I’ve been looking for more podcasts since I started going on daily walks.
Mine are:
- Conan O’Brien needs a friend
- Wolf and owl
- Off menu
Darknet Diaries is nothing like every other podcast I’ve ever listened to. Listened to every episode 2-3x. It’s a podcast mostly about social engineering, hacking and cyber security.
Start with episode:
- 92: The Pirate Bay
- 116: Mad Dog
- 102: Money Maker
Xbox underground episode is wild
Listening to that right now, crazy stuff, like Microsoft throwing Dev kits away at the dump.
I love the Episode about The Pirate Bay
Check out Casefile’s series on The Pirate Bay!
Is this the Silk Road one? Can’t find anything on just TPB.
It’s really insanely good. Took a break after binging the first 50 or so episodes. Looks like I haven’t even listened to your favourites yet!
That’s a good one, used to listen to it then fell out of it for some reason, I’ll get back to it.
I’ve watched the one about the World Bank and I was mind blown ! The post twist are amazing ! And the story telling very good.
If you’re into gaming I would suggest
- NoClip (video game documentarians about modern video games)
- video game history hour (general video game history done by the video game history foundation)
- insert credit ( almost game show style, the hosts have only a few minutes to answer all kinds of questions about games, the gaming industry, or even opinions.)
Otherwise I really enjoy
- behind the bastards ( kind of like deep dives into shitty people of the world and what makes them tick)
- cautionary tales ( true stories about disasters, humon error, and catastrophies )
- 99 percent invisible (weekly episodes on all kinds of deep dives into things that often go without notice in our lives, the most recent episode covers the history of album art for example)
99pi is the gold standard of podcasts IMO. Roman has a the perfect voice for radio
99% Invisible is really golden, in particular their recent episode about Mexico City scrap metal collectors and their unique “horn” was fascinating.
In addition to yours: Coldfusion(TV).
Usually though in a video format on YT but he uploaded on Spotify beforeHis content is about tech and connected topics (like tech politics) between those.
Alternatively: TechAltar. Also video based and more of a 15-20min video topic but very well researched as far as I am aware
Sweet, I’ll check them out myself. Thanks for the suggestions
On the humorous side:
- My Brother, My Brother And Me - 3 brothers giving not-so-serious advice to listeners, reacting to questions from Yahoo Answers (when that was a thing), and overall being funny/silly
- My Dad Wrote A Porno - 3 people reacting to an “erotica” book series that one of the guys’ dad published (I would say the books are maybe only 5%-20% explicit, depending on the chapter) (some of the characters’ voices can be annoying/grating, and the narrator tends to repeat sentences after they react to them which can be annoying as well)
- No Such Thing As A Fish - the behind-the-scenes staff of the show QI bring up interesting facts and tidbits from history/nature/etc. (each episode is split into 4 parts where each member brings up a fact and the others react to it and bring up related facts)
- If I Were You - Jake & Amir from CollegeHumor giving advice to listeners (mostly in a sarcastic/tongue-in-cheek way but sometimes genuinely), mostly about relationships/dating
- SmartLess - Jason Bateman and Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) interview a famous person each episode where only one of the hosts known who it is beforehand (it gets better after the first few episodes, though some conversations are less funny/entertaining than others)
- Office Ladies - Jenna and Angela from The Office (US) reacting to each episode of the show and bringing up behind-the-scenes stuff (some of episodes include interviews with other cast members/staff)
I loved MBMBAM from like 1-350. It’s unlistenable to me now. I can’t bear it.
Why’s that?
Eh it’s just not funny to me anymore. Everything is so flanderized and weird.
The old episodes had such a “just three dudes being funny in their basement” feel, and the new ones are like “we ran out of funny so here’s a half hour of Munch Squad”
I can’t blame them after HUNDREDS of episodes but it’s not for me.
- 99% Invisible
- Well There’s Your Problem
- The War On Cars
- The Urbanist Agenda
- The Climate Deniers Playbook
- Underunderstood
- Induction
- Hard Fork
- Drilled
- The Adam Ragusea Podcast
In no particular order.
Surprised nobody has mentioned my two favourites:
- Behind The Bastards: Robert Evans (formerly of Cracked fame) talks about the worst people in history for hours.
- Oh No Ross and Carrie: “When they make the claims we show up so you don’t have to.” Maybe start with the series on scientology, it’s some of the best work they’ve done.
Most of the other stuff I listen to is either industry specific or fandom/hobby specific.
Having just finished up 6 episodes on G. Gordon Liddy, knowing nothing about him beforehand, I second the recommendation of Behind the Bastards.
I highly recommend the series Gaslit and White House Plumbers for a pair of incredible depictions of this loony.
ONRAC is one of my favorites. They have such a lovely approach to crackpots and charlatans of all stripes. Gentle mockery leavened with genuine engagement with the aim to better understand these bowel movements of human thought and expose the underlying motives of grift behind so many of them.
Stuff You Should Know
Also Radio Lab
Second this. Josh and Chuck have been teaching me so much for so long, I can’t imagine not having this one.
- my brother my brother and me (funny)
- sawbones (medical mythbusting and funny)
- the adventure zone (funny d&d)
- drainer diaries (hacking and security stories)
- npr up first (quick daily news)
Those are the ones I’ve stuck with. Also:
- Hardcore history (in depth history lessons)
Oh yes, hardcore history is so good.
Similar to TAZ- The Critshow (funny Monster of the Week AP)
A toss-up between Philosophise This and the BBC’s In Our Time for me. Thinking Allowed is also in the mix and I’ve recently started Mike Duncan’s Revolutions which is proving entertaining too.
Probably “Philosophize This”
Any episode of any of these that especially stick out to you?
Probably “Philosophize This”
Ha, spellcheck got to it.
That one takes few episodes to settle down but all from around ep 40 or so are good. The last few - starting with 179 - are looking at AI and consciousness and covering a lot of great viewpoints.
In Our Time - “Polidori’s The Vampyre” and “Thomas Paine’s Common Sense” are both ones that I heard recently and found particularly interesting. Also Thinking Allowed’s “The Petite Bourgeoisie”.
Just downloaded them, thanks for the recommendations!
I love knowledge fight. About Alex Jones and the conspiracy theory of the day.
Really into The Deprogram and chewing through the backlog.
Interesting, subscribed.
What’s it about?
A dirtbag left pod with guys from around the world, basically. The hosts are an Iraqi, a Slave, and a Texan and their guests can be from anywhere.
If you are into videogames I will definitely hear the video game history foundation podcast
Darknet Diaries
Intelligence Squared
Sean Carroll’s Mindscape
IMO, Sean seems more intent on impressing the audience and the expert rather than conducting a good interview. I listened to an episode that involved category theory and he regularly interrupted the guest so he could show off how much he knows about it.
I’m relistening to that episode now because I’m curious about what it is you perceived.
He interjects sometimes to help tie things together (“and this is interesting because of [earlier observation]”) or to adjust the level of technicality to suit his intended audience (“we’re allowed to use the word torus here”). Not all Mindscape guests have a solid feel for the podcast and default to giving popscience breakdowns with analogies and leaving out technical jargon, and so he has to set the bar a bit by explicitly allowing the introduction of technical terms and bringing together of complex related topics.
Don’t know if that’s what made you feel like he was trying to show of.
I perceived this when he interrupted the guest to jump to different aspects of category theory that she isn’t talking about at the moment.
Well I don’t know what you are referring to, but I’m not going to argue about your perception. I listened to the whole thing again (there are usually things that pass me by the first time, so I don’t mind doing that for the interesting episodes) and I don’t know how he could have done a better job at steering the conversation. He’s a podcast host; he needs to pick at the parts that are of particular interest to him and his audience in a limited amount of time, as well as keeping the level of technicality just right so as to be digestible.
For someone familiar with the topic, it’s natural to feel like they could have gone on about something at a more advanced level, and for someone entirely unfamiliar, it’s natural that they would want to linger on things they don’t quite get instead of moving on to something else.
Anyway, I’m not really going anywhere with this. Just curious about your perception since I tend to think of SC as someone quite smooth and approachable around people (unlike me). I guess even he can’t be smooth enough for everybody all the time.
That would be Startalk, with Neil Degrasse Tyson. The only podcast I really follow.
Been meaning to listen to that, subscribed.
If you like that, let me recommend Space Nuts. Astronomy news with fun hosts
- Roderick on the Line
- Risky or Not?
- Penn’s Sunday School
- This Podcast Will Kill You
- Reconcilable Differences
- Accidental Tech Podcast
Beautiful / Anonymous with Chris Gethard is my favourite lately. It’s essentially an hour-long phone conversation between the host and an anonymous stranger. The anonymity makes people open up and be vulnerable, and Chris is an amazing conversationalist who manages to bring something interesting out of every caller.