Pod Take of the Week

“The right-wing machine for pumping out this kind of misinformation is like the chocolates moving in front of Lucy and Ethel.”

Listen: Pod Save America: “Drunk dialing for kompromat.” (31:09)

• That’s Jon Lovett, on the overload of BS as the U.S. House of Representatives begins its impeachment inquiry. 
• Context: Watch Lucy and Ethel do their thing.

Go Deep

1) The Rise and Sale of Gimlet Media 

Listen: StartUp, Cold Call

• For podcast nerds, mostly. StartUp, the Gimlet Media podcast that has chronicled the company’s creation and growing pains for five years, starts its final season.
• It promises to tell the warts-and-all tale of its recent acquisition by Spotify. 
• For an outside perspective, the Harvard Business Review podcast Cold Call offers a Gimlet case study. 

2) The Market for Passports

Listen: The Documentary Podcast

• A 28-minute look at the “booming trade in passports” and “how easy it can be to get a second — or third — passport, for the right price.”

3) Facebook vs. Snapchat

Listen: Business Wars

• A six-part series on the tech battle between Mark Zuckerberg’s data-swallowing juggernaut and Evan Spiegel’s upstart. 

4) Pocky

Listen: Spilled Milk

• A 25-minute dive into Pocky and other stickbiscuits. 

5) Dave Chapelle

Listen: Still Processing

• A 42-minute dive into the comic’s latest comedy special, his place in the current culture and his highwire act of jokes about abortion. 

6) Jeanne de Saint-Remy 

Listen: Con Artists

• The pod kicks off a multi-parter on the 18th-century French con artist. 

7) John Wilkes Booth

Listen: 1865

• The pod completes a three-part series on Abraham Lincoln’s killer and his final hours.

Guest Appearances By…

($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive.

Allende, Isabel Latino USA

Anderson, Nick The Dave Chang Show

• Convo with the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist. 

Armstrong, Heather B. The Hilarious World of Depression

Avett Brothers, The Armchair Expert

• Supplemental listening: The band’s new album, Closer Than Together. Or listen to this and have a cry. 

Bandera, Antonio Studio 360

Banhart, Devendra This Must Be the Gig

Barr, Roseanne The Joe Rogan Experience

Brie, Alison Anna Faris Is Unqualified

Bryson, Bill Conversations

Byer, Nicole The Goodie Goodie with Sabrina Jalees

Byrne, David All Songs Considered

Cameron, David Pod Save the World

• Former UK Prime Minister talks about democracy, his book. 

Carey, Drew Talkhouse

Carney, Patrick The Road Taken

• The drummer of The Black Keys talks touring, his band. 

Clinton, Hillary Call Your Girlfriend

Clinton, Chelsea Call Your Girlfriend

Cochran, Jason Explore the World

Cox, Laverne LGBTQ&A ($L)

Day, Charlie Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

DeVito, Danny WTF with Marc Maron

Ellis, Brett Easton The Portal

Faison, Donald Life is Short with Justin Long

Favreau, Jon Strictly Business

• Convo with the movie director.

Favreau, Jon Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

• Convo with the Crooked Media co-founder.

Feldman, Liz Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

Gates, Melinda HBR IdeaCast, Wisdom From the Top ($L)

Gladwell, Malcolm Happier with Gretchen Rubin, The Ezra Klein Show

Glazer, Nikki The Joe Rogan Experience

Guggenheim, Davis The Vergecast

Gulman, Gary You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes, The Gist, The Moment

• The comedian makes the pod rounds promoting his HBO special, “The Great Depresh.”

Henner, Marilu WTF with Marc Maron

Howard, Russell Full Disclosure with James O’Brien

Iger, Bob Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Klosterman, Chuck The Bill Simmons Podcast

Legend, John It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Lennox, Annie Cry Power with Hozier

Marantz, Andrew Longform Podcast

Marsalis, Wynton The Open Ears Project

Martin, Giles All Songs Considered

Miller, Chanel Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

• Convo with the sexual assault victim formerly knowns as Emily Doe.  

Neistat, Casey H3 Podcast

Newsom, Gavin The Lead

• California’s Gov. talk NCAA, allowing college athletes in the state to get paid for the use of their name and likeness.

O’Brien, Conan Off Book

Phoenix, Joaquin ID10T

Porowski, Antoni Beyond the Plate

Raskin, Rep. Jamie Pod Save America

Remnick, David Stay Tuned with Preet

Rock, Chris The Al Franken Podcast

Rodman, Dennis The Jordan Harbinger Show

Rogen, Seth Scriptnotes

Rushdie, Salman Bookworm

Russo, Joe Talks at Google

Sagal, Peter Go Fact Yourself

Sarsgaard, Peter Bullseye

Shaffir, Ari The Joe Rogan Experience

Simpson, Sturgill The Joe Rogan Experience

Smith, Ben Recode Media

Tegan and Sara Queery

Thruman, Niccole Culture Kings

Tolentino, Jia Keep It

White, Jack Broken Record

Yamagata, Rachel Wheels Off

Yang, Andrew The Portal

Notable New Podcasts

1) The Mysterious Mr. Epstein

• Another week, another pod about the insidious Jeffrey Epstein. 
• It’s No. 1 on iTunes.

2) Borrowed Future

• The pod from Ramsey Network “explores the lies we believe about college and digs into the soaring cost of tuition and the predatory nature of the student loan industry.” 
• It’s No. 10 on iTunes.

3) America Dissected 

• The ten-part series from Crooked Media “goes beyond the headlines to explore what really matters for our health.”
• It’s No. 27 on iTunes

4) Heads of Sierra Blanca

• An eight-episode series about “a serial killer inspired by Rube Goldberg” in Sierra Blanca, Texas. The pod explores whether the killings are tied to a Mexican cartel turf war. 
• It’s No. 33 on iTunes

5) Scam Goddess

• An Earwolf pod “dedicated to fraud and all those who practice it!”
• It’s No. 84 on iTunes

6) Condition

• The podcast from the Las Vegas Review-Journal covers the mass shooting at the Route 91 festival by sharing “the stories of two Las Vegas police officers, a woman in dire straits and the night their lives intersected.”

7) The Left Ear

• Host Dakota Johnson covers “stories of assault, abuse, and harassment from survivors around the globe.”

8) Cry Power with Hozier

• The musician “talks to artists and activists about how to take action and change the world.”

9) The Law & Order: SVU Podcast

• The official pod about the TV show brings “behind-the-scenes episode intel from the cast and crew.”

10) Worst Year Ever

• It’s all about the projected craziness of the election year 2020, which “isn’t going to be fun for anybody, left, right, or center.”

11) Cryptids

• It’s a scripted show about “a conspiracy radio show host and an avid listener who go in search of an afterlife.” 

12) The Road Taken

• The Ringer podcast hosted by Vampire Weekend’s Chris Tomson and Chris Baio takes “an honest look at the life of a touring musician through conversations with their peers, idols, and rivals.” 

13) Sonic Boom ($L)

• The Ringer pod “tells a story of basketball and politics, wealth and power—revealing new truths about the NBA’s greatest heist.”
• That heist would be the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics departure to Oklahoma City in 2008. 

14) Mother of All Shows

• Actress Kimmy Gatewood “aims to uncover what it truly means to be a modern parent in an over-informed, Google-obsessed, placenta-eating world.”

15) Bear and a Banjo

• The music podcast from iHeartRadio “tells the incredibly tall tale of a band that time forgot.”

And One to Look Forward To: Dolly Parton’s America

• The trailer’s out for the nine-episode “journey into the Dollyverse.” Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad hosts.

And one more thing: Sunday’s #ShareYourBudsSunday, a day to share your love of podcasts with family and friends. Learn more from #ShareYourBudsSunday co-founders and friends of the newsletter, Earbuds Podcast Collective and Podcast Gumbo.

Pod Take of the Week

“It’s like they’re trying to rescue and preserve the last remaining copy of ‘Hamlet’”

Listen: Culture Gabfest: Iconic Staircase (26:29)

• That’s Stephen Metcalf, joking about HGTV’s sugary, much-hyped renovation of the Brady Bunch house on “A Very Brady Renovation.”
• HGTV marshalls eight hosts to join with the six Brady “kids” for a reno project: turn the real-life house that represented the exterior of the Brady home into a replica of the house depicted on the show’s set.
• My take: I’m so here for it. I love the collision of Slate’s over-intellectualization of “The Brady Bunch” and my own deep childhood love for the show.

Go Deep

1) President Trump and the Impeachment Inquiry 

• Emergency pods spawned even emergencier pods all week. I didn’t keep up. I followed the revelations about the whistle-blower’s complaint against President Trump and his Ukraine-related actions in real time. 
• If you need to catch up, the six top-ranked Trumpy pods of the week, per iTunes, are: 
• The Daily: ‘I Would Like You to Do Us a Favor’
• The Daily: The Whistle-Blower’s Complaint
• The Daily: An Impeachment Inquiry Begins
• The Ben Shapiro Show: Whistleblower Comes Up Empty
• FiveThirtyEight Politics: The Whistleblower’s Complaint
• Pod Save America: ‘Rudy Likes Club Drugs’
• Bonus: The audio version of the whistleblower’s complaint against President Trump.

2) Living with Sharks

Listen: Outside Podcast

• A 44-minute deep dive into the “extreme reactions” humans have to “living alongside one of the world’s most terrifying predators.”

3) “The Shawshank Redemption”

Listen: The Rewatchables

• A 1-hour, 50-minute dive into the movie that’s been playing on a loop on cable for almost 25 years. 
• The Ringer crew breaks it down with special guest, Bill Simmons’s dad.

4) “Do the Right Thing”

Listen: Deviate with Rolf Potts

• A 56-minute dive into another iconic American movie. Wesley Morris guests. 
• Morris says: “The importance of ‘Do the Right Thing’ out-lives all of the arguments against it. It embarrasses its critics, in a lot of ways. Spike Lee really is having the last laugh on this one.”

5) Skylab

Listen: American Innovations

• The pod kicks off a series on America’s first space station, known to one of the engineers that worked on it as “the little redheaded bastard out behind the barn.”

Guest Appearances By…

($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive.

Allen, Byron WTF with Marc Maron

Ansari, Aziz Last Day

Apatow, Judd Thick Skin with Jeff Ross

Aukerman, Scott The Three Questions with Andy Richter

Blunt, James The Dan Wootton Interview

Booker, Sen. Cory The New Yorker Radio Hour

Brown, Karamo Naked with Catt Sadler

Burns, Ken Longform Podcast

Calcanis, Jason Inside Podcasting

Cannon, Nick ExpediTIously 

Carden, D’Arcy The Good Place, Comedy Bang! Bang!

• Janet!

Cummings, Whitney Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

Donoghue, Emma Bookworm

Duca, Lauren The Gist

Flea The Bill Simmons Podcast

• RHCP bassist talks music, Lakers. 

Francis, Dillon The Ron Burgundy Podcast

Gaffigan, Jeannie WTF with Marc Maron

Gaffigan, Jim Armchair Expert

Galifianakis, Zach Off Camera

Garofolo, Janeane Filling the Void

Gladwell, Malcolm The goop Podcast, The Jordan Harbinger Show, Full Disclosure

• Gladwell continues the pod rounds to promote his new book. 

Gorsuch, Neil The Strategerist

• The George W. Bush Institute pod talks to the Supreme Court Justice. 

Hurd, Will TED Talks Daily

Hyland, Sarah Celeste & Her Best ($L)

Izzard, Eddie The Open Ears Project

• The comic and actor raves about “Clair de Lune.”

Kander, Jason The Al Franken Podcast 

Khanna, Parag The TED Interview

Klobuchar, Sen. Amy Radio Atlantic

Kurtis, Bill Go Fact Yourself

Leonard, Franklin Hear to Slay ($L)

• Convo with the founder of The Black List.

Levy, Dan Thirst Aid Kit

• Co-creator of “Schitt’s Creek” guests as the beloved former Buzzfeed pod re-launches at Slate. 

Ling, Lisa The Tim Ferriss Show, Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

Ma, Jeff The Dave Chang Show

MacKaye, Ian Sound Opinions

• Fugazi founder talks about the band’s debut album, “Repeater.”

Meltzer, Brad Kickass News

Morales, Natalie Yo, Is This Racist?

Olson, Elizabeth UnStyled

Penn, Sean ID10T

Phillips, Lou Diamond Latino USA

Pierson, Rich How I Built This with Guy Raz

• Convo with the co-creator of meditation app Headspace. 

Puddicome, Andy How I Built This with Guy Raz

• Same as above.

Schilling, Dave Culture Kings

Sedaris, Amy Life is Short with Justin Long

Silverman, Sarah Last Day

Soderbergh, Steven Inside the Hive with Nick Bilton

Starr, Martin Curious with Josh Peck

Thornton, Billy Bob The Bill Simmons Podcast

Van Ness, Jonathan It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Warner, Sen. Mark Recode Decode

Will, George The Axe Files ($L)

Wilson, Mara The Hilarious World of Depression

Wilson, Rainn You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Zellweger, Renee The Big Ticket

Notable New Podcasts

1) Edge of Sleep

• The No. 8 pod on iTunes is a fiction pod that focuses on a night watchman who’s “terrified to discover that everyone in the world who went to sleep the previous night has died. Now he and a band of survivors must stay awake and uncover the secret of this global epidemic, before they fall asleep.”

2) Points South 

• The tagline for the Oxford American podcast is simple and cryptic: “Southern Stories. Southern Songs.”

3) Lost at the Smithsonian with Aasif Mandvi

• The comedian is also a “pop culture fanatic,” and he “gets up close and personal with the most iconic artifacts at the National Museum of American History.” 

4) Past Gas

• The Donut Media pod focuses on the “craziest stories from all of automotive history.”

5) School Colors

• It’s a “narrative podcast from Brooklyn Deep about how race, class, and power shape American cities and schools.”

6) Last Day

• Host Stephanie Wittels Wachs — sister of the late comedian Harris Wittels — reflects on the opioid crisis and “zoom[s] in on a person’s last day of life, exploring how they got there and how we, as a society, have gotten here.” 

7) Business Casual 

• The pod from Morning Brew features interviews with “thought leaders, CEOs, and high-profile experts.”

8) You’re Dead to Me

• Greg Jenner hosts a “history podcast for people who don’t like history or who forgot to learn any at school.” It’s a BBC Radio 4 production. 

9) Next Question with Katie Couric

• The TV host returns to podland with a show about “the people, movements, and issues changing our lives and redefining our world.”

10) Frontier Tween ($L)

• The “coming-of-age scripted comedy series from Team Coco” follows the journey of “12-year-old poet Tilly Mulch’s life on the untamed prairie.”

11) Metaphysical Milkshake ($L) 

• Hosts Rainn Wilson and Reza Aslan “tackle life’s big questions – What is spirituality? How do we walk through the world? Is Gen Z facing an epidemic of loneliness? Does money make rich people evil?”  

12) Vocal Point ($L)

• Martina McBride interviews “country music legends and her musical contemporaries, sharing life and music stories with each other and listeners.” 

And One to Look Forward To: The Road Taken (Oct. 2)

• Vampire Weekend’s rhythm section kicks off a 10-episode series about the realities of touring musicians.