Hit or miss in terms of the guest, Jesse’s fun and kind.
Childish
Allison Rosen & Greg Fitzsimmons talk about parenthood, but it’s a podcast for adults in terms of content.
Consider This (NPR)
Mostly for the subcategory of Ukraine War updates
Endless Thread
This podcast picks a thread on reddit and dives deep. Fun Stuff.
E Plurbus Motto
New one by John Hodgeman and Janet Varney deep diving on U.S. states, their facts and culture.
Filmweek
KPCC’s weekly movie reviews, an old radio standard.
Fitzdog Radio
Comedian Greg Fitzsimmons has been doing this for a decade, always fun.
Fly on the Wall / Superfly
Dana Carvey and David Spade interview celebs (or don’t), generally with an SNL theme.
Freakonomics Radio
I love this podcast, it’s consistently interesting in breadth and depth.
Fresh Air
One of out 3 is going to be a really good or better guest, but this podcast went downhill after Trump got elected, mostly in its never-ending whinging about Trump and the Right. Also, its political correctness just plain takes up a lot of the airtime.
Hidden Brain
Shankar Vedantam does a stellar job of finding and diving in on topics that are really educational.
How I Built This
One out of 4 is really interesting. A lot of retail stories that I’m less interesting in and it’s always just the founder’s tale, often about how they built something and flipped it.
Huberman Lab
This is the newest to the list and one of the most informative. Dr. Huberman has literally already helped me sleep, not by putting me to sleep, but by explaining how sleep works and what affects it. Fascinating and well done.
Judge John Hodgman
John Hodgman and Jesse Thorn have a great time and share the fun settling trivial disputes.
Martini Shot
Hollywood insider takes by writer Rob Long. Funny and quick, I can’t multitask while I’m listening or I miss too much.
Medal of Honor
Malcolm Gladwell’s stories of MOH recipients.
Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast
Best when it’s just comedian Bill Burr, holding forth about what’s in his brain. I skip the sports talk if it goes on too long, while enjoying almost endless musings and rants.
Naked Lunch
Fun conversations between Phil Rosenthal, David Wild, and guests, over very mesophonia-triggering lunches.
No Such Thing as a Fish
Wry Brits tackle trivia while trying to out-jest each other.
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Another NPR podcast that goes over what’s happening in pop culture. Its batting average has gone down since it went daily, but going daily did increase the overall amount of fun to my ears. Glen Weldon is one of the funniest people in podcasts, with quick and often bone-dry replies and asides.
Real Coffee with Scott Adams
Unique takes from a right-center-right, analytical, cancelled cartoonist.
Risky Business
Part discussion of Risk, part discussion of politics, by election guru Nate Silver and poker player / author Maria Konnikova. Nate’s surprisingly objective, Maria painfully subjective.
State of the World
Daily News by NPR.
Stuff you Should Know
One of the top podcasts forever, I’ve been listening since before it was Josh and Chuck exclusively. It’s gone way downhill since I Heart Radio bought it, taking it to a podcast I can’t listen to on a bike ride for all the ads. I don’t auto-download anymore.
Sunday Papers
Yet another Greg Fitzsimmons joint, this time with friend Mike Gibbons, the two go over news stories and rail against Dagwood Bumstead’s treatment of Blondie.
The Daily
The best news podcast in terms of quality. They deep dive a subject every day. Fairly objective for the New York Times.
The Business
Kim Master’s always interesting update on what’s going on Hollywood. Another NPR production.
The Tim Ferris Show
About half the shows are really interesting and informative, the other half not bad but since it’s such a deep dive, I fast-forward out of stuff that’s not relevant to me.
The Town
Matt Belloni’s coverage of Hollywood. Always a fun listen.
The Treatment
Elvis Mitchell is the Old Pro from Dover, interviewing entertainers great and small.
The Way I Heard It
Mike Rowe recently took his podcast from 5 minutes or so to an hour or so. I kind of preferred the old format, but he’s always fun to listen to.
Up First
NPR’s early morning quick take on a topic of the day.
Weekend Film Reviews
By KCRW
WTF with Marc Maron
I’m still waiting for him to say something funny, but his interviews can be pretty good