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.

Onward to this week’s counts: 37 notable guests, 10 deep dives, nine new podcasts and one litigious kid with a backpack.

Pod Take of the Week

“The copyright office doesn’t want to be acting like the town from ‘Footloose'”

Listen: The Indicator from Planet Money: Fortnite vs. Backpack Kid: Dance Battle Royale (7:17)

• That’s Shane McKeon, breaking down a key point regarding Backpack Kid’s lawsuit against the maker of the video game Fortnite, Epic Games.
• Background: Backpack Kid, aka Russell Horning, is suing the gamemaker for appropriating The Floss, the dance he created and popularized and performed with Katy Perryon SNL. (Others who’ve had their signature dances poached are also suing.)
• Fortnite sells a virtual version of the dance inside the game. Horning hasn’t seen a cent.  
• The crux: Is The Floss a mere singular dance move, which likely isn’t protected under current law, or is it a “choreographic work,” which can be protected?
• My take: Great, quick explainer on the legal issues of a fascinating digital-world conundrum.

Go Deep

1) Valentine’s Day

Listen: This American Life

• Ira and company go deep on people who go to extremes for love.
   

2) Failure

Listen: Theory of Everything

• Benjamen Walker’s two-episodes in to a miniseries on failures, such as the most disliked video in YouTube history.

3) Technology and the Future

Listen: Better Worlds

• A five-part series of short fiction about “how technology can shape our society and environment in better, more equitable ways.”
• Binge time: 2 hours, 11 minutes.

4) “Becoming”

Listen: Still Processing

• Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham take a 44-minute deep dive into Michelle Obama’s memoir.

5) Women in Gaming

Listen: Nerdificent

• A 1-hour, 5-minute dive into how women have “entered, evolved and conquered the world of video games.”

6) Medieval Times

Listen: Working

• An hour-long look at what it’s like to work at the dinner theater company amid all that jousting and roasted chicken.

7) Songs About Writers

Listen: Sound Opinions

• The hour-long exploration of music inspired by literature spans from Metallica (“For Whom the Bell Tolls”) to 10,000 Maniacs (“Hey Jack Kerouac”).

8) Led Zeppelin

Listen: Rockin’ the Suburbs

• The five-part deep dive into Led Zep favorites rambles on.
• Binge time: 2 hours, 7 minutes.

9) “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”

Listen: The Good Place: The Podcast

• A two-part crossover pod with the cast and creators of the show.

10) “A Star Is Born”

Listen: The Rewatchables

• A 1-hour, 33-minute deep dive into the Oscar contender.

Guest Appearances By…

Albright, Madeleine Kickass News

Bosh, Chris The Bill Simmons Podcast

• Convo with the 11-time NBA all-star.

Brooks & Dunn Bobbycast

Buteau, Michelle 10 Things That Scare Me

Chopra, Deepak The Ron Burgundy Podcast

Christie, Chris Kickass News

Colbert, Stephen Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend

Conte, Jack Danny in the Valley

• Convo with the founder of Patreon.

Dreyer, Benjamin The Book Review

• A podcast about a book about grammar. Some company for Gladwell.  

Esmail, Sam Without Fail

Fake, Caterina The Tim Ferriss Show

Gates, Bill The Vergecast

Gladwell, Malcolm American Innovations

• Gladwell joins host Steven Johnson to talk writing, innovation.

Grisham, John Wrongful Conviction

Harmon, Dan Thruline

Harris, Neil Patrick Beyond the Plate

• The actor accompanies his husband, David Burtka, to talk about the latter’s cookbook.

Heady, Lena Anna Faris is Unqualified

Henson, Taraji B. Pod Save America

Jeong, Ken TV Take

Jordan, Michael B. Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations

Levy, Bernard-Henri TBD with Tina Brown

Mantzoukas, Jason Armchair Expert

Marin, Cheech Sidedoor

• The comedian talks about rasquachismo, the “Chicano art of working with what you’ve got.”

McKay, Adam Stay Tuned with Preet, The Treatment

McNamee, Roger Recode Decode

• Convo with the author of “Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe.”

Merchant, Stephen Off Camera with Sam Jones

Penn & Teller, The West Wing Weekly

Robbins, Tim ID10T

Rollins, Henry Forked Up

• Punk legend talks pizza, smartphones.

Shalhoub, Tony WTF with Marc Maron

Silver, Nate The Axe Files

Smith, Yeardley WTF with Marc Maron

• A deep dive with “The Simpsons” mainstay.

Sullivan, Andrew The Ezra Klein Show

Usher Oprah’s Master Class

Watt, J.J. Pardon My Take

Wood Jr., Roy The Sporkful

Yang, Andrew The Joe Rogan Experience

• 2 hours, 1 minute with the U.S. presidential candidate for 2020.

Notable New Podcasts

1) Over My Dead Body

• True crime alert! The Wonder pod chronicles “a bad breakup, a worse divorce, and a murder case involving a menagerie of high-priced lawyers and unexpected co-conspirators.” Strong debut. It’s the current iTunes No. 1 podcast.

2) Who the Hell is Hamish?

• True crime alert, continued. The new pod from the producers of “The Teacher’s Pet” investigates the exploits of “a surfie dude from Sydney” who swindled many victims for millions. It’s currently No. 8 on iTunes.

3) The Investigation

• ABC News’s pod tracks the Special Counsel’s Russia investigation.

4) Hot & Dry

• Cally Carswell and Collin Haffey investigate “how climate change is transforming New Mexico. And what the hell we should do about it.”

5) Family Secrets

• Dani Shapiro explores “the power of family secrets and the ways in which discovering – and revealing – the truth can liberate us.”

6) Voyage to the Stars

• It’s a “fun sci-fi romp, disaster space opera,” says writer Ryan Copple.

7) On Purpose

• Host Jay Shetty says his “purpose is to make wisdom go viral.” Good start. His debut interview pod already ranks No. 5 on iTunes.

8) Strong Black Legends

• The Netflix podcast “honors the best of black Hollywood.”

9) Equal Parts

• The pod focuses on “true love stories about how people meet.”