Podcasts are just a different media beast. Unlike other topics currently being apprised in end-of-the-decade lists (the best movies/TV/books/interpretations of Met Gala themes), podcasting hardly existed in its current form at the dawn of the 2010s. And thanks to its journey from fledgling medium to an entrenched facet of American culture, by 2019, podcasting both reflects and assists in shaping the media landscape around it.
Below are the podcasts that we believe defined each year of the 2010s. Some of them were famous, at least by the more paltry standards of the time, and some continue to be. But whether or not each one contributed to the odd phenomenon of podcasters getting recognized on the street by fans, they’re inarguably all a part of the podcast canon, a body of work that continues to grow with series that surprise or challenge us, labors of love that creators fought to make in what was arguably the most visual, text-based era in all of history. They saw our internet and raised us a radio.
2010
Hardcore History
To call Hardcore History a podcast is to supply a technical answer but miss the broader point; the show is so unlike anything else that such categorization is almost an erasure. Whatever Hardcore History is, by 2010 it had four years of broadcasts in the books, and host Dan Carlin had fully developed his sprawling, singular, macabre lookbacks on the great maelstroms of civilization. But nothing in Carlin’s back catalog matched the scale of what began in June of 2010: Taking nearly a full calendar year to release six episodes, he concluded his “Death Throes Of The Republic” series with a five-and-half-hour marathon. The man could not stop himself. Alone at the mic, Carlin often pushes toward the runtimes of shows hosted by two or three people. He’s not exactly alone, though: He channels, and in some cases argues with, the giants of historical scholarship, even as he’s the first to admit they’re the experts and he’s but a fan of history. No one exploits an un-credentialed outsider status better, fearlessly leaping into rabbit holes that academics seldom touch. It’s a fandom that rivals that of any genre of fiction, a breathless, impassioned artistic howl that’s gripped listeners again and again. And again and again. [Zach Brooke]
2011
WTF With Marc Maron
When comedian Marc Maron transformed the garage of his Los Angeles home into a podcasting studio, he wasn’t expecting it to be a confessional for the comedy elite. “I’m not looking for people to divulge anything,” he said in 2013. And yet Maron became known for having engrossing, honest on-air convos with his stand-up colleagues that were more than just funny people shooting the shit. He forced them to drop both pretense and artifice to reveal the intimate, neurotic, occasionally painful details of their lives. By 2011, WTF was less than two years old and Maron already mended fences with former best friend Louis CK, invited Robin Williams to open up about his struggles with addiction, and confronted both Dane Cook and Carlos Mencia on their reputations as joke thieves—memorably emotional episodes that caught the attention of both listeners and the New York Times. He basically laid out the longform interview template that many comics-turned-podcasters (Joe Rogan, Pete Holmes, Conan O’Brien) still follow. Now over a thousand episodes deep, Maron has interviewed everyone from movie stars to rock legends to the President of the United States. But he’ll always be a master at discovering what brings on the tears of a clown. [Craig D. Lindsey]
2012
Comedy Bang! Bang!
2012 might seem like an arbitrary year to highlight from the life of this remarkably consistent podcast, which has served as a proving ground for young comedians and a playground for seasoned veterans for more than a decade. But 2012 was an important transitional period for CBB. Host Scott Aukerman launched the show in 2009 as a promotional tool for his long-running weekly variety show in Los Angeles, which, in late 2012, he announced would be ending. By then, however, the podcast had taken on a life of its own. It was this year that the CBB universe of characters really started to solidify, forming its intricate web of never-ending bits. Aukerman stopped using comedy songs to break up segments, instead allowing improvisers to stretch out and experiment. Episodes that would soon be considered canonical—“Time Bobby,” “Wipeout,” “Finger Guns,” and “Farts And Procreation Part 2”—started to rack up. Importantly, this is also the year Lauren Lapkus made her first appearance, completing the triumvirate—along with Aukerman and Paul F. Tompkins—that is now synonymous with comedy podcasting. [Dan Neilan]
2013
Welcome To Night Vale
The voice of Cecil, raspy and deep and curious, on the radio of a weird Southwestern town in the middle of nowhere marks a defining moment in the history of podcasting and fairly directly led to the meteoric rise in production of independent fiction podcasts. In 2012, Welcome To Night Vale featured the voice of a queer man hosting a local news radio show in his strange town, and put front and center the developing relationship between him and Carlos, a Latinx scientist. The combination of weird fiction, occult plotlines, a positive and uplifting gay relationship, and innovation within the medium gave Night Vale niche popularity on social media sites like Tumblr within a year of its release. The size of its fandom only exploded outward from there, culminating in live shows, multiple books, a worldwide tour, and a production banner under which are housed many other popular fiction podcasts. Night Vale continues to produce weekly episodes and inspire creators, especially since their original setup was a single narrator, a Blue Snowball microphone, and Audacity open source software. If you’re looking for an escape into the desert, Night Vale is waiting—and probably watching you. [Elena Fernández Collins]
2014
Serial
From a criminal justice perspective, the murder of Hae Min Lee and the conviction of Adnan Syed is depressingly unremarkable. All the familiar elements are there: a frustratingly unconfirmed alibi, an ambiguous collection of evidence, and a man sitting behind bars who may or may not be guilty of taking a young woman’s life. Over the course of 12 episodes in late 2014, however, Sarah Koenig and the team behind Serial turned this case into something that’s pretty rare in the digital age: It was appointment listening, a show you simply had to consume the day it came out or risk being completely left out of the water cooler conversation. It was a gripping investigation with all the production bells and whistles of This American Life, and it strung you along from one episode to the next in a time when the medium of podcasting was purposefully more open-ended and structurally formless. It was lightning in a bottle that countless shows attempted to recapture, including Serial itself in its less enthusiastically received second and third seasons. Still, it was many people’s first podcast and unlikely anybody’s last. [Dan Neilan]
2015
Invisibilia
Never before 2015 has audio psychology been so easily digestible. Hosted by Alix Spiegel and Lulu Miller (and later, Hanna Rosin), Invisibilia explains the invisible forces that affect human behavior—anxieties, impulses, ideas, emotions—through compelling yet very sweet storytelling. The show casually introduces heady psychology by posing simple questions like “Do my thoughts reveal who I really am?” or “What would happen to us if we somehow disappeared our fear?” and introduces real people as support for a single episode’s case study. These mind matters are often complex, but Spiegel, Rosin, and Miller do everything they can to display the humanity in their show’s subjects while comparing their behaviors to significant cultural and scientific studies in layman’s terms. From a blind man who taught himself how to ride a bike without accident through sheer expectation, to a husband who overcame impulsive thoughts about murdering his wife, Invisibilia excels at convincing the listener that our thoughts and ideas—good or bad—have their place within the human mind. And in 2019, it’s still that kind of reassurance that makes Invisibilia feel like absolute comfort to hear. [Kevin Cortez]
2016
Bodega Boys
Any way you slice it, 2016 was a weird year. Not only did the UK vote “yes” on Brexit and the United States elect Donald Trump, but the Chicago Cubs won the damn World Series. Through it all, no other podcast captured the zeitgeist of that batshit year quite like Bodega Boys. Hosted by the now ubiquitous comedians Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, the podcast is a hilarious work of authentic cultural commentary, filtering the events of the day through the duo’s warped Bronx worldview and generating some of the most riotously funny tangents the medium has ever heard. In a year that felt as though society’s slouch toward oblivion had been given a boost of nitrous oxide, the potent comedy and observations of Desus and Mero proved to be a grounding force, providing clarity through levity. Equally, the show’s early run stands as a testament to the power of comic growth and how it needn’t dull the material. Listeners witness Desus and Mero actively working to root out ableist language, showcasing an awareness that one doesn’t generally find in other “envelope-pushing” comedy podcasts. It is little wonder that the pair have gone on to such massive success. [Ben Cannon]
2017
Missing Richard Simmons
After 40 years of teaching fitness classes, Richard Simmons just stopped. Then he stopped being seen in public entirely. Fueled by curiosity and genuine concern, filmmaker Dan Taberski started investigating his friend’s disappearance. Throughout the series, countless students, friends, and fans discussed how Simmons impacted their lives in deeply personal ways. These connections that Simmons forged made many feel owed an explanation for his disappearance. Over six episodes, it is suggested that Simmons might have been lonelier than the world knew and perhaps the depth of his relations was misunderstood. It was an invasive look into Simmons’ emotional state, and the discussion about his obligation to the outside world took place without him present, which made many listeners and critics feel this entire project was problematic as it aired. Missing Richard Simmons is now the first season of a series called Headlong, which looks into people and events society might have gotten wrong. Season three, Running From Cops, has been met with much more acclaim, but for all the criticism of the first season’s ethics, 2017 was without a doubt the year of Missing Richard Simmons. [Nichole Williams]
2018
Everything Is Alive
In 2018, Radiotopia took one of its weirdest risks yet: a kind of fictional, kind of nonfiction interview show with inanimate objects. Everything Is Alive is hosted by Ian Chillag of How To Do Everything, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, and the retired but still underrated NPR feature “Sandwich Monday.” In each episode, Chillag interviews a particular object, as played by an actor or comedian. The podcast is funny, but it also often isn’t; it weaves between humor and existentialism, catharsis, intimacy, regret, and rumination on mortality. The interviews are interspersed with nonfiction calls to experts on the object and the strange stories behind them, contextualizing their histories and cultural impact outside of the interview itself. But what Everything Is Alive solidified in 2018 is the appeal of both the fictional and the weird. It helped open up a new audience to the exciting world of fiction podcasts, but it also pushed the idea of what creators can get away with in podcasting. Surreal storytelling is no longer just for the indie podcast scene; it’s for renowned networks like Radiotopia, too. [Wil Williams]
2019
1619
The crashing waves and seagull cries that introduce the first episode of this series act as an undercurrent to Nikole Hannah-Jones’ harrowing narration, a monologue that parts the waters to look back 400 years into America’s history. Part of a much larger project from the New York Times, 1619 examines the origins of slavery in America and the reverberating effects that a ship arriving at the British colony of Virginia with enslaved Africans would have on this land centuries later. Through archival news clips, personal insights, and a masterful blend of sound and musical cues, each installment tackles the contradictions of the land of the free and the home of the brave, digging deeper into the plight of a people seeking democracy while being seen only as a commodity. From the scarred backs of slaves that mark this nation’s roots in capitalism, to battles over black land ownership, to the continual appropriation of black music and culture, plain and harsh truths are inescapable. This podcast is a powerful example of what can happen when the historically disenfranchised are able to control the narrative and reframe the past to explore their legacies as well as themselves—something we ought to see more of in the next decade of the medium. [Jason Randall Smith]
256 Comments
Bodega Boys is definitely the best non-Chapo choice for 2016, but I’ll put their case in here: we basically still live in 2016, with everything pivoting from that moment, and Chapo tapped into that moment in a way that few others have. Right around the time the podcast launched during the Sanders campaign, hosts Virgil Texas and Felix Biederman beat Nate Silver at his own game, giving just a taste of the collapse of institutional wisdom that was to come. A pre-campaign Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commented on their podcast’s subreddit. The episodes following the election, especially the one immediately following it and a followup interview with Adam Curtis a few weeks later, remain incredibly prescient at describing the hypernormalization that’s crushing us all as we lazily drift into a climate change apocalypse. It feels like nothing and everything is happening all the time. And in the wake of the Charlottesville march and the death of Heather Heyer, which was sort of a wake up call for a lot of liberals, Matt Christman delivered what is, to me, the defining take on where everything is headed:
These guys who marched in Charlottesville, these are the people who are aware of the unspoken premise of the sort of zombie neoliberalism that we’re living in which is that we’re coming at a point that there’s gonna be ecological catastrophe and it’s going to either require mass redistribution of the ill-gotten gains of the first world or genocide. And these are the first people who have basically said, “Well if thats the choice I choose genocide.” And they’re getting everybody else ready, intellectually and emotionally, for why that’s gonna be ok when it happens. Why they’re not really people.
You put everything I was thinking into words.
Where are our Dry Boys?
The Humor, Investigative and Narrative Podcasts that defined the 2010s*Let’s just be more accurate at what this lists represents, since there are zero Sports, Pop Culture or Politics pods represented.To tell the story about Podcasting in the 2010s without:Chapo Trap HouseThe BS Report/ The Bill Simmons PodcastPod Save AmericaBinge Mode Pardon My Take The Joe Rogan PodcastSeems to be willfully ignoring large sections of the industry. Shout out to the Bodega Hive though.
As loathsome as he has become (or always was perhaps?), Adam Carolla’s podcast should probably be listed as well.
I listen to Corolla’s podcast at least once a week. Sometimes it rambles on in the second hour, but by and by, its interesting. Also enjoy ‘Mark&Lynda’. But yes, you wont get any mention of anything conservative around this blog-site.
I think Carolla started before 2010
True. 2009 according to Wikipedia. The BS Report predates 2010 as well. But I don’t think that they’re categorizing these podcasts by the year they were launched since WTF launched in 2009. Hardcore History launched all the way back in 2006.
I’m curious as to what Carolla’s listenership is these days. I used to listen religiously, but stopped once his weird brand of libertarianism started becoming more present. Did he gradually move to the right, or did he just get more comfortable in expressing his garbage views?I kinda checked out when he fired Alison Rosen, and then I really checked out when he had pre-election Trump on only to ask stupid, softball questions – basically the podcast version of Jimmy Fallon asking Trump if he could touch his hair. His association with Denis Prager is just beyond the pale.Then there’s the recycled bits. And the strange two-part episodes, and the clean episodes (is he still doing that?). And the low-tier guests.I’m wondering if his numbers took a big hit over the last few years? Or has he found a new rightwing fanbase?
I quit listening long before you did, basically when I discovered other, actually good podcasts to replace him. I couldn’t stand any more screaming rants about Villaraigosa, repeated verbatim jokes, or interviews with The Dan Band or that fake Senator guy. I’m not sure how his listener numbers are these days, but I stopped by his subreddit a few months ago and one of the most prominent articles was people discussing how much longer they were going to listen before quitting. On the other hand, he probably has picked up some right-wing fans. There’s a lot of money to be made from idiots and assholes.
especially in early 2010s when he had the most listened to podcast. Plus relistening to early ones, Adam wasnt wrong on a lot of issues, especially compared to Hilary Clinton. Carolla had a bit of a DSA streak in him
Carolla had a bit of a DSA streak in himI mean sure, libertarians and leftists agree on a few issues like legalizing drugs, but I wouldn’t call Corolla a socialist by any means. Unless there’s something I’m forgetting.
Since they opted to only choose one from each year though, which ones would you remove? I don’t listen to podcasts quite as much as I used to but I’ve at least heard of all of the ones they have here.
Yeah, I actively dislike Rogan but it’s basically criminal (podcast related pun intended) to not have him on here!
I dislike Rogan too, but really can’t argue with him being important when it comes to podcasts of the last decade.
I guess I’ll be that guy, I like Rogan. Mostly because of the variety of guests he has on and how he typically let’s them say whatever they want to say. Yeah I am tired of him having his comedian buddies on and talking about how The Comedy Store is murderers row right now but I just skip about 80% of them now. I even listened to the Bernie Sanders one and I am not a Bernie supporter by any stretch of the imagination, it was just nice to be able to hear him get his message across without having to do it in soundbites.
I can’t agree with anyone that would give Alex Jones a platform and a few of his other guests. No excuses whatsoever.
That’s fine for you to have that opinion, I disagree.
I don’t listen to Chapo or Joe Rogan but they’re inescapable. Definitely huge parts of the american podcast landscape.
From that list I only like Chapo, but you’re right that a few of those should have been included. And frankly if it’s just one, it should probably be Rogan, even though I have no interest in his show.
I will say, those are all podcast I don’t listen to, but I still know what they are and their general point of view which is something I cannot say about everything on that list. Some because I listen to them, some because I have not or just hardly heard about them. So yeah, I think you are right that some of these probably need to talk about.
PMT is honestly a top humor podcast, as well.
Yeah, I hate PSA but judging by how damn popular it is it’s clearly hitting for some folks
No that’s ok
chapo and pmt fucking puke
Whoa. How the hell can you talk about defining podcasts of the decade without talking about Reply All? I think that’s THE defining podcast of the decade, a remarkable timestamp as well as wonderfully produced radio.
Reply All has a ton of heart and empathy without being some twee-Zooey-Deschanel-asking-Siri-who-delivers-fucking-tomato-soup bullshit.
Ragequit Invisibilia recently after the episode about the boy who supposedly could recall past lives (also the terrible episode about the tinder catfisher – honey, your boyfriend made the profile). It used to be so good, what happened?
I’ve never heard the podcast, but I’m curious whether it’s addressed the reproducibility crisis in science research at large and psychology research in particular?
The second season happened and was so insanely bland. The first season explored some interesting ideas, but the second season just dragged.
Reminder: This list and every Podmass is just AVClub recommending whatever fits their milquetoast neo-liberal agenda. Refer to comments section for what people actually are listening to and enjoying.
neo-liberal agenda
If you don’t know what those words mean then does that really make me the idiot here?
I do know what neoliberalism is and I didn’t call you an idiot. Please tell us more about the AV Club’s neoliberal agenda.
Are you kidding? AV Club’s coverage of Elsa’s coup is straight out of Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent!
Guy was pretty abrasive, but I do think it’s fairly clear how the AV Club’s general politics lean more towards “affluent white NPR guy” than anything else.
Pretty much this. AVClub is just the snarkier, dumber younger sibling of NPR and NYT now. For this website to deny the existence of Chapo Trap House, Cum Town, and Joe fucking Rogan (amongst many others) is both ridiculous and clearly because these shows do not fit the political agenda of this site. See “affluent white NPR guy” comment above. If you think more people are listening to 1619 than someone like Joe Rogan, you’re insane.
the thing is, Joe Rogan is…a fucking idiot?
Eh, like him or hate him (I’m the definition of ambivalent on him), he’s interviewed people who would otherwise not have been interviewed. YMMV as to whether that’s good or bad, which tends to fall down to whether the interviewee shares ideology with the audience.
I’m not sure that that’s true. There’s a whole sect of these people with podcasts doing the same shitWhich could be evidence of Rogan being influential, sure (honestly not sure when he came out relative to these other podcasts). But he’s not doing anything no one else is doing, either.
None with a platform as big as his. Which he built by being the fucking stoner idiot who’d interview celebrities, scientists, inventors, sociologists, etc.He’s not doing anything that, say, Maron isn’t doing, sure. But yeah, his podcast is pretty influential.
Respectfully disagree. Maron isn’t getting authors and scientists and fighters and politicians and rappers and old friends (Maron doesn’t seem to have many), as well as comics that are up and coming.I don’t listen to every episode of Rogan, but I cannot critique him on being a for-real host that has earned his listenership.
I meant general format.
you’re right. he is an idiot. you, the guy who comments on AVClub articles, YOU are the smart one. The man with a podcast with millions of listeners and millions of dollars….what a fool….
Oh yeah, the “he’s rich so he MUST be smart” defense, that always works out.Y’know, there are a ton of wealthy neoliberals, guess they’re all brilliant too.
How dare you question a successful podcaster’s intelligence! He has a podcast and it’s successful! You think stupid people just end up becoming successful at podcasting? It’s not like just anyone can make one.
It’s unfortunate that so many people have wasted such an effort on WreckItRyan here. Any time there’s an article about podcasts, he’s one of the few stooges that makes sure there’s someone complaining that substandard podcasts like Cumtown aren’t featured. That, or whinging that Kinja sucks & the writers are bad at their jobs and all neolibs. Really not worth all this.
That’s right, Bob. Listen to your friend. A person who makes more money than you is better than you.
The two aren’t mutually exclusive, you know.
McDonalds sells millions of burgers every day. That doesn’t make them the best burger or nutritious. Who cares how many people listen to Joe Rogan? It doesn’t make it quality.
Joe Rogan has good episodes. He’s willing to do long form, uncensored interviews and that’s admirable. Now, he’s also unwilling (or perhaps unable) to really engage with or critique most of what’s being said. But personally, I like to just hear someone talk and then I’ll be the one to decide if what they say has any merit.
You’re acting like your only options are listen to Joe Rogan or listen to no one. There are literally thousands of podcasts. Joe isn’t the only option. Even if you limit it to “long form, uncensored” podcasts you have hundreds of options.Also, I’m not sure how anything you wrote counters what I said. Continuing my analogy… All your comment says is, “Yeah, well sometimes I like a Big Mac.” To which I would reply… Me too! But I’d never call a Big Mac one of the best meals of 2019.
I mean, all such lists are silly. There’s no objective “best of”, it’s all personal opinion. Even more so in podcasts where craft more often than not takes a back seat to a kind of intangible chemistry.I like a lot of what Joe Rogan does. I wish he wouldn’t give people like Gavin Mcinnes, Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro, and other right wing grifter weirdos a platform. But part of being totally open for conversation is having worthless conversations with people with no apparent redeeming qualities.
Well there are lots of insecure man children out there who need to be told how to be “masculine”.
/cringe
You: I hate neoliberalsAlso you: If Joe Rogan has lots of money that means he’s smart
He likely is, but if were talking most influential podcasts… or casts defined the 2010, Rogan should be in there (like him or not). This list went with very culty favorites, as do most writers on AV club. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not what people were actually listening to. No Harmontown for instance?
If you want to see “most listened to” can’t you just look at the iTunes list?
I agree with you. This list is a mason jar of tea under the counter at a boutique. It’s only real substance for the buyer is a backstory filled with charm and whimsy. Tastes just like any other tea. That’s great if that’s what you want.
I’d like to know why you think Joe Rogan is “a fucking idiot.” Naturally, I greatly enjoy his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, and was very, very surprised to not see his podcast on this list. I was even more surprised that they listed Marc Maron’s podcast as somehow setting the template for Rogan’s podcast (as in long-form interview podcasts) when he (Rogan) began his podcast only 2 months after Maron’s. As someone that was introduced to podcasts by Maron’s I find his and Rogan’s different in format, tone, and substance. Maron only has artists on and seems to avoid having the same guest on twice (I think this has changed in recent years, I may not have noticed as I stopped listening as frequently). Whereas Rogan has people from all sorts of different professions and fields. That was a bit of an aside though, so what do you think makes Joe Rogan an idiot? Is it some of the ideas he has, or how he presents them? Is it the army of Rogan bros running around reciting things they heard on his podcast but didn’t bother to look into themselves? Are you just trying to be contrarian? I’m genuinely curious, because it’s one thing not to like a podcast, it’s another to say a dude is an idiot despite his undeniable success in the society we all participate in. That’s not to say successful people cannot be idiots, but I’ve listened to a lot of Rogan and have never gotten the impression he’s an idiot. He seems incredibly open minded and thoughtful to me, otherwise I wouldn’t be listening to his podcast.
Rogan is, at the end of the day, a huckster and a grifter. Not everything he does is actively terrible, mind you.But Rogan’s biggest problems are his blatantly weak strawmen arguments (how can you be a feminist and ALSO support that some women choose to wear hijabs??? being a moment that jumps to mind) and his “I’m just asking questions” attitude.Rogan seems open minded, sure (unless of course you suggest that people face consequences for publicly saying shitty things, of course). But…that’s kind of a problem. Let’s remember that Rogan used to believe the moon landing was faked. He suggested that the Twin Towers were a false flag attack. And he often does these things in an “I’m just asking questions” way, when what he’s DOING is destabilizing people’s grasp of objective reality. He’s a conspiracy theorist at heart, and by constantly peddling other hucksters, grifters, and discredited professionals, he’s leaving his audience vulnerable to being conned. And since he very rarely pushes back on these people, he’s ultimately just enabling them and in the process, turning a profit for himself.And either A) he knows he’s doing this, in which case he’s an asshole or B) he doesn’t know he’s doing this, and he’s just a conspiracy theory spewing idiot.Neither is a good look.
I actually agree with most of this. He recently had an acupuncturist on to “debunk” the vegan documentary The Game Changers.
I was a fan of his podcast in the early days, but more and more his bias toward pseudoscience and constant harping on the danger of “SJWs” has turned me off completely.
Having said that, he still belongs on this list. His podcast, for better or worse, is highly influential.
I think for quite some time now Rogan has pretty much denounced his belief in most conspiracy theories, and he seems much more skeptical of newer ones. I was convinced for 6 months to a year by a local Libertarian radio station that anarcho-capitalism was the way to go, without any friends or family holding such beliefs. Now I staunchly reject such ideas. This is just to say that my own ideas and beliefs change and morph over time, so I’m not immediately incredulous of others beliefs and ideas changing over time as I believe Rogans have. I truly believe he is just asking questions, whether that’s responsible as a person with such a large audience is definitely a good question to ask. I think objective reality may be impossible to gauge, there are uncountable unknown, unknowns. That’s not to say it doesn’t exist, just that we each live a subjective reality on which we try to formulate objective truth, and that seems much more vulnerable to the manipulation of close friends and family than a podcast. I’d be the first to admit we’re living in a more decentralized and isolating society in which a podcast like Rogans could be the primary influence on a persons psyche. Of the guests that are not in the entertainment industry, none come to my mind that are hucksters, or grifters, save for of course Alex Jones whose musings I find absolutely insane, but entertaining. I feel bad for anyone that listens to him and finds coherence. As for discredited professionals, I’m sure there are those we’d disagree on, those I was unaware of as being such, and some like James Damore who I’m simply unsure of. I have always been of the mind that free speech is incredibly important. I’d rather a racist be able to share their racist thoughts and identify themselves as such, than to not know who the racists are. I think Rogan has on guests that interest him, the lack of push-back can be concerning, but it keeps them talking and expounding upon their thoughts and ideas. Maybe if Rogan gives them enough rope they’ll hang themselves with it, or clarify their position to a point where it’s no longer unreasonable or easily misunderstood.I think you’re right though, in that people should be careful that what they’re listening to isn’t manipulating them, and to be aware of the potential for ulterior motives. I do feel as though I can take what Rogan says on his podcast as what he actually believes, and that those beliefs can be changed by new information. Maybe it’s all an elaborate deception, but considering his circumstances, and the sometimes radical ideas/guests he has on, I find it hard to believe that his primary motive is to make more, or as much money as he possibly can. Hell, I skip the ads at the beginning and end of his podcasts. Maron was the “huckster” that sold me MeUndies . The fact that Joe Rogan likes MeUndies as much as I do just cements for me that we must both be geniuses /s. Speaking of which, I got my sister and brother-in-law to both replace all of their underwear with MeUndies, where the hell is my free pair?! *I know you’re not the person to bring this up with, but maybe if I scream into the void a pair of modal fiber underwear with a cute holiday print will come flying out.
See, you’re making a ton of excuses for him. You aren’t looking at what he does, so much as what you want to think he’s doing. “He’s giving the racists enough rope to hang themselves” sounds all well and good, but one: he’s profiting off the racists in his audience and two: he never actually points out when they’ve hung themselves. He never guides them towards the self hanging in any kind of clever way, he just largely lets them spew their propaganda without question.
It’s like Bill Maher having Milo Yiannopoulis on. Maher tried to take credit for exposing Milo, when all he did was humanize a monster of a human being and give him free publicity while profiting off of it. The fact that someone a few days later pointed out how awful Milo was and got him “canceled” (aka he was so awful that no one wanted anything to do with him) was, at best, tangentially related to Maher having him on.The thing about Rogan, and this puts it as succinctly as I possibly can, is that you can judge a person by the questions they choose to ask. Rogan may be “just asking questions”, but the questions he finds important are part of the problem.
I’d like to point out that the racists example is one I concocted as part of my own arguments on why I find free speech important. I cannot think of a single time listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast where I thought the guest was a racist, or was saying something explicitly or implicitly racist. Maybe I’m not listening closely enough, or missed a truly horrific guest. Your point is well taken though, he doesn’t ever get tough on his guests (unless they think weed is bad). I think it’s a bit unfair to say he’s profiting off the racists in his audience as though he’s pandering to them.Perhaps I am being not so subtly manipulated by Rogans viewpoints, but I do not find the questions Rogan asks to be problematic, or even the central themes that run through his podcasts to be troublesome. I’ll definitely be paying closer attention to the questions he finds important in my future listening. The questions/themes I hear the most on his podcast are: – How can I improve myself/society?- What is science discovering about our past, present, and future (from anthropology to modern medicine to AI to physics)? – What are journalists uncovering about our societies? – How can I make my comedian friends laugh?- What is consciousness?
It really is comfy as hell
Ugh I hate the “just acting questions” act. It’s almost always employed by someone who has their own answers to the questions, and wants to steer the other person to their own agenda or berate them for not agreeing with it.
Have you listened to Joe Rogan.I have. And that’s all the evidence I’ve needed to conclude he’s a profoundly dumb person’s idea of an intellectual.
You wrote this better than I could have, I wanted to say the same thing. He could walk away from every other job he has and I wouldn’t notice, but if he stopped doing JRE, there’d be a void for sure. For me, at least.
None of what you said there is evidence that his podcast is good or smart. Just evidence that you like it.Which is fine. I like smart things and dumb things. My, nor your, liking something doesn’t define whether it’s smart or not.
I don’t disagree but they’re supposedly listing the podcasts that “defined” the 2010s, and to act as if Rogan’s isn’t one of the most influential of the past decade, is straight up disingenuous. That goes for Chapo Trap House and Pod Save America as well.
Nobody watches/listens to Joe Rogan for Joe Rogan. Its the guests!
So it would be better to spotlight mildly alt-right, crypto libertarian white guys instead?
Aren’t the podcasts you mentioned more skewed to libertarians? Some of them playing, rather heavily handedly the naive“just asking questions” trope? The opposite of that isn’t specifically neo-liberal.
no. that is what people who read these websites instead of listening to those podcasts think of them.
as for me, I don’t listen to all of those podcasts very often but Libertarian isn’t exactly what comes to mind when one brings up Chapo or Cum Town lolalso just to clarify, I’m not knocking these podcasts. A lot of them are good. Bodega Boys fuckin rule. But this website clearly has a prerogative when they only repeatedly highlight one type of podcast and it’s the only for affluent white liberal types.
Wait are you saying Chapo isn’t for “affluent white liberal types” because uh, have you seen their hosts. And they’re not mentioning cumtown because it’s low effort trash.
Fair Point.
Now the omission of Street Fight Radio? That I can’t live with.
Calling Cumtown low effort sort of misses the point. It’s forged a very specific sensibility that can’t just be pinned down easily. The process of comprehending the densely coiled layers of irony they’re working under is super satisfying for me and I can only compare it to when I first began to understand what Scott Aukerman was doing with CBB after my initial resistance to him. And Nick Mullen is one of the quickest and funniest comics alive right now.
I just don’t think ironic slurs are funny or useful when you could be just as funny without doing that. And their connection to Red Scare certainly doesn’t help.
I don’t know, I think this is where we begin to approach axiomatic differences in worldview, taste, and the function of comedy. I think there’s a well-intentioned but limiting orthodoxy around never “punching down” that’s divorced from a lot of specific and interesting comic sensibilities and misunderstands what transgressive humor and art can do. But that’s a long discussion that could go down too many rabbit holes relating to representation vs. re-presentation, etc. and it might not be productive to get into on a kinja comment section. I respect if slurs make you uncomfortable and it’s a boundary you’re not willing to cross in what you consume though. I trust that aversion comes from a genuine place.I haven’t listened to Red Scare too much, and I know Anna doing Camille Paglia schtick can wear thin, but I like that the stakes of their podcast are so low. They’re cool with being wrong and admit to it sometimes. I think the negative aspects of “dirtbag” leftism probably grow out of the fact that the spectrum of cultural and political imagination in this country falls only between liberalism and fascism, which doesn’t really address the contradictions of capital. And when liberals try to paper over those contradictions exclusively using identity politics (which are necessary and urgent, though not all encompassing when dealing with issues relating to privilege and the material conditions of class) some people rebel against that discourse in ways that are unfortunate. Chapo is good though, even if their subreddit (which they’ve disowned) has turned into what they used to parody.
I just worked pretty hard way back in the early oughts to remove terms like the r-word, or even gendered insults from my language that I just really don’t like hearing them from folks who are allegedly on “our side” as it were. Not that I don’t like transgressive humor, I enjoy it quite a bit. I’m probably just (finally) getting old, I ditched all social media a few months ago (except for Instagram) and am now no longer terminally online and have a really hard time relating to the very online anymore, and not being in a totally irony poisoned environment all the time has probably made me extra sensitive.
I respect that, but I reject the conceit that transgressive humor is somehow quarantined to extremely online and irony poisoned people. I actually think that woke and gentle absurdist humor like CBB or shows like the Good Place are what exists within a cultural bubble. Most major cultural institutions (even SNL) still engage in light-to-heavy problematic humor (this doesn’t include comedy institutions in the infotainment vein, those enterprises have long ditched comedy altogether for “clapter”. If you haven’t checked out the work of Nick Corrirosi I would recommend “Craig Fixada America” to see a stellar take down of that stuff). I think most laypeople still enjoy transgressive humor too, at least in my experience going through life. As for specifically extremely online stuff, that’s always been there (SA forums, 4chan) but it’s having another resurgence now, true. We live in a weird time, and everyone is on edge, which means edge lord humor has capital it didn’t have for a few years in the late aughts and early ‘10s (and people are eager to strike out against hypocritical liberal scolds who’ve held dominion since 2015). But I think we’re going to strike a balance again soon. It would be nice to go back to the time when Amy Sedaris’ super offensive Strangers with Candy can share tv real estate with something gentle Whose Line Is It Anyway like how comedy central used to be when I was a child.
Meh, totally irony all the time is not worth it. I left Reddit months ago and I feel much better off for it.
I’ve tried them and while Cum Town, Rogan and Chapo are definitely popular and important. It’s not for me and I find the, and I’m repeating myself, “Everyman” “just asking questions” naivety packed with an agenda that they pretend they don’t have. They’re not brilliant orators and they’re not people I want to listen to speak for hours for entertainment or educational purposes because they’re not that good at it to me.
Your description really only fits Rogan’s podcast (besides the ‘none of them are brilliant orators’ part). Cum Town doesn’t tackle anything with any degree of seriousness and Chapo doesn’t play the “just asking questions” card at all – the hosts all have very well defined political points of view and agendas. No questions, really, just answers.
Love it when people get “opinion” and “agenda” (or “perogative” in this case) mixed up.
Take a look at what this guy bolded in his comments, lol. “Actually, Joe fucking Rogan is the only podcast worth listening to”. Gross
You’re sick.
Lol ok
I never said he’s the only podcast worth listening to. I never even said I listen to him nor was I being rude to any commenters. The fact that you need to intentionally misquote me and make up stuff I said proves you’re too stupid to think of an actual argument to what I said. But please…go ahead and tell me Joe Rogans podcast has less of a cultural footprint that Missing Richard Simmons.
I never said I gave a fuck about podcasts at all and now I’m done with you
Chapo – Left Wing
Cum Town – Apolitical, just very crass humorJoe Rogan – He platforms people on the far right, but I don’t think he’s actually political.
Because Rogan tells you he isn’t political? Everyone has some opinions and when you have on politicians it’s political regardless.
all opinions are political whether the person realizes it or not.
Cumtown the show is apolitical but it’s not too hard to come to the conclusion that the hosts are leftists for the most part.
Rogan probably. Have you ever actually listened to CTH?
Chapo is very openly a socialist show.
Cum town? Oh god. I tried, I really really tried with that shit. I could not get past the “were making fun of racists by saying racist shit” angle the show takes. Too much for TV.
This list and every Podmass is just AVClub recommending whatever fits their milquetoast neo-liberal agendaAVClub is just the snarkier, dumber younger sibling of NPR and NYT nowJust to be clear, if you think AVClub, NPR, and NYT are pushing a neoliberal agenda, you don’t know what neoliberalism is.
I mean, yeah on the one hand this guy’s comments are not super coherent.But on the other hand, NYT pushes a neoliberal agenda quite often. See their coverage of the recent military coup in Bolivia for the most recent example (hint: they don’t think it’s a coup).
Oh god you listen to Joe Rogan there’s no hope for you.
Joe Rogan is a dumbass who routinely platforms white nationalists.
Who are the white nationalists that he routinely platforms?
Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, James Damore, Alex Jones, etc. Genuinely surprised he hasn’t bro’d down with Richard Spencer.
I’m not surprised that Ben Shapiro and Alex Jones are on your shortlist. They have their own platforms though and hardly need Rogan. I’d question whether or not James Damore is a white nationalist, he’s only been on the podcast once and he sounded so incredibly nervous and shy that I doubt he’ll ever make a return. Damore has also made statements that he does not support the alt-right. I’m surprised by Jordan Peterson’s inclusion though, alt-right adjacent is itself a stretch for him. White nationalist? I don’t agree with that at all.
“Western Chauvinist” is code for “white nationalist.” If this surprises you, I’ve got several exciting business ventures you can’t afford to sit out on.
Honestly, never heard the term before, and so you can extrapolate that I’ve also never heard Jordan Peterson termed a Western Chauvinist.
https://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22western+chauvinist%22&iie=1
My boyfriend listens to him and I banned the Alex Jones episode from our house. But to be fair, he’s also had Edward Snowden and Cornel West, as well as AOC and Bernie Sanders. I think the attraction is that he can get anyone.Though realistically, the venn diagram of Rogan listeners and Peterson followers is likely a near perfect circle.
They picked ten from scads and scads—as in THOUSANDS— of options. Your three favorites didn’t make your top ten and you conclude it’s because of a political tone and agenda you dislike. Probably not the reason. More likely, it shows that given only 10 options out of thousands, most folks won’t see their favorites on the list. (This particular list–compared to your examples–also happens to show that the AV Club editors have better taste than you. But you kind of know that, right?)
“The whole world is biased against me!1!!!!111!1!!!!”
Please, no one wants to think of Joe Rogan fucking
You notice how this list is of the “Podcasts that defined the 2010’s”, right? And how every year is dedicated to the influential show that started that year?So you’re upset that Joe Rogan (whose podcast was launched last decade), Chapo, and Cum Town (which launched in the same year as Bodega Boys, a more influential and relevant show than either) weren’t included and are accusing the AV Club of having a Neoliberal Agenda because of it?You’re a fool.
Bro, Joe doesn’t want or need your help.
“it feels like an absolutely essential listen. The hosts have gripes with people at every point along the political spectrum, and although they are often lamenting many of the events of the week, their energy and desire to improve the political landscape of this country is not only unparalleled, but also contagious: if listening to this podcast doesn’t make you want to become more a more politically engaged person, it’s hard to imagine what will.”
https://aux.avclub.com/aaron-rodgers-stops-by-you-made-it-weird-to-talk-about-1798287872
Ooooops
So it’s true, then: You don’t know what ‘neoliberal’ means.
Have to agree.
Which would not be the commonly understood definition of a neoliberal in 2019.
What? Absolutely it is. It’s typified by the guy who says “yeah it would be really nice to have programs like single payer healthcare or free education that largely benefit the oppressed and would make life livable and enjoyable in our late capitalist hellacape… but our technocrat leaders say that costs too much so I guess I’ll just vote for Joe Biden”Basically moderates who think they’re the liberal ideal because they voted for Obama (twice!) and have a Gay Friend, but whose economic values (and by extension, their less flashy social values) are a lot farther to the right than they’d ever be comfortable admitting.
Wut. I think you and most people here are mixing up liberalism with neoliberalism—which, in oversimplified terms, means nearly the opposite for practical purposes in 2019. That guy you described is ardent proponent of free market trade, deregulation of financial markets, individualisation, and the shift away from state welfare provision? Yeah, no.
Yes, exactly, now you’re getting it. That person DOES support those things by way of the politicians and platforms they support (again, Biden, Obama, Hillary, etc etc), even if when you asked them they’d probably say they’re not into it.
I imagine they arent activist-progressive enough. AV club is generally apolitical, and to criticial theorists any action that is not an effort to disrupt systems and structures promotes harm to marginalized people.
Or more specifically, if the podcasts on the list are “whatever fits their milquetoast neo-liberal agenda”, explain how any of these podcasts address neo-liberal economic policy in any way?
Uh…they are for charter schools, and deregulation…don’t you even read the TV reviews???(can people stop using neoliberal for “people I don’t like”? It makes no sense as an insult 95% of the time…like WreckitRyan using it here.)
I called him an idiot.
Yes, let’s never forget when no one listened to Serial in 2014.
We know what they mean.Do you?
Not an idiot, per se, but chastising someone for not knowing the meaning of term about which people are continually arguing to define does make you a sort of jackass.
That’s not what makes you the idiot.
You’re def the idiot here. But not for the reason you stated.
You OK buddy?
Podcasts are for pussies! I only listen to SLAYER! 24/7!***air guitar***
milquetoast neo-liberal agenda Gonna need more here.
Once they reach wipe 4 of their neocon talking points toilet roll you’ll get an update.
Yep.The thing about hurling “neoliberal” as invective sans context is that the audience can’t be sure if you’re a Chapo Crap House sort of guy or a Rush Limbaugh sort of guy.
That those are the two ends of the spectrum really illustrates how dominated it is by sneering white dudes.
I dunno I guess. To me, the podcast medium is a bit different. IT’s a lot easier to be selective. The only podcast I listen to regularly is a podcast on the history of the Crusades put together by some lady who’s from Tasmania. I listen to it as much for the combination of her accent and dry sense of humor as I do for learning about the Crusades. People forget about them, but if you want to talk about wars that reverberated through history, the Crusades rank pretty high. I mean, World War I & II happened a century ago and Germany’s already got normalized relations with pretty much everyone it went to war with. Meanwhile a millennia later and “the West” and states where Islam is the dominant cultural and religious force remain at odds with each for the most part.Anyways, I don’t know why, I just find it easier to ignore the “popular” stuff in podcasts and really find the deep cuts of what I’m actually interested in as compared to other forms of media. It helps that outside of, like, Joe Rogan, most big name podcasters aren’t exactly a-listers outside of the space. So I’m less distracted by a big name than I would otherwise be when looking for specific content.
Okay boomer
This is either a biting piece of satire or you are very serious right now…
Go back to Splinter. Oh, right, that dirtbag-left blog had such low traffic that it got shut down.
You just legitimised everything he said lmfao
So, please, enlighten us. What are you listening to?
Cum Town?
Usually you just say “Cum Town.”
I got a Cum Town notification for this?
Yes. It is an agenda. Talking about or listing things one like is an agenda. Everything that does not fit with your very narrow worldview is an agenda, isn’t it?*insert Weird Al Yankovic tinfoil hat gif here*
If you’re concerned about acknowledging Chapo Trap House, it’s been mentioned multiple times on Podmass.
lol get fucked loser
I don’t think the current usage of neo-liberal means what you think it does, which is weird because it probably should.
Look, the list may be slightly biased, but all the podcasts are objectively great. But hey that must have felt good typing “neo-liberal” without irony, kid. Sure beats working I guess.
Well, Stormfront refuses to submit podcasts for review.
Exactly which one of these podcasts remotely comes close to a neo-liberal agenda?
Yea those Bodega Boys certainly encompass the neoliberal agenda…
I’m a dirty lefty and I’m fine with AV Club’s fairly mainstream Trump dunking politics. On the other hand I had to give up on another pop culture site, Pajiba. The 2016 election caused a deranged hatred against my candidate Bernie among a particular strain of liberal who blamed him for Hillary’s loss and somehow that site became ground zero for that kind of left punching vitriol.
Ok boomer.
Wasn’t funny when people started saying it; isn’t getting funnier since.
Ok boomer.
A bias and an agenda are two different things. Given that, I see no indication of the AV Club cheerleading deregulation, privatization, and the unfettered free market. Like, at all. It’s not explicitly a socialist publication, but…well, it’s obviously not explicitly a socialist publication, so why would you hold them to that standard? Expressed political opinions clearly tend trend left to very left.
Hang on a second, I agree with you that most of the podcasts here are pablum, but are you really going to include a leftist podcast like Chapo, then try to defend Joe Rogan purely on the grounds that he’s really rich and popular? Seriously?
Aw, little white man baby is sad bc Joe Rogan and Chapo aren’t on the list.For someone whining about milequetoast neoliberalism, I doubt you’ve ever listened to any of those very good podcasts they mentioned. You’d rather stay in your white male safe space with crass humor, white male identity politics, and safely being told that you’re still relevant and it’s ok to use faggot and retard ironically.
I definitely don’t feel good about being a listener of Missing Richard Simmons. It seems like a gross invasion of privacy without his consent. Not my proudest listen.
How did “How Did That Get Made?” get left off? I guess because it’s only one pick per contributor sadly. WTF is still the grandaddy in my opinion, even though I haven’t heard it in forever.
Absolutely agree. Not just as influential as a movie/pop-culture podcast, but I think a lot of comedians’ podcasts are more influenced by HWDTM’s hangout model than Maron’s sad clown model.There should probably be a pro wrestling podcast here too although I’m not sure which one. Maybe Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru.
Art of Wrestling really should have been included. It has been hugely influential, demonstrates Marc Maron’s influence beyond comedy podcasts, and lead to Colt Cabana guesting on both WTF and Maron’s TV show.
Maron’s sad clown modelMaybe actually listen to the podcast sometime. Or keep typing snotty platitudes about subjects you know nothing about?
I can’t listen to other “bad movie” podcasts because they tend to be too obsessed with “beat by beat plot summary” in the way of a bad AV Club TV episode review (not naming names because I don’t track these by name…but can we stop with the TV reviews that are just plot summaries? …I digress). HDTGM is easier to listen to because it’s 3 (or more) funny people riffing on random things instead of regurgitating the plot.
I mean they spent a LONG time on Alyssa Milano’s pants in Double Dragon. In front of a live audience. In Philly. They even googled for reference and they didn’t lose the crowd.These guys are a rocketship and I’m glad I get to ride along.
Because it is not nearly as good as Flophouse?
I’m kinda guessing because CBB is serving as the representative of the entire Earwolf banner, being the flagship
That sort of makes sense, though I believe HDTGM has been the #1 podcast on Earwolf (CBB is #2) for quite a few years now.
It is definitely the most accessible, everyone’s seen and made fun of bad movies. I listen to it!
I sure do love HDTGM and I can only assume that they will be the notable for 2020. Now that they’re consistently doing the show at live venues there’s no stopping it.The core trio is Magic. I love this show.
Once a month at work, I have 2 days when I have nothing but paperwork to do. Every few months, I come home looking completely shellshocked and miserable. And my wife will just say, “Were you listening to the Hardcore History again?”Yep! Three hours about the Rape of Nanking!
This is me after updating files while listening to basically any Dollop about a modern political figure or event.
I had to stop in the middle of the Regan episode because I made me so angry/upset.
He’s finally finishing “Supernova in the East!” It. Is. Brutal.
Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review from the BBC is one of my favourites, week in week out for pretty much the entire decade:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lvdrj
I didn’t make it to three episodes of Invisibilia. They had all these weird twee touches, like literally yelling from a rooftop “you might not need eyes to see!” Then the next episode was about a woman who can feel the emotions she sees other people feeling, and I was just like “oh, so she has an empathy disorder (or she’s lying). What an interesting show.”
I’ve enjoyed the show but it feels like their editors think they’re working in a visual medium.
You’re not wrong. I could see that yelling from the rooftop bit actually kind of working if you saw it. Especially if most of the passersby looked confused.
Am I the only one who’d put Serial’s third season up there with its first? The second was a definite downgrade, but I thought season three was back to being pretty damn remarkable (in an admittedly completely different way than the first).
whether you love them or hate them, omitting chapo trap house seems like a pretty major mistake.
You don’t have the podcast with the largest Patreon of all time, that’s been profiled in the New Yorker, and actively shifted American politics? Jesus Christ.
You don’t either. What podcast are you referring to?
Big Podsave America Fan up there. Podheads they call themselves.
I love Chapo but I’m not sure you can say they actively shifted American politics. Perhaps they have been a contributing factor for certain demographics, they certainly were for me. But I think Bernie Sanders is probably the biggest factor in younger generations embracing socialist ideals.
THE New Yorker?!
I can’t believe the Giant Bombcast isn’t on this list. The New Yorker described it as ‘charmingly garrulous’! Who can forget Knife vs Bat?
It became an energy drink enthusiast podcast so gradually that we hardly even noticed!
There’s only one thing that gets me going on Mondays, and that’s knowing there’ll be a new episode of Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast waiting for me to listen to on my commute.
I feel like the Dollop should get a mention. It is a great show and has inspired the formats of many of the other shows I listen to: Citation Needed, Knowledge Fight, and Behind the Bastards.
Also, All Fantasy Everything is the show I drop everything for each and every Thursday.
The Dollop is solid. Gareth is so damn fast.
I’m genuinely baffled that there’s no mention of MBMBAM. And I’m speaking as a casual fan.
I’d have mentioned The Bugle ( which didn’t launch but certainly helped John Oliver’s career , and was/is really really good,( technically it started in 07 , but the proper Independant non Times Online sponsored version kicked off in 11.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_BugleI’d also have listed Harmontown over Comedy Bang Bang without as second thought.
The Bugle 2012-2015 is still incredibly funny. New episodes can really range in quality, but some episodes are golden- Alice Fraser is amazing.
No “Smodcast”? Shame. Shame.
I get the mechanic of picking one podcast a year, but damn, leaving off In The Dark’s phenomenal first season is a travesty. Serial is great (the first season at least, second one blew), don’t get me wrong, and probably the inspiration for ITD and so many other true crime shows. But ITD came out as this crime was literally unraveling, and told a much better, and more relevant, story than Serial.
Weird that Carolla and Rogan, the two most popular personality-driven podcasts of the decade except maybe for Maron, didn’t make the list.
Eh… did you really expect the AVC to list Joe Rogan here?
I had a brief but torrid affair with podcasts. I’d say the Joe Rogan Experience was at the center of it all, but I listened to all of the bigger ones of the era. I’d often spend an entire work day powering through the backlog. Just keeping up with the JRE was a chore in and of itself, as it seemed like the guy would spend his entire day making podcasts, cranking out as many as 2-3 right in a row. Fortunately, I got better at figuring out which editions I could skip. Sadly, right around the time our current president got elected, I really fell out of love with the medium. I think I just had politics fatigue for one thing, but the process of listening and keeping up just started to feel like a chore.
I’m an avid podcast listener, and I don’t listen to a single political or news podcast. Granted, my work is tangential to that world, so I get enough of that in my day to day; podcasts are my escape from all of that noise. Non-serialized comedic and storytelling podcasts are my jam.
If you’re ever interested in trying again, check out Criminal. Some of the best ~20 minute stories I’ve heard, it represents a lot of what I love about podcasts.
No My Favorite Murder?
is it weird that I read the Hardcore History one in Dan’s voice, complete with the wordless pause before he starts to speak at the begging of an episode?
In the Dark very likely helped a man get released from prison after being imprisoned for 22 years, after a 7-2 decision in SCOTUS. In the Dark>Serial.
Also Season 1 of In the Dark was amazingly powerful as well.
Skipping Cumtown and Rogan is myopic at best and disingenuous at worst. It may just be that this list is tailored to the sensibilities of gormless middle class nerds though.
I love Cum Town but I don’t think it belongs on this list tbh. Rogan probably does, though.
It’s one of the most successful podcast patreons. I think it may still be neck and neck with LPOTL which was also left off this list (not a fan but that’s DEFINITELY an oversight).
Gormless Middle Class Nerds is my favorite podcast!
“Gormless Middle Class Nerds”THE AV CLUB
Hollywood Handbook. It keeps getting weirder and funnier.
I still sometimes think about Texplose, the renegade exploding reporter from Texas.
I can’t stand Sean or Hayes, and I hate when they invade CBB. They just aren’t my thing.
I get it. For whatever reason it works for me but I think the people have largely spoken.
You just gotta listen to 10-15 eps of Hollywood handbook and it will all start to click. Half joking but I heard them for the first time on CBB and really did not get it. I felt like they were kind of bro-y? But since then HH has become my favorite podcast and I’ve dropped CBB altogether.
Same. I haven’t listened to CBB in 6 months, but never miss an episode of HH or HH:PE.
A few to look for as the holidays come and your regulars take time off- The Uncertain Hour – Three seasons focus on three fascinating topics – Welfare “reform”, Bureaucracy and red tape, and the opioid crisis. Their logic for hitting these topics: “the things we fight the most about are the things we know the least about.”- The Dream – MLMs and the bullshit industry they are and why they aren’t pyramid schemes, just triangle shaped opportunity zones. They’re doing a new season next year.- David Tennant Does a Podcast With … – Just an odd promotional vehicle ahead of Good Omens that brought in a fascinating list of guests from Tina Fey to Ian McKellen to Gordon Brown (yes, that Gordon Brown).- Aftereffect – A look at the fallout from the shooting of a caretaker of an autistic man by cops, simply because the cops thought a toy truck was a gun. Really shines a light on how fucked the mental health system is. – American Fiasco – How the U.S. bungled the success from the 1994 World Cup into a disastrous showing in 1998. – Breach – Remember the Yahoo data breach? The Equifax data breach? Yeah, those probably aren’t exactly top of mind right now, but considering how big they were, you better pay attention. – The Late Show Podcast – Just something odd that came from just before Colbert took over The Late Show. Bonus: Several mini “reviews” of GoT episodes (not going to spoil what happens in either).
I don’t know how much The Dream captured the wide public’s imagination, but I love that first season so much.
It’s been a reliable podcast recommendation to keep in my hip pocket because odds are people haven’t heard it, and it’s good content. They put out a few interesting bonus episodes recently.
Every time some brings up an MLM here or on jezebel I direct them to the dream.
Beyond the basic mechanics of the scam, which I feel like I understood before the podcast, they have such a strange history, it was really compelling.
The second season of the Dream returns December 9. Can’t wait! They’ll be focusing on “wellness.”
I can’t possibly recommend The Dream enough, and when I do that’s when I find out that acquaintences get down with the pyramid schemes.
These sound great, thanks for the recs!The only one of these I heard was The Dream, which is pretty good but suffers a bit from the Koenig-esque ‘producer wants to be the star of the podcast’ problem.
Jesus, I wish Dan Carlin was only releasing six episodes in a calendar year nowadays.I got a kick out of the fact that the audiobook version of his book is only like, three hours longer than the last episode of Hardcore History.
I guess on the up side, his podcast are some of the most re-listenable podcasts out there. History on Fire is a good substitute, but ultimately it’s still not Hardcore History.I also miss his “Common Sense” podcast, I understand why he took a break from it, but it was such a great show.
History on Fire is also really good. I agree. I love the way Boleli says “Common Era”
Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know is regularly great.
Really not a fan of Missing Richard Simmons, it felt like tabloid podcasting at points. There are several points in the series where the author should have taken the advice of his interviewees and and left the man alone.
History of Rome. Giant Bombcast. Game Over Greggy Show. Podcast Beyond. The Adventure Zone (or My Brother, My Brother, and Me). I feel like this list is missing a lot, even just from my corner of pop culture.
Broke: History of Rome
Woke: Revolutions
I just finished the French Revolution
the only real podcast is the official podcast
Guess 99% Invisible is not as popular as I thought.
People should check out RHLSTP and Adam Buxton’s podcast. It’s not *just* British guests on there, I promise!!
I had a bit of “Podcast Burnout” last year as it got too much to keep on top of.I used to be a huge Marc Maron and Joe Rogan fan but felt like some of their newer episode were just guys going through the motions plugging their next project. Nothing as great as the Maron/Louis C.K. two-parter.Is there any specific episodes of podcasts released in 2019 that you guys would recommend I listen to, to get me back into podcasting?
How is Stuff You Should Know missing from an otherwise delightful list?
Uh, Doughboys? HDTGM?
I assure you, these NOT the defining podcasts of the 2010s. I do listen to WTF, but where is The American Life? Where is Snap Judgement? Last Podcast on the Left?!WHO are the people listening to the casts you listed? Just you? Oh, wait, I just answered my own query. It IS just you.
it is a dereliction of duty to write about podcasts this decade and not mention My Brother, My Brother, and Me or The Adventure Zone, it’s simply impossible.
There seems to be an embargo against mentioning the podcast ‘My Dad Wrote A Porno’, the little podcast that has managed to sell out major performance venues around the world in its live tour. Radio City Music Hall – sold out, Sydney Opera House – sold out, Revolution Hall Portland – sold out. With performances at The MET in Phili, The London Palladium etc. Lets see if Marc Maron can sell out the Syndey opera house!
i love Welcome to Nightvale. the longer you listen, the more odd things you can share with those who also listen, like jokes about dog parks, smiling gods, and shadowy librarians.
Yes, it’s such a good podcast!
Cum Town, baby.
Hilarious that the Joe Rogan Experience is not listed as a defining podcast and even more hilarious that Maron is cited as laying the groundwork for Joe.
It may not be the deepest or smarted podcast but my pick for the decade is We Hate Movies. Four fat guys making fun of movies and doing bad impressions just makes me smile every Tuesday
They’re my pick for best bad-movie podcast, they get into ruts now and then but always recover. The I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry episode was a recent classic. Though I wish they’d go back to being primarily a 3-fat guy booth with one sitting out every week.
I don’t mind the 4 of them together. My only compliant currently is barely one, they are doing Mandalorian recap episodes but given the time of the year they are recording them remotely and their feed are all over the place in quality. Chris Cabin was painful to listen to on the last one.
4 of them is usually fine but they do get into bad improv-y sidetracks where everyone’s trying to get their stuff in and it’s a bit of a traffic jam. I think a Jupin/Szyszka rotation with a Cabin/Sajdak base would work well.The sound was noticeably off on the Mandalorian ep–made me appreciate that they actually get together to do the shows.
Someone is not being a sweety and actually they are yucking my yums rn.
I think if you exclude things that were NPR radio programs before they became podcasts, The /Filmcast is probably the thing I’ve listened to longest (since ~2008 or so). As someone who has always preferred background talking to background music, the 2010s have been glorious.I’ve tried to get into Nightvale and Serial, but never could. I also really miss Filmspotting SVU and We Have Concerns.
A different historical podcast titled after a year — “1865″ — would have made this list for me. My first podcast was sports-related, and Serial was groundbreaking to make me wonder, “what else is out there?”. That led me into the deep well of bad movie podcasts (still a favorite of mine), and I now have 20 podcasts that I check-in with fairly regularly. I’m a big fan of the medium. But no podcast has wowed me in the years since Serial like 1865 did, when I listened to it a few months ago.
My I recommend the Video Nasty Project? It’s a podcast about the infamous (at least infamous in movie circles) DPP banned and censored exploitation movies of the mid eighties:
oooh thanks…
I like Stuff you Should Know and Planet Money. Are those any good?
TBTL – Too Beautiful To Live – they’ve created five episodes a week for the past eleven years. Probably the best produced podcast there is.
The After Disaster – they were the behind-the-scenes LoveLine Show employees. Their podcast is ridiculous.
Red Scare – this podcast has created a rift within the political Left that may have an effect on 2020 electoral politics—and the two hosts don’t even vote, care, or eat. Powerful.