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podcast suggestions?


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We got my dad an iPod for fathers day, we thought he'd enjoy it for audiobooks, and he does. He's also got a small amount of a music on there, mostly folk-y, Irish traditional, that kind of thing.

 

But what he really loves are podcasts. I set him up with something called Escapepod (short science fiction), which was recommended to me by a friend, Philosophy Bites, which we found just by searching for "philosophy" in the iTunes store, and a couple of comedy things (the Onion News, and a few others that he's just meh-to-OK on, nothing he's wowed by yet).

 

So: he'd like more of these, please! His interests include

 

comedy (he'd love to get Howard Stern on a podcast; any suggestions for anything along those lines would be appreciated);

 

books (he really likes the book shows on CSPAN);

 

history (anything at all);

 

philosophy (he's already pretty happy with Philosophy Bites, but we'd certainly take more suggestions);

 

science fiction/fantasy (tending toward the time travel/fantasy/Twilight Zone-y end of things);

 

and music (I'm just looking now at the Thistle & Shamrock website, and it looks like they've got a podcast, so I'll definitely set him up with that one; he'd love something songcatcher-y, old American folk/traditional, if anyone's got any suggestions for those).

 

He specifically wanted to know where I found Escapepod, since we've found that there's so much crap available by browsing through iTunes, he was astounded that I actually got a good one for him right off the bat. When I told him that one was a recommendation, he asked for more. So, I turn to VC, the collective experts in all things. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

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EDIT: This seems perfect for himcspan Book TV After Hours

Perfect! Thank you. :cheekkiss That whole site looks like a great place to browse, I'll definitely set him up there.

 

 

Not a podcast, but you can get The World Is Flat MP3's for free at this link if you scroll about halfway down: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/free-stuff/847363/ Don't judge me for looking at sites like fatwallet...

Yep, I think he'd go for that one, too. :thumbup

 

 

His problem with NPR (and mine too, to some extent), is that if you're not crazy about the host, you don't enjoy the show as much. So I've tried him on a few of those, but he wants more content, less personality.

 

Thanks very much for all the suggestions, though!

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  • 5 years later...

Philosophy Bites is really good, the only other good philosophy show I've found is the ABC's Philosopher's Zone. The ABC has a lot of other podcasts, so it might be worth scanning through to see if anything else fits the bill, lots of it is obviously very Australian focussed, but lots of general stuff too.

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5+ years after I started this thread.  My dad has since passed away, but he and I both became addicted to podcasts in the years before he died.  Mostly comedy for me.  For several years now, my favorite has been Walking the Room.  I also enjoy The Dork Forest, Never Not Funny, The Bugle, Dana Gould, Doug Loves Movies, Greg Proops' The Smartest Man in the World, and the occasional WTF and Nerdist.   I listen to most of these only sporadically.  Note to podcasters:  an hour plus, twice a week, is too much and too often.  You can have an hour a week, or if you get a really good guest, split that one into two segments of no more than 45 minutes each.  I just don't need 3 hours of content from you every week, there's no way I'm going to be able to keep up. :twitchsmile

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  • 1 year later...

Currently listening to Alice's Wunderland (sic) series 3

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03m3bhg

 

Fans of Mighty Boosh and other warped comedies of the imagination should enjoy.

 

Some other comedies:-

Round the Horne

The Sunday Format

Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

Meet David Sedaris

Old Harry's Game

The Shuttleworths

Bigipedia

Revolting People

All Bar Luke

Milton Jones

Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive

Bleak Expectations

Dave Podmore

Ed Reardon's Week

Gile Wemmbly-Hogg Goes Off

Sarah Millican's Support Group

Trevor's World of Sport

Absolute Power

 

As for other perhaps more generally available podcasts, I like:-

 

Escape Pod  (can be patchy though)

From Our Own Correspondent

Great Lives

History Extra Podcast

In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg

The Infinite Monkey Cage

Last Word

Saturday Live

Scrum V Radio

Selected Shorts

The New Yorker Fiction

Witness

Drama of the Week

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Radiolab is the best podcast. No contest.

 

Other favorites:

 

99% Invisible

Criminal

Death, Sex & Money

Home of the Brave

Lexicon Valley

Lore

The Memory Palace

The Moth

Note to Self

Planet Money

Reply All

Reveal

Snap Judgment

Song Exploder

The Sporkful

This American Life

Whistlestop

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I found Comedy Bang! Bang! to be an extremely funny show & the podcast is even looser. That's where I really recognized Andy Daly who is on Comedy Central's Review which I highly recommend. The Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project is an amazing undertaking because Daly uses one of his personas to host the podcast. I'm a huge fan of Don DiMello & Cactus Tony. Each character is unique and a true testament to improv comedy. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jqrhyk7PBM Scott Aukerman & Patton Oswalt talk to Don DiMello (Andy Daly). I could listen to this every day. It makes me laugh so much. 

 

Scott Aukerman from Comedy Bang! Bang! did a U2 podcast with Adam Scott that was awesome to listen to as a fan. It sounded like how my friends talk about them. 

 

I also like StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson. 

 

WTF is cool.

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