Podcast Delights

I've Made it A Week!
I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little impressed that I'm still going right now. I'm the kind of person who starts a project, gets excited for three days, and then by the fourth I'm "too tired" or moved on to the next great idea. Honestly, I'll be very impressed to see how everything goes one week from today.

I really wanted to listen to the news this morning on my way to work and I kept wondering why I haven't listened to NPR in a while. After hearing a two short segments I remembered why, Member Drives. I wish I could afford helping out my local public radio, but alas the struggling actor thing allocates most excess money towards food or going to events in my industry. I'm thinking I'll make a list of organizations I'd like to help when I get to that point in my life, but for now I'll just have settle for my alternate in-car entertainment.

I turned of the radio and popped on my podcast for the morning. I am a podcast fiend. I started using them when I had to travel ten miles in three hour traffic (#LA). My top favorite podcasts at the moment are:

Comedy Bang Bang - hilarious fake interview show with a slew of the best comedians guest starring either as themselves or characters. My favorite guests include Paul F. Tompkins (who kills it every time) Lauren Lapkus, Jessica St. Clair & Lennon Parham, and Andy Daly. This show has me in tears with all the ridiculousness, and there's really no point to it but silliness. Sometimes the lack of structure can be weird to people, but once you accept that it's just for fun it'll have you rolling. I put this one on to get in a better mood or start the day laughing. It's also what helped keep me walking at six in the morning during Relay for Life. I don't, however, recommend trying to go for a run with this playing as I couldn't catch my breath.

Nerdist - A local LA favorite as most of the interviews are with some of the "best in the biz." Host Chris Hardwick has had guests like Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, and  Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development) just to name a few. Plus Chris is flanked by his two hilarious friends Jonah Ray and Matt Mira who occasionally do what they call "hostfulls" where they don't have a guest and it's just the three of them talking. Seriously entertaining, especially when you're stuck on the 405.

Improv 4 Humans- You can tell the theme of all of these by now, and yes I am a fan of comedy. This is Matt Besser's podcast, a name most will recognize for his work with UCB. This podcast is not to be missed it's hilarious and a master course in long form improv. Besser takes suggestions from twitter and infuses things like stories in the news or youtube clips to get the improv started. It's hilarious and brilliantly executed, and also features the top improvisers right now. Seriously, I had an audition where I had to improvise and was blown out of the water by the guy who went in with me. I literally walked out of the audition a big fan, turned on my podcast and heard his voice on the very episode I had been listening to (True story).

IndieFeed - Switching gears, this is a podcast from across the pond, and has an array of options ranging from music to poetry. I personally prefer the Spoken Word Poetry section of this podcast as I get to listen to artists like Kate Tempest (my favorite), Tre G (newest obsession), Sarah Kay (old favorite), and Rafeef Ziadah (check out her Shades of Anger poem). The poetry podcast also updates you on local shows in Europe and any grants that are being offered to writers bold enought to submit. IndieFeed is a great way to keep up to date with the arts and their poetry section is the best way to discover new artists around the world and get a taste of their genius.

The Moth - If you're addicted to story telling like I am, then this is the podcast for you. The Moth is an event that public radio has endorsed for the past couple years. If you haven't been to one of these events, then this podcast is the perfect way to indoctrinate you into the experience. Each event has a theme like "Shot Through the Heart: Tales of Love and Loss" where people get up and tell stories from memory. They can't be assisted by notes or visual aids, it's just stories told by the person who experienced it. It's beautifully original and perfect for a long drive anywhere.

There's so many more I didn't mention but since I'm doing this challenge of writing every day for 90 days I'm sure I'll have another opportunity to share my faves. Go ahead and give me some suggestions of your own faves!