5 Pod Takes

1) “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on Earth does that mean it’s not real?”

Listen: Binge Mode: The Farewell | Harry Potter(2:06:41)

• That’s Mallory Rubin, channeling Albus Dumbledore in an emotional finale to the epic 68-episode deep dive into the world of Harry Potter she undertook with co-host Jason Concepcion.
• Says Rubin: “[The words] embody why we love stories. They remind us that ink and paper can be stronger than concrete or metal or any other building block. They convey in a single sentence, the unsurpassed power of fantasy to unlock in each and every one of us a world of infinite possibility.”

2) “I am trying to create a stable community in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured, and ya gotta do that somewhere.”

Listen: Anthropocene Reviewed: Indianapolis and Love at First Sight (10:13)

• That’s John Green, channeling Kurt Vonnegut and explaining why he lives in Indianapolis.
• Green’s verdict on Naptown: 4 stars.

3) “We’re all going to leave here best friends holding hands and running off into the sunset together.”

“On a unicorn.”

Listen: Conversations With People Who Hate Me: I Hate Amanda Palmer (20:29)

• That’s Dylan Marron (setup) and musician Amanda Palmer (kicker), with their ideal outcome to Palmer’s conversation with a woman who tweeted, “I’m not sure I hate any celebrity the way I hate Amanda Palmer.”

4) “You can’t just delegate that responsibility to an algorithm.”

Listen: The Fatherly Podcast: Children Have Horrible Taste in Music: Can They Rise Above Baby Shark? (23:01)

• That’s John Schaefer, imploring parents to be active in shaping their kids’ musical tastes, lest they discover “Cat Flushing a Toilet.”

5) “Would you rather watch Maroon 5 yammer their way through whatever adult alternative songs they have?…Or a marching band that makes really cool shapes and a dancing bear?”

Listen: The Great Debates: Super Bowl Special 2019 (5:07)

• That’s Mina Kimes, with the winning proposal for the ideal Super Bowl halftime show.
• My take: Go Rams!

Go Deep

1) Super Bowl Prop Bets

Listen: The Bill Simmons Podcast, Against All Odds

• A 2-hour, 21-minute deep dive that may help you figure out if you should bet on how long it will take Gladys Knight to sing the national anthem during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

2) “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

Listen: Finale

• The pod goes 29 minutes on Buffy’s last episode.

3) “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”

Listen: Punch Up the Jam

• A 1-hour, 34-minute deep dive into the Green Day classic.

Guest Appearances By…

Burgess, Titus It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Carvey, Dana Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend

Cenac, Wyatt The Art of Process with Aimee Mann and Ted Leo

• Writer, actor and comedian is the debut guest on the new pod about creativity.

Chotiner, Isaac Pod Save America

• A guest spot for Twitter’s favorite interviewer.

Colman, Olivia David Tennant Does a Podcast With…

• Star of “The Favourite” is the debut guest on Tennant’s pod.

Cooper, Bradley The Treatment

Cuban, Mark Freakonomics Radio

Dion, Celine The Dan Wootton Interview

Eggers, Dave Peace Of Mind with Bhi Bhiman

Frum, David Stay Tuned with Preet

Fry, Stephen Making Sense with Sam Harris

Gaffigan, Jim ID10T

Hodgman, John Comedy Bang! Bang!

Jamil, Jameela Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

• Tahani!

Janney, Allison WTF with Marc Maron

Kahneman, Daniel On Being

Kane, Carol Bullseye

Klosterman, Chuck The Bill Simmons Podcast

Mandel, Howie KFC Radio

Nowitzki, Dirk The Lowe Post

Peña, Michael Armchair Expert

Savage, Dan Queery

Sims, Cliff Kickass News, 1A

Soderbergh, Steven The Bill Simmons Podcast

Tomkins, Paul F. Comedy Bang! Bang!

Notable New Podcasts

1) The Art of Process with Aimee Mann and Ted Leo

• The musical collaborators team to chat up their “friends across the creative spectrum to find out how they work.”

2) Murder Book

• True crime alert: Novelist Michael Connellyinvestigates “a thirty-year-old Hollywood killing that tests the limits of the American criminal justice system.”

3) Case Closed

• More true crime: Based on the book “Secrets of a Marine’s Wife,” the podcast “investigates the murder of Erin Corwin, who was just 19 years old when she kissed her husband Jon goodbye at the Marine base in Twentynine Palms, California, and headed to Joshua Tree National Park to scout hiking trails. It was the last time he would ever see her alive.”

4) Le Batard & Friends – STUpodity

• Sports media personality Stugotz’s new pod is currently No. 1 on the iTunes chart.

5) Extraterrestrial

• New Parcast podcast promises to “examine reports of a different alien occurrence, and land on the most plausible explanation.” It’s currently No. 11 on iTunes.

6) Julie: The Unwinding of the Miracle

• The late Julie Yip-Williams, who died from colon cancer, chronicles the “process of preparing for her death and revisiting the events of her extraordinary life, through hours of intensely personal and revealing conversations.” It’s a companion to her posthumous memoir, “The Unwinding of the Miracle.”

7) We Called Your Mom

• Beth Stelling and her mom Diane “call up the mothers of artists & comedians you love to chat them up about their super talented children.”

8) The Intelligence

• The latest daily news podcast comes from The Economist.

9) David Tennant Does a Podcast With…

• Beloved Scottish actor and 16th Sexiest Man in the World (source: Cosmopolitan, 2008) “gets talking with the biggest names from TV, movies, comedy and elsewhere.”

10) Russia Rising

• A seven-part investigative series goes “inside Putin’s Russia to unravel its mysterious evolution from tenuous ally to potential global threat.”

11) Peace Of Mind with Bhi Bhiman

• The indie musician bills his podcast as an album and a podcast.

12) Let’s Get Civical

• It’s “part civics class and part comedy show,” hosted by Lizzie Stewart and Arden Walentowski.

13) The Strategerist

• The George W. Bush Institute’s contribution to podcasting channels “the 43rd President, late night sketch comedy, and interesting conversation.”

14) Once Upon a Timestamp

• Randi Zuckerberg and Natasha Lewin create “modernized, empowering recreations of outdated, crusty old fairy tales.”

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