Shouts to two new podcast ventures: My Favorite Murder’s Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark launched Exactly Right. Slow Burn’s Leon Neyfakh left Slate to launch a new pod called Fiasco.
As promised, I’ve rolled some Pod Takes from last week to this week. Happy bonus content.
6 Pod Takes
1) “The robots, most economists think, will win out.”
Listen: The Daily: The Human Toll of Instant Delivery (24:31)
- That’s Jessica Silver-Greenberg, New York Times business reporter on the cold facts of the future of warehouse work.
- The Daily’s look at the how speedy delivery from Amazon and other retailers affects workers is chilling and heartbreaking.
- Tasha Murrell, a former warehouse employee, talks about when a co-worker died during her shift. Her supervisors: “Oh, well. People die. But we still gotta get this work out.”
2) “Has tax fraud gotten to the point where gangsta rap is in on it? Yeah, I guess so.”
Listen: Darknet Diaries: IRS (30:20)
- So says Jack Rhysider, highlighting one of the many places where tax fraud is thriving.
3) “It’s sort of James Baldwin and Charles Dickens wrote a book together.”
Listen: Broken Record: Nile Rodgers and Chic (28:48)
- That’s host Bruce Headlam, with the succinct and amazing take on music legend Rodgers’ autobiography.
- My take: You could do worse than start the weekend with this beloved Rodgers contribution to pop music.
4) “The best thing that ever happened to me was being hit by that car. It just changed everything for me. I highly recommend it for everyone.”
Listen: How It Is: Adventure, with Jameela Jamil, Danya Ruttenberg, and Jada Yuan (29:59)
- That’s Jamil, of “The Good Place,” who is not a monster for saying that.
- She adds: “As long as you can come out of it somewhat okay. Still alive. I really think it gifts you more than you would know. I say that somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as you can imagine, because I think not everyone is as lucky as I was when I got out of that car accident.”
5) “Remember what happened [with] Tom Brady’s T-shirt that he wore? There were torchlight searches going on in my neighborhood. There’s Rembrandts missing. There’s Vermeer missing. I want that enthusiasm.”
Listen: Last Seen: ‘Last Seen’ Live (20:34)
- That’s Stephen Kurkjian, an investigative reporter on the Isabella Stewart Gardner art heist beat, on the kind of focus he’d like to see on the unsolved mystery.
- Flashback: In 2017, New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady’s Super Bowl jersey was stolen. People went nuts.
- My take: An almost-satisfying finish to an almost-great podcast. Sarah Larson nails it.
6) “The butt is my window to the soul.”
Listen: Everything is Alive: Sean, Subway Seat (3:21)
- Thanks for sharing, Sean.
Tweet of the Week
Go Deep
1) Conversion Therapy in America
Listen: UnErased
- The four-part series hosted by Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad tells the stories of some of the 700,000 people who were subjected to conversion therapy, the “dangerous and controversial ex-gay treatment.”
- Binge time: 2 hours, 36 minutes.
2) Instagram
Listen: Why’d You Push That Button?
- Ashley Carman and Kaitlyn Tiffany, whose pod focuses on the choices technology asks us to make, finish a three-part mini-series on the fave social media channel.
- They cover Instagram boyfriends, Instagram shopping, what makes a place Instagram-worthy and food Instagram.
- Carman says: “They’re everywhere on Instagram with this stupid-ass rolled lasagna, disrupting the lasagna world.”
- Binge time: 2 hours, 32 minutes.
- See: The stupid-ass rolled lasagna.
3) Killmonger
Listen: Villains
- Shea Serrano goes 46 minutes on the “Black Panther” baddie.
4) “Raiders of the Lost Ark”
Listen: Scriptnotes
- Craig Mazin and John August dissect the 1981 classic that pits Indiana Jones against Nazis, snakes, dates.
- Binge time: 1 hour, 13 minutes.
5) The Assassination of JFK
Listen: Assassinations, Sinisterhood
- Guess we’ll never not be fascinated by the assassination of the 35th U.S. president.
- Assassinations completes a three-part series. Sinisterhood finishes a two-parter.
- Binge times: Assassinations: 2 hours, 14 minutes. Sinisterhood: 2 hours, 38 minutes.
6) Real vs. Fake
Listen: Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything
- Walker’s 15-part “battle between the real and the fake” concludes.
- Binge time: 8 hours, 55 minutes.
Guest Appearances By…
Attell, Dave The Bill Simmons Podcast
Bach, King Inside of You
Beard, Mary The Goop Podcast
Bell, Kristen Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Branum, Guy It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders
Brooks, Kim The Gist with Mike Pesca
- Convo with the woman who got 100 hours of community service for leaving her son alone in a car while she ran an errand.
Coates, Ta-Nehisi Why is This Happening? with Chris Hayes
Cohen, Marilyn The Indicator from Planet Money
- The bond manager plays overrated, underrated.
Cooper, Bradley Playback
Connelly, Michael Kickass News
Dickey, Bronwen Code Switch
- Author of “Pit Bull” talks pit bulls.
D’Onofrio, Vincent Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Dodd, Chris The Axe Files
Ellis, Sarah Kate Queery
Elitch, Dave The Tim Ferriss Show
Everett, Bridget ID10T, The New Yorker Radio Hour
Fake, Caterina Without Fail
Finnegan, William StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson
Frank, Scott The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Gibney, Alex TBD with Tina Brown
Gilroy, Tony The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Hader, Bill Anna Faris is Unqualified
Haidt, Jonathan The Ezra Klein Show
Hall, Carla The Sporkful
Hawke, Ethan Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Heller, Emily You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes
Iyer, Pico On Being
Jackman, Hugh Katie Couric
James, LeBron The Tim Ferriss Show
- Basketball’s best player (ever!) talks about his training.
Kidd, Sue Monk Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations
Kimbra This Must Be the Gig
Mackey, John Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations
- Whole Foods co-founder talks creativity, food.
Mandel, Howie The Adam Carolla Show
Maron, Marc Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda
Mayer, Jane Monocle 24: The Big Interview
Moore, Michael Scott The Adam Buxton Podcast
Mortimer, Emily Employee of the Month
Mull, Martin WTF with Marc Maron
Mulligan, Carey Off Camera with Sam Jones
Nancherla, Aparna The Hilarious World of Depression
Nabongo, Jessica Travel Genius
- The blogger/influencer talks about her mission to become the first black woman to visit every country in the world.
O’Brien, Conan Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Peterson, Jordan The Joe Rogan Experience
Reitman, Jason The Treatment
Rock, Kid Planet Money
Ross, Jeff The Bill Simmons Podcast
Sakran, Dr. Joseph Fresh Air
- Convo with the trauma surgeon who started #ThisIsOurLane.
Shires, Amanda Sound Opinions
Slater, Kelly StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson
Soloway, Jill TBD with Tina Brown
Tebow, Tim The Dave Ramsey Show
Tweedy, Jeff All Songs Considered, WTF with Marc Maron
Vargas, Jose Antonio Recode Decode, How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black
Wainwright, Rufus Broken Record
Weiss, Emily How I Built This with Guy Raz
- Convo with founder of Glossier.
Wolf, Michelle Ask Me Another
Yuan, Jada How It Is
- The NYT’s 52 Places traveler talks adventure, fearlessness.
Zimmer, John How I Built This with Guy Raz
Notable New Podcasts
1) The Slowdown
- U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith delivers a poem every day. She says, “poetry offers a way of slowing things down, looking at them closely, mining each moment for all that it houses.”
- Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian “meets the OG generation of entrepreneurs and learns how they started their own booming businesses.” All eight episodes dropped this week.
- Iconic magazine editor “talks with entertaining candor to writers, actors, politicians, crime sleuths, journalists, activists, digerati, thought-leaders and newsmakers of tomorrow’s social debates.” Whew.
4) Winging It
- NBA players Vince Carter and Kent Bazemore, with an assist from Annie Finberg, take “a behind-the-scenes look at what NBA players think and talk about when their minds aren’t on the court.”
- Jason Tetro’s pod will “venture into all areas. If it ends in ‘ology’, we’ve got it covered – chemistry and physics too.”
- The founders of the podcast analytics company “discuss all things podcasting, interview podcasters and dish the best advice on how to market and grow your podcast.”
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. Also, find us on Twitter @WeekInPodcasts.