Two truths and a … bit of housekeeping:
- Avery Trufelman’s announcement that she’ll host The Cut has more than 88,000 views since yesterday morning. The admiration runs deep in podcastland.
- Podcasters remain obsessed with Betty, Inez, James and Taylor Swift’s “folklore.”
- And I’m off next week. Time for a summer break. Next edition: Aug. 21, though follow This Week in Podcasts on Twitter for updates on new podcasts and other info during the next couple of weeks.
The counts: 57 notable guests, 11 new podcasts, five deep dives and one thing you’re apparently wrong about.
Pod Take of the Week
“In my experience, schools are immune to long-term memory.”
Listen: Nice White Parents: ‘This Is Our School, How Dare You?’ (34:26)
- That’s Chana Joffe-Walt, in episode three of the No. 1 podcast on Apple Podcasts and the No. 2 trending podcast on Spotify.
- The podcast of the moment suggests “white parents can shape a school — even when they aren’t there.”
- Joffe-Walt says, when it comes to reforming schools, we keep doing the same things. The clock restarts every September.
- She says: “We look forward, nobody looks backwards, to history. And so the question is not, ‘How do we stop white families from hoarding all the resources?’ Instead the question is, ‘What’s going on with the black kids?’”
Go Deep
1) Disco Demolition Night
Listen: You’re Wrong About
- The 1-hour, 37-minute dive into the 1979 promotion gone awry at Chicago’s Comiskey Park also addresses “Charlotte’s Web,” Jane Fonda and German-language musicals.
2) “Groundhog Day” as Seen Through a 2020 Lens
Listen: Imaginary Advice
- Ross Sutherland and four artists dive deep into the Bill Murray classic amid our “Groundhog Day”-ish current reality.
- The two-part series goes 1 hour, 27 minutes.
3) Comedy in Quarantine
Listen: Good One
- The Vulture pod features Nikki Glaser, Jim Gaffigan, Laurie Kilmartin, Nore Davis and Jenny Yang on what it’s like to try to be funny during the pandemic.
4) An Unlikely Police Informer
Listen: Trace
- Season two of the Australian Broadcast Corporation podcast focuses on Nicola Gobbo, who “represented some of Australia’s most dangerous criminals, all the while secretly working as a police informer.”
5) Yoko Ono
Listen: The C-Word ($L)
- Lena Dunham and Alissa Bennett assess “the cultural anxieties about gender and race that made Yoko a target and ask how we can truly honor the contributions of trailblazing women artists.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = Spotify exclusive. ($A) = Audible, behind a paywall. Adejuyigbe, Demi The Three Questions with Andy Richter
Andersen, Kurt Recode Media, The Gist
Bell, W. Kamau Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Chapman, Rex Angry Americans
Cleese, John The Last Laugh
Day, Charlie Life is Short with Justin Long
Dorsey, Jack The Daily
Eisenberg, Jesse The Gist
Ejiofor, Chiwetel I’m So Obsessed
Flom, Jason The Joe Rogan Experience
Fulton, Sybrina The Gift of Forgiveness
Gaiman, Neil Conversations
Gay, Roxane Why Won’t You Date Me?
Ginsburg, Ruth Bader Amicus
Goodall, Jane On Being
Hawke, Maya This Must Be the Gig
Hayes, Sean Anna Faris is Unqualified
Hill, Jonah Throwing Fits
Hoppus, Mark Pass-Through Frequencies
Ice-T WTF with Marc Maron
Jean, Wyclef People’s Party with Talib Kweli
Johnson, Betsey Skimm’d From the Couch
Kilgariff, Karen Never Not Funny
King, Regina It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders
Knox, Amanda The Jordan Harbinger Show
Lakshmi, Padma The Dave Chang Show, It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders
List, Joe WTF with Marc Maron
Lopez, Mario The John Roa Show
Lowe, Rob The Joe Rogan Experience
McCarthy, Melissa Smartless
Messing, Debra I Weigh
Morey, Daryl At Home with Linda & Drew Scott
Morris, Wesley Stoop Talks ($L)
Munn, Olivia Good for You
Mutter, Anne-Sophie Monocle 24: The Big Interview
Norris, Michele The Michelle Obama Podcast
Odom Jr., Leslie Armchair Expert
Pierce, Wendell Death, Sex & Money
Redzepi, Rene The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Rippon, Adam The Black List ($L)
Robbins, Tim Off Camera with Sam Jones
Rowland, Kelly Mogul
Samberg, Andy Comedy Bang! Bang!
Sherman-Palladino, Amy Bullseye
Simons, Timothy The Watch
Smith, Zadie Call Your Girlfriend, The Adam Buxton Podcast
Soo, Phillipa Talks at Google
Spade, David Literally! With Rob Lowe
Stewart, Dave Sodajerker on Songwriting
Toobin, Jeffrey Stay Tuned with Preet, Fresh Air
Trejo, Danny Daddy Issues with Joe Buck and Oliver Hudson
Trombone Shorty The David Banner Podcast
Tyler, Steven Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
Wambach, Abby Skimm’d From the Couch
Weir, Bob Comes a Time
will.i.am The Zane Lowe Interview Series
Wilson, Mara Make My Day with Josh Gondelman
Notable New Podcasts
- NBAer JJ Redick and Tommy Alter “discuss the NBA, current events and interview some of the biggest names in the NBA, entertainment and political worlds” inside the NBA bubble in Orlando.
- It’s No. 46 on Apple Podcasts.
- My take: An all-timer podcast name.
- Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch “guide fellow travelers through the everyday and extraordinary challenges of life.”
- It’s No. 53 on Apple Podcasts.
3) Blue’s Clues & You: Story Time with Josh & Blue
- Kids can “skidoo with Blue and Josh into storybooks where silly sleepy-time adventures await” in this Nickelodeon pod.
- It’s No. 62 on Apple Podcasts.
4) The Bomb
- The BBC pod focuses on the “explosion that changed history,” asking, “Could one man have stopped it?”
- Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera tell “[u]ntold stories of how tech shapes our culture in truly wild ways.”
- Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins talks about songwriting with other accomplished musicians.
- First guest: blink-182’s Mark Hoppus.
7) Oddvice
- Kristen McAtee and Alex Koot “share personal experiences about various topics, and then in the next episode they read your stories and answer your questions.”
- The Gimlet pod “asks the big questions: what do we need to do to solve the climate crisis, and how do we get it done?”
- Alex Blumberg and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson host.
9) Cascara
- Cydni Patterson “takes listeners to a different city and talk to locals about what makes their coffee community unique.”
- It’s from the coffee publication Sprudge.
10) Letters From Camp ($A)
- Jamie Lee Curtis produced and stars in a “comedic, heartfelt mystery aimed at middle grade listeners and their parents”
- Jake Gyllenhaal and Sunny Sandler also star.
11) The Night Driver
- Hedley Thomas, the journalist who reported The Teacher’s Pet, investigates the disappearance of Janine Vaughan.
- The crux: “She stepped into a red car in front of friends 19 years ago – and disappeared without a trace. Her sister Kylie has been on a relentless quest for the truth about Janine’s murder in a community that has been keeping a wicked secret.”
And One to Look Forward to: Very Presidential with Ashley Flowers (Aug. 11)
- Ashley Flowers “shines a light on the darker side of the American presidency.”