Unqualified is an American advice podcast created and hosted by actress Anna Faris, featuring interviews with celebrities and cultural figures, followed by personal phonecalls to listeners asking for relationship and other advice. It was co-hosted by Faris's producer Sim Sarna until 2019. In 2017, Faris published a memoir under the same name as the podcast.
Faris was inspired to create the podcast after listening to Serial. Explaining the evolution of the idea, she said: <blockquote>I love to talk about relationships; that's all I want to talk about with my friends. And then I just thought, I kind of want a hobby, since [my husband] Chris has been shooting a lot. So I started asking around to some friends, and I asked this technical producer guy what equipment I should buy on Amazon. And I just started recording my friends when they would come over. And then with my dear friend Sim, we started flushing out the whole thing, which clearly there's still a lot more flushing out to do. It started out as a dinky hobby. It still is, for sureâÂÂwe don't make any money. We would love to at some point, but we want to know a little bit more what we're doing first.</blockquote>
Each episode has two parts. In the first, a guest interview, Faris sometimes incorporates ad libbing or improvisational comedic sketches with the guest and posts questions centered on hypothetical relationship or dating situations. In some segments, she plays the character of Karen Sarducci, a disaffected studio executive with pronounced vocal fry who often makes reference to her privileged, brilliant sons, Milo (Paul Scheer) and Ventimiglia (based in name on actor Milo Ventimiglia), who are often vacationing abroad or at music festivals such as Coachella.
Former producer Sim Sarna used to participate in the second part of the show, which consisted of Sarna, Faris and the guest placing a phone call to a listener seeking "unqualified" advice on a relationship or personal dilemma. Since Sarna's leaving, the segment has been conducted primarily by Anna and guests.