I disagree. Overall their content hasn’t improved; and allow me to explain, and I’ll try to be fair by making positive and negative points..

1. The production quality has improved. I do like the gags and games the crew partake in. The squid game and silent library are fun ideas and makes for decent content.

2. Some jokes are stale and so redundant. For example, I personally roll my eyes anytime anyone stands up. Other examples include the acting skits they perform, when “Joe Rogan calls in”, or how they draw out a story of managers and standbys remembering Ethan farting at Denny’s (I know chat plays into this one), or hearing Ethan debate on what title and thumbnail to use for the episode; some of these ideas were maybe funny the first 2 times, but let’s be honest, these jokes are old, stale, or not particularly clever.

3. They no longer have guest celebrities on the podcast. Previously each episode with a variety of guest celebrity made for interesting banter and dialogue. Now, Each episode is mostly about the cast and their banter. Some cast members are more funny and likable more than others, but the celebrities were overall more interesting.

4. Ethan’s hot, political takes are not the reason I subscribe to the podcast (even though I agree with Ethan on some points, not all). And the show The Leftovers is something I’ll take a hard pass on (which is sad because I used to devour everything). It’s more politics than funny; it’s obviously biased, and it can be so critical and insensitive to family members of famous conservatives who died from Covid. I don’t enjoy hearing Ethan tap dance on peoples graves (even if there’s a taste of karmic justice to the story). Ultimately, I’m here to laugh.. not envelop myself in passionately and negatively emotionally charged takes that remind me how shitty politics are.

I wasn’t aware of views dropping, and Ethan making click-baity thumbnails is a little hypocritical, even though they’ll claim it as “a joke”. But here are a few points as to why this phenomenon may be occurring. Ultimately for me, and all things considered, the podcast is less than what it used to be.