I am bored at work and, honestly, music annoys me and I get bored with it berry quickly. I have two podcasts that I listen to regularly, the “steel cage” podcast (WWE wrestling), Cheap Heat podcast (wrestling again), and then some random sports and pop culture ones from Grantland.
I have just now discovered the wonder that is “Ask me another” and “Wait wait don’t tell me”, and I like those a lot. I think it’s because they’re “game” format kind of shows. Is there any other recommendations anyone has for me to listen to?
I do enjoy sports, video games, tv, and movies. But I like more than just radio-show type talking head things, I like it when uber-nerds get into the nitty gritty of things (writing, directing, thigns like that) so that’s something. Does anyone know of any game-show formatted ones too I’d love to hear them!
Edit: As I now post this I realize it might be an IMHO thing, Mods…move as you see fit.
I’ve been listening to all my old favorites (Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, Slash Filmcast, Complete Guide) but have recently started listening to Uhh, Yeah Dude, America through the eyes of two American-Americans. Uber funny.
I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise but since you mention writing, I’ll throw out a personal favorite of mine A Way With Words. The co-hosts are a journalist with a focus on classical languages and a lexicographer and they chat about various language-related topics such as unusual words or slang and they take phonecalls to arbitrate word usage debates.
I do like Way With Words as well. The others that I like are Marc Maron’s WTF and Dan Savage. I also listen to Mission Log off and on. They just got through discussing all of TOS’s first three seasons and the animated version as well as The Motion Picture. They’re going to discuss Wrath of Khan next so I’m eagerly anticipating that.
If you like John Oliver , he and Andy Saltzman (long time comedy collaborator) have a almost weekly podcast called, The Bugle.
I find it funny, covers world events, but from a somewhat British perspective.
It can be a bit hit and miss, but when it hits it is really funny, mostly due to Johns fairly scathing satire, Andy’s absurdist humor are the bits that miss for me.
super silly International Waters is a game show podcast, it pits two UK comedians against two US comedians in a pop culture quiz with a great host. Very very funny!
Your tastes are very different from mine, so I don’t know how you’ll like my recommendations, but here are a few.
The History of Rome was a very good overview of, well, the history of ancient Rome, in a very accessible style.
The QI elves (ie, the writers for the British comedy quiz show QI) do a weekly podcast called “There’s No Such Thing As A Fish”.
If you like radio comedy panel shows, there are about 40 zillion British ones. The News Quiz and the Now Show are probably the most well-known, but both depend on at least a passing familiarity with British current events. I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue is more accessible, as it’s just silly people doing silly things, but there are so many long-running in jokes in every episode that I don’t know how easy it would be to get into from scratch.
Cabin Pressure is another BBC Radio comedy which I would (and have, in another thread) describe as the funniest British comedy of the last decade, radio or TV.
Well, for wrestling there’s Stone Cold’s two podcasts (family friendly and “unleashed”), Jim Ross’s podcast (The Ross Report) and Jericho’s podcast (Talk is Jericho).
If you like history at all, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History is an absolute must-listen.
Another good one I’ve just recently started is the Rialto Report. The shows cover the ‘golden era’ of porn and includes interviews, and other topics relating to adult film in New York. May not me safe for work.
I enjoy The Cracked Podcast. Especially the ones with David Wong. There doesn’t seem a way to link to all of them but if you go to Cracked.com and select the double arrows you will see them starting with the latest.
I also listen to the Firewall and Iceberg Podcast with Alan Sepinwall and Dan Fienberg. It’s about TV. I have been a fan of Alan Sepinwall since his Newspaper days. Dan is also a good TV writer. They sometimes talk about shows I don’t care much about but they always give time codes so I can skip those sections. It can be found at Hitfix.com
If your tastes in “how things work” run so far as psychology and economics, Freakonomics (Radio Free Harford - Freakonomics) is interesting, and occasionally very funny.
Likewise on the “how to” angle, there’s a podcast by several fantasy/science fiction authors called Writing Excuses (www.writingexcuses.com/) that’s very focused on the nitty-gritty of actually writing. The podcasters are all fantasy/sf writers tho, and that flavor is very heavily coloring the whole podcast, although I suppose the general advice is pretty universal.
Paul Sheer, Jason Mantzoukas (both from The League on FX) and June Diane Raphael (Sheer’s wife) talk about terrible movies, deconstruct them, try to figure out the plots and occasionally get into some additional bits like what the budget was, what it made, etc. It’s more humor than film study but more interesting than just saying “Haha, it sucks!”
Another great resource is This Year - recapping the best podcasts. They pick a good podcast and produce a “best of” for a year of the show. It’s how I became aware of Uh, Yeah Dude; I listened to the highlights of a whole year. It was an 8 hour podcast.
In the same vein but updated more regularly there’s also We Hate Movies. I prefer HDTGM, but that updates like once a month now. WHM is a fun weekly substitute.