Behind the Bastards
fun + informative history podcast on awful people and events with a comedic bent
The Beef and Dairy Network: The #1 podcast for those involved, or just interested, in the production of beef animals and dairy herds. Bone-dry gonzo comedy about the globe-spanning world of the Bovine Farmers Union.
Misquoting Jesus: Renowned biblical scholar provides historical discussions of topics related to early Christianity, and the texts in and surrounding the New Testament.
Mindscape: Physicist and professor Sean Carrol has in-depth conversations with experts from a variety of academic disciplines.
Oh No! Ross and Carrie: Two skeptics investigate claims of the paranormal–they show up so you don’t have to. Fantastic investigative journalism.
Mission to Zyxx: Improvised comedy sci-fi podcast that’s one part Star Wars, one part Star Trek, one part Red Dwarf, and all parts silliness.
Dungeons and Daddies (not a BDSM podcast)
A D&D podcast about 4 dads from our world that get tossed into the Forgotten Realms on a quest to find their missing kids. It’s fucking hilarious.Old Gods of Appalachia
Many eons ago, Earth was a prison for things that shouldn’t be. Buried under what we now call the Appalachian Mountains, long they waited. But time weathers all things, and what were once gigantic mountains have eroded to mere nubs of what they once were. Then man, in his quest for coal, cracked open that black prison and things started leaking out… Set in “alternate Appalachia” in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A great, dark story.Scared To Death
Think of all those scary stories you’ve ever heard… urban legends, ghost stories, monsters, cryptids, aliens… Of course, most of them are just stories right? But what if one of them was true? And, if one of them was true, what does that mean for the rest of them? Each week, they take two stories found on the internet and two-four listener-submitted stories, tell them, and assuming they’re true, discuss what that would mean. Take care while listening.Dungeons and Daddies seconded!
I bounced right off of Scared to Death; I guess I’m not a fan of their dynamic as hosts? Or maybe I just prefer the narrative style of podcast instead of the ‘two zany hosts’ format, idk.
Here are some other spooky ones, as well! :
Camp Monsters Podcast
Incredible audio-storytelling podcast for fans of getting into nature, sitting around the campfire and telling scary stories. The audio design is topnotch, and the host does a wonderful job. I’m usually not a fan of overly-produced sounding podcasts, but this one strikes a really good balance of audio-drama type soundscapes and one host telling you a story. The Dark Watcher episode really got me good and spooked while listening to it in bed.
Ghost Story
This is for fans of true crime and ghosts. Some crazy real-life coincidences occur to bring together a man with a ghost in his teenage bedroom and the woman he marries. Turns out, her murdered great grandmother may be the ghost he was visited by. He then uses his skillset as an investigative journalist to look into her and her brother’s murder from the post WWI era. While predominantly a true crime podcast, the descriptions of the haunting were quite vivid and scared me while I was home alone at night.
Unexplained Mysteries on Spotify. Great if you can get past the irritating narration bouncing between two presenters like a rubber ball.
The episodes about Black Holes is jaw dropping with regards to their power and size.
Very Presidential on Spotify.
This is a revealing insight in to past US presidents and shows the murkiness and greed of politicians embarking on power and making the most of it whilst they can.
They tell of Lyndon B Johnson who enjoyed showing off his prodigous cock in front of people. JFK who was drugged up most of the time whilst playing Russia at Nukes. Gerald Ford seemed to be the only normal genuine president.
Imposters on Spotify is another gripping show following people who lived off huge whopping lies and upset people along the way.
The episodes about Wayne Simmons who passed himself off as a deep cover spy for the CIA and managed to lie his way to be a regular Fox News “expert” and Whitehouse access. Amazing example of how far you can get with balls of steel and being an arrogant loud mouth.
Heavyweight on Spotify.
I’ve been listening to this series for a few years. People have a regret, encounter, or problem from the past that they wish to follow up but need help. Jonathan Goldstein is a go between in helping these people bury the past or make amends. One particular story is Gregor who lends a CD to a pre-famous Moby. The CD contains the songs that Moby sampled and made him huge but never returned the CD to Gregor. Heavyweight helps Gregor get the CD.
Unfortunately some muppet at Spotify has decided to stop this excellent series so check it out before it goes.
Almost Plausible is a podcast where three friends make up stories, usually in the form of a movie plot, where something unexpected takes a central or critical role in the story. For example, how would you make a movie about a pillow? Or a ceiling fan? Or a toilet brush? That’s exactly what we try to figure out on the show!
Each episode starts with a brief pitch session, where we take turns sharing the ideas we’ve come up with for each episode’s topic. After we’ve heard all the pitches, we pick one, develop it, and hopefully come up with a story that’s at least almost plausible.
Disclaimer: This is my own podcast.
I tend to like history podcasts by academics, so here are three:
History of Egypt Podcast
Emperors of Rome
AskHistorians podcast, but I admit I pick and choose episodes with that one. I do wish they’d come over to the Fediverse, but I kind of get it, as their stated goals are broad outreach and getting warm&fuzzies for their mostly younger academics.Another good one is History of English
Do you mean Kevin Stroud’s linguistic history one? If so, I do listen to it and like it a lot. I didn’t include it because his degrees are in poli-sci and law, but he at least follows my main shibboleth for a thoughtful podcast by not shying away from “it depends” as an answer.
What I don’t like as much are the “well I need to make sure I tell a good story” types who read one secondary source, misinterpret one primary source, and then spend the rest of their time making sure they are awesome and dramatic. I don’t have time or motivation to keep up with the literature on Egyptology, but I’d prefer to get my survey of the subject from someone who does.
Smart Enough to Know Better - Australian podcast where two guys discuss things that interest then in a humorous way. Could be the latest astrophysics news, could be the location of stomachs and diet of a centaur.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Fictional is great, when he actually does updates. He tells sort of cliff notes versions of classic literature, with an accessible modern tone and language. Lot of Sherlock Holmes and Shakespeare in longer multi-part episodes, but also just some good short stories like ones from Poe and Philip K Dick.
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.
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.
We only LOOK Thin For anyone that needs inspiration to start eating better as part of a path to a more healthy lifestyle. They’ve helped keep me on track after having lost 80 lbs. https://www.weonlylookthin.com/
Quick Question with Daniel and Soren Two ex-Cracked.com writers shoot the breeze on random questions. https://www.youtube.com/@QQPodcast (There’s an audio version out there too)
How Did This Get Made Three mostly comedic actors rip apart famously bad movies. Funnier than it has any right to be. Paul also has another podcast called Unspooled where they break down critically acclaimed movies as well. Both are great listens. https://hdtgm.com/index/#podcast
Highly recommend the Space Jam episode.
