I, too, was captivated by yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. Prepare for a politics-heavy edition.
Also, apologies to Dame Judi Dench for misspelling her name last week.
7 Pod Takes
1) “She had me at the word hippocampus.”
Listen: Political Gabfest: The “One Hundred Percent Certain” Edition (3:41)
- That’s Emily Bazelon, crystallizing her reaction to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday.
- Bazelon noted Dr. Ford’s ability to “both bear witness and then also analyze as a psychologist the kinds of trauma she was feeling.” Dr. Ford says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982.
- Bazelon’s response was echoed across many political podcasts that came out Thursday evening and into today with their analyses of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.
2) “Sometimes it takes a news article to turn whispered injustices into public outrage.”
Listen: Hidden Brain: Why Now? (17:15)
- That’s Shankar Vedantam in an incredible pod that, given the rise of #MeToo, asks, “What has changed in our minds and in our culture so that allegations of sexual harassment and assault are being taken more seriously than they were in prior decades?”
- Vedantam looks at the question through the lens of a group of women who accused a prominent playwright of sexual misconduct.
3) “The constitutional crisis would be an inconvenience, but the Tweetstorm, that would be deplorable.”
Listen: Pod Save America: “A little hiccup.” (43:44)
- That’s Jon Favreau, on the now-almost-forgotten report that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said he would agree to quit if President Trump wouldn’t disparage him.
4) “Stillness can be an adventure.”
Listen: Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations: Pico Iyer: The Art of Stillness (3:52)
- So says Iyer, the great author and travel writer in conversation with Oprah.
- Iyer, who’s written about travel with elegance and insight, turned to a life of relative stillness after years of jetting around the globe.
5) “Drugs are a lot of work.”
Listen: The Hilarious World of Depression: Neko Case Leaves Bad Places, Goes to Better Places (11:24)
- That’s Case, sharing a reason she turned away from illegal drugs.
- She chronicles that step and many others in her journey to musical success and in her fight to maintain mental health.
6) “Fashion is just another word for the constant inevitable shifts in popular taste.”
Listen: 99% Invisible: Kids’ Clothes: Articles of Interest #1 (6:20)
- So says Avery Trufelman, setting up the kick-off episode of 99% Invisible’s six-part detour into examining the clothes we wear.
7) “The early internet was deeply groovy.”
Listen: Crazy/Genius: Tech Was Supposed to Be Society’s Great Equalizer. What Happened? (4:55)
- That’s Meredith Broussard, talking about early vision for the internet.
- “There was a lot of hippie idealism,” says Broussard. The internet was “going to be better than everything that had come before.”
- My take: Ha.
Go Deep
1) The Democratic Party
Listen: The Wilderness
- Crooked Media’s 15-part series on the Democrats’ “journey through the wilderness after the most crushing defeat in history” concludes with a conversation with President Barack Obama.
- Binge time: 11 hours, 44 minutes.
2) “The Good Place”
Listen: Armchair Expert, The Good Place: The Podcast
- Synergies! In honor of season 3 of “The Good Place,” it’s “The Good Place” week on Dax Shepard’s pod, with guests Ted Danson (Michael!), D’Arcy Carden (Janet!), Kristen Bell (Eleanor!), and creator Mike Schur.
- Jameela Jamil (Tahani!) and writer Jen Statsky appear on the show’s own promo pod.
- Binge time: 8 hours, 48 minutes.
3) Southwest vs. American
Listen: Business Wars
- The six-part series on the battle between two U.S. airlines comes to an end.
- Binge time: 2 hours, 26 minutes.
4) Frank Ocean
Listen: Dissect
- The serialized music pod concludes its deep immersion into Ocean’s music.
- Season 3 took on “Channel Orange” and “Blonde.”
- Binge time: 13 hours, 46 minutes.
5) “Exile on Main Street”
Listen: Heat Rocks
- A 52-minute deep dive into The Rolling Stones’ classic album, with The Ringer’s Chris Ryan.
Guest Appearances By…
Anderson, Carol The Ezra Klein Show
Bateman, Justine The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Bautista, Dave Inside of You
Burns, Ken Kickass News
Burton, LeVar The Nod
Carfrae, Mirinda Another Mother Runner
- Three-time Ironman champ talks nutrition, stroller runs.
Cassidy, Sukhinder Singh Women in Charge
Chong, Tommy Curious with Josh Peck
Coppola, Roman Creative Conversation
Dyer, Christopher Tides of History
Fukuyama, Francis The Ezra Klein Show
Haberman, Maggie Recode Decode
Haddish, Tiffany The Bill Simmons Podcast
Hayward, Gordon Pardon My Take
Higgins, Steve Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin
Hill, Jonah Maltin on Movies
Holofcener, Nicole The Gist with Mike Pesca
Idle, Eric Off Camera with Sam Jones
Jett, Joan WTF with Marc Maron
Killam, Taran Comedy Bang! Bang!
Kissling, Frances On Being
Klinenberg, Eric Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes
Lynch, Jane Recode Decode
Lynne, Jeff Required Listening
Miller, Geoffrey The Joe Rogan Experience
Munn, Olivia Modern Love
- She reads Marina Shifrin’s essay “A Life Plan for Two, Followed by One.”
Ovitz, Michael HBR Ideacast
Paz, Vinnie The Joe Rogan Experience
Polgreen, Lydia Recode Decode
Povitsky, Esther Forked Up
Rothwell, Natasha It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, Keep It
Ruggirello, Jen Queery with Cameron Esposito
Saban, Haim How I Built This with Guy Raz
- Convo with producer of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Sagal, Peter The Axe Files
Saltz, Jerry Longform Podcast
Savage, Dan The Gender Knot
Shepard, Dax You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes
Suthana, Dr. Nanthia Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
- The neuroscientist talks about how virtual reality can be used in therapy.
Starr, Ken Off Message
Teigen, Chrissy The Goop Podcast
Tosi, Christina Skimm’d From the Couch
Zimmer, Constance Anna Faris Is Unqualified
Notable New Podcasts
- It’s a “sci-fi, political satire, Afrofuturistic buddy comedy” the New York Times called the “best new social thriller.”
2) The Shadows
- The first audio fiction from the CBC. In six parts, Kaitlin Prest tells the story “about the anatomy of a relationship: a crush, a choice, a resentment and an end.”
3) The Dream
- Jane Marie takes a deep dive into the “pyramid schemes, multi-level marketing, and all the other businesses that require their members to recruit their nearest and dearest in hopes of a commission.”
4) The City
- USA Today launches a longform pod that “tells true stories of how power works in urban America.” Season one begins in 1990 Chicago.
- Julie Morgenstern’s pod focuses on “stories from real parents, advice from experts, and knowledge culled from her almost 30 year career as a consultant and a mom.”
- The six-part pod from 99% Invisible is “a show about what we wear,” produced by Avery Trufelman.
7) Happy Face
- Melissa Moore’s father is a serial killer. She “investigates her father’s crimes, reckons with the past, and wades through her darkest fears as she hunts for a better future.”
8) Pivot
- New Vox pod features Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway on “how technology is shaping business and culture across media, marketing, politics, and more.”
- Erin Patinkin and Natasha Case talk to entrepreneurs and business about “the journey to succeed in business.”
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