Amelia Ritthaler is making Herstory

Amelia Ritthaler and Evan Lazarus aren’t your typical podcast hosts. The two Brooklyn comedians launched their show Girls Rewatch Podcast in 2023, first dissecting the layered brilliance of Lena Dunham’s Girls on HBO, episode by episode. But what began as a niche rewatch project has since grown into something bigger. Now it’s a podcast about girls (with a lowercase g), TV, and the girls on TV. Every Tuesday, Evan and Amelia keep listeners hooked with their sharp banter and the kind of chemistry that makes their friendship as entertaining as the shows they cover.

For our upcoming Fall Issue, we sat down with Amelia to discuss her thoughts on an increasingly apathetic internet, a culture of people acting too “cool”, and the power of owning what you like.

@ameliapleease: My whole thing is being a fan girl. I don't understand [people who act uninterested]. I mean, I get it because people are so judgy and like everything is so online. But I think there's so much power in being like, “I'm obsessed with this”. As somebody who moved to New York and was a fan girl of so many things, it's led me to everything that I have now. I feel that with every creative person in the city, it's the same thing. It's like, “oh, they work in marketing? They ran a One Direction fan page on Twitter when they were 13.” I think everything you do as a kid before you get scared is everything you do once you get brave again. I have an Olivia Rodrigo poster on my wall and I don't care who sees it.

@zjaffa: I love that. Growing up, I think my niche was going to concerts with my sister. If there was a GA concert within a 50 mile radius of Washington D.C., my sister and I were there, and we were waiting afterwards to try to speak with the artist. And now my job is to ask talent what they love and why they make the things that they love. It feels like healing my inner child in a way.

@ameliapleease: Totally. I also think we're in such a weird time because Gen Z's obsessed with vulnerability at the same time that they're afraid to do it. The performance of vulnerability online is so rewarded, but then everybody's so scared. It's such a weird thing to exist within.

@zjaffa: What's the last piece of media that genuinely moved you and why do you think it hit you so hard?

@ameliapleease: Evan probably said this, but I just watched Hunting Wives last week. I grew up in Texas in a neighborhood where the mom carpool that I rode in all of middle school was exactly like these Hunting Wives. And I’ve never seen that sort of representation. I moved to the east coast and everybody's like, east coast family vibes. I explained the way things are in Texas, how they act, and they look at me like I'm crazy. And then I watched this show, and I was just like, “Oh my God, everything that happened in Texas was real.”

@zjaffa: You mentioned that you love media that centers around girlhood and female experiences. Obviously, you and Evan host the Girls Rewatch podcast. If you could say one thing to Lena Dunham, what would it be and why?

@ameliapleease: Well, everything. It's actually really cool and chic to be starstruck. I don't know if there's anything [particularly profound I’d say] because she's ultimately just a girl that knows things. But I don't think she's the type of person where you’d be like, “what is the meaning of life?”

There's so many people I admire. But then I'm like, well, I don't want to ask them anything. I want to leave them alone. I keep talking to people who just graduated college who are entering the workforce, and they're like, “what do I do?” And I'm like, “I actually have no idea.” I feel like a 12 year old. I don't know anything.

@zjaffa: It's a mark of growth when people in communities that you used to be a part of are now asking you for advice on large life decisions. That's when I realized I'm not a kid anymore, but I don't have the answers.

On the subject of inspirations and people we admire, if you could stalk anyone's Shelf–dead or living–who would it be?

@ameliapleease: I feel like I would love to stalk the Shelf of a 27 year old woman living in New York City like 100 years ago.

@zjaffa: Are you someone who appreciates a good period drama? 

@ameliapleease: I feel like there's people who care about it more than me. But I love Bridgerton.

@zjaffa: Because that kind of line of thinking is why I appreciate period dramas so much. The Buccaneers, The Gilded Age, Bridgerton. And all the BBC classics, like Downton Abbey and Sanditon. 

@ameliapleease: There's that category of people who watch all that, and I don't want to disrespect their community because I'm not living it, but I would love to know what girls were doing back in the day. There's no coverage on that. All we learned in school was wars and stuff. What were the girlies up to back then? I want to watch their close friend's story. 

@zjaffa: A prestige drama is made about your life. Who plays you? Who plays Evan? And what's the Emmy submission clip?

@ameliapleease: Okay, I saw that Evan said that Tina Fey would play them, and I just want to come on here right now and say, girl, what are you talking about? Amy Poehler would obviously play Evan, and Tina would obviously play me because I’m type A and Evan’s type B, and that's how it goes. But yeah, let's get those two girls in the mix again. I love when a woman over 50 has a job. It's so important.

@zjaffa: Amen.

@ameliapleease: And what would the drama be? What did Evan say it would be? A drama about us fighting about whatever.

@zjaffa: They were talking about how it would be you both arguing because you're living with each other and your partners and you're reckoning with pseudo-success and trying to kind of make a name for yourself. That was the general premise as I remember it.

@ameliapleease: Oh my God. Copy paste. It's like we both still have full time day jobs. People just automatically are like, oh, their memes are successful. They must have a bunch of money. And I'm like, by the way, we have not made a dollar, but we're having fun. And that's the beauty. We'd probably fight about how long we’re supposed to do an unpaid internship. Like, one more year. Let's do one more year.

ShelfMAG: What item on your Shelf is most likely to stay there forever? 

@ameliapleease: Can I say my hello Kitty alarm clock? I had it in my childhood bedroom, and I obviously lost it or got rid of it. And then during COVID I was watching Gilmore Girls and Lorelei Gilmore had it, and I was like, I have free will. I could own whatever I want. So I bought it on a weird Ebay site, and I moved to five different apartments with it. And it's not even plugged in. It just reminds me of the past and how far I've come.

Curious about what else Amelia is into? Get real-time updates at shelf.im/ameliapleeease