Jake Shane Talks Panera Favorites and Responds to Critics Over Viral Interview Clip (Exclusive)

Chiara KimTue, June 9, 2026 at 8:43 PM UTC

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Jake Shane created his own Mix & Match meal with PaneraCredit: Panera -

Jake Shane is setting the record straight on his interviewing style and his response to online viral critiques of it

The content creator also talked about his partnership with Panera, with whom he created a meal featuring his favorite items from their Mix & Match menu

He opened up about how growing fame has impacted his mental health

Jake Shane is having a mix-and-match summer!

The podcaster and content creator told PEOPLE all about his new partnership with Panera on their Mix & Match menu, along with sharing his response to recent viral criticism of his interviewing tactics.

The podcaster's love for the restaurant chain started when he was a kid, when he would go with his dad.

Now, the content creator has created a "Pass That Panera" meal with the brand, the name a riff on the Instagram account on which he rose to fame, which is called @passthatpuss.

His menu includes his favorite picks on Panera's Mix & Match menu: the Chicken Caesar Salad Stuffer, a salad stuffed into a hollowed-out Italian roll, the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad and Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup.

With the Mix & Match menu, guests can get two or more half or cup portions of items for $4.99 each, along with a complimentary side. The Chicken Caesar Salad Stuffer is on this menu for a limited time.

"I love the Chicken Caesar Salad Stuffer," Shane raved. "And I don't like chicken caesar salad wraps, but I really like that."

He said his love for noodles gave him an affinity for Panera's Chicken Noodle Soup. As for the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad? "I needed greens," he said.

Jake Shane's Mix & Match Panera meal includes a sandwich, salad and soupCredit: Panera

The podcaster was recently the center of viral criticism after a clip from his interview with singer Kacey Musgraves on his podcast Therapuss went viral. Some people online were critical of a question Shane asked about a lyric in the country artist's 2018 track "Slow Burn."

Shane told Musgraves that his favorite lyric in the song is, paraphrased, "In Tennessee, the sun's goin' down/But in Beijing, they're headin' out to work."

"What do you mean by that? Me and Manny, who I work with, debate it every single day," he asked Musgraves.

"Really? It's not a deep-coded thing," Musgraves replied in apparent surprise.

After he prompted her, she said, "It literally just means what it means."

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Jake Shane faced viral backlash for a question he asked Kacey Musgraves on his podcast, 'Therapuss'Credit: Netflix/Instagram

The exchange gained attention on social media, where people questioned if Shane understood the concept of time zones. The moment also sparked media coverage.

The influencer responded to the viral reaction over a week later in a set of Instagram Stories, writing "like I'm ready to laugh. we can laugh" in overlaying text over two screenshots of the online critiques.

"If I don't laugh, I'll cry," Shane captioned a TikTok sharing the images.

The influencer had previously ignited an online conversation when he was asked Julia Fox whether she agreed that the kid in the Oscar-nominated film If I Had Legs I'd Kick Youwas "annoying" at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in March, prompting Fox's response that it was "society's fault" for not being conducive to mothering.

Following the online conversation the interview prompted about whether content creators should conduct interviews on red carpets, Shane told Entertainment Weekly, "After I hosted the Vanity Fair Oscar Party carpet, I knew I needed to adjust my approach for high stress environments."

"My podcast and comedy is often so off-the-cuff, it was sometimes hard to not be in that 'mode.' Now I know to go into projects like that with a different mindset," he added.

"I've always said I'm not a journalist, and I feel like the main critique is that I'm a journalist," he told PEOPLE of the online critiques of his interviewing style.

"It's not the point of my show [Therapuss]. The point of my show is to entertain you, make you laugh, which I hope I can do by the end of the hour," he explained.

He said his podcasting style is a combination of research and letting the conversation flow.

"I like to treat it as two people just getting to know each other for the first time and hang out," he said. "What it would be like to hang out with your favorite songwriter or actor, whoever's coming on the show."

The influencer, who recently made his Broadway debut alongside the likes of Ray Romano and Jenny Slate in All Out: Comedy About Ambition and who has publicly opened up about his mental health online, shared that growing in fame has impacted his mental health in a multifaceted way.

"It's weird, because it gives me anxiety, but it's simultaneously something I really aspire to and want," he said. "I just have to remind myself that not everyone's gonna like me."

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”