Non-musical podcast recommendations

NothingOnTheTele

Which podcasts would you recommend that aren't mainly music/guitar-focused?

Just started listening to Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford. It's all about historical failures and what we can learn from them. One of the best presented podcasts I've heard in a while. Would recommend.

I also tried Stuff You Should Know recently but it was just a rambling, incoherent mess. The presenters didn't seem to have done much research and they even contradicted each other a few times.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Origin Story by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Each episode they pick a particular political idea/movement/theory or occasionally a great historical figure. They come up with a reading list and one presenter reads half the research, the other reads the other half, then they come together and chat about the origin, evolution and important things to know about the topic. Examples of episodes - "Woke: The word the splits the world", "McCarthyism: How one grifter still poisons America", "Fascism: The fraternity of violence".

It's very well researched and reasonably in depth (much more than Stuff You Should Know for example), but also very funny and engaging.

https://www.podmasters.co.uk/origin-story

duotone

https://serialpodcast.org/season-one

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

duotone said:

https://serialpodcast.org/season-one

100% this. One of the "OG's" of the Podcast world! 

S-Town from the same producers is arguably even better - https://stownpodcast.org/

stickyfiddle

Big fan of Tom Scott's Lateral here. Fairly silly quiz with nerdy YouTubers and similar folks. 

guitarmangler

Off menu
athletico mince
adam Buxton 

thumpingrug

There are so many that it really does come down to individual taste.

I love

The Modern Mann.  A monthly magazine show.  it may take a couple of episodes to get into the style, but it's been going for years so lots to catch up with.  The central interview is often very intense/illuminating.

Today in History  (Same chap as above ).  10 mins on a historical thing that happened on today's date.

My Mate bought a toaster.   interviews with comedians and about their Amazon shopping habits - a useful launchpad for talking about various life events.

monquixote

The Rest is Politics

Philosophise This

english_bob

The Rest Is Politics and The News Agents are both very good for current affairs- The News Agents have a second USA-focused podcast too, and The Rest Is Politics has a second "channel" of long-form interviews with various politicians and cultural figures. All worth a listen.

Agree with @Dontgiveupyourdayjob about Origin Story too, if Ian Dunt's laugh doesn't make you throw your headphones across the room.

I quite like The Rest is Football, but it's MOTD hosts Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, who I know grate on some people.

You're Dead To Me is a fun history podcast hosted by Greg Jenner, who used to be the history "consultant" on Horrible Histories. Each episode focuses on a particular individual or theme and brings in a historical expert and a comedian to talk about it.

Shrink The Box is hosted by Ben Bailey Smith and psychotherapist Sacha Bates (who looks to have been replaced with a different expert for series 2) and involves psychoanalysing characters from TV shows. Next to pointless if you haven't seen the particular show they're talking about of course...

Not *quite* a music podcast- I like Twenty Thousand Hertz, which is about sound rather than music, but obviously dips in to music topics every so often.

The Happiness Lab is about what science tells us contributes to happiness. 

bobblehat

The rest is Politics
 The rest is Entertainment
 Adam Buxton
 Louis Theroux
 Evolution of Horror

BigMonka

BBC's Newscast is a great daily news podcast
BBC's Antisocial podcast is an interesting one where they discuss a current topic with two guests who have opposite views, but in general is very civilised discussion.

The Zoe podcast is brilliant if you're interested in diet and health.

DannyP

The Blindboy Podcast

Bloke from Limerick with a plastic bag on his head discusses art, creativity, mythology, culture, history etc interspersed with the odd interview, short story or mental health episode. 

Compassionate and humorous. Wonderful stuff.

Greatape

'Making Sense' by Sam Harris. 
'Team Human' by Doug Rushkoff.
'The Great Simplification ' by Nate Hagens
'Wtf' by Marc Maron

scrumhalf

Gold and Guest talk be Tottenham. If you're not a Spurs fan then it's probably of limited appeal, but that's your problem.

Grunfeld

monquixote said:

The Rest is Politics

Philosophise This

@monquixote if you enjoy Philosophize This then, if you fancy a suggestion for similar, try The Partially Examined Life.  I'm very nearly at the point where I'm going to subscribe to get access to the paywalled content. 

Wasn't a fan of The Rest is Politics but bloody love The Rest is History.

Kittyfrisk

DannyP said:

The Blindboy Podcast

Bloke from Limerick with a plastic bag on his head discusses art, creativity, mythology, culture, history etc interspersed with the odd interview, short story or mental health episode. 

Compassionate and humorous. Wonderful stuff.

He's got a horse outside too 

duotone

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

duotone said:

https://serialpodcast.org/season-one

100% this. One of the "OG's" of the Podcast world! 

S-Town from the same producers is arguably even better - https://stownpodcast.org/

Thanks, I've just started Chapter 1 now.