The success of the Pardon My Take empire has now taken over a completely new medium.
The Barstool Sports podcast hosted by Dan “Big Cat” Katz and Eric “PFT Commenter” Sollenberger has been one of the top-rated shows in sports for many years now. Earlier this year, they struck a deal with Netflix to bring their show onto the streaming platform. But now they are going in a completely new direction in conquering the written word as well.
As Katz shared on social media, “Pardon My Book” is now a #1 New York Times best seller.
Thanks to everyone who purchased Pardon My Book. Appreciate it more than you know.
And apologies to everyone who is a #1 NYT bestseller after us. We’ve completely devalued it) pic.twitter.com/v8znyitaw6
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) August 26, 2026
We should all appreciate the beautiful, incredible irony of a personality built on parodying a commenter on Pro Football Talk is now a New York Times best-selling author. Shakespeare himself could not have come up with a script like that.
The book has been well-received for its window into the world of PMT and Barstool. The hosts are very honest about their time in the company, their brief time at ESPN, and their hopes for the future. It may not win any editing prizes, but that’s part of the brand and the charm.
It’s an incredible achievement not just for Pardon My Take, Katz, and Sollenberger, but for all of Barstool Sports. It’s just the latest reminder that the podcast and the company as a whole are firmly part of the mainstream conversation in America, and not just for sports fans.
In case you were looking for confirmation, “Pardon My Book” is in the top spot on the New York Times’ “Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous” category in its first week on the list. It displaced “What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking: Make it Fast” by Caroline Chambers from the pole position.
Surely the Pardon My Take cookbook can’t be far behind then, right?
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