There’s a fine thread in this forum already, not to mention a sweet What I’m Thankful For by Dre, about Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, but the (always trustworthy) search is telling me there’s no overall podcast thread at CHUD.com.
Until now.
I discovered podcasts in 2005, about eight months after they began to appear on the web scene, and listen to an average of four to eight hours of them a day depending on if I’m working alone or not, so I’ve heard a shitload of them. In fact, in 2006 it was homing in on a glorious beacon of joy known as the CHUD Show which lead me here to CHUD.com grace y’all with my grace.
For the first three or four years podcasts fell more or less into three camps. First, the completely amateur productions which amounted to a few buddies or a couple shooting the shit in their living room. 99.9997% of these were horrendous. Second camp was a very, very small number of shows which started out amateur and gained enough of a following that they made something of a living off the show. Some of these were also horrendous. The third camp were professional radio shows from the likes of the BBC, which were made available in mp3 form. But over about the last eighteen months professional funny people have caught up with the potential of the medium and a whole rash of new shows by people we might’ve heard of have burst into life. People like Paul F Tompkins, Adam Carolla, Stephen Tobolowsky and the aforementioned and magnificent Marc Maron have stepped into the podcast arena and enriched lives across the globe just by yapping into microphones and posting the recordings into the internet.
Enough of my overlong introductionary bullshit though, the point of this thread is to yap about podcasts you like and recommend and about the podcasts don’t like and recommend avoiding. I listen to and recommend all the shows I’ve mentioned here but I’m not going to go crapping on about them yet because if nobody else joins in the fun in this thread I’ve already spent more than enough time on it. But if you enjoy listening to these things too, then by the mighty tentacles of the Kraken, let’s have at it.
It’s been about 2 months since I’ve had the time to sit down and listen to any podcast. But when I did listen regularly I always enjoyed the “How Stuff Works” family of podcast. I also enjoy listening to ESPN’s rebroadcast of PTI since I always seem to miss it on television.
I’m become a huge fan of Tell 'em Steve-Dave, the podcast done by Kevin Smith’s two friends Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson. The two are great foils for each other and some of their conversations have caused me to look like a cackling mental patient while on public transit.
They did a three-part commentary on a disastrous Houston live show that is amazing.
I have two that I’ve become a big fan of recently. One is NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour and the other is the ExtraHotGreat pop culture podcast. Both are very witty, playful and sarcastic, even when I vehemently disagree with their opinions (they really miss the boat on The Social Network, for example). Still, well worth the time, and the perfect drive-time, stuck-in-traffic listen.
I listen to a ton of podcasts. They’re free and I get tons of other shit done while listening. I quite enjoy Steve-Dave too, it’s the best show in the Smodcast network. The Making Hay series was hilarious. I catch Carolla and Maron now and then, even though their shows couldn’t be more different. I listen to two video game podcasts: the CAGcast from cheapassgamer which I started listening to on about their 5th show (now in the two hundreds) and the Giant Bombcast from Giant Bomb ever since Jeff got booted from Gamespot. Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist podcast I’ve just started listening to. Doug Benson’s Doug Loves Movies is great and Dread Central’s Dinner for Fiends, although very sporadic and with awful sound quality, is always a must listen.
I love the CHUD show but it needs to get more consistent, and I don’t do itunes so I find it hard to download sometimes, the RSS is a mess.
If WTF is something you’re interested in (just started listening to it myself), Chris Hardwicke’s Nerdist podcast is definitely along similar lines. Hardwicke comes at it from more of an alt-comedy nerd POV, whereas Maron seems to have come of age during an earlier generation.
But mostly these days, I listen to movie/entertainment podcasts. There’s the /filmcast, Criterioncast, Onion’s AV Club Podcast, The MCP (Motion/Captured Podcast) and as always, Filmspotting.
The Kevin Pollak Chatshow is also worth checking out. He does long-form (90 minute+) interviews with actors/directors/comedians/etc. that often yield fascinating details. The Fred Willard and David Koechner episodes, in particular, are classic. I actually really enjoyed the recent Leonard Maltin one, as well. And that’s coming from someone who’s been annoyed by Maltin for as long as can remember.
The worst part of podcasts are those first 5 or so episodes it takes to get used to the hosts’ personalities. I frequently lack the patience to get on board most podcasts. The most under-rated podcast out there is You Look Nice Today, which is by far the funniest podcast of all time. They update extremely infrequently, but I’d say their most recent episode, released a couple weeks ago, was among their best.
Awesome thread. In a variation on Bucho’s story, it was the CHUD Podcast (I believe it was the Best Of, Volume 1 compilation with the epic Ted Levine interview) that first got me to listen to podcasts on my iPod while commuting and at work. I didn’t realize until then that listening to strangers chat informally & humorously about movies (and everything else) could be so engaging. By combining the talk show, film review, and improv comedy worlds, podcasting has become its own beast of an art-form. I currently subscribe to nearly 20 different shows which (roughly) break-down like this:
Film
A.V. Talk, Battleship Pretension, The CHUD Show (esp. the in-studio fuck-arounds, not so much the call-in morning shows — sorry Nick!), The /Filmcast, Filmspotting, Hell Is For Hyphenates, IFC.com Podcast, Mondo Movie (from the U.K. - highly recommended for Chewers!)
Film/Comedy
Comedy Film Nerds, Doug Loves Movies
Comedy
Comedy Death-Ray Radio, Never Not Funny (well-worth the bi-annual $20 subscription fee), The Pod F. Tompkast, SModcast (Kevin Smith’s magnum opus, funnier than his entire filmography, IMO), WTF with Marc Maron
Geekness
The Paul Goebel Show (King of TV), The Dork Forest
And based on the above recommendations, I will have to check out The Nerdist also. Hardwicke has been a fun guest on a few of the above-mentioned shows, like CDR and NNF.
Big fan of the BBC Radio Five Film Podcast with Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, I really like Kermode’s style even though I disagree with his recommendations more than I agree.
Utter Shambles with Robin Ince and Josie Long is great as well. Two smart, funny comedians shooting the shit with other smart, funny people. Recently they’ve had guests including Alan Moore, Stewart Lee, Ben Goldacre, Jon Ronson and Mark Gatiss.
Originally Posted by Dom MacView Post It’s been about 2 months since I’ve had the time to sit down and listen to any podcast. But when I did listen regularly I always enjoyed the “How Stuff Works” family of podcast. I also enjoy listening to ESPN’s rebroadcast of PTI since I always seem to miss it on television.
I never sit down and listen to any podcast. I can only listen to them when I’m doing other stuff, like work or mowing the lawn or driving or changing the oil on my jet pack. But I’ve liked the four or five eps of How Stuff Works I’ve heard. The hosts can be a little too cute at times but they cover some interesting Stuff. There’s a show called Radiolab which is very similar.
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Originally Posted by Episode29View Post I’m become a huge fan of Tell 'em Steve-Dave, the podcast done by Kevin Smith’s two friends Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson. The two are great foils for each other and some of their conversations have caused me to look like a cackling mental patient while on public transit.
I have a couple of episodes of TESD but haven’t gotten round to listening yet. Back in 2008 I listened to SModcast for eight or nine months but got to the point it felt like a drag to hear this guy who seems to hate himself and there were fewer and fewer laughs, so I dropped it. I’ve found there are very few shows I enjoy where there aren’t guests coming in to give some variety to proceedings and SModcast was one that suffered from a lack of that for me.
I really only listen to the Creative Screenwriting Podcast, despite the fact that Jeff Goldsmith is a talentless ball of douche, Coverville (hate the host, love the covers), Savage Lovecast (aka “there are people far more fucked up than you thought out there”*), and Firewall/Iceberg.
*The best one I’ve heard so far was with the psychatrist who talked about “gold star pedophiles.”
Originally Posted by RathBanduView Post I really only listen to the Creative Screenwriting Podcast, despite the fact that Jeff Goldsmith is a talentless ball of douche,
Heheh. Creative Screenwriting is one of the few film focused 'casts I stopped listening to cause I couldn’t stand the host, even if the topic was of interest.
Another one I cancelled was Row Three’s Cinecast. While their reviews were insightful, the conversation was dry, the personalities flat, and the shows too god-damn long (2.5 to 3 hours). 3 guys discussing a movie only 1 of them has seen becomes pointless after awhile. I would recommend their website: they are better read than heard.
There’s too much out there to waste time with a voice you don’t like playing in your head.
And every movie fan must listen to all of Doug Benson’s Doug Loves Movies podcast.
I’m a longtime fan of Adam Carolla since Loveline radio, so his podcast is a staple.
I got into SModcast a year ago, and agree with Finnias that it is the best thing Kevin Smith has ever done, while Scott Mosier is the superior of the two involved.
One of the nice things about iTunes is that the episode descriptions are easy to browse, so often you can skip shows with either uninteresting guests or topics (or in the case of movie podcasts, skip the episodes where a film I haven’t yet seen will be spoiled.) And that’s what I end up doing-- rarely will I listen to/watch every episode from every podcast that I subscribe to.
Also, love that HBO puts entire episodes of Real Time online as podcasts.
Oh well, this thread kinda fizzled out. Some highlights this week are Doug Loves Movies “12 Guests of Christmas” which features an epic-length Leonard Maltin Game & Mondo Movies’ year-end Review of 2010 episode. Merry whatever
The last episode of Comedy Death-Ray killed me. I was laughing out loud on the train, looking like a complete idiot. I can’t think of any podcast that makes me laugh as much. If you’re not listening to this show, you really, really should.
Paul Scheer just started a new one, How Did This Get Made. It’s about bad movies (first up: Burlesque). It shows promise.
Originally Posted by Episode29View Post I’m become a huge fan of Tell 'em Steve-Dave, the podcast done by Kevin Smith’s two friends Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson. The two are great foils for each other and some of their conversations have caused me to look like a cackling mental patient while on public transit. They did a three-part commentary on a disastrous Houston live show that is amazing.
I’m a massive fan, too. Now, I actually prefer it to its predecessor and “big brother” show. The three-way banter between Bry, Walt, and Q is first-rate… ("OH!"
The one with Dave from Monster Magnet is a personal favourite.
Anyone who’s even half a history dork should check out Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. He tends toward military history but doesn’t take the dry academic route at all. His style and voice are demonstrative and expressive - kind of like Marc Maron - and he’s more interested in what the down and dirty and bloody personal experience must have been like amongst the larger, grander sweep of history.
The 3 episodes on The Punic Wars are magic. The 4 on the Eastern Front during WW2 are great too. Judgement At Nineveh and Steppe Stories are also sweet.
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Originally Posted by Patrick RipollView Post The worst part of podcasts are those first 5 or so episodes it takes to get used to the hosts’ personalities. I frequently lack the patience to get on board most podcasts. The most under-rated podcast out there is You Look Nice Today, which is by far the funniest podcast of all time. They update extremely infrequently, but I’d say their most recent episode, released a couple weeks ago, was among their best.
Yeah, I don’t have the patience for that. Most of the shows I listen to either hooked me right away, or are shows I gave up on and then when I tried them again at a later date they’d improved and hooked me quick.
Keith and The Girl was an example of the first type, where something about Keith Malley’s weird Walken/Dice accent and his Larry David-esque take on the world made me want to keep listening. Carolla was the same.
WTF was of that second type, where his early shows floundered as he fucked around with the medium, but when I went back around episode 30ish Maron was right in the groove and I’ve loved it ever since.
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Originally Posted by FinniasView Post … The /Filmcast, Filmspotting …
I listened to Filmspotting a lot back in the day but after Sam left and was replaced by Matty I felt like it became much less fun. Something about Matty’s eager-to-pleaseness rubs me the wrong way so I quit that one.
A big part of the reason I like the /Filmcast is because Adam Quigley is the opposite of that. He doesn’t give a shit if he’s loved or loathed, he just speaks from as honest a place as he can and for a young dude he understands cinema surprisingly well. I also find Devindra’s passionate dorkiness endearing and Dave Chen’s humble goofiness loveable and funny.
In fact I’ve had many more laughs from Dave Chen and Adam Quigley needling each other than I ever got trying to work out how Never Not Funny got so popular.
