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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.
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, 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.
This is a fair assessment, but I would add that the host is a gun owner with a carry permit, and does from time to time point out the failures of the US political left. There is a bias, but I wouldn’t put him in the realm of Democracy Now!
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.
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.
Big fan of Darknet Diaries.
My top podcasts lately:
QAnon Anonymous: started out chronicling the QAnon freakshow but moved towards more general deep dives into modern and past conspiracy movements
Minion Death Cult: laughing at right wing comment sections
This Is Revolution: great leftist interview/discussion
Joy Tactics: extremely funny stuff
Uhh Yeah Dude: one of the longest running podcasts out (13 years) and still funny as hell
I dip into some other podcasts from time to time like Chapo Trap House, Comedy Bang Bang, and Vice's CYBER.
I also listen to some paranormal/weird shows that I can recommend if anyone is interested.
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.
Ologies by Ally Ward.
She basically interviews random professors and authors. Anyone who studies something. And then asks all the dumb questions that I'd be too embarrassed to ask, in order to understand what it is that they study, why they study it, what we know about the topic.
She's got several hundred episodes from black holes and dark matter, to fire ecology, to (one of my favorites) Ferroequinology (the study of iron horses, trains).
Really great energy, great questions. Highly recommend.
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.
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.
I've been a longtime fan of CheapShow, a comedy podcast loosely based around unusual items found in cheap shops and charity shops (thrift stores). Episodes include deep dives in vintage/retro media, taste tests of weird foodstuffs, various games and challenges, plus a lot of complete chaos and toilet humour.
Maybe not for everyone, but if any of the above catches your interest it's worth a try.
No such thing as a fish, funny and educational
-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 :)
Massively depends on what you're into.
That said, I follow these podcasts:
News related comedy:
DnD:
Puns:
Science communication:
About Media:
Security/Hacking:
History:
Mostly on the humorous side:
All Fantasy Everything. It’s so good and makes me laugh harder than anything else I listen to. Sean, David, and Ian feel like some of my buddies now and I look forward to listening to it every week. If there’s a new episode, it’s the first thing I listen to.
Dungeons and Daddies. NOT a Bdsm podcast, but a dungeons and dragons podcast. The hosts are all so incredible and have the best chemistry. The story develops in such a realistic and emotional way, with tons of laughs along the journey.
Metal Up Your Podcast. A podcast hosted by Clint Wells and Ethan Luck, focused entirely on Metallica (so obviously, you’d need to have some sort of interest in that band/metal). This podcast does tons of deep dives into the band’s history, album commentaries, top 10 song lists, tour/show recaps, and even reviews and deep dives into other albums released by other Big 4 bands (Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax). The hosts are musicians themselves and close friends so there’s a lot of awesome music creation information and hilarious bits. Highly recommend.
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!
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 -
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.
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
I'm a fan of "here's a bunch of random (science) facts" type of podcasts.
Are the ones I listen to.
A couple interesting options: Good Job Brain - always an interesting listen. They deep dive into different topics from a trivia standpoint.. super interesting.
Behind the Bastards - looks at bad people throughout history.
The Urbanist Agenda - urban planning, urbanism, micromobility, etc.
History:
Horror:
True Crime:
Others:
Bold = Ongoing with no end planned
The Off Menu podcast is great!
Obviously it depends on what you're into but I love tech and gaming. I listen to the wan show, friends per second, trash taste and the waveform podcasts.
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)
I dig My Brother, My Brother, and Me from time to time. It's just three nerdy brothers dorking out together. They used to answer Yahoo questions but they moved to wiki how's since Yahoo died. They good for a laugh but even I admit they can be a handful sometimes lol