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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Walk This Way Edition (#49)

Best thing I listened to this week: my son’s 5th grade chorus singing “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Second best: Ron Burgundy’s new podcast. And that’s all I heard. It was an extra busy week, and this side project got pushed a lot further to the side than usual. 

So fewer pod takes, but the rest is jam packed. The counts: 30 notable guests, nine deep dives, six new podcasts and one “song that changed American music forever.”

Pod Take of the Week

“I don’t know what a podcast is.”

Listen: The Ron Burgundy Podcast: True Crime (3:01)

  • Will Ferrell unleashes Ron Burgundy and his potent idiocy upon podcastlandia.
  • My take: A hilarious reinvention of the true-crime genre, sprinkled with ample San Diego references.

Go Deep


1) Sexy Songs

Listen: Switched on Pop

  • A 35-minute Valentine’s Day-themed breakdown of what makes a pop song sexy.
  • “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl” and “Need You Tonight” make the cut for the discussion.


2) Medieval Politics/”Game of Thrones”

Listen: Tides of History

  • The 48-minute dive into the overlap of the two concludes “GoT is actually a pretty accurate portrayal of late medieval politics.”


3) “Walk This Way” collaboration

Listen: Sound Opinions

  • A 1-hour deep dive into the landmark Run-DMC/Aerosmith recording, billed as the “song that changed American music forever.”


4) “The Princess Bride”

Listen: Scriptnotes

  • Screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin take a 57-minute deep dive into the beloved film.


5) “Come on Eileen”

Listen: Punch Up the Jam

  • A 1-hour, 44-minute deep dive into one of the supreme pop songs of the ‘80s.


6) U2

Listen: Political Beats


7) SNL’s Totino’s Ad Trilogy

Listen: Good One

  • A 1-hour breakdown of the ad parodies with former SNL head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider.


8) USFL vs. NFL

Listen: Business Wars

  • The pod kicks off a multi-part series on the short-lived rivalry between the pro football leagues.


9) Spotify’s acquisition of Gimlet

Listen: Recode Media

  • Industry news alert: Spotify’s buying the maker of Reply All and other popular podcasts, paving the way for a potential overhaul of the podcast ecosystem.
  • Gimlet co-founders Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber spend 1 hour, 5 minutes explaining why they’re making the deal.

Guest Appearances By…


Barker, Travis The Joe Rogan Experience

  • Convo with the drummer for Blink-182.

Cantore, Jim Weather Geeks

  • Everyone’s favorite storm tracker talks about the weather.

Cooper, Bradley Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations

Cryer, Jon Talkhouse

  • In conversation with Ben Lee.

de Botton, Alain The Goop Podcast

Dorsey, Jack Making Sense with Sam Harris

Forte, Will Wheels Off

Glass, Ira Thruline

Gosselaar, Mark-Paul The Adam Carolla Show

Grann, David Longform Podcast

  • Author and The New Yorker writer talks about his process, his latest book “The White Darkness.”

Hale, Tony Anna Faris is Unqualified

Harris, Sam The Joe Rogan Experience

Jacobson, Abbi The Goop Podcast

James, Marlon The New Yorker Radio Hour, 10 Things That Scare Me, The Book Review

Jeffries, Hakeem The Axe Files

Lanthimos, Yorgos The Treatment, WTF with Marc Maron

Lee, Ben Talkhouse

  • In conversation with Jon Cryer.

Lee, Spike The Bill Simmons Podcast

McKellar, Danica ID10T

Nader, Ralph The Ezra Klein Show

.Paak, Anderson WTF with Marc Maron

Phil, Dr. Armchair Expert

Popova, Maria On Being

Ratliff, Evan Recode Decode

Reid, Harry Stay Tuned with Preet

Rezaian, Jason Pod Save the World, The Trip

Savage, Dan The Sporkful

Schiff, Adam Lovett or Leave It

Sedaris, David Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend

Washington, John David Bullseye

Notable New Podcasts


1) Conviction

  • True crime alert! The seven-episode first season of Gimlet’s podcast focuses on a detective who takes on “cases of young men in New York City … who say they’ve been arrested for crimes they didn’t commit.”

2) Root of Evil

  • An eight-part companion podcast to TNT’s “I Am the Night,” from Patty Jenkins and starring Chris Pine.

3) The Ron Burgundy Podcast

  • Will Ferrell revisits his “Anchorman” character, with conversations that ”have a tendency to go off the rails.” Perfect.

4) Throughline

  • Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah host NPR’s new history podcast.

5) Ghosted!

  • Drag comedian Roz Drezfalez “explores her curiosity of things that go ‘bump’ in the night with celebrity guests, psychics, and everyday people.”

6) Everything is Alive

  • The best interview show in podlandia returns for season two.