Podcasts simply couldn’t contain themselves in 2018. Beyond setting multiple records (the third season of Serial was its biggest to date, and with a historically large advertising deal), this ever-growing audio medium also saw some of its most acclaimed series leap to television, with Dirty John on Bravo and Homecoming on Amazon Prime. Steal The Stars became a novel, and podcasters hit the stage in droves for live events and multi-day festivals. This proliferation was perhaps inevitable in a year that also saw the rise of scripted audio fiction podcasts (Bubble; The Horror Of Dolores Roach), set new watermarks for investigative reporting (Last Seen; Dr. Death; The Dream), and found shiny new packaging for the stories we thought we already knew (Slow Burn; Trump, Inc.). If the parentheticals didn’t make it clear, there are so many shows we wish we could highlight in our 2018 Podmass Superlatives and simply didn’t have room for. Below is our list of the most noteworthy stuff we heard this year—and in 2019, we’ll continue to seek out the new, surprising, reliable, consistent, moving, and delightful podcasts that deserve your attention.
Series Superlatives
Disgraceland
True crime continues to have its moment, particularly in the podcast realm with hit shows like My Favorite Murder. Disgraceland premiered in February of 2018 and sprinkled the world of profilers and serial killers with a little rock ’n’ roll swagger. Host Jake Brennan mines the pop music landscape and unearths some seriously fascinating stories. Listeners of a certain age can probably tell you where they were when Tupac Shakur was murdered, but the almost unbelievable story of how Jerry Lee Lewis basically got away with murdering his fifth wife in 1983 will have listeners thinking, did that really happen, and how have I never heard about it? There’s no guests, no frills, simply Brennan recounting the stories through meticulous research and an occasionally pitch-black sense of humor. The host describes the show not as “campfire” storytelling, but “slightly buzzed guy at the end of the bar who’s seen some shit” storytelling. The world of rock ’n’ roll is a weird and wild one, so with episodes released every two weeks, it’s doubtful Brennan will run out of material anytime soon. [Mike Vanderbilt]
Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness
Educational podcasts can sometimes be slightly pretentious, which is what makes Getting Curious such a welcome addition. Without muting the funny, goofy side of his personality that made him such a hit on Queer Eye, host Jonathan Van Ness chats with experts about all different kinds of social and cultural topics—from the opioid crisis to the broken bail system, Brexit, Renaissance art, Middle Eastern politics, and so much more. In between his more socially conscious episodes, Van Ness also interviews celebrity guests like Reese Witherspoon, Olympic ice skater Mirai Nagasu, and of course, his Queer Eye co-stars. But no matter the topic, Van Ness showcases the kind of vanity-free intellectual curiosity and passion that more of us should aspire to. He’s never afraid to ask basic questions, clarify confusing points, or put something into simple terms to make sure he (and his audience) understands the gist. As Van Ness himself might put it, this podcast is totally gorgeous and well worth checking out. [Caroline Siede]
The Windsor Knot
The ostensibly silly podcast The Windsor Knot became one of our favorites earlier in the year, with co-hosts Daniel Krupa and Joe Skrebels bringing earnestness and joy to a situation that, for most of us, would normally demand passive interest at best, or maybe just empty apathy. But as it turns out, the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was an event for the ages, with Krupa and Skrebels on hand to guide listeners through the intricacies of wedding security, the inscrutable dress code, and lemon-elderflower cake. With the Duke and Duchess of Sussex expecting their firstborn in a mere four months, is there any duo better suited to preparing a podcast audience for this royal birth? Well, probably, but they wouldn’t be as much fun. [Laura M. Browning]
Good Christian Fun
Having made a name for himself in the podcasting world with his popular Gilmore Guys series, Kevin T. Porter took a rather unexpected swerve for his next venture: a podcast about Christianity! Specifically, Porter and co-host Caroline Ely examine the wild and frequently wacky world of Christian pop culture—the movies, music, and TV shows made by Christians for Christians. Both Porter and Ely were raised in Christian households and have a nostalgic affection for a lot of the stuff they cover, which they balance with a more progressive, critical eye. Ely, in particular, is passionate about interrogating the sexism embedded in a lot of Christian culture. Each episode features a new topic and a new guest, who starts by sharing their own connection to religion, if they have one. Those changes keep the podcast fresh and lively, as does the mix of goofy conversations and strong production values that made Gilmore Guys such a success. Whether you’re interested in Christianity specifically, religion in general, or just weird American subcultures, Good Christian Fun has plenty to offer to both spiritual and agnostic listeners. [Caroline Siede]
#GoodMuslimBadMuslim
For all the highbrow academic talk about intersectionality trickling down into wider discourse, this beautiful show embodies the concept effortlessly. Taz and Zahra are the coolest women who let you sit at their lunch table as they talk religion, sex, beauty, politics, and culture. Nothing is forced, all their takes are funny or profound, and listening to them hammers home the absence of female Muslim perspectives in the broader cultural conversation, even as “Muslim-ish” entertainers are more prominent than ever. Earlier episodes are molded around both news from the Muslim world and Muslim-American response to developments outside the culture, with tongue-in-cheek segments dedicated to creeping sharia (a.k.a. Muslim trends), issuing fatwahs (airing grievances), and the awkward ask-a-Muslim, which speaks for itself. Lately the show has evolved to include more This American Life–style personal essays that speak to the experiences of a Muslim diaspora in a way that also embodies universal American commensality, and it’s here that the pair flex their artistic chops. Zahra’s story about her family spending every Thanksgiving with the first other Muslim family they found in America is as moving a piece of audio as you’re likely to hear all year. [Zach Brooke]
StangerBot, Action Boyz
In hindsight, it’s wild to remember that StangerBot—comedian Ryan Stanger’s hydraulic, Halloween-obsessed, kleptomaniac alter-ego—was originally born out of a desire to keep the action movie commentary podcast he co-hosts with Jon Gabrus and Ben Rodgers on track. What started as a joke that poked fun at Rodgers’ robotlike dedication to moving plot summaries along has evolved over nearly 100 episodes into a recurring segment that includes a sulfuric-smelling, social-cue-missing Gorgon and a lengthy, sweaty summoning process, usually just so he can announce a studio card and leave. Even funnier than the bit itself is Gabrus’ and Rodgers’ lack of amusement, which is manifested in merciless roasts of their friend and their unsuccessful attempts at unceremoniously killing the character off-mic. “Oh, did you hear the news?” Rodgers asks out of the blue during one episode. “StangerBot died.” [Dan Jakes]
I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats
“I’m hanging my head, because I don’t know how personal to get. You never know how far to take people.”—John Darnielle, “Episode 16: Steal Smoked Fish (Live)”
There’s one thing Mountain Goats fans never tire of, and that’s hearing John Darnielle talk. Talk about his music, yes, but really just talk about anything. The prolific singer-songwriter with well over a dozen albums to his name has a unique talent for observing specifics of the human condition and brings a sense of energy and immediacy to even the most pedestrian topics. So, when Welcome To Night Vale creator Joseph Fink announced that he would be doing a song-by-song breakdown of every Mountain Goats record with Darnielle as his co-host, fans were rightfully excited. Each episode of this first season includes more John Darnielle talking per minute than you can get anywhere else, and every second is a damn delight. This includes anecdotes from the making of 2002’s All Hail West Texas, never-before-heard insights into Darnielle’s songwriting process, and plenty of heady discussions about more abstract concepts like religion, creativity, and the importance of things that don’t last. It’s John Darnielle at his most relaxed, his most open, his most Darnielle. And it’s every fan’s dream. [Dan Neilan]
Cocaine & Rhinestones
Podcasts are an ideal medium to engage seminal musical retrospectives, yet few could predict that a show about 20th-century country music would dominate podcast charts for the year. There’s a genuine love and intimacy in Tyler Mahan Coe’s scripts that rival the early broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry as he relates the foundational myths of an industry steeped in sanitized heritage: the drunken bitterness that drove Ernest Tubb to take a shot at a rival, Unhinged superstar Spade Cooley’s brutal murder of his spouse, Ira Louvin’s hair-trigger fuse. The level of backstory is unrivaled. Three of the show’s first, 14-episode season focuses on “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” telling the stories of the singer, songwriter, and producer of the landmark single. A fourth episode devoted to Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode To Billie Joe” functions as prologue. Yet Coe’s obsession with the full story never veers far from the mainstream narrative. These are all huge stories about gigantic figures; it’s just that popular culture’s (and Nashville’s) current break from the breadth of its early country roots buried much of what deserves to be remembered. [Zach Brooke]
Thirst Aid Kit
Toxic fan bases are some of the worst of what the internet has to offer—but that just makes the earnest and supportive ones even more vital. BuzzFeed’s Thirst Aid Kit, hosted by Bim Adewunmi and Nichole Perkins, thrives on several levels, but the key to the show’s ongoing success is the way it taps into a community of so-called Thirst Buckets who all come together in a judgement-free space to get good and giddy about the objects of their lust. Interactive podcast segments like Thirst Sommelier (where listeners can call in for recommendations on whom to crush on next) and live events like their Thirsty Movies screening of Magic Mike XXL foster a camaraderie that is rare across this audio medium, where listeners are often far-flung, solitary, and passive consumers of the product. Meanwhile, the bonds forged by Thirst Aid Kit are uniquely and concretely felt, infusing one’s day with new and measurable joy. Begin your journey as a Thirst Bucket today, and soon you’ll be chatting with all your friends (IRL and online) about the hosts’ latest fan fic and the vast appeal of Dev Patel. And Chris Evans. And Ryan Coogler. And Bob Belcher. And… Winnie The Pooh? Just join us already. [Marnie Shure]
Episode Superlatives
Black Men Can’t Jump In Hollywood, “BlacKkKlansman”
With Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman a major contender in this year’s awards season, conversations about the movie are guaranteed to continue well into the New Year. And one great conversation to add to the mix is this episode of Black Men Can’t Jump In Hollywood. Hosts Jonathan Braylock, Jerah Milligan, and James III are actors, writers, and comedians who aim to bring a different perspective from traditional film critics. They review films starring black actors or other actors of color and focus on how those films handle issues of race. Unsurprisingly, BlacKkKlansman gives them plenty to discuss over the course of this two-and-a-half-hour episode. After a lighter intro (the review itself starts about 12 minutes in), the hosts delve into an impassioned discussion about why they feel the film is so important and so effective. Whatever your opinion on BlacKkKlansman, this episode is a welcome companion piece to the film and a compelling discussion in its own right. [Caroline Siede]
Hollywood Handbook: Pro Version, “Teaser Freezers With Bosch”
Bosch is a dog. Specifically, he’s Hollywood Handbook host Sean Clements’ dog. He’s a big sweetie, a notorious good boy, and for the better part of a year he’s been the unofficial third host of the podcast (apologies to Chef Kevin), loudly chomping on bones and squeaky toys in the corner of the studio. But, for this very special episode, Sean and Hayes decided it was finally time to get Bosch fully on mic so he could take part in one of show’s classic bits. The result is one of the funniest episodes of the Pro Version and perhaps one of the most joyous episodes of the show as a whole. Bosch (who, to be clear, is being voiced by an increasingly embarrassed Sean) brings a refreshingly positive perspective to the irony-rich proceedings. In place of snarky comments about how bad a new movie or show looks, he’s got fun catchphrases like “That dog’s funny!” and “Damn, this looks good!” It’s the exact kind of insular silliness that, much like this review, won’t make much sense to people unfamiliar with the show. But usually that’s when the boys are at their best. [Dan Neilan]
High And Mighty, “Being Fat w/Mike Mitchell” & “Being Fat Follow-Up w/Mike Mitchell”
At the beginning of the year, comedians Jon Gabrus and Mike Mitchell (Doughboys) sat down to talk about what it’s like to weigh over 300 pounds. It was a hilarious, self-deprecating, brutally honest discussion about their individual struggles and experiences as plus-size men in the industry. At the end of the episode, they make a pact to check in later in the year and, in the interim, do their best to get under 300. We won’t spoil the results of the follow-up episode, but it’s safe to say their second discussion picks up right where they left off, digging even deeper into the psychological and social pressures that make it so difficult to lose weight. These episodes stand out not only because you get to hear two hilarious guys set aside bits for a second and get real, but because by the end of each episode you feel yourself truly rooting for them. You want them to get healthy. You want them to feel good about themselves. Yes, for their own sake, but also, selfishly, because you want them to be around to make more of the stuff that you love so much. Here’s hoping for a positive part three in 2019. [Dan Neilan]
Amazon Book Club, “Fat Vampire 2”
With apologies to Last Podcast On The Left’s gnostic-gospel-psychedelia-themed alien abduction, The Dollop’s coverage of addiction recovery repurposed into cult worship, and the callipygous hallucinations of Chuck Tingle, the weirdest chunk of primary source material on the internet is the continuing saga of a fat vampire, as read by the Amazon Book Club podcast. Reginald Baskin is an overweight treadmill salesman. He’s bitten by an undead coworker, and according to the rules of this universe, he’s locked into his current physique for eternity, unless the council of svelte, body-shaming vampires can kill him for making them look bad. Our intrepid hosts shuffle between liking and loathing the whole enterprise, calling it mean-spirited at first before warming to the absurdist gibberish at hand, especially around the time Charles Barkley turns up not only as Reginald’s afterlife coach but also, for reasons known only to the author, a bestiality fan. The whole literary atrocity is delightfully normalized by the wheezy, sadsack interpretation of Reginald’s lines by Ganesh Sarma, the Groucho-esque one-liners by Austin Hannah, and Shane Burklow’s confused everyman. If art reflects life, let this work stand as evidence of our batshit year. [Zach Brooke]
Believed, “The Parents”
The most important thing about Believed isn’t in the body of its podcast, it’s in its title: the explicit assumption that women and girls are telling the truth about their sexual assaults. For several decades, former sports doctor Larry Nassar systematically assaulted girls and women, many under the guise of medical treatment. When those women spoke up, they weren’t believed—by their parents, their counselors, their school administrators. Reporters Kate Wells and Lindsey Smith start from the presumption of belief and document the case against Nassar, resulting in a story radically different from anything we read in papers or saw on the news after Nassar’s arrest in December 2016. Although each episode begins with a suggestion to start from the beginning of the series, episode six, “The Parents,” can almost stand alone for its clear-headed untangling of an emotionally knotty narrative. Wells and Smith talk to the parents of girls and women who were sexually assaulted by Nassar and answer the question, how the hell did this even happen? It’s the question that everybody asks, nobody understands, and one whose answer might help us prevent future Larry Nassars from getting away with so much, for so long. Wells and Smith are unflinching in their reportage, which results in surprisingly empathetic portraits of parents whose children had been abused, sometimes literally in front of their own eyes, without deflecting blame. Believed is a gutting listen but, by working from that seemingly simple presumption of believing women, is also the best, and maybe most important, news coverage of 2018. [Laura M. Browning]
Podmass will be back in January 2019. Let us know what we should cover in the new year, either in the comments or by emailing us at [email protected].
180 Comments
Serial Season 3 should have been the one to go viral. Far more vital and important to look at the quotidian injustices within and as an intended part of the justice system, which is something I’ve never had to deal with before and had only seen fictional depictions of so everything here was eye-opening.
I think Season 3 was a definite improvement on Season 2, and the amount of work they put into it shines through. Although you do really get the sense that they were hoping to latch onto a case that would have a momentous ending, but again and again the cases they followed ended… very ordinarily, with plea deals. That ultimately became the thesis of the series – that plea deals and settlements are how the justice system works, with sometimes unjust results – but I do get the impression that they *wanted* to tell a more focused story about a single case, and just didn’t find one. They made lemonade out of lemons.
I’ve mentioned this before here, but The Collapse of American Criminal Justice helps to explain the rise of the plea deal and its centrality to our current system.
If this is true–and it may be–they should keep that lemonade recipe.
I was distracted by that guy’s fake English accent.
You mean the guy who was born in London and didn’t move to the US until he was 12?
I had been put off Serial by the second season, which I found a chore, but this season so far has been stellar. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s more interesting than the first season. Because of exactly why you say: it’s telling vital truths about how the criminal justice system works. It’s all the interesting bits from season one expanded outward to paint a broader picture. Plus, you get the upside of not feeling creepy about all the armchair detectives messing with real peoples’ lives. It’s just journalism.
Season 2 of Serial was pretty terrible, and in retrospect, Season 1 wasn’t that great.I’m glad I stumbled onto Into The Dark. They just wrapped up Season 2, telling the story of a guy who has been tried six times for the same crime over a 20-year period.
I think all three seasons were great but they were very, very different. Season 1 is the reason a lot of people even found the podcast icon on their phones. At a high level, it’s hard to look at all three seasons and call them the same show.
It wasn’t as utterly compelling as Season 1 (literally, what is?) but it’s definitely far more important. I wish more people had stuck with it. Most people I know got bored and dropped off.
By miles Serial 3 was the best of the three–every episode was a compelling mini-drama, all of which joined together in a riveting overarching narrative about the problems of the criminal justice system. The only episodes I wasn’t totally sold on were the last two, where Sarah Koenig really crowbarred herself into the story in a really distracting way that reminded me too much of season one, which was horrible. (FWIW season two was very good; I think a lot of negative reaction came from people wanting another reddit-friendly mystery story, but her reporting on the Bergdahl story skillfully fleshed out a story that was badly reported as it was happening.)
Serial Season 1 definitely didn’t have the same message about justice or flaws in our institutions that Season 2 or Season 3 did but it had a narrative and sympathetic lead character that the subsequent seasons lacked. Most people I talked to about season 2 were like “Bowe Bergdahl is an idiot, I don’t feel sorry for him at all, he makes me so mad I can’t keep listening,etc.” Season 3, we were introduced to a new victim of injustice each week and even though there was a persistent thread, there was no mystery to be solved. A lot of people I know lost interest.
Counterpoint: Serial S1 was terrible, Adnan totally killed that girl, and Sarah Koenig is a credulous fool.
I talked the walk 2018
Ah the eternal struggle as a Doughboys fan: I want the show to keep going forever but I also want Mitch to get down to a weight he feels gid about.
When they joked (I assume) in a recent episode about the next Tournament of Chompians theme being salad, I genuinely thought it was a great idea.
Agreed, and I actually think it could be a good tourney! There are a bunch of “healthy” chains out there these days: Freshii, Sweetgreen, Protein Bar, Native Foods, etc.Think of all the Hot Salad jokes!
There can’t be a doughboys tourney about salad!
I’m on a diet, and eat vicariously through Mitch and Wiger.
It seems like that’s entirely doable, on the regular schedule. Probably time to put the kibosh on theme months where they eat like 4 different pizzas twice a week, though.
I was just confused to hear that he had done a pair of podcasts with Intern Geno (Jon Gabrus) about struggles with losing weight. Be no is already recklessly, dangerously thin, as any CNN fan can tell you.Sseriously though, both of those guys hilarious and I wish them the best.
And because Kinja isn’t letting me edit, even though I’m well within the 15 minute window, ‘Be no’ is supposed to be Geno and CNN is CBB. Thanks Kinja, and thanks autocorrect!
The Good Place: The Podcast has made someone (me), who is strongly ambivalent to podcasts as a medium, listen to 36 episodes so far, which def counts for something in my book. It’s also one of the better glimpses into the (albeit delayed) live production of a major network sitcom on the books, which is just kinda cool in general!
Are you me? Strongly agree on all points. It’s both delightful and a very interesting peek behind the curtain, and it’s the only podcast I can say I’ve listened to every episode of.
The host became insufferable for me. Every tenth word out of his mouth is “cool”.
I don’t know how You Must Remember This always misses this list. It’s one of the best, most researched and interesting history podcasts out there.
I’ll give that a try on your recommendation. Hardcore History seems to be the most popular of the history podcasts, although after listening to a big chunk of the catalog I soured on it. Dan Carlin’s meandering presentation style (which deprives the episodes of any narrative cohesion) started to grate on me. But his WWII stuff, which I started with, was really compelling.
His WWI one series, while fuckin’ long, is also maybe the most succinct and engaging overviews of the war that I’ve ever listened to.
Yeah, 20ish hours is barely enough time to talk about WWI, I loved it. Supernova in the East II should be coming out before too long since we’re past the 6 month mark now.
You Must Remember This is a history of Hollywood, but it has a ton of cultural history in it, too. The Blacklist series is a good place to start if you’re into more straightforward history.
The biggest hump to get over for me in regards to Hardcore History was Dan Carlin’s presentation style. He talks like everything he’s reading is in bold with. periods. between. each. word. Eventually I got used to it and I enjoy the show.Another history podcast I recently got into is History Unplugged. I believe I picked it up due to comments around here somewhere but I can’t recall exactly. The format is largely of the host interviewing historians and writers about various topics though sometimes he’s on his own. The quality of the guests is a bit uneven at times but overall it’s an entertaining show. It just wrapped up a fairly expansive arc on the most important battles of the American civil war.Also, the Revolutions Podcast is awesome if you haven’t given it a try. It’s been going for quite some time now and is from the same guy that did The History of Rome. It does what it says on the tin and covers the revolutions in great detail. My favorite was the nearly yearlong arc of the French Revolution.
Tides of History by Patrick Wyman is excellent.
Who won best song about having a homosexual relationship with your father?
ME LIKEY GAY SEX
♪ WELL, I’M THE KIND OF GUY WHO FUCKS HIS MOM AND DAD ♪
A cupcake, and a candy bar
Suck on my dick, fuck my ass, and then nut on my buttcheeks
dad dad dad I fuck my dad
Tom Myers with Politipod
God damn, when I was listening to yesterday’s Chapo and they were breaking down the ten worst Weekly Standard articles, I lost it when they got to the gay marriage article and Matt dropped a “The Weekly Standard is a magazine about being gay with your dad.”
Best podcast about sunkin’ Phil Margera’s dick.
No Threedom, no Chapo, no Off-Book, no Citations Needed, no You Must Remember ThisMEDIOCRE
I like Chapo but Chapo doesn’t deserve to be here. With several notable exception it hasn’t been good since 2016/a couple of months after Trump won…………..It may be that I more online now which…..isn’t good.
The Drabblecast is back. Best fiction podcast ever. Strange stories by strange authors for strange listeners, like yourself.
Came here to look for this comment. Drabblecast also added their entire back catelog of almost 400 stories to the feed, so there’s plenty of weird to listen to.
I4H 4 Life!
No R U Talkin’ R.E.M. RE: ME?For shame…
No bad movie podcasts superlatives, this year.As a childhood MST3K fan, bad movie podcasts were my hook into the podcast world. I started with “How Did This Get Made”, and then tried “Flop House” on the AV Club’s annual review recommendation, many years ago. Flop House became my favorite podcast, by a huge margin, and it remains my favorite, even now that my interests have sprawled out into more than a dozen other regular follows.Last year’s (or maybe the year before’s?) AV Club recommendation was: “We Hate Movies”. I had tried it before, but gave it a renewed shot, and have been happy with it in podcast mix. They output the greatest volume of content, which doesn’t hurt. HDTGM is the most popular of the bad movie podcasts, but undeservedly so. It’s perfectly fine, but way too much of the feed is consumed with live shows, in which the hosts are yelling over each other for attention and working too hard for laughs. My top recommendation outside of the bad movie verse: “Beef and Dairy Network”. It’s a fictional news/interview podcast with incredibly elaborate world building. It seems semi-improvised, like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, with results that sometimes miss, but are mostly delightful. The production values are excellent. I’ll also give an honourable mention to a very new podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. It follows the hour-long celebrity interview format that WTF and Nerdist laid down, and that many, many others have since imitated (including Gilbert Gottfried, for fuck’s sake), but Conan has always been an excellent comedic interviewer, and he takes to the format like a fish to water. His guests (at least in the early episodes) are predictably excellent.Okay, one more, my niche pick, for anyone who’s a Star Trek fan: The Greatest Generation. But if you’re a Star Trek fan, you probably already know about that one.
Flop House had a really good year, managing to maintain its usual madcap tete-a-tete despite the new bicoastal hosting setup. And we’ve still got Cagemas to look forward to this weekend!
Agreed, The Flop House is still the best, IMHO
Good recommendations…will have to check these out. Just started up with Mike Nelson’s book podcast, 372 Pages We’ll Never Get Back, which I strongly recommend if you like mst3k.
I checked out of Pages We’ll Never Get Back early on. MST3K was generally fond of the stuff they riffed. Rifftrax are harsher but still mostly fun. The Pages podcast just felt to me like Mike being a cranky old pretentious turd while Connor sucks up to him. Much as I might *agree* with their complaints, I didn’t find them particularly funny or interesting. (A problem I had with the Rifftrax of Paranormal Activity, which was just a lot of “found footage sucks” and “this guy is an asshole” non-jokes. Interesting note: I “voiced” this reaction on the site and Kevin responded. He was extremely friendly and even conceded that it wasn’t their best effort.)
Conan’s new podcast is great. It works because he’s pretty much already friends with most of his guests and he can switch between funny and sincere immediately
Have to highlight the We Hate Movies recommendation. Love their podcast, and their Patreon content (I do not work for nor am a member of the cast, lol) is pretty great, considering they have a monthly Star Trek show.
In addition, when I was briefly in Manhattan for a single night this last October, Andrew Jupin helped me (via Twitter, if you can believe it) find some truly excellent food to eat. Class act.
“Beef and Dairy Network” is great. It’s so damn weird and I love it. I look forward to every Slash Beef vignette. The Flop House is great too. I was worried Elliot moving was going to screw everything up, but it has been just as good.
I keep trying, but I just can’t get into Flop House. I absolutely love WHM, and HDTGM is alright, but for whatever reason FH just never clicks.
I enjoyed Flophouse as always (been a loyal fan for many years) but this year was a bit shaky. Eliot moved last year and there are still times when the Skyping method leads to some botched jokes or awkward pauses.Still a lot of solid episodes this year (especially when they are all in the same room again at times) but the spark does seem to be a bit gone from before.
Always nice to meet another friend of DeSoto!
Aww yeah, Greatest Generation is pretty solid.
I have to say my favorite of the “bad movie” genre is We Hate Movie, largely because of the riffs, running jokes, improv and impersonations. It has the feel of hanging out with your buddies, a few tall frosty glasses of milk, and just shooting the shit. I was very shocked when I saw the first episode of December was entitled “Terminator 2″ because who in the hell hates T2? And I was then very pleased upon listening to find out that during December they’re changing up the format to movies they love.
That Gilbert Gottfried podcast is amazing simply for how it displays the man’s encyclopedic knowledge of Hollywood’s Golden age. You like antiquated references to long-dead actors and singers mixed with the feeling that you’re at a Friar’s Club roast in 1968? This is the podcast for you.
Absolutely agree on HDTGM. I gave up years ago when it became clear that nobody but Paul was actually watching the film under discussion. I’ve never been able to get into Flophouse.I’m a longtime listener of WHM. They’ve been pretty meh this year; no episodes that I’d call an absolute classic, but they’ve also seem to have toned down the interminable scatalogical and impression bits that they seemed to lean on in previous years. The Halloween Spooktacular episodes were the strongest this year; on the other hand the We Love Movies idea is a bad one (as was using live episodes rather than summer reruns: I’d love to see these guys in person but as podcasts the live shows are the weakest.)
Best Bad Movie Ever. A movie lover comes on and defends their awful taste against two AV nerds.
Have to disagree on the best Trek podcast out there. Check out Star Trek: The Next Conversation with Mat Mira and Andy Secunda. The show is as equally fantastic as it is terrible, and all in the best of ways.
Matt Mira’s in the pocket of Big Rod.
Buffering the Vampire Slayer is definitely my number 1 podcast with Queery with Cameron Esposito as runner up.
I really wish I liked Buffering’s spin off show Angel on Top more than I do, as I really love Angel the show but, at 13 episodes in, I’m finally starting to accept that it may not be the growing pains of a new podcast finding its footing. I just don’t think I like the hosts as much as I like Jenny and Kristin and I don’t like their spinoff segments (Fuck Watch and poetry hour) as much as I like the originals (Sexual Tension Award and song time).
Just finished season 2 of Limetown and not only was it well worth the wait (though I wish it were a bit longer this time), it’s still my favorite serialized podcast by a longshot. For anyone who felt let down by The Black Tapes, definitely give Limetown a shot!
Is it over now? I listened to the first few, but it definitely felt like the kind of podcast you needed to binge to stay in the “reality” of the world.
Yeah, it ended today. Really good follow up but I definitely think you’re right out binging it. I binged season 1 the day before 2 came out and I realized it’s maybe the perfect binge listen serialized podcast.
I need to relisten to the first season. It was my favorite fiction podcast, but upon trying S2, I realized I didn’t remember a damn thing.
Yeah, it’s definitely a good idea to binge the first season before listening to the second. So much time went by between seasons that I imagine it would be difficult to remember all that happened in season 1.
WHAT?! It finally happened?!
Overall I super enjoyed the season, but the finale was a no go for me dawg. Don’t want to talk too much about it but I was not pleased.
How about Best Hot Couch?
Damn, the description of Stanger-bot really makes me want to listen to ActionBoyz. Loved the original incarnation when it was just on High and Mighty, but I’m not enough of an 80s action movie fan to subscribe on Patreon…but Stanger is one of my faves and that bit sounds hilarious, might make it worth it
While it helps, you don’t really have to be a fan of action movies to enjoy ABz, they regularly go off on long tangents about such topics as: Rodgers train-wreck dating life/possibly being a serial-killer, nearly abusive fathers and Stanger’s college football career and the recurring bits are funny as hell. It’s worth subscribing just for Rodgers’ Charles Bronson impression alone. Gabrus has uploaded some free sample episodes to High & Mighty if you’re still on the fence.
Yeah I definitely enjoyed the original pre-ABz High and Mighty episodes they did even though I never watched the movies they did (love Stanger’s Arnie impression), but the monthly Patreon cost was a bit of a barrier. Really may have to just go for it though
The Questlove Supreme with Steve Miller was amazingly deep and interesting
Dear Joan and Jericha is definitely one of the funniest things I listened to this year. An improvised, spoof agony aunt radio programme from Julia Davis and Vicki Pepperdine.https://player.fm/series/dear-joan-and-jericha-julia-davis-and-vicki-pepperdine
The *Bodgea Boys* podcast was by far the funniest podcast I’ve listened to all year, and deserves far more recognition
Good Christian Fun is a really, really great podcast. There have been occasional missteps (the Duggar episode seems a little tone deaf if you know the whole story there) but for the most part, they are so pure and good and weird and a just a little blasphemous. It’s great for cultural Catholics (like me), exvangelicals, and everyone who thinks a lot of what is happening in and around the church in this country is just bananas. And they’ve had a couple really interesting guests with super fascinating stories (the Blake McIver epsidoe comes to mind).
It’s bizarre to me that there’s not a single audio drama on the list. This year saw the end of ars PARADOXICA, the musical episode of The Bright Sessions, probably the strongest field ever for the Parsec Awards Audio Drama Long Form category (Uncanny County and Exoplanetary are both superlative), and of course immortals like Starship Excelsior continuing to chug along deathless and forever. This year saw the most prominent example yet of an audio drama making the jump to screen, with Amazon Prime’s adaptation of Homecoming, not to mention the really impressive job Big Finish did taking Callan (frakking Callan!) the other direction, from television to audio drama. Promising shows like The Amelia Project start up about every other week. Yet the AV Club continues to treat the podcast world as exclusively the domain of talking heads chatting about stuff and/or documentaries. Not that those are bad, it’s just… such a weird choice to exclude the huge (and more technically interesting) chunk of the podcast world that’s making full-cast, full-effects audio fiction! Of course, that editorial decision is made by many, many outlets besides the AV Club, too, which is somehow even weirder.
Hard agree.
Most harrowing podcast saga of the year: The McElroy Brothers Will Be In Trolls 2 Trolls World Tour
Indeed, but weren’t there only like two episodes this year?
There were four, and it was quite a rollercoaster from the report of Travis wearing his piss shirt to the Dreamworks meeting to the confirmation of their assigned characters. Plus the most recent episode featured their agent Joel’s award-winning a capella solo from college:I love Justin’s “serious podcast journalist” narration.
There’s only one podcast, and it’s the one where I’m incredibly gay with my dad.
buy the book
Is “I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats” actually good?I’m tired of Joseph Fink, after listening to most of the Nightvale Presents shows for years, I dislike his voice and how I mainly just hear him when he’s reading the ads and every episode of every podcast has a lengthy ad, usually at the beginning and middle, where Joseph Fink tells you that “You should buy X, X is cool as hell” and he tries to be funny and clever with the ad but it comes across as somebody trying too hard to be quirky.
It is very good. It helps that a lot of it is John talking about the songs and stories relating to the song and all that. And it’s been awhile since I listened to anything Nightvale, so I don’t remember his ad-voice, but he’s, I’m assuming, much less reading lines and trying to be quirky, and is more just chatting with John.
Plus it’s worth it for the covers of the song at the end. Some really good ones.
I find that Joseph Fink can be a bit insufferable at times, but like the other person said having John on really helps. I am a few episodes behind but what I have listened to so far has been pretty damn great.
Virtual Pros is an excellent professional wrestling podcast that is specifically for wrestling fans who aren’t insufferable neckbeards who want to recap Raw and whine about booking all the time. https://soundcloud.com/virtual-prosAlso enjoyed http://372pages.com/ which reads terrible books, skewers them and has regular features such as the sublime audience sourced “Fanfic or Real” where fans of the show attempt to fool the hosts with their own terrible imitations alongside the authors’ awful writing
I don’t see the appeal of podcasts at all
There are some really fun ones out there. You should give it a try next time you have to drive somewhere 30-60 minutes away.
It’s talk radio or radio programs without the restrictions of radio.
Just curious: why did you read this article?
Seems just trollin
Do you drive or commute or clean or take showers? If you do any of those things try listening to a podcast with it.
It’s just like listening to the radio except you have thousands of choices and pick exactly what you want.
Found some old radio DJ’s burner account…
I didn’t either – until I found myself getting sick of staring at screens! It’s a way to engage with media and subject matter you’re curious about – without looking at a screen. There are various projects and tasks in my art studio which require my visual attention. Interview podcasts contribute a background conversation. Recently listened to Maggie Gyllenhaal chatting amiably about her process while I worked on a collage.
I go to sleep to a podcast almost every night. I’m one of those people who likes to fall asleep to talk.
I think Threedom is the best spin-off podcast this year. Three improv comics just shooting the breeze and then playing improv games works amazingly well.
GAH, I love each of those people, and I love CBB, but I just could not get into Threedom. I might need to give it another try now that it is back from behind THE PAY WALLLLL.
It’s definitely not a very focused podcast and it can drag a bit
Yep, and I think that is my problem with it. It absolutely is not a failing of the show, it is a preference I have. Sometimes I find shows that just meander to be tiresome, my SO LOVES Stop Podcasting Yourself but I just can’t get into it because of its lack of focus. I think CBB is about as unfocused as I can go with a podcast before I start to lose interest.
I’ve been enjoying “Why is this Happening”, the Chris Hayes podcast, quite a bit this year. Hayes brings on terrific guests to go way in depth on issues that don’t get the sort of coverage they deserve. It serves as a good primer on really important issues that get buried and forgotten about by the constantly changing news cycle.
God, I’ve been telling everyone who will tolerate me to listen to the White Identity Politics episode. My tolerance for serious or current-issue podcasts is very low these days but this podcast is one of my favorite hours of the week.
That was a really excellent episode.
Nice pick with the Bosch teaser freezer ep, but the absolute best Hollywood Handbook episode of the year had to be “Triumph at Comic-Con”
Agreed. That episode killed me and raised me up again.
Best podcast: Cum TownOther real good podcasts: Your Kickstarter Sucks, Hollywood HandbookHonorable mention: Red Scare
Not a single mention of the McElroy brothers anywhere in this list? Shameful.
nothing they did this year felt especially fresh besides juice’s breakfast cereal/meditation pod. otherwise they mostly just keep trucking, so it’s better to lift up stuff that hasn’t been mentioned a thousand times before.
Hi, Is this article to let people know what are YOUR favorite podcasts? Or is it a general list of actual favorites? Because there is no mention of the very popular “This American Life”, “Stuff you should know” and “Adam Corolla”. Popular in So.Cal is the “Mark & Lynda” podcast, which is a continuation from Mark Thompson after he left radio. (Mark and Brian)
I pretty much just listened to the SuperMega and E&C podcasts.
I only listen to I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats
Bless yall for the Hollywood Handbook recc <3 <3 <3
It is killing me that nobody is talking about fiction podcasts. They are a thing. They are wonderful. Why are they never mentioned? Also Actual Plays are pretty big in the podcast world, as well. We really need to diversify podcast coverage to be more than non-fiction.
I so agree.
I hate fiction podcasts, but to each their own.
That’s cool, but they’re a large part of the podcasting medium (even Marvel got in on them), so to completely exclude them is confusing to me.
Yeah, this was an amazing year for fiction podcasts and I’m sad they didn’t touch on them.Bright Sessions ended it’s main run and unsurprisingly was absolutely phenomenal.Archive 81 wrapped up it’s third season earlier in the year and it is one of my favorite things ever.Limetown had a pretty phenomenal second season, finally.I dig non-fiction and comedy pidcasts but man, fiction podcasts are really coming into their own.
Even including something as high profile as the Wolverine podcast would’ve been good (even though I only thought it was average).This season of Within the Wires hasn’t been my favorite, but I’m still enjoying it. The Big Loop had some stellar episodes as well.
Yes! The Bright Sessions and Limetown are great, but I’m glad to see some love for Archive 81! That show is phenomenal and so underrated! I had no idea if they’d be able to keep up the great stuff from season 2, but season 3 blew me away and I can’t wait to listen to whatever they do next
What do you recommend? I started working through History of Literature, and I’ve listed to New Yorker Short Fiction, but I’d love to hear more good fiction podcasts.
I’m a big fan of Steal the Stars and Life.After/The Message. The team behind those 3 are great. These are all full audio dramas.Black Tapes is cool if you like horror/spooky stuff told in a familiar journalistic style like Serial.Limetown is another journalist style investigation. Weird sci-fi happenings. This one was a favorite.Within the Wires is a neat little story that sneaks up on you. The first season is told in a relaxation tape format. It quietly becomes something more.Wolverine: The Long Night is pretty solid for a Wolverine adjacent story (he’s in there). Shows how big these have gotten when Marvel gets in on it.Bronzeville is also pretty solid. Laurence Fishburne directs and plays a supporting character in a sorta crime story taking place in a historically black district of Chicago during prohibition.Homecoming just got turned into a TV show (which is phenomenal) and is a pretty solid story of a psychologist treating veterans with PTSD. Not all is as it seems. Second season lost me.Tumanbay is kind of a Game of Thrones style middle-eastern influenced medieval type sweeping tale told through multiple points of view. Really high class BBC production.
Can’t edit so:Steal the Stars is a heist/sci-fi/romance thriller about a secret military base where they house the sorta corpse of an alien. The Message is very short, and is a sci-fi/horror about an alien sound that does something to those that hear it.Life.After is a sci-fi thriller and is about a guy whose wife dies, but she is brought back in an app. Sort of like that Black Mirror Episode with Hayley Atwell.
My favourite is The Magnus Archives, which is horror short stories that begin to connect as it goes along. It’s really well written, and its got great atmosphere.
Bubble deserves more love because it is a comedy fiction podcast and sometimes I get a bit tired of the many many sci-fi and horror fiction podcasts out there, great as a lot of them are.
Going to throw in a newer one I discovered on the comedy spectrum
The Teachers LoungeThe podcast consists of the Improv group Big Grande going into characters of 4 teachers who are hosting a podcast of some nameless highschool who talk about their trial and tribulations and literally do their best to make each other break character as their Improv slowly spins out of control.The first episode hooked me with a contest to have their guest Wood-shop teacher (Master thespian Paul F Tompkins) try to identify various school cafeteria food samples..cleverly masking each one by having them dunked in a bucket of green latex paint prior to consumption.
https://www.earwolf.com/show/big-grande-teachers-lounge/
I don’t know if there was anything I listened to more this year than the episode from their Summer Camp season with Fran Gillespie playing the very loopy, very strange camper Simon; a 12 year old who has an account on Raya and famously did something called a “Mister Stinker” that the entire cast brings to life through some very vivid imagery (in between roaring peels of unrestrained laughter.)
The only runner-up could be “Christian Bails,” the episode where the teachers watch their LA dreams turn to dust and Todd Padre leads the LAPD on a low speed chase on the run for a murder he all too readily admits to.
So glad Hollywood Handbook was not snubbed! The Bosch ep was definitely one of the greats “Hi Hayes!”. Although, I am surprised you didn’t choose the Comic Con episode. No podcast has ever made me laugh harder. It is incredible how quickly Sean and Hayes drop their characters and relive this mortifying event, unable to keep their shit together. Favorite line from that ep: “I’m not crying listening back to this. I d0 want to keep doing this show”.
I think the first Joe Mande episode may be my favorite of the series, such a great premise and Joe kills it.
It’s about science rather than pop culture (although they did discuss the genetics of Game of Thrones once), but I’d recommend The Insight.
The lack of In the Dark aka the best podcast about true crime and the justice system makes this list suspect.
The only podcast on this list that I actually listened to, or at least tried to, was Good Christian Fun. The concept and the actual meat of it is great, but it suffers horribly from the ‘Get To The Point’ problem that plagues a lot of podcasts; too much time spent with the hosts/guest(s) riffing together on tangential subjects, not enough actual focus on the subject. I really don’t care about you guys caring about Laura Dern, guys. It’s honestly the big reason the McElroys do so well in my mind; they know how long is too long.
My favorite podcast of this and probably every year is Oh No Ross and Carrie, and they had a fantastic year in 2018. Trying out an ayuasca (no way am I spelling that right) retreat was a great start to the year, and hitting up weird spiritual gurus and urine therapy kept up a fascinating, if hard, listen.
Not meaning to point the finger particularly at the avclub, it’s just something that this article reminded me of, which is how frequently the fiction side of podcasting is forgotten or treated like some weird new trend just now coming on the scene, when there have just been a metric ton of audio dramas just killing it for a while now. I pretty much only listen to fiction podcasts, so it’s always slightly disappointing to see almost every discussion of podcast recs be all non-fiction. The medium is doing some really interesting things these days, and is evolving so quickly.
Chapo
I wouldn’t say that the rise of scripted audio fiction podcasts came THIS year. Its been on the rise for the past few years at least. In fact, a few of the most popular audio dramas in recent times (Wolf 359, The Bright Sessions, ars PARADOXICA) actually ended this year. What’s actually happened is that mainstream media realized that lots of people were listening to audio dramas and decided they could make a really popular one since unlike all these independent creators, they actually have a budget. And so you get Homecoming, and Sandra, and The Horror of Dolores Roach- all pretty good (Homecoming is probably the best of them) but definitely not the best. And yet because of the marketing campaigns and hollywood names (Oscar Isaac, Alia Shawkat, David Schwimmer), these are the ones that got especially popular.
No offense to these podcasts though. I genuinely liked Homecoming, and I’ll watch/listen to anything with Shawkat in it, so Sandra was great too
You should give Archive 81 a listen if you haven’t already. I like all three of the podcasts you listed and Archive 81 is currently my favorite thing. Though Wolf 359 made me feel things maaaaan.
God, I LOVE Archive 81! Dan and Marc are doing such incredible things with audio. That show has such amazing characters and stories and ideas throughout its run, and I can’t wait for season 4
I’m almost all caught up in what podcasts I listen to, so I could use some advice on what to check out next. Here’s what I currently listen to, for reference:
My Brother, My Brother, and Me (all caught up)
The Adventure Zone (finished Balance, on “Season 1.5,” listening to the pilot arcs in order before getting into Amnesty)
Welcome To Night Vale (haven’t listened in a couple of years, came back to see a ton of “…Presents” episodes— can I just skip these? Do they have anything to do with the show, or are they just promos for other shows on the network?)Hello From The Magic Tavern (can’t remember where I was, since iTunes kept glitching and putting old episodes I’d already listened to back on my feed, but I’d like to get into it again)
Wolf 359 is/was fantastic. Arden, which is co-created by Todd Vanderwerff, just started this year and just had their season finale and it was pretty great.
What’s it about?
Not sure if you have any interest in movies (you’re at the AV Club, so, there probably is some interest), but I dove head first into Blank Check with Griffin and David last year and never looked back. Hosted by Griffin Newman and (ex-AV Clubber) David Sims, they discuss filmographies one director at a time. I’m a huge McElroy fan, and BC gave me the same “oh these guys are hilarious” feeling I hadn’t gotten from a podcast since I found MBMBaM in 2011. For in-points, I’d just suggest listening to an episode based on a film you already know well, and go from there. If you want a McElroy connection, J.D. Amato (who directed MBMBaM on SeeSo) is a recurring guest, and his most-recent appearance discussing Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is one of my favorite episodes ever.
Archive 81 is a pretty fantastic cosmic horror podcast. The Bright Sessions follows a therapist for (what are essentially) X-Men style mutants and is phenomenal. Limetown wrapped up its second season and was pretty great. Second the Wolf 359 recommendation, it is really something special. Ars Paradoxica is a bit ambitious at times, but I think well worth your time.Station Blue is a fun horror podcast.
Could you go more in depth on those? Please keep in mind I’m not listening to any additional story podcasts for the time being, at least not until I’m caught up with the ones I currently listen to– I can’t consume a ton of things at once, or else all the characters mentally bleed together, and I can’t keep storylines straight.
Definitely take your time with the fiction podcasts for the first few. Eventually its a lot easier to balance and you can listen to more than one at the same time, but for at least the first 5-6 its a good idea to pace yourself.As for Codiustheawesome’s rec list, here’s a bit more detail:The Bright Sessions follows a therapist’s (Dr. Bright) sessions with her patients, all of whom have supernatural abilities along with their various mental illnesses. I wouldn’t describe it as X-men though, because none of the patients are superheroes, they’re just regular people trying to live their lives.Limetown plays out like a serial-style investigation podcast following reporter Lia Haddock as she investigates the disappearance of the entire population of a small town in Tennesse 10 years ago, uncovering a much larger conspiracy.Wolf 359 takes place in the near future, in a space shuttle 7.8 lightyears away from Earth, orbiting the red dwarf start Wolf 359. Aboard the ship are 3 crewmembers (lazy communications officer, uptight commander, kooky russian scientist) and the ship’s snarky AI, Hera. It starts off as a fun sitcom in space, but eventually becomes a crazy space opera about life, death, and consciousness.ars PARADOXICA is about the audio diaries of Dr Sally Grissom, a physicist from the year 20** who accidentally sends herself back to 1943 on the deck of a military warship during WWII. This is the story of an alternate version of the Cold War in which the US has time travel technology to fight off its enemies instead of just nuclear bombs. Its definitely one of the best time travel stories I’ve ever watched/heard, as you follow the journey of Sally and her friends through wars, corporate espionage, alternate timelines, alliances, betrayals, and murder.
Based on your choices, I’d suggest King Falls AM! Its about a pair of radio hosts hosting a late-night AM radio show in the small town of King Falls, which is filled with eccentric townsfolk and supernatural beings like aliens, ghosts, werewolves, skinwalkers, vampires, and something… darker that lives in the shadows. Ben Arnold has lived there his entire life and is an absolute believer of all thing supernatural, why Sammy Stevens, a bigshot radio host from out of town, is the skeptic doesn’t believe in the supernatural. At first, the show sort of follows a monster-of-the-week formula where townsfolk call in about whatever inexplicable person or thing is causing a ruckus that night, but as it goes on, an overarching narrative starts to form, and things go crazy. This show zips from hilarious to bone-chilling to heartbreaking in the span of a few seconds, and its a truly wild ride. Certain characters (especially love-interest Emily Potter) are not written particularly well, but overall its a great show with great acting.
Thank you for the suggestion, but I’m actually not looking to add another fiction podcast to my roster so quickly. I have trouble mentally following multiple storylines at once (the characters end up bleeding into each other, or I forget who is who), so if I did, I’d have to wait to be at least completely caught up on Magic Tavern, TAZ, and WTNV first.
Campaign: Star Wars is a fantastic actual play that I think is a must-listen to anyone who likes TAZ (frankly, I think it’s straight up better). For me it’s the perfect balance of improv humor and creativity with rock-solid dramatic plotting and world-building, and finds that magic chemistry between the cast and GM pretty much immediately.
I’ll tell you the same thing I tell everybody: Magnus Archives. It’s a collection of short scary stories, that link together into a greater whole, and it’s better written and better made than just about any other podcast.
AMAZON BOOK CLUB sounds like an amazing idea for a podcast and now it’ll be in my queue.My choices:CONAN O’BRIEN NEEDS A FRIEND is fantastic. His style of comedy works well as a podcast and his guests have been entertaining as well. Heck, just the segments of Conan and his assistant bickering at each other is worth a listen.WE HAVE MOVIES continues to evolve and dish out some of the best comedy in the podcast medium. Their episodes on The Boss Baby, The Jerky Boys, Shrek, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hellraiser III, Wishmaster, The Cat in the Hat, and (their most recent episode as of this post) Terminator 2 show their catalog variety and how they can find humor out of anything. That also isn’t even covering their Patreon exclusive content which are also great.And finally, as a podcast to recommend but not from this year, I got into the NEW GEN PODCAST. Which is a look at the “worst” era in WWF history in the “New Generation Era” (1993 – 1996). What started off as a look into some bad wrestling it turns into a great retrospective into what American wrestling was like in this clusterfuck of an Era. The rise of WCW, the rise of ECW, and (most importantly) the massive fall and rise of the WWF. It does take a while to get into a groove with the three, British hosts, but I got really deep into this series. I hope they got some plans to do something else soon now that they are finished covering the entire New Gen Era.
That sounds bloody amazing. By the way, the title is “The New Generation Project Podcast,” it took me a bit of searching to find it. As a wrestling-obsessed kid during that time, I’m looking forward to reliving those terrible, terrible days.
I’ve been archive-binging We Hate Movies all year, and holy God, the “Dominoes Pizza Insurance” tangent they do in the (I think) Traces of Red episode almost made me have a car accident, I was laughing so hard.
WTF no 99% invisible? Was it just like retired at some point as a perennial winner? IT BETTER HAVE BEEN.
The Best Show (with Tom Scharpling) has been the most consistently funny and innovative show/podcast for 20 years (maybe more?)… Wish it would get more love here
**slide whistle**
Don Strong has a lot of control over which podcasts AV Club promotes. That is most likely the reason it gets no love around these parts. He’s a dangerous man to have as an enemy.
Best Show died when it left WFMU. All the weirdoes like Spike that called because the show went out over the public airwaves and their narcissism couldn’t resist the exposure went away and got replaced by fans already contributing to the Patreon and earnest Stephen Universe fans. Tom is working harder than ever on his show, the callers are the least entertaining they’ve ever been, and he’s never as mean to them (because they’re dedicated fans that know what’s going on) as he was ripping into the random trash that used to call into the show understanding zero context. You never get like, the guy calling in to explain that you can remove red text from a red shirt without ruining it because he missed the whole point of the joke. Give the New Best Show a wide berth, stick to HH and MMFTF if you want to hear Scharpling actually have something to work with – ‘Nuff Said
but have you heard Avalanche Bob? 🙂
plus, Tom has done a lot more experimental stuff… amazing sound collages and whatnot. It’s a different vibe now that he’s free of any restraints. Give it a shot!
I agree with you to an extent. I’m generally not a fan of the callers on the nonfmu version. A lot of ass kissing and expecting Tom to be their free therapist. He really needs to start being mean again. I wouldn’t go so far as avoiding it though. Tom’s still got it though, he does the best he can with the hand he’s dealt. Personally I know almost nothing about Steven Universe the show but feel that the worst thing that ever happened to the best show was Steven universe fans discovering it and calling in.
I am probably listening to too many politics podcast which you probably should’t.Aufhebunga BungaThe War NerdDead Pundit.Michael and US. Began as a retrospitive on Michael Moore before becoming about 2000s liberalism/any content to feed the machine. God, the 2000s were dumb.The othersSean’s Russia BlogThe Age of Napolean Honestly surprised that the pod caster is not a professional voice actor. The Fialto Report about porn in the 80s. A pleasant surprise. Some of the stories are quite depressing but the majority are if not pleasant are interesting.
Hey, everybody, board games are freaking amazing. I know that sounds like I’m taking the piss but, no, seriously, AMAZING right now. We’re in a golden age of board (and card) games, with high quality games with any style, theme or mechanism you want, and with some similarly amazing gaming podcasts.The classic is, of course, The Dice Tower. They’ve been at it forever, almost 600 episodes of the main series so far. I know that Tom Vasel is a sometimes controversial figure, but I don’t think that anyone can dispute the positive effects that he’s had (and Eric and Zee and Sam and, though I don’t like them as much, Mandi and Suzanne) on the industry.My personal favorite is probably Shut Up and Sit Down. Quinns and Matt do often hilarious work, critical analysis and they look at games which aren’t always as popular and well-known in the States. Yes, I miss Paul.You’ve also got The Secret Cabal, Blue Peg Pink Peg, Cardboard Reality, and a ton more.If you are a fan of the “talk shit about bad stuff” style of podcast, a good option is Flip The Table, which is defunct but you can find old episodes. They look at terrible games, largely cheap tie-ins to TV or movies, and take them apart.
Dev Patel has vast appeal? Huh. The world is full of wonders.
Two of my favorite “podcasts” are shows I listen to live on twitch: Frogpants’ The Morning Stream – a morning talk show type program records M-T 11am eastern
Night Attack – a comedy show that does a lot of silly games – records Tuesday night at 10pmI also love Tomefoolery which is a book club but, as the theme song says, they read, “oddball books, bizarre books, slightly racist, and just racist books.” Recent episodes include such Christmas-themed books as Glen Beck’s Santa Claus book and Christmas-themed spanking erotica.
Spawn on Me is a gaming podcast that isn’t afraid to be political and talk about social justice issuesThe Guy From Queens’ What the Tech is a good tech podcast with Paul Thurrott (so it is Windows centric)And I also like more well known podcasts like Accidental Tech, Oh No Ross and Carrie, and Waypoint Radio
TMS is good fun. Scott and Brian are great. While it is their job it still has an indie feel, which none of these on this list do.
The podcast medium peaked with Mike and Tom Eat Snacks and hasn’t come close to reaching those lofty peaks since. STORMTROOPERS HITTING THE GROUND
No mention of the insanely good second season of the Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project? Bonanas for Bonanza alone should be worth inclusion.
Command-F “chapo”Command-F “Cumtown”0/0 on both. WTF?
Any good film podcast recommendations? Been really enjoying April Wolfe’s “Switchblade Sisters” this year, and sporadically keeping up with TOS/Dissolve-vets on “The Next Picture Show.” I’ve fallen off of others because they don’t have the same level of discussion or depth of criticism as these two.
If you like listening to podcast go up its own ass, then that Last Podcast on the Left episode might well be the year’s best.
Agree with most of this list. It’s a really good selection. I particularly liked Cocaine & Rhinestones. Some really cool stories. Love all that music biz lore. Stories about country music are so filled with emotion and demons.. A Great podcast! Another one I really liked was “The Sicario Effect”. The story of Pablo Escobar’s hitman, Popeye. A fascinating mix of past and present history. It also points out the dangers of social media that promotes a murderer.
I humbly submit “Another Round” that was a Buzzfeed podcast . I didn’t check if these two women were mentioned, but these two and all of their guests understood me on a level I couldn’t understand. Thank you Heben and Tracy. 💕💕💕💕
Friendly Fire, Switchblade Sisters are my top film podcasts, two very different approaches to genre films.The Greatest Generation and Talking Simpsons are my top TV podcasts.The Moth remains my favorite non-fiction podcast.
I’ll add my category: Best Podcast Survival After the Departure of a Major Star and I will award it to The Bugle which, after the departure of John Oliver, has managed to get better and funnier thanks to the revolving cast of guests and the sad reality of Brexit.
God Awful Movies does a much better job of taking on the horror of Christian pop culture. Other great podcasts are Opening Arguments, The Skepticrat, Cognitive Dissonance, and Citation Needed.
1 The Flop House2. Conan O’Brien
3. Teachers Pet – (Australian true crime case that is so chilling and will make you so angry)4. The Sunday School Dropouts
5. Pen Pals w/Rory Scoville & Daniel VanKirk