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This week’s counts: 56 notable guests, 18 new podcasts, three deep dives and one fascinating rabbit hole.
Pod Take of the Week
“It’s actually a really dangerous thing to try to live without fear. Fear is essential to our survival program, essentially.”
Listen: Deviate with Rolf Potts: Understanding fear (45:42)
- That’s Eva Holland, author of “Nerve: A Personal Journey Through the Science of Fear,” on the critical role of fear in our lives.
- She adds: “That’s part of why irrational fears are so hard to overcome, because our fear system is really hardwired into our bodies to keep us alive. Even when it’s misfiring, it’s hard to take it offline.”
- Holland walks Potts through what inspired her to write about fear, and how science’s understanding of fear is evolving.
- My take: A great listen for these difficult times.
Go Deep
1) Love and Coronavirus
Listen: Love Letters, The Art of Happiness with Arthur Brooks, The California Report Magazine, KCBS Radio in Depth, Talk Money with Mesh Lakhani
- A few of the interesting dives into how the novel coronavirus has affected love, relationships and dating:
- Love Letters fields questions on dealing with pandemic-related relationship problems.
- Arthur Brooks and oxytocin expert Paul Zak discuss the “brain science of human connection, social distancing, and the power of hugs, and share three steps to take today to be less lonely in quarantine.”
- The California Report Magazine dives deep on the challenge of having an immunocompromised boyfriend.
- KCBS Radio talks to a matchmaker “about the brave new world of socially-distanced dating as the lockdown forces date-night into the virtual world.”
- Talk Money looks at the coronavirus’s impact on the wedding industry.
- Noted: Tinder remained the highest-grossing non-game app during March, according to Sensor Tower.
2) Reading “Twilight” in Quarantine
Listen: Hot and Bothered
- Julia Argy and Vanessa Zoltan are seven episodes into a quarantine read of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” to “see if romance novels can make quarantine bearable.”
3) “The Last Dance” with the Chicago Bulls
Listen: ESPN Daily, The Bill Simmons Podcast, Jalen & Jacoby – The Aftershow
- ESPN’s 10-part documentary on basketball savant Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ 1997-98 championship season begins Sunday, and the ESPN and other sports pods are (over?)hyped:
- Simmons looks behind the scenes with series producer Mike Tollin.
- On ESPN Daily, Chicago native Michael Wilbon talks about covering MJ during his heyday and his legacy on and off the court.
- On The Aftershow, Jalen Rose and David Jacoby will discuss each episode with director Jason Hehir after it airs.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive. Banks, Elizabeth Anna Faris is Unqualified
Barinholtz, Ike Staying In with Emily & Kumail
Berk, Bobby At Home with Linda & Drew Scott
D’Elia, Chris The Joe Rogan Experience, Your Mom’s House
Dillon, Tim The Joe Rogan Experience
Feig, Paul Celeste & Her Best ($L)
Fraites, Jeremiah Last Day
Friedman, Jena The Margaret Cho
Goldberg, Jeffrey Recode Media
Goodall, Jane The Tim Ferriss Show
Gottlieb, Scott The Ezra Klein Show
Gunn, Tim Keep It!
Helms, Ed Armchair Expert
Holmes, Dave The Hilarious World of Depression
Holmes, Pete Good Life Project
Huston, Nyjah Mom’s Basement (S)
Ibarra, Izzie Pick Reality Life with Kate Casey
- Convo with the executive producer of “The Masked Singer.”
Ionescu, Sabrina ESPN Daily
Iyer, Pico Sugar Calling
Katzenberg, Jeffrey Recode Decode
Klein, Naomi Longform Podcast
Krieger, Robby The Adam Carolla Show
Kristof, Nicholas The goop Podcast
Lee, Ben R U Talkin’ R.E.M. RE: ME?
Longworth, Karina Lunch Therapy
Mann, Aimee The Margaret Cho
Mantzoukas, Jason Hollywood Handbook
Martin, Mae The Goodie Goodie with Sabrina Jalees
Mirman, Eugene The Sporkful
Miz, The Impaulsive with Logan Paul
- The WWE champ talks reality TV, performing with no audience.
Morant, Ja All the Smoke
Morril, Sam WTF with Marc Maron
Nealon, Kevin Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Nosrat, Samin Monocle 24: The Menu, Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!
Nwodim, Ego Las Culturistas
O’Brien, Conan You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes
Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria The Daily
Odenkirk, Bob Inside of You
Oh, Sandra The Big Ticket
Oyelowo, David Stoop Talks ($L)
Pirner, Dave The All New Dennis Miller Option
Rawlings, Donnell The Joe Rogan Experience
Rubin, Gretchen The Upgrade
Shannon, Michael ID10T, Off Camera with Sam Jones
Sonnenfeld, Barry The Three Questions with Andy Richter
Tegan and Sara Partners
Tomlinson, Taylor WTF with Marc Maron
Villaseñor, Melissa The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Votto, Joey The PosCast
- The Cincinnati Reds star discusses baseball’s top 100 players of all time.
Wain, David Good One
Whitney, Dan Kickass News
- The comedian best known as Larry the Cable Guy talks country fairs, Walmart after midnight.
Williams, Terry Tempest The goop Podcast
Wright, Jeffrey Angry Americans
WuDunn, Sheryl The goop Podcast
Yang, Alan Creative Conversation, The Black List ($L)
Notable New Podcasts
1) Rabbit Hole
- In a six-part series New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose attempts to answer the question: “What is the internet doing to us?”
- He elaborates to Fast Company: “So it felt like there was this huge, looming question in my mind. If I were to try to explain the entire internet, how it works, how it pushes and pulls people, could we actually do that in audio format? And could that draw together these threads I’d been tugging on for the last few years? So we just decided to try.”
- It’s No. 3 on Apple Podcasts.
- My take: So far, it’s a very good podcast.
2) The Thread
- Jocko Willink and Darryl Cooper attempt “to pull the thread on how [world] events got to where they are.”
- It’s No. 9 on Apple Podcasts.
3) The Wire: Way Down in the Hole
- Jemele Hill and Van Lathan “recap every episode of the acclaimed HBO show” for The Ringer.
- It’s No. 10 on Apple Podcasts.
- The CBC podcast focuses on a boy whose “mysterious illness means he can’t walk, talk, or feed himself.”
- Then “one day, everything changes. Scientists working at the cutting edge of genetics believe they know what’s causing Bryson’s disease — and think it could be reversed. Motivated by the hope for a cure, Bryson’s parents search for the miracle key that could unlock Bryson’s brain.”
5) NASA’s Curious Universe
- NASA’s astronauts, scientists and engineers take listeners “on a new adventure each week — all you need is your curiosity.”
- The Cleveland Orchestra’s music director and musicians “share stories about the music that has shaped their lives.”
- Richard Deitsch and Donnovan Bennett explore COVID-19’s impact on sports around the world, talking to “experts, athletes and personalities, putting big news into perspective, highlighting great journalism and offering a window into the lives of people we normally root for in entirely different ways.”
8) Next Stop
- It’s “an audio sitcom about your mid-to-late 20s when everyone is changing around you—and you worry that you might not catch up.”
9) Flying Coach with Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll
- The coaches of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks “offer up their unique perspectives as championship-level coaches in the NBA and NFL.”
10) Commit Or Quit
- K-pop singer Eric Nam and his brothers “watch and review popular K-dramas and films. Except, there’s one caveat: They must discuss and debate whether to continue watching after only sampling the beginning of a TV series or film.”
11) The Art of Happiness with Arthur Brooks
- The Harvard professor sifts through “research in the worlds of science, philosophy, theology, art, and literature.” Then he’ll “tell you how to use the wisdom of the experts in your own life.”
12) Saving Apollo 13
- Missed this for last week’s Apollo 13 roundup: Forensic engineer Sean Brady tells the story “of the spacecraft that failed en route to the moon, and the feats of human ingenuity that saved the lives of the 3 men aboard.”
- Dani Shapiro “has searching, intimate conversations with people from all walks of life about how they’re coping — and managing to stay connected” amid the coronavirus pandemic.
14) The Good Stuff with Deborah James
- James enlists her two children “to see families through the next 8 weeks of staying in and staying positive.”
15) The Darkest Timeline with Ken Jeong & Joel McHale
- The two entertainers “FaceTime each other during these strange times to answer all your questions about Community, Coronavirus and all things in between.”
16) Now For Tomorrow with Deepak Chopra
- The wellness personality offers a “short prompt for reflection and contemplation rooted around actions that you can take immediately after listening.”
- The Mashable pod speaks “to women making change now about the women of the past who paved the way for them.”
18) This Covid Life
- Emory University cardiologist Lakshmi Sridharan “shares candid thoughts from the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak.” Jaclyn Schiff co-hosts.
And One to Look Forward to: Commencement: Speeches for the Class of 2020 (May 15)
- The iHeartRadio podcast goes out to all the high school and college seniors who will be missing in-person graduation ceremonies this year.
- Among those iHeart has enlisted to contribute commencement speeches to the pod: John Legend, Halsey, Kesha, DJ Khaled, Khalid, Pitbull, Tim McGraw, Hillary Clinton, Abby Wambach, Eli Manning, Mike Krzyzewski, Chelsea Handler, Sienna Miller, Jimmy Fallon, Katie Couric, Bobbi Brown, David Chang and Guy Raz.
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