My Favorite Podcasts

This post is not the kind of content I usually post, but I love podcasts and I wanted to share some of my favorites with you. I work in a typical office setting and being able to listen to podcasts really makes the day go by quicker. There are so many good ones out there and I'm always discovering new ones, but here are the ones I always turn to first!

This is a pretty varied list, so hopefully you'll see something here that strikes your fancy that you'd like to give a listen to. I've marked asterisks* near the ones that contain mature/explicit content.

• My Brother, My Brother, and Me* - This is my all-time favorite podcast ever, hands-down! It's a comedy advice show hosted by three brothers: Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy. They take listener questions and also questions from Yahoo! Answers and give "advice," in quotations because goofs are the priority, as opposed to real advice. While they're far from offensive, in my opinion, they do swear and deal with content that's probably not good for young ears.
• Ivy Envy - If you're a Cubs fan you have to subscribe to Ivy Envy! It's hosted by Corey, Kurt, and Andy and they provide "strong opinions and marginal fan analysis of the Chicago Cubs." I think they're pretty funny and I especially like their "internet muscle flexes" segment where they find ridiculous comments people leave on Cubs social media accounts.
• The NoSleep Podcast* - I started listening to this recently and it's perfect for the office. It's comprised of horror/creepy stories from Reddit's "no sleep" subreddit. The editing is great and all of the narrators do a great job of bringing the stories to life. If you like creepy tales I highly suggest giving this a listen! Warning, though, some of the content is mature.
• Sword and Scale* - This is one of my favorite true crime podcasts. It features stories including unsolved murders, high-profile trials, and missing persons cases. The content can be graphic at times and is definitely only for mature audiences.
• Outside Podcast - This is a newer podcast from Outside magazine, of which I'm a huge fan. The first few episodes were about different survival situations, but they've since changed the format to interviews with different people who live active lifestyles, from hiking in dangerous places to tracking down warlords. It's fascinating!
• Someone Knows Something - There is only one season of this podcast (so far), but it was really interesting. Fans of Serial will probably like this because it follows the same format. Host David Ridgen investigates the disappearance of a five year old boy from 1972. I really liked the editing and the pacing of the story.
• Interrobang with Travis and Tybee* - This is hosted by Travis McElroy from MBMBAM and his best friend, Tybee Diskin. They talk for about an hour about things that are frustrating them, and every fifth episode they do a "group bang" where listeners can submit topics. They discuss everything from daily annoyances to deeper issues like race relations and I really appreciate how raw and honest they are. I only put an asterisk here because they do deal with tough issues, but they always put a warning at the beginning of the episodes that tell what types of triggers they'll be discussing.
• Lore - Lore is so good! It's hosted by Aaron Mahnke and explores "the dark and historical tales that fuel our modern superstitions." Aaron does an amazing job of writing and editing each episode. He tells tales that you wouldn't normally consider to be haunting or spooky, but they often are and I just absolutely love listening to them.
• Criminal - Criminal is another true-crime podcast that I really enjoy. Host Phoebe Judge presents complex stories that aren't your typical headline-grabbing murders or "if it bleeds, it leads" stories. The content is really unique and is a great listen.
• The Read* - The Read is one of the first podcasts I started listening to. It's hosted by Kid Fury and Crissle and they give weekly "reads" of hip-hop and pop culture. If you're not familiar with what a read is, in its purest form it's telling someone how you feel about them in a brutally honest way. Each episode Kid Fury and Crissle discuss pop culture news, take listener questions, then give their reads (in that order). They deal with issues facing black Americans, and as an Asian woman I really appreciate hearing their points of view regarding things like the Black Lives Matter movement. They do swear quite often, which is why I gave this an explicit asterisk.
• Stuff You Should Know - SYSK is so amazing to me. They have over 400 episodes (I'm pretty sure...I'm just guessing but I'm 99% that's an accurate statement) and come out with new ones still every Tuesday and Thursday! Josh and Chuck from HowStuffWorks.com talk about everything under the sun. Everything. They're funny and informative and I always enjoy listening, even if the topic isn't something I would usually think would be interesting.

So, hopefully you found something new here to try out! Please feel free to comment and tell me your favorite podcasts, I'd love to give them a listen!