Podcast Roundup December 2025

FRIENDS!! I have not done a podcast roundup since May. And it had been since August before that. What is even happening? How will you know what I'm listening to?

The June 24 edition of Pop Culture Happy Hour "Best Pixar Movies, Ranked" in which PCHH listeners vote for the best Pixar movies and none of the Toy Story movies make the top five, so I want you to imagine my OUTRAGE at the entire episode. 

Not to be THAT person, but I am still over here shilling for Rob Harvilla and The 60 Songs That Explain the 90s: The 2000s. Rob's posting schedule is INSANE. The dude must only work for like six months out of the year, but I go back every time for his mix of teenage weirdness and strange sentimentality. He covered "The House That Built Me" by Miranda Lambert which is how I discovered the superior Tanya Tucker version of the song. Then he posted an ep on "Live Like You Were Dying" by Tim McGraw that was all about how his father-in-law just died and I thought maybe this was going to turn into a country music podcast and I was all down with that. But then he took off like four months and came back with an episode in which he declared the Jeff Buckley version of "Hallelujah" to be the best song ever written. Hot take, that one. 

Anyway. Look, you can catch up if you haven't listened to any 60 Songs episodes. He hardly ever posts new episodes, but they're always great. 

I'm also still shilling for Nate DiMeo, our national treasure and writer of The Memory Palace. Episode 234 "Looking for Parking, Late Winter, 1996" is not on TMP website, so I'm linking to it on Spotify. Where did it go, Nate? It's about Nate's very own driveway moment when he couldn't turn off the radio. Episode 237 "Vigil" is also missing from TMP website. Both of these episodes speak directly to our current American moment. Do yourself a favor and take ten minutes and listen to one of those episodes right now. 

The November 3 episode of The Indicator from Planet Money was super interesting to me. "When AI Is Your Job Interviewer" talked about the fact that when given a choice, 78% of candidates choose to be interviewed by an AI voice agent for a screening interview. SEVENTY EIGHT PERCENT. Who are these people and what is wrong with human beings? 

Usually I find stories about precocious kids to be too twee for me, but I truly enjoyed "Kids on the Case" from Criminal.  It's like a series of cozy mystery stories and no one dies. 

If you had asked me before I listened to the two-part Hit Parade on Sting, I would have said I had neutral feelings on Sting. But, no, no, I do not. I love Sting. I love all his songs and I had no idea. With Police, he has that catchy stalker song, he has the one about the fields of gold, he has that "All For One" song from The Three Musketeers, and don't forget "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic." Look, I will die for Sting after listening to these episodes. 

This is already never-ending and long, but Wisecrack. It's a limited run series of six episodes plus some skippable bonus eps. A producer listens to a stand-up routine by this British guy and she gets the idea to do a podcast about his story. If you listen to the first episode and don't want to listen to any more, you are a stronger person than I am. This pod is winning all sorts of year end Best Of awards and I can see why. It's addictive. 

Okay, I lied. One more. The Mushroom Case Daily. It's been rebranded as The Case Of, but if you want to a detailed play-by-play of the lady who poisoned her family with death cap mushrooms, this is your podcast. There is so much here. I want someone else to listen so we can debate whether or not you think Erin Patterson should have been convicted. Also, Australian accents...

Okay, I'm out. What's in your earbuds these days?