OT: General Interest Podcast Recommendations
I have realized lately that a lot of the podcasts I listen to are unique to my personal interests. This leads to me getting bored (too much of a good thing, etc) and becoming a bore to my wife when I recount the minutiae of things I find interesting and she couldn’t possibly feign being interested in.
So my question to the MGoHiveMind, what are some good general interest podcasts? Episodes shorter than an hour would be ideal, I don’t have Dan Carlin time. I’m also a bit bored with the general celebrity interview type podcasts, but if it’s a new twist or format I will give it a shot.
If you're looking for something that can appeal to a broader audience but still be educational, I'd check out "Freakonomics."
I was just logging in to post this.
Revisionist History by Gladwell is also an interesting look at things you thought you knew or understood and they are all under a hour long.
Also, slowly work your way up to 1.5 times speed and then to 2 times speed. Get more info faster, and those deep conversations you don’t have time to listen to are now cut in half.
Second Freakonomics, and also on Michigan Radio, That's What They Say is a short look at twists of grammar and developing slang with a touch of humor. It's is a weekly segment on NPR that looks at changing language with U of M English professor Anne Cruzan. Less than 10 mins in length, I always enjoy a few on quick car trips.
Give Timesuck a shot. Most are over an hour now, but it's a fun ride. Dan Cummins does a good job of delivering facts and mixing his comedy in with it.
If you are into dark history The Conspirators is really good and pretty short. Most are around 30 mins long.
For my part "Nice Try: Utopian" is a fun short series about some failed attempts at utopian societies. The one on Oneida was really interesting. Also "the Ongoing History of New Music" is a nice port over of some of Allen Cross' radio bits to a manageable podcast length
I've been enjoying Factually, which is a new podcast from Adam Conover. He takes a deep dive into one issue every episode and hosts an expert in that field.
I'm not a big fan of Adam Conover. When he's presented with new information, he's not very good at processing it and recognizing that he might be misguided.
Agreed. His appearance on Rogan was very cringe.
Against the Rules by Michael Lewis is decent, Revisionist History, and In the Dark are also good.
American Scandal
Dirty John
missing Richard Simmons
Shrink Next Door
Fatal Voyage
Swindled
I am a big fan of No Such Thing as a Fish -- done by the research elves at QI (a BBC quiz show).
And even though they only come out like once every six months, the Hardore History Podcasts are like 4 hours long a piece and terrific.
The OP said Carlin is too long but you don't have to listen in one go. I never do. I just turn it on when I'll have a significant amount of time to listen and pick up where I left off next time and usually start 30 seconds back so I'm not coming in mid sentence or quote and confused.
Couple that I like (all available on Google Play or Spotify):
History of Poland
Crimetown (season 2 is all about Detroit)
Spycast (International Spy Museum podcast)
Trifles (short 15-20 min pods on different minutiae of the Sherlock Holmes canon)
I second the crimetown recommendation. The first season with the Providence mob is wild
Not general interest, but if you want to hear a story that just seems incredible, listen to Dr. Death. He’s a guy who became probably the worst spinal surgeon ever.
If you are looking for new podcasts or just like podcasts as a way to learn more about check out Listen Notes and set up a Listen Later feed for yourself on your favorite podcast app. It’s awesome and super easy and let’s you keyword search podcasts for people topics or anything else.
(“jrvp”)
Best 45 mins of my week.
My list isn't long because I don't tune in often enough to exhaust their content, but in terms of quality I don't need anything else:
- Radiolab
- This american life
- 99% invisible
I also like Philosophize This, but that isn't general interest.
I'll second 99% Invisible.
Touches on the design of little things you probably don't notice and their impact on society. Sometimes gets a little heavy on art & architecture (naturally) but covers topics all over the map from the design of sports uniforms to how to get an emoji approved for universal use.
Super informative podcast with enough of a library to keep a new listener engaged for a LONG time
In no particular order:
- The Russia Guy
- From Russia with News
- Russia Rising
Username checks out.
Check out The Eastern Border.
American Scandal and its spinoff 1865 are both interesting and around 30-45 min
Big fan of Stuff You Should Know.
Seconded. This is pretty much the definition of an awesome general interest podcast. Plus, as a bonus, if you’re just starting out now, there’s a huge library of previous episodes to listen to. The older ones generally age well as they tend to stay away from current events/topical subjects.
Joey Rogans
I would also say JRE.
Part of me hates that I agree with him 99% of the time. I find him very non-biased and his set up allows his guests to really open up and just talk honestly.
"Becoming Lincoln"
'A podcast on the life of Abraham Lincoln, from his ancestors to his afterlife.' Currently up to the 1840s.
The dollop.... Look for the jetpack episode.
My son runs a podcast review site called podcastreview.org. They review popular and not so popular podcasts. The reviews are more than a blurb. Check it out.
When I'm not listening to sports related content I'm listening to Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder.
If you want some less polemical conservative content, I suggest the Remnant with Jonah Goldberg.
The trail went cold and campfire tales
Joe Rogan Experience/Joe Rogan
Skeptic Tank/Ari Shaffir
Monday Morning Podcast/Bill Burr
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend/ Conan O'Brien
Your Mom's House/Christina Pazistzky and Tom Segura
Based on your recommendations you should check out 2 bears 1 cave and king and the sting.
These are great choices for humor, beware if you listen at work you may occasionally laugh out loud.
The Fighter and The Kid is my favorite right now. Any episode with Will Sasso, Chris D'Elia, or Andrew Santino are hilarious. Even the episodes that are a few years old are magical. Bryan Callan is a master at steering the bits those guys are trying out:
Love the fighter and the kid. The JRE MMA Fight Companions when they have Schaub, Callan, and Eddie Bravo on are a riot. Usually there is very little MMA content but plenty of outrageous conversation.
Sweet Tart Tartin' Ass. TFATK has a good mix of comedy and combat sports talk to compliment the mainstream sports coverage I listen to.
I enjoy the fight companions and the JRE MMA shows as well.
Haven’t listened to TFATK in over 2 years, Shaub let fame get to his head and doesn’t let Bryan really get into a groove. Ten Minute podcast with Delia, Will and Bryan will forever be the greatest podcast of all time. Their chemistry is incredible.
Yea, I didn't mention him for a reason. He's a wet blanket a lot of the time when it comes to the bits and often sits off to the side without much to contribute. Seems like whenever Sasso or D'Elia are on Schaub is nowhere to be found, probably because he doesn't have the chemistry that Bryan does with the guests. Still enjoyable when it's just Bryan and Brendan tho.
Yeah I listen when Schaub is out, usually. The last one I listened to was Callen and Sasso and before that was when it was just him and Delia. I just love Bryan, I really think he is one of the more naturally funny guys around and he just seems to not care or try when it’s him and Brendan. TFATK would be more tolerable if Bryan stood up to Brendan every so often when he tries to shut him down. I really recommend going back and listening to Ten Minute pod. Those three together are incredible. And btw Callen and Sasso are supposed to be starting a new pod too, no idea when it will drop with everything going on with Callen.
I could listen to Callan, Sasso, and D'Elia talk about fighting each other all day. It's so freaking funny when they do that. I'll go back and check out the 10 Minute Podcast and keep my eyes peeled for that new show. Thanks for the heads up.
What's ironic is that I think Callan and D'Elia are 10x funnier on the podcast when they are riffing rather their actual standup.
For sure! It’s on Spotify, they’ve got about 300 episodes together. I’ve gone through it 3 times in the past two months. and I agree 1000% about their stand up. I think Bryan’s is okay but I tried to watch Delia’s incorrigible and I don’t think I laughed once, nothing against him just not my style of comedy.
used to be a regular mmp, but I just found burr too angry and stopped listening. Has having the kid calmed him any?
I'm a big fan of https://www.revolutionspodcast.com/ by Mike Duncan (also did History of Rome). Episodes are broken up into different series, each series covering a different revolution. Current series is the Russian Revolution. Episodes are around 25-30 minutes usually.
I really like Rich Eisen's morning sports talk radio show. But he does 3 hours a day 5 days a week. He also talks about baseball and other crap I don't care about. I find that he's just a really good talk show host and what I enjoy most is when he interviews a non sports person. So I only listen to the 1 hour segments where he interviews an actor (they always have great stories), a UofM person (Rich is a massive Michigan fan), or some other interesting non-sports person. That cuts it down from 15 hours a week to a meaningful 2-4. It's also no longer about sports most of the time so it doesn't matter if I don't listen to it in a timely manner.
That's about as general as I get. Everything else is UofM sports related, video game related, or true crime. Though I just found that critical role (voice actors turning a dnd game into a show) is now in podcast form so I'm going to check that out, should be fun. I think I can cut back on my 5 or so michigan podcasts + mgoblog reading as the info is rather redundant, heh.
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