Image via I Was There Too podcast

I’m always looking for things to listen to while I work, so I thought I’d share a few podcasts that I’ve been enjoying lately. Hopefully there will be a couple you haven’t heard before!

I’ve been an avid listener of shows like Radiolab (is the show less interesting now or is it just me?) and This American Life (my favourite story is from “Tough Room” the peek at joke-writing for The Onion, and my favourite episode was definitely “Retraction” where Ira grills Mike Daisey for lying about his trip to the Apple factory).

I also have to mention that Mark Maron’s WTF episode with Louis C.K. is easily my favourite episode of any podcast. If you haven’t heard it, it’s on youtube, the two talk very openly and honestly about why they aren’t close friends anymore. It is amazing.

Okay, have a listen to these 6 completely unrelated podcasts below covering everything from art, design, voyeurism, skateboarding, Pulp Fiction, and Facebook drama. If you have recommendations for others to check out please leave a comment – I’d love to listen to them.

1. I Was There Too, episode #22 “Pulp Fiction with Phil Lamarr”

Host Matt Gourley interviews people who were in famous scenes in film and television shows to give a fly-on-the-wall perspective for the rest of us who weren’t there. This one features actor Phil Lamarr whose character Marvin was unceremoniously shot by John Travolta’s character in Pulp Fiction. Love this podcast.

 

 

2. Reply All, episode #29 The Take Over

Reply All is my favourite podcast at the moment. It’s hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman who, in their words, feature stories about how people shape the internet, and how the internet shapes people.

If you love petty drama, especially of the internet variety, then you’ll get a kick out of this. In this episode of Reply All an Australian teenager creates a Facebook page poking fun at corporate culture, only to have his joke group co-opted by real-life, adults with boring jobs and terrible dad jokes.

 

 

3. 99% Invisible, episode #71 “In and Out of Love”

This episode of Roman Mars’ terrific show about design covers the history of what was once the Mecca of skateboarding, Philadelphia’s Love Park.

 

 

4. Death, Sex & Money, episode “Cancer Changed Ken Jeong’s Comedy”

I only recently started listening to this show but I’m really starting to get into it, host Anna Sale is a great interviewer. In this episode Ken Jeong talks about filming The Hangover while his wife was battling cancer.

 

 

5. Vantage Point, episode #33 Andrea Wan

Vantage Point is a small Berlin-based art-focused show, hosted by my friend James Bullough (a talented artist in his own right) and Tom Phillipson. This episode features illustrator Andrea Wan, who used to live in Vancouver but has since moved to Berlin. I also enjoyed Bullough’s episode with Gaia mainly because I literally did not understand anything Gaia said during the entire show.

 

 

6. Love + Radio, episode “The Living Room”

This episode of Nick van der Kolk’s show was particularly divisive. Some listeners were extremely moved by the story while others felt it was creepy and crossed a line. Radiolab got a lot of flack from listeners when they featured this podcast on their show back in April. Regardless of your opinion on that, or the authenticity of the narrative itself, “The Living Room” offers a compelling story on the thought-provoking/controversial subject matter of “friendly voyeurism.”