Guidebook: Earwolf Podcast Network
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of the Earwolf podcast network! Quick reviews and recommendations for all of Earwolf’s current run of podcasts all in one place.
Each podcast has a mini review, recommended episode, a quick example of what the show is like, links to other related media, and links to other material for podcasts I’ve covered elsewhere on the web.
For the sake of brevity and sanity I’m only doing shows that are currently airing new episodes. Yes, I know You Talkin U2 to Me is probably done, but there was a new episode released a couple weeks ago at the time of writing and I’m pretty sure there will be a couple more. I’m not certain Topics will be airing new episodes but it has not been moved into Earwolf Classic in the official Earwolf Forums so I’m assuming it’s fair game.
I hope this helps you find a new shows to add to your subscriptions. It’s all for you, reader, so please — enjoy!
IMPROVISATION
AFFIRMATION NATION WITH BOB DUCCA
I would never have listened to this show if not for this guide. The description on the Earwolf site didn’t interest me so I never gave it a chance. I’m glad I did, though, because this is one of my favorite “new to me” shows.
Seth Morris play Bob Ducca: spiritual guide, affirming shoulder to lean on, sufferer of (mostly self-inflicted/diagnosed) physical and mental hardships, and sad sap. Affirmation Nation takes the listener on Ducca’s journey of acceptance as he embraces everything horrible life has given him with a palsied grasp from his withered arms. It sounds a little more dark than it is — but only a little.
Affirmation Nation started as short, 2–5 minute missives from Bob Ducca but has since grown into a 30–40 show with guests and a more developed improvisational bent. If nothing else, be sure to check out episode #144.
It’s kinda like … Stuart Smalley’s optimism, stirred with soothing drone of Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac, and a handful of Jack Handy’s Deep Thoughts
Recommended Episodes: Episode #144 Truckstop Blues, Episode #201 New Beginnings
THE ANDY DALY PODCAST PILOT PROJECT
Andy Daly’s Pilot Project is a showcase for Andy Daly’s improv and original characters. Daly and Earwolf regular Matt Gourley vet podcasts these characters have submitted to Earwolf to be “added” to the network.
If you’re a regular CBB listener you know Daly as Dalton Wilcox and a score of other memorable characters. Last year’s top CBB, as voted by fans in the year-end special, was essentially Daly cycling through a half-dozen or so characters while remembering an encyclopedia’s worth of back story and callbacks. It was marvelous.
Daly brings the same intensity and thoroughness to ADPP and a little more focus. It’s nice to see the characters in something like their natural habitat sans all CBB fripperies. It’s Andy Daly undiluted and, essential podcast listening.
If kinda like … The dark insanity of Too Many Cooks! with Amazon’s Prime Pilot Testers.
Recommended Episode: Hail Satan with Chip Gardner and Get Fit Now with Bill Carter
COMEDY BANG! BANG!
Comedy Bang! Bang! is a “talk show” hosted by Scott Aukerman. He is joined by comedians, actors, or musicians; usually with three or four guests per episode. I use the dick quotes around talk show because the format is window dressing for improv; the real display. Comedian guests usually show up in character, either as other celebrities (eg, Paul F Tompkins as The Cake Boss [cake boss], Andrew Lloyd Weber, or Garry Marshall to name a few) or original characters.
It’s messy, frenetic, and gut-busting. The show doesn’t always connect but when all the guests and their characters are clicking it’s the funniest show in my podcast roster.
If you mixed … The improv of Whose Line Is It, Anyway? with the weirdness of The Kids in the Hall
Recommended Episode: 150 Time Bobby and 215 Time Bobby 2
See also: Four Faves: Comedy Bang! Bang!
IMPROV4HUMANS
Hosted by Upright Citizens Brigade co-founder Matt Besser, improv4humans is improv with, uh, four humans. At first blush I thought this would be very similar to Comedy Bang! Bang! but aside from being under the very wide umbrella of “improvisation” the two have little in common.
CBB thrives in chaos but i4h is slightly more methodical. Like many live improv shows, Besser takes suggestions from the audience, via Twitter and YouTube videos. This is a great strength because it allows the crew to move on as needed. They never have to over commit to a bit because there’s always another suggestion coming down the pipe.
As with CBB any given episode’s success depends heavily on the chemistry of the four (or sometimes five) humans in the studio but every episode has one or two stellar bits good for an embarrassingly loud laugh.
It’s kinda like … Improv on the radio
Recommended Episode: Episode 82 — Apocalypse Crushes
B-b-b-bonus-s-s-s Material: UCB Master Class featuring i4h regulars
WITH SPECIAL GUEST LAUREN LAPKUS
Each week, Lauren Lapkus plays the guest of an imagined podcast and her guest plays the host. Its improvisational trappings are similar enough to CBB and i4h (on which Lapkus is a frequent guest) but it’s very much her own show. The weekly hosts are endearingly weird and varied. From Magic: The Gathering professionals to spiritual advisers, WSGLL has a lot of fun with its format. Lapkus’ dynamic range is on full display — she plays meek and maniacal equally well.
If you mixed … Late night public radio with a professional improv troupe
Recommended Episode: The Tom Leykis Radio Program
See Also: Podcast Review: With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus
MISCELLANEOUS
EARWOLF PRESENTS
B-b-b-bonus-s-s-s episodes. Earwolf Presents is a collection of one-offs from frequent Earwolf contributors without their own shows and a space for shows to air a pilot before going on the official lineup. Not a lot of new material but somewhat interesting for posterity.
Recommended Episode: Yo, Is This Racist? With guest Paul F Tompkins
NERD POKER
Nerd Poker Brian Posehn playing Dungeons and Dragons with his comedian/writer friends. It’s a fun, breezy, adventure, and well worth your time if any combination of words in the previous sentence sounds at all interesting. Don’t tune in for intense role playing and mastery of D&D mechanics, but do tune in if you like fantasy, jokes, and hilarious deaths.
It takes a couple episodes to gel but it’s definitely best to start from the beginning. Be sure to check out the review below for more info.
Kinda like … discovering your funniest friends play Dungeons and Dragons and would love if you listened in
Recommended Episode: Let the Game Begin!
See Also: Podcast Review: Nerd Poker
THE WOLF DEN
Hosted by Jeff Ullrich, co-founder of Earwolf, founder of sister-network Wolfpop and podcast-advertising juggernaut Midroll,The Wolf Den is a furtive peak at the network’s account ledger. Well, maybe not so revealing as that, but Ullrich is more forthcoming with the network’s successes and failures than I expected. It’s cool to see how the sausage is made, though your enjoyment of the show is highly dependent on how much you care about CPM and future ad buys. Ullrich is a good host but it’s not for everyone. I would recommend The Wolf Den for anyone who wants to learn more about podcasting — especially if you think you can quit your job and be a full-time podcaster.
Kinda like … eavesdropping on a couple business owners talking shop over coffee at Starbucks
Recommended Episode: Scott Aukerman, Co-Founder of Earwolf
TALK
BY THE WAY, IN CONVERSATION WITH JEFF GARLIN
Jeff Garlin chats with celebrities on stage. “Chat” is the operative word here: the conversations are mostly loose and breezy. Garlin is a good conversationalist — the show doesn’t dive deep into labyrinthine psyches but it doesn’t need to, either. As Garlin describes the show, it’s like listening in on two friends having a conversation over a cup of coffee. And it is that — not an in-depth examination of failed relationships over (several bottles of) wine.
Kinda like … Eavesdropping on those two famous people over there, in the corner. No, they don’t see us, look away, act casual!
Recommended Episode: Episode #15 Amy Poehler
HOLLYWOOD HANDBOOK
Have you ever had friends who always have Ideas? Like, really, though — really good Ideas. I mean, they have a really new, original idea and if you just sit down and listen — it’s going to be big. You want in on it right? And you know — their friend Roger is an agent — well, no Roger isn’t an agent but he used to be and he’s seriously connected — and if you guys pitched your Idea to Roger, he could get you in. Millions, dude. Millions. Of dollars.
Sean Clements and Hayes Davenport play those friends to their podcast audience and weekly guest in Hollywood Handbook. I had a difficult time deciding whether this show belonged in “Improvisation” or “Talk” because the guests also play trumped up versions of themselves to match the egomania of Sean and Hayes. I landed in “Talk” because they they play the same characters every week — but that doesn’t make it any less frenzied, funny, or inspired than other Earwolf’s improv fare.
Kinda like… “Rich Dicks” from Kroll Show and the showbiz exploits of Tobias Fünke in Arrested Development
Recommended Episode: Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich, Our Business Associates
KEVIN POLLAK’S CHAT SHOW
Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show is an actor talking to actor’s about acting. Mostly. There are other points of conversation but that’s the boilerplate. Pollak has, to my ear, the smoothest timbre in all of podcasting. Soothing vocals matched with Pollack’s talent for guiding conversation down intriguing and revealing avenues make it imminently listenable.
Kinda Like… That professor in college with the mellow voice spliced with a punchier version of Inside the Actors Studio
Recommended Episode: James Urbaniak
NEVER NOT FUNNY: THE JIMMY PARDO PODCAST
Jimmy Pardo’s Never Not Funny has been around for nearly a decade and I had never listened to it until this project. I have no excuse. Coming into it with fresh ears was a bit like watchingCasablanca or Aliens as an adult: I have a better understanding of where so many podcast conventions originated. The comedian host, the intimate conversations balanced with laughter, the guests whose history with the host extends beyond the studio, and so on. Not at all limited podcasting (which cribbed a lot from late night television and radio, too) these conventions and — more importantly — Pardo’s expert execution helped defined the medium. Now you, too, have no excuses. Go check it out.
Kinda Like… The elder statesman of podcasting
Recommended Episode: Ep #1416 — Tig Notaro
THE HOORAY SHOW WITH HORATIO
Even as Pardo has, in part, determined the conventions of podcasting, Horation Sanz and The Hooray Show have come along to subvert and stretch those expectations. On the surface The Hooray Show is a comedian talking to comedians, but pushes back in its own ways. Interviews aren’t always chronological and are often interserspersed with a sketch, a call from listeners, or a cut back to Sanz and his producer/occasional co-host Chad Krueger. I hardly ever use “inspired” and “production” together but Kreuger’s mixing flair give the show a fresh feel.
Be sure to check out my review below for more.
If you mixed … A talk show, a sketch show, and a
Recommended Episode: Rock of Agee
See Also: Podcast Review: The Hooray Show with Horatio
RONNA & BEVERLY
Ronna and Beverly (played by Jessica Chaffin and Jamie Denbo) are authors, relationship gurus, and every intrusive relative who asked about that ex you broke up with six months ago (“You know the one with those abs? My God!”) in tidy-podcast form. Ronna and Beverly are more charming than that description might suggest because, despite the shockingly intrusive questions, the two do mean well and the weekly guests/interview subjects are (usually) keen to play along. “Do you look at your vagina?” and “How do you feel about your nipples?” are on the low end of Ronna and Beverly shock spectrum. The fun is seeing how quickly the guests react, either with a witty retort or an audible blush.
Or, in the case of Maron, flipping it back onto the hosts with an abrasive comeback.
Kinda Like… “Coffee Talk” from SNL and getting coffee with your overly curious Aunts Ronna and Beverly
Recommended Episode: Episode #25 Museum of Death (Marc Maron) or Episode #6 Jen Kirkman
SKLARBRO COUNTRY
I have said over and over: if you’re going to host a talk show you have to have a perspective. It doesn’t even have to be especially unique — it only has to be your own. Sklarbro Country, as far as I can tell, has none. Hosts Jason and Randy Sklar meander through conversation on the way to a guest interview where they talk about … sports I guess? And sometimes music?
I gave this show six hours — which is about five and a half more hours than I would have given if it I hadn’t been doing this guide. On the one hand I feel like I should dig a little deeper and “give the show a chance.” On the other hand, if I haven’t mustered a laugh or a “hm, that’s interesting” by anything from the hosts in six hours of listening…
I’m only recommending an episode because Jen Kirkman can’t not be interesting.
Kinda Like … Two guys talking at you about things they may or may not care about
Recommended Episode: Ep #225 Give Me the Award or Don’t (Jen Kirkman, Chris Cox)
THE CRACKED PODCAST
Last week on twitter I asked whether or not it was good enough for a podcast to be thought provoking without completely accurate. I brought that up because of this podcast which, like Cracked itself, is informative (and funny) if not 100% trustworthy. But I don’t think it’s meant to be.
The answer to my own question is a qualified “Yes, it is OK.” It is OK in the case of The Cracked Podcast at least, because the hosts approach their topic from an angle of philosophical (yes, philosophical) inquiry rather than academic rigor. The hosts are more interested in shifting perception and changing minds and in that aim they’re ssuccessful. With managed expectations, The Cracked Podcast is entertaining, engaging, and even educational — in an exploratory sense, anyway.
Kinda like … A listicle written with thought and consideration
Recommended Episode: Cracks in Human Perception
HOW DID THIS GET MADE?
“Talking about bad movies” is go-to fodder for a lot of new podcasters — mostly because its comedic soil is fertile as it is well-trod. How Did This Get Made isn’t the first podcat to toil in the fields of terrible cinema but it might be the best.
Paul Scheer, with co-hosts June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas, have something different to offer from one another whether it’s guidance, curiosity, or gleeful revelry at the on-screen insanity. The conversation never devolves into “boy this sure is bad, huh?” formlessness. Rather, the troupe act more as forensics for horrible crimes against film, working tirelessly to figure out what grisly happenstance led to some of Hollywood’s most abominable acts.
Kinda like … MST3K commentary bolstered with production research/details and weekly guest
Recommended Episode: Sharknado (with Scott Aukerman)
PROFESSOR BLASTOFF
Professor Blastoff may be even less concerned with facts than The Cracked Podcast but doesn’t suffer for it. Tig Notaro and co-hosts Kyle Dunnigan and David Huntsberger are up front about their lack of answers to the topics of their pursuit and invite guests to help narrow the gap in understanding — at least a little. Guest experts are usually on the periphery but add enough factual guidance to keep things on track.
PB’s strength is not only its discussion but also in the chemistry between its hosts -which may be my favorite in all of podcasting. They’re friends and adults who love and respect each other — a surprisingly novel and grown-up portrayal in all of pop culture. Their dynamic is especially important for a podcast about finding answers because the hosts are comfortable asking questions for the sake inquiry instead of sounding smart. The conversation can meander a little because of the level of comfort, but they all know how to keep it entertaining.
Kinda like … Hitting “Random article” on Wikipedia and talking with your friends about whatever come sup
Recommended Episode: Reconciliation
TOPICS
Did you ever watch Lost? I was a big fan of Lost. It taught me a lot. My favorite character, Sawyer, taught me about he long con, the protracted cousin of the short-term (and less lucrative) hustle. A long con raises the stakes considerably but the reward is that much greater.
I don’t know if Topics is going for a long con in the way it sets up its jokes but it seems like it. Michael Ian Black and co-host Michael Showalter tackle the big issues like Courage, Heat, Space, God, and Santa Claus. There are jokes throughout but they’re mostly riffs on the hosts feigned, outlandish pomposity. It’s funny because the hosts play it so perfectly. But the real heart of Topics, for me, is when one of the hosts (usually Black) steers the conversation into a sophomoric double entendree, like a long discussion about the weight and size of Santa Claus’s enormous duty. Black takes his time arriving to the duty/doody joke doesn’t rush when he gets there. Like the long con, it can fail if all the pieces don’t fall into place but it does more often than not.
Is it childish? Yes.
Is it silly? Very.
Does it make me laugh? Every time.
Kinda like … Charlie Rose and Diane Rehm smoked a bowl and recorded their conversations about life, man
Recommended Episode: Empires
U TALKIN’ U2 TO ME?
My college roommate and best friend Nate was a huge fan of U2. I never cared much for the band but he was sure he could change my mind if he only found the right album, playlist, or angle of approach. His efforts were for nothing, though. The band’s anthematic brand of rock has never held more than a few bars worth of my attention.
U Talkin’ U2 to Me? feels like an extension of those late-night U2 talks with Nate over coffee and Cup of Noodle. Scott Aukerman and Adam Scott talk U2 with astounding depth of knowledge and feeling. The band means a lot to the both of them and their enthusiasm for the music is more contagious than Lisztomania. Adam Scott Aukerman haven’t made U2 fans out of me but I still love the show for its teenage-boy-detail discussion, ridiculous running jokes, and gang-buster co-host chemistry.
Kinda like … It’s two guys talking about U2 -I’m not sure how to break it down any more
Recommended Episode: From Boy to Under a Blood Red Sky
WHO CHARTED?
I hated mustard when I was a kid. If there was even a speck of yellow on my hotdog I would dump it straight in the garbage without . The origin of this disgust are unknown to me but boyhowdy was I surprised when teenage-me ate a burger with stealth mustard and enjoyed it. Because that shit was on point. It turns out I didn’t hate mustard — I loved it. And in the middle of the burger with mustard I wept for my childhood bereft of God’s greatest condiment.
My experience with Who Charted? follows a similar arc. I thought I disliked co-host Howard Kremer who, much like mustard, has a particular flavor. I remember originally thinking his space-cadet aura was an affectation but now, I don’t think it is. Kremer zigs when I think he’s going to zag but he comes by it honestly as far as I can tell. Co-host Kulap Vilaysack does great work getting the most of Kremer’s oblique sensibility, guiding Kremer and their rotating guest through the weeks charts.
There’s an instinct to hate everything that might be most popular in any given week but the pair are honest about what their preferences and the conversation is all the better for it. Though I recommend starting with the most recent episode, the entire backlog is worth exploring for a nostalgia boost and remembering what song you were singing in the car two summers ago.
Kinda like … Kasey Kasem’s America Top 40 covering a variety of charts and hosted by funny people
Recommended Episode: Most recent episode
Bonus Recommendation: Gandalf Vs. Snape
YO, IS THIS RACIST?
Host Andrew Ti and rotating guest answer listener-submitted questions about what is and is not racist. Conversations are open and honest, bolstered by Ti and guests lived experience as they navigate the ever-tempestuous waters of race. They approach the questions with good humor and verve. Nothing ever made about difficult issues can be perfect but there is a lot to learn from Yo, Is This Racist?
Kinda like … the exact opposite of Starbucks and #RaceTogether
Recommended Episode: Most recent episode
