I’m getting close to the bottom of my backlog on a few podcasts, so I’m looking to get something new in there.
Personally, it’s been, in no particular order:
- If Books Could Kill
- Darknet Diaries
- Hard Fork
- 99% Invisible
- The War on Cars
- The Urbanist Agenda
- The Climate Denier’s Playbook
- Well There’s Your Problem
I’m mildly considering getting into Behind the Bastards and It Could Happen Here, but I’m a little bit skeptical on account of how damn much there is to be listened to in their feed.
Never been one for podcasts but man—the past few years have been super inundated with Drawfee and the related Secret Sleepover Society content on YouTube. It’s just so comforting as background noise while working.
I have exclusuvely been listening to “The History of Rome” by Mike Duncan
still not done with it lol
I’m gonna give this one a shot. Thank you!
Make sure to follow it up with Robin Pearson’s History of Byzantium. He’s still centuries away from done, but I like it even better than Mike Duncan’s after it gets going.
His follow up Revolutions is even better
That’s how I was made aware of “The History of Rome”. I listened to the last chapters of “Revolutions” and decided to start from the beginning before listening to the rest.
My current “roadmap” of sorts is to finish “The History of Rome”, then "The History of Byzantium* (not made by Duncan) and listen to the rest of “Revolutions” afterwards
Behind the Bastards and Knowledge Fight are my two favorites, and I sprinkle in some Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff and Today Explained
I keep meaning to look into CPWDCS, but my podcast backlog is ridiculous.
Seconding Knowledge Fight and Behind the Bastards! Hello fellow wonk!
- Tosh Show
- Talking Counter
- HLTV Confirmed
Sometimes listen to
- The Daily
- StarTalk
- Behind the Bastards
I’ve been loving Tosh Show. His guests are way more interesting than listening to comedians talk to comedians all the time. Don’t have any kids, so I find the bedtime stories at the end hilarious as well.
I listen to these podcasts at work
- Unfuck the Republic (unftr)
- Behind the Bastards
- The Deprogram
I also like to listen to news, video essays, and speeches while working. It helps keep the variety up. Something else to consider is getting a library card to checkout audiobooks on some streaming apps
The Indicator by Planet Money from NPR: they talk about what they feel are important indicators for the current economy, and expand on various economic topics in ways that I think anybody can understand, and are rather short.
The 1A from NPR: they talk about various topics that are affecting the US. They like to get people to chime in with their views, and have some experts on the topics to discuss context and how certain groups are or aren’t pushing for changes. Its usually close to an hour long, and not all topics interest me, but they do talk about fake news, presidential elections, housing, mental health etc.
Planet Money from NPR: longer form discussions of economics, somewhat similar to the Indicator, but not as short form and they really expand on economic stories that I think are really interesting. Some topics include how, many, random people, can relatively accurately determine the weight of a cow (and how this defines the economy), the real estate trail that recently occurred and its background.
The one podcast I listen to every week as it comes out is Lateral, a trivia show hosted by Tom Scott with rotating guests.
Other than that, I have a thing for casual and conversational history podcasts, including:
- The Lesser Bonapartes (old but gold, the full backlog’s only available on spotify under the title ‘From the desk of Glen’)
- Dead Ideas
- Some ‘leader ranking’ podcasts with the same formula: Rex Factor (British monarchs), Totalus Rankium (Roman Emperors and then American Presidents) and Pontifacts (Popes)
Metis in Space!
Been going through Behind the Bastards and I enjoy it a lot. I started from the beginning which was excellent for understanding some of the memes and ongoing jokes.
I skip the “It Could Happen Here” episodes personally because they are very long and tend to bring me down, but they’re also really good and they really highlight the vulnerabilities of contemporary systems of government.
The Cool Zone people do put out a ton of content, I don’t know how they do it. I commute and hour each way to work, and between Behind the Bastards and It Could Happen Here, that gets me through almost the whole week.
I know they all have other shows now too. I have listened to Margaret Killjoy’s Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff a few times now as well. It’s like BtB, but more like the BtB Christmas Special where it focuses on people that have tried to make positive changes instead of the villains. It’s nice to have the same quality content but with a somewhat positive spin.
If you want to get into it without it taking up all your time, see if Robert’s or Margaret’s topic is something that really looks good, or if it doesn’t you can check out ICHH, which is split up into segments anyway and you can enjoy that in smaller portions.
Besides those, I enjoy Threedom (comedy show with Scott Aukerman of Comedy Bang Bang, Paul F Tompkins who was Mr Peanutbutter on Bojack Horseman, and Lauren Lapkus of Jurassic World, OitnB, and a ton of other things), How I Built This with Guy Raz, and Planet Money from NPR.
I’m fully in the Nick Weiger podcast universe so I listen to:
- Doughboys
- Doughboys Double
- Get Played
- Get Played Season Pass
Which are all comedy podcasts with similar people appearing. They’re about chain restaurants, random side bullshit, Video Games, and Anime respectively. Then I also listen to:
- Quick Question with Soren and Daniel
- The Film Reroll
Which is a podcast by 2 former cracked writers which is the only reason people listen to them and a podcast about playing through movies as role playing games
Film Reroll is a top-tier AP podcast.
If you like them, check out Dungeons and Daddies; it has a similar energy. I wish they’d guest on each other’s shows!
The only reason I listen to Film Reroll is because it’s about movies. I don’t even listen to all of them, just movies I know will be fun/I’ve seen. Fifth Element, Mighty Ducks, Aliens, Last Action Hero, and Memento (which was incredibly cool how they did it) are the ones I’ve listened to since 2020.
Something about actual play just irritates me, especially for D&D. I’d just rather play myself
Oh sure, I just think there’s some overlap because the cast on Dungeons & Daddies are all filmmakers themselves so they go for more of a cinematic presentation than any other D&D podcast I’ve heard.
Personally I wouldn’t play D&D again because it’s not my kind of system, but they don’t waste your time like other AP podcasts I’ve tried.
But hey if it’s not your thing, no big deal; it’s kind of a nice thing to know about yourself.
Fall of Civilizations podcast.
Great insight it a number of civilisations that have collapsed throughout human history. Explains their rise, peak and of course collapse in great detail.
Love that podcast. If only there were more episodes.
They released one on Egypt pretty recently.
Yeah I know, already done. I actually use old episodes to fall asleep to
NECRONOMIPOD
You get: Aliens Cults Cryptids Conspiracies True Crime
And so much more. It may just be three dudes from Ohio bullshitting around in a basement but I fucking love it
The only podcasts I listen to are the unexpectables ones. I don’t even really like DND but MontyGlu is an amazing voice actor and role player… Like you can tell she genuinely cares for her NPCs and can tell the differences in characters from the nuisance of her characters and the candor in which they speak. I haven’t had much luck finding that else where. And that’s ignoring the fantastic world she has built for her players.
WARK.
- Where things fell apart
- Conan O’Brien needs a friend
