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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Rorschach Test Edition (#89)

Feels like things in podland are slowing down heading into the holidays, and I’m here for it — I’d love to catch up on my listening queue. And I’m eager to explore this year’s Bello 100 and other end-of-the-year lists.

This week’s counts: 48 notable guests, eight new podcasts, five deep dives and one Beard.

Pod Take of the Week

“I think a Rorschach test for how you feel about life has become how you feel about James Harden.”

Listen: ESPN Daily: The Harden Puzzle (1:08)

  • That’s Zach Lowe, talking about basketball savant James Harden of the Houston Rockets. 
  • “It’s almost like James broke the math of basketball,” says Lowe, of The Beard’s ability to score from three-point range.  
  • Opponents are playing in unprecedented ways to try to stop him, and among fans “some people are befuddled, some people are confused, some people are irritated, some people are in awe.”
  • My take: Even if you’re not a sports fan, you’ve got to admire Harden’s ability to change the game.

Go Deep

1) The Shady and Mysterious World of Wellness

Listen: The Dream

  • After exploring the OMFG world of multi-level marketing in season one, the pod’s back with a deep dive into wellness. 
  • It asks: “What is it? Who sells it? And will it bring you eternal happiness…and, perhaps, eternal life?”
  • It’s No. 23 on iTunes.   

2) The Best Standup Specials of the Year

Listen: Good One

  • The two-part series ranks 2019’s ten best standup specials.
  • Binge time: 2 hours, 1 minute.

3) Best Movies of the Decade

Listen: Unspooled

  • The ongoing multi-part series with Paul Scheer and Amy Nicholson takes a year-by-year dive into the decade’s best cinematic achievements. 

4) Pre-Web Viral Videos

Listen: AFV: America, This Is You!

  • A five-part dive into the 30-year run of the show that showed us how to laugh at people slipping on ice. 

5) The Democratic Party in Alabama

Listen: Reply All

  • A three-part series about the wild and unlikely infighting among Democrats in the Yellowhammer State. 

Guest Appearances By…

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

Albom, Mitch Monocle 24: Meet the Writers

Baumbach, Noah Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin

Black, Jack Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend

Blow, Kurtis Questlove Supreme

Buttigieg, Pete Angry Americans

Carlson, Gretchen Danica Patrick Pretty Intense

Carter, Troy How I Built This with Guy Raz

  • Lady Gaga’s manager implores you to stay humble. 

Cedric the Entertainer WTF with Marc Maron

Chopra, Priyanka UnStyled

DeVito, Danny The Jim Rome Podcast

Duval, Lil The Joe Rogan Experience

Feldstein, Beanie The Big Ticket

Ferguson, Craig The Adam Carolla Show

FKA Twigs Broken Record

Gilliam, Terry Maltin on Movies

Goldblum, Jeff The Adam Buxton Podcast

Gondelman, Josh The Upgrade

Harding, Charlie Recode Media

  • The Switched on Pop co-host talks Post Malone, the new book from the pod’s hosts. 

Hauser, Paul Walter WTF with Marc Maron

Heidecker, Tim The Three Questions with Andy Richter

Gill, Vince Vocal Point with Martina McBride ($L) 

Gillan, Karen ID10T

Gladwell, Malcolm Armchair Expert

Grant, Amy Vocal Point with Martina McBride ($L)

Jamil, Jameela Life is Short with Justin Long

Krugman, Paul The Ezra Klein Show

Leo, Ted Jordan, Jesse GO!

Mann, Aimee Jordan, Jesse GO!

Mezrich, Ben Recode Decode

Mill, Meek Song Exploder

  • The Philly rapper breaks down his song “Trauma.”

O’Brien, Conan Fresh Air

O’Brien, Tim Otherppl

Phan, Michelle Without Fail

Safdie Brothers, The The Rewatchables

  • The siblings break down the Adam Sandler movie with the Ringer crew for 1 hour, 42 minutes. 

Sandler, Adam The Big Ticket, Pardon My Take

  • The Sandlerssance continues in podland. 

Sharief, Hajer Hear to Slay ($L)

Sloan, Nate Recode Media

  • The other Switched on Pop co-host also talks Post Malone, the pod’s new book. 

T.I. Armchair Expert

Tayler, Jeffrey Deviate with Rolf Potts

  • The co-author of “In Putin’s Footsteps” — the other co-author: Nikita Khrushchev’s great granddaughter — talks literature. 

Tompkins, Paul F. Off Book: The Improvised Musical

Vernon, Justin Broken Record

Wang, Lulu The Big Ticket

Ware, Chris Bookworm

Warren, Elizabeth The Daily

Welch, Florence As Me with Sinead

Wolf, Michelle The Joe Rogan Experience

Wong, Ali Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

Yates, Sally Stay Tuned with Preet

Notable New Podcasts

1) F*** Hut Music School for Teens

  • A comedy fiction “psycho drama” from Mitra Jouhari about “hot, hot sexy teens trying to break into the music industry.” 

2) Song Confessional

  • Bands and songwriters turn anonymous stories and confessions into original songs.
  • Walker Lukens and Zac Catanzaro host. 

3) Boomtown 

  • 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. 
  • It’s No. 32 on iTunes. 

4) The Steam Room

  • Inside The NBA hosts Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley (welcome to podland, Chuck!) talk about basketball as well as current events and pop culture in “the classic unscripted style that fans have come to love.”
  • It’s No. 85 on iTunes. 

5) Supercharged

  • The pod aims to investigate “power, conflict, and the people who are driving change.”
  • Season one dives into electric vehicles and “how Tesla is forcing the entire automotive industry to adapt and rapidly embrace an electric future.”

6) Five Things with Lynn Hirshberg

  • W Magazine’s Editor-at-Large talks to celebs about five things that “have made them who they are: a person, a place, an object, one positive event, and one negative event.”

7) REAL AF

  • Andy Frisella of the MFCEO podcast now promises to “blow your mind” with a podcast that will make you “say goodbye to the lies and delusions of modern society.”
  • It’s No. 11 on iTunes. Good luck, listeners.

8) Internetty

  • PAPER’s Justin Moran and Peyton Dix “look at the week’s biggest online news, trends and social media phenomena.”

And One to Look Forward To: Blood Ties (Dec. 17)

  • In the scripted pod, Eleonore (Gillian Jacobs) and Michael Richland (Josh Gad) “lose their parents unexpectedly in a small plane crash, [and] they must choose between two very different paths: honor their father’s legacy as a world-renowned cardiologist and health care magnate — or risk everything for the truth.”