Any Interesting (**Not** Disturbing) Podcasts?
I used to listen to long form essays on Youtube. My favourite ones either break down the history of a conspiracy, teach me something new and cool about the world, or explore a hobby I've never been interested in.
I don't like the ones about killers or heavy drama. I also don't like podcasts that spend half the time reading the latest news from [topic] in verbatim .
What are some podcasts you can recommend me while I chip away at other things?
There's "Well there's your problem". In each episode, the hosts break down an engineering disaster. The episodes are one to several hours long each, and they are thorough, entertaining, and you learn a ton.
There's also a video version that contains slides with pictures and graphs.
I would suggest as a starter episode 139, The impossible railroad, which I thought was a fun one. Or 146 on the Mount Everest, that was eye-opening. Those are the recent ones that stand out to me.
My favorite is the Gulf State Vanity Projects episode! Either that or the Costa Concordia one
Ohhh sounds right up my alley. Thanks for the rec!
It’s a fantastic podcast and I point people to the one on the V-22 Osprey frequently just because we live near an airport and Ospreys practice touch and gos before getting lunch nearby.
Darknet Diaries is always fascinating: it's all about cybercrime. Sometimes the episodes are breakdowns of particular hacker groups or specific notable hacks; other times, they're interviews with people in the industry: both cybersecurity professionals and criminals.
One of my favorite podcasts
There are a lot of posts about this podcast. I'm listening to it now!
I don't know if it has already been said, but "Darknet diaries" is a podcast i love to listen to, it's basically a history and breakdown of different hacks that happend all around the world, there are also some interviews with pentesters who tell some amazing story's, so if you're into computers thats something I'd recommend listening to
Seconded. I like the episodes about pen testers. It's so interesting how so many business are super easy to hack into or physically break into and gain access to their networks and other sensitive info.
Great podcast. But maybe "disturbing"
99 percent invisible is a good one. It’s about the stories behind things we take for granted in the world. It can be anything between ambulances, country borders and the lyrics of who let the dogs out.
Roman Mars has literally the perfect voice for a podcast
I didn’t think Roman hosted it anymore. Is he still making it?
Edit: just had a look. I guess he is. I seem to remember a spell where he wasn’t hosting. Am I remembering correctly?
AFAIK it's always been him.
Though the Articles of Interest spin off from (former) producer Avery Truffleman is also very good.
They changed owners or something a few years ago, which means Roman Mars got more time to work with actual podcast stuff instead of being a manager.
I might have to go back and give it a fresh listen. I dropped off years ago when he was deep into running radiotopia.
Whomst among us has let the dogs out is one of my favorite episodes of theirs. Great stuff.
I've really enjoyed all of these:
https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/
Great podcasts! Has a fair amount of blood, gore and torture though. No criticism but I thought it’d be fair for OP to get a heads up on that.
History is bloody business
Errrr yes that's absolutely correct!
So much yes. Highly recommend. I could listen to Dan Carlin go on about a topic endlessly.
Behind the Bastards and The Dollop are both a lot of fun as they delve into historical events and figures and do a whole comedic + factual examination in that order
If you want a really good episode for people unfamilar with the series-s, I love
For me the top Dollop episode will always be The Rube.
The baseball ones are ALWAY a roaring good time! My fave baseball one was Lenny Dykstra, lol.
It turns out his ping-pong ball schtick might actually be a legit real thing for focus 😂
10 cent beer night does it for me. I also recently relistened the Kissinger episodes (BtB w/ Dollop). That one still slaps and is what crossed me over into The Dollop.
I’m pretty hooked on Behind the Bastards, but his newer stuff has gotten a bit sloppy. Too much lazy dunking on conservatives. He does have some really good series though. The Jack Welch series sticks out in my head as particularly good. That, and G. Gordon Liddy.
5-4 is also a recent addition to my playlist.
Anything they do on Ron L Hubbard or Stalin is tops
What’s a specific example you feel is sloppy? I love BtB but yeah it’s always been hit or miss for me. A lot of times, it depends on the guest too. I thought the latest Sam Bankman-Fried ones were pretty entertaining.
Blowback - Deep dives into American imperialism. Each season covers a single topic and goes into the background history, through to the conflict, to the aftermath in about 10 hour long episodes each. The first season was on the Iraq War, the second on Cuba, the third on the Korean War and the fourth into Operation Cyclone in Afghanistan. Extremely well produced with some great soundtracks.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb0r5aWGkCI
Blowback is fantastic.
Stuff You Should Know
Seconded. A very chill and entertaining informational podcast that benefits greatly from its conversational style.
And episodes can be about nearly anything. Forgiveness, the Cannonball Run, the Loch Ness monster, the sun, beavers, the Equal Rights Act. They’re all great. I’ve been listening since 2012.
Stuff they don’t want you to know was good years ago. I haven’t listened in a while though.
It's still good as well as Stuff to Blow Your Mind.
Oh No Ross and Carrie is a lot of fun! “The show where we don’t just report on spirituality, fringe science and claims of the paranormal, but take part ourselves. We join religions, undergo alternative medical treatments, and hunt for ghost, goblins, demons, and deities. If it has an extraordinary claim attached to it, we’ll check it out.”
They do a large variety of investigations, including things like ear candling, trying ayahuasca, going to UFO conferences, joining Scientology (a particularly long but very interesting series of episodes), meeting a local flat earther group (and even helping them design and run experiments), be trained in performing exorcisms, etc etc!
This sounds amazing!
I really like it! I recommend starting out by looking at the episode descriptions to listen to investigations that sound particularly interesting to you, then if you want eventually going back and catching the ones you skipped
Glad to see someone mention this shiw, it's delightful and rather a hidden gem. Their series on Scientology was marvelous.
They're really fun and informative; highly recommend. I've been supporting them for years.
Blowback. Very, very good podcast on western imperialism.
It's not free though...
It’s definitely free to listen, if that’s what you mean. I listen to it on Apple Podcasts without paying a penny.
Alright. On the website it said it was a paid one
You can pay for early access and I think some bonus content but otherwise it’s free.
A lot of people have been recommending Blowback. I'm listening to it now!
I like listening to podcasts that casually destroy my worldview, which means a lot of history and politics podcasts while working. I have 2 suggestions and a secret 3rd option!
First is The Deprogram, a podcast about various topics relating to socialism and leftism. The bromance is strong with this one, it's hilarious. The humor can potentially be a turn off though, very rarely they'll take a joke too far. However the educational info they provide is more than worth looking past imo.
Second is UNFTR, or Unfuck the Republic. This is a much smaller podcast, but the audio quality is great. His voice is very soothing, something tells me he worked in radio at one point. The stuff on youtube is on the shorter side, but still very good.
The third option is one you haven't thought of before, but look up archival footage of speeches! Some of my favorite youtube archive channels are Afromarxist and the Micheal Parenti Library
You’re dead to me - history, different expert and comedian guest every week, very good
No Such Thing as a Fish - superb trivia show
Sci-Show Tangents - “lightly competitive science knowledge showcase”
A Podcast of Unnecessary Detail - science and math facts around a random topic from 3 very smart people
The Infinite Monkey Cage - science and comedy with Brian Cox and guests
Journey to the Microcosmos - interesting things in our microscopic world
I'll second No Such Thing As A Fish. Its four researchers giving their four favorite facts of the week. It is always informative at the very least and usually they're pretty funny/entertaining as well!
Would those researchers happen to be elves?
Oh yeah, theyre QI elves or something
Thought so! I love that show, especially the old episodes with Stephen Fry as the host 😁❤️
Black Box Down is interesting. They describe aviation disasters but in a very approachable way, while also not really dumbing it down. No drama, although the stories themselves can sometimes be crazy, they don't play it up.
Not strictly a podcast, but Mentour Pilot on YouTube does a really good job of this too. Has some great visuals but would work as audio only too.
I like to listed to Darknet Diaries if I am not listenting to WANshow.
Sawbones "A marital tour of Misguided Medicine" from Justin & Sydney McElroy is a great podcast. each episode dives into the history behind some medical quackery. Funny & Informative, I always learn something and have a good time.
If you like Sawbones you might also like "This podcast will kill you", an epidemiologist and a doctor make cocktails and go into the history and pathophysiology of diseases and conditions throughout human history.
Not as classically funny as the McElroys, but really informative and they do a good job at keeping the "disturbing content" to a minimum even when going into detail on pretty devastating illnesses.
For a much more lightweight podcast "You're Dead to Me" from the writers of Horrible Histories is fun. A historian quizzes comedians on their knowledge of historical events and figures.
I also like "oh no Ross and carrie" -- same network
General deep dives on random topics:
stuff about the animal world:
linguistics and how we communicate:
remember when radiolab was THE PREMIERE PODCAST?
The Delta Flyers is a podcast by Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeill, who played Harry Kim and Tom Paris on Star Trek Voyager, they rewatch the show and interview other crew members, they have completed Voyager, and have started rewatching Deep Space 9, together with Terry Farrell and Armin Shimerman, who played Jadzia and Quark on that show.
Very interesting.
Damn Interesting is a site with long interesting articles about different subjects, they have a podcast under the same name, where they read the articles, it is very well done, but unpdated slowly, but there is quite a few episodes available.
Idk if it will fit your vibe, but I'll always take the opportunity to shout out Astonishing Legends.
Hardcore history is a very thorough look into different events. Dan Carlin is great
Very well made and researched. Very engaging. My favourite is the Blueprint for Armageddon as it covers more recent history which I personally find more relatable, and therefore more powerful, than the other topics. I would love a WW2 series. His arguement is that it is already very well documented from other sources, but I think Dan could really do it justice. zooming in on a specific part of the conflict would be great.
He did do one on world war II regarding the history and rise of the Japanese empire. Like all of his podcast, is very well done.
Heavyweight with Jonathan Goldstein. Jonathan solves human problems, often reconnecting people who lost contact. Jonathan solves serious issues in witty ways. Funny, but serious.
This is a Gimlet Media podcast, bought by Spotify and published for a while exclusively there. As of the latest news, Heavyweight is looking for a new home for next season.
It's SO good.
The Constant, by Mark Chrysler.
Headlined as "a history of getting things wrong", the host goes into deep dives about what we thought we knew, how we eventually came to figure out we were wrong, the repercussions of both.
It takes a seriously funny and well researched approach to a number of major events in our history, and I absolutely must recommend "the foolkiller" a five episode exploration of a submarine found at the bottom of the Chicago River then lost to history, with a very juicy footnote delivered several episodes later, that I dare not spoil for you.
I agree, it’s brilliant. Early episodes (some of which he re-recorded for better quality) really fit the bill, like the ridiculous ideas about where babies come from and where birds went in the winter.
That said, OP should exercise some caution as there are a few episodes that deal with darker topics.
But, yeah. Fucking Aristotle.
I also would recommend occasional collaborator Our Fake History, which looks at events and characters that have lots of myths about them. Again, there are some darker topics, but many fun ones. Was there a real Troy? Did Shakespeare write his plays? Is there a real inspiration for Atlantis? Could the Chinese treasure ships beat Columbus to the Americas? And just how big of an asshole was Columbus (although that one may be one of those dark topics)?
I know it's older but recently I've been listening to Ologies by Allie Ward. She explores all the different types of science, she's funny, and she finds people who are really passionate about their field of work.
Used to love "reply all," but it sadly concluded last year.
Since then "undermisunderstood" and "search engine" somewhat scratch that same itch.
Both podcasts talk about things not easily explained by an Internet search.
Underunderstood, right?
Oops. Yeah!
Concluded is a nice way to put it...
Didn't they have to quit after doing an episode about workplace bullying at bôn appetit (or some other channel) and then getting called out for having behaved in exactly the same way for years? Proper douchebag hypocritical behaviour from memory.
They had some good episodes for sure, but fuck those guys.
I didn't hear about that, but I'm not exactly on the pulse.
Found this: https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/news/the-reply-all-podcast-is-facing-a-reckoning-after-claims-of-anti-union-bullying-surfaced-amid-their-bon-apptit-miniseries/articleshow/81099094.cms
Bummer...
I listened to a couple of episodes about 6 years ago. They weren't that great.
My unmentioned favourite is Jordan Harbinger Show, he invites various guests and comes well prepared for an interview, about topics like psychology, geopolitics, etc. Kinda like Joe Rogan but less stupid, not conspiracy minded and not right wing.
Well There's Your Problem Podcast. They do have a news segment at the beginning of each episode, but you can skip past it if you want to.
Tides of History is a very well-produced history podcast that deals with ancient history. It tells history in an engaging way and is founded in recent scholarship.
Podcasting is Praxis, a funny politics podcast made by British communists.
Blowback, all the praise heaped upon it is absolutely justified. Listen to it.
We Are Not So Different, an entertaining podcast about medieval history. It has a leftist outlook on things and treats medieval people like people and avoids romanticising as well as looking down on them.
A People's History of Ideas. An amazingly detailed history of the Chinese revolution with offshoots into international Maoism. If you want to listen to an episode about how CPC safehouses worked in Shanghai in the early 1930's, this is a podcast for you.
The History of Rome by Mike Duncan is amazing. It's a decent commitment but once I started I ate it up.
Pendejo Time.
Jake, a recovering cokehead, trauma dumps about his time as a drug addicted fuck up and his dead father while his friend Thomas grunts out his fever fantasies about talking animals while googling different types of dicks.
Scratches the same itch as cumtown.
For deeply nerdy computer/network/IT/programming: On the Metal
Only 2 seasons, but some great interviews.
A Podcast of Unnecessary Detail
If you like space exploration and science, The Planetary Podcast has been going for like 20 years. Tons of amazing interviews with scientists, engineers, astronauts, administrators.
The Rest is History is a fun history podcast.
I also like Today in History with the Retrospectors.
Definitely not disturbing!
I second The rest is history! Great banter, good history. Been binging it for a while now
Do you like history?
https://wondery.com/shows/the-fall-of-rome-podcast/
https://www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com/
https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/
"Tides of History" a mix of scripted episodes and interviews with archeologists and historians.
Since no one else has said it... 80 days podcast:
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs - This is one of my favorite podcasts, but I'm going to warn you it's not for everybody. The creator of this show, Andrew Hickey, is THOROUGH. A great example is the most reason episode about Hey Jude. Either you will love the concept of a 3.5-hour episode where 80% of the podcast is not about the song but rather the circumstances and lives of The Beatles, Yoko Ono, and the late 1960s music scene leading up to the creation of Hey Jude, or you will be furious that so much of the episode is about stuff that isn't the song.
Ologies is very good. Every week they pick a topic and sit down with an expert in the field, from penguins to vampires to apples to near death experiences to sea worms, and everything else in between.
Explore artistic photography - The Candid Frame
Explore the wine industry - I'll Drink to That
Explore good food and cooking well - The Splendid Table
honorable mention:
Stay Tuned with Preet
Beyond Organic Wine Podcast
The Art of Manliness
I used to love Reply All before Alec Goldman's shenanigans (awful behavior) came to light. So it was a real bright spot for me to find that PJ's pod has almost everything I loved about Reply All. He's willing to pursue things past the point any reasonable person with a job would and I love it. If you want a deep dive about whatever rabbit hole that takes his interest for the episode, it's a great place imo.
Search Engine http://www.pjvogt.com
RSS address: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/search-engine
What did Alec Goldman do? I know what PJ did but this is the first I'm hearing about Alec.
Not sure if it would appeal or not, but I've spent a good chunk of this year listening to How Other Dads Dad by Hamish Blake, here in Australia. Just a semi-light-hearted look at dadding in the 21st century.
I like Short History Of…. It’s written well, interesting from the first sentence, and read well. The topics vary widely, so you have plenty to choose from.
Also The Soundtrack Show might be interesting for you, not sure if that fits your needs.
I like the Triple J Dr. Karl podcast for easy listening. Basically people call the radio and ask science questions.
You probably already know about him, but Andrew Huberman is doing an amazing job on bringing science back to the people.
Sleep, motivation, exercise, mental health... everything in the context of neuroscience so you start understanding a bit more everything that happens to you. Protocols to follow, fully explained and backed up by scientific papers, all for the sake of your health. Amazing source of information.
Science and Tech:
1-Stuff you should know. 2-Skeptics guide to the universe. 3-Programming throwdown.
Gaming:
1-Get played. 2-Triple click.
Comedy and movies and music:
1-Comedy bang bang. 2-How did this get made? 3-With Gourley and Rust. 4-Bizarre albums.
Other:
1-Scam goddess. 2-Qanon anonymous.
Helps you sleep:
-Sleep with me.
I second How did this get made, though now that Stitcher is gone their back catalog isn't available anywhere so you have to just get current episodes ( I'm a completionist so that bugs me).
I also enjoy history vs. But I mainly listened to it because of their series on Teddy Roosevelt. It was fantastic. I recommend it , but I think they cover a lot of different topics so YMMV based on the individual series/topic being covered.
Pod Yourself A Gun/Pod Yourself the Wire - a rewatch podcast of The Sopranos and The Wire hosted by a pair of comedians and a guest where they go through each show episode by episode.
The Blindboy Podcast. An artist from Limerick delivered a mix of sizzling hot takes on a variety of topics, reads short stories from his books, lives interviews with range of interesting guests, or talks art, psychology, creativity and what not. Can be quite eccentric at times .
99% invisible.
The Memory Palace.
The History Listen on ABC Radio National (Aussie)
"our fake history" is a pretty good match to what you're describing. It's a relatively light hearted, rigorously researched, history podcast with a focus on misunderstood historical figures and events.
"The plastic plesiosaur podcast" is a really fun podcast more focused on cryptids and pop science.
One of the host to plastic plesiosaur has a YouTube channel called "trey the explainer" which is worth a watch.
And if you like low key, entertaining deep dives into machining or tech, check out "technology connections," "this old Tony," and "tech moan."
This Podcast Will Kill You - this podcast is only disturbing if you find medical issues disturbing. Each episode discusses a disease, medical issue or some kind of medical history. I think it's really interesting.
Hidden Brain - goes into a bunch of different topics about how we see and interpret the world. Very well done.
You're Wrong About - talks about popular misconceptions and such.
Science VS - Talks about science stuff in a fun and entertaining way.
People already mentioned Behind the Bastards and I really like that one but it can be hit or miss. Don't start with the newest episode, instead look for one that sounds like an interesting tooic to you and start there. When it's good it's very good.
History of the World in Spy Objects - ok I actually just found this one and haven't had a chance to listen to an episode yet but it looks good and sounds like it might be interesting to you.
Lore - it's very well done about dark historical takes
Go Fact Yourself is my favorite podcast. It's a quiz style podcast where two (usually minor) celebrities come on the show and answer questions about 3 topic they choose for themselves that they are an expert in, but outside their field of work.
It's very interesting to hear these successful people talk about things they're not really known for, like the music they love, or a movie or sometimes niche topics like marathon running.
Now the really interesting part is they bring on special guests who are experts in the chosen topic to award the points. The guests that they get for this are the real treat of the show. First, you have someone showing off about how much they love a topic, then they get someone really involved to give great in depth details! For instance, someones topic was the Evil Dead movies, and the special guest was Bruce Campbell! He was so awesome to hear talking about the movies. The experts are almost always awesome, from movie directors to the songwriters for Frozen, to book writers on the topic, they're almost always amazing to listen to.
There are a couple of other segments of the show that are also well done. There's a "what's the difference" round that always makes me think. Like, what's the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery? Or what's the difference between roasting and baking?
The hosts are great fun too. J. Keith is the master of punny segues, and Helen Hong is a pretty good co-host. All in all, highly recommended!
The Rest is History
Been listening to this lately, loving it. Always keeps it entertaining, stays true to the discipline, and I'm always learning a lot.
Adam Ragusea's Podcast is pretty informative, though I think it's mainly focused on food topics.
The Dork Forest, the host invites on somebody to talk about whatever they are really in to. It's ranged from a comedienne talking about comedy, to a pen and paper Marvel/DC super hero RPG history/mechanics, to the Sailor Moon anime series. Its pretty chill and usually a decent listen.
The Past Times, its by the two hosts of The Dollop. (Sometimes Dave and/or Gareth will get wound up and stuck on a bit that can get cringy as it goes on too long.) Dave gets a newspaper from some point in the past and Gareth and whoever they've invited on just riff on the headlines, the content of the articles/advertisements/classifieds, etc. A bit hit or miss, but its decent for having on in the background where you aren't really trying to pay too much attention to it.
The Dollop is alright. Dave reads stuff about an historical event or person to Gareth and sometimes a guest. Everybody riffs on it. Sometimes the jokes are a bit gross and go on for too long. I'd recommend their sports episodes as a person who is not interested in the watching or playing of sports but I do find myself amazed about the history behind leagues, games, competitions, players, coaches, owners sometimes. Some of the episodes can get pretty dark due to the subject of the episode though.
It ended quite a while ago but, The West Wing Thing, is a pretty long series that follows a popular USA TV series "The West Wing" and the slow descent into maddness by the two hosts and their guests as they watch (almost) every episode and discuss what they watched.
Mr. Ballen is good if your into true crime and random medical mysteries.
No Such Thing as a Fish - It's light and comedic, each presenter explains a little known bizarre or extraordinary fact and the others riff off from it. There's no specific discipline of study it follows, and it doesn't do any deep dives, but it's fun to listen to while doing the dishes.
NOTHING SEXUAL
No Such Thing As A Fish
More Or Less
Mike Duncan's History of Rome?
"Dark Histories" has some disturbing ones, as it is usually about strange events or Indeed murders, but the descriptions of the episodes allow you to weed through it, and leave those ones out.
I really enjoyed the ones about "Gef the mongoose" or the disappearance of the man who invented the first moving pictures. It goes deep into the history and times surrounding the stories which is very cool, so its main focus is history and society.
I've been binging Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman and am really enjoying it. The host has no annoying speech disfluencies and she asks intelligent questions, and Bart Ehrman is always informative and entertaining, plus the little segments at the end and the way they are introduced are also entertaining. Makes me feel like I'm listening to a Monty Python podcast.
I listened to the Tim Ferris Show a lot. These days I only listen to guests interesting to me.
I only listen to disturbing podcasts.
Sex Nerd Sandra. Learn about all kinds of weird and interesting stuff about sex and sexuality.