2024 Year in Review: Best Podcasts
/Today is the final day of my 2024 best of lists. I have my top five podcasts/podcast episodes of the year. I’m all in on podcasts. I enjoy making them and listening to them. They comfort me and make my workouts fly by. I still listen to music more, but podcasts are gaining ground fast.
At number 5 I have “How Did This Get Made” covering “The Happening”. I vividly remember seeing this movie in the theaters and being utterly confused. At the time the only person I could talk to about how insane this movie is was my wife. She saw it with me and we were both dumbfounded. So it was nice to hear Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas also talk about how nuts this movie was. It made me feel less insane. These people are in the industry, so I liked hearing their inside baseball talk on this incoherent movie. All three of them also happen to be hilarious, so hearing an intelligent and very funny conversation about a terrible movie made the listening experience that much better. I implore you, if you’ve been unfortunate enough to see “The Happening”, and you want to feel better about it, listen to this episode of “HDTGM”. You’ll feel way better.
At number 4 I have “Comedy Bang! Bang!” returning to hell house for their Halloween episode. It’s felt like years since they’ve done this. This used to be an episode I waited for every year, but they decided to take a break. But, coming back this year was well worth the wait. Aukerman was on point, as always, as the host. He led us all perfectly the whole time. Jimmy Pardo was an excellent guest to have for this one in particular. He’s the perfect foil. Jon Daly was good as always. Ben Rodgers is one of the funnier improvisers on the planet. But this was all leading to Nick Wiger singing his classic version of the “Monster Mash” as Leo Karpatze. His version is filthy and Wiger goes all in while singing the song. I enjoyed the long walk they took to get to the song because the payoff was tremendous. I hope “CBB” continues to do this every Halloween.
At number 3 I have “The Seth Myers and Lonely Island” podcast. This is the perfect “SNL” throwback show for me. I was all in on “SNL” when The Lonely Island was new and Seth Myers was one of the head writers. In this show they go back and talk about the digital shorts, which are some of the best things to ever come from “SNL”. Seth Myers convincing Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaefer was a triumph unlike any other. I love hearing the four of them go back and reminisce over some of the best stuff “SNL” has been a part of. I love hearing the process and how everything came together. It’s also pretty cool when they get their friends to leave voice notes about their time doing a digital short. I love this podcast and I cannot wait to hear more and more.
At number 2 I got to see “CBB” live on tour this year. It was awesome. “CBB”, by a wide margin, is my favorite podcast. It’s on this list twice. The live show was during the first part of the tour. I think it was the fourth or fifth show of the year. It was great, as I hoped. Aukerman did his thing as well as he always does. Paul F Tompkins was second to the stage and he played his Irish priest character that I adore. Lily Sullivan was next, my first time seeing her live, as her Australian counterpart. She’s even funnier live. She’s a damn good improviser. Connor Ratliff was a famous donkey from Missouri that I had never heard of. He was the highlight of the night for me. Carl Tart, one of the best, was the Pine Sol lady. This is a classic “CBB” character he created years ago, and it was rad to see him do it live. And Will Hines was last to the stage as a futuristic traveler which the whole panel gave a hard time. It was a great, jam packed show that nearly pushed two hours. I wanted even more. It was a fantastic live show.
At number 1 I have “Doughboys” doing their Munch Madness tournament centered around Taco Bell. Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger are a perfect representation of opposites attract. Their back and forth makes this podcast one of the best out there. And to hear them talk about a place they love dearly, Taco Bell, made the month of March some of the best listening of the year. The fights were outrageous and hilarious. Getting their friends to come on and side with them made for great radio. The live finale was one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard on a podcast. The fight between Mitch and Wiger over the winner was incredible and it was blending into later episodes. These two, and their guests know so much about Taco Bell so I trusted their thoughts on the food. I don’t like Taco Bell myself, but it was fascinating to hear all these people who love it fight and argue and yell at one another about certain menu items. It was also downright hilarious. “Doughboys” always seems to say they have a bad podcast, but that’s not true, and especially not true when it comes to Munch Madness from this past year. It was a great collection of seven or eight episodes of my favorite listening in all of 2024.
That’s it for my best of 2024 lists. Hope you all enjoyed it.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.
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