Brief descriptions/genres definitely recommended. Please don't be afraid of being :LIB:, I feel like so many podcast recs on this site focus of Political Pods which while fun, I can find myself listening to audio content for 6 hours on some days and I don't always wanna blast politics into my ears, and I know a lot of other people don't either.
Starting with non-leftist stuff, then leftist stuff people here may not have heard of, then the stuff I’d be shocked anyone here doesn’t know.
Non-Leftist:
Shrieking Shack - Chapter by chapter review of Harry Potter looking at all of the issues but also not overly cynical. Not explicitly leftist but one of the hosts drops a lot of jokes I only expect from people on this site.
Dear Hank and John - Hank and John Green of VlogBrothers and other things answer questions from their listeners and give advice.
SciShow Tangents - Also Hank Green, with some of the cast of SciShow, lightly competitive science game show. Fun science facts.
Slightly Something Else - Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation and a couple other guys talk about video games. This one I only listen to if the specific topic stands out to me.
Leftist/Leftist Adjacent:
The Dollop - History comedy podcast. One comedian tells a history story to one who doesn’t know what the story is, and they riff on it. I specifically recommend 323 - 1908 New York to Paris Car Race or 101 - The Death of George Washington as first episodes to try.
TrashFuture - :ukkk: focused politics, reviews of super dumb tech startups, and Chapo-style reading series.
Death Panel - Social health policy, lots of getting angry about the response to covid. Wrote a book called Health Communism.
The West Wing Thing - Episode by episode review of The West Wing, absolutely roasting it and becoming more and more miserable as the show goes on. Hilarious, and no you do not need to watch The West Wing to enjoy it. Has lots of great guests including :matt: :will-fancy:
Trillbilly Workers Party - Kentucky communists. I kinda think the quality’s started to drop as covid’s continued on, but still good. Anyone know what happened to Tanya?
The Obvious:
Blowback - S1 Iraq War, S2 Cuba, S3 Korean War. Best and most horrifying thing I’ve ever listened to and should be legally required listening for every single person in the United States. You could literally assign this in history classes.
Citations Needed :citations-needed: : - You all know it, media criticism and analysis. So helpful to understand how the US propaganda machine works.
:wtyp: - Podcast about engineering disasters, with slides. Hilarious. :wtyp-gang:
Chapo Trap House - I know it’s divisive on this site, but I like Chapo :shrug-outta-hecks:. It’s entertaining. Matt’s rants and analysis are decent. It’s probably not good enough to deserve the insane success they’ve had in comparison with actually better shows, but it’s still a decent show.
I think (I'm really not sure) that Tanya was getting harassed by chuds at her work so that's why she stopped.
Jesus, that fucking sucks. I hope she’s doing okay.