The Magnus Archives. This is a 200-episode paranormal horror podcast. Each episode is based around a statement from someone who witnessed or experienced something paranormal. Episodes increasingly delve into the lives of the people who archive these statements. The character development is fantastic. Only a single curse word is uttered in one of the final episodes.
These will probably have a British/English slant to them.
Off Menu: Over 200 episodes, and two live tour runs, and it’s still a great and simple format. It’s hosted by comedians Ed Gamble and James Acaster, who ask guests to pick their dream meal.
Second Tier: If, like me, you follow a football club outside of the Premier League, you’ll know just how hard it is to make a show about the Championship. While I don’t always agree with them, they’re trying their best, and have managed to consistently put out content that tries to cover every team.
Fozcast (The Ben Foster Podcast): Great to listen to if you’re a football fan, as Ben puts out a lot of amazing insight into the world of football.
The Happy Hour Podcast: I’ve no idea who JaackMaate is, but he puts out a solid podcast with some great guests.
Comedy Bang Bang - improv comedy where Scott Aukerman interviews interesting people, and by interesting people i mean comedians playing absurd characters. It’s been going for fifteen years, Paul F Tompkins, Jason Mantzoukas, and Ben Schwarz are all regulars, and it’s the only podcast I listen to almost every week.
Get Played - a gaming podcast featuring Heather Anne Campbell, Matt Wiger and Nick Apodaca (I’ve almost definitely misspelled or misremembered at least one of these names). They talk about games whilst being very funny - Heather is a comedy writer, Matt is occasionally on Comedy Bang Bang. It’s the only gaming podcast I listen to despite much of their coverage being games I am not interested in.
The Apocalypse Players - A Call of Cthulu TTRPG. Two of my favorite are: Machine Tractor Station Kharkov-37 and A Christmas Inheritance.
The Duncan Trussell Family Hour - Lot of the guests tend to be Buddhist monks, comedians, spiritual gurus, occultists, etc. Ranges from mundane topics to esoteric ones.
Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman and Data Over Dogma - Both discuss the Bible from an academic view. The cultural context behind the Gospels, the biases in each Gospel, the non-canonical gospels
Hi-Phi Nation - Uses stories to talk about philosophical topics. Recommend: Wishes of the Dead, Moral Exploitation, The Morality of War, and the 2 Part Hackademics.
The Cracked Podcast - Generally it’s comedians and journalists talk about various topics. Really good episodes are: 4 Mind-Blowing Truths About America (Made Clear By Baseball), Why Americans Hate The Poor (with David Wong & John Cheese), and Why A New Civil War Will Be Fought By A Thousand Sides.
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
Late to the party here. Love many of the podcasts already shared, but I’d like to reccomend a couple.
The Weekly Planet: if you’re somewhat interested in keeping up with movies. Two aussie blokes, James and Maseau, have great banter keeping up with the entertainment industry. They originally kept up with comic book movies and adjacent content, but they do all kinds of movies. Doesn’t take itself seriously, but never devolves into repeating every click bait headline you read. Been keeping up for 8 years now.
Filthy Casuals: three aussie comedians, Tommy Dassalo, Ben Vernel, and Adam Knox, keep up with the video game industry. Similar to my last recommendation, but if you’re interested in video games.
National Park After Dark: hosted by two lovely ladies, Danielle and Cassie, and covers many different topics. Topics covered have included true crime, cryptids, and folklore but the two hosts try to keep a focus on outdoor experiences. They want to encourage people to get out and visit the many parks across the US, but to do so safely and respectfully.
Uhh Yeah Dude They’ve been doing the podcast since 2006, and just surpassed their 1000th episode. Listener supposed and ad free. Just two guys trying to figure it all out.
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.
The Constant, a podcast that follows, as its subtitle suggests, humanity’s history of getting things wrong. It covers a history of societies most mistaken ideas, like believing birds flew to the moon or turned into barnacles in the winter, to trying to rejuvenate health by surgically implanting goat testicles, to a seven part attempt to identity a submarine found at the bottom of the Chicago River, tracing many failed designs in the process. The host (a playwright) injects a ton of fun humor and very theatrical reveals with clever writing.
Our Fake History, which looks at historical people, places, objects, and events that have developed a popular mythology, or myths that may have a basis in reality, and looks at what’s real and what’s fake. Was there a pope that was secretly a woman? Did Ty Cobb kill a guy? Was Atlantis based on a real place? Did the Chinese visit the New World? He often tells great stories, and then revels what’s made up about it and why we know. It’s presented by a Canadian history teacher who also composes and plays most of the music he uses.
Arkham Private Investigator Arthur Lester wakes up with no memory of who he is or what has happened, only a nameless, eerie voice guiding him through the darkness.
Blind, terrified, and confused, his journey will lead him towards a series of mysteries in the hopes of understanding the truth of what has transpired.
As cosmic horrors seep into the world around, Arthur must ask himself whether this entity truly seeks to help him, or are its intentions more…
Malevolent
It uses the podcast medium so well with the main character being blind and the resulting dialogue between him and the voice in his head that he needs to see the world around him, like the listener, and in general is incredibly well written. Harlan Guthrie is a genius.
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