Podcasts I'm Currently Loving
If you are a commuter like myself then having something to occupy your time to and from work is must. For me that is generally podcasts, audiobooks or music - with a heavy emphasis on podcasts. I am always searching for new ones to capture my interest and I recently discovered 0 and re-discovered a handful that I wanted to recommend to you.
The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow
This podcast is an off-shoot of Ronan Farrow’s best-selling book, Catch and Kill. If you have been living under a rock; first, welcome; and secondly, Ronan Farrow is the journalist who broke the Harvey Weinstein story in The New Yorker. His book is about the lengths that Weinstein and his people went to to shut the story down as well as other stories of “Catch and Kill” - which is a term used by tabloid media for buying a story from a source to protect someone (usually a rich old white dude like Weinstein and Trump) and then “killing” it. Which means shelving it so that it never sees the light of day. The podcast Catch and Kill is a 9 part series focusing on specific people and stories within the book. And it’s captivating. The final episode was released a few weeks ago so you can binge the series in its entirety if you’d like.
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards is a podcast dedicated to telling the stories of some of the worst people in human history. If this sounds like a Debbie Downer it surprisingly isn’t. And that’s all due to the delivery of the material. The host and his roster of guest hosts are all comedians. And while they don’t make light of any of the history in a way that is gross they do deliver it in a way that adds a bit of levity to subjects that could otherwise be depressing as hell. And you learn some new stuff. If you’re a history buff like myself this is a great podcast to give a listen to.
The McMillions Podcast
I only recently started listening to this podcast, but the subject is well known to me thanks to a 2017 Daily Beast piece on it. The MacDonald’s Monopoly Game Scandal, as it’s known, is the story of how an ex-cop and his group of gangsters, strippers and drug-traffickers rigged the McDonald’s Monopoly Game for 12 years straight. This podcast tells the tale with a bit more detail. As I’ve said before stories about scams and scammers fascinate me, and this is a scam story of EPIC proportions.
WeCrashed
Speaking of scams… WeCrashed which is produced by the same team that makes one of my favorite podcasts, Business Wars, tells the story of the rise - and meteoric fall of WeWork, the office space company that after preparing for its IPO imploded when their financials - and the malfeasance of its owner, Adam Neumann were discovered. The podcast features interviews with former WeWork employees as well as audio of Adam Neumann speaking at various WeWork events. It’s a great tale of arrogance, greed, and a huge dash of scam.
The Savvy Psychologist’s Quick and Dirty Tips
We can all sometimes use a little help looking at or approaching things in way that we’ve never considered before. This podcast is all about that. And it does it in 10-12 minute episodes that are easy to digest and understand. And most importantly it gives you tools and tips to incorporate what you learn into your life. One of my current favorite episodes is about how to avoid common thinking traps - which is a must listen IMO.
Make Me Over
Produced by Karina Longworth, the voice and brain behind one of my all-time favorite podcasts, You Must Remember This, Make Me Over takes a look at the intersection between Hollywood and the beauty Industry. Narrated by various female historians and journalists, it tells the stories of the first weight loss surgery ever performed (which was on a young silent film star), the first biracial actress who lightened her skin to appear more European and the birth of waterproof mascara. What I love about You Must Remember This and Make Me Over are the same things: meticulous research and a compelling delivery of story
