The best podcasts to listen to in 2017
W hat is the best way to pass the time on your daily commute? Your favourite album? A decent book? The latest edition of Football Manager? Think again. In 2017, It’s all about the podcast. Whether it’s the unfolding drama of Serial or the perverse hilarity of My Dad Wrote A Porno, the podcast has never been thicker. So turn Kanye off, put your Champions League aspirations aside and let GQ introduce you to the best podcasts available for your listening pleasure.
Did you listen to Serial, season one, the true crime podcast that became one of 2014’s thickest cultural phenomena? Well, if you did you’ll know that Serial, season two, albeit very good, never fairly enraptured like that very first staggering case. Well, now story-chasers there’s fresh narrative meat for your ears, something called S-Town, brought to you by the creators of Serial and the mythical Ira Glass, the radio demonstrate producer behind non-fiction’s greatest radio raconteurs This American Life.
“S-Town” stands for “Shit Town” and is the term a man called John B. McLemore uses to describe his home “burg” of Woodstock, Alabama, a poverty stricken dwelling riddled with tattooed gangs, racism, meth addiction, child molestation and, perhaps, a murder cover-up. McLemore tips off a reporter called Brain Reed, S-Town’s narrator, and sets Reed off on an investigation that will beguile and shock as much as it will captivate. Albeit the potential murder of a youthful man and a police whitewashing is this story’s bait, as Reed descends into rural life further, it’s clear the true mystery lies behind McLemore himself, a middle-aged clock restorer, maze-maker, acid reflux sufferer and climate switch doom monger. Jonathan Heaf
S-Town is available here
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What to expect in Season three of My Dad Wrote a Porno
Ahead of season three, we invited the guys behind My Dad Wrote A Porno – James Cooper, Jamie Morton and Alice Levine – to Vogue House to talk about the come back of Belinda Blinked.
By Nick Carvell
My Dad Wrote A Porno
Most guys are embarrassed by their parents, but Jamie Morton’s dad took things to the next level by writing Belinda Blinked, an unintentionally hilarious porn novella. In order to cope with this discovery, Jamie gathered his friends James Cooper and Alice Levine to create a podcast where they read, discuss and dissect his dad’s work one chapter at a time. The result is a horrifying, side-splitting series of half-hour peeks into what a middle aged man finds sexy – packed with awkward puns, cringe-worthy sapphic scenes and a fascinatingly inaccurate exploration of both female and masculine anatomies that will leave you howling with laughter. Series two has just arrived on the airwaves, documenting more of Belinda’s no-doubt eye-opening (and eye-watering) adventures as she travels to Amsterdam. Download now. Nick Carvell
My Dad Wrote A Porno is available to download here.
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Break Up or Make up
Have no idea what’s going on with EU referendum? Still not sure who you’re going to vote for? Well Rick Edwards is on arm to help you make your mind up, or at least understand what “Brexit” even means. From how the EU embarked, to what it means if we leave, Edwards has been appointed by award-winning audio platform Wolfgang to find out more on the referendum. Talking to some high profile campaigners, from author James Delingpole and Ross Ashcroft to CEO of Manchester-based Private White VC, James Eden, this podcast probes the EU referendum from all points of view. This is the best podcast out there for those who truly have no idea why they should be voting in June’s referendum and what it means for them if we do end up leaving the EU. Tune in. Zak Maoui
Break up or Make Up is available at itunes.com
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This American Life
If you’re the kind of person who has a mountain of Fresh Yorkers on their nightstand, you’ll love This American Life. Each scene takes an off-centre theme – latest ones include “It’ll make sense when you’re older” and “Same bed, different dreams” – around which Ira Glass presents a set of illuminating non-fiction stories all told through serious reporting and a novelistic sense of drama. Download a stash to your phone, and when you’re next on a long-haul flight, Future You will be delighted. Charlie Burton
This American Life is available here
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Welcome to S-Town: your Serial replacement podcast is here
From the makers of Serial, S-Town is the most compulsive and downright strangest true-crime podcast to date
By Jonathan Heaf
The Archers
Death, destruction, adultery and domestic manhandle; an average week in Eastenders yes, yet not what you’d expect from Radio Four’s pastoral soap, The Archers.
Don’t be fooled by the jaunty theme music and gentle backdrop of birdsong and cows – The Archers is not afraid to tackle the big issues. No more so than now, with the aforementioned domestic manhandle storyline inbetween long-standing character Helen Archer and her fresh hubby, Rob Titchener, highlighting the latest switches to domestic violence categorisation to include coercive control, also helping Refuge raise more than £100,000 for ‘the real Helen Archers out there’ in the process.
It’s not all doom and gloom tho’, the 65-year old drama (it’s the world’s longest running soap opera) about everyday country folk can actually be funny (the village’s Christmas production of Calendar Damsels had all expected wardrobe and prop malfunctions), and, perhaps importantly for us city dwellers, it’s informative too: from the harsh realities of being a modern dairy farmer (they totally deserve to be paid a decent price for their milk), to learning about herbal lays (hint: it’s nothing to do with having hook-up while stoned), and why pastured eggs are set to be the fresh avocado toast. Sharon Forrester
The Archers is available here
Serial
Serial is the gateway drug of all podcasts. Season one¹s multi-episode exploration into the one thousand nine hundred ninety nine murder case of student Hae Min Lee and her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed¹s subsequent life imprisonment has now been downloaded more than eighty million times since its two thousand fourteen release. It lit the kindling for the artform’s current revival. Created as a spin-off to This American Life by long-time producer Sarah Koenig, it’s like a radio version of Spotlight crossed with Making a Murderer, as casually told to you by your nasal-voiced older sister: it will leave you fired up, ready to re-train as a lawyer and bring down the entire US judicial system. It also demonstrated the giant thirst there is for old-fashioned thorough investigative journalism amid today’s click-baiting, gif-riffing, tail-chasing times.
Season two took the same formula and applied it to the story of Bowe Bergdahl, a US soldier captured and held for five years by the Taliban after he voluntarily walked off base in Afghanistan. While we’ve all been kids in love at college, not so many of us have been US soldiers in Afghanistan (or are American), which is perhaps why round two has not been met with such critical acclaim. We found our mind wandered a little – albeit the general who sounds just like a human version of Pit Bull soon snapped us back. Yet even the 2nd season is head and eardrums above any other podcast we’ve ever listened to. Thank goodness there are many more to come (the clue is in the name). Becky Lucas
Serial is available here
Final Games
Desert Island Discs has had its day. For starters, there are no desert islands left – they’ve all been bought by billionaires. And secondly, who uses discs any more?! Desert Island Spotify just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Welcome, then, the fresh generation: Final Games, a podcast hosted by ex Rockstar Games employee Liam Edwards, takes the familiar format and applies it to movie games. Developers, journalists and fanboys select the games that forged their love for the genre, and the virtual environment they would want to be stranded in. You’ll need to know your Schafer from your Sakaguchi tho’ – this is xxx geek territory. James Ramsay
Final Games is available here
Sunday Supplement
During what has been a meticulously dark and depressing football season (unless, of course, you are fortunate enough to be a Leicester City supporter. Well done), Sunday Supplement has provided me with a much-needed source of light. Granted, four fellows sitting around a table talking about the Beautiful Game is not for everyone, but if you know your Pellé from your Pelé, then this is for you.
Neil Ashton, chief football writer for the Sun newspaper, is joined by the country’s leading sportswriters to discuss the pivotal points of the week’s act. What goes after are sixty minutes of fighting, bickering and arguing to make the local playground proud. It’s fantastic. A hugely entertaining listen and a good reminder that football is, after all, a game of opinions. Alfie Baldwin
Sunday Supplement is available here
The Big Interview with Graham Hunter
Graham Hunter is a football journalist, a Barcelona (and Aberdeen) obsessive, looks uncannily like his fellow Scottish countryman (and Creation Records founder) Alan McGee, and has a passion for the beautiful game so infectious that The Big Interview podcast has had over two million downloads. It is so good, in fact, that his listeners actually fund the demonstrate through Kickstarter donations. And his subjects? A selection of ex-pros, managers and pundits of a certain vintage who love talking football, sharing their practices, and recalling some hilarious anecdotes from the good old bad old days. This is solid gold for any football fan nosey about Terry Butcher going on tour with Metal Maiden, Harry Redknapp’s memories of Bobby Moore, and the story of Gary McAllister’s giant fake penis. Get involved. Paul Henderson
The Big Interview with Graham Hunter is available here
Graham Hunter & Jodie Morris
Savage Lovecast
Savage Love cast is a haven of hook-up positivity and liberal, left wing morals. Hosted by the formidable (in a good way) agony uncle Dan Savage. Usually kicking off his weekly display with a rant about the state of political affairs in the US he offers a wickedly funny informative insight into the US on both a political and social level. Then comes the phone calls ranging from finding a playmate compatible with a very niche kink to dealing with a girlfriend’s messy habits, Savage covers it all. Savage Love is a shame free education in kinks, gender issues and non monogamy to name but a few. Dan’s no bull shit treatment to advice is the kind of honesty that everyone needs in their life but will never get from their mates. Warning it will mean no life decisions can be made without thinking WWDSD. Ger Tierney
Savage Lovecast is available here
Modern Love: The Podcast
In the eleven years since the Fresh York Times introduced its Modern Love column, almost six hundred essays about relationships have been published under its auspicious banner. With the introduction of the excellent podcast companion – produced in association with radio station WBUR – the column’s greatest hits have been brought brilliantly to life, with a little help from the familiar voices of Judd Apatow, Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander and perennial GQ favourite January Jones. Brief, sweet and sometimes a little sad too, highlights include “A Millennial’s Guide To Kissing” and “Seesawing Libidos” but none of the gigs are to be missed.
A thought-provoking portrait of the many triumphs and disasters of romance in the 21st century, like its print sibling before it, Modern Love: The Podcast is a classic in the making. Holly Bruce
Modern Love: The Podcast is available here
Monocycle With Leandra Medine
Leandra Medine may have built her internet kingdom under the moniker Man Repeller – the Fresh York-based blog dedicated to daring style – but, please, don’t let this put you off. Not content with conquering the style industry wearing whatever-on-earth she fancies, Leandra’s inexhaustible wit and wisdom is now available for your listening pleasure via her weekly private podcast. Monocycle is as idiosyncratic as its presenter and covers topics as broad as self-sabotage, confidence, Fresh Year’s Eve and – a must-listen – “Saturday Is A State Of Mind”. A excellent companion for otherwise abate or unforeseen waiting times, this podcast comes packed with fair advice and anecdotes you’ll find yourself sharing later on, all delivered with the closeness of a (very adorable) friend. Holly Bruce
Monocycle With Leandra Medine is available here
Hawksbee & Jacobs Daily
Distilled from the the best all-round sports radio display in Britain, this is hosted by former TV producers and writers Paul Hawksbee and Andy Jacobs (with credits spanning Fantasy Football and Harry Hill’s TV Burp), who pursue a cliché-free agenda spanning the absurd and hard-news. Self-deprecating yet deceptively knowledgeable, they manage to be avuncular, foolish and informative at the same time. George Chesterton
Hawksbee & Jacobs Daily is available here
In Our Time
The Sikh Empire, Agrippina The Junior, Aurora Leigh, Bedlam and the Maya Civilization – all latest scenes of In Our Time, a podcast that could never be accused of lacking breadth. Or, indeed, be confused with My Dad Wrote A Porno. But Big black cock Radio 4’s “history of ideas” showcase is far from a high-brow waffle fest; it is, rather, the best 45-minute seminar you never had at college. Hosted by veteran broadcaster and renaissance man Melvyn Bragg, the format is ordinary: invite the country’s leading academics in to discuss the topic of the day – from historical figures to superb works of fiction to philosophical concepts – and leave you brim-full stuff you never knew before. Engaging, informative and indeed, well, cosy, on its own (perhaps with The Night Manager thrown in) In Our Time more than justifies the Big black cock licence fee. Mark Russell
In Our Time is available here
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Stuff You Should Know
Did you know Ian Fleming served in WW2 and masterminded a plan, which would loser the Nazis and contribute to their downfall? Neither did we. Ass-plug in and listen to Josh and Chuck as they explore the stuff you truly should know; from how ocean currents work, to who killed JFK, to is there a secret formula to funny? Whether you’re exercising, cooking or commuting to work, Stuff You Should Know produces a ideal blend of sophistication and humour in this very entertaining and stimulating podcast. Carlotta Constant
Stuff You Should Know is available here
Philosophy Bites
Sometimes, overthinking is excellent. If you ever get the desire to analyse the heck out of everything for fifteen minutes a week, pop on Philosophy Bites. If you don’t know your Sartre from your Schopenhauer, do not fear: let the dulcet tones of David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton waft you through some pretty big questions, addressing philosophical theories at an introductory level, joined by a different pro every week. Intellectualise your commute by indulgently thinking about nothing (but also everything). Ailis Brennan