The Bechdel Cast is a weekly podcast about the representation of women in film. The Bechdel Cast is hosted by Los Angeles–based comedians Caitlin Durante and Jamie Loftus.
In November 2016 The Bechdel Cast released their introductory episode titled "Welcome to The Bechdel Cast!" Their first episode was on the film Kill Bill with guest Zach Sherwin.
The show is broadcast on the iHeartRadio Network (after HowStuffWorks Network, under Stuff Media, was bought by iHeartMedia). Episodes are available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, and Spotify. Select episodes are released to supporters on the crowdfunding platform Patreon twice a month.
The name of the podcast derives from cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who developed the concept of the Bechdel test, sometimes called the Bechdel–Wallace test. The test investigates whether or not a work includes at least two women conversing about a topic other than a man. Sometimes a requirement that the two women must have names is added, which is a rule the podcast adheres to. For the purposes of the show, the exchange only needs to be two lines of dialogue. A commonality of many movies that pass is that often only this minimum is reached typically by an inconsequential conversation or one in which the two lines are nested within a larger conversation that is about men.