Behind the Bastards
fun + informative history podcast on awful people and events with a comedic bent
Blowback - https://blowback.show/
History of US interventions on different places over the last century.
Darknet Diaries - https://darknetdiaries.com/
True stories from the dark side of the Internet
I highly recommend Darknet Diaries.
I enjoy all of the episodes in one way or another. But here are a few of my recommendations.
Ep 36: Jeremy from Marketing - “A company hires a penetration tester to pose as a new hire, Jeremy from Marketing, to see how much he can hack into in his first week on the job. It doesn’t go as planned.”
Ep 14: #OpJustina - “In 2013 a hospital was accused of conducting a medical kidnapping against a young girl named Justina. This enraged many people across the country, including members of Anonymous. A DDOS attack was waged against the hospital.”
Ep 24: Operation Bayonet - "Darknet markets are online black markets. They are highly illegal, and dangerous to run. Hear exactly how dangerous it was for Alphabay and Hansa dark markets.
Ep 29: Stuxnet - “Stuxnet was the most sophisticated virus ever discovered. It’s target was a nuclear enrichment facility in Iran. This virus was successfully able to destroy numerous centrifuges. Hear who did it and why.”
Xbox underground is great story too.
I had a friend working at Microsoft in the Xbox division during that time who recommended me that podcast.
I love Darknet Diaries. I want to recommend one in the same genre, Modem Mischief.
Oooo Jeremy from marketing was very fun, gonna keep on listening! Thank you!
The Dollop: THIS is a bi-weekly American history podcast where labradoodle daddy and wearer of pants Dave Anthony reads a story from American history to his nemesis Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the story is about
I love Gary
Great shout. Brilliant podcast.
For anyone looking for a good episode to start with, The Rube is a certified classic.
C’MON RUBE LETS PLAY!
Now hit him with the puppy.
- The Amber & Lacey, Lacey & Amber Show gets me into a positive mood.
- Countdown with Keith Olbermann is still good when he isn’t bringing up exes.
- Worlds Beyond Number is a neat TTRPG live play from last year.
- Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
- Bonanas for Bonanza because Maria Bamford is an unsung comedy legend
- The Doug Stanhope Podcast
- How Did This Get Made? making fun of bad movies is fun.
- Lovett or Leave It politics with a spoonful of snark
- LeVar Burton Reads reading rainbow will never die!
- SmartLess easy listening
- Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me the sign of a true celebrity is appearing on this show.
- Strike Force Five was kinda neat as an insight into unscripted dialogue with competing professionals, but they seemed to gang up on Jimmy Fallon, who, arguably, has the most prestigious late night show.
Last podcast on the left, their research is great but they lean heavily into their comedy to really make the story entertaining.
I used to listen to them all the time.before the move to Spotify. Once they came out from behind Spotify and I could get them in my preferred app, I just couldn’t get back in the grove of listening to them. It seemed like for every 5 of their releases, I would find one interesting.
Don’t let this stop anyone else from listening to them as they research the shit out of their topics. Their Jim Jones episodes were more informative than any other description I have ever heard.
It seemed like for every 5 of their releases, I would find one interesting.
You can tell the difference between the episodes researched by them and their research team. I still listen to them from time to time, their recent series on the Survival on the Andes is harrowing, one of their best episodes in recent times.
Not exactly a new one, but I listened to S-town with great enjoyment. It’s a little story about an alleged murder, a truly original American man, and rural Alabama. I was never bored, and I certainly learned something. And you get to hear an amazing Alabama accent.
I wanna reply with my town I grew up in with a letter-hyphen combo but I’d dox myself at some point in time otherwise 😜
And u all neva gonna get that, neva gonna get that, tra-la-la-la-LA!
Ars Paradoxica
It may be a little older, in podcast terms, but it’s a great time travel journey from 20XX to 1943. Even for being a fictional story, it does get a lot of things right in historical context.
I recommend it because it’s one I started with and still keep coming back to just because it’s such a good story.
Edit: Bonus of being older, it’s complete so you can binge to your heart’s content
Sean Carroll - mindscape
Fraser Cain - universe today
David Eagleman - inner cosmos
F**kface, it’s not really about anything, just very funny ramblings, listen a lot when I’m cooking and can’t have full attention on something educational.
I love listening to f**kface on their YouTube channel because sometimes they will post pictures about what they’re talking about. Every episode seems to have at least one visual element to it
Strict Scrutiny
A breakdown of the inside politics of the Supreme Court and the cases before them.
Hell yeah, I love Behind the Bastards, I also reccomend its sister podcast Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, similar podcast I Don’t Speak German (antifascists talking about various goings on regarding the far right) and, if you want Something Completely Different, Film Reroll, an actual play podcast in which all the campaigns are based on movies.
The Beef and Dairy Network: The #1 podcast for those involved, or just interested, in the production of beef animals and dairy herds. Bone-dry gonzo comedy about the globe-spanning world of the Bovine Farmers Union.
Misquoting Jesus: Renowned biblical scholar provides historical discussions of topics related to early Christianity, and the texts in and surrounding the New Testament.
Mindscape: Physicist and professor Sean Carrol has in-depth conversations with experts from a variety of academic disciplines.
Oh No! Ross and Carrie: Two skeptics investigate claims of the paranormal–they show up so you don’t have to. Fantastic investigative journalism.
Mission to Zyxx: Improvised comedy sci-fi podcast that’s one part Star Wars, one part Star Trek, one part Red Dwarf, and all parts silliness.
Omnibus. Hosted by Ken Jennings and John Roderick. They are both funny, enjoy each other’s company, and extremely knowledgeable. The show covers a swath of esoteric topics.
Heavyweight on Spotify.
I’ve been listening to this series for a few years. People have a regret, encounter, or problem from the past that they wish to follow up but need help. Jonathan Goldstein is a go between in helping these people bury the past or make amends. One particular story is Gregor who lends a CD to a pre-famous Moby. The CD contains the songs that Moby sampled and made him huge but never returned the CD to Gregor. Heavyweight helps Gregor get the CD.
Unfortunately some muppet at Spotify has decided to stop this excellent series so check it out before it goes.
The Age of Napoleon. I’m a Patreon supporter because it’s simply an awesome and informative podcast about a hugely interesting and transformative era and person.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan - “Based on his Netflix comedy special, “Blocks.” Neal Brennan interviews friends and colleagues about the things that make them feel lonely, isolated, and like something’s wrong - and how they are persevering despite these blocks.”
