Top 20 Audio 2021: Top 10 Albums, Top 10 Podcasts

Maybe I'm just getting old. Podcasts are really just radio on demand, and I basically spend most of my time now listening to that version of the radio. But, as long as singers and bands I love keep releasing albums, I will still give them a fair amount of my attention—just not as much as in years past. So, here are ten cases in point for 2021.   10.
Prince, The Slaughterhouse (2004) Earlier this year, I discovered the couple of albums by Prince that had once upon a time only been available via his online music club that I never joined, making them the only ones in his massive discography I did not have in my possession, were suddenly available on iTunes. Or maybe not "suddenly," but I was just discovering them. I immediately purchased them both. Would that I'd have known I would eventually throw my hands up and finally sign up for Apple Music! The money I spent on these two albums (the other one called The Chocolate Invasion, originally released the same year; this one is the one I chose to put on the top ten list only because its run time is slightly longer) seems a bit wasted now in retrospect, especially considering the relatively few times I listened to them. Number of plays in 2021: 6 9.
Pat Benatar, Seven the Hard Way (1985) The first of another two albums I finally purchased, because the library no longer had copies I could rip to my computer. I had intended eventually to complete my Pat Benatar discography collection. It's just as well that I didn't rip them from library copies, given the new restrictions on syncing copyrighted content from the same CD more than once: my music library is now stripped of such tracks, and that would have included these. So, I bought the albums . . . which I now can just listen to on Apple Music anyway. Apple Music is increasingly the bane of my existence. Number of plays in 2021: 10 8.
Pat Benatar, Tropico (1984) I had this one on cassette, once upon a time. It was a real turn toward pop from the rock sounds of Benatar's previous albums. I always liked this one, though. Another one I purchased through iTunes just this year, only to realize later I really didn't need to. Number of plays in 2021: 10 7.
Katy Perry, Smile (2020) I purchased this album so close to the end of 2020, I only had time to listen to it three times before the year ended. Were those three listens within 2021, this album would rank #6 on this list. Incidentally, this album is a pleasant enough listen, but it's also utterly forgettable, a far cry from the pop perfection of Teenage Dream eleven years ago. Number of plays in 2021: 18 6.
ABBA, Voyage (2021) One of the biggest stories of 2021, at least for ABBA fans: their first studio album in fully forty years. If you ever think any band is broken up forever, just remember ABBA! (The Eagles? Fleetwood Mac? Amateurs!) On a track by track basis, it's kind of hit and miss. But, it also fits perfectly in their succession of albums, no deviation whatsoever from their signature sound, which seems to stand apart in time. Some of the tracks I really love. Number of plays in 2021: 19 5.
Bo Burnham, Inside (2021) I really thought I had listened to this album more times than this. If I ranked these albums by how I regard their quality rather than how many times I listen to them, I'd likely rank this one at #1. The talent and skill on display here is staggering, not to mention the unique wit. God knows how poorly it might age over time, considering how precisely this album reflects a very specific moment in time, the months that we all had to stay in our homes as much as possible thanks to a pandemic, dealing with exacerbated emotional roller coasters and, for many, loneliness and depression. I always felt the people criticizing this Netflix special for not being universally relatable—not everyone had the money and resources to create a masterpiece of their craft—were completely missing the point. Burnham never made any such claims of universality; all he did was represent a point of view. It just so happened that millions of people did happen to relate to it. I watched the special two or three times, and loved the songs so much I had to get the album he released shortly thereafter. Number of plays in 2021: 25 4.
Garbage, No Gods no Masters (2021) Garbage never ceases to impress me. I mean, I guess they sort of did once, with their so-so third album in 2001, Beautiful Garbage. They have always let several years pass between albums, averaging five years between them in the 21st century. But every album since then has been as great as the last, if not better. Lead singer Shirley Manson is by some distance the youngest member of the band, and even she is now 55, but rocking just as hard as she ever did. I suppose I have to admit the most recent three albums are pretty similar in overall sound, but so what? It's a sound I love. Number of plays in 2021: 25 3.
Tori Amos, Ocean to Ocean (2021) Oh, how I love to love Tori Amos—another artist whose popularity peaked some 25 years ago, but who keeps releasing great albums the fans who long ago abandoned her keep missing out on. This one is, in a way, a companion piece to Bo Burnham's Inside, although the two albums are wildly different in style and tone. And yet, this one is also largely the product of the pandemic, and has a melancholy through line among songs often inspired by some kind of grief. The album isn't especially sad to listen to, however. I find the album on the whole to be quite pleasant and inviting. Number of plays in 2021: 28 2.
Adele, 30 (2021) I wouldn't argue, necessarily, with anyone saying this is Adele's best work to date as an artist. I do love the album, even though it doesn't have the hook that made her previous two albums global sensations. Still, good for her, for broadening her horizons and growing as an artist, even while staying squarely within the sonic parameters that made her a superstar to begin with. Number of plays in 2021: 31 1.
Lil Nas Z, Montero (2021) For decades, I tried to identify with a new artist that effectively might become the "next Madonna." Rihanna? Too focused on high fashion. Lady Gaga? I really thought it was her for a long time, until I realized Lady Gaga is much more comparable to Cher. And then, along comes a young gay Black man who is the very kind of provocateur Madonna once was: baiting conservatives in this country in calculated ways that only increase his market value. This is a guy who knows what he's doing. And, like Madonna, he's not technically the best singer in the world, and yet he works with people who help him make unforgettable pop songs. Many people think this young man doesn't deserve any respect, but millions disagree, including myself. I respect everything about this guy, who is unapologetically sexy as a gay Black man in the same kind of ways Madonna used to be unapologetically sexy as a woman. As far as I'm concerned, a torch has been passed. Number of plays in 2021: 40 . . . I am nothing if not a creature of habit. Most of the podcasts on my top ten this year have been on it several years running now; it's just their ranking that shuffles each year. So these are now my  Top 10 Podcasts of the year: 10. The Complete Guide to Everything, hosted by Tom Reynolds and Tim Daniels Some years this one pops off of my list, sometimes it pops back on. It's really just a matter of whether it's in my top ten or not; I listen to it every week religiously regardless, and I have ever since Gabriel first recommended it—in 2014. Damn, have I been listening to this show for seven years? Tim and Tom are pushing forty now, which means when I started listening, they were in their early thirties, and I was in my late thirties! One of them just had a baby this year, resulting in a month with a guest cohost, a woman I did enjoy but it was great to have Tim back again. They're just two old friends engaging in amusing conversation about a different random topic each week, sometimes making it clear they don't know what the hell they're talking about, but it's always a fun hang. At this point, they kind of feel like old friends. Such is the case with all longtime listeners of particular podcasts. 9. Keep It!, hosted by Ira Madison III, Lewis Virtel and Aida Osman I'm kind of surprised this one has never made it onto my top ten podcasts list. I mean, why shouldn't it? They release an episode every Wednesday morning, with their takes on the pop culture stories of the week, and I never miss it. It's literally my Wednesday morning podcast, which I listen to while getting ready in the bathroom. I have one for every morning of the week. Also, I discovered Louis Virtel on Twitter first, found him hilarious, and thus followed him to this podcast when they started it a few years ago. They often have critiques of movies or shows that I completely disagree with, but I enjoy listening to them chat away about this stuff with each other anyway. 8. My Favorite Murder, hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark By now, this one is a Podcast Institution. I have to admit, I listen to this one while working most of the time, and often while they are talking about one murder story or another, I kind of check out. Still, I love the hosts and their chemistry together, and Karen Kilgariff is one of the funniest women on the planet as far as I'm concerned. Five years in, the novelty has long since faded, and this is the lowest ranking it's ever gotten on my top ten, but I still think it will be many years, if ever, before it falls off completely. 7. The Big Picture, hosted by Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins, and sometimes others from The Ringer I listen to several podcasts about movies. With the exception of Doug Loves Movies, which is in a separate category because it's a trivia show first, which just happens to be about movies, The Big Picture is my favorite. Sean and Amanda make a great team, and in this case, I rarely disagree with their assessments of film. Sometimes I hear about new movies here first, that I know I need to see. What's not to love? 6. Doug Loves Movies, hosted by Doug Benson Another old-timer. This one slipped in the rankings in the Pandemic Year of 2020 because Doug shifted all the shows to Zoom shows, and although the games were basically the same, doing it without a live audience just wasn't the same. Things picked up a bit in 2021, as live shows started to make a comeback, and as podcasts, their return was most welcome. He still does Zoom shows during slower weeks when he doesn't have live shows booked, so these days it's a pretty even mix of the two. I do enjoy it either way, but I have a much greater fondness when I can tell Doug and his panel of guests are playing off the energy of a live crowd. 5. WTF with Marc Maron, hosted by Marc Maron The one that started it all . . . WTF with Marc Maron was the first podcast I ever listened to, even before I got a bunch of recommendations from Gabriel, as far back as 2014 (maybe earlier? 2014 was the first year I listed my Podcast Top 10; I also can't believe I've been doing this very list for that long now). This is another one that never leaves this list, although its ranking varies by the year. Many people felt it improved significantly last year in the pandemic, as his being forced to interview via Zoom for the first time also allowed him to get far more famous people than ever before, both because of his own podcast's now-legendary status and because the pandemic left them with nothing else to do. It worked out for everyone! I actually still prefer his interviews with fellow comedians most of the time, and it was nice to see him able to get back to in-person interviews in 2021. The Omicron variant has made a few people slide back into Zoom, but either way, as this podcast is only ever one on one between two people, I never miss it—and this one has been reliably twice a week from day one, every Monday and every Thursday morning. 4. Do You Need a Ride?, hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Chris Fairbanks Do You Need a Ride?, now on Karen Kilgariff's and Georgia Hardstark's Exactly Right Network, finally moved from biweekly to weekly this year! I always loved the concept of this show, where they chatted with a guest in the car while giving them a ride they legitimately needed somewhere, but the pandemic in 2021 forced them into a studio, and then onto Zoom. They still haven't switched back to the car rides, but this show has remained one of my favorite hangs, and for the reason I tend to love a podcast: I'm always there far more for the hosts than for the guests. On this one, Karen and Chris Fairbanks have a delightful, platonic friendship between a hilarious woman and a hilarious man, and these days this one always hovers within the top half of my list. 3. Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, hosted by Conan O'Brien and "Team Coco" Not even this one is novel anymore, as it was brand new three years ago and kind of took podcasting by storm. I ranked it #2 last year; #5 in 2019 and #10 in 2018, when it was all of a couple of months old. O'Brien never ceases to crack me up, but the show would also not be the same without assistant Sona and producer Matt; the rapport between the three of them at the top of each show and also closing each show is often as good, if not better, than the segments with guest interviews. And even those are usually delightful. But, I suppose you really have to be a fan of Conan O'Brien himself, and I am, and have been for about two and a half decades.  2. Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,, hosted by Paula Poundstone and Adam Felber This one really shot up the list for me this year, ranking higher than ever before. Much like Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Paula has others who are also on the show with her as well: co-host Adam Felber; manager Bonnie "Captain Crinkle" burns; and producer Toni Anita Hull. These guys have also not returned to a studio since switching to Zoom for the pandemic, and I actually still miss the rapport they had when meeting in person, but somehow, even over Zoom, their group dynamic really shines through, and they consistently crack me up. I feel like this show has really found its legs and if it ever ends (as Paula's previous podcast venture, The Paula Poundstone Institute, was short lived), I will really miss it.  1. Threedom,, hosted by Scott Aukerman, Lauren Lapkus and Paul F. Tompkins Number One again! These three are the one-hour podcast hang I continue to look forward to the most every week. What I love most about this one is how the tree cohosts—who never have guests; they are more than enough on their own—are really good, longtime friends from improv days, and how much they care about each other really shines through. It's just wonderful to get to witness such genuine friendship among people who can also effortlessly make each other laugh (especially Paul F. Tompkins, a great laugher), and in so doing, make me laugh as well. Can you tell I like podcasts that make me laugh?  [posted 7:47 am]

Top 20 Audio 2020: Top 10 Albums, Top 10 Podcasts

The trend of my listening to music far less than I listen to podcasts continues: the number of times I listened to any album from beginning to end, which actually went up slightly from 2018 to 2019 (383 to 497), for 2020 it's back down to about 392, making it the year in which I listened to music the second-least amount of time. And last year, 2019, was previously in the second-least position! Once was a time I purchased music often enough to fill out a top twenty list of albums with music new from that year on a regular basis; now I struggle even to fill out a top ten—I only purchased a total of eight new albums in 2020, and one of those was merely a four-track EP (which I have decided to count as an album for my purposes here). I wouldn't say I love music any less, really; the difference is just that I love podcasts so much more. Now the music has really stick competition for gaining my aural attention.   10.
Madonna, Madame X (2019) Here's another trend that's a bit new: usually I give a lot more attention than this to a Madonna album in the second year I have it. I even listened to Rebel Heart (2015), my least-favorite Madonna album, slightly more than this in 2016. (I also listened to Rebel Heart 11 more times in its first year than I did Madame X—92 times vs. 81—even though the latter is objectively a better album.) I still have a unique respect for Madame X and am therefore glad it still eked its way into the bottom of my to ten albums of 2020, because, even though the album isn't perfect, it does feature Madonna taking risks and swings unlike any she had done in years. I actually think it still deserves more attention than it ever got in broader culture—her first album ever not to have any single break into the Billboard Hot 100 chart. If nothing else, "I Don't Search I Find" should have! Number of plays in 2020: 6 9.
Sia, Everyday is Christmas (2017) Ah, Sia . . . my most recent "new favorite artist," and the one who released the best Christmas album of the 2010s! This is actually the most I have re-listened to this album any year after I first put it on rotation fifty times in 2017, for a very specific reason: I only discovered this year that, in 2018, she released a "Deluxe" version of this album with three new tracks. Of course I had to buy those new tracks! And, truth be told, I have listened to the new tracks alone a good 18 times—but re-listened to the entire album, including the new tracks, a good seven times over. The initial 10 tracks, clocking it at merely 35 minutes in length, have now been expanded to 13 tracks and 45 minutes, and I love it as much as ever. Number of plays in 2020: 7 8.
Tori Amos, Christmastide EP (2020) I suppose it could be argued that I should place Everyday is Christmas higher on this list, if I listened to that album's three new tracks 18 times and I listened to Tori Amos's new Christmas EP, which consists of a mere four (very good) tracks, only 16. On the other hand! The three new Everyday is Christmas tracks are a cumulative 10 minutes and Christmastide's four tracks clock in at 17, which means I spent 180 minutes listening to the Sia tracks and 272 minutes on the Tori Amos EP. Amos wins by a long shot! Of course, I'm getting creative with numbers there, because if you fold in how many times I listened to the rest of the Sia album, that means I spent 425 minutes on the Sia album in aggregate. But, I guess I'm focusing in this context on which individual tracks are getting the most attention. Listen, I'm keeping the list the way it is and you'll just have to learn how to sleep at night, okay? Number of plays in 2020: 16 7.
Adam Lambert, Velvet (2020) The events of 2020 have been so distracting, it was often easy to miss something I might have noticed much more quickly in a more "normal" year—such as, for example, a new Adam Lambert album getting released in mid-March, right in the thick of the country's initial coronavirus lockdowns, thus (quite rightly) distracting from any attention to it. I did not discover its existence, and then immediately purchase it, until October. This album stands as essentially a decent, mid-career offering: not quite as good as his best, but then, the vast majority of Lambert's musical quality is within a stone's throw of that of anything else he's done anyway. Virtually any of his albums often make a pleasant soundtrack to any given day for me, and this album fits right in. Number of plays in 2020: 20 6.
Rufus Wainwright, Unfollow the Rules (2020) Now we get to the truly exciting stuff! Rufus Wainwright released two other very specifically styled, concept albums since, but Unfollow the Rules is his first straightforward (well, for him anyway) pop record since Out of the Game in 2012. It's also an album a fair amount better than that one, arguably his best work since 2007's theatrical Release the Stars. As always, Rufus Wainwright is a man unto himself, with a style all his own, a musical and lyrical talent unparalleled in the business. It's easy to be moved by the content of his songs if you listen to what they have to say. Number of plays in 2020: 21 5.
The Cranberries, In the End (2019) Only three of the albums I purchased in 2020 harken back to pre-pandemic days, and this is one of them. In the End was the first album I bought this year, all the way back in January, when I once again found I had missed the album's actual release, all the way back in April of 2019! That was itself fifteen months after the untimely, tragic death of lead singer Dolores O'Riordan, and for this the rest of the band got together to finish tracks started with her vocals on demos. It comes together very well, serving as a bittersweet but totally appropriate swan song, for both O'Riordan and the band. The end result was their best studio album in fully twenty years. Number of plays in 2020: 31 4.
Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020) Sometimes, an album comes out with such perfect timing, without even intending to do so, it just speaks to the current moment. For me personally, Tori Amos's 2001 album Strange Little Girls did that upon its release exactly one week after 9/11, somehow serving as the perfect soundtrack to those truly surreal days. A giant swath of 2020 has been just as surreal, albeit in very different ways, and Fetch the Bolt Cutters could not have been released at a more perfect time, just one month into wild, scary, unsettling stay-home orders: "Fetch the bolt cutters, I've been in here too long," she sings on the title track, speaking to the sentiments every one of us was feeling at the time. Never mind the fact that the song is about a personal relationship and has nothing to do with a global pandemic; the line is so often repeated in the song, it still resonates. Oh and by the way the rest of the album is brilliant as well. Number of plays in 2020: 33 3.
Pet Shop Boys, Hotspot (2020) I do enjoy this album, although I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed, after my truly deep love of their previous album, Super, which I listened to a whopping 83 times in 2016—a record, by a long shot, for my first year with any Pet Shop Boys album. I spent plenty of time with Hotspot, but with only about two tracks that come even close to stacking up to the best of Super, it was still only half the time. This album, like Nightlife (1999), is one of those Pet Shop Boys that will get its momentary attention the year of its release, but will have comparatively little staying power as the years go on. Number of plays in 2020: 41 2.
Lady Gaga, Chromatica (2020) This one kind of grew on me more, the more I listened to it. Chromatica is a relatively short album by modern standards, thirteen full-song tracks (plus three more much shorter, transitional interlude tracks) clocking in at a mere 43 minutes. So, compared to a lot of other albums, it's easier to listen to this more times in a shorter amount of time. I'd say that in the context of Gaga's entire career, this being her fifth full-length studio album as the lead artist, Chromatica is mid-tier; better than forgettable but less than classic. Its best tracks, however—particularly "Rain on Me," "911" and "Replay"—stand up fairly well alongside the best tracks from the rest of her career. Given that Lady Gaga had been my most recent "new favorite artist" before my discovery of Sia, it's still no surprise that this album nabbed the #2 spot this year. After all, had I been born twenty years later than I was, I am certain Lady Gaga would have meant to me what Madonna meant to be in the eighties and nineties. Number of plays in 2020: 52 1.
Kesha, High Road (2020) But then, even after both Lady Gaga and Sia, seemingly out of nowhere comes . . . Kesha! I've been listening to her now since 2013, which was indeed before my discovery of Sia, except those first two Kesha albums, Animal and Warrior, really leaned into her pop, wild party-girl binge-drinker aesthetic, and it was fun but amounted to empty calories with irresistible beats. Enter a five-year hiatus, broken by her seminal 2017 release Rainbow, which was both great pop and had depth previously missing from her work, and surprised by being my #1 album in 2017. I actually think that album is still slightly better than High Road, but I have listened to High Road a couple times more in 2020 than I did Rainbow in 2017. High Road has gained a sort of higher, nostalgic meaning for me, as I discovered it literally in the middle of my travels to Australia, making this album the soundtrack to my truly fabulous "last hurrah" of international travel, which I still remain amazed went off without a hitch, before lockdown measures started literally days after our return. For for me, this album kind of represents the final days of a sort of freedom I didn't realize I was taking for granted at the time. I think it's a context that will give this album a special place in my heart for a long time to come. Number of plays in 2020: 59 But then, of course, we have the things that get far more airtime in my AirPods: podcasts. With just a couple of exceptions, these are weekly, so even though I never re-listen to the same specific episode twice, most of these can be applied to the fact that there are 52 weeks in a year, thus I have listened to an episode of most of these podcasts at least 52 times in 2020. Also: nine out of these ten podcasts are the same as they are every year, although how I've ranked them has been shaken up to an unprecedented degree as of 2020. 10. Working it Out, hosted by Mike Birbiglia Here is the one new addition to my 10 favorite podcasts of the year. And since a bunch of the longtime podcasts I listened to early on were initially thanks to recommendations from Gabriel (most notably Doug Loves Movies, of which I never wavered in my fandom even though Gabriel actually discarded it ages ago), it's pretty on-brand that Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out was also recommended by him. This one I only started recently, and I decided to go back to start from its beginning—it started back in June; I started it last month—and binge-listen to several episode per week until I caught up. I'm still not caught up, actually: I have six more episodes to go before that happens. And, I have to agree with what Gabriel told me from the start, which is that some episodes are far better than others. It really depends on the guest, and there is the issue of how often Birbiglia repeats himself telling different guests some of the same thing. The conceit is that they share comedy bits to each other and help each other, as the title states, "work it out." But what elevates this podcast—and as a result finally knocked The Complete Guide to Everything (also one of Gabriel's long-ago initial recommendations; I know he still listens to that one though) off of my top ten for the year—is how truly great most of Birbiglia's guests are. From John Mulaney to Hannah Gadsby to David Sedaris to Sarah Cooper to Tig Notaro to Maria Bamford and many, many more, the quality of the guests alone means that the "lesser" episodes are actually pretty few and far between. It's not often I find a new podcast I like so much I start from the very beginning, but with this one it was worth it.  9. Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, hosted by Peter Sagal This is now my Sunday morning staple, what I listen to while brushing my teeth and shaving my face on that same day every week. Frequent panelist Paula Poundstone actually once responded to a tweet of mine in which she suggested it is not something to be proud of that I get some of my news from Wait Wait Don't Tell Me as a source, but that's just the way it is. On a Sunday morning anyway, I wouldn't have it any other way. Who else could turn national and world events into a radio game show? This airs on NPR on Saturdays and is later available in podcast form, waiting for me to play while I get ready on Sunday mornings. It's kind of come to feel as reliable as the sun rising every morning, and its continued existence after many years, even with them all having to connect via Zoom to create the show during a global pandemic, is its own source of reliable comfort. 8. Doug Loves Movies, hosted by Doug Benson This was my #1 favorite podcast in 2019, and in the space of one year, dropped seven spots to #8! Why, you may ask? Well, because unlike Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Doug Loves Movies is stripped of some of its trademark fun without the live audiences, who have over time developed ritual responses to certain cues, not to mention the interactive elements of "name tags" elaborately designed for panelists to choose and thus play on their behalf, winning a "prize bag" for them if they win the games. None of this can happen so long as Doug Loves Movies can only exist virtually, which has been the case since a roughly one-month hiatus ended in April. So, now, Doug still has the average three guests per episode, and they generally play the same games over Zoom and record it for the show, and they are still fairly entertaining—they just play now for "bragging rights" since they can't come together to bring anything for the prize bag. It also just doesn't have the same magic as it had in the before-times. But, I am also very much a loyalist, and I still enjoy the show; it remains one I never, ever miss. 7. My Favorite Murder, hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark This one, also long a perennial favorite, is now four spots from #3 last year. And there's nothing especially different about My Favorite Murder in its socially distanced, recorded-over-Zoom form; Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark continue reading each other stories about a murder (or murders) each week. They just aren't recording it with them both in the same room, for the time being. I still love it, even if the novelty has largely worn off after it having existed (and even being wildly popular) now for several years. It's not My Favorite Murder's fault it dropped on the list; it's just that in this unique year of 2020, my proportions of interest have shifted to a paricularly different kind of podcast, which elevated those ones higher on the list. 6. WTF with Marc Maron, hosted by Marc Maron In my podcast rotation, WTF with Marc Maron is the O.G. podcast, the single one I listened to regularly when I very first began listening to any podcasts at all. The cohost of another podcast I listen to keeps raving about how 2020 wound up being a banner year for Marc Maron, his having to shift to doing interviews over Zoom—something he steadfastly resisted doing before—resulting in a whole bunch of big-name guests he never would have gotten on his show otherwise. This was especially the case in any other year when these personalities were too busy with other work as it is, but a whole lot of them this year have, frankly, had nothing better to do. It's been a boon to Maron's podcast, giving him far bigger stars this year than he ever got before. But for me, WTF is basically the same perennial favorite as it's always been, his presence on his own being on the whole the bigger pull than whoever his guest might be. To be sure, how good the interview is really depends on how good the guest is at being conversational, and that can vary to the very same degree no matter who the guest is. 5. Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,, hosted by Paula Poundstone and Adam Felber So, in this year's top half of my ten favorite podcasts, let me explain how the rankings shuffled so significantly this year: 2020 brought with it a whole lot of darkness, and that had the result of a renewed interest in podcasts designed simply to be fun, to bring joy to its listener. Cutting to the heart of people's humanity is all well and good, it still has its uses—and I still listen to those podcasts—but in our present world circumstances, the podcasts that exist only to be fun, and succeed at being reliably so, have quickly become my favorite. Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone was always entertaining but really seems to have found its sea legs this year. I genuinely look forward to listening, with the expectation of some reliably genuine laughs, every time there's a new episode. 4. The Big Picture, hosted by Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins, and sometimes others from The Ringer Okay, so yeah: my love of movies continues to break through, no matter what's going on. And Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins love movies too, arguably even more than I do, which makes them a constant delight to listen to. It's been especially useful in 2020, when these two often give me my first access to information on one movie or another's release schedule having pivoted from a planned theatrical release to some streaming platform or another, or even VOD. They've been a big part of how I managed to get back into movie reviewing, after a six-month hiatus. I also just love listening to them talk, and sometimes debate, about movies. Or, as has been the case countless times this year, about the state of the movie theater industry in a year they have mostly had to remain closed. 3. Do You Need a Ride?, hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Chris Fairbanks My Favorite Murder is lighthearted in approach but still tackles very heavy content, a key difference from this other podcast also co-hosted by Karen Kilgariff, which I actually started listening to first, back in 2016. Kilgariff and her delightful cohost, fellow comedian and friend Chris Fairbanks, have never been concerned with heavy content. Back in the before times, the conceit was that they recorded the podcast in the car during a ride they give to a friend, either to or from the airport. This was always a kick, especially as they commented on fun or surprising things they saw as they drove by—the inevitable pivot in 2020 was to either in-studio conversations or, as has been the case for months now, just shooting the shit over Zoom. They have returned to having a guest joining them more often again, but much of this year it was just the two of them, no longer in a car but still just spending an hour talking about whatever. They have such great chemistry though, and such delightful comic personalities, the show has still never been more fun to listen to. 2. Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, hosted by Conan O'Brien and "Team Coco" This one has steadily climbed up the chart in the three years I have listened to it, ranking #10 in 2018; #5 in 2019; and now landing at #2 for 2020. The reasons I'll cite will just be more of the same: it exists just to be fun. Conan O'Brien is so fun he can't even help himself; producer Matt Gourley and assistant Sona Movsesian are nearly as entertaining as he is—so much so that a good third, if not more, of each episode is dedicated just to the three of them talking to each other. Conan does interview a single celebrity guest each episode as well, and they are clearly carefully picked as people who will contribute to the ethos of the show being a thoroughly entertaining listen. This is a show I love so much, I can't even wait until morning to start listening to it when any new episode pops up in my feed on a Sunday night, so I listen to the first ten minutes while I'm getting ready for bed. 1. Threedom,, hosted by Scott Aukerman, Lauren Lapkus and Paul F. Tompkins Say it with me: this show is absolute, unbridled joy. That's what gives it the top spot. They never even have guests. It's just Scott, Lauren and Paul sitting together and chatting away, seemingly more to entertain themselves and each other than to entertain us as listeners—and that just makes it better. These are three friends who clearly care for and support each other, and sometimes genuine sweetness between them peeks through. But it's always through the filter of comedy, all three of them being skilled improv performers. I am often laughing when I listen in, and if I'm not laughing, I'm still smiling. The only bummer of this show is that there is not more of it, as they record single "seasons" for only part of the year, currently in the middle of their third. I enjoyed the first two seasons so much, though, I twice signed up for a trial membership of Stitcher Premium so I could hear the episodes early before they appeared on iTunes—and then I listened to them all again when they appeared on iTunes a month or so later. That's how much I love this show: I actually have re-listened to episodes of this one, and it's the only podcast I've ever done that with. Whenever this podcast ends, I will be very sad indeed. For now, I'll bask in all the laughter and joy that it offers. [posted 8:07 am]