Bryan Greenberg & Victor Rasuk Talk New Podcast & 'How To Make It' Legacy

Ben Epstein and Cam Calderon are back! Well, sort of.

If you haven't heard, How To Make It in America stars Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk have launched a new podcast, We (Almost) Made It . While the podcast isn’t a direct continuation of their hit HBO series, it embodies the same spirit of ambition, hustle, and the unpredictable journey to success that fans loved.

Bryan and Victor, who captivated audiences with their on-screen chemistry, are now bringing that dynamic to the podcasting world. Just as How To Make It in America left a lasting impact, the duo hopes their latest venture will resonate with both old fans and new listeners alike. In an exclusive Q&A with iHeartRadio, they share the inspiration behind their podcast, what audiences can expect, and where they imagine their How To Make It in America characters would be today.

Keep scrolling to read our full Q&A with Bryan and Victor.

What inspired you two to start the We (Almost) Made It podcast?

Bryan : Well, the show How to Make It in America was so beloved by fans. When it went away, all we ever got asked was, "What happened to the show?" And after about 10 years of hearing that, we were just like, 'Well, why don't we just do a podcast and talk about it?' And then the actor's strike happened, and we were looking for things to do, and it became the perfect time to set this up. While we were thinking about it, we were like, it can't just be a recap podcast 'cause we didn't do that many shows. Right? It would be a very short podcast. So we were like, the themes of How to Make It in America are still so relevant today: ambition, hustle, drive, doing whatever it takes to get by, being the underdog. It all still resonates, and it was bigger than just the show, so we were like, 'Why don't we just explore those themes with the podcast?' And we're trying it out. So far, it's fun.

For someone who didn't watch How to Make It in America , how would you describe the podcast?

Victor : It's a show about your hustle. What is it that you wanna do? What are you doing to make that happen? Because it seems like in today's world, especially when our show was out, everybody had a side hustle, no matter what they were doing, Like if it's journalism or photography, there's always some sort of hustle to supplement that. And so how we pitched the show is we try to take celebrities, non-celebrities, household names, non-household names, and talk about their journey, [including their side hustles] because people are more interested in what are you doing on the side. I find that personally fascinating and I think that our listeners and our fans are starting to find that interesting as well. So we're kind of running with that.

Bryan : And what does it take for it to be "successful"? Like, it takes drive. But everybody's journey is different. And we want to hear about the struggles. As Vic was saying, we want to hear about the things you have to do to supplement your income to chase your dreams. But also, what are the hardships you had to go through and how'd you overcome that? And like he said, it's a vast array of people that we're interested in.

Victor : We just had Kid Cudi [come and talk about] his life. It was a two-parter. His story was fascinating too, 'cause even us who are friends with him personally, there was a lot of stuff that I personally didn't know about his life in Cleveland, his side jobs, or why he was so into fashion. And how did that turn into music?

Do you guys have some dream guests in mind?

Victor : There's a couple. One of them is already committed. I can say that confidently, Kerry Washington . We've been so blessed in our acting careers to make friends with all these artists. And so a lot of it is just like us just straight up asking. And then my other dream, I think, would be like the Obamas, Michelle or Barack .

What are your goals for the podcast? What do you see for the future of We (Almost) Made It ?

Bryan : Maybe we should have some goals. But we don't. We're just kind of flying by the seat of our pants and I think there's beauty in that. This isn't our job. This is just something that's fun. And I think it's better for the audience that we don't have this agenda. We're not pushing anything on them. We're just like, come vibe out with us. Come on this journey with us. I think that's what's different about our podcast. We just wanna explore the themes of How to Make It , and whatever kind of touchpoints we find along the way, we'll talk about it.

Speaking of futures, where do you think your How To Make It in America characters would be in 2024? What would a season three in today's time look like?

Victor : I feel like there would be some sort of conflict because you need conflict. If you've watched the show, I think the thing that was fun about our chemistry was I was always trying to push him, because he obviously had it, but he didn't see it. And I didn't really see the vision either, but I just believed in him. And I think that we would've probably hit some sort of conflict where we weren't eye to eye. And then I think that season three would be how do we see eye to eye? Are we gonna be friends?

Bryan : As far as the show coming back? There's no plans for the show to come back. We are not campaigning for the show to come back. That being said, everybody would love to do it. It was a great dream job, and if HBO's interested, or if somebody else was interested, we would all be down. People say it was ahead of its time. [...] I feel like it would work in today's landscape. But it does speak to a young generation, and we are older now, so I think you'd have to bring in some new blood.

This article has been edited and shortened for length and clarity.