The comedy podcast universe is ever expanding, not unlike the universe universe. We’re here to make it a bit smaller, a bit more manageable. There are a lot of great shows and each has a lot of great episodes, so we want to highlight the exceptional, the noteworthy. Each week our crack team of podcast enthusiasts and specialists and especially enthusiastic people will pick their favorites. We hope to have your ears permanently plugged with the best in aural comedy.
Don’t Ever Change with John Roy - T.J. Miller
Leigh: Not a single episode of Don’t Ever Change goes by where I don’t find myself wishing it had been around when I was in high school. Not that I’d ever in a million years want to go back. In fact, guest T.J. Miller very eloquently explains why the idea of being young again is pretty ridiculous. But if you’re reading this and you actually are in high school, I hope you’re paying extra close attention. His advice for the 14 year old version of himself is so spot on and probably stuff you can apply to your life no matter what age you are. It all basically boils down to the fact that the idea of “the glory days†is all just bullshit. That being said, the stories he shares about growing up and going to high school do sound like pretty good glory days. He also spills the beans about a secret hobby he had in high school. And, not to get too sappy here, but it’s worth noting that even on top of all the great advice and funny stories, the best thing this episode has going for it is all the love T.J. Miller and host John Roy seem to have for one another. [iTunes]
Obsessed with Joseph Scrimshaw - Dustin Marshall
Marc: Comedian and writer Joseph Scrimshaw seems obsessed with obsession. Not his own so much, but those of the guests that join him on each episode of Obsessed with Joseph Scrimshaw. His show is hosted on the Feral Audio network and so in a fitting tribute to his 100th episode, Scrimshaw invited Dustin Marshall to be his guest. Marshall is the creator and founder of Feral and his main obsession, — as you might be able to guess — is podcasts. All kinds of podcasts. And every aspect of the medium. Making podcasts. Listening to podcasts. And finding new podcasts to feature on his network. He’s a young guy — not yet 30 — and his life was kind of going nowhere until he started figuring out how to make the kinds of show that people would want to listen to, week in and week out. He had some help pulling things together, like where to house the network (TV producer/writer Dan Harmon’s house, for starters) and how to pull everything together (comedian/actor Bob Odenkirk and veteran writer Dino Stamatopoulos were major behind to push to get his operation rolling). How he met these characters and a number of others, as well as his moving to LA from the Midwest on a proverbial shoestring, and was on the verge of giving it all up in frustration and depression makes for a great rags-to-podcast tale. Scrimshaw’s a good host whose figured out that once you push the right buttons on someone’s obsession, you just have to let them go and the show tends to fall right into place. [iTunes]
Bitch Sesh - Amy Phillips and Kulap Vilaysack
Elizabeth: Let me start by assuring you that you don’t need to watch Real Housewives in order to listen to and enjoy Bitch Sesh: A Real Housewives Breakdown, Casey Wilson and Danielle Schneider’s weekly podcast that celebrates and critiques Bravo’s signature franchise. (I personally haven’t watched an episode since the early table-flipping days of Real Housewives of New Jersey, and I’ve still been able to keep up.) Each rosé-fueled episode is filled with hot takes on the latest Housewives news and product lines, from Teresa Guidice’s Fabellini wines to Kandi Burruss’s sex toys. This week Casey and Danielle are joined by Housewives impressionist Amy Phillips and Kulap Vilaysack of Who Charted? and the new Seeso show Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, a parody of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing. Kulap has never seen an episode before that evening so she provides a fresh, outsider’s perspective on the ladies and their drama. Meanwhile, Amy, who is practically a Bravo insider from her appearances on Watch What Happens Live, shares her interactions with the various housewives and their reactions to her impersonations, which range from phone calls to wig deliveries. I highly recommend you pour yourself a glass of Whispering Angel (the prefered rosé of Bitch Sesh), and dive into past episodes of this highly addictive podcast. [iTunes]
Fitzdog Radio - Danny Cho
Pablo: This week’s guest on Fitzdog Radio is comedian Danny Cho, who adapted his popular webseries KTown Cowboys into a feature film that he co-stars in and also wrote. As he tells host Greg Fitzsimmons, his project was born out a desire to shine a light on his wild twenties spent partying every night in Koreatown and the inevitable realization in his thirties that it was time to grow up. But Danny didn’t grow up in K-Town; instead, he grew up 10 miles east as the only Asian kid in his East LA neighborhood. A far cry from the teeming skyscrapers and bustling K-Town nightlife, Cho learned the value of hard work from his liquor store proprietor dad. He also learned to subconsciously love cigarettes by breathing in his dad’s chain-smoking until his old man quit cold turkey. Unsurprisingly, Greg brings up his love of Asian fetish rub and tug porn, a topic he brings up regardless of the guest’s ethnicity. But there’s more interesting talk to be had in this episode, especially when Cho discusses pitching the movie before he decided to go the independent route. This might not surprise people who interact with Hollywood types, but there was one executive who recommended he add a black character to the Ktown Cowboys crew because it worked so well in Rush Hour. [iTunes]
2 Dumb 2 Tame - Antonia Crane
Marc: Comedian Mia Pinchoff is the feisty, feminist host for 2 Dumb 2 Tame, a podcast that drops every Friday and Monday. The title is a tipoff to the self-deprecating style of brassy humor that permeates the interviews with her guests. In episode 35, she has a match in energy with guest Antonia Crane, a writer, performer, and (most) former sex worker. These two get into some salty talk about Crane’s former trade of being a stripper and occasional escort (“but NOT a prostitute,†insists Crane). She’s on to plug her newly published memoir, Spent, but host and guest get into so many spirited conversation tangents that the book is barely mentioned. And the discussion is wide-ranging indeed, ping-ponging from Pinchoff’s various insecurities getting started in comedy and the power of negative affirmations to the crappy move guys have pulled on them and a lot of time talking about their mutual affection for tap dancing. [iTunes]
Any Time with Vin Forte - “They’re Done Evolving†with guest Todd Glass
Kaitlynn: Todd Glass always speaks with vigor. When you can get him talking about things he’s passionate about you’ll always end up with a thoughtful conversation. Any Time is a relatively new podcast where host Vin Forte interviews actors, comedians, pop culture people, and more. Landing his biggest guest yet, most of the episode is a monologue by Todd. He captivates listeners with his passionate stance on social issues. He is saying what most people are thinking (or at least progressive, intelligent people like myself) and how progressive views are now the norm among young people even though the older generation has a “back in my day†approach. They discuss everything from Trump and Seinfeld to social awareness and homosexuality stereotypes. Todd is best in a longform, somewhat rambling stream of consciousness. [iTunes]
Other Podcasts We’re Listening To:
The Nerdist - Melissa Rauch
Lady to Lady - Disney Beard ft. Rachel Bloom
Sup Doc - Religulous w/Todd Glass
The Nerdist - Reggie Watts
The JV Club - Jessica McKenna
Time Travel Trio - Star Trek
Beautiful Stories - The Illustrator
Kill Me Now with Judy Gold - Richard Kind
We Know Nothing - Chris Destefano
The New Hollywood - Wayne Federman
Got a podcast recommendation? Drop us a line at [email protected].
Marc Hershon is host of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast and author of I Hate People!
Elizabeth Stamp is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York.
Kaitlynn E-A Smith is a writer/creator and (somehow) MA fashion grad, born and living in Toronto.
Pablo Goldstein is a writer from Los Angeles, CA.
Leigh Cesiro is a writer living in Brooklyn who only needs 10 minutes to solve any Law & Order: SVU episode.