Kal Penn has been an actor, producer, associate director of an office at the White House, and, of course, a New Jersey icon.
What else is left?
Podcast host, naturally.
(Why not? In 2025, everyone famous and not, along with their mother, uncle, second cousin and friend’s sister’s husband has one.)
Penn is launching the podcast “Here We Go Again” Oct. 21.
What is the subject of this podcast?
“We’re gonna take today’s trends and headlines and figure out ‘why does history keep repeating itself?’” Penn says in an introductory audio snippet, introducing himself as “the second-hottest actor from the ‘Harold & Kumar’ movies.”
“Sometimes I feel like Bill Murray in ‘Groundhog Day’ where I’m watching the same neverending of things that are happening over and over and over again,” he says in the clip. “Like bridges collapsing, vinyl coming back, gas prices dropping and ‘Fantastic Four’ being rebooted again. Not that I’m complaining — Pedro Pascal is obviously a zaddy. Along the way, I’ve made some friends who are experts in science, politics and pop culture.”
READ MORE: Kal Penn interview: The actor on Hollywood racism, finding love and working in the Obama White House
Those friends include Bill Nye (“the Science Guy”); Alok Vaid-Menon, a nonbinary writer and artist; Pete Buttigieg, former secretary of transportation; and Stacey Abrams, former candidate for governor in Georgia and former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives who has fought against voter suppression.
“The world can feel pretty scary right now, right?” Penn says. “But my goal here is for you to listen and feel a little better about the future.”
The podcast will take on topics like financial collapse, pet peeves including “why there’s never a gate agent ready when your plane lands,” the new space race, secession movements and movie remakes.
Penn, who was born in Montclair and grew up in Wayne and Freehold Township, had his breakout role as Kumar Patel in the New Jersey-set stoner comedy “Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle” (2004) opposite John Cho.
He went on to star in “The Namesake” (2006) and two more “Harold & Kumar” movies and play Lawrence Kutner in the series “House.”
READ MORE: See actor Kal Penn back home in N.J. on set of ‘What the F*ck is My Password?!’ movie
Penn, now 48, left the TV show for the White House in 2009.
He became associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and liaison to young Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the arts community in the Obama administration.
Penn, who also played a White House communications director in the ABC/Netflix series “Designated Survivor,” shared details from his New Jersey childhood and introduction to Hollywood in the 2021 memoir “You Can’t Be Serious.” In the book, he covered racism in the entertainment business, his time in the White House and meeting his future husband, among other subjects.
“Being from New Jersey is like an ethnicity,” the actor told NJ Advance Media before the book’s release.
“Having the motivation that we have culturally just being Jersey can go a long way. It’s like a superpower sometimes, you’ve just gotta know when to use it.”
With the new podcast, Penn “wanted to combine institutional knowledge with uplifting, calm conversation that can help us all sort through the chaos of this planet we share,” he said in an Instagram post.
Last month, he was back in New Jersey filming the upcoming movie “What the F*ck is My Password?!”
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