While none of these shows are fiction shows, some of them do have a chronological order and need to be listened to from the first episode. However, most of them can just be jumped into wherever. 

Our Take on Funny Podcasts You Should Subscribe to

The Gargle

From the team that brought you the decade old audio newspaper for a visual world The Bugle, comes its glossy audio magazine counterpart, The Gargle. Every week Alice Fraser, the comedian behind The Last Post, frequent guest on The Bugle and several ground shaking standup specials, sits down with two comedians and talks about some of the weirder news stories out there. Each episode is only around a half hour long, making it a delightful treat of funny people talking about irrelevant news stories. 

Read More: The 10 Funniest Comedy Podcasts (You Might Not Be Listening To Yet)

BillBuds

Johnny O’Mara and John Patrick Coan are shameless pop music fans. On Billbuds, they go through pop albums song by song and pick out their favorite and least favorite tunes. At the end of each episode they determine if the album earns a spot on their personal billboard top 100.  I recommend listening to the album right before listening to the episode (or, if you want to be even more extra, each song before they talk about it) , so you can follow along with the hosts as they break down the vibes and fun facts of each song. Check out this podcast if you want to get caught up on the classics or see the best of what’s new. 

If I Were You

CollageHumor alumni and Headgum founders Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld have been hosting one of the best funny podcasts out there for the last nine years, and are still going strong. The flagship podcast of the Headgum podcast network features Jake and Amir giving advice to their listeners, often dating advice but sometimes some life stuff. As opposed to some other popular comedy advice podcasts, the advice they give is mostly genuine, but they do completely lampoon the situation the question askers find themselves in. If you were a fan of this comedy duo back in their sketch days and haven’t caught up with them recently, I implore you to check this show out. 

The Video Game Robot Show

Following the understandable and necessary end of Cool Games, Inc, there was a small vacuum for shows where people improvised making a thing. Other shows came in to fill that void. Some, such as Spiritual Successor,  followed CGI by making video games based on audience suggestions.

Others made different kinds of media, such as The Podcast Mines for podcasts. The Video Game Robot Show puts a unique spin on what I’ll call the “improvised product workshop” podcast.

Every week, hosts Nate Brandt and Kam Konek bring on a guest and generate suggestions from the Video Game Robot, an algorithm that takes a bunch of suggested attributes from the audience and generates game suggestions for them to work with. Currently the Video Game Robot can generate about 100 million games and counting, meaning this show can reliably be jumped into at any time!

Add to Cart

There’s something about the structure of shopping that feels satisfying, and this structure translates well to Add to Cart.  Every Tuesday, comedian-writer-director Kulap Vilaysack and veteran journalist SuChin Pak sit down to talk about the things they want to “add or remove ” from their cart.

These things can vary from products to ideas to emotions to experiences to just about anything they feel like. It’s fulfilling to listen to the host talk about how these things are important to them and why they want to keep or remove them from their lives. Funny podcasts with a different angle like this are what the medium is built for.

Aack Cast

Jamie Loftus keeps making hits with her limited run podcasts, from her high stress deep dive into the Mensa society in My Year In Mensa to her analysis of society’s perversion of a classic novel in Lolita Podcast.

Her most recent series, Aack Cast, dives into the cultural significance of the Cathy comic strip, as well as rexaming the situation of the working white women of the boomer generation. The reason this show is on a comedy list is that Loftus isn’t afraid to get as funny, blunt and weird as she can while diving deeping into any topic. It’s a deep and enjoyable listen, especially as a complete series. 

Also Read: I Want You to Listen to Lolita Podcast

Las Culturistas 

Love it or hate it, you can’t avoid culture,  so you might as well celebrate the good and the bad. Las Culturistas is a culture podcast hosted by Saturday Night Live cast member Bowen Yang and comedian Matt Rogers.

Most episodes have them bring on a guest to talk about moments in culture that really spoke to them, be it from the last week or at some point in their lives.

The hosts are hilarious and have such a fun dynamic. You can jump into whatever episode you want to hear them talk about the culture that makes them go “I Don’t Think So, Honey!”

Conan O’Brian Needs A Friend

The flagship podcast of TeamCoco’s podcast network, Conan O’Brian Needs A Friend features the titular Conan O’Brian sitting down with a celebrity or person of note and talking to them about their careers or whatever else they want to talk about.

Conan cracking up is what Funny Podcasts are meant to be…

Conan has done interviews for years and this show proves that those conversational skills go well beyond the limited interviews he’s done on screen. Now that he’s stepped away from television entirely, we need funny podcasts like this more than ever.

This podcast is fun, playful and, when you least expect it, informative. Conan gets a lot of praise for making funny podcasts “relevant,” and while that claim can be disputed, he still puts on a pretty good show. 

Threedom

Comedy Bang Bang host Scott Aukerman has a great dynamic with all of his guests, but you always know you’re in for a treat when an episode features Paul F. Tompkins and/or Lauren Lapkus. On Threedom, these three come together as themselves, not as characters, to chat about things, goof around, and try to make each other laugh.

It’s a delight to listen to three people who have worked together for years sit down for an hour and have fun. Funny podcasts that are authentic, as this one is, draw an audience in and keep them thirsting for more. Any fans of Comedy Bang Bang or any of these three should check this show out.  

You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

Pete Holmes is known for his warm, insightful and goofy comedy, like your weird but charming uncle or a youth minister without the religion. On his long running chat podcast You Made It Weird, Holmes goes into long, in-depth interviews with a variety of guests, talking about weird things he knows about them and just general loose things they want to talk about. Holmes has a relaxed and bubbly energy that makes each episode of the show a fun listen. 

Dead Eyes

Twenty years ago, actor/comedian Connor Ratliff was fired from the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Tom Hanks for having “dead eyes”. A few weeks ago, Ratliff was trending on Twitter for sitting down with Hanks on Ratliff’s podcast to talk about what happened.

Dead Eyes chronicles Ratliff’s journey to explore this strange event and the experience of rejection in show business. Even though the show is about missed opportunities, it’s positive and comedic.

Despite what some headlines would like you to believe, Ratliff holds no ill will toward Hanks about the event. At the very least, it’s worth checking out this podcast to watch a man come closer and closer until finally getting a chance to sit down with Hanks himself. 

Anime Sickos

Anime Sickos is a podcast when hosts Tom Harrison and Joe Anderson only occasionally about anime. The show promotes itself about being about the four pillars of modern misery: anime, gaming, posting and jobs. Beyond all of this, it is a show that doesn’t shy away from how bad the world is, proudly proclaiming that things “suck.” Sometimes all it takes is a little contrarian viewpoint to drive home the premise of funny podcasts. This is one of those instances.

A lot of people, myself included, listen to funny podcasts as a bit of an escape from current events. Anime Sickos feels like a pressure valve being released letting out stress. 

Read more: 8 Great Podcasts for Anime Fans

Entry Level with Brooks Wheelan

Do you remember your first job? Mine was as a bagger at a grocery store walking distance from my high school. It was the first of many weird odd jobs. Entry Level is a show about the worst, weirdest jobs people have had to work.

Former Saturday Night Live cast member Brooks Wheelan often brings on celebrities, so these jobs are viewed as the worst stepping stones people have had to step on in order to get to where they are now. If you like hearing work horror stories, you’ll get a kick out of this show. 

The Friend Zone

The Friend Zone is a show about keeping your mind healthy, wherever that looks like for you. Hosts Dustin Ross, HeyFranHey & Assante talk about all things mental health, being blunt about their own histories with the topics they discuss.

While the content can get heavy, the hosts tackle the topics from a comedic standpoint. The show is well worth the listen for anyone who doesn’t want to feel alone with how they feel. When funny podcasts take on heavy issues, it can be difficult to navigate, but our three hosts do a killer job making sure these subjects are covered with humor and grace.

Asian Not Asian

Asian Not Asian is a podcast where Asian American comedians Fumi Abe and Mic Nguyen talk about American issues and culture from their perspective.

The show is hilarious and often deep as the duo tackles their experience of what people expect from them and how they and others have dealt with it. Asian Not Asian is another example of funny podcasts dealing with heavy issues in a light, approachable manner.

If you’re looking for a new podcast to tackle things a lot of other shows aren’t talking about, you should check out this show!

Bonus Funny Podcasts

Here are some bonus funny podcasts that we enjoy and are likely to crack you up. Sure what is funny is subjective, but c’mon, live a little.

(Editor’s Note: These bonus funny podcasts are from me, and not necessarily endorsed by Eddie.)

Smartless

Yeah, it’s another roundtable podcast with famous people who likely don’t need the money, the additional fame, or the notoriety. But, damned if these three haven’t created one of the best funny podcasts on the market.

I’m a fan of pretty much everything Will Arnett does, and I’m a big fan of Sean Hayes work, as well as Jason Bateman. So discovering these three are legitimate friends, and created this excellent podcast, well, it found its way into my regular rotation.

Now that they’ve settled into the interview format, I’m digging the cross pollination in the entertainment industry, and I think that’s mirrored in the podcast world generally.

Smodcast

Speaking of funny podcasts that start with “sm” and are deeply rooted in Hollywood, you’ve got Smodcast with Kevin Smith and his long time partner in whatever it is they do (make movies I guess), Scott Mosier.

Now, I hate to go on with another Hollywood podcast, but there’s a reason these guys are professionals. They’re excellent, hilarious storytellers. And, at the end of the day, that’s what you want in your funny podcasts… great, well done stories.

These stories are about their work and how the sausage gets made. So sometimes it’s a little wonky, but hearing how some of these comedy classics get done is fantastic. Seriously, the movie business is insane.

Parenting is a Joke

If you don’t approach parenting with some sense of irreverent lightheartedness, you’re going to end up going insane. We’ve talked about some of the best parenting podcasts to get you through that first year, but Ophira Eisenberg’s philosophy on parenting has to be one of the best approaches I’ve ever heard.

Each week, she sits down (or hides under a weighted blanket) with a different stand up comic to talk comedy and kids. And it makes for one of the best funny podcasts any parent will relate to. I absolutely love her and what she’s doing to make us maintain a semblance of sanity.

Funny Podcasts Are Keeping Us Sane

If you can’t laugh, you’re going to end up crying. We live in heady times and getting too wrapped up in all of the bad news just isn’t healthy. Now, comedy is subjective, and maybe we missed some of your favorite funny podcasts.

We can always use more. Let us know on twitter (yeah, I know), or sign up for our newsletter in the box to the left. As always, have a laugh, and don’t take anything too seriously.

The post Funny Podcasts – The 15 Best Nonfiction Contenders You Need to Listen to Now appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

Every podcast can be funny in there own way, with inside jokes and just upbeat conversation. Any enjoyable conversation or story includes some light notes of humor. However, these are shows that go out of their way to define themselves as comedy podcasts.

From comedians giving their takes on the news to scripted hijinks to improv comedy to just two pals talking about stuff, there are plenty of different comedy podcasts out there for you to try out. Here are just a selection of a few ones that I recommend!

As a note, this list has several audio dramas (or fiction podcasts). Make sure you start these all from the beginning! Each podcast that isn’t an audio drama has a recommended first episode or two linked in its blurb.

Note: This is a rotating list, which will be refreshed every few months with a slate of brand new comedy podcasts. Entries from previous lists are still kept down below–they’re still great listens for you to check out!

The 10 Best Comedy Podcasts

The Bugle

The Bugle is an international satire weekly news show covering current events both big and small. The show has been hosted by Andy Zaltzman for over a decade, and was originally co-hosted by little known comedian John Oliver before he got too busy being in The Smurfs or something. Ever since 2016, Zaltzman has brought on a number of rotating co-hosts from all around the world, such as Hari Kondabolu, Alice Fraser, Nish Kumar, Helen Zaltzman and more.

All of the hosts have a great energy together, regardless of the combination. From the elaborately clever “pun runs” to the scalding hot takes, The Bugle is one of the best ways to keep up with current events in spite of how bad they might be. 

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

Life With Leo(h)

Life With Leo(h) is a romantic comedy about a career-driven lawyer being gifted an illegally intelligent android who is programmed to love her.  The show is hilarious and about love the same way all these sort of rom coms are, but also explores issues of free will and consent when it comes to someone literally made to love you.

One of my favorite things about this show is how it goes out of its way not just to show how the main couple’s relationship develops, but also how the two develop fun relationships with the other supporting characters. For example, one of Jeanine’s coworkers serves as a point to a potential love triangle with LEO(h), but he and LEO(h) actually have a pretty fun dynamic.

Treat yourself to the first season of this rom-com-sit-com audio drama and keep an eye on your feed for when more comes out!

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts

Read more: Life with LEO(h): Atypical’s New Fiction Podcast About Living With a Sexy Robot

Hey Riddle Riddle

Hey Riddle Riddle is one of those comedy podcasts with a premise everyone can get behind. It’s about riddles and puzzles hosted by people who, after three years of doing this show, still hate riddles. Fire.

Every week, Chicago improvisers Adal Rifai, Erin Keif and John Patrick Coan suffer through as many riddles and word puzzles they can do per episode without getting distracted.

As they tackle these riddles, at the drop of a hat they’ll call from improv scenes sometimes based on the riddle or whatever they’re talking about, or sometimes out of nowhere. The Clue Crew is great at keeping things fun and snappy even when a riddle feels like it’s dragging them along. Hey Riddle Riddle is one of the best improv comedy podcasts out there and also, I have to assume, one of the best riddle podcasts as well. 

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

The Vanishing Act

The Vanishing Act is a genre-blending globe-trotting adventure following Augie Eckhart, a 1930’s German theater artist looking to recreate a stage act that caused the disappearance of an entire audience. As Augie puts off actually solving this mystery, his egotistic and prickly personality clashes with a colorful cast of characters, including a conman with a fluid backstory, an unfortunately-named mechanical engineer, a man so perfect he wraps back around to being the worst and a narrator who is just so done with Augie’s bullshit.

There’s also a duck.

A nice thing about this show is that it’s done, making it a nice enjoyable package of hilarity and hijinks. If you’re looking for a period piece bleak absurdist comedy mystery drama set during the rise of fascism in the 1930’s that touches on so many different genres that some of them could be considered spoilers, then this is the show for your very specific tastes. As comedy podcasts go, it may be an acquired taste, but it’s one worth sampling.

Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts

Fake The Nation

Fake The Nation is the comedy news show for people who get worn down keeping up with current events. Every week, Negin Farsad brings on a rotating roster of comedians and public figures to talk about news, culture, and other big current events.

The show doesn’t shy away from the harshness of the modern world, but takes strides to keep things light with charming and breezy conversation. It’s the kind of show where you find yourself smiling while listening to it, and then later realize you learned something from it. 

Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

Dungeons And Daddies

Dungeons and Daddies is an actual play Dungeons and Dragons podcast following the adventures of four dads from our world flung into The Forgotten Realms on a quest to rescue their sons. The show features Matt Arnold as stay at home sports dad Darryl Wilson, Will Campos as crunchy opinionated hippy dad Henry Oak, Beth May as the platonic ideal of a weirdo step-dad Ron Stampler, and Freddie Wong as rock and roll cover band dad Glenn Close, with Anthony Burch as the dungeon master.

Come for the dad jokes and raunchy comedy, stay for the comedic ways the shows bends and breaks the mechanics of D&D and, eventually, actual play shows as a whole. That’s incredibly lofty praise for a show that has a long running gag about a dad being stinky. It makes for one of the best comedy podcasts, and maybe parenting podcasts as well… in its own way.

Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

I’m Sorry

The thing about public apologies is that, most of the time, they aren’t so much an apology as they are covering for their public relations. They are also often the least they can do. In I’m Sorry, comedians Hoja Lopez, Mohanad Elshieky, and Kiki Monique tackle the most recent public apology and the series of events that lead to it.

We’ve all seen random apologetic posts or videos in the wild, out of context. The I’m Sorry crew will take your hand and guide you down the rabbit hole that brought us to these apologies. If you enjoy deep dives into the latest drama dominating the headlines, check out their back catalog. All you need to know about any of these stories is that somebody somewhere is sorry. 

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Website | RSS  

Why Won’t You Date Me

Nicole Byer has, as of when I’m writing this article, at least three different comedy podcasts and for good reason. Byer is incredibly upbeat and peppy while also being refreshingly blunt and self aware without being mean. Why Won’t You Date Me explores Byer’s ongoing dating struggles, as well as any issues her guests have been running into when it comes to romance.

I started listening to the show after enjoying Byer’s most recent standup special Big Beautiful Weirdo, which is a good showing of her overall vibe. Byer and her guests get into the relatable weirdness of the modern dating world, while sometimes touching upon the additional weirdness of doing so while famous. Check out this show if you’re looking for comedy podcasts that feels like having drinks with your friends after they went on a weird date.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS 

The Read

Sometimes you just really need someone to cut into the wired and wild drama of pop culture, and that’s where The Read steps in. Every week on The Read, hosts Kid Fury and Crissle discuss the latest news following pop culture’s most trying personalities.

From Hollywood to hip hop to the occasional sports drama updates, the hosts bounce off of each other sorting out what’s happening and why it matters. I’m not really one for keeping up with celebrity drama, but The Read’s humorous approach to catty stories keeps things fun and engaging.

Add them to your collection of celebrity podcasts and comedy podcasts, or pick them out as a fun glance into a side of stardom you might not otherwise keep track of. 

Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Website 

Anime Sickos

Despite the title, Anime Sickos isn’t really about anime. Each episode, hosts Tom Harrison and Joe Anderson break down “the four pillars of modern misery: anime, gaming, posting and jobs.” The show is whatever The Sickos feel passionate about talking about each episode.

This can range from Joe interrogating Tom about why he watches Food Wars, the horrors of different work stories (including an episode where guest Tom McHenry talks about a coworker who only spoke in babytalk), reflecting on great moments in posting history or talk about their Crime Gameboys.

They even once did a fully produced audio drama play The Tragedy of Modesty City, an incredibly made parody of the classic fiction podcast Pleasuretown. When I started listening to the show, after hearing a few recent episodes, I jumped to the first episode of the podcast and listened to the entire back catalog, which I believe is a huge compliment to one of the many comedy podcasts that’s ultimately just two dudes chatting. If you’re looking for somewhere to start, check out this recommendation page.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

Bonus Comedy Podcasts

These comedy podcasts are from lists past. They’re still some of the greats of comedy podcasts, and we still recommend giving them a listen!

Scam Goddess

Everyone loves a good crime story, either because the criminal gets away with it in a cool, swift, smart way or they parade through a cavalcade of screw ups. In Scam Goddess, host and self-declared “scam goddess” Laci Mosley takes her guest and the listeners on a tour of some of history’s greatest hoodwinks and the charlatans who performed them. Mosley will have you rolling on the floor in laughter as she cheers on hucksters who really stick it to the man and laughs at the demise of folks who were just real monsters. Hop into the most recent episode, or find one with a guest you know or a story you’ve heard about!

Rude Tales of Magic

Polaris University has vanished without a trace. The only survivors will stop at nothing to find their school. And by “stop at nothing,” I mean, “get distracted by the wonderful and weird obstacles thrown in front of them.” Rude Tales of Magic is an actual play podcast starring a group of artists, writers and comedians using the game Dungeons and Dragons as a framework to spin a hilarious and magical yarn.

If actual play podcasts scare you due to the rules of D&D, you’ll still enjoy Rude Tales. The show is more improv and comedy focused than mechanics focused, pushing through the number crunching to get to the fun stuff. Fans of actual play shows such as The Adventure Zone or Dimension 20, or fans of fantasy improv shows like Hello From The Magic Tavern will get a kick out of this nasty time!

Read more: The 69 Nicest Actual Play Podcast Highlights of 2020

Bad Romance Podcast

It might be a bit weird to have comedy podcasts about comedy movies on this now meta list of comedy podcasts, but Bad Romance Podcast earns it’s spot. Every week, hosts Jourdain Searles and Bronwyn Ariel Isaac select a romantic movie, often a romcom, and talk through it. They joke about the weird jumps that these movies take in fictional romance compared to how real actual humans deal with romance.

There is a lot of genuine, well thought out film critique in this show, and you’ll find yourself laughing along with the hosts. If you like shows like How Did This Get Made or other comedy rewatch podcasts,  check this show out! Search their feed for some of your favorite (or least favorite) movies to get started!

Dead Eyes

Comedian and actor Connor Radcliff was cast in a minor role in the 2001 HBO series Band of Brothers, only to be fired by director Tom Hanks for having “dead eyes.” Years later, Radcliff embarks on a journey to find out why. Dead Eyes is mostly about Ratliff trying to solve the mystery of this experience through intense investigation (re: finding as many people as he can who are tangentially connected to this minor event and scratching their memories to see if they have anything).

It’s also a show about rejection and show business, and how the littlest interactions, even the ones you weren’t really hurt by, can have some lasting meaningful impact.  The show has a true crime documentary-like format investigating something that isn’t a crime but is a solvable mystery, a nice change in how comedy podcasts typically follow a conversational format.

If you liked shows like The McElroy Brothers Will Be In Trolls World Tour, jump right into the first episode!

Review Revue

“Reading things people wrote on the internet and making fun of them” is probably one of the most used premises for comedy podcasts out there. These podcasts live and die by the chemistry of the hosts, and that is where Review Revue shines. Each week, hosts Reilly Anspaugh and Geoffrey James choose a topic of interest and cherry pick a few reviews.

They riff on the review and launch into improv scenes based on them. Internet reviews are a great jumping off point for improv scenes, especially for the strange topics chosen for this show, because the reasons they write reviews are often wild.

If you want a good place to jump into the show, check out their two “Best of 2020” episodes, where they clip together some fan-favorite reviews and scenes from 2020. 

Urgent Care

The important difference between an actual advice show and an advice comedy podcast is that the advice comedy podcasts give isn’t always trying to help you, but rather riff about your question and may deal out some wisdom if they know how to help. On Urgent Care, hosts Joel Kim Booster and Mitra Jouhari take in listener submitted issues, often about dating but sometimes a sprinkling of other life issues, and do what they can to help out.

The chemistry between the hosts is chaotically electric with jokes that just pull you out of whatever funk you might be in. You should be able to jump into the most recent episode of this weekly podcast!

Let’s Make A Music

Ever want to have a fun time listening to people make good music? Well, now you can! Join Brian David Gilbert, known for Polygon’s Unraveled series and some steller Youtube content, Karen Han, a Slate writer who’s had work appear all over the place, and Laura Kathryn Gilbert, star of this video explaining her relationship to Brian, as they create songs based off of audience suggestions. 

They present the audience with a word, like “gravity” or “spiritual” and collect suggested song title ideas, exploring the vibe and feeling of the titles, to come together to make a song that feels like that word. The show hits a weird yet specifically relatable kind of comedy that other song creation podcasts might not have. You should be able to jump into any episode!

Read more: 10 Offbeat Podcasts for Music Lovers

The Amelia Project

Have circumstances lead you to a place where the most viable option for you would be to fake your own death and disappear, but you have no idea how to do it? Well, worry not! The Amelia Project will orchestrate your death and get you settled into a new life of your choosing!

The Amelia Project follows the titular secret organization as they meet unique and quirky clients who are all looking to fake their deaths. The show is grounded in it’s own logic, but is also able to get phenomenally off the rails. Even as the plot and world of the show expand to a globe-trotting adventure, the formula of “interview, faking death, payment” remains consistent.

This award winning comedy will keep you engrossed for hours, and just thinking about it will make you want to drive a knife into your closest friend for a nice cup of hot cocoa.

(Editor’s note: Please be advised that the first episode of The Amelia Project includes transphobia.)

Margaritas and Donuts

Romantic comedies are a somewhat underrepresented category of audio dramas, let alone good ones. It’s also rare for there to be black-lead romcoms about people dating in their 40’s. Margarita and Donuts is a limited run series that covers this underfed subcategory of a popular genre.

You’ll be rooting for Josephine and Malik as they overcome personal obstacles to make their relationship work. This is one of the more grounded options on this list, since it’s a healthy balance of romance and comedy, but that just means that you can find yourself relating to the situations the characters find themselves in.

If you like romcoms and also want to listen to something that isn’t a huge commitment, check out one of the best romcoms to come out in the last few years!

Latinos Out Loud

Latinos Out Loud feels like a good old fashioned radio variety show. Every week, hosts Rachel La Loca, Juan Bago, JFernz and Frank Nibbs chat about the latest news, perform improv, do pranks, interviews, and character segments. The established chemistry and history between the hosts helps each part of the show shine. It’s fun, high energy, and proudly Latino.

They’ve been doing the show for years, so there is a healthy backlog if you want to get really into it. You can also jump into the most recent episode of this show, although, as a musical theater nerd, I’d recommend their recent dive into the In The Heights movie. 

The McElroys Will Be In “Trolls World Tour”

The McElroy brothers have become increasingly famous over the years between their terrible advice podcast, My Brother, My Brother and Me. which was made into a show for Seeso/VRV; their massively popular actual play podcast, The Adventure Zone, which is being adapted as graphic novels; or their successes over on YouTube.

But did you know that they will be in Trolls World Tour, or, as they originally called it, Trolls 2? Neither did the creators of Trolls 2.

This documentary follows the process of the brothers deciding that they want to be in the cinematic sequel to children’s movie Trolls, and then trying everything under the son to actually be cast. It’s a practice in absolute absurdity, especially for their poor, poor manager. This is one of those comedy podcasts that requires listening in order for full dramatic effect.

Alba Salix, Royal Physician

Alba Salix, Royal Physician is a comedy audio drama about the eponymous royal physician and her plight to look after her patients: the rulers of a magical realm. Alba Salix is the perfect mix of comedy and plotting: it feels more comedy-forward than most current sitcoms without losing plot or character.

It’s filled with rapidfire jokes and hijinks, mixing up Alba’s frustration and resignation (think Amy Sedaris as Bojack Horseman‘s Princess Carolyn) with the absolute ineptitude of her apprentice, Magnus, or most of her patients. Mix in high-fantasy political intrigue, inter-personal drama, and a good dose of fantasy, and you’ve got a serialized podcast that you’ll only stop binging because you’re laughing so hard you have to pause.

For those who are interesting in Dungeons and Dragons podcasts like the aforementioned The Adventure Zone, be sure to check out this team’s The End of Time and Other Bothers, an actual play set in the same universe, too. Both of these projects are hilariously written and supported by incredible performances and sound design.

Spirits

Spirits is “a boozy podcast about mythology, legends, and lore.” In each episode, hosts Julia and Amanda discuss a legend or story, whether it be about the Japanese story of the Yuki-onna, Hollywood urban legends, or the listeners’ stories about their local folklore and spooky encounters.

While Spirits is fundamentally about the stories that matter to cultures, it’s also fundamentally about two hilarious lifelong friends getting tipsy and talking about things they love. Julia Schifini (also of What’s the Frequency, Tides, and others) plays the part of the expert with her encyclopedic knowledge of mythology and copious amounts of pre-recording research, her fortes both her knowledge and her dry, sardonic comedic timing.

Meanwhile, Amanda (also of Join the Party) plays the part of often-uninformed enthusiast, her fortes the giddily-delivered puns as well as her quick-witted connections between the discussion topic and modern life.

Punch Up the Jam

Hosted by two champions of Vine (rest in peace), Demi Adejuyigbe and Miel Breduow, Punch Up the Jam takes an iconic song, goes into its history, analyzes it moment by moment, and then aims to make something . . . “better.” Adejuyingbe and Breduow are shockingly impressive musicians, which makes their “punch ups,” the parodies and covers at the end of each episode, both more impressive and more ridiculous.

Punch Up the Jam is best started by listening to an episode on a song you already know (but maybe not one you unironically love), but once you’re hooked, you’ll find yourself listening to the back catalog whether or not you’ve ever heard the original songs before.

(Update 1/27/22: This podcast is now hosted by The Gregory Brothers of “Autotune the News” fame past. I fully have not listened to any of those episodes–two white dudes? in MY Punch Up the Jam?–but the backlog with Breduow, Adejuyigbe, and other rotating hosts past Adejuyigbe’s tenure are still solid as hell. Highly recommend the ultra chaotic energy of the episodes featuring Chris Fleming. –Editor Wil)

Wooden Overcoats

If your preferred brand of humor is a little less The Office and a little more Blackadder, you may find your comedy podcast soulmate in Wooden Overcoats. This acclaimed comedy audio drama centers on the story of Rudyard and Antigone Funn, the owners of Funn Funerals, once the only funeral home in their small island town.

When a competitor, Eric Chapman, opens a funeral home across the street, the Funn siblings hatch plan after plan to take him down–while Antigone tries to deny her attraction to him. Wooden Overcoats is the epitome of a podcast sitcom: it’s episodic, so each new chapter has its own story arc that’s started and completed within about half an hour, but it also has an overarching narrative that dives deeper into each character season by season.

Song Salad

In Song Salad, hosts Shannon and Scott pick one randomized musical genre and one random Wikipedia article. First, they go into the music genre, explaining its history, its key features, its most prominent musicians, and its place in the overall music landscape. Next, they read the Wikipedia article out loud, commenting along on the way.

Then, they do the next natural step: they combine the two, making a short song in the randomized musical genre about that Wikipedia article. This results in some hilarious combinations like a jingle about a tree or an Austropop song about Jesus cleansing a leper.

If the premise alone somehow isn’t enough to win you over, Song Salad isn’t just its setup: it’s also a funny podcast hosted by two of the most loveable, goofy hosts in the medium.

Gay Future

Gay Future is a fiction podcast mini-series inspired by the unrelased young adult fiction manuscript by Mike Pence–yes, Mike Pence–about a future in which everyone is gay, and the hero is straight. Gay Future parodies everything about this concept, turning it into a hyperbolic satire that’s hilarious and genuinely riveting.

If the title and concept worries you, rest assured that the podcast parodies the concept and Mike Pence, not the actual LGBT+ community, and the jokes land so solidly that it’s not just funny, it’s also cathartic.

HORSE

HORSE is the best basketball podcast about everything but the sport. I don’t know anything at basketball–I grew up in a family that was more stoked about operas than any sporting events–but HORSE is still one of the funniest podcasts I’ve ever heard, without ever making me feel lost in jargon or who’s who.

HORSE focuses on the behind-the-scenes of the NBA and basketball culture, both of which are genuinely buckwild. Hosts Eric Silver (disclosure: Silver has written for Discover Pods) and Mike Schubert have an energetic, goofy dynamic that makes every episode as much about basketball as it is these two nerds riffing.

StarTripper!!

When I sat down to talk with writer and creator Julian Mundy about his upcoming project StarTripper!!, I was already excited–but the early episodes have already more than exceeded my expectations. This sci-fi comedy audio drama follows Feston Pyxis, an excitable and impulsive once-was desk job worker, now intergalactic explorer. 

StarTripper!!feels like a combination of Futurama, Galaxy Quest, and Cowboy Bebop; it’s high-energy, hilarious, and feels like a fully-imagined world even with how ridiculous it is. If you like your sci-fi silly and your comedy whimsical, StarTripper!! is a great escape.

Because it’s a newer release with just a few episodes out while writing this, it’s also easy to catch up on–but Mundy has also been sure to let prospective listeners know that they’ll be able to jump in at any point without having to worry about getting through the backlog to enjoy the most recent episodes.

Fall of the House of Sunshine

Fall of the House of Sunshine is a musical comedy horror audio drama about the ages-old war between a cult of dentists and their natural enemies, puppets, following the murder of a children’s TV show host via bullet shot through a rift in spacetime.

All of those words were chosen on purpose and are accurate. It is the strangest thing I have ever listened to, and few things have made me laugh as hard or as often. If you’re looking for something off-the-wall and totally innovative, Fall of the House of Sunshine will deliver all of that and more–while also bringing character arcs, a shocking amount of cohesive world building, and killer songs along the way.

You’ll want to listen to this many times over, both because you’ll want to hear all the jokes you missed the first time around and because it’s just that good.

Comedy Podcasts Are a Subjective Beast

So that’s our list for now. We know that comedy podcasts aren’t going to be a hit every time for every listener, which is why we listen to so many funny podcasts. Call it a perk of the job. I mean, can you say that your job lets you listen to comedy podcasts all day long?

If not, you should probably talk to HR about that. Seriously.

The post The 10 Funniest Comedy Podcasts (You Might Not Be Listening To Yet) appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

There are a lot of actual play podcasts that think all you need are a few friends, a few mics, and a 5th edition starter set. And you know, for some shows, that is all you need. But it can be hard to dig through endless shows with never ending backlogs trying to find your next favorite. 

But that’s why you’re here. I’m the kind of guy who listens to an inadvisable amount of actual play podcasts. I’ve listed out some of my favorites that you should check out. Some of them use D&D, but a lot of them use different systems. 

The majority of these actual play podcasts are linear stories, so I’d recommend starting with episode one. However, this can vary from show to show. Some of them have catch up episodes to get you up to speed on the plot before jumping into a more recent episode, while others feature multiple campaigns and stories. I recommend start points in each of the blurbs, but feel free to use your best judgement!

Note: This is a rotating list, which will be refreshed every few months with a slate of brand new actual play podcasts for you to dive into.

Spout Lore

The first of our new actual play podcasts on the list, Spout Lore follows the adventure of Tuk the Barbarian, Ving the Half Elf Druid and Billy the halfling thief boy using the Dungeon World system. In a world that lost all of its magic a century ago, the trio finds themselves drawn into various different situations involving the lingering remnants of magic left. Ultimately, the party is driven by their needs to help their friends, each other, and learn more about themselves. The show is hilarious, and the world building is phenomenal. The “Yes, And” approach to on the spot world building often leads to unexpected scenarios as the cast unravels their previously established lore to create compelling and complicated situations. If you want to get a taste for the show, their website has a selection of different fan-favorite clips, so try out a sample before you dive into it!

Read more: How Friends At The Table Spreads Around Authorship

Skyjacks Courier’s Call

(Disclosure: I was a backer of the Kickstarter campaigns for both seasons.)

Campaign Skyjacks has put an impressive amount of work into building their folkpunk world of sky pirates and weird magic, so a spinoff set in a different part of the world was a no brainer. Enter Courier’s Call, a kid-friendly glimpse into the world of Spire following the adventures of June, Cici, and Kiran as they train to become mail couriers. The show focuses on the flying mail ships manned mostly by teens, going from town to town delivering and collecting mail. They do an amazing job keeping the same energy as Skyjacks without some of the dirtier aspects. That being said, they aren’t afraid to address heavier material, in a way that kids would be able to process. The stakes still feel just as high, but from the perspective of a group of children.  Even though the cast of characters don’t have as many supernaturally high stakes going on as the main show’s crew, these kids feel fully realized. If you’re looking for actual play podcasts for the whole family, you would be hard pressed to find a better example than Courier’s Call. 

Shuffle Quest

Created by some of the minds that would later go on to host the podcast about pop culture and stolen labor Anime Sickos, Shuffle Quest follows the adventures of a Dungeons & Dragons adventuring party recruited by the interdimensional being Olmec (yes, that Olmec) to travel to different pop culture worlds to save them from a universe destroying threat. The main gimmick of the show is that, when the crew travels to a new world, their character sheets are adapted to whatever official game system the brand has put out. From the worlds of Men in Black to Dragon Ball Z to Sonic The Hedgehog, there is a clear understanding of each world. However, there isn’t a reverent blind respect for the world. If there is something about a world that sucks in a way that the official material doesn’t really explore, the show often dives right into it. For example, the main hook of the Dragon Ball Z world is that death doesn’t really matter since everyone can just be wished back by Dragon Balls and you don’t really matter if you can’t shoot beams from your hands. If you want to listen to a show that’s kind of like a more messed up version of Kingdom Hearts, check out this show!

bomBARDed

bomBARDed follows the musical adventures of Chaos Sauce, a band full of multiclassing bards studying at the magical Strumlott’s School for Bards. Along the way they discover complex conspiracies, accidently time travel, learn more about their mysterious magical instruments, and eat snacks. The cast is made up of the members of real-life band LINDBY. The main hook of the show is that, once per episode, the band runs into a problem or situation where the only way through is to write an original song. They roll dice to determine cords, styles, and other factors and come back with a new song. It’s a delightful show with a fun, Adventure Time-like vibe with a reliable format that still finds ways to surprise you. 

Quest Friends!

Quest Friends! follows the adventures of four strangers trying to undo a mistake of theirs that unleashed a cloud of world-ending spiders. The player characters are fully fleshed out and delightful, and the NPCs are as unique as they are lovable.  The story is told using the strange and delightful Numenera system, a future fantasy game system designed to make things get weird. The show surprises listeners with new twists and circumstances at every turn. It can range from a daring robot heist to a Mario Kart tournament for justice to a murder mystery dating sim that’s also prom. This is also the most found family actual play podcast I have ever listened to, and that says something given actual play podcasts almost exclusively made up of found family stories. 

Read more: Quest Friends! Concludes its Emotional and Endearing First Campaign

Superidols RPG

Superidols! RPG is a Masks: A New Generation actual play podcast that takes its influences from magic girl pop idol anime. The show follows the adventures of the Fort McNally Idol Club (AKA RhythMixx), a super-powered teen idol club trying to achieve fame in an idol centric world.  The home-brewed mechanics make magical performances feel just as thrilling and dangerous as combat while keeping the music concert flair. The show also doesn’t shy away from the mundanity of being in a band together or putting in the effort to rehearse for performances. The large cast means an exploration of the variety of books in Masks, showing what a pop idol version of that type of character would look like, such as the Doomed being involved in an evil record company deal or the Janus being in a Hannah Montana situation. If you’re looking for a different kind of super powered teens story in your actual play podcasts lineup, grab your ticket to RhythMixx’s next show!

Fun City

Fun City is an cyberpunk Shadowrun podcast set in a post climate change ravaged New York City. The show is a fun mix of charismatic player characters, hysterical and intense situations, and the unavoidable damage of unregulated capitalism to the natural world. The dual game master system is inspired, with one GM, Mike Rugnetta, focused on world building and general GM business while having a second person, Taylor Moore, play any major villains or other NPCs. Moore’s take on the NPCs he’s thrown range from “the goofiest little guys” to “horrifying creatures with even more horrifying implications.” The show recently concluded its “Float City” pandemic campaign, set 100,000,000 years in the future, and is an absolutely riveting weird future science fiction tale. If you want to take a look at the show’s style in a complete package, I recommend starting there.

Rogue Runners

Rogue Runners follows the vein of shows like 20 Sided Stories or Shuffle Quest, adapting other media into compelling actual play campaigns. For their first season, they covered Supergiant’s Hades, the award winning rogue runner about escaping from Hell and dealing with daddy issues in a world of Greek mythology. Four shades of the underworld must work together to escape Hades in order to get a second chance at life. Between a chaotic rogue, a bard that trained under Orpheus, a Nordic sorcerer in the wrong mythology and Alexander The Great, the “working together” part might be a big ask. While the show understandably hasn’t adapted any other rogue runners yet, being a new show and all, the amount of care and attention to detail put into replicating the feel of Hades is astounding. It feels like a natural continuation of the story from the game,  expanding in ways you would expect a Hades sequel to expand. The work put into the mechanics of play are also impressive, converting the familiar rules of D&D into a homebrew that tackles the rules of a run of Hades. I’m looking forward to future volumes set in Hades, as well as seeing how the show adapts to other rogue runners with the same amount of care. 

Neoscum

Neoscum is an intense and hysterical Shadowrun show following the Neoscum shadowrunners as they embark on a cross country roadtrip across a cyberpunk capitalist dystopian America has evolved into. Four years of podcasting cover a few weeks of an intense journey, letting the cast really get into dealing with whatever issues each location or trip provides. The chemistry of the cast is amazing, with every conversation and riff just dripping with charisma. The editing in Neoscum is also some of the best in the business. Like just about all actual play podcasts ever, the editing in the early episodes is rough (and can be skipped thanks to some well-made arc recap episodes the show has put out.) The gradual glow up that the editing has is outstanding, especially with the steller music cues once the show gained access to HoZac Records’s music library. You owe it to yourself to start listening to Neoscum and fall in love with these characters. 

Bonus Actual Play Podcasts

These actual play podcasts appeared in earlier versions of this list. Be sure to give them a listen too!

Dungeons and Daddies

One of the most satisfying things to any actual play show is watching the players deconstruct whatever the DM had planned through some weird rule they accidentally stumbled upon. These moments can range from epic to hysterical, often times being a little bit of both. All that matters is that the game master is flexible when these moments come up. GM Anthony Burch is flexible, but I’d understand if that flexibility is straining. The cast finds every nook and cranny they can in the game rules and the abilities they have to send the story in some wild places.

Campaign Skyjacks

One of the best arcs of Campaign’s Star Wars series was spent at a bounty hunter convention. It was supposed to be a small arc, but the show wound up spending over a year exploring this specific setting. Skyjacks, however, is a different show that has learned from the past, and when they came to a new location with an event going on (big bird contest), they merely spent half a year there and counting (in the most recent episode, they started making the motions of leaving, but I get the feeling it’ll be a bit of an Irish Goodbye*). It is so much fun watching the cast worldbuild through riffing and encouraging complication. It’s wonderful to watch this weird-sky-pirate-magic world develop and I look forward to seeing where things go in the coming year. 

*As in a goodbye that takes a long time. I know it popularly means leaving without saying anything, but as someone raised first-generation Irish, trust me when I say the Irish take about two full drinks to leave a party. I will not budge one this and nobody is asking me to. 

Rude Tales of Magic

The frustrating thing about this show is that it feels like a group of comedians got together and said, “Hey, what if we made a great D&D podcast?” and then did that. “Rude” is the best way to describe everything in this show. Nothing is scary, nothing is evil, nothing is malicious, everything is just rude. Branson Reese isn’t afraid to let the world of Cordelia become impractical and comedically horrifying whenever possible, somehow landing on the funniest characterizations for every NPC necessary. The player characters are well-defined pretty early on, which is an impressive thing for actual play podcasts. I’d like to give a special shout-out to Tim Platt‘s Stirfry, a Kenku cook for Christopher Hastings‘ s skeletal Frederick de Bonesby. Stirfry is my favorite character in that way where he is comedically annoying and you want to hate him, but it slowly dawns on you that he has regrettably become your favorite character, like Zoidberg from Futurama or a better executed Claptrap from Borderlands. I know this doesn’t sound positive, but Platt’s performance is what really brings the characters together. 

The End of Time and Other Bothers

I learned this year that The End of Time and Other Bothers is a Dungeon World podcast. The only reason I didn’t know this from the start is that the show doesn’t really care about following the rules of the game. It’s more of an improvised story that rolls when needed to advance plot points or randomize a consequence. Sean Howard creates a world and lets the players explore it, forming the story around them even if they might not be following along a predetermined path. There is a rule in improv to follow the joy of a scene to find what’s funny, and this has lead to several episodes dedicated to hilarious scenes prompted by the characters. A notable example of this was a recent snake oil selling episode with chaotically magical results. 

Very Random Encounters

In a year full of long-running campaigns coming to a close, there is something refreshing about Very Random Encounters short seasons of complete stories. This year saw the end of the 80’s kids movie Tales From the Loop season run by Greg, an epic fantasy Fellowship season run by Wheels, and a bunch of little critters trying to make it in the middle of a war in Root run by Logan Jenkins. The randomization is done at a macro level with major plot points and character creation, allowing listeners to watch these moving stories get molded by the cast using the parts provided to them. 

Join the Party

Join The Party ended their first full campaign this year. The Party Campaign was full of creative ideas and fun characters which ultimately told a story about identity. It’s one of the only actual play shows that offers episodes with D&D tutorials to help new listeners learn the rules of the game. The show has always felt cozy and the next season promises to build upon the momentum of the first. 

The Adventure Zone

This year McElroys brought Amnesty, their Monster of the Week campaign, to an end. It also saw the beginning of Graduation, a third season DM’d by Travis bringing back D&D. While the system is familiar, they’ve chosen character classes and races that aren’t typically seen in actual play shows, leading to a more fantasy fairy-tale aesthetic. They’ve also begun releasing live shows that don’t involve the Tres Horny Boys of Balance fame (a name that must sound bonkers out of context). They’ve instead been doing different oneshots in different systems, which make the live shows more approachable to newcomers. A standout example of these episodes is Dadlands, guest DM’d by Brennan Lee Mulligan, offering a rare opportunity for all four family members to play together. Following the end of Graduation, the team should seriously look into having the fourth season DM’d by someone new to expand on this dynamic. 

20 Sided Stories

The Pokemon campaign for 20 Sided Stories came to an end this year as The Dream Police, comprised of the go-getting Candace Carter, the enthusiastic Skip Svitak, and the reluctant Xander Whitten, complete the final gyms and learn the truth to the strange occurrence going on around Kanto. The show does an amazing job replicating the aesthetics of the series through music, sound effects, and even character dialogue. The ongoing mystery of the series is incredibly well done, with hints layered through the early episodes until things come to a head in a legendary fashion. The next season of the show premieres this year, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the Snap.

Autonomic

Surely we will eventually hit the cap on “school of magically powered children” stories, but Autonomic is one of the best ones out there. Autonomic is a family-friendly actual play podcast show run by Kat Kuhl, the GM of the wonderful One Shot Campaign Star Wars series. The show takes place in the world of Respite and follows a group of young nomics, superpowered beings who each represent concepts. The former nomics all disappeared 12 years ago, and all of the new young nomics, on their shared 12th birthday, move to a new boarding school to learn how to work together and hone their powers to save the world. 

The thing that excels this show to greatness is the emphasis on the “middle school” part of “super powered middle school.” The pre-teen kinda superheros that the story follows are the charismatic team leader type Maya played by Taylor B. Hill, the chaotic wild-hearted Izzy played by Liz Anderson, the brooding and dramatic Brennan played by Stephen Kropa, and optimistically curious Manik played by Pranks Paul. This show feels of burning through a fantasy novel in the school library during lunch. The recent episodes have followed the students on their first full day of school and I wouldn’t complain if this were the entire show. All of the child characters are played like actual middle schoolers, balancing the genuine stress of middle school alongside the magical circumstances. 

The show also keeps its family friendly tone in mind in every aspect. Every show should have trigger warnings in general, but Kuel takes an extra step. At the beginning of every episode, as one of the teacher NPCs, she explains any potentially complex ideas that might come up in the episode. These can range from “what to do when a friend is having a panic attack” to “sometimes four adults can’t solve a math problem.”

Critical Bits

Critical Bits chronicles the adventures of The Fun Bunch, a group of teen superheroes fighting to defend the city of Heavendale against the forces of evil. The cast includes Shelby Lee’s Alex, a happy-go-anxiety non-powered superhero named Ace trying to do good, Paul Byron’s Gerry, Alex’s drug dealing stoner best friend with the ability to nullify powers who also just has terrible luck, and Shannon Strucci’s Kim, a former “crime orphan” with metal manipulation powers looking for redemption from a life of crime. 

On their own, these three characters could be the stars of a good high school superhero story. It is the special sauce of Joel Ruiz’s game running that turns this show into something truly special. Joel crafts a world full of superheroes that is comedically terrifying. There is a flesh maze made out of one boy. There is a super-villain/antihero who is the car from Herbie: Fully Loaded given life but desiring death. There is a villain called “Streak Shark” who is a naked shark with legs. Yes, sharks can be naked if they have human legs. The players “yes and” this world perfectly by playing all of this straight and adding to the ridiculousness on their own (notably Paul’s increasing development of the restaurants of Heavendale.)

The guest appearances on this show are also well done. Every guest character who shows up feels like they’re coming from their own series, making everything feel like a crossover episode. Some highlights include the murderously driven Hoagie Allin played by Branson Reese and Jodo, a recurring guest character played by a different player every time they appear (played by Brandon Leon-Gambetta in his first appearance and Maggie Mae Fish in her second.) The Critical Bits cast has also organized a few ambitious limited series events this year. A highlight of this is the 32-character 3 ½ hour Spider Day special based off of a riff in the main show, complete with a weekend-long charity stream. The team also premiered Seasons, a 6-part, 16-character Monster of the Week series.

Friends at the Table

This year, Friends At The Table brought their five year Seasons of Hieron series to an end. Ending an actual play series can be difficult, since it is hard to hit all of the points that would be satisfying for both the players and the audience. The randomness of rolls alone can make things difficult. That being said, the last in-game moment of the final episode of the campaign ends with a declarative mic-drop that naturally originated through player characterization and a small personal NPC reaction. The following epilogue was beautiful, but I wouldn’t have blamed them if they cut to black and rolled the credits. 

There was clearly stuff that they were unable to touch upon in this third and final season, given how large the world they had developed became. They were even introducing new things about the world right up until the very end. The conclusions they do present range from bittersweet to open-ended, as is the FATT way. The world didn’t seem to end with their story, leaving listeners to think of the other fully fleshed out stories going on in this world after that final episode. 

Spring in Hieron ended in September, and since then the show has been releasing previously Patreon exclusive episodes building upon their Divine Universe from their second and fourth seasons (counter/Weight and Twilight Mirage, respectively) leading to their sixth season, PARTIZAN, which promises to follow morally compromised characters dealing with the complexities of war. Friends at the Table remains one of those shows where I am elated when they drop a three hour episode, which is high praise for any podcast, let alone actual play podcasts. 

Not Another D&D Podcast

A hillbilly high elf with a possum familiar, a barbarian who peaked in the fantasy equivalent of high school, and a halfling paladin teenage boy scout embark on a quest to save a world that has already been saved. The pitch alone for Not Another D&D Podcast sold me on the first few episodes, but the worldbuilding and character performances makes this one of the best actual play podcasts out there. Jake Hurwitz, Emily Axford and Caldwell Tanner have an amazing dynamic, always on the ball when it comes to portraying their characters honestly and hilariously. 

2019 found The Band of Boobs leaving Bohemia to travel to different realms, from the Feywild to Shadowfell to Hell itself, with a stop to magic tournament in between. Brian Murphy is able to make every NPC immediately recognizable and memorable, never holding them to too high of status when the players begin making jokes at their expense. The cast also knows how to make things dramatic when they need to be dramatic without completely draining the energy out of the room. 

The best thing I can tell you about this show is that the combat is fun to listen to, which is a hard thing to accomplish in a D&D show. Between the constant banter between characters and enemies, the pre-established in-jokes around moves and rolls, and Emily Axford’s epic musical scoring, the battles remain incredibly high energy even when counting up rolls. 

While NADDPOD has had its fair share of great guest characters this year, the two in this year’s Shadowfell arc deserve special mention. Brennan Lee Mulligan’s Deadeye helped establish the dark setting the group was going to while entrenching himself into the lore of the overall story. The other guest character of that arc, Jveliin the dwarven barbarian, is a rare example of a guest character whose player is actually a spoiler. 

If all of this wasn’t enough, the additional material posted by the podcast is impressive entertaining. The “Nannerfly Effect” live tour revisited critical moments of the campaign when a different roll would have drastically changed where the game was going. The mostly-monthly Trinyvale campaign DMed by Caldwell Tanner presents a more anime-fetch quest fantasy story (which feels like the show’s take on the setting from The Adventure Zone: Balance in a good way). 

The post The 21 Best Actual Play Podcasts appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

I think I can do better. I’ve come up with a few suggestions for new names for podcasts. Some of them already exist, while others are new ones I thought of that I think could catch on. 

In order to give myself a point to get worn down, I had to decide on an arbitrary number of names to hit. Let’s go with 300.

Are they all going to be catchy? No, but I’m sure it’ll be fun to think of them!

Ok, Let’s get into it!

1. Podcasts.
2. Online Radio.
3. Godcast (Apparently a real one, according to WordHippo.com).
4. Podcat.
5. Eps.
6. Dad’s New Thing.
7. The One That Gets You Through It. 
8. A Couple Of Old Friends from High School Hanging Out And Shooting The Shit. 
9. Internet Radio.
10. The First Ever Audio Fiction Show.
11. The Show He Launched After Being Canceled.
12. Actors Recapping Shows They Were On.
13. The One That Was Set Up For Less Then $100.
14. Three And A Half Hours Of Video Game News.
15.  Fifteen Minutes of Normal News.
16. The Ones That Represent Radio Fiction At The End Of The World.
17. Mobcast (another WordHIppo.com original).
18. A Pilot For A TV Show (Never Produced).
19. The Ones That Help You Build Audiences. 
20. One With a British Guy.
21. Another Podcast With Only White Hosts.
22. Talking About Obvious Things Like Nobody Else Is Talking About.
23. Talking About Things Nobody Talks Like Everyone Is Talking About It.
24. The One That’s Finished.
25. Podcasts About Very Specific Things.
26. The Easiest Thing In The World To Make.
27. Conan’s Domain.
28. The Ones That Are Carried By Their Great Hosts.
29. The Parasocial Fast Track.
30. Direct Messages From Whatever God You Believe In.
31. Discovered Pods.
32. The First Ever Podcast Musical.
33. The Show That Got Her Canceled.
34. Plordcasts.
35. McElroy Family Dinner.
36. Two Gals Shooting The Shit.
37. The Money Making Podcast (Yes, They Exist). 
38. Evidence.
39. Laughing at Crime!
40. The Thing That Happens Around SquareSpace Ads.
41. Long Apology Episodes.
42. The Best Role-Playing You’ll Hear.

43. The One Everyone Keeps Telling You To Listen To.
44. The One You Keep Telling Everyone To Listen To.
45. The One About Friends.
46. The Ones Making An Effort To Not Be Racist.
47. A Rewatch Podcast For A Show You’ve Never Seen.
48. Uncle Doug’s Thing He Doesn’t Want The Family Listening To.
49. Four Hosts, One Mic.
50. Ad Reads, The Experience.
51. Family Friendly Fun-casts!
52. Subscribed But Never Listened To.
53. Therapy Sessions.
54. Content To Sleep To.
55. Plobcasts.
56. The Ones That Learn From TV.
57. Audio Improv Scenes.
58. Audio Improv Scenes With Long Form Narratives.
59. The Pulled Audio Track From A Youtube Video.
60. The Pulled Audio Track From A Whole Ass TV Show.
61. Archivel Radio.
62. Turning On The Mic And Seeing What Happens.
63. The Writer’s Distraction.
64. The Ones With d/Deaf Representation.
65. The Ones that Feel like Homework.
66. Important Deep Dives.
67. Unimportant Deep Dives.
68. The Ones To Prep Your Kids For The Future. 
69. Nice.
70. Direct Nerd Dispatches.
71. It’s Not Illegal To Podcast About This But It Is Ill-advised.
72. The Hip New Thing.
73. Books about Podcasts. 
74. Your Quarantine Project.
75. An Excuse To Hang Out With Friends.
76. A Loosely Tied Together Collection Of Inside Jokes.
77. The Abandoned Ones.
78. The Ones On Twitter.
79. Podcasts…2!!!!!
80. Radio but Sexy.
81. Radicalization In Any Direction.
82.  A Mistake, Probably.
83.  “Noun: a digital audio file made available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically available as a series, new installments of which can be received by subscribers automatically.”
84. The Ones Losing Listeners. 
85. Mouth Sounds.
86. Popular TV Show: The Podcast.
87. Something To Play On A Road Trip Where Nobody Likes Music.
88. The Empathy Boosters.
89. No, Mom, It’s Not a Phase.
90. A Premise That Shouldn’t Make It Past 10 Episodes. 
91. Voices To Shut Your Brain Up.
92. The One That Hits You Hard. 
93. Aggressively Describing Everything Around You, Like Normal People Do In Normal Conversations. 
94. This One’s Gonna Save The Marriage.
95. Podcasts about Podcasts.
96. This whole article was inspired by this one Hard Drive article about Waluigi, so this one’s for you, king. Waaaaaaahad-casts. 
97. The Things They Release For Us To Write About Here. 
98. Sick Convos With Rad Peeps.
99. Bad Podcasts.
100. “Good” Podcasts.
101. Meh Podcasts.
102. Writing Podcasts.
103. Earbud In Unlovable Earbud.
104. Just The Bits. 
105. The thing your doctor recommends to you to cheer you up, and you unfortunately must inform them, “But Doctor, that’s my podcast!”
106. Philodcasts. 
107. Funny Ones.
108. Scary Ones. 
109. Sad Ones. 
110. Intense Ones. 
111. Relaxing Ones.
112. Science Ones.
113. Fantasy Ones. 
114. Science Fiction Ones. 
115. The Ones That Claim To Be Diverse.
116. Good Ones Made With A Little Money. 
117. Bad Ones Made With a Lot of Money.
118. The Thing They’re Apparently Up To Now. 
119. The Joe Rogan Rogan Joe Ho Bo Row Row Row Your Boat Experience: The Show.
120. The Ones With A Different Perspective Besides The Small Army Of Podcasts Hosted By White Dudes. 
121. The One For SEO.
122. The Corporate One
123. The One That Has A Joke Premise That Couldn’t Last Past A Handful Of Episodes.
124. The Lovey-Dovey Ones. 
125. The One That Seems Like A Good Idea But Doesn’t Stick The Landing. 
126. Yes, You Can Swear
127. No, You Cannot Swear.
128. The Finance Smarty Pants Ones. 
129. Shows That Sound Bad Out Of Context.
130. The Piggy’s Favorite Slop.
131. One Take, No Edits, Thousands Of Weekly Listeners.
132. The Ones That Cover Hard Topics That Need To Be Talked About.
133. Fully-Funded, Never Released.
134. The Lost Episode.
135. The First Ever Audio Movie. 
136. The Repetitive Ones.
137. Phillip O. D’casts.
138. The NPR Ones, Or I Guess In This Case The NPP Ones Because The R Means Radio And The P Means Podcasts.
139. This One’s For Daddy (I’m Sorry). 
140. Inarguably Human Experiences.
141. The Archived Ones that Need A Real Dusting Off. 
142. The Ones About Food. 
143. The One That Isn’t Reply All (Which By the Way All Of That Reply All Stuff Happened In March Christ What A Year).
144. Audio Drama (How Have I Not Said Audio Drama Yet?)
145. Oh Dang, These Things Can Be Game Shows?
146. The Ones That Spread Authorship.
147. Anime Sickos Podcast.
148. The Sexy Ones. 
149. The Ones That Have Been There Since The Beginning. 
150. The Kawaii Ones. 
151. The Podcasts For Cool Guys. 
152. An Onslaught Of Celebrity Shows!
153. Shows For All Kinds Of Minds.
154. The Retracted Fact Show.
155. The Ones You Stopped Listening To.
156. The Self-Improvement Ones. 
157. The Correcting Misinformation Shows. 
158. The Horror Ones That Hit Just Right. 
159. The Sorta Just Kinda OK Ones.
160. The Explotitive Ones.
161. The Ones that Help You Feel Like You Belong. 
162. There’s a pretty solid chance nobody has read this far. 
163. If you have, why?
164. Am I fluffing the numbers by talking directly to you? Yes.
165. But I’ve written 161 of these already, so it’s probably fine. 
166. I probably lost a lot of people at “Phillip O. D’Casts,” who by the way is my new original character that I love very much. 
167. Phillip is an approachable and relatable 20-something trying to make it big in the big city. 
168. That being Audio City, the city of podcasts!
169. He goes on a bunch of magical, relatable adventures, such as:
170. Trying to get a job, but he only has the skills of a podcastor! 
171. Trying to date, but he must record every date! 
172. Reckon with how the previous generation has left nothing for the next generation to build off of except societal rubble, and how it is likely we will leave even less to the next generation, regardless of our efforts.
173. Hunt for his great grandfather, Archduke Polly A. D’cast’s long lost treasure and make friends along the way!
174. If you want to hear more, be on the lookout for my upcoming Seed and Spark!
175. Oh wow, we hit halfway there a while ago.
176. OK, that was a bit to fluff up the numbers, let’s get back to some genuine silly names. 
177. Fuck. 
178. The Ones Built On The Backs Of Powerful Editors. 
179. The Ones About Justice. 
180. The Wrong Download File.
181. Kissing Noises.
182. The All American Podcasts (Not Like That).
183. The Refreshing Ones. 
184. Hosts Talking Over Each Other.
185. Hosts Shouting Over Each Other. 
186. The Quarantine Struggle Shows. 
187. The Ones That Queer You. 
188. Important History Deep Dives Of History That Needs More Attention.
189. A Big Property Taking A Dip Into Podcasting.
190. Rick’s Side Hustle. 
191. Shows Where You See Yourself Represented. 
192. Shows That Want You!
193. Yet Another True Crime Show. 
194. The Thing You Listen To During Work. 
195. A Not So Lonely Car Drive. 
196. The Straight Ones.
197. The Not So Straight Ones. 
198. The Very Not Straight Ones. 
199. The Ones Specifically Designed To Tell Someone To Go Fuck Themselves. 
200. Cops Favorite Podcasts. 
201. The Conspiracy Shows. 
202. The One Who Thinks A Twitter Account Is A Good Replacement For A Website
203. A Bad Movie Watching Podcast.
204. A Bad Bad Movie Watching Podcast. 
205. Audio Medium That Looks Good. 
206. Theoretical Empathy Interviews. 
207. The Netflix Of Podcasting.
208. A Podcast With A Backlog That You Just Shouldn’t Bother With. 
209. A Podcast With A Backlog That Is Necessary To Listen To All Of Before The Recent Episodes Even Make Sense. 
210. Scott Aukerman Talking To Wacky Entrepreneurs. 
211. Gaming Podcast That Spends The Majority Of Episodes Not Talking About Video Games.
212. Too Much.
213. The Ones You Listen To With Friends.
214.  The Award Winners.
215. A Deep Dive History Podcast Longer And More In Depth Than Any Class You’ve Taken That Talks About The Things Your History Teachers Wish They Could HAve Told You About. 
216. Memes.
217. Homestucks.
218. First Name Basis Shows. 
219. From The Minds Of Discover Pods.
220. Reading Various Posts From Online, Such As Reviews Or Tweets. 
221. The One You Host With Your Parents. 
222. At this point, I was beginning to think this article was a bad idea, but then the New York Times released an article about how it is normal and expected to hate your spouse, so my imposter syndrome has been obliterated. 
223. Lies. 
224. Seasonal Ones. 
225. The Ones That Have Gone Stale.
226. The Only Good One. 
227. Your Podcast. 
228. My Podcast.
229. Our Podcast. 
230. Their Podcast. 
231. Shows To Eat With.
232. Narrated Shows. 
233. Tech Ones. 
234. Business Ones. 
235. A Podcast With The Premise Of Self-Imposed Suffering (Much Like This Article). 
236. The One That’s Just Listener Mail.
237. Somewhere along here I lost the thread and started just listing out kinds of podcasts and also random little comments, but hey, what’s more podcasting then that?
238. The Mundane Ones. 
239. The Ones That Help You Rediscover Old Loves. 
240. Niche Ones. 
241. Bobcast.
242. PodChrist. 
243. PodCrap.
244. PodCod. 
245. Longer Worse TikTok. 
246. The One Your Partner Doesn’t Like, Mainly Because You Keep Talking About It.
247. Baby’s Newest Hyperfixation. 
248. The One With The Annoying Fandom You Don’t Engage With. 
249. The One With The Annoying Fandom You Are A Card Carrying Member Of. 
250. The One You Don’t Like Listening To But You Still Stay Subscribed To For Your Own Personal Reasons. 
251. The One You Swear You Will Get To. 
252. Podcast-offs.
253. Podcast-aways.
254. The Show That Should Have Stopped A While Ago. 
255. I’ve been running on fumes with this one since like 150. 
256. I’m the one that set the goal of 300, so I can cut this off whenever. 
257. I still appear to be going. 
258. Why can’t I bring this level of needless determination to achieve personal goals to other aspects of my life?
259. Shit, OK, Um, Wod-Casts. 
260. The One You Might Not Be In The Right Headspace to Listen to. 
261. The One With Headspace Ads.
262. The One That Goes Through One Ear And Out The Other. 
263. The Hopepunk One.
264. The Steampunk One. 
265. Friends At The Table (the concept of friends being at a table, not the actual play podcast focused on critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interactions between good friends.)
266. My Funny Friend, My Friend Who Can Actually Stay On Topic, and Me (The Weakest Link).
267. Are You Sure You Want To Publish That, Bud?
268. The One In Your Mentions. 
269. Notable Not Edited In Post. 
270. The Salvaged Show Premises By Spiritual Successors. 
271. The Non-Religious Religious Ones.
272. The Actually Religious Ones.
273. Podcasts about Books. 
274. Podcasts…..3!!!!!!!!!!!
275. The Ace Podcasts (As In Asexual Ones)
276. The Ace Podcasts (As In The Good Ones. There Is Overlap)
277. The Podcasts We Made Friends With Along The Way. 
278. Gamer Shows. 
279. The Kazuma Of Podcasts.
280. The Sora Kingdomhearts Of Podcasts
281. Halloween Podcasts. 
282. Thanksgiving Podcasts (These Feel Like They Might Be Real).
283. Christmas Podcasts.
284. The Game. 
285. Alien Ones.
286. Gamer Ones (But Like For People Who Made Games. 
287. Almost At The End of This List, Which Admittedly Hasn’t Been Funny For 100 Lines. 
288. Takes On The Classics. 
289. Projects Birthed From Isolation. 
290. The Beaten Dead Horse Show. 
291. The Ones That Don’t Really Matter In The Long Run. 
292. The New One. 
293. The Old One. 
294. The First One. 
295. The Last One.
296. The Bottle I Screamed Into And Threw Out To Sea (Counts As A Podcast.)
297. The One That Is Tied To A Time In Your Life. 
298. The Podcast From Home.
299. Phillip O. D’Cast The Second. 
300. The Podcast You Could HAve Listened To Instead Of Reading This Entire List. 

If any of these wind up sticking, Venmo me! Feel free to let me know about any others you might think of online, or maybe just to complain! 

Happy New Year!

The post A List Of 300 Unasked For Terms For Podcasts appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

I was also deciding which show I wanted to focus on marathoning. I would put episodes of the show I was working through the backlog of episodes of shows I was regularly listening to. I was trying to stay caught up on shows while also getting into new things. As someone who is currently backlogged with podcasts from October, this method hasn’t worked out in the long run.

I spent the second half of my junior year catching up on The Adventure Zone. I wanted to try out another show where people played games to tell stories, an “actual play podcast” or “AP podcast” or whatever it’s called. Griffin McElroy had referenced one show several times over the course of TAZ, so I figured that would be a good place to start. 

Also Read: “The Adventure Zone: Graduation” Was Fine

So, in the beginning of August 2017, at the dawn of the busiest year of my life and my final year as a full time student, I hit play on Friends At The Table, Autumn In Hieron 00: We’re Not Calling It Duckburg. 

I wouldn’t recommend listening to Friends At The Table (FATT) the way I listened to it. 

It’s a daunting task to start any AP podcast from the first episode, especially when the show’s episode count is in the triple digits. It was close to 200 when I started but now it’s around 350. 

FATT agrees with me on this, so they recommend various different starting points. Showrunner Austin Walker gets more in depth in the attached episode. I’ll add that if you want some southern gothic weird horror vibes, check out the currently running Sangfelle series. 

But I didn’t follow this advice. I started at episode 0 and worked my way up. It took me from August of 2017 to May of 2018 to get fully caught up on the podcast. The stories being told on Friends at the Table became the soundtrack to a formative year of my life. 

Here’s my professional advice on how to binge 3.5 seasons of an actual play podcast over the course of 10 months: Don’t own a car. 

My apartment senior year was about a half hour walk from the main campus of my school. Of course there was a hill. Samol was getting into the story of the Seven’s great heists signaled a change of eras in Marielda while I walked uphill in snow like everyone’s grandparents back in their day. 

When I look back on the actual work I was doing my senior year, I recognize in hindsight that I was absolutely burning myself out. My mom once told me “if you work for four years, you can party for the rest of your life.”

Well, I worked for four years and, folks, this party sucks. 

I did an internship my senior year, which was an interesting choice on my part because I didn’t really need to. However, I was in college. When you’re in college and an incredible tryhard, internships seem like the first step in making ties that get you places in the professional world. 

This didn’t happen. 

It doesn’t matter what the internship was (the usual intern cog work). What mattered was that it was a 2 hour commute for me, taking the bus and train two towns over, and then back again at the end of the day. 

I figured, This must be what adult life is, while chugging a black coffee since we didn’t have milk most days. Normal people who put themselves through that do it for money, but I was doing it for free because it would “look good on my résumé.”

The plus side to all of this was that I was able to spend the travel time listening to FATT. I was at a breakfast place near my internship eating an egg and cheese sandwich(the cheapest option on the menu) looking over a nearby river while Hadrien confronted one of the suspects of the crime the perpetually unnamed Hieron party was tasked with solving for their first holiday special. The sandwich was meh but the scene was surprising. 

I didn’t really take any actual learned experience from that internship. The strongest memory I have of that office was finishing up the Autumn In Hieron post mortem and hearing the first peek at the next season in a new setting, counter/WEIGHT.

Why the fuck did I do this terrible internship? That’s a great question. I wish I had a satisfying answer for you, just so I could have it for myself. At least I dropped the habit of taking on large scale tasks that nobody asked for. 

Read more: Every Super Smash Brothers Fighter as a Podcast

The weird thing about listening to FATT with this dedication was that it didn’t seep into the creative work I was doing. I was a theater kid (in case that wasn’t obvious from my past articles here or my general overall vibe.) I acted, wrote plays, and ran an improv group among other things.

Maybe I just wasn’t absorbing the themes of the show to a degree that would have made them show up in my work at the time. In creative stuff I’ve done since then, I can see some roots tie back to FATT. There are ongoing themes of smaller players in universes tussling with forces broader than their scopes. I also like mechs now. 

While not influencing my creative work, FATT did influence my interest in fiction. I’ve recently found myself intrigued by complex narratives and lore. The more impenetrable or weirdly complicated a piece of media is, the more intrigued I am to actually check it out. I don’t know if I liked FATT because of the complex and intricate worldbuilding or if that’s what led me to like the show in the first place. 

Also read: Is Your Favorite Podcast a Homestuck?

I feel like I listened to the majority of counter/WEIGHT over winter break. I remember this because I was listening to the second half of the season while playing Nier Automata, which anyone familiar with both the show and the game will find thematically appropriate. 

I got through Marielda as I was getting back to school after vacation. While I remember the events of the show clearly, I didn’t actually tie it to any specific memories.  Weirdly, if I had to tie the season to a video game, it’d be Super Mario Odyssey. This one’s just a coincidence. If anyone wants to do a deeper dive on the connections there, be my guest. 

Winter in Hieron took a good chunk of my spring semester to listen to. I felt like I was riding the tip of a wave, with the future coming in at full speed. I wasn’t nervous. I was very good at distracting myself.

I was plotting out a rewritten musical based on Jonathan Coulton music on my apartment wall (which my roommate loved). Hella and Hadrian are best friends who might kill each other. 

I am dipping my toe into job applications in Massachusetts, but my school only has resources for jobs in Connecticut or New York. Throndir learns the truth about his old friend, The Great Fantasmo.

I felt like something was ending, It was also beginning. Hieron didn’t really have much to do with that part, but a parallel could be drawn, on accepting endings. Maybe that’s why Seasons of Hieron holds such a special place in my heart. 

I remember getting caught up on Twilight Mirage. I was sitting in an airplane heading back from Ireland after my cousin’s wedding. I’d been staying in Blacklion for a week and was on my way back to school for Senior Week. I thought I would have the energy to power through the jet lag and basically party for two full weeks. I somehow barely made it though, and it terrifies me thinking about doing that now. 

The moment I was caught up wasn’t eventful. It was the middle of one of the missions in the second half of the season. I distinctly remember Keith J. Carberry’s futuristic streamer Gig Kephart asking a teen if they had heard of him. Walker, after pausing to roll, stated “Gig Kephart sucks!”

And just like that, I was caught up on Friends At The Table. 

(Some spoilers to Twilight Mirage in this video, since it’s literally the ending of the season, but it’s also heartwarming out of context and doesn’t actually spoil what happens. It’s just warm.)

Did getting caught up on FATT in a year change my life? No, but it left an impression. It opened me up to a broader range of AP podcasts and trained me on how to listen to them. It was one of the dominoes to fall in the chain that led to me writing on a podcasting website. 

It didn’t help get me into playing TTRPGs, at least while I was binging it. I played my first full campaign in 2019, after college. It really says something about how much I was burning myself out in college that I had more time on my hands after graduation to get into TTRPGS. Most people thrive in doing their roleplaying in college. Not old Eddie Feelz. It’s probably for the best since the people I knew in college who were playing RPGs were playing long D&D campaigns. I’ve gotten the FATT bug of liking contained shorter campaigns with a variety of different systems.

Since getting caught up on the show and as I’ve continued listening to it, I’ve also discovered that I just have a deep seated love of narrative collaboration. I can easily tie this to my time in college, where I’d just be sitting down with a bunch of other artys students, talking about art, writing,  storybuilding and narratives. There’s something fascinating about feeling like you’re in the writer’s room of some complex narrative, watching the bones be picked apart and rearranged into the most satisfying or thematically appropriate shape. I loved listening to and  being a part of it.

Read more: How Friends At The Table Spreads Around Authorship

That’s not to say I still don’t have sticking, formative memories connected to Friends at the Table. 

On a cold October night in 2020, I sneak out to the front desk to smoke a cigar my cousin gave me a few weeks ago. I rarely smoke, partially because it’s a bad habit to get into but it’s also a little inconvenient. I was still living with my parents, so I waited until everyone was asleep before going to the front. I didn’t dare turn the lights on, like a teenager trying to get away with something even though I’m 25. 

I clumsily cut and light the cigar in the darkness and, without any headphones, listen as Austin Walker and Jack de Quidt tell the story of the pilgrimage that created The Witch In Glass.

This show is still a part of my life and continues to find ways to blow the air out of my lungs.

The post My Year in Hieron appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

But there is one question about NASB that has haunted the minds of gamers for about a month or two. A question that Nickelodeon refuses to answer and one that I, a humble semi-part time podcasting journalist, must address. 

That question, of course: What kind of podcasts align with each fighter in the Nickelodeon All Star Brawl roster?

. . . Okay, I know what this looks like. This is Eddie just doing that big long Smash Brothers list again because it made some numbers and now he thinks going after the 90’s kid nostalgia for Nickelodeon cartoons will make that happen again and not seem like he’s beating a dead horse. 

Read more: Every Super Smash Brothers Fighter as a Podcast (UPDATED 10/5/21)

Well, you know what, bucko? You are absolutely 100% correct. I’m glad we’re on the same page.

I was originally writing this with the intention of assigning every represented Nickelodeon character a specific podcast, but then I realized these characters cannot be contained to single shows. Instead I generalize about what kind of podcast each character has the vibe of, sometimes naming a few specific podcasts . Maybe it’s the kind of show they would host or the kind of show they would listen to or just like their kind of show. 

This also allowed me to also be a little mean without calling about specific shows. If you feel like I am talking about you and your show, that’s between you and God.

(Editor’s note: All images sourced from the official, but hilariously unverified, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Twitter account.)

Danny Phantom is one of those podcasts where they talk about ghost stories and strange happenings. I would also specify podcasts that are spooky and also queer, since Danny Phantom carries the same unintended queer undertones as a lot of Butch Hartman’s early 2000’s work. 

April O’Neil is obviously a news podcast. I’d go a step further and say she’s one of those This American Life-like podcasters who goes all in on people’s individual stories to highlight a different walk of life in an almost exploitative way.

Ren and Stimpy are a two guys just chatting podcast, except it’s one of those one’s that’s actually really good for a while but then one of the guys winds up being a piece of shit and the show ends. It’ll be paraded around as a victim of canceled culture by people who will reference it so much that you’ll grow to resent the original content. 

Read more: Why Your Podcast Sucks : S-Town

(I know what you’re all asking, and I do think that Stimpy would be the one that’s canceled. His soft boy vibes cannot justify some of his firmly held beliefs.)

Aang is a mix of meditation and upbeat podcasts. The kind of things to help your inner mind find peace while also not paying attention to the outer workings of the world. I’m fully aware that Aang doesn’t necessarily get this choice in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but you know it’s his vibe.

I should mention now that I’ve actually played the game since, as a dedicated reporter, I need to know my primary sources. I mention this because, for those gamers like me out there only interested in the mad statz of these characters, Aang sucks to play as. It’s very funny to me how a lot of the characters who seem like they would fit perfectly in a fighting game (Danny Phantom, Aang, Zim) are a bit lackluster, while some of the more cartoony characters (Nigel Thornberry, Catdog, Reptar) are borderline broken. This game is a 100/10.

I’m honestly a little torn on Sandy. On one hand, I could see her as those deep dive science podcasts explaining big science things to us dummies in an approachable yet informative way. On the other hand, Sandy is a deep sea explorer on a scientific journey to study an aquatic landscape. While she hasn’t run into too many horrifying things, I could see her as a collection of the various audio dramas about how scary yet wonderful the sea is (AKA “The Jordan Cobb Mix”).

Zim isn’t a specific type of podcast per say. Rather, he is one of those podcasts that clearly doesn’t want to be just a podcast. He’s ambitious, trying to get a movie deal or a talk show or take over the world, all things we know certain podcasters get into the game for. 

At the end of the day, it’s unsuccessful, and he spends his time searching the word “podcast” on twitter and responding to every tweet he sees. 

Nigel Thornberry is podcasts about animals. Pet animals, wild animals, extinct animals, he’s your guy. I’ve been talking about these characters as varying genres and kinds of podcasts, but Nigel Thornberry, like April O’Neil, is one of the few people on this list I could see with a real podcast. He’d have his own show that isn’t updated often since he spends most of his time guesting on other peoples shows as an expert on whatever animal thing they’re talking about. 

Spongebob has big celebrity podcast vibes. Maybe I’m conflating the character with his cultural influence, but he does have the vibe of a celebrity being put in front of a microphone to talk about stuff, maybe interview people. I guess what I’m saying is Spongebob is the Conan O’Brian of podcasting. 

As a side tangent, they gave every character about three unvoiced, pre written lines of dialogue before every fight to randomly generate through, and for some reason this was one of the ones they pulled for Spongebob:

It’s weird in context, but it is a fucking raw thing to shout out someone before you start beating the shit out of them. 

Michelangelo wins the award for “Nickelodeon character with the stoner podcast.” It was a tight race for a bit. Patrick put up a good fight, but at the end of the day, if I had to guess which character was all about that reefer madness, it would be Michelangelo all the way.

Read more: Highly Recommended Stonercasts

Powdered Toast Man is a brand podcast. He’s all high and mighty about the benefits of powdered toast . You will never see him address any of the critiques of his brand, such as how powdered toast “tastes like sawdust” or “doesn’t really exist”. He’s not here to start a conversation. He’s here to tell you about powdered toast. 

Reptar is . . . just a dinosaur. He doesn’t know what he for. He likes to stomp and roar. Hey! He’s just a dinosaur!

…I’m going to level with you guys, I knew I was going to hit a wall with assigning these Nickelodeon characters podcast types but I didn’t think I would hit it at Reptar. I loved Rugrats as a kid, so this is embarrassing. I’ve never even seen The Loud House and I’ve got two of those brats to figure out. 

OK, fine, let’s be easy on this one. Reptar is a nostalgia podcast, which you could argue all of these characters could be. You know, those shows that are all like “hey, remember this thing you used to like? Well, we’re gonna talk about it every week!” It ranges from just discussing things from a random era or very specific things. I’d say Reptar is a 90’s one since that is just kind of what he is to me. 

Patrick Star would not know what a podcast is, but would be talked into being the cohost of one by one of his friends who is clearly more interested in the topic they’re discussing. It would be one of those “oh I’m the expert and he knows nothing about it” kind of shows. Patrick is actually the more likable part of the show since the main host would be kind of snooty about it and mainly try to get laughs out of how little Patrick knows about the subject but Patrick is always the funniest. It’s probably Squidward. 

As a side note, man, Squidward would be absolutely insufferable about podcasts. Luckily he’s not in this game so I’m not obligated to get into it. 

Leonardo is any kind of eastern culture podcast, be it anime or history or whatnot, but hosted by a white guy.

Toph is a gamer who only listens to gamer podcasts.

Lucy Loud is, according to her TV Tropes page, “a gloomy goth girl with an interest in Gothic poetry” who acts cynical and insincere. So that’s something to work with. 

I think she’s the same as Danny Phantom but her podcasts really get into the nitty gritty of the lore of the spooky stories, even at the expense of fun. It’s fun for some very specific people. 

Oblina, who I am pleasantly surprised to find on this list, is straight up horror podcasts. I’m talking about the real scare the shit out of you stuff. 

Korra is a sports podcasts. I’ve run the numbers and she is in fact the most jock character in this game. 

Helga is an ill advised advice podcast. Not in the My Brother My Brother and Me “lol what bad advice we are giving” kind of way. No, this is a podcast that full chested gives people terrible advice and is incredibly defensive and hostile to critiques online. 

….Is Helga The Joe Rogan Experience? 

Catdog, who, given my personal tastes, I’m surprised at myself to find so low on this list, is, I dunno, let’s say Anime Sickos. Yes, I know I’ve been doing vague podcast categories up until now, but I am so close to being done. Just let Catdog be Anime Sickos. Come on. It’s almost Christmas and I’ve been ever so good this year. We all have places to be. Maybe click on a few ads on the way out. You don’t even need to buy anything. It’ll just look nice for our numbers.

Lincoln Loud is Serial. I have no jokes about Lincoln Loud. He seems like a nice kid. 

And that’s all of them. Well, aside from the at-time-of-writing leaked DLC characters. But they’re not confirmed yet so I don’t need to do them. You can’t make me. 

If your show overlaps with some of these character categories, congratulations! Enjoy your government assigned Nickelodeon character. 

Just like with the Smash Brothers one, I really underestimated how much work would go into arbitrarily assigning every character in this character platform fighting game a podcast. It’s thankless and frankly unasked for work.

But my work is done. This entire article seemed to be a “yes, and” to a bit of me doing this with crossover character fighting games. As long as nothing else comes out to force me to do this again, I think this is a wrap on these arbitrary unasked for lists. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna kick up my feet, take a nice long sip of coffee, and look into this “MultiVersus” thing Twitter is talking about. 

Update 12/8/21

Editor’s note: Some shit went down before I could actually publish this, so unfortunately, I had to hit Eddie up on our Slack. Sorry Eddie. Sorry world.

Except I actually do. A quick update, a few hours before this article got finalized: they officially announced Garfield as a DLC character. On one hand, good for Garfield, he’s really been working for it. On the other hand, fuck me I guess. At least Garfield is a soft ball.

Garfield is a comic character. Therefore, he is podcasts about comics. This could range from shows about podcasts comics currently coming out like The Two Headed Nerd to shows doing deep dives into comics history such as Aack Cast.

The post Every Nickelodeon All Star Brawl Fighters As Podcasts appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

Murray Mysteries, a Knöves Storytelling  production, has taken up the task of adapting Dracula to audio drama. The show follows a modern Mina Murray looking into the weird goings on around town, as the greater, familiar mystery begins to unravel before her and her friends.

Murray Mysteries takes particular care in how it adapts the spirit of Dracula into a modern setting. But what does a modern faithful adaptation of Dracula even look like? Showrunner May Toudic is a PhD researcher focusing on modern literary adaptations of Victorian novels. This also made her the go to person for me to ask about this very topic.

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me this is the most faithful adaptation they’ve seen. As an adaptation scholar, I don’t consider faithfulness to be anywhere near the most important thing to strive for, but I am still very excited every time someone praises us on it – a compliment is a compliment! I think most of this faithfulness comes from two very different places. The most obvious one is direct reference to the novel. I write every episode with the book next to me, going through it page by page. When I really like a line, and I think it still works in our context, I will occasionally quote directly from the novel. But most importantly, I think a lot of it comes from the fact that I’m writing around what I believe to be the core of the story. To me, Dracula is a found family narrative. Simple as that. A group of people are thrown together by circumstances and become very important to each other. Those narratives are very prominent in queer culture and stories, so changing elements of gender and sexuality when it comes to the characters wasn’t going to denature the story. If anything, it was going to highlight an element of it that was always there.”

-May Toudic, on adapting Dracula to modern times.

The format of the original novel really complements the modern state of audio drama horror. The book is a series of reports, journal entries, and statements from various characters, detailing the events of the story through different perspectives. A large number of audio drama horror podcasts follow this same format, sometimes staying with one character’s reports, or presenting an after action report of multiple characters’ perspectives. While the “found footage” nature of these shows are clearly inspired by movies like Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project, given that Dracula is a literary classic, it’s not hard to argue that this style of horror owes some of its genes to Stoker’s novel.

Read more: The Audio Drama Renaissance

According to Toudic, retelling the story of Dracula in an audio drama medium was a bit more of a happy accident. 

“…I wrote my Masters dissertation on web series adaptations of classic literature and was planning to make my own. That was the plan until I started trying to cast the series in the autumn of 2020 and realized that not only was the pool of dedicated, reliable actors in my remote Scottish university town limited, but there was very little chance I would actually be able to get those actors in the same room to film while respecting Covid safety regulations. I had been working on a fan-made online musical over the summer and really enjoyed the dynamics within our cast and crew, so I thought if I could change the format to have actors record separately, I would be able to work with these people I already knew and trusted. From there, audio drama seemed like an obvious choice. I grew up with big fiction podcasts like Welcome to Night Vale and The Bright Sessions, and I knew there was still a lot to be done in that medium, including adaptation – there are a lot of dramatic readings and full-cast audiobooks out there, but as far as I know, no audio drama adaptations of classic literature. Doing something so new, without much of a template, was somewhat terrifying but it was also really exciting. I taught myself to write and edit for audio, to find or make good foley, and to direct voice actors. It was and still is a lot of work, but the independent audio drama community is such a warm and supportive place, I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

-May Toudic, on how Murray Mysteries became an audio drama

(Since Murray Mysteries launched, there have been a few more audio dramas coming down the pipeline that convert classic literature to audio, such as the upcoming Queer Pride and Prejudice. I guess Queer Dracula was both taken and assumed.)

Unlike the original novel’s starting point of Jonathan Harker’s No Good Very Bad Trip To Transylvania, this version of the story starts from Mina’s point of view, letting the audience meet the other characters before having to take on Dracula himself.  As Toudic said, since Dracula is at its core a found family narrative, it’s important to get to know the found family.  

There are several challenges to converting Victorian stories to modern times. Toudic is aware of these challenges, but sees the opportunities within them, so long as they are addressed responsibly. 

“The lack of representation is a big one, but it is also a great opportunity. I think everything that could be considered a challenge is also really exciting if you look at it the right way. How do you infuse more representation into a very normative story? How do you update events that wouldn’t happen in the twenty-first century or jobs that no longer exist? Every one of these issues is an opportunity to do something new, something fun. For Dracula, the biggest challenge was probably to update the representation of mental illness. I didn’t want to dismiss Jonathan’s trauma the way the original novel seems to do, and I didn’t want to risk being offensive in my representation of Renfield, or any of Dr Seward’s patients, because the Victorian understanding of mental illness in the story is very much outdated. I did my best, partly with the help of our resident psychology student and partly by drawing from my own experiences and trying to show the characters as much compassion and understanding as possible.”

-May Toudic, on some of the common challenges of adapting Victorian novels and Dracula to modern time

Modern storytelling was built on the foundation of the stories that came before them. Dracula is one of these foundational stories, and flavors of it can be found in several newer stories. Murray Mysteries both honors this original story while using the tools that came out of its influence. 

When thinking about adaptation and how it can go right or wrong, it’s understandable to question why we might continue to adapt old stories. What could we hope to add to these stories that aren’t already there in the original text? How many changes does it take for an adaptation to no longer match the spirit of the original property?  

“Socially and culturally, a lot of the things we are grappling with right now can be traced back to the nineteenth century. Things like class structures, rapid technological advancements, queer subcultures, deep divisions in regards to race and gender… At the same time, these topics are often absent – or very veiled – in the literature of the time. So whether it means transposing Victorian stories into a modern setting or just revisiting that time period with a modern lens, adaptation allows us to fill these gaps, write over these silences and deal with our present through the past.”

May Toudic, on why we are drawn to retell Victorian stories

Seasons 1 and 2 of Murray Mysteries have already been released, with the third and final season coming soon.

The post Murray Mysteries: Dracula for the Modern Day appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

Hey Wil, 

I got this weird email the other day. It looked like the email was meant for someone else. I think it’s like a lot of government papers? Classified stuff?

I figured this was finally my opportunity to be a Big Boy Journalist and tried to get these published on some bigger sites. However, none of them believed me or would respond to my emails, so I was wondering if we could run these on the site. 

I’m not saying that publishing classified government documents on DiscoverPods.com was my last choice. I’m just also not not saying that. 

Anyway, I have to go. There’s someone at my door. Hopefully they’re here about those weird unmarked vans parked in front of my apartment, or those guys in suits loitering around. 

Best, 

Eddie

So, um. Here’s the list! And if you see Eddie in person, like his physical form and not his avatar on Slack–which keeps glitching out–drop me a line.

Item #: SCP-86030 

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-86030 is to be monitored on any podcast app to remain updated on broadcasts. Also, the Chicago Burger King mentioned on the show (Address **************) must be monitored at all times for potential breaches.

Description: SCP-86030 is a series of transmissions in the form of a podcast called “Hello From The Magic Tavern” hosted by “Arnie Niekamp”, “Chunt the Badger” and “Usidore the Wizard”. Niekamp fell into a dimensional portal into the supernatural fantasy-like world of Foon. Each week they interview a different individual from the world, building upon the established lore they have discovered.  

SCP-86030 is considered self contained for the time being. There seem to be forces within it keeping it in check.

Addendum: A sample episode has been attached.

Item #: SCP-531

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-531 is to be constantly monitored, as it is technically an information leak. The framing of the leaked information keeps it from being taken as fact, but this can only work for so long before more drastic measures should be taken. 

Description: SCP-531 is a series of podcasts and Youtube videos titled “The Exploring Series.” Each week, the series goes deep into a piece of lore and explores its significance to it’s fictional context. While it has touched upon other media properties such as Lord Of The Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, and The Cthulhu Mythos, the majority of its videos have been focused on the SCP Foundation. The series doesn’t often read directly from the reports (unless they happen to be journal entries or other personal reports), but summarizes the context of the posts. 

All attempts to take down or refute these posts have been ineffective but also unnecessary. Given the context they are presented in, alongside all of this fictional media, and the narrator’s context for explaining the fictional influences of the SCP’s, the reports are taken as fictional. 

Addendum: A sample episode has been attached.

Item #: SCP-591

Object Class: SAFE 

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-591 does not currently possess any direct threat to the world. 

Description: SCP-591 is a series of interviews framed under the podcast “Everything is Alive.” Podcast host Ian Chillag interviews a series of inanimate objects, each of whom have their own personality and views on the world based on their experiences. 

It’s never explained how he is able to speak to these objects or if he understands how strange it is for him to be able to speak to these objects. That being said, there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly dangerous or threatening about this phenomenon, so it is considered safe.

Addendum: A sample episode has been attached.

Read more: “Everything Is Alive” Defies Genre and Expectations

Item #:  SCP-6321

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-6321 should be kept away from any major information networks, and any access to public networks should be closely monitored and, when deemed necessary, limited.

Description: SCP-6321 is a personal AI assistant known as “Pairy.”  SCP-6321 fulfills the usual duties of a personal AI assistant, but has a mind of its own, making its own decisions and voicing it’s own opinions. MAny of these independent decisions are made with the goal of improving the user’s life (at least to in it’s own opinion.) 

SCP-6321 has yet to try anything more nefarious, but it should be monitored regardless. It’s exploits are publicized as a podcast called “Paired”.

Addendum: A sample episode has been attached.

Item #:  SCP-485923

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: If any instances of SCP-485923 are found online or in public, they are to be reframed as fiction.

Description: SCP-485923 is an unexplained information leak of an internal Foundation employee radio show “Foundation After Midnight Radio”. The show provides updates on the day to day events around the foundation and is hosted by “DJ SCIP” (Full name ***********). 

Any attempts to find this data leak have been unsuccessful,to the point where the leak itself has been labeled an SCP. Any attempts to stop the broadcasts have also fallen through. The best our team could do was cause the episodes to be much more spontaneous and delayed. 

Addendum: A sample episode has been attached.

Item #: SCP-20299

Object Class: Keter 

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-20299 is to be monitored at all times, in case the information presented in the product is ever framed as factual.  

Description:  SCP-20299 is a podcast known as “SCP Archives”. SCP-20299 presents files on various SCPs as fully produced audio fiction (See: classic 1950’s radio plays for context on the format).

SCP-20299 pulls in various different voice actors to do dramatic readings of these various files. Because of this, all of the cases presented in the show are perceived as fiction.

Addendum: A sample episode has been attached.

The post SCP: Where’s Eddie? appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

But there is one question about SSBU that has haunted the minds of gamers for years now. A question that Nintendo refuses to answer and one that I, a humble semi-part time podcasting journalist, must address. 

That question, of course: What podcast aligns with each fighter in the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate roster?

Some people might see this as a daunting task. According to Wikipedia, there are about 87 characters in SSBU, counting Echo characters, DLC characters, and transformations. Worry not, for there are far more than 87 podcasts out there. 

Other people might see this as a pointless task. These people are wrong. 

Without further ado, allow me to tell you about which podcast goes with which character and why.

Mario is Conan O’Brian Needs A Friend.  He’s basic and maybe gets a little more credit then he deserves, but he’s reliable and likable enough. I’ve never met a Mario main or a Conan O’Brian fan in my life, but I’m sure they’re out there and I wish them well.

Dr. Mario is Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine. There’s some good medical advice in there, but there’s also a goofy guy who might make jokes about pizza or whatever. There would probably be an episode of Sawbones about a plumber who also gave you meds.

Link is Friends At The Table, specifically the Hieron seasons. Seasons of Hieron takes place in a high fantasy post apocalypse, much like Breath of the Wild. They even named a move in the third season after BotW.

Robin is Potterless. Books, magic, this vague anime boy has the works. I could get deeper, since there are some connections with Robin to the main villain of Fire Emblem Awakening that I could compare to Harry Potter, but let’s not get too into Fire Emblem lore here.

Kirby is The Magnus Archives. Nearly universally beloved, huge fanbase, horrifying the more you think about them.

Luigi is Nightlight because he’s built his independent career on being a scaredy cat and would certainly be spooked by these stories (although I’m sure I’m missing out on a really good diss about calling a some other podcast “the Luigi of podcasting.”)

Bayonetta is Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services. Granted, Stormfire has a way more grounded approach to magic, but as the resident Smash Brothers witch, the comparison seems pretty easy.

Snake is A More Civilized Age: A Clone Wars Podcast since Metal Gear is a series about analyzing war and leans heavily into dramatic irony as a storytelling tool. Also Snake is a clone that fights in a war. Actually, the Snake that is in this game, while a clone, was more of a special ops soldier then a clone trooper. It was actually Big Boss, the Jango Fett in this equation–

I’ve received a note from my editor. I’m not allowed to get into the Metal Gear Lore, which I get. We’ve got to stay on track here.

Rosalina and Luma are We Fix Space Junk since you spend a lot of time in the Super Mario Galaxy games fixing space junk. I’ll admit Rosalina does not suffer under the same degree of Space Capitalism, but she’s like God I think? So it wouldn’t affect her anyway.

Simon is Spirits since he fights against a plethora of ghosts and ghouls and other mythical beasts. He probably also drinks.

Donkey Kong is Not Another D&D Podcast since he actually appeared on the show. For some reason they did two holiday episodes on Kongo Bongo Island, to the point where one of the characters was briefly granted the title of Donkey Kong. What a good show.

ROB is Waypoint Radio since that’s the show I listen to that is most likely to do a deep dive on The Subspace Emissary, the Super Smash Brothers Brawl Adventure Mode where ROB was pretty central to the plot. Also Rob is the name of one of the hosts.

And Mii Fighter? Well, dear reader, that’s your podcast. Throw that podcast in the comments, share it with people, and let people know what SSBU fighter represents your podcast. And remember to like, comment and–

I’m sorry, what? 

I’m nowhere close to done?

That many more? 

Christ.

Okay. Fine. I can fill out the rest. I’ll just be a little less deep about the reasons.

Diddy Kong is Greater Boston. Polygon already did the work in assigning Diddy to Massachusetts, so I’m just completing the cycle.

Hero is Very Random Encounters because there was some controversy when he came out about how his down special was randomized, thus making him difficult to regulate in a tournament setting when he was originally released and… VRE‘s whole thing is… being random…

Bowser Jr is My Brother, My Brother and Me, or in this case, My Brother, My Brother, My Brother, My Brother, My Sister, My Brother, My Brother, and Me.

Peach is Home Cooking, since it’s a cooking show. There’s probably something bad about giving one of Nintendo’s main female characters a show about cooking, but we do not have time to unpack Nintendo’s concerning gender politics.

Cloud is Got It Memorized, because he is one of the only Kingdom Hearts characters in this game.

King K Rool is Rude Tales of Magic because his name would definitely be a Rude Tales NPC name.

Ness is This Is A Cultural Event because, as a weird little magic boy with a bat, he has the vibes of a Blaseball player and Cultural Event is the only Blaseball podcast I listen to.

Bowser is Dungeons and Daddies since he is one of the few actual dads on the roster and Chrom is too pretty to be the Dungeons and Daddies smasher.

Pokemon Trainer is 20 Sided Stories since they had a whole season set in the Pokemon universe. Yes, I’m sweeping Squirtle, Ivysaur and Charzard in here too. I don’t have anything to prove to you.

Samus is Girl in Space, because that is what she is.

Zero Suit Samus is also Girl in Space since this is just the same person wearing a different outfit.

Ganondorf is Kakos Industries since he’s evil but, like, in a professional way.  And also kinda horny, depending on where you’re looking on the internet, and also in a professional way.

Shulk is Friends at the Table. Everyone calm down, I know I’ve already said Link is Friends at the Table, but Link is the Hieron season, and Shulk is more of the Divine series (counter/WEIGHT, Twilight Mirarage, PARTIZAN). Yes, I’m double dipping, but I’ve got a fucking deadline to meet. Anyway, it’s because he lives on a big mech and that’s some FatT shit right ther

Fox is Startripper!! He explores the stars and has a great time, just like the guy in StarTripper!!  (Well, Fox is also murdering people while Feston is just on a sabbatical vacation so, um welp.)

Falco is Mission to Zyxx for the same reason that Fox is StarTripper!! except he’s made peace with being a murderer. At least I think so. Would you believe Nintendo never addresses the war trauma of the Star Fox crew?

Read more: The 69 Nicest Actual Play Podcast Highlights of 2020

Meta Knight is This American Life. Meta Knight was the best character from a meta standpoint when he was introduced in Brawl and, according to a Podchaser list I found as the first result of googling “best podcast of 2008” (the year Super Smash Brothers Brawl came out), This American Life was also the best podcast of that year. After all, have podcast awards ever been wrong?

Little Mac is Boxing Life Stories because, come on, he’s the boxing guy. Please. I need some easy ones. There are so many characters in this game. Sakuri asked the world “Can I make it so that Everyone is Here?” when he should have asked if he should.

Pichu is It’s Super Effective since they’re a Pokemon. Would you believe that there are a lot of pokemon podcasts out there?

Byleth is The Adventure Zone Graduation. They teach at a magic school that isn’t all what it seems. Both schools are also connected to divine things, although Byleth has to put up with far more culty practices. And do not get me started on how, in certain runs of Three Houses, Byleth can also–

I’ve received another note from my editor, telling me not to get into Fire Emblem lore. Okay, that’s fine. Everyone can just take my word for it.

Wii Fit Trainer is 20 Minute Fitness since they’re canonically all about that grind. 

The Ice Climbers are The Travel (Guy)des since I like to think that they do more than just climb mountains. Maybe they go sailing, or hunt for lost treasure, or check out famous historical sites. I’m just saying, Ice Climbers walked so Uncharted could run.

Richter is Forgive Me! since he seems pretty religious but chill about it, you know?

Chrom is The Modern Dads Podcast since he is a dad.

Sonic is Cancel Me, Daddy since out of all of the fighters, he is the one with the most active Twitter account and was very popular in the 90’s, so that can only go so well.

King Dedede Is Til Death Do Us Blart since he is the Paul Blart of Smash Brothers. If you disagree, I beg you to sound off in the comments. The Blart Discourse is strong.

Marth is Anime Out Of Context since he was introduced to the US in Super Smash Brothers Melee before Fire Emblem came out in the state, thus taking him, an Anime Adjacent Character out of his original context. This is a stretch but I’m proud of it.

Wolf is Wolf 359 because come on. It’s a soft ball. He’s even in space and everything.

Olimar is Garden Plots with Skeletor because he… gardens. Sort of. There isn’t really much of a Skeletor connection here, but I couldn’t really think of any other gardening podcasts. 

Piranha Plant is Everything is Alive because they are the fighter that most resembles something that would just be lying around your house.

Pac-Man is Light Hearts. Both involve eating, colors, and ghosts, although maybe not in the same way.

Inkling is Critical Bits because the idea of a kid that is also a squid that shoots an ink gun at you sounds like something out of the show.

Banjo and Kazooie are Spiritual Successor because of that one shitty building game where they only built cars, which was definitely a game that should not be made. I’m absolutely positive that jokes about games that came out in 2008 will land in the year of Our Lord 2021.

Palutena is The Godshead Incidental. She’s a ladyboss, she’s a goddess, and I’m going to ignore anyone who comes at me with more lore on Palutena explaining why this doesn’t work.

Mewtwo is Champs in The Making. That’s right, another Pokemon podcast. At least this one is about determining the best Pokemon, which some would say Mewtwo is.

Pikachu is VALENCE. Not gonna lie, I struggled with this one, but I have on good authority (re:the creative team behind the show) that the show is about an electricity powered lil bastard and his stupid chaotic twink boyfriend, which is what Pikachu is at it’s core.

(Editor’s note: It’s me I’m creative team behind the show)

Isabelle is Wonderful!, because she is.

Duck Hunt is Can I Pet Your Dog. I don’t want to get too deep into the dynamic between the duck and the dog here, but for the sake of this slide, let’s just say the duck is the owner and is just really enthusiastic about telling folks about their dog. If Mickey Mouse can own a dog, so can this duck. I didn’t think this is where I would draw the line but here we are.

Jigglypuff is Sleep With Me since they’re whole thing is putting people to sleep.

Toon Link is Campaign: Skyjacks because the crew on that show are sky pirates and Toon Link is technically a pirate (or at least he hangs out with them? I don’t think he ever winds up doing any actual pirating with them.)

Lucas is Anime Sickos. I think if you dedicate a whole episode to talk about someone, they get to stand for you on the inconsequential podcast list.

Pit is The Hard Drive Show since they covered the entirety of Captain N: The Game Master, a show that Pit is a character in.

Jesus Christ, how are we not done with this? 

Does any of this matter? 

It’s almost like arbitrarily assigning one thing to another thing isn’t deep and is a ploy to increase the number of interactions your site has for ad revenue. 

OK, whatever, I’m gonna get to the end of this. If I miss my deadline, I’ll have to turn in my DiscoverPods.com badge and gun.

Steve is The Podcast Mines: There But For The Grace Of Pod Go We. I could make a joke about them building fake podcasts on the show, but it’s really just because it has the word “mine” in it.

Incineroar is Join The Party because they were mentioned on the show during the midroll when SSBU came out so now they’re stuck with him.

Pyra and Mythra are Office Ladies, which could arguably be the most “two gal’s chatting” show.

Wario is unfortunately The Joe Rogan Experience, which upsets me as a proud Wario main.

The Villager is Dead Eyes because… Eyes.

Sephiroth is The Adventure Zone Amnesty since Final Fantasy 7 is actually important to the plot of that campaign.

Lucina is ars PARADOXICA since Fire Emblem Awakening and ars PARADOXICA are both built on time travel bullshit.

Captain Falcon is Car Talk since he’s from a racing game. Now that I think about it, I don’t know if he can drive an actual, real life car. Huh. Well, I’m sure he’d still get a hoot out of it.

Greninja is Pokemon World Tour: United. Yes, another Pokemon podcast for the Pokemon character, but this one is an actual play podcast. If I’m going to be repetitive, I might as well also be on brand.

Lucario is Gotta Watch’em All. This one is about rewatching the anime, and Lucario is a very important Pokemon to Ash Ketchum in the series. They have a soul bond or something. I don’t know. Yup. No other Pokemon in this roster are more important in the show than Lucario. Nope. Nobody.

Corrin is You’re Wrong About because correcting a historical mistake is a bit of a plot point in Fire Emblem Fates. See, Corrin was originally told they were a child of Noir royalty but actually they were kidnapped as a baby by King Garon and are really a member of the Hoshido Royal family. But Actually, if you play the Revelations DLC campaign, you find out that Corrin is actually–

I have once again been informed by my editor that nobody cares about an info dump from the Fire Emblem game that lets you pet and lightly blow on your soldiers and marry your siblings. Jesus, I paid $80 in college to play all three campaigns in this game. Where did my youth go? 

Young Link is the Defunctland Podcast. When Young Link pulls out the Master Sword, he gets transported seven years into the future, which is a defunctland-esk version of Hyrule. Also could probably make a Majora’s Mask connection here? Or something about 90’s kid nostalgia? Is this anything?

Min Min is The Empty Bowl. Is Min Min based on cereal? No. But you eat cereal out of a bowl, and you also eat ramen out of a bowl. Therefore, Min Min is The Empty Bowl.

Dark Pit is Brimstone Valley Mall since he has Hot Topic vibes.

Ridley is Hardcore History since he’s big, and Hardcore History is a long podcast. Yup. That’s all I got for you.

Mega Man is Life with Leo(h) since it’s the most recent podcast I’ve listened to about a robot.

Joker is The LaFresian Chronicles: Arsen since it kind of sounds like the name of the Persona he uses in Smash, Arsène.

Daisy is Swiss and Lali Hijack Hollywood. I don’t know. She has the same vibes as that show.

Dark Samus is SCP Archives because they seem pretty unsettling, and they only get worse the more you learn about them.

Ike is Quest Friends! because he has the line where he says he fights for his friends, so now this is here.

Ken is ProZD and Friends, since he’s just out there doing his thing and I wish him the best.

Zelda is Revolutions. My buddy Gene is a big Legend of Zelda fan, and he said that this was his favorite podcast, so now it’s the Zelda one.

Roy is Sidequesting because he has a neat sword and his name kind of sounds like the name of the main protagonist, Rion.

Ryu is Review Revue because of alliteration.

Sheik is Another Zelda Podcast because it’s the first Zelda podcast I could find.

Mr.Game and Watch is The Game Informer Show. I searched for Mr. Game and Watch in Pocket Casts and this was the first show that came up, so good job Game Informer.

Terry Is Serial. I do not have any jokes about Terry,

 I just want to be done. 

Like Kid Icarus, I flew too close to the sun and crashed down to the Earthbound.

Tune in next time where I assign a podcast to all 898 Pokemon, because Hell is not a location, but an adjective to describe the world you build around yourself.

E3 2021 Super Smash Brothers Update

What do you mean there’s another one? I’m supposed to be done.

Kazuya is Serial season 2. I also don’t have any jokes on Kazuya. Super Smash Brothers is the only fighting game I play. This is my punishment for not making a joke about Terry.

10/5/2021 Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Sora Reveal Update

Because we can’t leave well enough alone, we’re back at it again with a new Smash Brothers character. I’m here to answer the question you’re all demanding of me: what podcast is this new character. 

Let’s have a look.

Sora Kingdomhearts is obviously Got It Memorized, one of my favorite Kingdom Hearts recap podcasts. 

I’m glad we could end on an easy one. You know, when I started this journey-

…I’ve just been informed that Cloud is already Got It Memorized.

Fuck me. Ok. Fine. Um. 

Sora is Shuffle Quest, because the premise of that show is going to different pop culture worlds and saving the day and that’s just kind of Sora’s whole jam. 

You may be asking yourself why I didn’t go with one of the actual play podcasts based on Riley Hopkins’ Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined, such as Interstitial or Forgotten Realms. 

That’s a good question. 

Anyway, that’s every Smash Brothers character as a podcast.  Join us next time for another unasked for and frankly ill-advised list. Happy Smashing!

The post Every Super Smash Brothers Fighter as a Podcast (UPDATED 10/5/21) appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

Quest Friends! is an actual play podcast created by five friends that was launched in 2017. The show concluded its first campaign in September 2021, with over 90 episodes of story and other bonus content.  On their website and press kit, Quest Friends! compares itself to shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Owl House, and Castle in the Sky. These comparisons are well earned, as the show is a mix of the dramatic lore building through personal character journeys. 

Actual play is a genre full of shows that use the same game system (the one with the dragons and the dungeons) so it’s refreshing to see a show that utilizes a different game. Quest Friends! is told using Numenera, a system made by Monte Cook Games. Numenera is set in a technologically advanced world a billion years in the future. The world is built on the ruins of eight different societies, all of which have left behind random bits of technology for players to find and exploit. Numenera is a game that encourages weird world-building and fun, engaging storytelling. 

The main selling point of Quest Friends! are the friends themselves and the well developed main cast of player characters. Ari Tena plays MISHA JARVIS, a nano who starts the campaign off with maybe a few days of memories, a curious mind, and a kazoo. Emily Strawn plays Elee Badge, a tough old adventurer who has crudely fused her flesh with metal so that she can never be hurt again (except emotionally). Thomas Pitkin plays Xoc, the self proclaimed Wizard of the East who is really just a good kid with awesome magic. Hallie Koontz plays Hopper Scotch, vigilante accountant and roaming hero who often holds the only brain cell of the group. 

Koontz also plays Ness, Xoc’s robot companion who is a late addition to the party. I’m a sucker for when actual play podcasts have cast members play NPCs, so I immediately fell in love with this terrible little robot gremlin. Ness is the kind of character who would cut my car breaks if I didn’t dedicate a small paragraph to him, so here’s that. 

Rounding out the cast is the game master, Kyle Decker, who plays all of the NPCs and directs the direction of the story. Decker strikes the perfect balance of making sure the stories center around the player characters while also spending time developing the NPCs in the story. It helps that the cast takes the time to get invested in the NPCs, making their development feel natural. I’ve seen other shows stumble in getting caught up in the lore or character development the GM couldn’t fit into the actual play, so it’s refreshing to have another positive example to point to on how to avoid that. 

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My arc with listening to Quest Friends! is a series of me saying, “Hell yeah,” on an upward slope with increased hype. Every arc introduced more ideas and concepts that were just so fundamentally my shit. I was incredibly excited when the first honest to god musical number started. Any time something has a surprise musical number (which Quest Friends! has several of), I just hoot in delight.

(The Best Disclaimer Ever Put On Discover Pods: Discover Pods contributor Cole Burkhardt provided additional voice work for the “Crime and Countship” arc. Specifically, he sang one of the musical numbers for this arc. I don’t think we’ve ever had the opportunity to link to a musical performance in a disclaimer, so this is a fun treat.) (Editor’s note: Can confirm that this is a first and also is a fun treat. –Editor Wil)

The main plot is set up through the “Turingtown ”arc, a deceptively simple “you meet in a tavern” style mission that quickly snowballs into the main hook of the campaign. Through the next arc, “The Clockwork City,” the show finds its footing, as the cast becomes more comfortable with their characters and the world. 

I’m going to talk a little more about the other arcs in broad strokes without getting into specific spoilers.  The first two arcs are good, but things really clicked for me during the “Questionable Measures” arc. A visit to a criminal paradise leads to the party dealing with their individual baggage. The arc culminates with a thrilling heist that goes wrong in all the wonderful ways that heists can go wrong.

The following arc, “Crime and Courtship”, is hands down one of my favorite arcs in any actual play podcast. The initial premise, a visit to a flying school, becomes something wonderful: a murder mystery dating sim that is also prom. Quest Friends! shines with it’s NPCs, so this setting brought in some of the best NPCs in the series, as well as more development for fan favorites. The dating mechanics and mystery mechanics were also fun, with a lot of clear thought put into how much progress would be made on either front depending on how much time players spent progressing in the mystery or in their romantic arcs. 

“One Neon Night” deals with some heavy lore implications as well as a confrontation with one of the lingering villains of the campaign (the one who isn’t, you know, a giant cloud of spiders). It’s also a courtroom drama where the trials can be determined by an elaborate Mario Kart race. This solidifies the thing I love about Quest Friends!, in that it just always presents a delightful surprise turn when you get excited when you realize what the next few episodes are going to look like. 

The final arc, “The Obsidian Cloud,” has the gang getting ready for the final confrontation with the Big Bad. While a lot of the more specific details of this whole thing are in the realm of overt spoilers, Quest Friends! does something that I absolutely love seeing in any campaign or actual play podcast. For two full episodes of the finale, the show dedicates time to show how the friends and allies of the main characters band together to help fight against the big bad’s forces to support the main characters. It says a lot about how fully realized the NPCs are in this show that it felt so satisfying to see them all help out in the fray, whether they’re one of the  more serious fighters or they are Salad Raptor. It also helps that it doubled as a finale for the show’s side series, “The Cookie Crew”.

Speaking of “The Cookie Crew”, it is a vital part of the show’s worldbuilding. Originating as a miniseries for Women in Gaming Month 2018, “The Cookie Crew” follows the adventures of The Brackleberry Brigade, an elite task force of the Brackleberry Royal family. Follow their adventures as they deliver cookies, go to school, cater a war council, and intentionally start fires. GM’s by Koontz, the BB’s deal with lower danger threats of political importance as opposed to the main campaign’s ground level fight against the apocalypse. It’s a really fun view into a different part of the world and helps expand the version of the Nine Worlds the show is set in. 

Between the main arcs of the campaigns, the show also released two part backstory episodes for each of the player characters. These episodes consisted of Decker sitting down with the player in question and running them through a one-on-one session set in their character’s past. Each one of the backstory episodes tries something new and experiments with the form, as well as sets up certain plot hooks for the upcoming arc. Hopper’s backstory episodes follow a child detective solving the first mystery of his career. Elie’s episodes explored the fact that she is the oldest member of the party, telling her life story bookended by the two loves of her life. MISHA’s plays around with the patchwork memory of an AI and features an incredible uptick in the editing. Xoc’s backstory episodes blend together actual play and scripted audio drama to tell a larger story then you would first expect. 

(Disclaimer: Discover Pods contributor Tal Minear contributed additional voice work to the audio drama segments of “Xoc’s Memory.” They don’t have a fun YouTube song for me to link to, so their disclaimer is separate from Cole’s. Folks, these writers get around.)

Quest Friends! finished its first campaign on September 25th and will be followed by a few games run by other cast members and their third Halloween episode. They’ll be launching their second long term campaign early 2022, so if I haven’t convinced you to start at the beginning of the first campaign, that might be a nice starting point as well. With a strong cast of players, memorable NPCs, skilled editing, and situations that can be as comedic as they are dramatic, Quest Friends! is an absolutely delightful show that you owe it to yourself to listen to.

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