episodes release weekly.
Background
Shepherd first read the books as a child, borrowing them all from his cousin, shortly after moving from England to the United States.[4][5][6]
Shepherd and Greenring are former colleagues at BuzzFeed and have been friends for many years.[3]
Format
Episodes are generally one hour long and focusing on one book.
Special episodes
"BSCC: Secret Santa - Secret Episode." The 2016 Christmas episode.[7]
"BSCC Special Christmas." The 2017 Christmas episode.[8]
Katie MacBride, writing for Bookriot, said, "Yes, Jack borders on being the annoying guy in Literary Theory 101 who came to class wearing a fedora and refused to refer to the book as anything other than 'the text.' I know, doesn’t seem worth listening to on its own. But Tanner is the guy who came to that class solely so he can make fun of Jack and that is super worth listening to."[19]
USA Today called the show "a bizarre premise that's wonderfully executed . . . It’s roughly as productive as an actual book club, in that it includes a good amount of alcohol, very little discussion of the novel at hand and a ton of fun."[20]
M.J. Franklin, writing for Mashable in 2018, said of the show, "...what makes the show so hilarious are the many theories that Shepherd and Greenring generate about what's actually going on in the town of Stoneybrook. Is the Baby-Sitters Club marxist? And are the characters secretly in a parallel universe that's actually a beehive? Who knows, but after listening to this podcast, you won't be able to read The Baby-Sitters Club the same way again."[21]
In September 2019, Muck Rack ranked the show 14th based on their number of unique visitors per month, with nearly 7 million.[22]
In November 2019, the show was mentioned as an example in a New York Times article titled "Even Nobodies Have Fans Now (For Better Or Worse.)"[23] Lizz Schumer, writing for Good Housekeeping, listed the show among the 25 best comedy podcasts of 2020.[24]
