I love podcasts so much so that I rarely do anything without listening to one. I probably listen to podcasts even more than I listen to music, and I’ve even had the dulcet tones of someone else’s conversation going on in my ears whilst I’ve been at work before. This is an unranked list of my top 5 podcast recommendations that anyone and everyone could/would and, frankly, should enjoy.
I said this was an unranked list but Radiolab probably is my top podcast recommendation. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Crulwich, Radiolab explores everyday science, technology, and debate in every corner of the world imaginable, explaining complicated concepts in accessible ways. I find Radiolab particularly enjoyable because of the quantity of information I have learned; without this gem, I would never have had a way to find out the origins of the HIV virus, or been able to understand the debate around the First Amendment on a legislative level. It’s a brilliantly edited programme, with flowing segues between points and the use of music and sound create what can only be described as ‘radio art’.
If your friends have given Serial to you as a podcast recommendation then you should have listened, because it’s bloomin’ fantastic. From the creators of This American Life (as each episode announces), Serial became the world’s most successful podcast as millions of people flocked to hear the first series about the case of Adnan Syed, a young man convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. Reporter Sarah Koenig explores this real crime, speaking to witnesses and law professionals as the series explores the possibility of Adnan’s innocence and examines the case against him. The later two seasons, whilst not being as engaging as the first, are still interesting, the second exploring the military desertion by Bowe Bergdhal in Afghanistan, and the third examining a courthouse in Cleveland week-by-week.
S-Town comes from the creators of Serial so it’s unsurprising that it’s another hit. The shortest podcast recommendation on this list (comprising only 7, highly intense chapters) S-Town focuses on the story of John B. McLemore, a native Alabama resident living in self-described ‘Shit Town, Alabama’. Through telling his life story, S-Town explores the themes of love, relationships, law, psychology, depression, and friendship as they relate to John B. and the people living around him. It’s a beautifully prosaic series that brought me to the brink of tears on multiple occasions.
A slightly more rogue podcast recommendation, You Made It Weird is a fascinating podcast hosted by comedian Pete Holmes. Using the contacts and friends he’s made in the entertainment industry, Pete conducts semi-structured interviews with all sorts of comedians, actors, singers, and artists from all walks of life, talking through their careers, personal lives, perspectives on divisive or uncertain principles and usually a healthy serving of spirituality to finish. It’s a witty, wonderful and engaging podcast that opens up the book on a variety of the great artistic minds producing content at the moment, ranging from Larry King through to Weird Al Yankovic. The beauty of this podcast recommendation is that you can just pick and choose which person you want to hear Pete interview and then, if you like the format, choose people you’ve never heard of as you get more into it.
The only British podcast recommendation I have included on this list, MDWAP is another hugely successful podcast. Each episode sees host Jamie Cooper, alongside close friends James Cooper and Alice Levine, read out a chapter of his father’s amateur erotic novels, known as the ‘Belinda Blinked’ series. Under the pen name Rocky Flinstone, Jamie’s dad has produced some of the best bad literature ever to be written, making for a thoroughly hilarious podcast. Not only is Flintstone incapable of writing good settings or making interesting characters, his total lack of sexual knowledge makes his penned sex scenes into a brilliant calamity of the senses and, whilst it is an inherently smutty podcast, there is nothing sexy about it. I would tentatively recommend keeping this one away from younger audiences.
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