1- This American Life- stories of people and things and places and stuff. Brilliantly put together and hosted by Ira Glass, who has mad interviewing skills. I have probably listened to 60 hours of this program by now. My favorite programs have been Frenemies, Somewhere Out There, Fear of Sleep, Unconditional Love, and the Sedaris Christmas Special.
2- Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Hilarious. Makes me laugh out loud multiple times. Basically a bunch of funny people get together and go over news stories from the week that are ridiculous and/or humorous and then quiz each other on what happened for points that mean absolutely nothing. It is hosted by Peter Segal and Carl Kassle is the announcer. Paula Poundstone in my favorite panelist. They always have celebrity guests on the show. Peter Segal (below) directed Get Smart starring Steve Carell (also below).
3- Radiolab. Wow. This is a science podcast and guess what? I thought I didn't like science. Turns out I really really do. They tell you all about blinking and the placebo effect and silence and laughter and the scientific side of deception and morality. And it isn't like they dumb it all down to explain it to you. They just tell about facts by using peoples' stories. Brilliant. It is hosted by Robert Kurlwich and Jad Abumrad (awesome name). There was one yesterday I heard about a bonobo (type of chimp) named Kanzi that was taught to actually "speak"- he is language-competant. Listen to the episode named "Lucy" for the whole story.
4- The Moth. Real people telling true stories on a stage without any notes. That's all. Fascinating. I like this one because rarely do the stories go more than 20 minutes and they are all really interesting and usually really funny. They once had a doctor on though who told about how he saved this boy's life on the operating table. He had initially said there was no way this boy would ever live but when he went into the waiting room to tell this boy's mother, something about they way she looked at him and begged him to try again caused him to walk back into the operating room... and the boy is now alive.
Below is an excerpt from the latest "Wait Wait" episode. They are in the middle of the panelist quiz.
Peter Segal: Two Florida Sheriff deputies in Florida were slightly injured on duty when they "blank"ed...
Roxanne Roberts: This isn't the one where they were drunk and they arrested the other drunk guy and then asked him not to tell...
Peter Segal: Noooo, not that one. No, these two guys got injured when they crashed their segways. The two deputies were cruising around town at breathtaking speeds up to twelve miles an hour when their segway wheels locked together leading to a horrifying low-speed crash. Viewers watching said, "Wow it's like watching is slow motion." The deputies were not believed to have operated the segways in a reckless manner, the only explanation seems to be that God granted the wish of everyone who has ever seen a cop going by on a segway.
Roxanne Roberts: Were they sober?
Peter Segal: They were totally sober.
Roxanne Roberts: This wasn't SUI?
Peter Segal: No, this wasn't Segwaying Under the Influence, no. They were just going together and all of a sudden they just... fell over.
Charlie Pearce: Oh so it wasn't a head-on? It was a run-in?
Peter Segal: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And one of them got very slowly trampled.
Roxanne Roberts and Charlie Pearce: *laughing*
Peter Segal: Ohh.... ow..... oh... wait.... ow....... ow..... oh......................... ow.
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Also, I could use some more suggestions for other awesome podcasts. Anyone? Anyone?
2 comments:
I love wait, wait don't tell me. I went to a live recording when I was in Chicago and I met Carl Kasell. He did not do the message on my home answering machine but his did let me take a picture with him. I also like listening to the 'stuff mom never told you' podcast. You should check it out.
I luuuurrrrvvve the podcasts. You might try "Speaking of Faith" and "To the Best of Our Knowledge"--also goodies.
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