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 and the noteworthy. Each month, 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. You can also keep up with all our comedy-podcast recommendations in Vulture’s newsletter 1.5x Speed.
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend - Marshawn Lynch
Conan O’Brien is probably not the first person you think of when you hear “Super Bowl Sunday,†but like any great podcast host, he finds a way to make sports entertaining for the listeners who might not have realized it happened this month. On the episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend released the day after the game, O’Brien jokes with co-host Sona Movsesian about Los Angeles’s lack of excitement for the Super Bowl, comparing it to his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts: “I didn’t grow up in a town like this. People take [sports] really seriously.†O’Brien and Movsesian then sit down with former NFL player and Murderville co-star Marshawn Lynch, who offers insight to what happens at the bottom of the NFL dogpile: “There’s a whole little community down there. It’s all type of shit going down there.†He reveals that while everyone is stacked on top of each other, they’re either talking shit or trying to make plans for after the game. O’Brien and Lynch also discuss improvising with Will Arnett and what it was like playing detectives in Murderville. Lynch admits that the show is his only television appearance that he’s rewatched and says he admires O’Brien’s performance. They talk about the scene where O’Brien has to tell a little girl about death, and Lynch recalls, “Goddamn, I know that dude … I could see him doing that shit.†A reminder that O’Brien is authentically himself, even when improvising. —Alejandra Gularte
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FeMANism - Episodes 1-3
“Meta†goes a level deeper this month with the launch of FeMANism, “the podcast for men, by men, for women.†Sam Martin and Jamie Hoggart are a couple of regular British chaps who consider themselves to be enlightened feminists and want to share their “woke†with the world. Their attempts at mansplaining the ins and outs of how women should be in this day and age come off as tone deaf, as you might imagine. The twist? The hosts are actually Samantha Martin and Amy Hoggart, two women who are comedy writers and performers from England, who use audio tech to modulate their voices to sound like a couple of dudes. In the debut episode, the pair discuss reading books from feminist writers, but neither host can think of any authors’ names, let alone titles of their books. They also coin some “non-sexual†words for a woman’s breasts so as to not offend, including circles, milkies, squeezies, and mounds. The two episodes that follow really show that these guys are increasingly clueless about their topic. “Women don’t whine,†points out Sam. “They’re just complaining at a higher frequency than men.†Jamie talks about a reality-TV show he’s pitching called Celebrity Sex Traffic, and Sam takes a deep dive into his participation as the only man in an all-women’s yoga class. The cringeworthy commentary makes one wonder if these lads are ever going to figure feminism out. —Marc Hershon
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Blocked Party - Cait Raft v. 300 Facebook Friends
February is a special time in Blocked Party’s calendar: Each year, hosts Stefan Heck and John Cullen present “Sweeps Month,†an event that’s brought on iconic moments like Beth Stelling blocking the ex-stepdad from her Simply the Beth album live on air and last year’s updated recap of Julie Klausner’s infamous feud with Pauley Perrette. This year’s theme of fan-favorite returnees is just as delightful, and Cait Raft (Netflix’s Getting Curious) kicks it off by improbably shattering their first visit — making a bunch of AIM screen names every day, impersonating classmates to get closer to an unrequited middle-school crush — with the story of an epic Facebook flameout that cost them over 300 friends. The elaborate, evidently alienating Block Tale weaves stock photos of sunsets, shuttering their cats around in a Trader Joe’s bag, and being left at the proverbial altar after a cross-country flight to Florida to meet their invented fiancé Clint Fireston. Raft’s story is complemented nicely by listener Gumby writing in about being blocked from a Budweiser NFT Discord that apparently exists, and the group ventures through the little curved holes in walls with doors that mice used to live in back in the day, remembers Bart Simpson cold-calling people to join Scientology, and counts down the top three places to shit your pants to round out a fantastic episode. —Noah Jacobs
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Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast - Men Are Trash
From roommates to TikTok stars to frenemies, Brooke Averick and Connor Wood have been funny individually and together on the internet for quite a while. Now, they’re bringing their funniness to us in podcast form. Compelling cover art and episode name notwithstanding, this podcast from TMG studios will reel you in with Big Gen-Z Energy. As they jump effortlessly from topic to topic, Averick and Wood have the kind of natural comedic chemistry that only comes with knowing and loving (and hating) a funny friend for a long time. While Wood muses about men “having periods without actually having periods†based on mood and life phases, Averick deep dives into the horrors of love-bombing and other dating “icks.†As a listener, there is something comforting about being a fly on the wall in these intimate yet relatable conversations that range from therapy anecdotes, controversial takes on Euphoria, and hot-button issues like the future of the green M&M. TikTok enthusiasts will enjoy this funny, unfocused, and delightfully scatterbrained new podcast that has the same “anything goes†energy as a late-night scrolling sesh. —Akanksha Aurora
It’s Genetic - Charlie Bardey and His Mom, Claudia! & Gastor Almante and His Daughter, Makayla!
In an era where fans demand both art and increasing insight into artists’ personal lives, It’s Genetic is not just a product of its time, but a podcast that evinces the humor, complexity, and sweetness of parent-child relationships. Through interviews with other comedians and their parents, comedian Blair Dawson gets to the heart of the question we have all wondered while watching stand-up: Who raised you? While some might expect a probing, Marc Maron–style interview from a podcast that features comedians and their parents, Dawson keeps it light. Podcast segments include “Compliment Me!â€, in which — you guessed it — guests take turns giving each other heartwarming compliments, and “Do You Even Know Me?,†in which guests try to offer the correct answers to questions about each other. Recent episodes include a very New York interview with stand-up and Twitter favorite Charlie Bardey and his mother, and an interview with Gastor Almonte and his witty teen daughter. Older episodes feature hysterical musings from Dawson’s own father that always remind me to call mine. What’s the German word for the way advice from other people’s parents is always more endearing and profound than advice from our own? —Kriska Desir
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Other Podcasts We’re Listening To:
Chopping It Up With Ngaio - Carlos Alazraqui! All-American Boy!
Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website
The Extramundane With Max Ward - The Woman Who Raised Bigfoot
Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website
Got a comedy podcast recommendation? Drop us a line at [email protected].
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