I like listening to historical podcasts, and my favorites are "The History of Rome" (which has finished) and its followup "The History of Byzantium" and "Hardcore History" . I've heard good things about "Revolutions" by the creator of "The History of Rome" but I haven't checked it out yet.
Also I've been enjoying "Fall of Civilizations" a lot, but so far have only listened to a few of the episodes.
The Fall of Civilizations is one of my favorite podcasts right now! I highly recommend it if you like to think about history from a sort of different point of view. The host is really invested in trying to contextualize what things may have looked and felt like from the common person's point of view.
I have listened to a few of the "Fall of Civilizations". The quality of the production is very impressive.
If you are a fan of history podcasts, the BBC have a series "You're Dead to Me" which is a history podcast with a lot of British humour added in.
"Gone Medieval" is another history podcast by History Hits, but the quality off each show is very hit or miss. Quality of the topic can be lackluster sometimes and even the sound quality of guests can be poor. The topics are all medieval and can be more UK centric. Still good and worth a listen.
I've listened to all of these podcasts besides Hardcore history, and I can highly recommend all of them. It's hard to pick a favourite but it might be Revolutions, which I found the most eye-opening, especially season 3 on the french revolution. I'm currently working my way through Wittenberg to Westphalia, the Wars of the Reformation, which is meant to be on the 30 years way, but takes a very deep dive into the life, economy, history and culture of the middle ages and early modern period.
Behind the Bastards, a deep dive into the various shit people of history. Episode one is Saddam Hussein: Erotic Novelist.
There's nearly 700 episodes, and I've yet to run tio a dud. Loads of great guests. My only gripe is that it's a touch Amerocentric, but other than that I'd recommend it to basically anyone. Not kid friendly, in case that wasn't obvious.
This is a fair assessment, but I would add that the host mentions that he’s a gun owner with a carry permit, and does from time to time point out the failures of the US political left. There is a bias, but I wouldn’t put him in the realm of Democracy Now!
That said, some of the episodes are great. I recently listened to the Jack Welch ones and loved them.
Hardcore History. The come out a few times a year and are incredibly long (some episodes are five hours), but listening to Dan Carlin talk is really engaging. Plus he has one of those voices you can fall asleep to.
It Could Happen Here. Keeps my righteous anger at ‘the man’ topped up.
Criminal Records. Fun crime podcast focussed on the weird and less heard of crimes in history.
I am surprised some of the big ones haven’t been mentioned yet -
Radiolab - Not really sure how to describe this podcast. It’s superb journalism at its core. They do both short and multi-episode long form about a variety of topics from science to history to current events. For example, how dinosaurs died when the asteroid hit earth, the story of a Guantanamo convict with the same name as the host, and how poorly computer databases are designed for names that are outside the norm.
Planet Money - An excellent economics podcast where complex topics are distilled in fairly short episodes. They recently released a completely AI generated episode which was incredibly scary with how good it was.
Serial - One multi-episode series at a time about complicated criminal cases.
What Roman Mars can Learn about Con Law - Started off during the Trump Presidency when tough questions about the US constitution are being asked given his penchant for pushing the legal boundaries and norms.
It's an old one, but Stuff You Should Know. I'm listening chronologically, a couple a day (I do a lot of driving for work) and I'm still only up to about mid-2018. The hosts are so easy to listen too, and I really enjoy their humour.
She basically interviews random professors and authors. Anyone who studies something. And then asks all the dumb questions that I'd be too embarrassed to ask, in order to understand what it is that they study, why they study it, what we know about the topic.
She's got several hundred episodes from black holes and dark matter, to fire ecology, to (one of my favorites) Ferroequinology (the study of iron horses, trains).
Really great energy, great questions. Highly recommend.
I’d strongly recommend Dungeons & Daddies (not a BDSM podcast, it is indeed Dungeons & Dragons). It’s about 4 dads trying to save their sons in another realm.
Super digestible, not TOO strict about rules, and I die of laughter anytime Beth May says anything.
A couple interesting options:
Good Job Brain - always an interesting listen. They deep dive into different topics from a trivia standpoint.. super interesting.
Behind the Bastards - looks at bad people throughout history.
Trashfuture is a great podcast. It is, ostensibly, a tech-pessimist podcast, but every now and then there are some great UK-centric politics that bleed through since they are based in the UK. All of the host are kind of leftist weirdo Marxists and they really take the piss out of "technology companies" that are nothing more than shell games of moving things around that have been around forever and calling it a tech company. One of my favorites.
Hello Internet - I love the hosts, though the show is over (or, on hiatus if you truly believe)
Cortex- I listen to this mostly because CGP Grey is on it (who also was one of the hosts on Hello Internet). It's also nice for tech news/ productivity information, though sometimes I get a bit frustrated at the show
Dear Hank and John (or Dear John and Hank) - John and Hank Green answer listener questions. I'm really a sucker for this "two guys talk at the mic" format lmao
Dungeons and Daddies- a DnD podcast with Freddie Wong that I find immensely entertaining
Well There's Your Problem - an engineering disasters podcast. I really enjoy listening to the hosts, though they do tend to ramble. I like it, but might not be for everyone
Edit: Almost forgot, Wizards of Waverly Place Podcast. David Deloise and Jen Stone (The dad and Harper from the show) watch old Wizards of Waverly Place episodes and talks about them as well as has guests from the show on. This one can get a bit frustrating for me as the podcast feels a bit rushed, and their social media presence is very click baity. But I find it interesting none the less
Hardcore History is great, as is Historical Controversies for history. Woodshop Life is the best woodworking podcast I've listened to. Darknet Diaries is really cool for cyber security, covers stories of cyber crimes and penetration testers, very interesting. I'd suggest episode 24 to start, one of the best stories he's covered.
I dig My Brother, My Brother, and Me from time to time. It's just three nerdy brothers dorking out together. They used to answer Yahoo questions but they moved to wiki how's since Yahoo died. They good for a laugh but even I admit they can be a handful sometimes lol
Ologies with Ali Ward - really fun if you like interviews with experts on their areas of expertise (lots of biological/sociological topics)
Normal Gossip - recommended with the caveat that I have not really enjoyed season 3, but seasons 1 and 2 were great and I’m hopeful for future seasons. Just silly gossip stories about people you don’t know.
60 Songs That Explain the 90s
Hit Parade - Music History
30 for 30 - I don’t really follow sports, but I really like this podcast anyway
Star Trek: The Pod Directive - Probably doesn’t need a lot of explanation
The Anthropocene Reviewed - It's not an informative Podcast, but a series of stories told by John Green. They're short. Often consisting of one or two stories within 20-30 minutes. But I've loved listening to everyone of them. I'd give it 4 and half stars.
I too enjoy a lot of podcasts on stoicism, have you listened to Philosophy as a Way of Life by Massimo Pigliucci? It's hour long discussions with Massimo and guests answering audience questions at the end, can get really interesting
Anything from Aaron Mahnke (or his company Grim & Mild). I especially enjoy Lore and Cabinet of Curiosities. For true crime, I like Murder, Mysteries and Makeup or The Casual Criminalist.
Paul interviews a different person each week and discuss their journeys on dealing with their mental health. Paul is also been very open about his struggles. It helps that he is a comedian and has a subtle but dark humor that I enjoy.
I also really like the short surveys that he reads and people have filled out on his website because they make me feel connected that I’m not alone.
I personally enjoyed Blowback. It's a podcast about wars the United States were involed in. By the way, it doesn't matter what season you start listening to since each season is a separate story, so you can pick S2 or S3 from the start as these were better made IMO
Pretending to be People: a Delta Green RPG podcast. Spooky, gory and funny in pretty equal measure. I'm not caught up yet but very much enjoying working through their backlog
The Film Reroll: To quote the show "We play through your favourite movies as roleplaying games and totally ruin them." They take movies and play through them in GURPS, it often goes horribly wrong.
Probably my all time favourite podcast. Very funny and easy listening. Big backlog of episodes to get stuck into.
Dungeons and Daddies: A DnD podcast about Dads from Earth getting pulled into the Forgotten realms. Very funny.
I'll second NSTAAF and add Something Rhymes with Purple, Poppy Hillstead Has Entered The Chat, We Have Ways of Making You Talk and More or Less: Behind the Stats. All very different but excellent in their chosen subjects.
I listen to a bunch of accident and disaster podcasts. Black Box Down about plane crashes, Great Disasters, and Well There's Your Problem. All quite different in tone, but all informative and entertaining.
Movies and TV discussions: Ty & That Guy (if you're an Expanse fan, you'll love it), Cinema of Meaning, and Too Scary; Didn't Watch.
Space nerd shit: Space Rocket History (I wanna adopt this host and his wife, they're so damn sweet), Space Nuts
Medical nerd shit: This Podcast Will Kill You, EMCrit Podcast
»The Tobolowsky Files«
Stories from legendary character actor Stephen Tobolowsky
»Criminal«
Stories of people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle.
»The Filmcast«
For over 12 years, people have been tuning into the Filmcast to listen to the latest and greatest in film, TV, and all other forms of entertainment. Weekly guests have included everyday bloggers, webmaster luminaries, film directors, and movie stars.
I've been a longtime fan of CheapShow, a comedy podcast loosely based around unusual items found in cheap shops and charity shops (thrift stores). Episodes include deep dives in vintage/retro media, taste tests of weird foodstuffs, various games and challenges, plus a lot of complete chaos and toilet humour.
Maybe not for everyone, but if any of the above catches your interest it's worth a try.
If you want to listen to a couple of hobbits going on about their lives, and about the Lord of the Rings, I recommend The Friendship Onion, by Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd (Merry and Pippin).
Currently listening to the „The New Gurus“ by BBC4 and enjoying it a lot. 30min-episodes on - you guessed it - modern gurus, like pick up artists, conspiracy theorists, productivity coaches…
Obviously it depends on what you're into but I love tech and gaming. I listen to the wan show, friends per second, trash taste and the waveform podcasts.
Been diving through the huge repository of Last Podcast on the Left episodes lately, my most recent binge. I regularly listen to Darknet Diaries as well.
I love Milk Street. NPR cooking basically. Everyone has to cook at some point right?? I put it on when there’s new episodes while I work because it’s not narrative. I can tune it in and out easily.
I am fairly new to podcasts, but have a few I have begun listening to. I'm trying to find ones that are ~60 minutes and under so I can fit a whole episode in during one way of my typical commute.
Criminal
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities
And my most recent (a couple of days ago) is Midnight Facts for Insomniacs.
I'll join the chorus of No Such Thing As A Fish and add a couple history podcasts: Our Fake History (de-bunking popular myths) and Betwixt the Sheets (everything sex and gender). The backlog of now defunct Futility Closet is also worth checking out.
All Fantasy Everything. It’s so good and makes me laugh harder than anything else I listen to. Sean, David, and Ian feel like some of my buddies now and I look forward to listening to it every week. If there’s a new episode, it’s the first thing I listen to.
Dungeons and Daddies. NOT a Bdsm podcast, but a dungeons and dragons podcast. The hosts are all so incredible and have the best chemistry. The story develops in such a realistic and emotional way, with tons of laughs along the journey.
Metal Up Your Podcast. A podcast hosted by Clint Wells and Ethan Luck, focused entirely on Metallica (so obviously, you’d need to have some sort of interest in that band/metal). This podcast does tons of deep dives into the band’s history, album commentaries, top 10 song lists, tour/show recaps, and even reviews and deep dives into other albums released by other Big 4 bands (Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax). The hosts are musicians themselves and close friends so there’s a lot of awesome music creation information and hilarious bits. Highly recommend.
Last podcast on the left, criminal, no such thing as a fish, and radiolab are some of my favs. There's a lot of them I love, but forget the names rn as I let my more intelligent s.o. to curate for me. (:
Except this one: The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry - Investigating everyday mysteries with lots of science and just as much humour. A well-produced series that has been running for years! The presenters are established scientists themselves.
Throughline has been my favorite since it launched a few years ago. The hosts take a deep dive into the historical events leading up to topical events of the present weaving a thread through them, hence the name.
Some of the examples are the history of policing in the US and how capitalism became the dominant economic system.