Hi,
I’m a big fan of podcasts and I’ve been enjoying “Against the Rules” and “Darknet Diaries” lately.
Now, I want to hear your recommendations! What podcasts do you love and why? Let’s build an epic list of must-listen podcasts together.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Behind the Bastards, a deep dive into the various shit people of history. Episode one is Saddam Hussein: Erotic Novelist.
There’s nearly 700 episodes, and I’ve yet to run tio a dud. Loads of great guests. My only gripe is that it’s a touch Amerocentric, but other than that I’d recommend it to basically anyone. Not kid friendly, in case that wasn’t obvious.
I think it’s only fair to add that this podcast has a very left leaning bias. I’m not saying that that is bad, just being objective.
Yeah, it does. That’s a fair thing to say.
That’s fine I do enjoy seeing what a bias various forms of media have.
deleted by creator
+1 for Behind the Bastards. Robert Evans is great!
I like listening to historical podcasts, and my favorites are “The History of Rome” (which has finished) and its followup “The History of Byzantium” and “Hardcore History” . I’ve heard good things about “Revolutions” by the creator of “The History of Rome” but I haven’t checked it out yet.
Also I’ve been enjoying “Fall of Civilizations” a lot, but so far have only listened to a few of the episodes.
The Fall of Civilizations is one of my favorite podcasts right now! I highly recommend it if you like to think about history from a sort of different point of view. The host is really invested in trying to contextualize what things may have looked and felt like from the common person’s point of view.
Revolutions is stellar, big fan of Mike Duncan and Dan Carlin
Blowback and throughline are both pretty solid looks at much smaller segments if you want context for your history.
I’ll chip in the Trojan horse affair was great too.
I have listened to a few of the “Fall of Civilizations”. The quality of the production is very impressive.
If you are a fan of history podcasts, the BBC have a series “You’re Dead to Me” which is a history podcast with a lot of British humour added in.
“Gone Medieval” is another history podcast by History Hits, but the quality off each show is very hit or miss. Quality of the topic can be lackluster sometimes and even the sound quality of guests can be poor. The topics are all medieval and can be more UK centric. Still good and worth a listen.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’m a big fan of Hardcore History so will check out the others.
I also really enjoy You’re Dead To Me - different topics from history with an expert and a comedian.
I’ve listened to all of these podcasts besides Hardcore history, and I can highly recommend all of them. It’s hard to pick a favourite but it might be Revolutions, which I found the most eye-opening, especially season 3 on the french revolution. I’m currently working my way through Wittenberg to Westphalia, the Wars of the Reformation, which is meant to be on the 30 years way, but takes a very deep dive into the life, economy, history and culture of the middle ages and early modern period.
Fall of Civilizations is the best podcast I’ve listened to. Every episode is amazing.
Behind the bastards, Self explanatory.
Ear hustle, A podcast about prison made by prisoners in prison.
Knowledge Fight, a couple of dudes who like to sit around and talk about Alex Jones. Essentially deconstructing his bullshit.
There’s a great Discord community for Knowledge Fight too. Note that there are two of them, and one of them is a LOT more fun than the other.
Got a link?
-Last Podcast on The Left - crime and comedy is a perfect mix for me.
-Bow and Blade and The Medieval Podcast - I love medieval history
-Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History -general history (waiting for another episode is like waiting for Christmas)
-Unsolved Misteries Podcast- I love the TV show and that podcast is great too :)
Hello Internet - I love the hosts, though the show is over (or, on hiatus if you truly believe)
Cortex- I listen to this mostly because CGP Grey is on it (who also was one of the hosts on Hello Internet). It’s also nice for tech news/ productivity information, though sometimes I get a bit frustrated at the show
Dear Hank and John (or Dear John and Hank) - John and Hank Green answer listener questions. I’m really a sucker for this “two guys talk at the mic” format lmao
Dungeons and Daddies- a DnD podcast with Freddie Wong that I find immensely entertaining
Well There’s Your Problem - an engineering disasters podcast. I really enjoy listening to the hosts, though they do tend to ramble. I like it, but might not be for everyone
Edit: Almost forgot, Wizards of Waverly Place Podcast. David Deloise and Jen Stone (The dad and Harper from the show) watch old Wizards of Waverly Place episodes and talks about them as well as has guests from the show on. This one can get a bit frustrating for me as the podcast feels a bit rushed, and their social media presence is very click baity. But I find it interesting none the less
We probably have very similar YouTube viewing habits lol
Massively depends on what you’re into.
That said, I follow these podcasts:
News related comedy:
- Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me from NPR
- Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
- The Bugle
- Breaking The News from BBC Scotland
DnD:
- Dicefunk (I recommend seasons 3 & 4 in particular)
Puns:
- Punwatch
- (also The Bugle sometimes)
Science communication:
- The Infinite Monkey Cage
- Daniel And Jorge Explain The Universe
- The Curious Cases Of Rutherford & Fry
- Supermassive
- A Problem Squared
- Creature Feature
- My Favourite Theorem
About Media:
- Failure To Launch, about TV pilots that failed to become full series
- Get Played, originally called “How Did This Get Played?” and focused on the worst games ever made, now about games in general
- Dream Factory, about plots of non-existing movies
Security/Hacking:
- Malicious Life
- Darknet Diaries
- Human Factor Security
History:
- You’re Dead To Me
History:
- History of Rome
- History of Byzantium (spiritual successor to HoR) - ongoing but with an end planned
- British History Podcast (in depth) - ongoing but with an end planned
- Revolutions (various revolutions from HoR
- Blowback
- Hardcore History
- Fall of Civilizations
Horror:
- Magnus Archives
- The Lovecraft Investigations - unsure if finished
True Crime:
- Bear Brook
- Dirty John
Others:
- *Shut up and Sit Down (Boardgames)"
- Beef and Dairy Network (Comedy)
- Outer Reach (Sci-Fi)
Bold = Ongoing with no end planned
I am surprised some of the big ones haven’t been mentioned yet -
-
Radiolab - Not really sure how to describe this podcast. It’s superb journalism at its core. They do both short and multi-episode long form about a variety of topics from science to history to current events. For example, how dinosaurs died when the asteroid hit earth, the story of a Guantanamo convict with the same name as the host, and how poorly computer databases are designed for names that are outside the norm.
-
Planet Money - An excellent economics podcast where complex topics are distilled in fairly short episodes. They recently released a completely AI generated episode which was incredibly scary with how good it was.
-
More Perfect - Everything the US Supreme Court
-
Serial - One multi-episode series at a time about complicated criminal cases.
-
What Roman Mars can Learn about Con Law - Started off during the Trump Presidency when tough questions about the US constitution are being asked given his penchant for pushing the legal boundaries and norms.
-
Hardcore History. The come out a few times a year and are incredibly long (some episodes are five hours), but listening to Dan Carlin talk is really engaging. Plus he has one of those voices you can fall asleep to.
It Could Happen Here. Keeps my righteous anger at ‘the man’ topped up.
Criminal Records. Fun crime podcast focussed on the weird and less heard of crimes in history.I’d strongly recommend Dungeons & Daddies (not a BDSM podcast, it is indeed Dungeons & Dragons). It’s about 4 dads trying to save their sons in another realm.
Super digestible, not TOO strict about rules, and I die of laughter anytime Beth May says anything.
I really enjoy Dungeons and Daddies. It’s great fun.
If you like their stuff I will also recommend The Film Reroll - they play through movies in GURPS and it gets very silly at times.
Trashfuture is a great podcast. It is, ostensibly, a tech-pessimist podcast, but every now and then there are some great UK-centric politics that bleed through since they are based in the UK. All of the host are kind of leftist weirdo Marxists and they really take the piss out of “technology companies” that are nothing more than shell games of moving things around that have been around forever and calling it a tech company. One of my favorites.
I like; 99% Invisible & Radio Lab, those are my main 2, i also listen to Malicious Life & some others I can’t think of right now.
- History on Fire (Italian Prof talks about interesting events and people)
- The Deprogramm (An iraqi, a slav and a american rant about things)
- Duncan Trussell Family Hour (Classical “guy invites interesting people to talk to”)
- Blowback (Historic events regarding american imperialism)
- The Dollop - A history podcast done by comedians
- Jordan, Jesse, Go! - Interviews done by comedians
- Stop Podcasting Yourself - Interviews done by comedians
- Dumb People Town - Current news stories commented on by comedians
- Ear Biscuits - Rhett and Link podcast
- Do You Need a Ride? - Comedians give car rides to comedians in need of a ride - usually to/from the airport
- Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me - NPR quiz show
- Star Trek The Next Conversation - 2 TV writers, 1 has seen Trek, 1 has not
- This American Life - True stories
The Nosleep Podcast (Horror).
Welcome To Nightvale (Comedy/Horror)
Alice Isn’t Dead (Horror/Mystery/Road trip?)
Conan O’Brian Needs A Friend (Comedy)
The Three Questions With Andy Richter (Interview/Comedy. Can occasionally get kinda heavy)
WTF With Marc Maron (Interviews)
Watch Out For Fireballs (Deep Dive Discussions On Video Games)
Abject Suffering (Comedy. The Same Two Guys From W. O. F. F., but they’re looking at bad/WEIRD Games)
GM Word Of The Week (history)
