Tina Fey, thanks for the laughs. Much appreciated! Another thing that sparked joy: The “Parks and Recreation” reunion special and the companion behind-the-scenes pod — and the waffles and calzones spread we pulled together to go with it all.
Gonna try to extend the good vibes by keeping things (mostly) light this week.
This week’s counts: 59 notable guests, 17 new podcasts, five deep dives, three calzones and one podcast that takes place in a shower.
Pod Take of the Week
“Every musical artist is like, ‘Hey, I want to help out. Let me find one from a list of a hundred of the saddest songs in the world, and play them for you on a bad speaker.’”
Listen: In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt: Put Pants on Every Day (with Tina Fey) (13:27)
- That’s Tina Fey, speaking truth and mining humor from the incessant onslaught of sad songs and sadder commercials.
- Fey brings some laughs while talking to Slavitt about finding and creating humor during these wicked times.
Go Deep
The “Parks and Recreation” Reunion Special
Listen: The Good Place: The Podcast
- Show co-creator Mike Schur and guests slide into “The Good Place” feed with a 1-hour, 14-minute behind-the-scenes dive into how they pulled off the excellent “Parks and Rec” reunion episode.
- Spoiler: Of course Nick Offerman has a woodshop at his house that can double as Ron Swanson’s cabin.
The Beatles
Listen: Rivals: Music’s Greatest Feuds, Coverville, Music Exists
- Rivals pushed out the first half of a two-part examination of the Lennon-McCartney partnership.
- Coverville celebrates the 50th anniversary of “Let It Be” with a look at notable covers of the album’s songs.
- On Music Exists, Chuck Klosterman and Chris Ryan tackle the Beatles vs. Stones question, breaking down “a rock ’n’ roll binary that says way more about you than it does about the bands in question.”
- My take: Team Beatles.
“Blood Sugar Sex Magik”
Listen: This Particular Album is Very Very Important to Me
- America’s dad’s son Colin Hanks guests for a 1-hour, 15-minute deep dive into the Red Hot Chili Peppers album.
Coronavirus in the Mississippi Delta
Listen: In the Dark
- The acclaimed podcast returns with a limited-run series focused on lives upended in the Mississippi Delta by the novel coronavirus.
“While You Were Sleeping”
Listen: The Rewatchables
- The Ringer takes a 1-hour, 25-minute deep dive into the Sandra Bullock rom-com to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive. Abrams, Stacey The Thrive Global Podcast
Albright, Madeleine Forever35
Andrés, José How I Built This with Guy Raz
Barris, Kenya expediTIously with Tip “T.I.” Harris
Berninger, Matt Talkhouse
Blume, Judy Sugar Calling
Bodden, Alonzo The Joe Rogan Experience
Burr, Bill History Hyenas
Bush, Sophia The Goodie Goodie with Sabrina Jalees
Byer, Nicole Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig, Culture Kings
Byrne, Rose The Big Ticket
Chang, David Armchair Expert, Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air
Costas, Bob Big Questions with Cal Fussman
Couric, Katie Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino
Deschanel, Zooey At Home with Linda & Drew Scott
Diamond, Michael “Mike D” The Big Picture
- The surviving Beastie Boys promote their new movie.
Drescher, Fran The Originals
Esmail, Sam Scriptnotes
Feig, Paul The Adam Carolla Show, Happy Sad Confused
Fey, Tina In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt
Fry, Stephen Homo Sapiens
Gates, Bill The Ezra Klein Show
Gay, Roxane The Black List Podcast ($L)
Gray, Macy Good Life Project
Han, Jenny Creative Conversation
Hodgman, John Jordan, Jesse GO!, Election Profit Makers
Holmes, Linda Staying In with Emily & Kumail
Horovitz, Adam “Ad-Rock” The Big Picture
Kidd, Sue Monk Unlocking Us with Brené Brown
Kroll, Nick Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Legend, John Questlove Supreme
Lewis, Damian The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Lewis, Michael Danny in the Valley, The Tim Ferriss Show
Ley, Bob Men in Blazers
Linney, Laura WTF with Marc Maron, ID10T
Lipa, Dua Rolling Stone Music Now
Lowe, Rob Armchair Expert, The Adam Carolla Show
Mandel, Howie The Adam Carolla Show
Mann, Aimee Talkhouse
McMillan, Terry Touré Show
Meyer, Danny Inside the Hive with Nick Bilton
- The founder of Shake Shack talks taking — and returning — a $10 million Paycheck Protection Program loan.
Murphy, Ryan Recode Decode
Okatsuka, Atsuko The Margaret Cho
Osbourne, Jack The Big Ticket
Parker, Kevin Broken Record
- The creative force of Tame Impala talks about the band’s new album.
Paulson, Sarah Off Camera with Sam Jones
Rippon, Adam Las Culturistas
Ruck, Alan The Margaret Cho
Schwartz, Ben Never Not Funny
Serrano, Shea Hollywood Handbook
Shepard, Dax Good for You
Stamos, John Curious with Josh Peck
Trump, Donald The Dan Bongino Show
Valentine, Kathy The Bob Lefsetz Podcast
- The Go-Go’s bassist continues the pod rounds to promote her new memoir.
Van Ness, Jonathan Comedy Bang! Bang!
Wilbon, Michael The Lowe Post
Wojcicki, Esther Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People
Wright, Lawrence The Book Review
Zamata, Sasheer Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig
Notable New Podcasts
- Niall Breslin hosts a mindfulness podcast with daily morning and evening episodes.
- It’s No. 10 on Spotify.
- The docupod from Turner Classic Movies focuses on ”the movies and the people who make them.”
- Subject of the first season: Peter Bogdanovich, a “cinephile who quickly rose to become one of Hollywood’s top directors” but “soon found himself a victim of jealousy, hubris, public scorn – and a devastating crime.”
- It’s No. 22 on Apple Podcasts.
- Welcome to podcastland, Julie Andrews!
- She and her daughter, children’s author and educator Emma Walton Hamilton, “invite you into their library to read their favorite children’s books.”
- It’s No. 29 on Apple Podcasts.
Daily Quote (S)
- In less than three minutes “you’ll be given a quote that will motivate, uplift, and renew your outlook on life. You’ll also dive deeper into the context surrounding the quote — learning more about its origin and the meaning behind it.”
- It’s No. 29 on Spotify.
- Reply All’s Alex Goldman and PJ Vogt offer one “about scary movies for people who are too scared to ever watch them.”
- What do they want? “[T]hey want to find out if it’s possible to become a person who enjoys fear.”
- It’s No. 36 on Apple Podcasts.
- The Ringer’s “guide to the vast streaming landscape.” It covers “one show or movie per day, including premieres.”
Make My Day with Josh Gondelman
- A game show “where comedians compete to put a positive spin on the news and cheer up [the] host.”
- It’s “a mixed batter of news you need and news you love – delivered in a sweet, funny format by the girls next door.”
- Nicole Stillings and Jessica Devine host.
- Jennifer Bett Meyer and Melissa Duren Conner talk to business owners about their “journey of entrepreneurship.”
- Host Conor Powell profiles “presidential candidates from across the political spectrum who lost the race for the White House but in doing so permanently changed America’s political landscape.”
- Michelle Khare “and her fiancé Garrett share their experiences as digital creators and partners who have made a living taking on the world’s most extreme professions, lifestyles, and communities.”
- The BBC production is “a 10-part drama about the founding of Israel.”
- Ian James Wright “and a rotating cast of guests talk about every song by the band Fugazi” in alphabetical order.
Shower Sessions
- St. Vincent hosts up-and-coming artists who “share stories and perform live from the place where it all began: the shower.”
Dating Diaries: Quarantine Confessions
- The show “unpacks the complexities and experiences of dating during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
- The pod “goes undercover with the real men and women trying to bring down these infamous criminal masterminds.”
- Cheeky promo from the former candidate for U.S. president: “What do you do after you go from anonymous man to serious presidential contender, and the election is over? Well if you’re Andrew Yang and you’ve done the math, you start a podcast.”
And One to Look Forward to: Wind of Change (May 11)
- The background: “It’s 1990. The Berlin Wall just fell. The Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse. And the soundtrack to the revolution is one of the best selling songs of all time, the metal ballad ‘Wind of Change,’ by the Scorpions.”
- The rumor: the song wasn’t written by the Scorpions. It was written by the CIA.
- The talent behind this one: Patrick Radden Keefe, and produced by Pineapple Street Studios, Crooked Media and Spotify.
- It’s already No. 23 on Apple Podcasts.
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