Podcasts We Love

[Chris L]

I don't find much time to listen to podcasts these days, though I could easily do so through the Amazon Echo while I work, if they weren't so damned distracting. (Maybe I could listen while I play games.) I'm still interested in knowing about good podcasts that I could listen to should I find some free time. Use this thread to point people to podcasts you love and maybe say a little about them. If possible, link to a site that archives them.

The West Wing Weekly

If you're a West Wing fan, this podcast is heaven. It's hosted by Joshua Malina, who played Will Bailey on the show from Season Four on, and West Wing superfan Hrishikesh Hirway, who conceived the podcast. The podcast chronicles the show episode by episode, starting from the pilot. It's now up to Season 3, Episode 12 ("The Two Bartlets"). It's best accompanied by viewing the episode in question on Netflix and then listening. They have interviews with actors who were in the episode and these are often the best reason to listen to it. And they illustrate (if that's the word) their discussion with audio clips.

It's well worth listening to for Wing nuts (and I've known a few Sondheim fans who were really into the show).

[AmyG]

I second the West Wing Weekly. Chris and I started to make it a regular thing but couldn't really find the time to keep it up. But I'd love to get back to it and at least listen to the ones with my favorite cast members (Allison Janney, anyone?)

I listen to a number of podcasts on my commute, which I'll save for later posts, but the one I'm currently obsessed with is Planet Money (as I mentioned elsewhere). I have gone back and started, not at the beginning, but at some point in 2014 which is all that itunes seems to know about. The show started in 2008 with the financial crisis. There are many different hosts and they are all very entertaining and nerdy and smart. It isn't just about economics though that's the premise. They talk about all kinds of things from ethics,  to robots, to race relations, to dating.

[Leighton]

I listen regularly to:

You Must Remember This
The New Yorker Radio Hour (and the offshoots: poetry, comment, fiction, politics etc.)
This American Life
Shit Town
Pod Save America
The NFL Show
The Gridiron Show
Harry Potter and the Sacred Text

[AmyG]

Well, I've been listening to a lot of new podcasts including quite a few from Gimlet Media and a couple from Washington Post. The two from WaPo are both historical.

Presidential was a 45 episode weekly podcast hosted by Lillian Cunningham that aired over the course of 2016 leading up to election day. It went through the US Presidents in order. The last episode aired a week before the election with a wrap up at 3 am on election day. It was mostly fascinating, sometimes silly but always entertaining.

Constitutional is the sequel to Presidential also hosted by Lillian Cunningham, this time with a producer. As far as production values and editing, it is far superior to Presidential. Clearly they had more time to put together each episode. It really digs deep and tells the compelling stories behind the constitution and amendments. 

Start Up also from Gimlet Media had an amazing first season. I recommend it highly. It's hosted by Alex Blumberg and tells the very meta story of the founding of Gimlet Media. Subsequent seasons have not been as good.

Reply All also from Gimlet Media is a show about the Internet. Which kind of means it's a show about everything. Very entertaining most of the time. 

Uncivil is the latest podcast I am following from Gimlet. It's about the Civil War. It's an eye opener to say the least. It tells fascinating stories that run the gamut of emotions. I'm sometimes sobbing uncontrollably while driving to and from work. 

I'm kind of becoming a history buff after all this time. Weird because I didn't care for history in school. It was so boring. 

[AmyG]

I just learned about 36 Questions, a podcast musical starring Jonathan Groff and Jessie Shelton. I haven't listened to it yet but it has gotten good reviews and it seemed of such particular interest to this group, I thought I'd mention it, even before I have listened to it. 

I am listening to @Leighton's recommended You Must Remember This and loving it. Of particular interest were the Jean and Jane series, focusing on Jane Fonda and Jean Seberg up to Seberg's death in the late 70's, the Charles Manson's Hollywood series, and the Blacklist series. But every episode is good and I'm listening to them all in the order they were recorded. 

[Leighton]

I am listening to @Leighton's recommended You Must Remember This and loving it. Of particular interest were the Jean and Jane series, focusing on Jane Fonda and Jean Seberg up to Seberg's death in the late 70's, the Charles Manson's Hollywood series, and the Blacklist series. But every episode is good and I'm listening to them all in the order they were recorded.

As am I! Still on the Manson series, but loving them.
Also loving The New Generation Project Podcast - a series dealing with ever WWF (and some WCW) pay-per-views from 1993-1998 ('The New Generation Era')

[AmyG]

The only series I listened to out of order was Jean and Jane, which I listened to first. But then I decided just to listen in order after that. I've now just finished with Six Degrees of Joan Crawford which she recorded before the Ryan Murphy miniseries Feud aired so it was interesting to get her take on some of the same events.

I don't always agree with her though. She's quite the militant feminist to the point of having a bit of a double standard about it. Here's a quote from the last Joan Crawford episode, which I've put in spoiler tags in case you don't want to read it before listening to the episode yourself -- not that it really spoils anything.

Spoiler: ShowHide

"Some people see an artists work as separate from that artists personal mistakes and flaws as a human being. I don't see them as separate. This is all part of who Joan Crawford is and was. To me, even if all the worst things alleged about Joan Crawford are true, that doesn't detract from her body of work or make me loath to praise it the way that the allegations against Woody Allen make it difficult for me to assess new Woody Allen films on purely creative ground."

Huh? Double-standard, much, Karina? Or am I reading this wrong?

And there have been other things, too. Though I do generally agree with her take about the horrible treatment by the studios of their female stars. 

[Leighton]

Hmmmm ... I think it is a bit of a double standard!

I have just started Presidential

[DiveMilw]

In the past two weeks I've started listening to Dead Pilots Society.  Each month they take a script for a TV pilot which was bought and sometimes developed but not made and give it the table read it never had.  It started a couple of years ago so there is a nice back catalog for me to catch up on. I'm only 5 or 6 episodes in.  They generally have a fantastic cast and sometimes they are names I've even heard of.  It's on Maximum Fun.  

Also on Maximum Fun is Nobody Listens to Paula Pondstone.  Along with co-host Adam Felber, Paula interviews various people about various things.  There is a cat of the week and numerous house bands.  It's quite a fun show and I'm enjoying the heck out of it.  

[Chris L]

Dead Pilots Society sounds great, Tom, but do you know what actors they get for the table reads?

[DiveMilw]

Dead Pilots Society sounds great, Tom, but do you know what actors they get for the table reads?

Professionals.  That didn't really help.   
 It varies.  The one I was listening to while snow blowing had Laurie Metcalf.  I know there have been other names I've recognized but I can't think of any at the moment.  You can look at cast lists on their wesite.  
I think they now do the readings before a live studio audience in LA.  And they tape several shows at once.  This is taken from their webiste for the taping which happened on Feb 10th:
"This month we'll be reading scripts from Billy Finnegan (Grace & Frankie), Colleen McGuiness (30 Rock) and Johanna Stein (Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny)!
Our cast so far includes Noel Wells ( Mr. Roosevelt), Tiya Sircar (The Good Place), Danny Pudi (Community), David Walton (New Girl), Brad Morris ( Seeking A Friend For The End of The World), Ian Gomez (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Keiko Agena (Gilmore Girls), Ethan Peck (Star Trek), Britt Lower (Casual), Amanda Lund (Goosebumps), Andy Ridings ( Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), and Krista Morin (The Handmaid's Tale)."

[Chris L]

I don't recognize most of the names (Lauria Metcalf aside), but LA has such an excess of excellent actors that I'm sure they're all great. There's a theater in north LA, probably the Skirball Cultural Center, that occasionally does one-night readings of plays. We've considered going, but I don't see any currently listed on their schedule.

[DiveMilw]

I don't recognize most of the names (Lauria Metcalf aside), but LA has such an excess of excellent actors that I'm sure they're all great. There's a theater in north LA, probably the Skirball Cultural Center, that occasionally does one-night readings of plays. We've considered going, but I don't see any currently listed on their schedule.

Here's a couple more cast lists from some older shows.
Bachelor Party written by JJ Philbin & Josh Malmuth
Matt Lauria as Hank

 Frankie Shaw as Holly

 Jason Ritter as Jay

 Jenny Wade as Anna

 Christina Pickles as Margaret

 Khary Payton as Stan/Brandon

 Janet Varney as Tina

 Natalie Morales as Vera

 Bruce McCulloch as Geoff

 Steve Agee as Waiter/High School Kid

 Mark McConville as Busboy/Jordan/Kid/14 Year Old Kid

 Felicia Day as Jordan's Mom/Woman

Punching Out written by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley (these guys wrote Spiderman - Homecoming)
Kyle Bornheimer as Kenny

 Cedric Yarbrough as Hank

 Thomas Lennon as Bob

 Robert Ben Garant as Man's Voice/Mr. Barnhill

 Janet Varney as Old Lady/Janice/Jenny

 Craig Cackowski as Anderton/Dane/Lonny

 Alessandra Torresani as Shawna

 Ben Schwartz as Jake/Byron

 Carlos Alazraqui as Flam/Customer

 Ana Ortiz as Stacy

 Andrew Reich with Stage Directions