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 one 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.
Bad Romance Podcast - Drop Dead Fred
It’s been a rough few months for fans of the ’90s movie Drop Dead Fred. First, in what was probably their most divisive episode, the hosts of How Did This Get Made? drew a line in the sand, declaring you need to either be Team Fred or Team Sanity. And just when I thought tempers had cooled and it was safe to once again admit that I was firmly on the side of this being not only a good, but dare I say very good movie, hosts of the Bad Romance Podcast, Jourdain Searles and Bronwyn Isaac, are taking Fred to task. But this time, there’s no one around to stick up for the admittedly batshit-crazy things that happen in the movie. They’re asking the big questions like, “Why are there two British characters?,†“Why does Phoebe Cates’s character dress like a child?,†“Why couldn’t every character have lines as good as Carrie Fisher’s character?,†and most troubling of all, “What’s with the sexual tension between Fred, an imaginary man, and the woman who imagined him?†At first glance, a movie about a grown woman and her childhood imaginary friend may seem like an odd choice for a podcast that examines romantic comedies. But as Searles and Isaac break down all the troubling relationships between the main character and the men (both real and imagined) in her life, it makes sense. They make it harder and harder to defend the movie’s choices. So if you’re a fan of the movie and want to hold onto that fandom, you probably shouldn’t rewatch it. But you probably should listen to this episode. —Leigh CesiroÂ
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Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend - Liana Finck Is Tired of Interruptions
Comedy from a different angle is in store this week when host Alison Rosen welcomes cartoonist and author Liana Finck to the termite-ridden Pod Cabin. Finck is widely known from her popular Instagram account, but her cartoons are seen regularly in the pages of the New Yorker, her latest book (Excuse Me: Complaints, Cartoons, and Notes to Self), and several graphic novels. Her humor quickly emerges in this interview and her sly wit is incisive, keenly honed, and often self-deprecating. (“I had two friends in school but they both kind of expired, and for years were just kind of like the shells of friends around each other.â€) Even when it comes to talking about her art, her unexpected response to the question “When did you start drawing?†is quietly hilarious: “When I was a baby, but I wasn’t very good.†Rosen spends various parts of the interview trying to get her guest to cop to how smart and talented she is, pointing out how Finck won a Fulbright Scholarship in college, but even that turns into a how-to lesson on gaming the system in order to increase your odds about being picked for the honor. They cover a lot of ground — Judaism, boyfriends, sharing tables at cafés with strangers, and even what kinds of pens and paper Finck favors when sketching her toons. (A Kuretake brush pen and Bright White printer paper, if you’re taking notes …) Oh, and she’s sick of being interrupted when she’s working on her art when she’s out in public. Her story about how she broke into the “old boys†network of cartoonists at the New Yorker is pretty inspiring, as is the amazing amount of panels she needs to turn out each issue just to get a few (or, sometimes, just one) considered for the next issue. —Marc Hershon
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Iconography - David Lynch (w/ Lorelei Ramirez)Â
Ayo Edebiri and Olivia Craighead have covered icons from Stephen Sondheim to Ina Garten, but none have had an entire style of film named after them. David Lynch, a man who “looks like he went to war, but didn’t,†is the subject of this week’s Iconography featuring Lorelei Ramirez (Adult Swim). Like Lynch, Ramirez is drawn to the darkness in her subject matter, creating art to appease her own unique taste rather than for the mainstream. Of course, it wouldn’t be an Iconography without the silliest bits, like wondering if Twin Peaks’ “miner face†is okay if they’re done by a “person of coal.†At the 23-minute mark, one of the hosts (who shall remain unnamed) cancels herself with the wrong answer to a hypothetical about the “gaping gap†in relationship ages. It’s safe to say this is the only discussion of David Lynch’s filmography that will make key points like “Eraserhead is kind of acid-cum adjacent.†Don’t worry, those who aren’t a fan of Lynch’s out-there filmmaking are represented as well, in a hilarious rendition of “People’s Court†that features a confused Mulholland Drive movie review from People magazine. —Mark Kramer
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A Funny Feeling -Â Aunt Angel with Maureen Bharoocha
Comedians and self-professed “paranormal enthusiasts†Marcy Jarreau and Betsy Sodaro’s A Funny Feeling podcast is the perfect pairing of scary and silly, and this week’s episode is a standout. Joined by writer and director Maureen Bharoocha (Jimmy Kimmel Live), things kick off quickly when Bharoocha explains in graphic detail the extremely morbid death of an aunt she was named after but never met. The hosts’ responses are both sincere and spirited as they react to what they’ve just heard with complete honesty. She goes on to share that in the aftermath, her aunt, who died at age six, visited the family numerous times during her afterlife. Examples include her grandmother feeling a hand on her shoulder comforting her while she cried, and the aunt’s childhood portrait appearing out of thin air one year on her death anniversary. It’s some spooky shit, to be sure, but the hosts are quick to make it hilarious when they question the logistics of a ghost’s antics, like: How did she figure out how to print a picture of herself to leave on the doorstep? Oscillating between humorous and horrifying, A Funny Feeling is a great podcast to settle into the rest of the spooky season with. —Becca James
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Scattered - Soy Andres, a Tus Pies & The Camp
It’s been over a year since Chris Garcia’s heartbreaking Death, Sex & Money episode was first released. Scattered’s double-episode debut proves the wait was well worth it. Episode one, “Soy Andres, a Tus Pies,†mostly a rehash of the original episode, catches subscribers up on the podcast’s true star — Chris Garcia’s late father, Andres. With tighter writing and editing, the legend of Andres achieves a newfound level of gravitas. Garcia makes listeners feel like they’re in a time machine by incorporating sound bytes from his father in some of his darkest times. He also establishes his mother more clearly than any sitcom could: She loves Pitbull, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and “Motherfockers†(Meet the Fockers). Like any good pilot, there’s a brand-new interview at the end that will hook subscribers new and old. In the second episode, Garcia begins some of the detective work set up in the pilot. He shines a light on the lost period when his father was held in one of Fidel Castro’s labor camps. Garcia somehow manages to keep the tone light enough to chuckle at, but dark enough to pay attention to. His family’s story could not be more relevant today, and represents a welcome addition to WNYC’s slate of programming. —Mark Kramer
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Other Podcasts We’re Listening To:
You Up with Nikki Glaser - Off Air (Special Edition)
Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website
Who? Weekly - Stormi Jenner, Gina Rodriguez and Richard Curtis?
Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website
The Lanalax Corporation – The Frozen Earth Saga Part III: Mars Stands Victorious
Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website
Gays Do the D – An Unofficial Disney Podcast: Episode 58
Listen: Apple | Website
Got a comedy podcast recommendation? Drop us a line at [email protected].
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- This Month in Comedy Podcasts: Nikki Glaser on WTF