My Favorite Podcasts: Recommendations from a Broke-Ass

Podcasts were practically invented for Broke-Asses. Podcasts have motivated me to exercise, made a work commute less boring, being stuck in traffic slightly less rage-inspiring, kept me motivated during mind-numbing jobs, and kept me from depression during bouts of unemployment. Listening to a podcast when with a boyfriend/girlfriend can avoid some annoying bickering. You will also gain some great conversation pieces you can impress people with.

More importantly, 99% of them are FREE. Listening to a good podcast is like hanging out with awesome friends over a beer. Except that the podcast supplies the friends and the podcast (you’re on your own with the beer).

For those podcast virgins, the sheer amount and different types can be incredibly overwhelming- and not all podcasts are for anyone. Good thing I’m here to tell you what some of my favorites are.

Truth be told, I mostly listen to comedy podcasts. Why? Because they are fucking funny, that’s why, and we all could use a laugh. Here are some of my favorites:

Comedy

Comedy Bang Bang: the premise is simple: host Scott Aukerman has lots of comedian friends. He invites them on the show to shoot the shit, play stupid games (like “would you rather?”) and many times they will show up in character and stay in character. So ridiculous it’s brilliant.

Keith and the Girl: Keith, a working stand up comedian and his wife, Chemda host this nightly show from their house in Brooklyn. The crazy thing is they record a new show every night still have enough to talk about in their lives to fill a nightly show. They also interact with their fans a lot, and respond to stuff people post on their site. They talk about everything from relationships, pop culture, politics. Keith reminds me of a slightly smarter version of Charlie from It’s Always Sunny, and Chemda’s rational, intelligent outlook balances out Keith’s acerbic views on everything.

WTF with Marc Maron: This one is not comedy in itself, but more that is is about comedy. Maron interviews working comedians at all levels of fame about their careers, lives, and thoughts on comedy. It’s kind of like a less-stuffy Behind the Actor’s Studio.

The Pod F. Tomkast: This immediately get points for having a clever name. Hosted by the brilliant Paul F. Thompkins, this podcast feels like an old timey variety show, which includes Thompkins riffing, clips from his live performances, and scripted skits. Only twelve episodes currently, but each is over an hour so there is lots to listen to.

Totally Laime: Host Elizabeth Laime chats with various guests from comedy and pop culure and is energent. She’s funny, energetic, and insightful, and it’s nice to have a woman as a host among the male-dominated comedy podcast world.

Entertainment/Pop Culture

Doug Loves Movies: Loveable stoner Doug Benson tapes this podcast live from the Upright Citizens Bridgade Theater in Hollywood. Benson has tons of famous friends/connections, so the variety and caliber of guests is pretty impressive. His guests chat about current movies before launching into the the Leonard Maltin Game, where contestants have to guess movie titles based on clues from Leonard Maltin reviews. Cinemaphiles rejoice.

How Did This Get Made? The fantastic Paul Scheer hosts a raucus discussion about horrible movies and how the hell they ever able to get a greenlight. Standout episodes include Battleship Earth, Crank 2: High Voltage and Mac & Me.

Slate Spoiler Specials: Slate podcasts have a good balance of serious film analysis and fun fandom. The spoiler specials are great to listen to right after you see a movie and are in the mood to talk it to death.

Educational/Science/Politics

I should really listen to more of these. We’ve already shared  podcasts to make you smarter, but here are some more.

Just to throw it out there, NPR has most of its programming available to download as podcasts. The daily news are available fairly timely so you can feel informed. My personal favorites are “On the Media” and “Fresh Air”.

Professor Blastoff: on the flipside, the three hosts of professor blastoff don’t have much knowledge of the issues that they discuss. Being that they are three comedians, they spend a lot of time ribbing each other and making clever bits about it. Recently, they have had some expert guests to provide a more factual base.

That should give you hours and hours of listening material. Any other podcast recs for Broke-Asses? Leave them in the comments.

Photo credit:  www.smorgshowpodcast.com