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The Acclaim guide to podcasts that don’t suck

We waded through the ocean of podcasts and picked the best for you

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These days it seems like every man and his dog has their own podcast. While it’s great how easy the internet has made it to get your ideas/thoughts/ramblings out there for all to listen to, as a listener it can mean hours spent dredging through sludge before getting to a podcast worth continuing with. To save you from wasting your precious time we’re here with the Acclaim Guide to Podcasts That Don’t Suck.

Whether you’re after food talk, analysis of music and pop culture, or a hilarious but tragic podcast centred on two guys watching Sex and the City 2 once a week for an entire year, we’ve got you covered.

01. The Worst Idea of All Time

Created by two New Zealand comedians, Guy Montgomery and Tim Batt, The Worst Idea of All Time is a podcast that centres around the duo watching the same movie every week for an entire year. Their films of choice are purposefully terrible (Grownups 2, Sex and the City 2, and EDM epic We Are Your Friends), and Montgomery and Batt progressively loose their minds over every awful minute detail of each film. There’s really nothing funnier then two sleep-deprived men debating the merits of Carrie Bradshaw’s voiceover in Sex and the City 2.

02. Four Finger Discount

Hosted by Australians Dando & Mitch, Four Finger Discount is the ultimate Simpsons themed podcast. The premise is simple: each week the duo reviews an episode of The Simpsons, mixing in Simpsons related news, facts, and interviews with the cast and crew. As you can imagine, this makes for a very entertaining listening experience for diehard Simpsons aficionados and irregular watchers alike.

03. 2 Dope Queens

Created in 2016 by best friends Phoebe Robinson (comedian and writer for Broad City) and Jessica Williams (comedian and former corespondent for The Daily Show), 2 Dope Queens is straight up funny. Discussing a vast array of topics from sex, dad bods, gender, race, pop culture, politics, and what they would do if they were a guy for a day, the friendship chemistry between Robinson and Williams is what makes this podcast such a joy to listen to.

04. The Read

The Read is a weekly podcast covering pop culture and hip-hop’s most frustrating figures that has reached cult-like status. Hosted by media personalities Kid Fury and Crissle, The Read has three segments: pop culture stories and news, listener letters, and a “read” of someone or something. A read, for the uninitiated, is what occurs when you’re feeling particularly fed up with someone or something. Sometimes shady but always hilarious and honest, Kid Fury and Crissle’s on-point and occasionally savage reads are what they are best known for.

05. My Dad Wrote a Porno

One of the most beloved podcasts of all time, My Dad Wrote a Porno was created when comedian and author Jamie Morton discovered that his Dad had written a very dirty and extremely poorly worded erotic fiction novel titled Belinda Blinked. Most people would do everything in their power not to read anything their parents had written about sex, but Morton decided that his Dad’s work of fiction was too ridiculous not to share with the world. Once a week Morton and friends Alice Levine and James Cooper dissect a chapter of the book, and the resulting discussions are so funny that we strongly suggest you don’t listen while on public transport.

06. Club Angels

Club Angels is a weekly club and pop culture podcast hosted by writer, DJ, and Acclaim contributor Kish Lal. Featuring a new guest angel each week, you can expect lots of gossip, celebrity and music chat, and sharp dissection of problematic pop culture figures.

07. Bret Easton Ellis Podcast

Controversial author and screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis is widely acknowledged as being one of the most important and influential writers of the last thirty years, so it makes perfect sense that he would delve into the world of podcasts. Unlike many other podcast hosts, Ellis’s far-reaching cultural notoriety affords him a stellar line up of guests—the first two episodes he did back in 2013 featured none other then Kanye West and others have included Moby, Marilyn Manson, and Quentin Tarantino. If in-depth discussions and unexpected insights about the lives of creatives is what you’re after then look no further.

 

08. Desert Island Discs

First created as a BBC radio segment by Roy Plomley in 1942, Desert Island Discs, now hosted by Kirsty Young, has since become one of the most infamous podcasts of all time. The format is deceivingly simple when you consider the emotionally moving, life affirming, inspiring and fascinating content the show is known for. Each guest is invited by Kirsty Young to choose the eight records they would bring with them to a desert island and the discussions that ensue often result in guests revealing much more than they intend to, highlighting the cathartic nature of music and its ability to attach itself to particular people and moments in our lives. Guest highlights include George Michael, Morrissey, Steve McQueen, Lily Allen, and Keith Richards.

09. The Mitchen

The Mitchen is a weekly food podcast hosted by ACME chef Mitch Orr and food writer/DJ Andrew Levins. Each episode is recorded at Orr’s kitchen table in Sydney, thus explaining the title. Each week they invite friends from the food scene over to discuss everything food and dining. What sets The Mitchen apart from other media coverage on food is that it features far reaching topics and remarkably honest takes. An episode can just as easily a trend in food then go on to discuss the effect of Sydney’s lockout laws on hospitality. Simply put, it’s a food podcast without all the wankery we’ve come to expect from “food media”.

010. Death, Sex, and Money

Death, Sex and Money revolves around exactly what the title says. It covers those difficult, painful, strange, and socially uncomfortable topics that define our lives in such tantamount ways yet are never discussed particularly in-depth. Host Anna Sale does an excellent job talking to both everyday people and celebrities about these serious, important topics and the ways we can make our time on this earth count. Often moving, sometimes humorous, and always insightful, this is a podcast very much worth your time.

011. Alec Baldwin Podcast

Similar to Brett Easton Ellis, Alec Baldwin can command a hugely impressive line up of guests which contributes greatly to the popularity of this podcast. Despite Baldwin being well-known as a comedic figure thanks to shows like 30 RockHere’s The Thing isn’t necessarily a funny podcast, but it does showcase just how good of an interviewer Baldwin is. The interviews are always in-depth and Baldwin seems genuinely interested in each and every guest, which allows him to draw out some pretty interesting and revealing subject matter from some of Hollywood’s biggest names.