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I Want to Be Famous: When Everybody and Nobody Is a Celebrity
Not yet published
Expected 29 Sep 26A sharp, funny examination of fame in the digital era and what makes our hunger for it equally alluring and embarrassing—from the podcasters behind Who? Weekly
While being photographed in 1966, Warhol reportedly said, “Everyone wants to be famous.” (To which his photographer, Nat Finkelstein responded, “Yeah, for about fifteen minutes, Andy.”) But Warhol was right then, and he’s right now. Fifteen minutes be damned, all you need is the drive—or desperation—and a singular spark. But if you’re not careful, you’ll end up a Who.
Who is a Who? In I Want to Be Famous, Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber, the pop culture journalists behind the podcast Who? Weekly, distill celebrity into two categories—Whos and Thems—transcending the snarky, antiquated judgment of the “A-listers” to “D-listers.” If you come across an allegedly famous face you’ve never seen before and are compelled to utter “Who?”, well, there’s your answer (Can you picture Rita Ora, Ava Max, or Hilaria Baldwin without Googling them?). If the subject elicits something along the lines of, “Oh, Them,” there you’ve found the opposite (Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise). It’s the fundamental duality of fame.
And yet, as more Whos spawn, the path to Themdom narrows. We’ve entered an era where accessibility to fame is within everyone’s grasp, though only a select few can crack the algorithm and hold our ever-diminishing attention spans. Celebrities have taken desperate measures to stay relevant—from the makeup, supplements, and alcohol they peddle to the Notes App apologies they post—as the media who cover them compete with celebrities breaking their own news on social media and as PopCrave decides who “stuns” next.
Blending juicy pop culture history with the authors’ signature wit,I Want to Be Famous argues fame no longer means ubiquity and examines what the future holds for those seeking our collective attention.
While being photographed in 1966, Warhol reportedly said, “Everyone wants to be famous.” (To which his photographer, Nat Finkelstein responded, “Yeah, for about fifteen minutes, Andy.”) But Warhol was right then, and he’s right now. Fifteen minutes be damned, all you need is the drive—or desperation—and a singular spark. But if you’re not careful, you’ll end up a Who.
Who is a Who? In I Want to Be Famous, Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber, the pop culture journalists behind the podcast Who? Weekly, distill celebrity into two categories—Whos and Thems—transcending the snarky, antiquated judgment of the “A-listers” to “D-listers.” If you come across an allegedly famous face you’ve never seen before and are compelled to utter “Who?”, well, there’s your answer (Can you picture Rita Ora, Ava Max, or Hilaria Baldwin without Googling them?). If the subject elicits something along the lines of, “Oh, Them,” there you’ve found the opposite (Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise). It’s the fundamental duality of fame.
And yet, as more Whos spawn, the path to Themdom narrows. We’ve entered an era where accessibility to fame is within everyone’s grasp, though only a select few can crack the algorithm and hold our ever-diminishing attention spans. Celebrities have taken desperate measures to stay relevant—from the makeup, supplements, and alcohol they peddle to the Notes App apologies they post—as the media who cover them compete with celebrities breaking their own news on social media and as PopCrave decides who “stuns” next.
Blending juicy pop culture history with the authors’ signature wit,I Want to Be Famous argues fame no longer means ubiquity and examines what the future holds for those seeking our collective attention.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication September 29, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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January 29, 2026OMG
July 12, 2026
If you enjoy media studies and the silly levels/layers of celebrity, you’ll love this book. The authors apply an academic-style lens to the current micro/macro celebrity experience, including all that celebrities manufacture for public consumption (social media presence, white label partnerships that are usually endorsed on social media much more visibly than the overseas American celeb spokesperson in overseas commercials of the pre-2010s, and wayyyy too many forgotten podcasts, as celebs try to jump on the latest train in the attention economy). Does that sound niche to you or delectable?
The authors have been hosting a pop culture podcast for 10 years and occasionally slip in lil nuggets for longtime listeners (i.e., what other book is going to shout out Danielle Jonas shilling for big pork on Instagram??), but you do not need to be familiar with their podcast to enjoy this book. Though if you enjoy their book, you’ll probably enjoy their podcast Who? Weekly and should give it a listen.
Thank you Crown Publishing (of Penguin Random House) and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
The authors have been hosting a pop culture podcast for 10 years and occasionally slip in lil nuggets for longtime listeners (i.e., what other book is going to shout out Danielle Jonas shilling for big pork on Instagram??), but you do not need to be familiar with their podcast to enjoy this book. Though if you enjoy their book, you’ll probably enjoy their podcast Who? Weekly and should give it a listen.
Thank you Crown Publishing (of Penguin Random House) and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
If you are already a fan of the Who? Weekly podcast, then I don't need to convince you that this book is a must-read. But even if you know little to nothing about the hosts Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber and their binary classification of fame into Whos (people on the low end of celebrity, those who might prompt the general public to ask "who?" when encountering them in the press or online) and Thems (A-listers), this book will interest anyone who enjoys good gossip and fun takes on Hollywood history. Specifically, fans of Anne Helen Petersen's "Scandals of Classic Hollywood" and Emily Nussbaum's "Cue the Sun!" will probably enjoy this exploration of fame and its many faces. I certainly did!
The book is divided into chapters on various aspects of fame and what drives people to chase celebrity. It focuses on the differences between Whos and Thems, and the processes by which one may go from one level of celebrity to the other. The tone is humorous and chatty, and it often reads like a transcript of a very good podcast (this is not a negative in any way). The breadth of the content is very broad and the discussions about people I'm not even familiar with held my attention as much as those about people and events which I already knew (I loved getting more information about things I witnessed first-hand as a Gen Xer who loves pop culture and has been consuming it voraciously for many decades).
I came out of reading this book with a sense of having a broader understanding of many pop culture events and personas. It is incredibly well written and extremely entertaining, and it will probably be my favorite non-fiction title of 2026! Bravo Bobby and Lindsey!
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the authors for providing a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
The book is divided into chapters on various aspects of fame and what drives people to chase celebrity. It focuses on the differences between Whos and Thems, and the processes by which one may go from one level of celebrity to the other. The tone is humorous and chatty, and it often reads like a transcript of a very good podcast (this is not a negative in any way). The breadth of the content is very broad and the discussions about people I'm not even familiar with held my attention as much as those about people and events which I already knew (I loved getting more information about things I witnessed first-hand as a Gen Xer who loves pop culture and has been consuming it voraciously for many decades).
I came out of reading this book with a sense of having a broader understanding of many pop culture events and personas. It is incredibly well written and extremely entertaining, and it will probably be my favorite non-fiction title of 2026! Bravo Bobby and Lindsey!
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the authors for providing a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.
I Want to Be Famous explores modern celebrity culture by dividing fame into two categories: "Who's" and "Them's".
I liked the overall concept and structure, it made the book easy to follow. Some sections stood out more than others, especially the chapter on reality TV and celebrity couples, which felt nostalgic. Those moments captured how certain eras of fame actually felt and were the most engaging to read.
Other parts of the book didn't land for me. There are sections that delve into how social media changed how consumers engaged with celebrities and their brands. I was not aware that so many celebrities started podcasts. More than anything, I struggled to connect with the level of devotion to celebrities described throughout, whether real or performative.
I think this would work best for readers who are terminally online.
I Want to Be Famous explores modern celebrity culture by dividing fame into two categories: "Who's" and "Them's".
I liked the overall concept and structure, it made the book easy to follow. Some sections stood out more than others, especially the chapter on reality TV and celebrity couples, which felt nostalgic. Those moments captured how certain eras of fame actually felt and were the most engaging to read.
Other parts of the book didn't land for me. There are sections that delve into how social media changed how consumers engaged with celebrities and their brands. I was not aware that so many celebrities started podcasts. More than anything, I struggled to connect with the level of devotion to celebrities described throughout, whether real or performative.
I think this would work best for readers who are terminally online.
July 9, 2026
I really enjoyed the discussion on how advertisements and access shape celebrity and how both streaming and reality TV have shifted that conversation in terms of the death of the “movie star.” The terms “Them” and “Who” are useful to an extent and definitely giving a useful framework for how they discuss celebrity on their podcast. However, I feel like sometimes there was a bit too much in the weeds discussion trying to make all of these examples fit exactly into this dichotomy even when it was a bit of a stretch and it meant that not every critique was as nuanced as it could be. It took me out of what was overall an interesting overview of the ways celebrity has changed and shifted for the internet age.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The book is interesting and I'm happy to receive a galley. The cover is busy, complicated, and hideous and the topics are really difficult to get into. The lack of thems and focus on whos really makes general buy-in difficult. If you are terminally online and you know who people like Rita Ora are, then you may be into this, but it doesn't really read, it is kind of a novelty book. I was surprised having read all of Finger's books.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I’m a long time whooligan so I appreciate all the references and fabulousness that went into this book, but it’s not for everyone. I’m very online and love pop culture so I enjoyed most of it but I’m not sure if it was good. Loved the chapter on Rita Ora but it wasn’t a good closer & the 100 examples of everything in each chapter was a little much. Ugh, this one hurts.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Crunch crunch! I’ve been a Wholigan since the beginning so this book was everything I could have ever hoped for. Always up for a pop culture/media studies deep dive and when two of the funniest writers are doing it? It’s a Rita Ora pop song to my ears.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Lindsey Weber & Bobby Finger host “Who, Weekly?,” a podcast where they discuss the goings on of Whos & Thems.
A decade of doing this podcast made them uniquely qualified to write this rumination on how the idea of fame has changed over the years and what people have to do to stay famous. Who knew things notes app apologies, sponsorship deals and Rita Ora could be so funny.
Bring back shame!
Crunch crunch.
Lindsey Weber & Bobby Finger host “Who, Weekly?,” a podcast where they discuss the goings on of Whos & Thems.
A decade of doing this podcast made them uniquely qualified to write this rumination on how the idea of fame has changed over the years and what people have to do to stay famous. Who knew things notes app apologies, sponsorship deals and Rita Ora could be so funny.
Bring back shame!
Crunch crunch.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews