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.
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.
Fall of Civilizations is the best podcast I’ve listened to. Every episode is amazing.
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.
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
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 Greene 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 every
We probably have very similar YouTube viewing habits lol
It’s an old one, but Stuff You Should Know. I’m listening chronologically, a couple a day (I do a lot of driving for work) and I’m still only up to about mid-2018. The hosts are so easy to listen too, and I really enjoy their humour.
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
- 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)
Big fan of Darknet Diaries.
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.
Mental Illness Happy Hour by Paul Gilmartin, if you like a podcast that talks honestly about the struggles of mental health.
Paul interviews a different person each week and discuss their journeys on dealing with their mental health. Paul is also been very open about his struggles. It helps that he is a comedian and has a subtle but dark humor that I enjoy.
I also really like the short surveys that he reads and people have filled out on his website because they make me feel connected that I’m not alone.
I am surprised some of the big ones haven’t been mentioned yet -
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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.
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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.
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More Perfect - Everything the US Supreme Court
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Serial - One multi-episode series at a time about complicated criminal cases.
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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.
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Throughline has been my favorite since it launched a few years ago. The hosts take a deep dive into the historical events leading up to topical events of the present weaving a thread through them, hence the name.
Some of the examples are the history of policing in the US and how capitalism became the dominant economic system.
I cannot recommend this podcast enough!
Hey Riddle Riddle, it’s an improv/comedy podcast disguised as a riddle podcast, very fun.