IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson · Higher Ground

One Year of IMO with Michelle and Craig

March 13, 2026·52 min·4 clips

Michelle Obama admits she still felt guilt about not doing enough, even after eight years as First Lady.

The year mark arrives quietly. Michelle names IMO's first anniversary, then turns it into a thank-you for listeners, favorite guests, and the chance to sit beside Craig. Craig lets the sweet part land without dressing it up. That sibling rhythm is the engine here, because the show can drift from ketchup opinions and old stories into a guest's hardest stretch without feeling staged. The excerpt keeps that living room pace. Michelle remembers heart-to-hearts with Taraji P. Henson, parent-child complexity with Bruce Springsteen, Wayans sibling stories, and a ketchup opinion from her husband that still sounds ready to start a debate. Then the clip moves into something more exposed. An unnamed guest talks about finding a spot in a Coconut Grove park, staying near a library, and reading for eight hours a day. Michelle keeps pausing to picture the scene. She asks about the tent, the grass, the puppy, the clothes, and the mattress because the details are too strange to glide past. The guest answers with a calm that makes the story stranger, not smaller. He says the park had its own homeless hierarchy, that someone decided who could stay, and that being welcomed by him helped him belong there. Craig and Michelle do not smooth it out. They let the oddness sit: dress clothes in the park, a delivered mattress, a marina behind the space, and a young person somehow moving through all of it with composure. The warmth never gets syrupy. When Michelle tells him that, as far as they are concerned, he is family, the interview feels protective instead of polished. The ending swings back into play. A trivia game about the Obamas turns into a quick laugh over Barack's serious setup and Michelle's habit of giving the long answer. The episode does not force a neat lesson. Its charm is the jump from anniversary gratitude to survival story to old auntie game night, held together by Michelle and Craig's timing.

As heard by us

A warm anniversary sampler that turns favorite moments into a clear portrait of IMO.

IMO's first-anniversary special feels like a sturdy look back at the show's first year. Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson revisit favorite beats from conversations with Taraji P. Henson, Bruce Springsteen, Damon and Marlon Wayans, and even the ketchup opinion from her husband.

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Why you'd press play

Want the first-year best bits without catching up on every full episode?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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