Over quarantine I have completely fallen in love with podcasts. Before then, they were just something that I listened to occasionally when I mowed the lawn or cleaned my room — nothing special.
But now, if I’m being honest, they are something that I listen to every single day and have become a vital part of my everyday routine. It all started during quarantine when I would go on walks (like we all did) and just listen to episode after episode of different podcasts because I couldn’t get enough of them.
I would say in the past year or so podcasts have become all the rage in what it seems like overnight. It can be kind of overwhelming on where to even start and what you should listen to.
If you’re wondering where to start, don’t worry, I got you.
1. Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
This is easily my absolute favorite podcast in the entire world. Dax Shepard, an
actor/screenwriter/director who is married to Kristen Bell, hosts this podcast with Monica Padman where, every episode, they have guests varying from celebrities/actors, to actual experts like brain surgeons or political activists. On their website it says this is, “A podcast that celebrates the messiness of being human” and that is exactly what it does. Dax’s perspective on everything is fascinating from his laughable bluntness to his manner of speech that is so casual that you feel like you are in on their conversation every single time.
If you love discussions about everything, from the problems of societies, to the human condition and want to feel like you are best friends with important people, this is the podcast for you! These are longer episodes varying from 1 hour and 30 minutes to two hours but are perfect while walking about or nice background noise while working on a project. New episodes come out Mondays and Thursdays.
2. NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour
This podcast is for all my movie and tv show lovers out there. Hosts Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, Glen Weldon and Aisha Harris from NPR discuss (and usually heavily articulate) their opinions about the latest film or tv show. They breakdown different aspects of the certain film they are talking about and express whether it worked for them or not. These are quick 20-ish minute episodes that are perfect to listen to while doing a quick task. New episodes come out five days a week so there is always something new to tune into.
3. The Office Ladies
Calling all The Office fans! This is your podcast. Jenna Fisher, who played Pam in NBC’s The Office, and Angela Kinsley, who played Angela, are doing a complete re-watch of the show and each episode of the podcast they are breaking down an episode of The Office with fun facts and exclusive stories from people who were actually there. Depending on the episode, they will have special guests come on like people from the cast and crew to have them tell their experience of shooting the specific episode and their time on The Office. This is such a great podcast if you are a true fan of The Office and want to know everything about it. They are breaking down one episode a week with the goal of completing all nine seasons, so this podcast isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. These episodes are about an hour and 20 minutes and are perfect for walks or just a nice break to laugh. New episodes come out every Wednesday.
4. SmartLess
This podcast is fairly new to me because I just started listening and it started just a couple months ago. Immediately knew I was going to love it. It was launched this summer, and is hosted by Jason Bateman (Ozark, Arrested Development), Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) and Will Arnett (Arrested Development, BoJack Horseman) . In each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two and they interview them along the way. So far, they have interviewed people from Maya Rudolph to Neil deGrasse Tyson. Their banter is funny and inviting and makes you feel like you are in on their conversation as well. These episodes are about 40 minutes long..
These are just a few of the many podcasts that I love and hopefully you will too! You can listen on the Apple podcast app or anywhere else that you listen to podcasts.
(Some honorable mentions that I also love: Off Camera Show with Sam Jones, The Michael Scott Podcast Company, Serial Season 3 and Conspiracy Theories.)
Enjoy!