Dave Weigel

Every list of “Best Podcasts” being published right now is wrong, as they prioritize professional standards and storytelling over the strength of the format — how DIY it is. Also, I am a reporter for a living and want to spend roughly 0.0 percent of my downtime listening to people analyze The News. Here are the podcasts I listen to the most, in no order except how readily they came to mind as I counted. I still laugh at the moment when Will warned that the excerpt of a column he was about to read was “pure brain cancer

the movie’s reality, and it was a little on-the-nose to watch an ailing Hugh Jackman fight a brainless clone of Hugh Jackman at pivotal moments. But I haven’t felt this tense during a movie in years, and haven’t said “fuck! I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore Beatriz at Dinner Extremely effective, if a little stage-bound, drama about clueless rich white people interacting with the underclass. The kind of story that you can’t believe nobody’s adapted yet — as South Africa implemented apartheid, a black king of Botswana took a white, English wife, and was banned from returning to his country for years as diplomats alternately schemed and crapped themselves.

This defiantly stupid Canadian import began as a YouTube series and was picked up for a six-episode test run, a bit like “MDE Presents: World Peace,” but with less alt-right transgressions and more dumb pop culture references. I enjoyed the randomness of everything else, and the voice acting owns; Betsy Sodaro, a UCB veteran with a voice like a clogged paper shredder, is particularly good as the most competent member of the adventuring crew Gauntlet stumbles into leading. Based loosely on what’s supposed to be a very good book about the alt-comedy scene in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s, the show’s set largely in the fictional Goldie’s, owned by — get this — a woman named Goldie, played by Melissa Leo with dramatic chops and a lot of corny dialogue. But the b-team of actors are funny in a way that overcomes the occasional drab script — Clark Duke, Erik Griffin, Jon Daly, and Al Madrigal as a comedian who is, correctly, mocked for making every single joke about Mexicans.

The Show That Never Ends,” a history of/argument for progressive rock music, and it comes out on June 13. But if you are lucky enough to live in one of several east coast/central time zone cities, you can buy it AND meet me AND hear me talk. The Best Show”) discuss “The Show That Never Ends” 7:00 p.m. The Show That Never Ends” 1:00 p.m. Cactus Music