Out: The Full Ginsberg. In: The Full Norton. Actor/director Edward Norton guested on at least 10 podcasts this week. And during an impeachment inquiry, too. Good timing, Norton! Another major benchmark in the growth of podcasts.
This week’s other counts: 26 notable guests, 11 new podcasts, eight deep dives and one F. Scott Fitzgerald reference.
Pod Take of the Week
“Aesthetic beauty is as much about how and whether you look, as it is what you see.”
Listen: The Anthropocene Reviewed: Capacity for Wonder and Sunsets (11:02)
- That’s John Green, reviewing the human capacity for wonder via an analysis of “The Great Gatsby” and his son’s fascination with a leaf on a tree.
- Spoiler: Green gives our capacity for wonder four stars.
Go Deep
1) Tupac and Biggie
Listen: Slow Burn
- The third season of the celebrated pod returns with a deep dive into the “beef that would consume the world of hip-hop and end with both men dead.”
- New host Joel Anderson — Leon Neyfakh left and now does Fiasco, among other things — guests on The Gist to discuss the new season.
2) Tacos
Listen: The National Podcast of Texas
- Taco journalists talk taco journalism and burritos for 43 minutes.
3) Harriet Tubman
Listen: Following Harriet
- A multi-part series that “takes a closer look at the life of one of the bravest and most extraordinary women in our country’s history.”
4) The Juul Problem
Listen: The Daily
- The NYT pod takes a two-part dive into “the promise and the peril of vaping.”
5) Proposition 187
Listen: This is California: The Battle of 187
- The 1994 anti-immigrant ballot initiative in California re-arranged the state’s politics for a generation.
6) The Shining
Listen: The Bechdel Cast, The Rewatchables
- Two pods go deep on the Stanley Kubrick adaptation of the Stephen King work.
- The Bechdel Cast offers a 1-hour, 26-minute dive from a female perspective.
- The Ringer’s production is a 1-hour, 47-minute “dull boys” take.
7) Reno, Nevada
Listen: The City
- Season two of the podcast launches with a multi-part series on Reno and its most vulnerable citizens.
- Specifically, the season chronicles the city and its concerns about strip clubs.
8) Candy Wars
Listen: Business Wars
- The Wondery pod kicks off a six-part series on the business battle between the Mars and Hershey companies.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive.
Ahmed, Riz As Me with Sinead
Apatow, Judd The Al Franken Podcast
Azron, Robin The Thrive Global Podcast
Blacker, Ben List Envy
- The Thrilling Adventure Hour co-creator counts down his top-five movie monsters.
Booker, Cory The Lead
Burton, LeVar The Three Questions with Andy Richter
Coster-Waldau, Nikolaj Talks at Google
County, Rex Orange Broken Record
Cuthbert, Elisha Anna Faris Is Unqualified
Feinberg, Ashley Longform Podcast
Fleming, Renee Bullseye
Galifianakis, Zach Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Gladwell, Malcolm 30 for 30: Extras
Greer, Judy Life is Short with Justin Long
Hamilton, Linda ID10T
Hodgman, John Kickass News
Kristol, Bill Recode Decode
Mosseri, Adam The Bill Simmons Podcast
- Convo with head of Instagram.
Norton, Edward ID10T, Here’s the Thing, Armchair Expert, WTF with Marc Maron, The Big Picture, The Joe Rogan Experience, The Tim Ferriss Show, Off Camera, The Ezra Klein Show, Stay Tuned with Preet
Nyong’o, Lupita Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
Quinn, Colin The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Rhett & Link You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes
Smith, Kevin The Joe Rogan Experience
Snowden, Edward Recode Decode
Stallion, Megan Thee All Songs Considered
Stinson, Tommy The Rhino Podcast
- He talks about the Replacements’ new box set, life after the band.
Notable New Podcasts
1) Radio Rental
- Payne Lindsey (“Up and Vanished”) and Rainn Wilson (“The Office”) host the show about “real life horror stories told by those who lived them.”
- It’s No. 35 on iTunes.
2) What a Day
- Crooked Media spins off a daily podcast, with 15-minute episodes that “will cut through all the chaos and crimes to help you understand what matters and how you can fix it.”
- It’s No. 2 on iTunes.
- Comedians Bill Burr and Bert Kreischer “come together to give their always honest opinions on life and comedy.”
- It’s No. 31 on iTunes.
- It’s a weekly podcast from artnet News “that brings the biggest stories in the art world down to earth.”
- If you liked friends-of-the-newsletter The Statesider, this could be for you. The pod “explores the history and identity of the Greater Midwest through the lives and stories of individual people.”
- The pod takes on the rise and fall of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford.
- A five-part true crime podcast about the kidnapping and murder of Amy Mihaljevic, “a 10-year old girl went missing after school in a Cleveland suburb.”
- Another true crime podcast with “with stories based in New Mexico and the American desert Southwest.”
- Each episode of the Council on Foreign Relations podcast “breaks down an issue that is shaping our world’s future.”
- It’s “Hell’s #1 podcast,” featuring “Satan’s little brother Clayton and his ‘assistant,’ Chris, [chatting] about the ups and downs of eternal damnation.”
11) Smartr ($L)
- Team Coco sends up startup culture in a satirical series.
And One to Look Forward To: Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkis do a “Star Wars” deep dive (TBD)
- Byer spilled in the Washington Post: They’re doing it because they’ve never seen the movies.
- She said: “Someone on Twitter was like you should do this.” There are worse reasons.