I use pocket casts, these are my subscriptions:
- WTF with Marc Maron
I only listened to the Louis CK episode(s) and it was great. If anything, check out that episode and listen to two guys reminisce and just be people. Ends on a really nice note, too.
Out of those, you would probably like:
- 99% Invisible - public radio style 15 minute shows about design (architecture / flags / world longest running lightbulb)
- Radiolab - more like the above, usually longer runtime, broader topic.
Seconding these. Radiolab is always interesting. They have what they call shorts and regular hour long podcasts.
99% Invisible you should only listen to if you can immediately image search the topic, as they're often visual. The show works without it, but you'll desperately want to see what they talk about.
A couple recommendations of my own:
Skeptoid - 15min shows investigating nonsense, in case you want to know a little more about any popular myths and conspiracy theories, when and how they originated (where possible) and why they're nonsense.
5 Live Science and Naked Scientist - They're recordings of radio BBC radio shows and are both on the same feed. 5 Live Science/Dr.Karl is a phone-in programme with
Dr. Karl, who knows an inordinant amount of stuff and can talk intelligently about it. You need to be able to bear the callers though. It airs in the middle of the night, so you have mostly pensioners and truck drivers calling in. You'll hear the same names and voices all the time. Occasionally someone (mostly women for some reason) will treat the programme like a diagnostic session for their ailments, which can be quite cringe worthy, but the host will usually reign that in real quick.
Naked Scientist is a simple science news programme where several presenters talk about recently published papers and other science news. The main host is a virologist and also fairly well read, so he sometimes subs for Dr. Karl.
I mostly listen to video game dross otherwise, so not much else to recommend. I'm sure the BBC has a lot more interesting stuff, though I've never bothered to check. Not enough time in a day for any more shows anyway.
