Erin Andrews is used to running after Kyle Shanahan
Fox microphone in one hand, notebook in the other, Andrews has learned a thing or two about coaches’ habits in her years on the NFL sidelines. For the 49ers coach, it’s his speed, always keeping Andrews on her toes when it’s time to track him down for an interview
Which is why, before a recent halftime interview, it took Andrews by surprise when Shanahan didn’t run. He stopped
“I go, ‘Why’d you do that?’ And he goes, ‘Heard about the podcast,’” Andrews said in a recent interview with The Athletic. “For Kyle Shanahan, who’s trying to figure out how to defend Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams, it was so cool. It just gives you a little bit of insight into the reach we have.”
“The podcast” is the one Andrews hosts with fellow sportscaster and good friend Charissa Thompson. The duo started their show five years ago, with the goal of peeling back the curtain on their daily lives, from their jobs covering the NFL to relationship advice to health and beauty tips. Thompson, who hosts “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon Prime, has heard her fair share of feedback from peers, too
Erin Andrews, left, has learned a few tricks about tracking down 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
“I walk into a production meeting, and (analyst) Ryan (Fitzpatrick) asked, ‘How are Erin’s eyebrows?’ And I’m like, ‘What?’” Thompson recalled. “(He said) ‘I heard on the pod they’re growing like crazy and she doesn’t know what to do
“I was like, ‘Ryan, you have seven children, how do you have any time to worry about Erin’s eyebrows?’”
Sideline rundowns and eyebrow appointments is perhaps the perfect dichotomy of topics to summarize “Calm Down with Erin and Charissa.” Apple Podcasts describes the show as “a text chain put into a podcast.” Thompson says it’s: “Girlfriends talking like girlfriends would, it just so happens to also revolve around our jobs that are intertwined.”
In a crowded NFL podcasting space, Andrews said “Calm Down” stands out because of the perspective of its hosts. The duo will confess that their best NFL recap episodes are brainstormed in hotel bars and airport lounges. And while in most episodes Andrews and Thompson take a step away from their traditional interviewer roles, they’ve welcomed a varied guest list that started with comedian Kevin Hart on the pilot, and has since included sports legends (Derek Jeter, Wayne Gretzky), broadcasters (Dan Patrick) and actresses (Cameron Diaz).
On the show, Andrews and Thompson discuss their best travel hacks and birthday celebrations (which they share: May 4). They haven’t shied away from deeper topics either, including discussions on divorce and infertility
As for the name, not only is it a nod to one of their favorite songs by Taylor Swift (with whom they have vacationed in the offseason and whose wedding they attended this summer), it’s a common phrase they’ve told each other as friends navigating life in the public eye of sports broadcasting
“We used to talk to each other all the time and be like, ‘OK, calm down,’” Andrews said
Andrews, 48, and Thompson, 44, first met when their respective work assignments for ESPN and Big Ten Network overlapped at a Big Ten men’s basketball tournament. A few years later, in June 2011, Thompson joined ESPN; she vividly remembers her first day
“I get out of the car and I’m walking up to the building and before I even make it to the door, (Andrews) comes flying out the front door of the building. … And she goes, ‘I am here for whatever you need, anything you need. Anything you could want. I’m here as a reng about it because in this industry, it’s really hard to find an ally and especially someone of her caliber who was doing it at the highest level.”
Individually, the women continued to establish themselves in the years that followed, each trying their hand in entertainment, too. Andrews hosted “Dancing with the Stars” from 2014 to 2019, while Thompson appeared on “Extra” from 2014 to 2017
Charissa Thompson hosts NFL shows for Fox and Amazon’s Prime Video. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
All roads led back to football, where Andrews has been the sideline reporter for Fox’s lead crew since 2014 and Thompson splits hosting duties for “Fox NFL Kickoff” and Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football.”
In 2021, they launched “Calm Down” with many of the same goals the show still has today. They’ll half-jokingly admit they chose to start a podcast because, well, everyone else was doing one. But it was also born from knowing they both had more to share — personally and professionally — outside the limited screen time they get during an NFL broadcast
“Coming from the TV world, I remember the first podcast we did, I was like, OK, we need a rundown. And our producer was like, ‘Here’s an outline, but the whole point of a podcast is to just talk,’” Thompson said. “It’s important to have structure, but also have some freedom within the structure. It’s just a different medium for us, but I really love it.”
The friends share a running notes doc for topic ideas that’s “on fire” during the NFL season with a perfectly chaotic mix of on-field takes and live television mishaps
Even during this interview, when discussing how they debrief their game days, Andrews started to laugh quietly. Thompson asked what it was, to which Andrews explained that she was thinking back to a Kansas City Chiefs game she covered in blazing heat, and the inner monologue going through her head during her postgame live hit with quarterback Patrick Mahomes
Erin Andrews said she is “pumped” anytime she gets Patrick Mahomes as a postgame guest. (Jason Hanna / Getty Images)
“Anytime you get Mahomes in a postgame, you’re just pumped,” Andrews said. “He had a crazy run or something like that and I turned and was like ‘Patrick’ — and he didn’t do this — but my inner monologue, as I’m interviewing the face of our league, and he’s giving great answers and I’m asking him about the run but I’m thinking to myself, ‘God, he’s thinking this chick has gotten so old.’”
As Andrews explained in an October 2024 episode, the combination of the heat, the makeup she kept having to reapply and her feeling of dehydration had her thinking, “I know I look 147 right now.”
“Where can you get perspective like that?” she and Thompson laugh. “You know, where else?”
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The years of “Calm Down” have also seen both women grow through different phases of their lives. They’ve found camaraderie with their audience in sharing major life events
Andrews has been open about her battle with cervical cancer in 2016 and her struggles with infertility. After nine years of IVF, she shared the news in a 2023 episode titled “Motherhood” of the day she and her husband, former NHL player Jarrett Stoll, welcomed their son Mack
Two years later, in May 2025, Andrews recorded an emotional episode on the same day her surrogate miscarried. “We got some real s—ty news today,” Andrews said. She said that she initially didn’t want to record, but ultimately came to the decision that work felt like a safe space, even with Thompson away and producer Ryan Musick stepping in as co-host
“I’m always so shocked how many people reach out about that and say, ‘Thank you so much for being so honest,’” Andrews said. “Those waiting rooms are packed. So many people are having problems with getting pregnant, having a baby, getting eggs, making embryos. I am right up there on that list. And I just decided, I’m not going to freaking candy-coat this anymore. I’m not going to be quiet about it
“If you can tell people, show people they’re not alone and be like, look, it doesn’t matter who you are and what you do for a living, I’m struggling, too. And be there for them. I’ve enjoyed that. It’s helped me kind of grieve and deal and all that. I’ve been grateful for the platform for it.”
Thompson has been transparent about her struggles in relationships, including going through her second divorce in 2022
“It was hard for me to fail the first time. And then it was really hard for me to fail the second time because I don’t like failing, but also knowing that it’s OK to be vulnerable about why those things failed,” Thompson said. “It’s refreshing to know that other people have the same issues and we commiserate, whether it’s acne or divorce or infertility, altogether.”
The podcast has also lived through controversy. In a 2022 episode with guest Jay Cutler, Thompson told a story about covering the Detroit Lions during their 0-16 season and how she would “make up” reports
“(Head coach) Rod Marinelli, at halftime, I was like, ‘Oh, coach, what adjustments are you going to make at halftime?’ He goes, ‘That’s a great perfume you’re wearing.’ I was like, ‘Oh f—, this isn’t going to work,’” Thompson said. “Literally, I’m like, all right, I got to make up a report. I’m not kidding. I made up a report.”
Andrews agreed: “I’ve done that too for a coach that I didn’t want to throw under the bus because he was telling me all the wrong stuff.”
The comments resurfaced when Thompson retold the story on the “Pardon My Take” podcast in 2023, but this time, they garnered more public criticism. Thompson apologized in an Instagram post, saying she “never lied,” and chose the wrong words. Andrews’ spokeswoman Jill Fritzo provided a statement to the New York Times that said her words were also misunderstood
The podcasts’ fanbase has grown through live shows at the Super Bowl and, in May, at the Netflix Is A Joke Festival. They also answer viewer questions in episodes they call “The Pregame,” which is often filled with aspiring broadcasters looking for advice and career guidance
“We know we can make it bigger. We know we can commit more to it. And those are all conversations we are having right now,” Andrews said. “I think it’s been nice to pull the curtain back and show people a side of us, a side of our friendship, a side of stories on the road that they never thought about.”
So, with a podcast that covers so many topics, what does the pair think people need to calm down about? For Andrews, it’s a lesson that is applicable on the field and off of it
“It’s with the NFL and just with life: the comments,” Andrews said. “Just because you’re going through something in your life to put down other people, other players. What’s going on?”
And for Thompson, it’s a well-timed reminder to avoid the overreactions. After all, the NFL season is just eight weeks away. Get the notes app ready
“If your team loses in the first couple of weeks, calm the f— down,” Thompson said
