"[14] Red Scare bills itself as a cultural commentary podcast hosted by "bohemian layabouts"[15] Dasha Nekrasova and Anna Khachiyan, and is recorded from their homes in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

Nekrasova and Khachiyan have hosted several episodes of the show live, most notably broadcasting on NPR at The Green Space at WNYC and WQXR, as well as interviewing social media influencer Caroline Calloway at the Bell House in Brooklyn,[29] and John Waters as part of NPCC fest.

The hosts have been called "provocateurs", with a New York Times op-ed dismissing Red Scare as a "louche hipster podcast" for its "contempt for social liberalism" and a desire to "épater la bourgeoisie".

[39][40] In a 2022 Vanity Fair article, conservative filmmaker Amanda Milius described Red Scare's laissez-faire attitude as a "premier example" of the "live-and-let-live place" occupied by the "new right", and reported that Khachiyan had met with billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel and U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters.

[42][43] The Charli XCX song "Mean Girls", on her 2024 album Brat, was inspired by Nekrasova,[44][45] with the singer telling Rolling Stone: “I wouldn’t say I’m deeply invested in edgelord culture, but have I scanned the texts?

"[47][48] Audrey Gelman, Lena Dunham,[49] Chloë Sevigny,[50] Cazzie David, Leah McSweeney,[51] Jonah Hill,[52] Rachel Comey[53] and Elizabeth Olsen[54] have mentioned listening to the show in interviews.

Gelman's husband, Genius co-founder Ilan Zechory, was a co-host on Red Scare Roundup, a podcast that recapped episodes of the show from May to November 2018.