Podmasters is a weekly column where staff writers Andrea Alfano and Laura Rosenfeld highlight the podcasts you need in your life. Every week, they tackle a new genre, recommending everything from well-known series to little-listened-to-gems that will make you laugh, cry and learn. This week, Laura Rosenfeld spotlights five comedy podcasts that will make you laugh so hard, it might just hurt.
You'll find plenty of podcasts out there with compelling, unbelievably true stories that will bring you to tears. The podcasts discussed in this article will make you cry, but for totally different reasons.
Yes, I'm talking about comedy podcasts in this week's installment of Podmasters, probably one of the most popular podcast genres out there today, and it's easy to see why.
First of all, who doesn't like to laugh? Whether an episode is 30 minutes or 3 hours long, it's sure to give you a few chuckles or maybe even make you roll-on-the-floor laugh, but hopefully not while you're commuting or doing something in public while you're listening. That would just be weird. Long story short, listening to a comedy podcast is sure to brighten your day, so why wouldn't you want to do it?
Comedy podcasts aren't just funny; they're also some of the smartest, most entertaining and best-written podcasts you'll ever hear. Comedy is all about creating humor out of life's observations, so listening to one of these podcasts is sure to change how you view the world. That's what listening to podcasts is all about anyway. Here are five comedy podcasts that will instantly make your ears happy.
1. The Bugle
If you're a fan of John Oliver's current stint on Last Week Tonight, you're going to love The Bugle. Since 2007, Oliver has been serving up biting political satire through this podcast with his fellow British comedian Andy Zaltzman, taking on topics as wide-ranging as the London Olympics, artificial intelligence and twerking. Laughing at all of the ridiculousness in the world will keep you from crying about it.
2. Throwing Shade
In Throwing Shade, hosts Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi tackle issues important to women and the LGBT community. However, it is definitely not as serious as it sounds. Sure, Gibson and Safi have discussed everything from the Boy Scouts of America's stance on homosexuality to the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court birth control decision to racial profiling by the TSA, but the podcast is altogether hilarious, campy and over-the-top, making it more akin to listening to a fantastic gossip sesh rather than a thought-provoking current affairs program. You'll wish you could say all of the deliciously nasty things that come out of Gibson and Safi's mouths.
3. You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes
What's better than one comedian in a podcast? That's not a trick question. The answer is two, of course. On You Made It Weird, comedian Pete Holmes dives into the strange lives of his very funny guests, who have included Patton Oswalt, Ellie Kemper and Aziz Ansari in the past. As you can guess, Holmes and his guests discuss anything and everything on You Made It Weird, but it's always infused with just the right amount of lovable wackiness that makes it so not mundane, no matter the topic.
4. How Did This Get Made?
The title How Did This Get Made? is very fitting for this podcast. Actor-comedians Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas try to answer that exact question in each episode in regard to so-bad-they're-good movies that somehow made it to theaters. Burlesque, The Love Guru and Gigli are just some of the notoriously awful flicks that have been put under the microscope in this podcast. If these movies had just been a fraction as entertaining as How Did This Get Made? is, maybe they wouldn't have been so universally panned.
5. The Thrilling Adventure Hour
The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a very different kind of comedy podcast. Well, in modern times, at least. It's actually a podcast taken from a monthly live show done in the style of those old-timey radio shows filled with action, mystery and suspense but with a hilarious, absurdist twist. Unfortunately, the live shows have now ended, and the weekly podcasts will also come to an end in August, but there will still be occasional specials and live shows held in the future. In the meantime, it's a good thing most episodes are still enjoyable even after multiple listens.
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