Podcast are the new dreamcatchers

A GUIDE: I CAN’T BE ALONE WITH MYSELF

..so I put THESE podcasts into my ear holes (I’m so into “passive learning”).

Wouldn’t it be so, so nice if you added your opinions/tips about all of this into the notes? I think it would be.

NOTE: Podcasts are listed in alphabetical order.

STARTER GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS:

1. Get an app from which to listen: I use the iTunes podcast app, but I’m not sure it’s the best. It’s free and I’ve never found one that’s better. Let me know if you try and like something else.
2. I recommend subscribing to one to three of the following to start: Freakonomics, Invisibilia, Serial, Song Exploder, Strangers, TED Radio Hour, The Moth, This American Life, Reply All, Radiolab and/or WTF. These ones are a bit easier to just jump into than others. Descriptions and links below.
3. Program your settings: A. For most, you’ll want the order of play to be newest to oldest. If you’re going to binge an entire season, go oldest to newest. B. For the ones you know you like, have them automatically download new episodes (you can choose how many) when you’re connected to Wi-Fi so that you don’t get on the subway or out of range and have to rely on streaming. You can delete them when you’re done/decided you’re not interested. C. When you subscribe, you can switch between Unplayed and Feed. The Feed lets you scroll through so you can grab the past episodes that catch your eye. D. You can make yourself a play list if you want, so that hours and hours of listening just happen in a queue. I personally go podcast to podcast depending on my mood, so that option has never appealed to me, personally, but it’s there for you.
4. Add more as you go.

LEGEND
* — I listen(ed) to every episode
+—Regular listener
The rest are intermittent/as their subject matter appeals to me
[Favorite episodes appear in brackets]

99% Invisible
GENRE: design, I guess | HOST: Roman Mars | SOURCE: Radiotopia
Start Date: July 14, 2011 | Frequency: Tuesdays | Length: 8–20 min
Design is everywhere…Okay, yeah sure. The premise feels a bit like saying “Life is everywhere,” and expecting people to know what you’re talking about. It’s in the same vein as the TED Radio Hour, Freakonomics Radio and Radiolab. This is one of the first podcasts I subscribed to, but it’s not a good place to start. It’s so nichey. When you’re first getting into “passive learning,” you might want to go for something that requires less engagement (so that you can be lazier, you know, like reading 50 Shades of Gray instead of Moby Dick). [Episode 123: Snowflake]

Comedy Bang Bang
GENRE: comedy | HOST: Scott Aukerman | SOURCE: Earwolf
Start Date: May 1, 2009 | Frequency: Tuesdays | Length: 1–3 hr
It’s improv with famous and underground comedians. Listeners submit theme songs and would-you-rather questions. If you’ve seen the TV show, you get it. I started listening to this one after I went on a date with a guy who said that listening to podcasts was “a guy thing” and so he found my listening to be quite distinguishable. Anyway, I told him I was into Marc Maron and he thought I might like the improv-side of comedy (he said the premise was “geeky” comedy stuff; I mean, I’m just a girl, so I probably wouldn’t have understood Comedy Bang Bang without him [side note: I thought we were done “nerding out” on perfectly reasonable things to be interested in]). Aukerman’s TV show of the same name and his podcast is the side of comedy that includes fake interviews with fictional characters. As a nonfiction writer, I tend to like the “real” stuff better, but I dig Aukerman’s cadence and wordplay. Once I felt I was “in” on the convo with the recurring characters, the joy the podcast brought to my life deepened. Though, like most podcasts that have some sort of format at their geneses, this one has gone pretty well off its reservation.

Criminal+
GENRE: crime | HOST: Phoebe Judge | SOURCE: Radiotopia
Start Date: Jan 29, 2014 | Frequency: Fridays | Length: 30 min
It’s about criminals — mostly people who’ve been caught. It shows crime in a new light because it doesn’t fetishize the criminal or crime, it simply lets you see crime from inside the mind of someone committing the crime. I am surprised by how much I relate. I will say it’s pretty dramatic and even cheesy at times, but I listen almost every week. [Bloodlines, Mother’s Little Helper, Ex Libris (book thief), Final Exit (assisted suicide)]

By the Way, in Conversation with Jeff Garlin*
GENRE: comedy | HOST: Jeff Garlin | SOURCE: Earwolf
Start Date: Jan 10, 2013 | Frequency: Intermittent.
Jeff Garlin is comedic genius, or is he? I don’t really know, but I know that he rubs up against everyone important and seems comfortable in his own skin, which makes him a winner. The guests he interviewed were powerhouse after powerhouse. There aren’t many and there won’t be more, most likely, so I recommend listening to the entire collection. [Larry David, Lena Dunham, Tig Notaro, Amy Poehler]

Death, Sex & Money+
GENRE: society & culture | HOST: Anna Sale | SOURCE: WNYC
Start Date: June 4, 2014 | Frequency: Bi-Wednesdays | Length: 30 min
The assertion is that death, sex and money are not talked about as much as they should be (not true over here off of Ten Eyck Street on ye old Real Talk Couch where I live). Sale has worked with Ira Glass forever, so she knows what’s up and how to find and tell a good story. I think this one’s going to be like a fine wine. [Siblinghood; I Killed Someone. Now I have three kids; Meet the First Family of Podcasting;

Dear Sugar Radio
GENRE: society & culture | HOST: Cheryl Strayed & Steve Almond |SOURCE: WBUR | Start Date: Dec 10, 2014 | Frequency: Twice monthly Length: 10–60 minutes
If you loved Dear Sugar, the column on The Rumpus, and if you loved Tiny, Beautiful Things, this podcast does that all over again, except with both Sugars. Plus, they bring in writers to suss out the letter-writers’ issues, like George Saunders and Leslie Jamison, and they even talk about writerly problems, which makes it great for people who like to push pens across the page (although, most writers I know go ahead and use a laptop). [How do I survive the critics?; How do I stop lying?]

Freakonomics Radio+
GENRE: society & culture | HOST: Stephen J. Dubner & Steven D. Levitt SOURCE: WNYC | Start Date: Feb. 6, 2010 | Frequency: Thursdays Length: 30-ish min
Based on their book, Freakonomics and Think Like a Freak, these two discuss societal issues, assumptions, and hunches from the perspective of cash monies. I quoted some of the episodes in my thesis. Some of the episodes have changed the way I view the most important things in my life. I feel like the episode guide shows how much Freakonomics has become part of my general point of view. [Episode 173: A Better Way to Eat, Episode 135: Do Baby Girls Cause Divorce, Episode 122: How Much Does Your Name Matter, Episode 116: Women are not Men, Episode 40: The Suicide Paradox]

Fresh Air
GENRE: interview | HOST: Terry Gross | SOURCE: NPR
Start Date: 1975 | Frequency: Weekdays at 12pm EST | Length: Varies
Terry Gross is everything, and you know it. I went out with this guy who ended up in my car after our first date in Denver (he took the bus to our meal because we were drinking; “Driving buzzed is driving drunk, Laura,” he said to me, which is absurd considering the great lengths I’ve always gone to in order to avoid drunk-driving, but he didn’t know me or that on our first date). I had a copy of David Sedaris’ Naked on my center console and NPR locked and loaded on the radio. “Do you donate during the pledge drives?” he asked as he eyed my good, if not delayed, taste in literature—and I’m sure the fact that I had a book in my car, at the ready, gave him great hope for our future. “Yes, of course,” I said, pushing him right over the edge to smitten. But that was a lie. I have never donated, mostly because I am poor but also because of the same thing that keeps me from giving to homeless people on the street. Anyway, we dated for six months, all the while engaging in a healthy debate about Terry Gross. I think she’s one of the best interviewers of all time. He thinks she’s a snore. Luckily, I’ve surveyed hundreds of people to confirm that I’m right and he’s wrong. Terry Gross doesn’t pander and Terry Gross is not shy. She’s a human-person asking other human-persons questions. Sometimes she’s a fan, sometimes she’s a journalist, and sometimes she is more interested 0r less interested. But it’s always current events and it’s always great when it’s Terry Fucking Gross.

Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin+
GENRE: interview | HOST: Alec Baldwin | SOURCE: WNYC
Start Date: Oct 13, 2011 | Frequency: Bi-Mondays | Length: 1 hr
Alec Baldwin is cocky as fuck. He really wants to make sure that, in every episode his guest knows that he can use old-timey language and that being an artist isn’t easy. Podcasts are great for this reason—because the portrait of celebrity is a bit more whole than an interview that gets reduced to a couple of quotes in a newspaper. People tend to feel more comfortable being themselves and going for the no-no celebrity statements (like celebrity is hard, or “I am a serious artist”) because the listenership is generally low and usually made up of people who are on the celebrity’s side. Anyway, he’s also Alec Baldwin and gets big names and asks insightful questions when he’s in his wheelhouse (IE. SNL, 30 Rock, acting, New York, divorce). But it hasn’t made me like him more and it’s almost never funny. [Kristen Wiig, Jill Abramson, and Fred Armisen & Paula Pell (if you love SNL, whoa)]

Invisibilia*
GENRE: society & culture | HOST: Lulu Miller & Alix Spiegel
SOURCE: NPR | Start Date: Dec 18, 2014 | Frequency: Thursdays
Length: 1hr-ish min | Season 2: Confirmed, but no date.
The premise is that the show is about things that are invisible — like thoughts and fear and blindness. The hosts are wonderful and smart, and delightful. The show’s first season had such a short run, but I think they made enough money to do a proper one and it’s supposedly coming in 2015. [How to Become Batman (about blindness, not Batman); Entanglement]

Monday Morning Podcast with Bill Burr
GENRE: comedy, monologue | HOST: Bill Burr
Start Date: January 3, 2011 | Frequency: Mondays | Length: ~1 hr
The charm is just Bill Burr ranting with his delightful Boston accent. I haven’t been listening long (as of September 1, 2014), so maybe it won’t stick. I can’t really believe he is able to talk as long as he can. Eva (my roommate) and I watched his stand-up and I thought he was really smart and hilarious and she thought he was really unacceptable (especially his stupid square-toed boots and dumpy jeans). He makes a lot of remarks that veer into the land of sexist and racist, but I get the sense that wouldn’t be the case if two things weren’t true (well, two things aside from the fact that he’s a comedian and meant to veer into sexism and racism). Ready for an East Coast stereotype from a girl from Colorado? 1. Many people from the East Coast have interacted with a multitude of races more so than someone like me, from White Bread, USA. I get the feeling that East Coasters feel like they are speaking from experience and not from stereotype—as if the stereotype is more acceptable if you believe you created it from scratch. But, unlike them, I get the sense that people from White Bread liberal outposts like me feel like they can’t touch race with a ten-foot pole because they know so very few people of color. Neither are great stances, though I guess keeping it zipped is less offensive. Anyway, it’s a new level of ignorance is what I mean—it’s like the most educated level of ignorance. As far as the misogynistic undertones—I get the vibe that he’s just repeating a story he’s heard over and over again. He talks about how his friends call him a pussy for eating vegetables…so you know it’s not a cutting-edge world that he’s living in. Since he’s a famous comedian, if he broadens his friend group too much, he will be accused of not being loyal and you know how those Irish Bostonians are—they are loyal to death. I think the point is: listening to him, and arm-chair psychology, helps me to justify whatever is disgusting in me that likes listening to whatever is disgusting in him.

Mortified+
GENRE: personal journal | HOST: Dave Nadelberg & Neil Katcher | SOURCE: Radiotopia | Start Date: February 5, 2015 | Frequency: Saturdays Length: 10 min
Take your middle-school journal and read it aloud to people on stage — that’s what this podcast is. They don’t change a thing — they just share. I like the length of the show — so short — great for a work to/from the subway or waiting in a line. And then after the author reads, they interview him/her for more context. I think I might apply for this one. I think we all should, you guys.

On Being
GENRE: society & culture | HOST: Krista Tippet
Start Date: September 22, 2001 | Frequency: Saturdays | Length: 50 min
Basically, this is a woman who seeks out mystics, philosophers, spiritual leaders of all creeds, poets and artists and asks them tough questions. It’s hard for me to go to this one often because it’s so transcendent. It’s not as passive as I like my listening to be. [Bessel van der Kolk — Restoring the Body: Yoga, EMDR, and Treating Trauma; Nadia Bolz-Weber — Seeing the Underside and Seeing God: Tattoos, Tradition, and Grace (Scum of the Earth); Joanna Macy — A Wild Love for the World]

Professor Blastoff*
GENRE: comedy | HOST: Tig Nataro, David Huntsberger & Kyle Dunnigan SOURCE: Earwolf | Start Date: May 16, 2011 | Frequency: Tuesdays
Length: 1 hr+
This one will make you pee your pants. These three pick everything apart and I would probably be very scared to be myself around them, but oh my god, if you have a pulse, you will laugh. The structure is very loose—they ask “the professor” for a subject and then have a guest talk about the subject. But, mostly it’s just the three hosts having what seems like a pretty regular conversation. I especially like when they try to harmonize, this happens nearly every episode, and the “mother meditations” are divine—Dunnigan uses yoga talk and meditation speak and then interjects a real conversation he’s had with his mom into the blend. This is my go-to when I’m telling people where to start podcasting. But if you’re listening in public, you will have to deal with being the ridiculous person with a gaping smile and misunderstood laughter. [Episode 168: Music Industry with Jim Roach (I’ve made people listen at about 14:30, so that there is a proper lead up, through to about minute 18)]

Mystery Show*
GENRE: society & culture | HOST: Starlee Kine | SOURCE: Gimlet
Start Date: May 22, 2015 | Frequency: Weekly | Length: 50 min
I love Starlee Kine — she’s razor sharp, warm and curious. Mystery Show is her solving mysteries that the Internet can’t solve. My best guess is that as someone who worked on This American Life (she did the Break-up episode, featuring Phil Collins), she reached out to her network of friends and colleagues and asked them to throw some of their mysteries her way (I just had something mysterious happen — when I returned some bathing suits to Zappos, someone’s boxers ended up in the package; maybe Starlee is my girl). Anyway, the mysteries in and of themselves don’t sound all that intriguing at the outset, but the way she handles them and how funny she is, it’s like who cares? I will follow her anywhere. And when the resolution or the journey hits, it hits good. It’s one of my favorite shows of all time. [Source Code (David Rees), Belt Buckle, Britney]

Radiolab
GENRE: natural sciences | HOST: Jad Abumrad | SOURCE: WNYC
Start Date: April 9, 2007 | Frequency: Weekly | Length: 50 min
Here is where science meets people and vice versa. It’s fluffy, sure, but the stories are intriguing and end up inspiring my research. In Rivka Galchen’s Science Writing Class, we had a woman come in who’s produced with Radiolab and despite the contrived nature of the convos, she told us that Jad just actually asks a lot of questions in a robust and flawless radio voice that happen to lead in and out of the story in a linear and perfect manner. It’s so magical that it seems overdone. I don’t know if I believe her. [September 18, 2014: Juicervose; September 8, 2014: In the Dust of Our Planet; June 26, 2014: 9-Volt Nirvana; September 12, 2013: Blame; July 6, 2011: A 4-Track Mind]

Reply All*
GENRE: technology & culture | HOST: PJ Vogt & Alex Goldman
SOURCE: Gimlet | Start Date: Nov. 6, 2014 | Frequency: Weekly
Length: 30 min
I was charmed to stumble upon this before I found about its predecessor, StartUp. I listened to the episode about Miranda July’s Somebody app. What I love is how it’s showing us how this thing — the Internet — that we all thought would make us less engaged with one another is helping us engage with one another. At first, the description didn’t appeal to me, but it’s way more than its description. [An App Sends A Stranger to Say I Love You, Jennicam, Hack The Police, The Fever, The Man in the FBI Hat]

Savage Lovecast
GENRE: sexuality | HOST: Dan Savage
Start Date: April 7, 2007 | Frequency: Fridays | Length: Micro (gratis, 50 min w/ads) — Magnum (subscribers only, 90 min, ad-free)
I’ve been reading Savage Love for at least fifteen years. It used to be one of the only reasons I picked up Westword. It’s opened up the way I view monogamy, cheating, masturbating, STIs, queerness… I had a roommate once with a low sex drive and this show brought her some comfort (as that and many other topics come up with relative frequency and a lot of reassurance). Basically, Dan rants about current events, usually having to do with gay rights, and then he takes questions from callers. I love recommending this to people with conservative viewpoints. I tell them to listen with the caveat that they will likely be offended. I remind them that from an apologetic standpoint, isn’t it good to know about the “other side?” After all, I say, sympathizing with them, I used to listen to Dr. Laura and Rush Limbaugh. Then, I like to imagine them listening and their rigidity slowly unwinding/Dan Savage doing the dirty work of taking them to task. And all the while, I never have to say to their face how terrible I think their beliefs are or get in a fight about what’s right and what’s wrong.

Song Exploder
GENRE: music | HOST: Hrishikesh Hirway SOURCE: Radiotopia
Start Date: Jan. 1, 2014 | Frequency: Wednesdays | Length: 10–15 mins
Songs are dissected, and their creators interviewed. Short, sweet and wonderful.

StartUp Podcast*
GENRE: society & culture | HOST: Alex Blumberg & Lisa Chow
SOURCE: Gimlet | Start Date: Aug. 29, 2014 | Frequency: Weekly
Length: 50 min
StartUp is close to my heart. In season one, Alex Blumberg (formerly of Planet Money) makes an ass of himself for our enjoyment — and learning. I am fascinated by people so willing to unveil themselves to us. I’ve recommended it to all my entrepreneurial friends as a tool or checklist or coddling mechanism. As a writer, I’ve always thought of myself as an entrepreneur — or at least, I’ve been able to relate to many of the impulses, long hours and commitment in the entrepreneur’s struggle. Season one is Blumberg’s journey to get Gimlet Media — a home for produced, narrative podcasting — off the ground. It’s meta in a new way. Season two is all about Dating Ring, a dating tech startup trying to find its legs. [Season 1: How to Name Your Company, Burnout; Season 2: Profiled & Save the Date]

Strangers*
GENRE: society & culture | HOST: Lea Thau | SOURCE: KCRW/Radiotopia
Start Date: Dec. 10, 2013 | Frequency: Biweekly Fridays | Length: 30-ish min
Lea Thau is the mastermind behind The Moth, but she was told she didn’t have a voice for radio, so she started her own thing. I am not sure that I am as hardcore for her as many of the show’s listeners are, but I do think she brings a wonderful vulnerability that doesn’t go so far as to be self-indulgent, even when she’s totally focusing on herself. She’s thoughtful and engaged — and trying hard to make us “strangers no more” through storytelling. [All five of the Love Hurts]

Ted Radio Hour
GENRE: society & culture | HOST: Guy Raz | SOURCE: Public Radio
Start Date: 2014 | Frequency: Fridays | Length: 50 min
It’s a show based on TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Talks, but often links a few together that discuss a similar theme and truncates them. It’s a good tool for curating which of the countless full-length TED Talks you might want to listen to in entirety. It’s in the same vein as Freakonomics and Radiolab. [Unstoppable Learning, Simply Happy, Why We Lie]

The Catapult
GENRE: literature | HOST: Jaime Green
Start Date: March 3, 2014 | Frequency: Bi-weekly | Length: ~30 min
Jaime Green is in the nonfiction mafia—aka the group of people from my graduate school whose success feels like my own, even though it’s not. She was the managing editor of Columbia: A Journal of Literature & Art and hired me as her successor. Her podcasts start with a little something that’s on her mind or relates to a common theme in the writers who she showcases. Three people read their work from all genres, no inter-genre discrimination here. I wish her intros went on a little longer and that she interviewed the guests while she has access to them, but I respect that she wants to put the work front and center. Artists are always being hounded to answer questions about their personal lives, and Jaime doesn’t go there.

The Dinner Party
GENRE: society & culture | HOSTS: Rico Gagliano & Brendan Francis Newman | Start Date: ? | Frequency: Fridays | Length: 50 min
The show is like a dinner party (har har)—and it unfolds in courses. They always have a celebrity, a musician (recommending one song of their own for a dinner party and then coming up with a soundtrack), there’s a joke, small talk (current event), a cocktail inspired by something. It’s great, in theory. But it’s so stuck in its format and so perfect in its timing, that I resent it, too. I’ve stopped listening (for about a year), but I could see myself picking it back up. It’s an excellent beginner or time-filler podcast. The hosts’ banter is off-the-charts educated. I feel like it must be scripted, and then I’m like, “Who scripts banter?” and “How?” And then if I decide they are just talking, I’m depressed that my banter is really lame by comparison.

The Intelligence Debates
GENRE: news & politics | HOST: John Donovan | SOURCE: NPR
Start Date: 2006 | Frequency: Monthly+ | Length: 50 min
I was listening to an episode of You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes and his guest told him to listen to the episode “Is Death Final” of The Intelligence Debates and I got hooked. It’s Oxford-style debate. Two two-person teams either oppose or support a “sharply” framed notion. Before the debate begins, the audience votes to indicate that their initial position—support, disagree or unsure of the notion. Whichever group gains the most (not necessarily holds a majority) percentage points of support is the side that wins, because they have been the most persuasive. I am a new listener but can see a bright future with this one. [Death is Not Final]

The Moth+
GENRE: performing arts | HOST: Dan Kennedy
Start Date: 1997 | Frequency: Tuesdays | Length: Varies.
People tell their stories — sometimes funny, sometimes sad, usually tender and inspirational. I’ve tried to record my own test for The Moth and I just don’t know that I’d be good at the format, but I fantasize about being a Moth regular. The Moth is a must. The performance art element is more engaging then when people just read over airways and it’s nice when you can hear the audience getting into it.

The Tobolowsky Files
GENRE: TV & film | HOST: Steven Tobolowsky
Start Date: November 6, 2011 | Frequency: It’s over, but the archives are worth a listen | Length: 1 hr-ish
My friend Elliott introduced me to this one. He loves ol’ Toby. And I have to say, it’s a pretty amazing format. Basically Steven Tobolowsky, who you might remember from everything (seriously, he is like a B-list Christopher Walken, which sounds like an insult but I mean, there’s only one Walken, ya know?), writes a complicated, winding, interwoven nonfiction piece, usually with a it’s-about-the-journey-and-not-the-destination overtone, and then reads it. It’s pretty great if you’re ready to be read to. But, probably a lot of work for him to do, too. So he stopped doing it… Doesn’t mean you can’t listen to the archives...

This American Life
GENRE: society & culture| HOST: Ira Glass | SOURCE: WBEZ Chicago Start Date: 1995 | Frequency: Mondays | Length: 1 hr
This is where it all began… TAL is great storytelling, sometimes fiction, about people and stuff and things. Cris Beam (author of Transparent) said that it was much more restrictive than other story-telling shows, in terms of scripting, when she worked with them on her story. But Ira Glass is a dream come true for those of you living under a rock and aren’t already aware of this fact. If you’re new to podcasts, this is the *one*. It’s insane to me to think there are people who haven’t had a listen to this. [Episode 528: The Radio Drama Episode, Episode 521: Bad Baby, Episode 480: Animal Sacrifice (Ira’s dog), Episode 449: Middle School (the Mimis), Episode 339: Break-up (Phil Collins), Episode 233: Starting from Scratch (the Puppy Channel)]

Serial*
GENRE: news & politics | HOST: Sarah Koenig | SOURCE: WBEZ Chicago
Start Date: October 3, 2014 | Frequency: Thursdays | Length: ~30 mins
Season 2: 2015
Well, this one is the best thing that ever happened to the podcast world. It’s nonfiction storytelling at its finest from the creators of This American Life, so duh. It’s episodic and shaped radio! MIND BLOWN! I’m excited. Each “season” of Serial (each serial of Serial? Each series of Serial? It’s so new to podcasting that I don’t yet have a language for it) will focus on a different story told week by week. It kicks off with a murder mystery. Finally a podcast that equates to exactly what our television viewing experience. I’ve been asking my friends to weigh in on their opinions and we’re all bitching about having to wait. It’s so good. [Duh, all of them. It’s a collection.]

True Story
GENRE: performing arts
Start Date: ? | Frequency: Bi-weekly | Length: short
Oh my god, I found this one right before it went on hiatus. The idea is, you host a party and you tell stories and send it to this show. It’s amazing and beautiful and the intimate and contrived nature of the situation makes for good material. I want to host one! Except, I’m scared and embarrassed. The concept is one that I wish I thought of, like pheromone parties and video-based online dating (two other things that I’m too scared or embarrassed to participate in).

Who Charted? (and Two Charted)
GENRE: interview, comedy | HOST: Howard Kremer Kulap Vilaysack
SOURCE: Earwolf | Start Date: Dec. 8, 20120 | Frequency: Twice weekly Length: 1.5 hr+
When my regular shows aren’t doing it for me or I’ve blown through millions, I supplement with this little gem. Howard and Kulap chose a chart — movies, music, sometimes international — and have a friend on who goes over their feelings about that chart’s current top five. Kulap is married to Scott Akerman of Comedy Bang Bang, so they have access to many comedians. Plus, they’re both dolls.

WTF with Marc Maron+
GENRE: interview, comedy | HOST: Marc Maron
Start Date: Sept 1, 2009 | Frequency: Weekly, twice weekly | Length: 1 hr+
Marc Maron wasn’t easy for me to like. First, other podcasters are always referring to him attacking people or making guests break down on his show. Maybe I just don’t know enough about comedy or music (what most of WTF showcases), but neither have happened since I became a regular listener. He’s a feminist, incredibly sensitive, narcissistic and smart (hello, winning combo of every artist who ever lived). He seems like a deep thinker who can be derailed pretty easily if someone brings up heroin in the East Village during the eighties. But otherwise, he hears his guests, psychoanalyzes them in the manner in which he probably wishes he could be analyzed and then calls it a day. He wants everyone’s story from the beginning. He seems like himself, however uncomfortable, and he is funny, but in the downward comparison way. I like his TV show as well, and his one-hour special, Thinky Pain. I plan to rip him off some day, too, like Pete Holmes and everyone else, when I launch my own podcast. [Ms. Pat; President Obama; Robin Williams; Jason Schwartzman]

You Made It Weird*
GENRE: interview, comedy | HOST: Pete Holmes | SOURCE: Nerdist
Start Date: Oct 25, 2011 | Frequency: Wednesdays | Length: Long to really long, 1 hr+
I’m obsessed with this one. Pete Holmes took a second to grow on me. I’d never heard of him before I started listening, but he did have a show that followed Conan for a little while. He’s earnest and egotistical. He takes up a lot of space on his interview-style podcast. He calls his listeners weirdos, which I think he would fucking hate (like I do) if he, himself, was a listener, and the show doesn’t really ever get all that weird in my opinion. The original format was for ol’ Petey Pants to ask his friends three weird questions, and it still kind of follows that idea in a less contrived way. The focus is on comedy, god, food, science, dating/marriage and sometimes LA… It sounds kind of lame written out like that, but it works for me, especially with such a large array of guests for him to test his ideas on. He openly admits he ripped off Marc Maron when he was getting started, but says something over and over about that, that I think writers really need to keep in mind—what makes his podcast different and worthwhile is that it’s with him. I met Pete once. I asked him why he’s never tried ayahuasca (it’s a subject he often asks guests about). He said he hasn’t tried it because he’s scared. [Inside Pete’s Brain; TJ Miller #1, #2, #3(should I know what an absurdist is? Should I have a life philosophy?); Trevor Moore (birth certificate); Deepok Chopra; “Science” Mike (neurology, prayer); Brian Greene; Bill Nye; David Wolfe (ayahuasca); June Diane Raphael (clown school); Tig Notaro; Jen Kirkman; John Hamm; Sinbad; Whitney Cummings; Harris Wittels Returns (sad, right before he died)]

Trial Period:
-Radio Diaries
-Song Exploder
-Here We Are

Not My Bag:
-Alison Ronsen is Your New Best Friend
-A Way with Words
-Audio Smut
-Call Your Girlfriend
-Doug Loves Movies
-Ear Biscuits
-I Should Be Writing
-Love + Radio [Although, I loooovved the Thank you, Princess Episode]
-My Brother, My Brother And Me
-Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig
-Roderick on the Line
-The Adam and Dr. Drew Show Podcast
-The Adam Carolla Show
-The Bugle
-The Daily Show Podcast w/o Jon Stewart
-The Eddie Trunk Show
-The Jillian Michaels Show
-The Mating Grounds
-The Nerdist
-The Peace Revolution
-The Read
-The Sam Roberts Show Online
-The Steve Austin Show
-The Skeptics Guide to the Universe