What's your favourite podcast at the moment?
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
I've been looking for more podcasts since I started going on daily walks.
Mine are:
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:
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!
Edit: I was stupid yesterday and conflated The Pirate Bay and Silk Road
Is this the Silk Road one? Can’t find anything on just TPB.
Oh shit, I’m so sorry, my brain was pulling a dumb. I was conflating TPB with Silk Road D:
Sorry about that!
You’re good, thanks!
Thanks, I'll check it out!
Casefile’s seeies on The Silk Road is an incredibly good deep dive.
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.
Surprised nobody has mentioned my two favourites:
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.
Love BtB
On the humorous side:
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.
If you're into gaming I would suggest
Otherwise I really enjoy
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 before
His 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
In no particular order.
Those are the ones I've stuck with. Also:
Similar to TAZ- The Critshow (funny Monster of the Week AP)
Oh yes, hardcore history is so good.
Last Podcast on the Left: cryptids, cults, and killers. My go to everyweek they just covered Andrew Cunanan.
Something Rotten: Jacob Geller and Blake Hester analyze darker video games. I love Jacob's youtube channel and Blake Hester has some great insights in this series as well. They are currently covering Silent Hill 2 and just had SuperEyePatchWolf guest star.
Just went to the Beach Blanket Bingo show. Hail Satan!
I love knowledge fight. About Alex Jones and the conspiracy theory of the day.
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.
The Memory Palace - Short, surprising stories of the past, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hysterical, often a little bit of both.
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford - Stories of awful human error, tragic catastrophes, and hilarious fiascos. They'll delight you, scare you, but also make you wiser.
I Spy - True stories told by spies who steal secrets, kill adversaries, and turn agents into double agents. Each episode features one spy telling one dramatic story. Unfortunately, this show seems to be defunct. Still an interesting listen, though!
Limetown - A 22 episode fictional story about the mysterious disappearance of over 300 people from a small town in Tennessee.
The Other Half - Two friends watch the same movie—except one only watches the first half, and the other only watches the second half. Then they get together and discuss the film, and try to figure out the context of what they saw.
Hey Riddle Riddle - My favorite podcast at the moment. Three improvisers answer riddles some of the time, and goof off most of the time. They do improvised scenes and have a good time.
Twenty Thousand Hertz - The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds. It's basically 99% Invisible, but for audio.
What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law - Particularly interesting if you live in the U.S., this show takes a look at modern issues and controversies through the lens of constitutional law. You'd think a podcast about legal matters would be dry and obtuse, but the show really is geared for a non-legal-minded audience.
Almost Plausible - My own podcast! A couple of friends and I friends take an ordinary object, such as a pillow, or a ceiling fan, or a toilet brush, and we come up with a movie plot where that object plays a central or critical role. Note: At the time of posting, we have just released our Halloween episode, which breaks from the regular format. So if you go listen to the Pumpkin episode, although it's an entertaining one, it's not representative of the show.
Darknet Diaries is right up there. All about hackers, malware, and penetration testers. Too bad the guy is on a mental health sabbatical. Plenty of binge worthy there though. Click Here is in the same space and of similar quality.
Love the show as well.
That was unexpected, do we know why?
And yes, I listen to all of these and more (but these are the English ones), I really like podcasts...
I'm sensing a pattern, do you perhaps like Linux?
Woah! Thought you'd never guess! 😅
Darknet Diaries is fantastic
Agreed, easily one of my favs!
Tech over Tea is also really nice
I'm a history buff, so :
-The Age of Napoleon: brilliant podcast that covers the entire Napoleonic era from different angles, currently about halfway, one episode per month
-The history of Rome: finished podcast that goes over every era and emperor in Roman history
The Napoleon one sounds amazing, thanks!
I thought you may be interested in u/pringles followup comment
https://lemm.ee/comment/5339314
Hey thanks for looking out! Very cool, I appreciate it! Have a good one :)
Are there any good podcasts that try to connect the dots regarding the American and French revolutions and related events?
Good question, but I don't know the answer. I'm sure there are, but I would guess those will likely be in French.
Are there any episodes of these in particular that stick out to you?
I find them all good, but he does make some episodes about lesser known aspects. He has a series of 4 or 5 episodes where he really takes a deep dive in Haiti and its tumultuous history. This was a french colony at the time and one of Napoleons, if not the most questionable, decisions. He dives into the history of the Haitian resistance, the slavery, the politics, etc .. and then ties it in with why Napoleon did what he did (reinstate slavery in Haiti). The guy who makes the podcast is a history student and took such a deep dive in the history of Haiti he is now considered one of the foremost experts in the field, and has been asked to give lectures about it. Fascinating stuff.
But if you want to know about Napoleons brilliance in battle, the entire Italian campaign is legendary for a reason and the episodes do it justice, while also doing a good job at separating fact from fiction (and in the process explaining the birth pf Napoleons propaganda machine).
Also the battle of Eylau episode gave me goosebumps. Incredible episode.
Awesome, I'm sold! Downloading them now. Thanks so much for taking the time to write this. Looking forward to listening!
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 off.
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.
Recently bigned 85 episodes of Lingthusiasm, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics. It's released monthly and hosted by two linguists, one of which is Tom Scott's writer and the other is a linguistics professor in New Zealand.
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?
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!
Well There's Your Problem - leftist hosted industrial disaster podcast
This Podcast Will Kill You - history of infectious diseases, well-cited and funny
Cinema of Meaning - film nerds think way too much about stuff
I absolutely love the concept of Well There's Your Problem, but they can't get to the damn point without derailing the flow of the story with banter that I don't find entertaining. If anyone has any similar podcasts, I would appreciate a recommendation.
I recently discovered:
Obviously Dan Carlin's Hardcore History is hands down the greatest podcast of all time. Unfortunately, because he does so much research, his turnaround rate on episodes is one of the slowest in the business. That said, there's always his back catalog to take a deep dive into, which is fucking awesome.
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
Cool!
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.
A lot of listeners will recommend Darknet Diaries, Reply All, or My Dad Wrote a Porno. But no t many would recommend Star Talk. A science show with comedians.
A very informative show with laughs throughout. Some episodes follow a specific theme such as a show like Doctor Who, and some episodes would answer listeners questions.
Reply All is dead, I believe.
So is My Dad Wrote a Porno, isn’t it?
However, Reply All’s PJ Vogt has a new podcast called Search Engine which is good.
It is yes. Though you can still listen to all the old episodes. TLDR is also very similar too.
Uhh Yeah Dude They've been doing the podcast since 2006, and coming up on their 1000th episode. Listener supposed and ad free. Just two guys trying to figure it all out.
I haven't seen The Always Sunny podcast mentioned yet. If you like IASIP, this is a must listen.
Right now I'm listening to The Deprogram. It discusses the problems with capitalism from socialist's perspectives. It's very entertaining
I love Reconcilable Differences! Probably my favourite podcast at the moment. I'm currently working my way through all the old episodes. ATP is very good too, but I think it's too focused on current events to go through all previous episodes
Heavyweight
Welcome to Night Vale
Science Vs
The Debaters
You Made it Weird
A Problem Squared
Welcome to Nightvale! 🤘🏼
My top 6 according to how podcast addict sorts them:
8-4 Play
The Adventure Zone
Brad and Will Made a Tech Pod
538 Politics
Hardcore Gaming 101
Rude Tales of Magic
I'd probably also give shout outs to Self Hosted, Common Descent, Spacepod, the Nature podcast, and Software Engineering Radio.
"If you're listening" is anazing, but I have always loved "The Science Show" the best. Both on ABC.
For non-Aussie podcasts, 99% invisible I guess.
Do you recommend any episodes in particular of these?
The latest season of "if you're listening" is current world events, but I liked the 7th season, especially the second episode on Zelensky. If you're a yank, going right back to the first season and listening to an Aussie perspective on the Trump thing is likely going to be interesting.
The Science Show is always good, always current. Just listen to the latest and work your way back, there is always at least one good article in each episode.
99% invisible has some great episodes. I recently relistened to Deafspace (23 march 2012) and "The Frankfurt Kitchen" is a great one too if you want something more recent. Just impressed Roman Mars can make audio shows about visual design I guess.
Awesome! Thanks so much, I really appreciate the info, I'm adding some to my list now. I am quite interested to hear an Ausie perspective of Trump, and a good science podcast sounds great. Thanks again!
If you are into videogames I will definitely hear the video game history foundation podcast
I’m working my way through the old episodes of Short History Of and The Soundtrack Show. Both are well written and narrated and worth listening to.
The Soundtrack Show is so great.
Blowback is the most incredible podcast I've listened to. If you like behind the bastards, blowback is better, entire seasons on particular historical events.
Tech:
German
3x netzpolitik aber kein logbuch!? :D
Nextlander, it's some of the OG Giant Bomb guys, I love their video games and industry coverage, and they're such warm comforting guys :-)
Mean Boys, F**kFace, Smart enough to know better, Midflight brawl, No such thing as fish
F**kFace is some of the funniest shit I have ever listened to
I dropped the ball a bit on listening to podcasts therefor right now it'd be "This American Life" but normally I also enjoy the Flophouse.
FriendlyJordies.
To keep up with the crazies
For all my SCP needs
Creepy podcasts doing their own thing
I forgot to mention The Exploring Series in my answer! Glad you mentioned it!
The Delta Flyers is a great Star Trek podcast about Star Trek: Voyager and more now that they have finished their re-watch of the series.
black box down - it is about airplane incidents and goes into detail on how it happened plus what changed in the industry to avoid the issue in the future.
Dear Hank and John (funny John and Hank Green)
Hardcore History with Dan Carlin
The Debaters (Canadian comedy show where two comedians debate whether something (ex: malls, big weddings, etc) is good/bad and get judged by live audience)
A locally made one here in Australia - How Other Dads Dad, by Hamish Blake.
I enjoy Adam Ragusea's podcast. It is a bit all over the place sometimes, but it's mostly about cooking related stuff?
French speakers should check out Mike Ward sous écoute. It's just Québec comedians* getting drunk in front of a crowd. I really enjoy it.
Darknet diaries have been named a few times already, but I will also list it, it's just that good haha.
* Google tells me humorist is a word in english but im not sure? It's mostly people doing comedy, not necessarily movies etc.
D'autres idées en français ?
Couple ouvert est pas pire mais j'en ai pas écouté beaucoup.
J'avais beaucoup aimé la série sur la sudation du pharmachien, c'est sur l'app de podcast de radio-canada, j'avais binge ça en genre 2 jours.
C'est les seuls autres qui me viennent en tête!
La série du sudation du pharmacien ? Tu as piqué curiosité. Je regarderai ça.
A bit more teckie:
REWORK
The Changelog
Go Time
Screaming in the cloud
The New Stack podcast
Ship it!
Languages learning:
Tanaka radio (Japanese)
The Miku real Japanese
The real Japanese podcast
The procrastination podcast (English)
If you like investigative journalism, Someone Knows Something. David Ridgen is fantastic in all of his shows and the care with which he handles delicate subjects is rare.
The Unmade Podcast (https://unmade.fm/) is probably my GOAT. Brady Haran (from Numberphile, Computerphile, etc.) and his Childhood friend, Tim Hein, come up with wacky ideas for podcasts that they won't actually make. Definitely the funniest podcast I've ever heard.
Hello Internet, also from Brady, with CGP Grey, is also amazing. Though sadly on hiatus.
Office Hours w/ Tim Heidecker. Very funny but he also has great musicians and other interesting folks on.
The Weekly Planet. Two funny and liberal Aussie guys talk about comics, movies, and TV shows. Mostly the former two. They have a great YouTube channel too.
I’m really enjoying Working Out Out with Mike Birbiglia and WTF with Marc Maron
Future Ecologies
It's so gorgeously audio designed and mixed, all about ecological preservation, geology, humans place as a part of nature, and many more and tangentially related topics. Headphones are a must.
Blocked Party, a Canadian podcast about getting blocked.
Usually those two:
WANshow from the LinusTechTips team
Darknet Diaries by Jack Rhysider
Darknet Diaries is fantastic!
Mostly industry / work related stuff honestly.
The Kubernetes Podcast from Google
DevOps Paradox
DevOps and Docker Talk
I aim for a (un)healthy mixture of tech and political commentary, far more than I could ever actually listen to.
Based on your current selections, you seem to favor comedy/celebrities/comedians. I don't follow too much stuff like that, but I have maybe two suggestions: Blocked and Reported for Internet bullshit (furry infighting, Adult Baby Diaper Lovers, Twitter drama). It tends towards a sort of moderate liberal/radical centrist politics. Srsly Wrong do kind-hearted goofy skits to explain their politics. Self-identified utopian socialists.
Most of the rest of the stuff I listen to is some variant of interviews with important thinkers or 2+ dudes/chicks/yos shooting the shit about socialism or FLOSS.
Linux Game Cast
Abroad in Japan
The Security Privacy and OSINT show
The Jordan Harbinger Show
Star Trek: The Next Conversation
Unexplainable and Sean Carroll’s Mindscape.
If ur a nerd and like to be reminded how absolutely fucking stupid you are :)
My top 3:
I always find myself listening to Distractible on long road trips. The stories are really funny. My top two episodes are Bob's Fridge and Illegal Advice.
All Fantasy Everything is the only podcast that has ever existed. 3 very funny friends/comedians + a guest fantasy draft anything and everything from the world of pop culture.
Some examples of previous draft topics include:
-People named Tom -Words that make you sound stupid -Movie Deaths -Bald People -Power moves -Movie Roles that Nicolas Cage should have had
https://www.dudesypod.com/
The Dudesy podcast is an experiment of sorts, with the Dudesy AI learning, evolving and generating data in order to improve the show. Each episode represents a free-flowing, creative exchange between the two human hosts and the AI.
Forehead Fables
Those who know, know
Smartless: Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes take turns picking a guest to interview each episode. The other two hosts are unaware of who the guest will be ahead of time
Skatcast: a different show 6 days a week! Tuesday is the original show, Skatcast, marketed as Cartoons For Your Earholes. Wednesday is The Dipshit Files, where the hosts wife delves into true crime, telling the host a different story each week. Thursday is Dave and Angus, a comedy show centered around two characters usually traveling the states, learning about them and inevitably getting kicked out of most places they visit. Friday is Just A Ride, where three hosts discuss a variety of topics while keeping in mind that this life is just a ride and we should enjoy ourselves on it. Monday is a Patreon only show where they go behind the curtain for a "bosses meeting" and discuss what's happening and coming up in the Skatcast world
Beautiful Anonymous! One hour phone call with a stranger and the funniest most empathetic host ever, Chris Gethard.
The Constant It is 'a history of getting things wrong', with deep research and fun way of storytelling.
Might be worth checking out "cautionary tales" too then. Similar kind of vibe
Generation Loss (its a podcast about movies that doesn't take itself too seriously)
• Old Gods of Appalachia (horror anthology series set in an "alternate Appalachia," where the mountains were never intended for human inhabitants)
• We Die First (horror film review podcast "made for Black horror fans, by Black horror fans," but my white ass enjoys it)
• Just the Zoo of Us (a weekly spotlight on one or two animals, with ratings for effectiveness, enginuity, and aesthetics)
• Random Number Generator Horror Podcast Number 9 (another horror film review podcast, hosted by Jeffrey Cranor and Cecil Baldwin)
Parenting Hell by a pair of UK comedians, Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe. Started as a lockdown podcast about how hard it is to be a parent during lockdown, but it's continued ever since. They get a different guest, usually a comedian, in every week to talk about parenting.
And they're comedians, so it's always funny. And totally relatable if you have kids.
For a more serious podcast, Free Range Humans is a fantastic podcast about effecting change in educational systems.
Seconded!
sfultra abut scifi by an Irish martyr
Boonta vista nice people from Australia
Aunty donna more nice people from Straya
The Adam Buxton podcast an angry bearded fella
Alzabo soup a Gene Wolfe podcast by two very nice dudes
Tooth and Claw! I haven't seen that mentioned. Awesome podcast about animal attacks and animal facts
"If Books Could Kill", they cover the airport books that captured our hearts and ruined our minds.
One of my new favorites.
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 Slav, and a Texan and their guests can be from anywhere.