I like behind the bastards, you get to learn the history of both living and dead ass holes in some good detail.

If I want a laugh at pop culture, the weekly planet is my go to, it’s funny chat about comic books, movies and comic book movies. Plus the back catalogue is huge so chances are they’ve had an episode about something you’ve liked. I just really like laughing at things I’ve enjoyed.

Also check out debunking a murderer. Remember making a murderer on Netflix? Turns out that doc was bullshit, dude totally did those murders. Hear the prosecutors side and all the evidence the Netflix show left out.

Finally, slow burn. A long format episodic deep dive into recent history. Each season covers some important events, like Nixon, tupac and biggie, Bill Clinton, etc. I learned a lot from it.

The Darknet Diaries. It covers cyber crime and security and they have a lot of interesting episodes.

The freedom for flash drives is a particularly interesting one.

Darknet Diaries - interesting (and mostly first hand) stories about hacking, the dark web, etc. it’s so crazy how some of these hackers (good and bad) get access to data/companies.

The Dollop is a good palate cleanser to go with Behind the Bastards. Both history podcasts with a comedic bent, but Dollop is usually much more light-hearted/bizarre happenings.

So many good ones. I’ll just paste the (slightly edited) podcast descriptions of three I enjoy here:

Twenty Thousand Hertz A lovingly crafted podcast that reveals the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds.

Under the Influence Under the Influence gives listeners a rare backstage pass into the hallways, boardrooms and recording studios of the ad industry. Fascinating (and humorous) stories that connect the dots between pop culture, marketing and human nature.

Freakonomics Radio Uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior.

No Such Thing as a Fish. Made by the fact researchers for the British show QI. Hosts are intelligent and have good rapport with eachother. Light hearted, interesting, something I can zone in and out of a bit.

I’d like to recommend The Trojan Horse Affair. Its a limited series and a few years old now, but a a really interesting listen

Its about the scandal in the UK in 2013, where an anonymous letter ‘exposed’ an Islamist conspiracy in Birmingham schools to radicalise children.

The investigation in the podcast is helmed by two people; a rookie journalism grad who is muslim, and an experienced white journalist. The contrast in perspectives and emotion between them adds to it

And yeah it’ll probably make you angry, and for those not in the UK it might key you in a bit on the tensions that do and don’t exist with British Muslims, how they’re viewed and treated by lots of parties here (including the Government)

5-4

Lefty lawyers discuss Supreme Court cases and why the Supreme Court sucks. They’ve got a backlog going back years, covering 100+ cases with analysis for every decision, concurrence, and dissent. Also special episodes discussing specific Justices and their jurisprudence, a miniseries about the Federalist Society, and lots of eps about law school in general.

Cautionary Tales

We tell our children unsettling fairy tales to teach them valuable lessons, but these Cautionary Tales are for the education of the grown ups - and they are all true. Tim Harford (Financial Times, BBC, author of “The Data Detective”) brings you stories of awful human error, tragic catastrophes, and hilarious fiascos. They’ll delight you, scare you, but also make you wiser.

I think the description is better than what I can write.

Dan Carlin’s history podcasts are amazing. No ads or anything so you don’t have to sit through 15 minutes of sponsors

deleted by creator

Old Gods of Appalachia: It’s a beautifully made slice of southern folk horror with a slow burn story, the ambience of being lost in the woods, and a narration like a gospel preacher worshipping cthulhu.

The Wrong Station: Well written stand alone weird fiction with a narrator that sounds life the uncanny valley took human form to stare at your tits while trying to pick you up at a bar. The content ranges from period pieces to high sci-fi, app with a horror lean and the into is fantastic.

Knifepoint Horror: Soren Narnia, of all the names, seems to do these alone. There’s no into, no talk, just right into a story and right out, leaving you to think about what you just listened to. The production value is great, the content is amazing, and there’s a mystique to it that others lack.

These are the ones I listen to the most, I think all of them are weekly

• secretly incredibly fascinating. They talk about a simple topic and expand it with a lot of trivia and the hosts are very funny.
• 99% invisible. Mostly about architecture that you don’t notice but they give a lot of cool info (lately some episodes get off topic or I simply don’t like them but they have a huge archive that I listen to)
• my brother my brother and me: just stupid comedy from 3 brothers giving “advice”
• dear Hank and John: the brothers Green giving science-ish advice

A few from my list:

• Darknet Diaries - Interviews with interesting people around hacking and cybersecurity. This includes a lot of the actual criminals themselves and you get to hear their motivations and how they did what they did. Really neat for understanding the minds of folks who do bad things.
• FiveThirtyEight Politics - This one is good for staying abreast of US politics, polling. While the political bias of the hosts is pretty obvious, this is less punditry and more about the numbers.
• Risky Business with Nate Silver Maria Konnikova - A neat podcast covering risk, poker and politics. Just a good listen for thinking about risk and probabilities in life.
• The Lawfare Podcast - Lawyers talking about the law, and how it shapes and is shaped by whats in the news. Great for getting a legalistic view of the world.

Depends on what you’re looking for. Most generally, I’d suggest Conan O’Bien Needs A Friend. Aside from the excessive ad breaks, the guests and discussions are almost always interesting.