The best podcasts

Edit: Sadly, as of 9/12/2015, it seems that the Alton Browncast has podfaded. The old episodes are still there, and are certainly worth a listen, but no new episodes have come out since December 2014.

One of the hidden gems of the internet is a thing called podcasts: radio shows put on by guys and girls with nothing but a microphone and spare time. Over the years, it’s even become a mildly profitable venture, with many companies paying advertising money to spread their message to the listeners of these shows. There’s podcasts on everything, and they can be downloaded with any of a thousand apps on your desktop or mobile device. As someone who spends much of the day disconnected from the internet, it’s nice to have some rotating information which can be entertaining without having to be completely connected. Here are my favorites, culled from a list of my 63 regular podcast subscriptions.

Alton Browncast

Alton Brown, TV host known for a half dozen shows on Food Network over the past couple of decades, has a hidden talent: interviewing. As a creative outlet for AB to shoot the breeze with his favorite people, he has a knack for not asking “regular” questions, and as such has produced some of the best interviews I’ve ever heard. Anyone who can ask William Shatner a question which leaves him speechless has some mad chops. ‘Nuff said.

Bad Voltage

This is a tech show which consists of four guys on different continents insulting each other with reckless abandon. Forget the fact that the hosts of this show are some of the pillars of Open Source communities from Ubuntu to Stack Exchange, and that their audio quality over a combined 20,000 miles rivals many commercial radio sudios. In all actuality, it doesn't matter what they talk about because Jono Bacon, Stuart Langridge, Bryan Lunduke, and Jeremy Garcia make such an amazing comedic team that you will have tears of laughter streaming down your face with every episode.

BBC Radio 4: The Now Show

OK, this show isn’t going to be for everyone, but it regularly gets skipped to the front of the queue for me because it scratches a particular comedic itch in my brain: topical political satire. US politics is usually rather depressing, but English politics can be outright hilarious when put in the right light. On top of the political satire, there’s also the best newspaper headline flubs of the week, which will make you laugh hard enough to spit your kippers.

TWiT.TV: Know How (Video)

TWiT is one of the largest podcasting networks on the internet, and rightly so. They’ve got lots of sponsors, and therefore top notch equipment. But the best thing they’ve got? A giant jolly Jesuit priest! That’s right, Father Robert Ballecer, SJ is the host of this maker show (and a few others) which is as useful as it is funny. Originally hosted by Iyaz Ahktar, PadreSJ took over around episode 6, and the show has never been the same. Full of just plain good info and light hearted banter, this show will fill your knowledge hole and leave you smiling. While it’s available in all formats, I’d suggest leaving this one in video format, since Padre goes to great lengths to produce some quality B-roll video for nearly every episode.