Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham, Dakota Fanning, Claudia Kim, Eddie Redmayne and others are reading the first Harry Potter book to give quarantine entertainment a bump. It’s on Spotify. Is it a podcast? Sure!
More good stuff for pre- and early-teens debuts this week at TRAX, billed as “a network of curated and original high-quality podcasts specially designed for 9–13-year-olds.”
On to this week’s counts: 50 notable guests, 12 new podcasts, four deep dives and one shout to all the moms out there. Happy Mother’s Day!
Pod Take of the Week
“This is the first time in human history that we’ve been able to listen to truly quiet behavior.”
Listen: 99% Invisible: The Natural Experiment (4:22)
- That’s Michelle Fournet, acoustic ecologist at Cornell University, on a silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- She’s talking about whales and other sea life, which don’t have to deal with the noise from ships in Glacier Bay, Alaska, for a while.
- Now, she says, scientists “will finally get a baseline for what the ocean sounds like in the absence of human activity.”
- Fournet and other scientists around the world talk to 99% Invisible about the unique opportunities the pandemic has given scientists.
- Says host Roman Mars: Researchers “are using this tragic and bizarre moment to learn something new about the world.”
Go Deep
Food and Coronavirus, Round Two
Listen: House of Carbs, Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People, The Tim Ferriss Show, The Dave Chang Show, Courtney: Beyond the Cake
- Solid week for food-focused pods so let’s round ‘em up. Again. (Previous round-up: Edition 102)
- On House of Carbs, GQ writer Brett Martin talks about his best new restaurants list for the mag, and “the reasoning behind releasing such a list in this time of quarantine—to not only commemorate the work of these great restaurants, but also to give us something to look forward to.”
- Kawasaki talks to James Beard award winner Roy Yamaguchi.
- Ferriss talks to Alinea Group co-owner Nick Kokonas about resurrecting restaurants.
- Chang leads a breakdown of the universally panned 2015 chef drama “Burnt.”
- Courtney Rich debuted her new pod, Courtney: Beyond the Cake.
Cinematography
Listen: Team Deakins
- Fifteen-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner Roger Deakins leads a crash course “about cinematography, the film business and whatever other questions are submitted.”
- He’s seven episodes in. It’s No. 12 on Apple Podcasts. Apparently, cinematography plays well in quarantine.
Conversations with Matty Healy
Listen: The Face, Full Disclosure with James O’Brien
- The lead singer of The 1975 dropped a series of conversations with other musicians, including Stevie Nicks, Brian Eno and Kim Gordon.
- Healy also sits for a conversation on O’Brien’s pod.
“Groundhog Day”
Listen: The Rewatchables
- The Ringer goes 1 hour, 29 minutes on the movie that feels very familiar these days.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive. 50 Cent On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Ahmed, Riz Off Camera with Sam Jones
Bamford, Maria Hollywood Handbook
Banhart, Devendra On Being
Bautista, Dave Inside of You
Burrow, Joe Pardon My Take
Burton, LeVar Stoop Talks ($L)
Byer, Nicole Staying In with Emily & Kumail
Carter, Vince expediTIously with Tip “T.I.” Harris
Cocker, Jarvis Talkhouse
- Pulp leader talks to Stephen Merritt, leader of The Magnetic Fields.
Danson, Ted Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Essman, Susie Off Menu
Fox, Vivica A. ID10T
- The actress recently started her own podcast, Hustling with Vivica A. Fox.
Freudenberger, Nell Bookable
Garbus, Liz WTF with Marc Maron
Goldman, Alex The Happiness Lab
Hall, Rebecca ID10T
Harbour, David Can’t Stop Watching
Harris, Sam Stay Tuned with Preet
Hehir, Jason Recode Media
Holland, Eva Call Your Girlfriend
Irby, Samantha The Upgrade, Death, Sex & Money
Jefferies, Jim The Tim Ferriss Show
Katzenberg, Jeffrey Big Questions with Cal Fussman, Streamiverse
- The Quibi CEO joins Streamiverse to apologize for his company’s crackdown on the Quibi “review-turned-spiteful revenge podcast,” as the A/V Club puts it.
Kindler, Andy WTF with Marc Maron
Klosterman, Chuck The Bill Simmons Podcast
- He talks about the Dream Team, “Survivor.”
Kravitz, Zoë Armchair Expert
Lerner, Harriet Unlocking Us with Brené Brown
- The author of “Why Won’t You Apologize?” joins Brown for a two-parter.
Levy, Dan WTF with Marc Maron
Merritt, Stephen Talkhouse
- The leader of The Magnetic Fields talks with Pulp leader Jarvis Cocker.
Middleditch, Thomas Kickass News
- Non-podcast recommendation: Middleditch and Schwartz improv specials on Netflix.
Musk, Elon The Joe Rogan Experience
- The big news from this pod: Musk and partner Grimes’s baby’s name — X Æ A-12 — is pronounced “X Ash A 12.”
Nash, Steve All the Smoke
Paisley, Brad Thick Skin with Jeff Ross
Pink, Daniel The goop Podcast
Prepon, Laura Skimm’d From the Couch
Rapinoe, Megan The Axe Files
Schwartz, Ben Kickass News
Shetty, Jay Karamo ($L)
Strayed, Cheryl Longform Podcast
Ventimiglia, Milo Can’t Stop Watching
Vogt, PJ The Happiness Lab
Walker, Alice Sugar Calling
Waltz, Christoph Bullseye
Welliver, Titus The Bob Lefsetz Podcast
Whitmer, Gretchen The Journal
Wilson, Mary Hustling with Vivica A. Fox
Wolf, Michelle The Three Questions with Andy Richter
Yo-Yo Ma Home Cooking
Young, Trae All the Smoke
Notable New Podcasts
- The true crimer from NBC’s Dateline goes “inside the chilling story of the race to find a killer” of two victims in Houston.
- It’s No. 1 on Apple Podcasts.
- It’s a “raw, unfiltered, R-rated dive into the week’s most prevalent sports, entertainment, and pop culture topics.”
- It’s No. 40 on Apple Podcasts.
- Another telling of the tragic murder of the Tejano musician, featuring “an extraordinary archive of rare and never-before-heard audio.”
- It’s No. 104 on Apple Podcasts.
Son of a Hitman (S)
- Jason Cavanagh conducts “a real-time investigation into the murders, crimes, and conspiracies of hitman, Charles Harrelson, father to actor Woody Harrelson.”
- It’s No. 120 on Apple Podcasts.
- Ann Marie Baldonado “checks in with authors, educators, and celebrities to bring you real-world stories and tips” on raising kids in quarantine.
- It’s No. 139 on iTunes.
- “Billions” showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien “unpack the writing of the script, exclusive stories from production, the ideas behind the music cues, and much more” for each new episode of the Showtime hit.
- Los Angeles Times TV reporter Yvonne Villarreal talks with “TV stars who’ve helped make the recent weeks of self-quarantine both bearable and entertaining.”
- A “Star Trek: Voyager” recap pod featuring series regulars Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeill.
How to Talk to Mamí & Papí About Anything
- It’s a pod “for adult children of immigrant parents to help them with difficult, but necessary conversations.”
- Hayley Atwell “narrates an eclectic mix of stories, told by the real spies behind some of the world’s greatest operations.”
Flashback: History’s Unintended Consequences
- A Sean Braswell hosts a “series of stories of disastrous turning points, dangerous ideas, crazy coincidences, unsung heroes and forgotten villains.”
- Jarvis Jay Masters is “a condemned prisoner who has maintained his innocence for over 30 years.”
- The pod tells his story and asks, “Is the death penalty a necessary evil to keep our streets safe, to exact righteous punishment and to deliver a semblance of justice to victims – or is it too fraught with ambiguity, contradictions and biases to ensure that we are all protected equally under the law?”
And One to Look Forward to: Clever Creature (May 12)
- Jason Gots starts each episode with a random word picked by an algorithm. From there, “he has just one day to write [a] short story and a song inspired by it.” And then he has a conversation about the word with guests like David Sedaris and Gish Jen.
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