'CANCELLED' with Tana Mongeau: How a Vegas Party Girl Is Building the Hottest New Podcast

While many mainstream audiences may know Tana Mongeau as “that girl who married Jake Paul,” the internet mogul and Paris Hilton’s mentee is paving the way into her new era of internet stardom with her recently revamped “CANCELLED” podcast.

Hosted by Mongeau and her close friend Brooke Schofield, the podcast “CANCELLED” follows in the footsteps of infamous podcasts such as Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy,” providing a platform for young women to rebel against the “brand sensitivity” demanded of the modern day influencer.

Mongeau and Schofield curl up on Mongeau’s couch every week with bottles of wine — detail subject to Mongeau’s on and off sobriety — and comfy PJs to discuss everything and anything there is to know about navigating Los Angeles in your 20s. From sex stories to career moves, Mongeau and Schofield balance their celebrity status with their relatability in a deceivingly difficult-to-master entertaining conversation week-to-week.

The project has accumulated immense popularity in the last few months as clips of the podcast have gone viral on TikTok, following the increasingly prevalent “Andrew Tate Model” for internet success and amassing millions of views and likes. Currently, 2 million viewers are currently subscribed to the “CANCELLED” YouTube channel and each new episode brings in hundreds of thousands of views weekly. These figures don’t even include her immense success on Tiktok.

While it isn’t out of the ordinary for online personalities — think Emma Chamberlain and Brittany Broski — to reach mainstream popularity in this day and age, Mongeau’s career trajectory isn’t necessarily something to gloss over. Mongeau began posting to YouTube in 2015, when she was only 17 years old, and quickly garnered notoriety for her out-of-this-world storytime videos. That being said, Mongeau immediately diverged from other creators on the platform with her explicit language and party-girl personality — a foil to the fashion and lifestyle content which, at the time, reigned supreme for young women on the platform. Growing up in Vegas in an abusive household — a topic which Mongeau doesn’t shy away from on the “CANCELLED” podcast — Mongeau’s trademark dark sense of humor and shocking escapades quickly grabbed the attention of the internet.

Leading into the 2020s, Mongeau began to capitalize on her fame with a variety of business endeavors à la the reality stars of the 2000s, including a perfume launch and her very own MTV reality series “MTV No Filter: Tana Mongeau” and “Tana Turns 21.” However, with her early success came a healthy serving of countless scandals and seemingly insurmountable scrutiny, the most prominent of which being her disastrous attempt to spite the internet convention “VidCon” with her very own “TanaCon” in 2018. The event sparked an onslaught of critical video essays and what many thought would be the death of Mongeau’s career.

While Mongeau hasn’t exactly become a stranger to controversy in the last couple of years, she is well-known for her unbridled personality and her incessant comebacks from online cancellations. Playing on her “uncancellable” nature as the namesake for her new podcast endeavor, Mongeau has seemingly entered into an era of infallible popularity, evidenced by this fall’s sold-out “CANCELLED” tour and her striking view count. And while the podcast space is increasingly oversaturated, “CANCELLED” has something unique to offer the viewer.

While “CANCELLED” certainly boasts some of the hallmarks of the “out-of-touch” creator trope which have been increasingly criticized in the likes of internet darling Emma Chamberlain with her podcast “anything goes,” Mongeau and Schofield have mastered the balancing act of tempting their viewers with stories of inaccessible, romantic LA escapades, but more importantly, connecting with them on relatable grounds.

The genius of “CANCELLED” is in its excellent simulation of a debrief session with some best girl friends after a good night out. Parasocial relationship discourse aside, watching “CANCELLED” conjures the same feeling in young women that sitting on the floor of a dorm room the morning after Halloween and dishing the dirt on the events of the previous evening would offer.

While Mongeau and Schofield aren’t friends with the viewer, they might as well be with how invested fans are in the personal lore of these creators. At this point, the “CANCELLED” viewership even participates in inside jokes with the influencers.

Coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic and faced with the overwhelming rise of social media, the demographic of teenage women to those in their twenties towards which the “CANCELLED” podcast is oriented are prime suspects for finding the project so compelling. The podcast evokes themes of being a “girls-girl,” celebrating the likes and dislikes of young women and empowering self-exploration of unapologetic femininity — whether it be in the bedroom of a Parisian hook-up or through a critique of sorority culture.

For better or for worse, the “CANCELLED” podcast, with recurring guest stars, entertaining banter, and loveable characters, is emblematic of a modern interpretation of a sitcom along the lines of “Sex and the City.” Considering that women, specifically young women, are infamously the most profitable demographic to sell to, it's difficult to argue that the project is mere girl talk when Mongeau is reaching directly into the marketing pot of gold.

While Mongeau and Scofield are neither beyond reproach nor trying to make a feminist statement, there’s something to be said for their talent for fostering a cult of femininity. There’s another thing to be said for acknowledging their business savvy in such a competitive field and respecting their skillfulness for wielding their brand. While Mongeau may joke about entering her very own “Sofia Richie era” and becoming brand safe, the success of “CANCELLED” is indicative of her mastery of and commitment to authenticity and providing insight into the heart of what drives success in the creator industry.