The Deprogram - three communists from three parts of the world yapping about a variety of topics tangentially or directly related to communism but with enough humor that it isn’t so depressing. Sometimes have really interesting guests on the show.

Fall of Civilizations - narrative histories following the rise and fall of various cultures. Degree of depth varies.

Blowback - in depth examinations of US imperial policy through the medium of a extremely well produced narrative history. Each season focuses on the US relationship to a specific country during a specific timeframe. Can’t recommend enough.

The Ancient World - A semi-chonological retelling of ancient history. It’s arguable that West Asia is the focus but it delves into a lot of other regions as well.

The Magnus Archives - Eldritch horror/mystery audio drama following a skeptical archivist of public paranormal accounts slowly piecing together connections between the accounts and discovering his own relation to them. 10/10 listened to all 200 episodes of this about 3 times through.

My Favorite Murder. A true crime comedy podcast. The true crime they discuss is taken seriously but they don’t take themselves seriously. They’re now on Netflix too.

Strict Scrutiny (part of the same family as Pod Save America) - a group of amazingly smart attorneys who discuss the current goings on of the Supreme Court.

Half-arsed History - History show, with single and multi-episode topics.

Mid Flight Brawl - Air-rage stories/comedy.

My favorite one for at least a decade has been I Doubt It

I listen to the Majority Report as a podcast through their app. I can’t listen to it live at work so I listen on my way home and then while I am making dinner.

CBC’s Understood. This deals with the not-so-secret yet dark world of the tech which makes us mindful of what tech we use. Especially relevant in today’s context.

ScienceUnscripted! great one from Deutsche Welle (but don’t worry is in english). Covers newly released bits of interesting research

• Darknet Diaries: My Favourite and usual go-to. Gripping true stories from the dark side of the internet, covering hackers, cyberheists, and digital espionage.
• 99% Invisible: A fascinating look into the unnoticed design and invisible architecture shaping our everyday world.
• Behind the Bastards: Meticulously researched deep dives into history’s worst human beings, served with dark comedy.
• Stuff You Should Know: Conversational, easy-listening breakdowns of how everything works, from obscure history to everyday oddities.
• Radiolab: Immersive, sound-rich storytelling at the intersection of science, philosophy, and human curiosity.

Anything with Robert Evan’s is great. I also like “stuff you should know” very chill podcast.

Also “hp pod craft” I think it’s called strange studies of strange stories now. It’s from witch house media

Used to love BtB, but the ads kept getting more invasive so I stopped when they got their Netflix deal and started even putting in-track ads on the YT versions.

I have a few that I mildly enjoy:

• ‘Hardcore History,’ ‘Common Sense,’ and basically anything else with Dan Carlin - His style is engaging and fun. He turns mountains of history into climbable hills. He doesn’t have ads, just a post-roll ask for a dollar to keep things going.
• Final Show Films - various TTRPG actual play recordings from their twitch streams. Leans more toward characters and less toward the action hero style most of the time. Lots of systems, settings, etc. Great examples of avoiding meta-gaming. Preroll patreon ask only. Queer friendly, if that matters to you, but usually not focused on it if that sounds like their focus might be in the wrong place. Hours and hours of content you can enjoy whilst doing chores.
• Push the Roll - Call of Cthulhu improv based on patreon suggested titles. Has Ross Bryant, pretty much the best thing ever to hit the TTRPG actual play world since microphones and dice.
• Werewolf Ambulance - Two friends BSing about horror movies and occasionally others. Not deep, but nice. No ads.
• Better Offline - Ed Zitron maligning AI companies endlessly. Fun when he does it with a guest. Mildly informative if not.

I had more at one time but they often die or go bad somehow. These are the only ones I can recommend at the moment.

I really enjoy “You’re Wrong About” while I’m cooking. The episodes are just long enough and I always learn something new!

Behind the Bastards is so good that it’s almost difficult to recommend anything else haha

Behind the Bastards is definitely my go-to for most of my podcast activities.

And because I am a bird nerd, every now and then I’ll dabble into “Extremely Accurate Bird Songs (the podcast)” if I am feeling whimsical.

Otherwise, I listen to WDET 101.9 FM everywhere else, they have great programming and music.

This American Life is a classic and still putting out great episodes.

I also enjoy Safety Third, which is a podcast of engineering, chemistry, and randomshit.

They’re obnoxious, but The Last Podcast on the Left has some great series. Their longer ones are my faves. The black plague, the Donner party, stuff about Mormonism. All good

If I’m going to be doing housework for a while I usually put on The Dollop