The Best Podcasts According To My Brain

Before coming to Game Informer, I was a content manager for the websites of five different local newspaper in South Carolina. My job was to take online content, and manage it. It was a lot of copy/pasting without a whole lot of thought. One thing it did allow me to do though, was listen to lots and lots of podcasts. I became a connoisseur of the medium.

Working at Game Informer means less time for podcast listening (a non-complaint I am more than happy to make), but these are the special ones. These are the ones I make time to listen to as much as possible. And then there are a few that are still great, but I simply don’t have time for any more.

10. The Indoor Kids – Host/comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon get together with other comedians and talk about video games. In a weird way, I like to hear people whose lives do not revolve around video games talk about the medium so passionately. They also make funny jokes, which is always great. It also seems like Kumail and his wife Emily have a similar relationship to my wife and me. We should all go out to dinner and talk about video games sometime.

Suggested episode: Dan Harmon is the man behind the show Community, he loves video games, and he’s super smart. Hearing him talk about Skyrim is a treat.

9. The Nerdist – Host/comedian Chris Hardwick and his co-hosts Jonah Ray and Matt Mira bring on guests from television, movies, and the world of comedy and they talk about nerdy stuff. Or in lieu of that, they talk about things that guests are nerds about.

Suggested episode: Robert Kirkman writes The Walking Dead comic book, is involved with the show, and is a funny dude. There is also a special guest appearance from Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, and it's all very entertaining.

8. How Did This Get Made? – Paul Scheer (of Human Giant fame), June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas and a guest watch bad movies and talk about how terrible they are while wondering, "how did this get made?" Mantzoukas in particular shines as he gets audibly angry about movies like Battlefield Earth and Mac & Me.

Suggested episode: Pick a movie you have seen and think is terrible and listen to that.

7. The Pod F. Tompkast – I have a confession, actually. I think Paul F. Tompkins one of the funniest men alive. He is also a frequent guest on all of the other comedy podcasts on this list. His podcast is a little bit different than others, being a much more structured, less conversational affair. He does, however, start every episode with bizarre stream of conscious ramblings that are consistently hilarious.

Suggested episode: There is a narrative that stretches between the episodes, so starting from the beginning is a good idea. Tim meadows reading a Google Voice translated version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s I have a Dream speech is hilarious.

6. The Moth Podcast – The Moth Podcast is interesting stories by interesting people. There will be the stray celebrity or comedian that shows up to tell a story, but many of the best ones are just from regular people. The stories are always well-honed, interesting, and never too long.

Suggested episode: The Moth only keeps a few episodes up at a time, so the best I can suggest is to just start listening.

5. Doug Loves Movies – Doug Benson is known as a comedian who makes jokes about his love for smoking pot, but his other obsession is film. His show is recorded live every week and he always has three guests, usually from the world of comedy, but often from the world of film. Edgar Wright, director of Scott Pilgrim and Shaun of the Dead is a frequent guest. Every week they play the Leonard Maltin game (a game Doug created) and it’s always hilarious and exciting.

Suggested episode: Whenever Paul F. Tompkins or T.J. Miller comes on, you’re in for a treat.

4. WTF with Marc Maron – Marc Maron has been a comedian for decades, and despite rubbing shoulders and even being good friends with folks like Louis C.K. and Zach Galifianakis, he never really hit the mainstream. He shines brilliantly in his podcast, however, with genuine conversations with comedians and actors about their lives and often their hardships. There are always jokes to be had, but the podcast often hits touching notes, too.

Suggested episode: Look up one of your favorite comedian or actors and listen to their episode. I can almost guarantee that you will be surprised by what you hear.

3. Comedy Bang Bang – Host Scott Aukerman used to be a writer and sometimes actor on Mr. Show (which is one of the best things to ever grace television) and now he hosts the absurd Comedy Bang Bang podcast where comedians come on to play ridiculous, always hilarious characters. Highlights include frequent appearance by Paul F. Tompkins as Ice T., Paul F. Tompkins as Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber, Jon Daly as BillCosby Bukowski, and Harris Wittels’ Foam Corner. It’s always ridiculous and it always has me laughing.

Suggested episode: At the end of every year, there is an episode that pulls clips from the best shows of the year as voted on by fans. It’s as good a place to start as any with Comedy Bang Bang.

2. This American Life – This American Life was the reason I even started listening to podcasts. It airs on NPR every Sunday, but I was never able to catch it. When I got my first mp3 device capable of downloading podcasts, this was the first one I excitedly subscribed to. If you’re unfamiliar with the show, it’s great stories about incredibly interesting topics by the most talented writers and journalists of the radio medium. Stories are always well researched and delivered in the most interesting ways. The only reason I don’t have it listed as number one on my list, is because I have been a subscriber to the podcast since 2006, and an infrequent listener on the radio for as long as I can remember. After all these years, I hear a lot of repeated episodes. When the new ones do pop up though, they’re always amazing.

Suggested episode: John Hodgman of Daily Show fame produced this piece asking people which super power they would rather have: flight or invisibility? You can't take the decision lightly.

1. Radiolab – Radiolab is a podcast about science topics, and despite being a subscriber for quite some time, I have really only fallen head over heels in love with the podcast in the last year or two. New episodes would pop up and I would think, “I like Radiolab, but I don’t know if I want to listen to an educational podcast about science.” Every time though, without fail, I would start listening and become absolutely enthralled in a matter of minutes. Hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich are experts in the art of sound editing and can make even the most banal topics incredibly interesting, entertaining and often touching with high audio production values, music, and sound effects.

Suggested episode: In the interest of appealing to you, reader of Game Informer, I've linked this recent episode that has a bit of a nerdy twist to it. It’s about the X-Men, specifically X-Men action figures, and mutant rights.

These are good podcasts that I just don’t have enough time in the day to listen to anymore.

Comedy and Everything Else – Host Jimmy Dore and his longtime girlfriend Stephanie invite comedians into their home and talk about comedy, but a bunch of other things, too, if you couldn’t tell by the title.

The Todd Glass Show – Todd Glass is another one of the comedians who has been around forever, but just never quite blew up. It’s a joy to listen to him talk about anything. He loves to ramble and will change a topic in the middle of a topic change. It’s all part of his charm.

The Bugle Podcast – The bugle is a British podcast that co-stars John Oliver from the Daily Show. John Oliver is always hilarious, and I really don’t know if I even need to say anything beyond that.

Who Charted? – Host Howard Kremer and co-host Kulap Vilaysack talk about top ten lists of music and movies with guests. The podcast usually ends up with the two hosts and the guest complaining about how terrible modern music is. Brian Posehn is a particularly hilarious guest.

Wait, wait don’t tell me! – Wait, wait don’t tell me! Is a game show from NPR that asks guests (usually journalists, writers, and sometimes comedians and actors) to answer questions about current events. The format of the show is a comedic one, and offers laughs while letting you know what’s going on in the world, if you’re into that sort of thing.

NPR’s Culturetopia – I have a love for media and culture outside of video games, and Culturetopia always had at least one or two interesting segments wedged into a few I wasn’t interested in. Some of my favorites included Aziz Ansari’s interview about his comedy special from a few years ago, and a discussion with Trent Reznor about writing music for movies. My favorite though, was a very articulate well written essay from Andrew W.K. about his love for classical music, specifically Johann Sebastian Bach. That man (W.K. not Bach) is more incredible than I think we as human beings have the capacity to understand.

Thanks to my friend and fellow podcast aficionado Allen Hill for discussing and helping me come up with suggested episodes.