Another 'what podcasts are you listening to?' thread (End times edition)

[non capisco]

Ehhhhh up you pod crazed youngsters! (inevitably)

I'm walking to or from work at the moment so as best to avoid that floating fluorescent testicle with all trumpets coming out of it that you see on the news a lot these days. As a result I've gone podcast potty. Doo-lally for the bloody things and slavering for more. Can any of you CaB dazzlers chuck me some recommendations? Here's what I'm already listening to.

CHART MUSIC - Obviously, I think you have to if you post on here. It is the best podcast in the world, though, and more than enough has been written about it on these pages. You all know this one.
OFF MENU - Clung to this like a life raft over lockdown. James Acaster has become one of my favourite voices. Any episode where the guest picks a shit dessert and he has a meltdown makes my laugh starved heart go all astonished.
JAMES ACASTER'S PERFECT SOUNDS - By contrast, it's brilliant to hear this other side of him where he's not even leaning on his comedy persona and is just a frothingly articulate music enthusiast. This is a bit like if some fool at the BBC had accidentally given Nags a podcast. Love Acaster.
RULE OF THREE - A new discovery, years behind everyone else on here, probably. Currently ploughing through these and even enjoying the ones where the guests bring on examples of comedy I think is complete shit. I'm enjoying wallowing in other people's enthusiasms at the moment.
FILMSPOTTING - The best cinema podcast I've found. Decent mix of reviewing interesting new releases and analysis of old cinema. Been going for yonks, they know what they're talking about. I don't mind Kermode's one where he patronises that young boy but this is the real deal.
THE HEAD BALLET PODCAST - My newest discovery, Paul Abbott and a guest discuss one specific novelty song per episode. Lot of Looks Unfamiliar guest crossover. Truly fascinating deep dive on 'The Laughing Policeman' this week.
YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS: Another famous one. Stories from the secret and/or forgotten world of 20th century Hollywood. Karina Longworth rules.
ADAM BUXTON/ATHLETICO MINCE/FRANK SKINNER SHOW - No description needed on these three perennials.
DAVID BOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUM - Bet you can't guess what this is about.
THE GIDDY CAROUSEL OF POP - Like Night Nurse to Chart Music's heroin I suppose.
WHAT DO YOU CALL THAT NOISE?: THE XTC PODCAST - I think this is too niche even for me, one episode was an hour long discussion of a They Might Be Giants song that mentions XTC.

RECENTLY SACKED OFF
CUM TOWN: Thoroughly bored of it again, as they seem to be. Increasingly not worth wading through the listless quasi-ironic bigotry for the occasional inspired Nick Mullen riff. Wince at every casual 'bitch'.

[Ferris]

Whatever Happened to Pizza at McDonald's?

Brilliant bit of irreverent subtle absurdism. Takes a while to get going, but it's really barreling along now (a helicopter from a nearby firestation saved our hero who may or may not have started the fire in the California countryside in a misguided but ultimately redemptive (?) hike to Nevada to view several former McDonald's locations in person (confirmed as serving pizza in the early to mid '90s) after the concierge of a Las Vegas building that a pizza box bought on eBay listed as the home address of a pizza addict refused to give information by phone and the TSA would not allow the revolutionary B.U.B.L. system on domestic flights so hiking was considered the only option after the host's big rig truck was destroyed in an earlier episode by fireworks hooligans). That's the latest, anyway. Adak island, that's all I'm saying.

Love it. Get stuck in.

[bgmnts]

Tried Cum Town again over the past few days but it quickly just becomes so inane and unfunny I delete it all.
Liking Chapo Trap House a bit, not that funny but interesting to get their views on things.
Bill Burr's podcast is a new staple of mine.
Mince is on hold obviously.
Various language learning and history podcasts.
Someone recommended Desolation Radio on here recently which I havent listened to yet but is on my subscribed.
The occasional In Our Time if i'm feeling high brow.

[Twonty Gostelow]

I'm currently wading my way through a backlog of Gilbert Gottfried podcasts. The show's theme is mainly comedy and old Hollywood, with an emphasis on anecdotes.

Bob Saget a couple of weeks ago was funny, but I particularly like the ones with veteran writers talking about their experiences on movies and sitcoms, eg:
https://www.gilbertpodcast.com/sitcom-writers-roundtable-with-dave-hackel-john-markus-bernie-orenstein-and-bill-persky/
https://www.gilbertpodcast.com/howard-storm-and-steve-stoliar/
- think the opening scene of Broadway Danny Rose with the writers and comedians reminiscing in the deli.

Or maybe these two for fans of Airplane!
https://www.gilbertpodcast.com/david-zucker/
https://www.gilbertpodcast.com/airplane-40th-anniversary-withjulie-hagerty-and-robert-hays/

[Hand Solo]

REDBAR - taking the piss out of other podcast and media personality cunts for 6 hours at a time. Also, calypso music.

[convulsivespace]

Regular listen (every episode):

Desert Oracle Radio - Weekly radio broadcast from the Mojave desert near Joshua Tree featuring host and interesting curmudgeon Ken Layne discussing the weird, the paranormal, and all things desert-related. More of a thought-out and produced monologue than a traditional "podcast," although he does sometimes have guests on. Must be listened to late at night.

The Purple Stuff Podcast - The most obscure show on this list and, somewhat surprisingly, my personal favorite podcast. Two thickly accented friends from the tri-state area (specifically, New Jersey and Staten Island) discuss random pop cultural ephemera, low-brow entertainment, bygone toys and snack foods, and other detritus from the nostalgia trash stratum, mostly focusing on their childhoods in the 1980s to early 1990s. Each episode is typically organized around a theme and a list of selections, e.g. eight great vampires from pop culture. I discovered the show because I used to read one of the host's websites when I was a teenager way back in the early 2000s, which he is miraculously still running (formerly called X-Entertainment, but rebranded at some point as Dinosaur Dracula). I say "surprisingly" above because I'm not particularly enmeshed in the communities that I assume make up most of the audience (wrestling fans, 80s horror fans, toy collectors, etc.), and because I'm too young to recognize a majority of the references from the 1980s. There may be a low nostalgia factor for most people on this forum because it is an extremely American show, but as mentioned I don't get the references either and it doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the show or the two hosts. Sign of a truly great podcast: they do have a Patreon but almost never plug it.

Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig - Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend and co-host Jake Longstreth (with regular producer @Seinfeld2000 from Twitter) hold mellow conversations about various current events and pop culture items, with a heavy focus on popular music history. All parties involved are extremely likeable and this is usually a great show to wind down to, whether you share their taste in music and love for the Grateful Dead or not. For you Chart Music fans out there, one of the regular features is a comparison of the current day top-5 singles on the Billboard chart with the top-5 singles from some date in the distant past. Somewhat of a pain in the ass to listen to if you don't happen to subscribe to Apple Beats 1 (??) as the show is only otherwise available via a bootleg tumblr site or the delightfully named Sukadogdik bootleg website.

Regular listen (selected episodes):

No need to recap the more popular podcasts that I've been listening to here and there during quarantine. Still check in on Chapo Trap House and Trillbilly Workers Party on occasion, though I'm always startled anew at the thought that there are people paying money for either. I'm not sure how well known Weird Studies is on here, but that can be a fun listen depending on the topic. Have just started listening to Chart Music, no more need be said about that on here obviously.

The Secret History of Western Esotericism - Academically oriented survey of the intellectual history and development of esoteric thought in the Western world, proceeding more or less chronologically and after several years of slow progress currently still mired in late antiquity. The content is interesting but the presentation is fairly dry if that's not your thing. (Imagine a weekly episode of In Our Time, but without any guests for Melvyn Bragg to get snippy at.) I like it because it gives a broad and earnest overview of "weird" subjects, but without the distraction of a host who actually believes the weird thing being discussed.

Recently:

Seincast: A Seinfeld Podcast - I've been going through this one to distract myself from the collapse of civil society. Very simple premise: two Seinfeld superfans recap in minute detail every single episode of Seinfeld, including off-camera production notes and a scene-by-scene breakdown of each episode. Maybe not for everyone, but having grown up on Seinfeld in constant syndication, just hearing the episodes discussed is a nice dose of nostalgia. No longer active because they finished the full run of the show back in 2018.

[Mobius]

Regular listen (every episode):

Desert Oracle Radio - Weekly radio broadcast from the Mojave desert near Joshua Tree featuring host and interesting curmudgeon Ken Layne discussing the weird, the paranormal, and all things desert-related. More of a thought-out and produced monologue than a traditional "podcast," although he does sometimes have guests on. Must be listened to late at night.

Nice, sounds a bit like Art Bell's stuff. I'll give that a go!

[DrGreggles]

Crime in Sports is good fun. Quite long and in-depth, but (due to the hosts) never boring.
Essentially they take one sportsman (usually American, but not always) and delve into their career in sport and descent into crime. Most of these are about guys I've never heard of, but the stories of a fall from grace are incredible. The ones where they delve into non-US sports are probably the most fun, as they have no idea of any sports outside of the 'Big Four', but please remember to find their ignorance charming.

[Johnboy]

Rock's Back Pages – Barney Hoskyns and Mark Pringle chatting with a guest

The Giddy Carousel of Pop  - issues of Smash Hits dissected

Word in your Ear/The Word – mark ellen and David Hepworth banging on about rock/pop

The Hustle – musicians from the 70s and 80s interviewed (American but lots of British artists)

Strange Brew – similar to the Hustle but British

Dead Rock Stars   - mick wall and joel mcivor talk about deceased rockers, little bit metally but a broad church

Family Secrets  - what it says

Frank Skinner's poetry podcast, discontinued but it was good

Sunday Miscellaney  - short non fiction - RTE

Podarooney – Joe Rooney, comedian interviews people

Lift the Sink – short stories with literature discussion

Spokes – interviews with academics/authors

Backlisted – discussions on books, often out of print

Inheritance Tracks – people pick a piece of music they inherited and one they'd pass on (10 mins) – BBC

Sodajerker – musicians discuss their songwriting craft

Nothing is Real and I am the Eggpod – may fave fab four pods

[boki]

Song vs Song - Todd "In The Shadows" Nathanson and Dany Roth pick a couple of songs that share some kind of superficial similarity and try to work out which is better.  One of the criteria being which would produce the better Shatnerisation.

[finnquark]

Uhh Yeah Dude - America through the eyes of two American Americans

[Famous Mortimer]

Uhh Yeah Dude - America through the eyes of two American Americans

Been a fan of this since somewhere in the 300s (I have the person on this forum who recommended it to thank). It's the only one of the "two funny people just talking" podcasts I can bear these days, and it's always lovely to see a new episode pop up.

[chveik]

Trillbilly Workers Party

also The Best Show Bests and Hollywood Handbook sometimes

[Dog Botherer]

Chapo
Trillbillys
Street Fight Radio
Blood & Mud Rugby Podcast
Ballin Out Super
Shane's Brilliant Podcast
Episode 1
Minion Death Cult
Left Inside
Struggle Session
Citation Needed
TrueAnon
CushVlogs Audio
The PODkast
Pushback
No Cartridge

and more

[Camp Tramp]

Behind The Bastards Hosted by Robert Evans. Talks about the worst people in history, they have to be interesting bad people though. It was through this pod that I discovered that L Ron Hubbard tried to create his own navy.

Lions Led By Donkeys Hosted by Joe Kassabian with a revolving cast of regular guests. He is ex-military but very to the left. Has done episodes on famous military disasters such as the Continuation War, the Iran/Iraq conflict and Russia in Afghanistan. The humour can be very earthy and some of the early episodes are a bit ropey but I like the podcast.

[peanutbutter]

Games:
Retronauts - usually a good trawl into a specific retro gaming topic each week, prolly start getting patreon ones soon as they seem to be more interesting niche picks of topics lately whereas they seem to be using the pandemic as a chance to get through a whole glut of listener request episodes they don't care so much about on the main feed.
Cane and Rinse - weekly deep dive into a game, a fairly eclectic range of games chosen. Usually does a really thorough job but occasionally it'll either just be a dud game or one none of the people vibed with much
Vidjagame Apocalypse - exclusively for the bit of an epsiode where they focus on a topic, pretty much never listen to a full episode
could probably do with having a look at what gaming podcasts are out there these days, been a while

Film:
have zero time for weekly roundup things so I tend to go with ones that focus on a particular topic
Projection Booth: weekly super deep dive into a film. Can often times feel like the sum total of research work for a book/documentary as opposed to being the finished product. Only check out when it looks like one that'll grab my interest
Wrong Reel: big time film nerds being nerdy to an almost obnoxious level. Only check out when it looks like one that'll grab my interest.
You Must Remember This: annual binge

Wrestling:
Post Wrestling: Raw/Dynamite recaps, been listening to these guys for like 12 years now so it's total comfort food really
Between the Sheets: recapping a particular week of wrestling newsletters each week, insanely long but usually stick it on for a full work day and get through it that way
Totally Football Show: default "I can't think of anything to play" option

Current Affairs and all that:
Chapo
TrashFuture (which has been really good this year, I think)
TrueAnon
Citations Needed
Blowback: Iraq war podcast
Slow Burn: that David Duke one, wasn't great

Comedy:
Cum Town: usually will binge like 2 months of episodes at a time, I think it probably hides dud episodes. To me the whole show is a state of mind rather than something I can judge individual episodes by at all
We Hate Movies: Only if it seems like the kind of film they'll do well with
Best Show: random binges from random periods

Music:
none




Podcasts I've bailed on in recent times:
- The Lapsed Fan: they just don't seem to be able to pick topics that are both interesting and interest them. The Von Erich series was amazing but that's like 2 years ago now. Can't help but feel all the effort Jack put into the steroid trial would be better put to use on him writing a book about it all
- Watch Out For Fireballs: I like the idea of the podcast but the two guys annoy me too much
- The Comedians Comedian: too many episode
- 99% Invisible: I'm sure I'll get back to it, but the format, which I used to love, doesn't seem to find a slot in my listening habits any more

[Garam]

Chat for God - relaxing and insightful Christian podcast, but Christians with an online irony poisoned sense of humour. I'm not religious at all, but i really enjoy this a lot. It's not strictly about religion either, it's just a ruminating on life show really, but it swings back to Christianity and religion as the main focus.

Podcast about List - gave up on Cum Town for a while so this scratches the 'American lads being rude' itch. They're funny on twitter.

Tha Dirty Dogg House - UK two hander, enjoy the shambolic presentation of it, and the lack of care as to whether or not there's an audience.

Trash Future - Got sick of Chapo and that orbit. This is less financially successful and so less up its own arse. It's good to have a UK based one of these, cause i feel Chapo didn't really know what they were talking about a lot of the time when they focused on Europe

WallerFM - been dipping in and out of the live ones they've put up during the pandemic, was a big David Firth fan back around 03/04/05 so this is a comforting listen and its good to see him be less anal about his creations and just throwing stuff out there again

edit: forgot: Protestant Wind / La Wisconsin Insoumise - an enjoyable pod usually with guests from some of weird twitter's funnier accounts. Subjects range from Steely Dan to the IRA. Usually a pretty jovial atmosphere as you can tell they're fairly close to all the guests thru online

[lauraxsynthesis]

I recommend The Demon Seed Podcast - https://audioboom.com/channels/5065502
John Rutledge (Eggsy from Goldie Lookin' Chain) and Mike Bubbins (I also recommend his new pilot 'Mammoth' on iPlayer). It's meant to be similar to their previous comedy paranormal podcast The Unexplainers but it tends to be less structured and more chaotic. It sometimes descends into John doing impressions of the Steptoes or Dad's Army sometimes in a mash up with eg the A Team. Barmy stuff and excellent.

[Uncle TechTip]

Tomorrow's World Audit Time is ok, a chart music style trawl through an episode of TW. The research is good and lots of discussion of the tropes on the show. They are not on podbean though so I always forget - hope it's still going.

[phantom_power]

I really like the Pure Cinema Podcast, where the two hosts pick 5 films each on a certain topic. They try not to go for the obvious ones so you get them discussing more obscure films and that has led to me discovering, or wanting to discover, loads of films I might not have heard of

[Icehaven]

There's a whole thread about it but You're Wrong About is a great listen and there's loads of them.

I've been listening to Unexplained too, although it can be a bit silly and the lovely Hauntological music in the background is distractingly atmospheric, I often find myself listening to that rather than what the bloke's saying.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Chapo
Well There's Your Problem
Always Sunny
Alexei Sayle
Anything that includes Dodds+Boldsworth

Been meaning to have a go on Trashfuture, You're Wrong About, Behind the Bastards, You Must Remember This and Screenshot (which is technically radio - Kermode and Ellen E Jones talking film stuff).

I usually put them on at night and fall asleep to them though so 'listening' might be a stretch.

[Brundle-Fly]

I usually put them on at night and fall asleep to them though so 'listening' might be a stretch.

My girlfriend does that every night. She even drifts off to a podcast about serial killers and then wonders why she suffers terrible dreams.

[phantom_power]

I always go to sleep listening to a podcast. It is the best way to distract from the thoughts circulating round my stupid brain. It is a bit of a tightrope though, finding a podcast that is interesting enough for you to want to listen to, and one you don't mind missing lots of when you fall asleep, and being happy with re-listening to some of it another time

[Sebastian Cobb]

It would be good if you could integrate with a sleep tracker like a fitbit or phone that places a marker where it thinks you've dozed off, it would make resuming a lot easier.

[beanheadmcginty]

Tomorrow's World Audit Time is ok, a chart music style trawl through an episode of TW. The research is good and lots of discussion of the tropes on the show. They are not on podbean though so I always forget - hope it's still going.

That's my podcast! Glad you enjoy it. I'll look into getting it added onto Podbean. Didn't realise it wasn't on there.

[Uncle TechTip]

That's my podcast! Glad you enjoy it. I'll look into getting it added onto Podbean. Didn't realise it wasn't on there.

Crikey, Mark, is that you? (I reckon out of the two of you, Mark is the likeliest cabber)

Be assured, it's good and despite its length doesn't outstay its welcome, similar to Chart Music.

[Ferris]

Whatever Happened to Pizza at McDonald's?

Brilliant bit of irreverent subtle absurdism. Takes a while to get going, but it's really barreling along now (a helicopter from a nearby firestation saved our hero who may or may not have started the fire in the California countryside in a misguided but ultimately redemptive (?) hike to Nevada to view several former McDonald's locations in person (confirmed as serving pizza in the early to mid '90s) after the concierge of a Las Vegas building that a pizza box bought on eBay listed as the home address of a pizza addict refused to give information by phone and the TSA would not allow the revolutionary B.U.B.L. system on domestic flights so hiking was considered the only option after the host's big rig truck was destroyed in an earlier episode by fireworks hooligans). That's the latest, anyway. Adak island, that's all I'm saying.

Love it. Get stuck in.

Still loving this btw.

[chveik]

Trillbilly Workers Party
The Bruenigs
Death Is Just Around the Corner

[non capisco]

I never replied or listened to any of your recommendations, did I? Bit rude.