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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: “I thought we weren’t going to get to the Nazis until at least 30 minutes in.” (#22)

I’m (lying on my) back. So far so good with my recovery from my Achilles rupture. My podcast listening has suffered though. I usually listen while hiking, exercising or driving, and I’ll be doing none of those things for a while. Your recommendations for hot pod takes, binges and new pod recommendations are welcome more […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Achilles (#21)

Know any good podcasts about Achilles? He’s on my mind. I ruptured my Achilles tendon this week, which has impeded a lot in my life, including my ability to create the newsletter. I’ll be spending the next couple weeks recovering from surgery with my left foot raised above my heart, but I hope to get […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Truth telling, the defining question of our time and the search for the next Ronaldo (#20)

News pods had a big, heavy week (as usual) with immigration, border separations, shootings, the Supreme Court and more. But there’s still room for a little levity in TWIP. Let’s go. 7 Pod Takes  1) “The exercise of curiosity requires a risk, a sacrifice, a commitment.” Listen: Revisionist History: Malcolm Gladwell’s 12 Rules for Life […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Amy Schumer’s new podcast, songs of summer and how rage rooms are like burritos (#19)

Summer’s officially here, and so is Amy Schumer’s million dollar podcast. A few words on that and takes on aliens, burritos, songs of summer, Trump’s inhumanity and more in this week’s pods. 7 Pod Takes 1) “I think you can be in love and not love the person.” Listen: Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Remembering Anthony Bourdain, revisiting “Harry Potter” and the return of Rough Translation (#18)

Good luck to the World Cup pods out there. We’re all counting on you. 7 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts 1) “If I heard the phrase ‘bucket list’ one more time … I was gonna just beat someone severely with a baseball bat.” Listen: The Sporkful: Is This Pizza Worth Waiting For? […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: World Cup madness, Rihanna’s superpower and punchable faces (#17)

Two of the top pods on iTunes today are about the Kennedys. Guess in 50 years the charts will be dominated by pods about the Trumps. The rest of this week’s newsletter? Trump free. Thanks to everyone who sent feedback during the last few weeks. I tightened things a bit, and I’ll continue to calibrate. […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: “The Americans,” being Ken Bone and the power of dinosaur erotica (#16)

More true crime debuts this week, and the pods were all over the finale of “The Americans.” I’m still reeling from Paige’s decision. 8 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts 1) “Memes are people too.” Listen: Endless Thread: I, Ken Bone (23:50) Ben Brock Johnson advocates for humanity on the internet, specifically regarding those who’ve been […]

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This Week in Podcasts

The Moby Dick of tacos, The Canterbury Tales of sports bars and Michael Chabon (#15)

Subscribe to This Week in Podcasts! Enter your email below and every Friday I’ll email you a skimmable recap of the week’s podcasts, highlighting provocative takes, great binges, new pods and a comprehensive list of notable podcast guests. We’re all literary up in podland this week. We’re still obsessed with criminals, too. Four pods about […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: How to be a genius, binging the royal wedding and the awesome power of a semicolon (#14)

Podcasters prepped for the royal wedding, and they’re still excited about Donald Glover and the epic return of Malcolm Gladwell. He nailed it this week talking about punctuation. Subscribe to This Week in Podcasts! Enter your email below and every Friday I’ll email you a skimmable recap of the week’s podcasts, highlighting provocative takes, great […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Donald Glover’s moment, hot Malcolm Gladwell takes and a new way to look at cereal (#13)

Gladwell’s back and Glover’s artistic breakthroughs blew away podcasters. All that and more in this week’s deep dive into the podcast universe. 8 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts 1) “Rooting for the underdog is a form of moral weakness.” Listen: Revisionist History: Malcolm Gladwell debates Adam Grant (33:58) Gladwell’s gonna Gladwell. The […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Trader Joe’s starts a podcast, In the Dark returns and eating broccolini during the apocalypse (#12)

Subscribe to This Week in Podcasts! Enter your email below and every Friday I’ll email you a skimmable recap of the week’s podcasts, highlighting provocative takes, great binges, new pods and a comprehensive list of notable podcast guests. Who knew we were all so eager for a podcast about Trader Joe’s? Go deep with that […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: The Golden State Killer, “The Female Persuasion” and Rick Astley’s superpower (#11)

We go deep with true crime pods and the arrest of the alleged Golden State Killer. We also tweak the newsletter’s format again based on your feedback. Thanks so much for your thoughts and suggestions. Keep ’em coming. If you like The Week in Podcasts, please pass it along to someone else who might like […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Beychella, Comey and whether all pet names should end in a vowel (#10)

Subscribe to This Week in Podcasts! Enter your email below and every Friday I’ll email you a skimmable recap of the week’s podcasts, highlighting provocative takes, great binges, new pods and a comprehensive list of notable podcast guests. Beycomé? Seems like every other podcast this week featured Beyoncé and/or James Comey. Lots from and about […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: The power of Las Vegas, the Ezra Klein/Sam Harris debate and crying with the cast of “This is Us” (#9)

It’s Friday again and I’ve got tacos in my future. All is well. Thanks for reading! 8 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts   1) “What happens when the thing that you’re really good at is the thing that is killing your soul.” Listen: Pop Culture Happy Hour: Barry (7:05) That’s Eric Deggans, who adds, […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Finding Cleo, sandwiches from 1978 and how not to win The New Yorker’s caption contest (#8)

Happy Friday. I’m fighting a cold, and I passed some cold-medicine induced downtime with extra listening. So it’s a big newsletter this week. Thanks for reading! 8 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts 1) “You don’t need antipathy and acrimony to create great art.” Listen: The West Wing Weekly: Hamilton Special (with Lin-Manuel Miranda […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Sister Jean, a new true crime binge and the benefits of not listening to your mother (#7)

Greetings from Chicago, where I’m feeling the city’s love for Sister Jean. Look for her in the newsletter — and for a few format tweaks. I’m still calibrating based on your feedback. Send any suggestions, thoughts, etc. for future newsletters my way. Thanks for reading! 8 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts 1) […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Atlanta Monster’s finale, beautiful trash and debating Jay-Z’s travel preference (#6)

Happy Friday. It’s a landmark newsletter today: We’ve used our first umlaut, along with the usual great takes and binge recommendations. Also, our new section debuts: Podcast reviews and recommendations. Thanks for reading! 10 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts 1) “The real lesson … is just how beautiful something that’s seen as […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Seeing mom while in prison, dad on the Millennium Falcon, and the most compelling pod of 2018 (#5)

10 Pod Takes 1) “I don’t know how to hug my mom.” Ear Hustle: Firsts, March 14 (7:31) The heartbreaking words of Adnan Khan, before greeting his mother the first time she visits him in prison. He’d been locked up for 10 years. It’s the centerpiece story of an incredible first episode of Ear Hustle’s second season. 2) […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Information warfare, food fights and romantic ideas of New Jersey (#4)

10 Pod Takes 1) “I, for one, am very excited to stay at the Trump Pyongyang.” Pod Save America: “Give Ruth a Break.” (LIVE from Houston, March 9 (6:05) Jon Lovett senses a motive in President Trump’s acceptance of Kim Jong Un’s invitation to talk. 2) “We all need to cultivate a more relaxed attitude about […]

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This Week in Podcasts

This Week in Podcasts: Oscars takes, liberating the truth and why emotions matter in science (#3)

10 Pod Takes 1) “It’s liberating to speak the truth.” The Daily, Feb. 26 (21:45) Mona Charen speaks her truth on The New York Times pod after being booed at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Her perceived sin: highlighting Republican hypocrisy. Specifically, the longtime conservative calls out Republicans’ behavior regarding sexual harassment and #MeToo. 2) “I don’t […]