A little controversy and outrage this week, and I’m not even including impeachment pods. The counts: 39 notable guests, 10 new podcasts, five deep dives and two hilarious people who’ve never seen a “Star Wars.”
Pod Take of the Week
“That was the thing about Kobe. He engaged you on an emotional level the way very few athletes do.”
Listen: The Bill Simmons Podcast: RIP, Kobe Bryant (1978-2020) (2:45
- That’s Chris Ryan, capturing a driving force behind the outpouring for the dead Los Angeles Lakers superstar.
- Adds Ryan: “You can respect athletes, you can fear athletes, you can hate athletes. Kobe had the ability to trigger all of those emotions in me.”
- Podcasters covered his life on and off the court throughout the week, controversies and all.
- More coverage: The Big Podcast with Shaq, No Dunks, The Gist, ESPN Daily, Today, Explained.
Go Deep
1) “American Dirt”
Listen: Latino USA
- Jeanine Cummins’s novel tells the story of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who, after most of her family is massacred, flees for the United States.
- How Cummins tells the story, and the question of whether she’s the appropriate person to tell the story, has triggered fervid debate.
- Maria Hinojosa transcends the hot takes and dissects the controversy, speaking with critics and supporters of the book, as well as Cummins.
2) “The West Wing”
Listen: West Wing Weekly
- After 183 episodes posted over almost four years, Joshua Malina and Hrishikesh Hirway close shop on their recapper pod.
- The 2-hour, 2-minute final episode brings together 30 guests from the cast and crew.
3) WeWork
Listen: WeCrashed
- A six-part series about the rise and fall of WeWork begins.
- It’s the current No. 2 pod on iTunes.
4) The Story of J Balvin (S)
Listen: Made in Medellín
- The six-episode series focuses on the musician’s “dreams of becoming a singer and rising to global fame and shows the challenges that came along with it.”
5) The Secrets of a Great Narrative Podcast (S)
Listen: Gimlet Academy
- Gimlet founder Alex Blumberg’s five-part course offers “advanced tips — on topics like booking interviews, recording “good tape,” and editing compelling stories — to help podcasters” up their game.
- Binge time: 2 hours, 12 minutes.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive.
Bailey, Ben WTF with Marc Maron
- The “Cash Cab” guy says he really wanted to be a marine biologist before he got into comedy.
Bamford, Maria Jordan, Jesse GO!
Baumbach, Noah Scriptnotes
Bell, Kristen Life is Short with Justin Long
Black, Dustin Lance Monocle 24: Meet the Writers
Braff, Zach Relatively Sane with Jessica Kirson
Child, Desmond The Bob Lefsetz Podcast
Crews, Terry WTF with Marc Maron
Danes, Claire Armchair Expert
Eisenberg, Jesse Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Erivo, Cynthia The Big Ticket
Fleury, Theo The Hilarious World of Depression
Gates, Rickey The Rich Roll Podcast
- The “rambling poet of the running world” once ran every single street in the city of San Francisco. There’s a film about it.
Gerwig, Greta Bullseye
Head, Anthony Off Menu
Hesser, Amanda Skimm’d From the Couch
Jackson, Tito Questlove Supreme
Johnson, Dwayne Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
Kendall, Katherine Guys We F****d ($L)
Klobuchar, Amy Pod Save America
Lapkus, Lauren Jensen and Holes: The Murder Squad
Lawless, Lucy ID10T
Lemmons, Kasi Keep It!
Lynn, Loretta Vocal Point with Martina McBride ($L)
Marx, Richard Never Not Funny
Mattel, Trixie Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig
McKean, Michael The Three Questions with Andy Richter
Mendelsohn, Spike House of Carbs
Novak, B.J. You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes
Notaro, Tig Work in Progress with Sophia Bush
Rigby, Amy Fresh Air
- She’s cynically yours.
Schur, Mike Metaphysical Milkshake ($L)
Siriano, Christian Pretty Big Deal
Smith, Ben Recode Media
- The former Buzzfeed EIC talks about joining the NYT as a media writer.
T, Booker Broken Record
Tolentino, Jia 10 Things That Scare Me
Villaseñor, Melissa Anna Faris is Unqualified
Von D, Kat Second Life
Wilson, Rick Kickass News
Notable New Podcasts
1) Newcomers: Star Wars with Lauren Lapkus & Nicole Byers
- They’ve “never seen a Star Wars”! So they’re doing it and podcasting all about it.
2) The Topical
- A daily “news” podcast from The Onion and Onion Public Radio that’s billed as “the only podcast brave enough to ask: What if the news had sound effects?”
- It’s No. 22 on iTunes.
3) Dead Eyes
- Actor/comedian Connor Ratliff “embarks upon a quest to solve a very stupid mystery that has haunted him for two decades: why Tom Hanks fired him from a small role in the 2001 HBO mini-series, Band Of Brothers.”
- Writes Lauren Passell in Podcast the Newsletter: “This sounds hilarious at first, but think about just how traumatizing that would be—to know that Tom Hanks saw you, hated your fucking EYES, and kicked you out of his project.”
4) 27 Club
- The pod tells the stories of musical icons that died at the age of 27, and there are several of them.
- It kicks off with Jimi Hendrix’s story over 12 episodes.
- Presenting a single poem every Monday and Friday, hosted by Pádraig Ó Tuama.
- It’s a music history podcast from the Last Podcast Network. The initial episodes focus on The Stooges.
7) Marlon and Jake Read Dead People
- Man Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James talks about dead writers with his editor, Jake Morrissey.
8) So, You Wanna Be President?
- MSNBC’s Chris Matthews claims to offer the “ultimate playbook for winning a presidential campaign.”
9) Mouthpeace
- NFLer Michael Bennett and food advocate Pele Bennett talk about everything “from sitting out the national anthem to keeping their sex life fresh.”
10) The Politics of Everything
- The New Republic pod covers “the intersection of culture, politics, and media.”
- Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene host.
And One to Look Forward to: Partners (Feb. 5)
- Hrishikesh Hirway (Song Exploder, West Wing Weekly) goes for “an intimate portrait of two people who have managed to make something together.”