Nice to come back from a break to a bevy of new subscribers. Welcome! And thank you. Please enjoy some bonus content. I’m including a few podcasts from last week, too.
The counts: 56 notable guests, 12 new podcasts, five deep dives and one Baby Yoda.
Pod Take of the Week
“This is a Marvel movie. It is three and a half hours long. It’s an origin story. You’re sitting there like, wow, wouldn’t it be cool if you got ‘Scent of a Woman,’ ‘My Cousin Vinny’ and ‘Meet the Fockers’ together and engaged them in a bunch of battles.”
Listen: Pop Culture Happy Hour: The Irishman and What’s Making Us Happy (8:31)
- That’s Stephen Thompson, bringing together the warring factions in the Martin Scorsese vs. Marvel wars with his hot take on the movie of the moment, Scorsese’s “The Irishman.”
- Background: Scorsese had criticized Marvel movies for not being “closer to theme parks” and not “cinema.”
- Thompson sees the thread between the two. So if I’ve seen “Endgame” I can skip “The Irishman”?
Go Deep
1) The Jungle Prince
Listen: The Daily
- My Twitter feed loved Ellen Barry’s New York Times story about “deposed aristocrats who lived in a ruined palace in the Indian capital.”
- The Daily spins off a three-part series on the story, exploring the “tragic, astonishing story” that begged a question: Was it true?
- Binge time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.
2) Caregiving in the U.S.
Listen: The Shape of Care
- The seven-episode first season looks deep into “who does the caregiving in the U.S. and why it’s so important,” including looks at policy, Alzheimer’s Disease and homophobia.
- Binge time: 2 hours, 8 minutes.
3) Macy’s vs. Gimbels
Listen: Business Wars
- The rival department stores of retail and holiday-movie fame get the six-part series treatment.
4) The Franklin Expedition
Listen: The Explorers Podcast
- The podcast kicks off a deep dive into the 1845 journey of Sir John Franklin, who led two ships into the Arctic in an ill-fated search for the Northwest Passage.
5) “The Mandalorian”
Listen: Binge Mode
- For your Baby Yoda fix: Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion have recapped the first four episodes of Disney+’s “The Mandalorian.”
- Binge time: 6 hours, 22 minutes.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive.
Baruchel, Jay Forked Up
Baumach, Noah The Treatment
- The director discusses his new movie, “Marriage Story.”
Booker, Cory Pod Save America
Buck, Joe Sports Media with Richard Deitsch
Bush, Laura The Strategerist
Cenac, Wyatt Thirst Aid Kit
Charli XCX I’m Obsessed with This
Clinton, Chelsea Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Clinton, Hillary Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Crow, Sheryl All Songs Considered
Curtis, Jamie Lee The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elliott, Sam Armchair Expert
Ettinberg, Jodi The Trip ($L)
Fallon, Jimmy Questlove Supreme
- The new season kicks off with an interview with Questlove’s boss.
Fielder, Nathan The Best Show with Tom Scharpling
Flea Broken Record
- Really enjoyed this conversation. Flea’s enthusiasm and passion are infectious.
Garlin, Jeff Life is Short with Justin Long, The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Gibney, Alex American Scandal, The Gist
Gottfried, Gilbert Artie Lange’s Halfway House
Grant, Adam The Tim Ferriss Show, Armchair Expert
Gulman, Gary The Lowe Post
Hader, Bill In Bed with Nick & Megan
Hahn, Kathryn Bullseye
Harbour, David Fresh Air
Izard, Stephanie Beyond the Plate
Jackson, Glenda As Me with Sinead
Kat Von D Anna Faris Is Unqualified
King, Larry Big Questions with Cal Fussman
Kirson, Jessica WTF with Marc Maron
Koontz, Dean Kickass News
Kressley, Carson LGBTQ&A ($L)
Lange, Artie Relatively Sane with Jessica Kirson
Lopez, Jennifer The Big Ticket
Lynne, Jeff All Songs Considered
McHale, Joel Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig
Moore, Demi The goop Podcast
Moss, Jess Word to the Rise
Nelson, Tim Blake Bullseye
Patrick, Danica Skimm’d From the Couch
Penn, Kal The Gist
Phil, Dr. Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
Rocca, Mo Kickass News
Russell, Ethan WTF with Marc Maron
Sanders, Bernie The Daily
- The NYT pod continues its convos with presidential candidates.
Scafaria, Lorene The Awardist
Skipper, John Recode Media
Staniforth, Nate Good Life Project
Theron, Charlize The Big Ticket
Vernon, Justin The New Yorker Radio Hour
Wang, Lulu The Awardist
Watts, Shannon Work in Progress with Sophia Bush
Williamson, Marianne Penn’s Sunday School
Wolf, Michelle The Adam Carolla Show
Woods, Earlonne Without Fail
Yang, Andrew The Axe Files, Useful Idiots
Yorn, Pete This Must Be the Gig
Notable New Podcasts
- The pod explores “a secret friendship between journalist Christof Putzel and Omar Hammami, the American-born Christian who became one of the FBI’s most wanted Islamic extremists.”
- It’s No. 12 on iTunes.
- That would be Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, and it’s true. They’re literally doing it from their bed.
- The pitch: “Cozying up with their famous friends, your favorite couple provide a funny, revealing, and very candid look into their relationship and life at large.”
- It’s No. 4 on iTunes.
3) Catch and Kill Podcast With Ronan Farrow
- It’s a “look at the years-long investigation into Harvey Weinstein and the systems that protect powerful men in Hollywood, Washington, and beyond.”
- It’s No. 17 on iTunes
4) Straight Up with Trent Shelton
- This one promises “fire wisdom” from a former NFL wide receiver turned motivational speaker.
- It’s No. 24 on iTunes.
- A comedy fiction podcast about “two lowly tech developers [who] acquire a laptop full of contraband data, witness a murder, and then narrowly escape being assassinated.”
- The true-crime podcast revisits the murder of Michela McAreavey, who was killed in her hotel room during her honeymoon in Mauritius.
7) Good Kids: How Not to Raise an A**hole
- “[P]arents, teachers, policy makers, and extraordinary former kids (current adults) grab the mic and offer relevant advice, rants, and reflections on child rearing.”
- The five-part pod “tells the story of a family living in 1920s Dayton, Ohio through the lens of a mysterious letter found hidden beneath a bath tub almost 100 years later.”
- The Canadian debate institution gets a podcast.
- The approach: “Audiences will hear strong and passionate arguments from both sides of an issue so they will have enough information to make up their own minds about where they stand”.
10) Artie Lange’s Halfway House
- The comedian joins the crowded comedy podcast landscape with an interview show.
11) Disorganized Crime: Smuggler’s Daughter
- Rainbow Valentine offers “a unique personal window into the infamous counter-culture of Marin County in the 70s and 80s.”
- How so? Her “artist mom and ‘businessman’ dad were deeply involved in the illegal drug trade and [she] unknowingly spent her childhood among a massive pot distribution operation.”
12) Hot Take
- “Mary Annaïse Heglar and Amy Westervelt take an intersectional, critical, but constructive look at climate coverage.”
And One to Look Forward To: Boomtown (Dec. 10)
- Texas Monthly kicks off a series on the modern-day gold rush that “has sent both big oil companies and scrappy start-ups scrambling to secure a piece of the action” in West Texas oil fields.