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2020 in podcasts
Jan. 15th, 2021 05:57 pmI did a post like this last year, but thought a new year was a good time for an update. Though there's certainly a lot of overlap! So here are my Top Ten Favorite Podcasts of 2020 – or, at least, the podcasts I listened to the most often, which oddly doesn't always translate to 'favorite'.
10. The Dollop: Two male comedians tell one another weird stories from American history.
This podcast is probably the one I'm currently listening to that makes me laugh the hardest. The hosts are both straight white men and that can sometimes be a little too obvious in their blindspots, but they have a real talent for finding the most bizarre true stories and turning them into comedy gold. It's sort of like 'Drunk History' with less slurring.
9. Moby Dick Energy: A chapter-by-chapter breakdown of Herman Melville's Moby Dick. The female host has a different guest on for each episode/chapter, who have ranged from comedians to English professors.
I love the idea of this podcast – Moby Dick is so well-suited for this sort of deep-dive – but so far I'm not loving the execution. The show has struggled with what it wants to be – it's not going hard enough on the comedy to be funny, but it's also not going hard enough on the research to find worthwhile insights. By trying to do both it's just failing at both. But I haven't listened to many episodes yet, and I get the sense that it might find its balance soon, so I'm not giving up yet.
8. Ologies: A woman journalist/comedian interviews scientists from every -ology imaginable (gemology! paleontology! cosmetology! you get it).
I only discovered this podcast in December or else it would probably be much higher on this list. I worried that the interviews would be too much about the scientists' personal lives and not enough about their cool research, which is a problem I have with a lot of science journalism, but this show doesn't strike that note at all! It's really exactly the Cool-Things look at various sciences that I've always wanted.
7. Lore: A male host tells creepy true stories from history.
I honestly don't know why I'm still listening to this show, because every episode drives me crazy. The host is so gullible – recounting stories that are clearly nothing more than creepypasta (or sometimes the 18th century equivalent of creepypasta) as though they're plausible real accounts – or maybe he's not gullible and just doesn't care to do adequate research, which is equally annoying. His attempts to derive deep philosophical meaning out of stories about haunted puppets and werewolves are also ridiculous. I also generally don't like single-host shows; I much prefer the flow of conversation you get once there's multiple people involved (the main thing that has prevented me from starting my own podcast!).
And yet, I keep not unsubscribing. I can't explain why, but I find myself hitting play on this show more often than on ones where I don't outright hate the host. I can't explain it. Maybe hate-listening turns out to be pretty solid entertainment?
6. The Magnus Archives: A fictional series about an archivist who records the stories of random people's horrific supernatural encounters. Gradually he becomes more and more pulled into an adventure involving worm-monsters and a supernatural conspiracy that seems to have it out for him specifically.
So many people have recommended this podcast to me. So many! But sorry, guys, it's just not working for me. I prefer the Monster-of-the-Week episodes (though even those are never as scary as I want them to be) to the overarching narrative, and the more we get of the latter the more bored I become. I'm near the end of Season One, and I think I might drop it at that point – I've heard it becomes much more focused on the characters and plot in subsequent seasons, and that's exactly where I don't want it to go.
5. History is Gay: Two queer women cover queer history with a sense of humor.
I discovered this podcast while doing research for a class I was teaching on the history of same-sex marriage, and I have to give it to them: this is the best queer history podcast I've found, striking an excellent balance between general and specific knowledge. They cite their sources, and the Notes post that accompanies each episode is a great supply of art and other images.
All that said, I find the hosts incredibly annoying and their jokes dumb and cringeworthy. So why am I still listening? Well, I do learn something interesting or useful in each episode, so I feel obliged to continue. Still, I'll be glad when I run out of new episodes.
4. Apocalist Book Club: Two women read every post-apocalyptic novel ever written, in chronological order starting in 1805.
Most of the books the hosts review are bad, so very bad (they're only up to stuff in written in 1930 so far), but they do a wonderful job at providing context for the author and literary trends of the time, along with hilarious recaps of the plots themselves. My one complaint is that this show only updates once a month, so I can't listen to it as frequently as I wish I could.
3. The Baby-sitters Club Club: Two thirty-something male comedians review every book in Ann M. Martin's classic preteen-girl series, The Baby-Sitters Club.
The show is so much sweeter than that description might make you assume, and I adore these guys and their humor. They've finally run out of Baby-sitter related material to cover (after reviewing every spinoff imaginable, the Netflix series, the graphic novels, and the computer games), and I have no idea where they will go next, but I do hope they continue because I love this show.
2. Alternate Ending: Three friends discuss movies: one's a legit film critic working on his PhD, one dropped out of film school, and one's a 'casual viewer'.
Another slightly odd choice for 'favorite', since I'm not actually that big of a movie watcher and frequently haven't seen any of the movies they discuss. Nonetheless, I really love the banter between these three and am always excited whenever a new episode drops.
1. My Favorite Murder: Two women comedians discuss true crime.
After avoiding this hugely popular podcast until late 2019, I promptly was sucked into a massive binge. Considering that there's something like 470 episodes, I had plenty to listen to, and easily spent hours listening every day. I'm not really sure why? I don't dislike the humor or the hosts, but I'm also not that big of a fan of true crime. But something about MFM soothed my brain during all of the stress and bizarreness that was 2020. I've very nearly hit the end of my binge (there's only 12 new episodes left!), and I'm not sure I'll continue to feel the same way about it once I can no longer listen endlessly but have to wait for updates like everyone else. I suspect that might break whatever spell I've been under. Still, it's been a good thousand hours of listening.
What do you listen to? Recommend me new shows!
10. The Dollop: Two male comedians tell one another weird stories from American history.
This podcast is probably the one I'm currently listening to that makes me laugh the hardest. The hosts are both straight white men and that can sometimes be a little too obvious in their blindspots, but they have a real talent for finding the most bizarre true stories and turning them into comedy gold. It's sort of like 'Drunk History' with less slurring.
9. Moby Dick Energy: A chapter-by-chapter breakdown of Herman Melville's Moby Dick. The female host has a different guest on for each episode/chapter, who have ranged from comedians to English professors.
I love the idea of this podcast – Moby Dick is so well-suited for this sort of deep-dive – but so far I'm not loving the execution. The show has struggled with what it wants to be – it's not going hard enough on the comedy to be funny, but it's also not going hard enough on the research to find worthwhile insights. By trying to do both it's just failing at both. But I haven't listened to many episodes yet, and I get the sense that it might find its balance soon, so I'm not giving up yet.
8. Ologies: A woman journalist/comedian interviews scientists from every -ology imaginable (gemology! paleontology! cosmetology! you get it).
I only discovered this podcast in December or else it would probably be much higher on this list. I worried that the interviews would be too much about the scientists' personal lives and not enough about their cool research, which is a problem I have with a lot of science journalism, but this show doesn't strike that note at all! It's really exactly the Cool-Things look at various sciences that I've always wanted.
7. Lore: A male host tells creepy true stories from history.
I honestly don't know why I'm still listening to this show, because every episode drives me crazy. The host is so gullible – recounting stories that are clearly nothing more than creepypasta (or sometimes the 18th century equivalent of creepypasta) as though they're plausible real accounts – or maybe he's not gullible and just doesn't care to do adequate research, which is equally annoying. His attempts to derive deep philosophical meaning out of stories about haunted puppets and werewolves are also ridiculous. I also generally don't like single-host shows; I much prefer the flow of conversation you get once there's multiple people involved (the main thing that has prevented me from starting my own podcast!).
And yet, I keep not unsubscribing. I can't explain why, but I find myself hitting play on this show more often than on ones where I don't outright hate the host. I can't explain it. Maybe hate-listening turns out to be pretty solid entertainment?
6. The Magnus Archives: A fictional series about an archivist who records the stories of random people's horrific supernatural encounters. Gradually he becomes more and more pulled into an adventure involving worm-monsters and a supernatural conspiracy that seems to have it out for him specifically.
So many people have recommended this podcast to me. So many! But sorry, guys, it's just not working for me. I prefer the Monster-of-the-Week episodes (though even those are never as scary as I want them to be) to the overarching narrative, and the more we get of the latter the more bored I become. I'm near the end of Season One, and I think I might drop it at that point – I've heard it becomes much more focused on the characters and plot in subsequent seasons, and that's exactly where I don't want it to go.
5. History is Gay: Two queer women cover queer history with a sense of humor.
I discovered this podcast while doing research for a class I was teaching on the history of same-sex marriage, and I have to give it to them: this is the best queer history podcast I've found, striking an excellent balance between general and specific knowledge. They cite their sources, and the Notes post that accompanies each episode is a great supply of art and other images.
All that said, I find the hosts incredibly annoying and their jokes dumb and cringeworthy. So why am I still listening? Well, I do learn something interesting or useful in each episode, so I feel obliged to continue. Still, I'll be glad when I run out of new episodes.
4. Apocalist Book Club: Two women read every post-apocalyptic novel ever written, in chronological order starting in 1805.
Most of the books the hosts review are bad, so very bad (they're only up to stuff in written in 1930 so far), but they do a wonderful job at providing context for the author and literary trends of the time, along with hilarious recaps of the plots themselves. My one complaint is that this show only updates once a month, so I can't listen to it as frequently as I wish I could.
3. The Baby-sitters Club Club: Two thirty-something male comedians review every book in Ann M. Martin's classic preteen-girl series, The Baby-Sitters Club.
The show is so much sweeter than that description might make you assume, and I adore these guys and their humor. They've finally run out of Baby-sitter related material to cover (after reviewing every spinoff imaginable, the Netflix series, the graphic novels, and the computer games), and I have no idea where they will go next, but I do hope they continue because I love this show.
2. Alternate Ending: Three friends discuss movies: one's a legit film critic working on his PhD, one dropped out of film school, and one's a 'casual viewer'.
Another slightly odd choice for 'favorite', since I'm not actually that big of a movie watcher and frequently haven't seen any of the movies they discuss. Nonetheless, I really love the banter between these three and am always excited whenever a new episode drops.
1. My Favorite Murder: Two women comedians discuss true crime.
After avoiding this hugely popular podcast until late 2019, I promptly was sucked into a massive binge. Considering that there's something like 470 episodes, I had plenty to listen to, and easily spent hours listening every day. I'm not really sure why? I don't dislike the humor or the hosts, but I'm also not that big of a fan of true crime. But something about MFM soothed my brain during all of the stress and bizarreness that was 2020. I've very nearly hit the end of my binge (there's only 12 new episodes left!), and I'm not sure I'll continue to feel the same way about it once I can no longer listen endlessly but have to wait for updates like everyone else. I suspect that might break whatever spell I've been under. Still, it's been a good thousand hours of listening.
What do you listen to? Recommend me new shows!
