Behind the Bastards, a deep dive into the various shit people of history. Episode one is Saddam Hussein: Erotic Novelist.

There’s nearly 700 episodes, and I’ve yet to run tio a dud. Loads of great guests. My only gripe is that it’s a touch Amerocentric, but other than that I’d recommend it to basically anyone. Not kid friendly, in case that wasn’t obvious.

I like listening to historical podcasts, and my favorites are “The History of Rome” (which has finished) and its followup “The History of Byzantium” and “Hardcore History” . I’ve heard good things about “Revolutions” by the creator of “The History of Rome” but I haven’t checked it out yet.

Also I’ve been enjoying “Fall of Civilizations” a lot, but so far have only listened to a few of the episodes.

I am surprised some of the big ones haven’t been mentioned yet -

• Radiolab - Not really sure how to describe this podcast. It’s superb journalism at its core. They do both short and multi-episode long form about a variety of topics from science to history to current events. For example, how dinosaurs died when the asteroid hit earth, the story of a Guantanamo convict with the same name as the host, and how poorly computer databases are designed for names that are outside the norm.

• Planet Money - An excellent economics podcast where complex topics are distilled in fairly short episodes. They recently released a completely AI generated episode which was incredibly scary with how good it was.

• More Perfect - Everything the US Supreme Court

• Serial - One multi-episode series at a time about complicated criminal cases.

• What Roman Mars can Learn about Con Law - Started off during the Trump Presidency when tough questions about the US constitution are being asked given his penchant for pushing the legal boundaries and norms.

Massively depends on what you’re into.

That said, I follow these podcasts:

News related comedy:

• Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me from NPR
• Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
• The Bugle
• Breaking The News from BBC Scotland

DnD:

• Dicefunk (I recommend seasons 3 & 4 in particular)

Puns:

• Punwatch
• (also The Bugle sometimes)

Science communication:

• The Infinite Monkey Cage
• Daniel And Jorge Explain The Universe
• The Curious Cases Of Rutherford & Fry
• Supermassive
• A Problem Squared
• Creature Feature
• My Favourite Theorem

About Media:

• Failure To Launch, about TV pilots that failed to become full series
• Get Played, originally called “How Did This Get Played?” and focused on the worst games ever made, now about games in general
• Dream Factory, about plots of non-existing movies

Security/Hacking:

• Malicious Life
• Darknet Diaries
• Human Factor Security

History:

• You’re Dead To Me

Big fan of Darknet Diaries.

History:

• History of Rome
• History of Byzantium (spiritual successor to HoR) - ongoing but with an end planned
• British History Podcast (in depth) - ongoing but with an end planned
• Revolutions (various revolutions from HoR
• Blowback
• Hardcore History
• Fall of Civilizations

Horror:

• Magnus Archives
• The Lovecraft Investigations - unsure if finished

True Crime:

• Bear Brook
• Dirty John

Others:

• *Shut up and Sit Down (Boardgames)"
• Beef and Dairy Network (Comedy)
• Outer Reach (Sci-Fi)

Bold = Ongoing with no end planned

Behind the bastards, Self explanatory.

Ear hustle, A podcast about prison made by prisoners in prison.

Knowledge Fight, a couple of dudes who like to sit around and talk about Alex Jones. Essentially deconstructing his bullshit.

Mental Illness Happy Hour by Paul Gilmartin, if you like a podcast that talks honestly about the struggles of mental health.

Paul interviews a different person each week and discuss their journeys on dealing with their mental health. Paul is also been very open about his struggles. It helps that he is a comedian and has a subtle but dark humor that I enjoy.

I also really like the short surveys that he reads and people have filled out on his website because they make me feel connected that I’m not alone.

Throughline has been my favorite since it launched a few years ago. The hosts take a deep dive into the historical events leading up to topical events of the present weaving a thread through them, hence the name.

Some of the examples are the history of policing in the US and how capitalism became the dominant economic system.

I cannot recommend this podcast enough!

Anything from Aaron Mahnke (or his company Grim & Mild). I especially enjoy Lore and Cabinet of Curiosities. For true crime, I like Murder, Mysteries and Makeup or The Casual Criminalist.

• History on Fire (Italian Prof talks about interesting events and people)
• The Deprogramm (An iraqi, a slav and a american rant about things)
• Duncan Trussell Family Hour (Classical “guy invites interesting people to talk to”)
• Blowback (Historic events regarding american imperialism)

I guess it totally depends on what you’re into. I listen to:

The Money Guy show - hands down the best personal finance content. American based, but the logic still applies.

Waveform Podcast: MKBHD tech podcast

Surveillance Report: Techlore privacy/security based podcast

I’ve been a longtime fan of CheapShow, a comedy podcast loosely based around unusual items found in cheap shops and charity shops (thrift stores). Episodes include deep dives in vintage/retro media, taste tests of weird foodstuffs, various games and challenges, plus a lot of complete chaos and toilet humour.

Maybe not for everyone, but if any of the above catches your interest it’s worth a try.

My top podcasts lately:

• QAnon Anonymous: started out chronicling the QAnon freakshow but moved towards more general deep dives into modern and past conspiracy movements

• Minion Death Cult: laughing at right wing comment sections

• This Is Revolution: great leftist interview/discussion

• Joy Tactics: extremely funny stuff

• Uhh Yeah Dude: one of the longest running podcasts out (13 years) and still funny as hell

I dip into some other podcasts from time to time like Chapo Trap House, Comedy Bang Bang, and Vice’s CYBER.

I also listen to some paranormal/weird shows that I can recommend if anyone is interested.

Trashfuture is a great podcast. It is, ostensibly, a tech-pessimist podcast, but every now and then there are some great UK-centric politics that bleed through since they are based in the UK. All of the host are kind of leftist weirdo Marxists and they really take the piss out of “technology companies” that are nothing more than shell games of moving things around that have been around forever and calling it a tech company. One of my favorites.