What questions should you ask a podcast guest?

Good podcast interview questions ask for a specific moment rather than a general opinion. "What happened the first time that failed?" produces a story, while "what are your thoughts on failure?" produces a paragraph nobody remembers. Build six to eight of them, send them to the guest in advance, and treat them as a guide rather than a script.

Almost every weak question is weak in the same way. It asks for a category of answer instead of an instance.

The fix is to put a time and a place in the question. "Tell me about the moment you realised the pricing was wrong" cannot be answered abstractly. The guest has to go and find the actual memory, and that is where the specifics live.

Six to eight is the right number for an hour. More than that and you rush. Fewer and you run out of ground when an area turns out to be thin.

Send them ahead. The worry that this makes answers rehearsed gets the trade backwards: you lose a little spontaneity and gain a lot of substance.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Ask for a moment, not a view

    Put a when and a where in the question. Specific questions get specific answers, and specific answers are what get clipped.

  2. 2

    Open with the easy one

    Something they can answer without effort while they find their voice.

  3. 3

    Include one question only they can answer

    If your list would work unchanged on a different guest, it is not really an interview yet.

  4. 4

    Include one that could go wrong

    A disagreement, a reversal, a mistake. Politely. This is usually the best part of the episode.

  5. 5

    End on transferable advice

    What they would tell someone two years behind them. It closes cleanly and it travels well as a clip.

People also ask

How many questions should I prepare for a podcast interview?
Six to eight for an hour. Enough to never be stranded, few enough that you are not rushing through a checklist.
Should I send interview questions to the podcast guest beforehand?
Yes, about two days ahead, framed as a guide rather than a script. Answers come back more considered and the guest arrives less nervous.
What questions should you never ask a podcast guest?
Anything answerable from their homepage, and anything phrased as a general opinion. Both produce answers that could have come from anyone.

In PodGlue

Podcast workflow automation

PodGlue drafts questions from the run of show and sends them to the guest before you record.

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Last reviewed 2026-09-01