10 Great Podcasts
Sickboy: This is a really eye opening podcast that interviews people with different kinds of cancers, diseases, and mental illnesses. It's three funny guys who interview sick people and make you feel like you're just hanging out with some of the bros. These guys are unfiltered, unapologetic, and completely open in how they talk about absolutely everything. The thing I like the most about this podcast is how they constantly make jokes about a typically taboo and dark subject. They have some good episodes where they interview people about PTSD, Depression, Cocaine Addiction, Anorexia & Bulimia and Pedophilia. Somehow they dive deep into understanding how it feels to have a disease while also making the conversation fun and light. Sickboy is educational, somewhat raunchy, and opens a door into understanding people who are different. But be warned: these dudes can get pretty crude at times while trying to make serious topics light-hearted. So if explicit talk deters you, I wouldn't listen to this.
Lore: Lore is a spooky podcast that quickly became a hit. The creator, Aaron Mahnke, researches the absolute crap out of true accounts of horror stories. Here's the description given for the podcast: "Lore exposes the darker side of history, exploring the creatures, people, and places of our wildest nightmares. Because sometimes the truth is more frightening than fiction." He's researched every aspect of a scary story like the true horrors that caused people to believe in vampires and werewolves. However, I couldn't get fully into this podcast even though everythimg about it is quality. I think he just presents too much accurate detail and research and I'm to dumb to follow it all. But Aaron's voice, the scripts, and the music score behind every episode are impeccable. Seriously, the music stands out. It's so good! Even though it's not totally my cup of tea, you might really enjoy this show.
The Moth: The Moth is a wonderful live story telling podcast that's been around for a long time. They have shows all over the country where they'll have planned and volunteer story tellers share their experiences in front of live audience. The episode that introduced me to the podcast was a story about a great first date told by none other than freaking Steve from Blues Clues. I recommend listening to the Live From Sydney episode first. The first storyteller delivers the best story I've ever heard told live. He’s a Malaysian Australian slam poet who tries to appreciate his culture through the lens of rap music and in turn shares his culture with the world. Another great one is Ghosts, Angels, and Motorcycle Rides. That motorcycle story is so good it will make you cry. Stories on this podcast can get pretty emotional and will probably make you cry eventually, but in a good way.
Dear Hank and John Green: If you are a Nerdfighter or like Hank and John Green, here you go. This podcast is now like the bread and butter of the Nerdfighteria community. They give dubious advice and talk about death a lot. It gets pretty hilarious at times and can be enjoyed by anyone even if you aren't too familiar with them. OH MY GOD IT'S BURNING is on of their more iconic, stand out episodes, but they're all pretty good.
99% Invisible - This is a great podcast that keeps growing on me more and more with the help of Roman Mars’ beautiful golden voice. The Mojave Phone Booth episode is one of my favorite podcasts! It's an interesting podcast about architecture, the invisible, and how people respond to their environments. Breaking The Bank is another fantastic episode about bank robberies. Good stuff!
Science Vs: Honestly, any podcast by Gimlet Media is bound to be of the utmost quality. This heavily researched show that "finds out what’s fact, what’s not, and what’s somewhere in between." You can figure out which episode you'd probably be most interested in by just by looking at the title alone. I thought the episodes on guns were really good.
Hidden Brain - This podcast explores the human brain and tries to find out why people do what they do. Every episode is interesting, but some of their episodes have quite captivating stories that explain human behavior. Episode 7 is an incredible example of a captivating story telling episode! It's a story about a jerk who ran a business impersonating women who wrote romantic letters to lonely guys. He lies to hundreds of men and gets all these guys to send him money when they think they’re helping out a women with buying postage and groceries. Another amazing episode is Episode 42: Decide Already!.
The Liturgists: This one is only if you're interested in religion, Christianity, and the influence those beliefs have on art and vice versa. These two guys have pretty odd interesting beliefs, but Science Mike is one of the smartest dudes I've ever listened to and Michael Gungor is pretty captivating and he is also a fantastic musician who makes meaningful art that I like. My favorite episode of theirs was probably Black and White: Racism in America which is the best comprehensive thorough discussion about race that I have ever heard. Another good couple of episodes are Lost and Found Parts 1 & 2, where they tell the stories of how they lost their faith but found God again. I remember crying a little bit towards the end of Science Mike's story. I just happened to stop listening to them because some of their stuff is a little too out there for me and none of their episodes could top their episode on racism in my opinion.
Heavyweight - This, I would say is the best podcast I have ever listened to. The first episode is like my all time favorite episode of any podcast. It's just an incredibly well told story by Jonathan Goldstein, the master story teller and creator of the podcast. It describes brothers Buzz and Sheldon are brothers in their eighties and have been estranged for decades. Buzz visits Sheldon to see if there’s still a relationship left to salvage. That episode, like all the other episodes, is one of those stories that makes you feel like you're experiencing the story unfold alongside the story teller who is still trying to discover the answers. Heavyweight delves into the past to pinpoint the exact moment in someone's life that made things the way they are. This show is so good that I will be mad at you if you don't listen to the first episode.
Welcome to Night Vale: I feel like I shouldn't have to describe this cult classic because you probably already know about or at least have unknowingly heard references to it. Bassically it's a local news radio show for a desert town of Night Vale. But Night Vale is a place where like every ridiculous conspiracy theory and Twilight Zone-esque story is actually the truth. It is one hilariously well written podcast that is hosted by Cecil whose golden voice is some kind of hybrid of the voice of God and. The sound of Kenny G's sweet clarinet. It's dark. It's clever. And it's definitely different. Everyone should listen to at least the first episode or so. It took me a few episodes to really love it. The beginning episodes are good, but they have developed quality wise into something a lot better.