I’ve updated my list of recommended podcasts!

Newly-added podcasts

I’m excited by some of the new additions and I want to tell you why I think you should listen to them! In alphabetical order:

The Anthropocene Reviewed

Link!

It started as a bit of a joke: We review everything these days from the view at a park to our doctor’s visit. Why stop there? Reviews include Cholera, Scrach ’n’ Sniff Stickers, and The Yips.

The review of Auld Lang Syne has resulted in a bit of an anthem for John Green fans. When I saw him on the book tour for Everything is Tuberculosis, the evening concluded with the crowd singing “We’re here because we’re here…”

Many of these reviews are reproduced in his book of the same name.

Some of these reviews can get a bit emotional. Many of the sadder reviews are paired with a happier one.

Note that this podcast has completed its run.

Recommended starting point: You’ll Never Walk Alone and Jerzy Dudek

Articles of Interest

Link!

Articles started as a mini-series on 99% Invisible, a podcast that has been in my recommendations since I first posted them, and which you may know from host Roman Mars’ TED Talk about flags. Normally I’m pretty skeptical of a podcast that breaks off from another podcast. And I’m not super into fashion. So when I recommend this I think that should be a strong sign of how much I like it. I think of it more like a history podcast that happens to talk about clothes a lot. As an example, there’s an entire season called Gear about how much the military impacts what we wear and how increasingly, what we wear impacts the military.

Recommended starting point: An entire season called American Ivy starts here. Ivy is essentially the base of the “preppy” style. Ivy has become the dominant style in the US to the point that we don’t even call it that; we call it classics or staples. You’ve got some Ivy in your closet and you’re probably wearing some right now!

Dolly Parton’s America

Link!

It’s been a long time since I listened to this one so my memory’s a bit foggy.

Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad wants to do a podcast about Dolly Parton’s history and her legacy. While in the research phase, he learns that his dad is friends with Dolly! (He was her doctor after a minor traffic accident).

I don’t know what else to say. Dolly’s the best. You should go learn more about her.

This is a mini-series so start from the begining.

Off Menu

Link!

I got this recommendation from a Reddit thread. British comerians Ed Gamble and James Acaster host celebrities (primarily comedians) for an interview structured around discussing their dream meal. Like a longer-form and less painful Hot Ones, this structure provides a jumping off points to break into all sorts of tangents. It can be especially fun when episodes are clearly part of press junkets and the hosts need to keep the guest on track because they only have so much time to record.

Some guests don’t quite get the idea but it can still be fun as long as they’re willing to go with it. Robert De Niro, for example, had very few opinions saying, “I like whatever they put in front of me, as long as it’s good.”

Recommended starting point: John Mulaney fully buys into the concept and is having so much fun with the guys that about 20 minutes in they have to rein him in to begin the structured portion of the podcast.

Pablo Torre Finds Out

Link!

Pablo Torre deep dives into a variety of subjects, usually sports-related. These deep dives often include surprise legal documents that other hosts will be asked to read having never seen them before, leading to great reactions.

Pablo’s coverage of the LA Clippers’ alleged schemes to bypass the NBA salary cap earned him a Pulitzer in May and that story continues to unfold. Just last week, an episode revealed another previously unknown (alleged) scheme.

For you non-sports fans, there’s a fair amount of non-sports material. Often the material that’s about sports often has enough other aspects that I think it should prove interetesting (such as his coverage of league unions).

Recommended starting point: What Is Riley Gaines Hiding? about Riley’s back story and her ascendance as a conservative influencer. (This link is a recent re-airing of this episode given recent news about Sophie Cunningham)

This episode was developed alongside Mother Jones’ article How Right-Wing Superstar Riley Gaines Built an Anti-Trans Empire. The episode was nominated for an Emmy.

Other changes

The overall list now lives at /podcasts. It used to live there and was always supposed to live there but at the time of the last update, I didn’t know how to do that on my blog engine.

I added some designations († and ‡) to the podcast listing to indicate shows that have especially good backlogs. Some shows are mostly about recent stuff so there’s not a lot of need to go through old episodes. Some shows stand alone regardless of the date. Some shows are in between!

Feature image by Patrick Breitenbach, CC BY 2.0 via openverse