Mapping The Podcast Content World (Part 1)

I am writing these blogs because I listen to many different podcasts, and enjoy and appreciate the form. The mission of this blog right now is to unpack trends in both the practice and business of podcasting, and how it fits into all media discourse. With so many podcasts for even a casual listener to choose from, what one may normally like or follow closely may not always necessarily be what one’s in the mood to hear.

Instead of just listing favorite podcasts, let’s categorize some favorites by tone, style, structure and subject matter to create a helpful map that you can refer to, to think about and find what kind of shows fit certain moods. This week I’ll cover podcasts with roots in comedy – the ones that attracted me to podcast listening in the first place.

The easiest to group together are, indeed, comedians’ interview podcasts, where the host is or was a stand-up comedian or comedic actor, and their show largely consists of an interview with a comic, actor, musician or other personalities or accomplished guests. 

The hallmarks of this format include WTF with Marc Maron, The Nerdist (Chris Hardwick) and The Adam Carolla Show. To a lesser extent, Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast and Penn Jillette’s Sunday School are doing a looser, longer, less structured version of this kind of show. But among those first three, there are still distinct differences. Maron precedes his interviews with 10 to 15 minute personal riffs, which fellow comedian and podcaster Pete Holmes once joked should inspire someone to create an app to skip those and get right to the interviews.

Of these three, Maron’s interviews are probably the most incisive and likely to be revelatory about their subjects. Hardwick, on “The Nerdist,” does the barest of introductory banter, with a couple of colleagues (Jonah Ray and Matt Mira) who occasionally chime in on the interviews. Hardwick’s style of interviewing is much looser and more deferential to the subject, but also more likely to get the interviewee to share an extended story not previously heard elsewhere. Lastly, there’s Carolla, to whom the guest is often an accessory to whatever discussion he is driving – and this may be why he has frequent repeat guests (like Jo Koy, Dana Gould, Dr. Drew, Judd Apatow and Matt Atchity), rather than Maron’s usually one-time only chats, or infrequent repeat visits as Hardwick does (Hardwick’s favorites usually only return once a year or less frequently, when there really is new ground to cover with them).

 Beyond these mainstays, there’s at least three other subgenres of comedy podcasts – ones that have some aspect of radio sketch comedy to them, such as Comedy Bang Bang, The Dana Gould Hour and Paul F. Tompkins’ different efforts; solo comedian shows without guests, like Jim Florentine’s “Comedy Metal Midgets” and Bill Burr’s “Monday Morning Podcast”; and live interview podcasts, recorded with an audience, like Jeff Garlin’s “By The Way.”

I know there are probably many more podcasts I’m probably missing here or failing to categorize – Aisha Tyler, Allison Rosen, Todd Barry, Todd Glass and Pete Holmes are stand-ups who all have interview podcasts as well. My current tendency is to want to hear a lighter take, and for that I’d say Hardwick rates the best. Others that I’ve just mentioned, like Carolla and Florentine, and Maron in his introductory riffs, are better when you’re primed for something more caustic. The artistic sketch style podcasts are an even deeper dive, requiring more focus. You won’t get much if you’re just letting those wash over you.

Next week, a look at the wider world outside comedy-based podcasts.