Admit when you’re wrong and be humble when you’re right.

If you know one thing about improv, it’s probably the rule of “Yes and …” It operates on the premise of accepting what another performer has introduced ("yes") and then adding to it with one's own contribution ("and"). 

This approach encourages performers to build on each other's ideas, rather than negating or blocking them, which can halt the flow of the scene.

A similar type of “blocking” can happen when you’re interviewing a guest and get a fact or detail, like a name, wrong. Skilled guests with media training will often work around this.

Here’s a well-known clip of Kathie Lee Gifford on the Today Show asking Martin Short about his wife …

The problem? His wife was dead.

It was a live broadcast and Kathie Lee gave an on-air apology after the break. Martin Short handled the situation with skill afterwards as well, giving people who asked about it responses like this:

This kind of understanding is far better than hard pushback from either a host or guest, since “tension” often makes listeners feel uncomfortable and turn against the person they see as being wrong.

On the flip side of this, listeners can also turn on both hosts and guests who give similar pushback when they’re correct about something.

If the person you’re talking with on a podcast says something that needs pushback, do it. But be skillful in how you deliver this pushback. And if it’s something relatively minor, or that can be handled later, consider your options.