At this point, it feels like every podcast has a Navy SEAL on standby — as if some secret booking agency keeps a rotating cast of square-jawed guests ready to parachute into your feed at a moment’s notice.
There was a time when landing a Navy SEAL meant something. It gave your podcast weight. You were talking to someone who’d probably jumped out of planes, wrestled with mortality, and maybe, just maybe, could teach you something about life.
Now, there are so many of them making the rounds it’s hard to tell who’s been on what. You’ll be halfway through an episode, nodding along, before realizing, Wait, didn’t this guy already say this exact thing on Lex Fridman last week? Or was it Jordan Peterson? Or maybe that one guy who records in a sauna?
It’s not that they’re bad guests. They’re great — articulate, driven, and weirdly good at selling you supplements. But we’ve reached a point of Navy SEAL saturation — the same five stories, told by slightly different people, all punctuated by the word discipline.
Podcasting used to be the Wild West of conversation. Now it’s a parade of SEALs explaining their morning routines while the host looks spiritually reborn. The SEAL talks about waking up at 4 a.m.; the host says, “Wow, that’s incredible.” Repeat until the next episode drops.
It’s gotten so excessive that if a podcast doesn’t feature a Navy SEAL, I start to wonder if it’s even real. What’s next — a Navy SEAL podcast that only interviews other Navy SEALs about their appearances on podcasts?
Maybe we’ve just run out of cultural archetypes that feel heroic. Maybe we’ve reached that strange media moment where valor has become just another recurring guest slot — somewhere between “comedian promoting his Netflix special” and “celebrity chef with a new spice line.”
Still, there’s something undeniably comforting about it. The voice is calm, the jawline is firm, and the advice is simple. It’s familiar — like rewatching Band of Brothers for the fifth time. You know what’s coming, but you listen anyway.
Because if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that no matter the topic — mindset, sleep optimization, or protein intake — there’s always another Navy SEAL ready to talk about it.