The 21 Best Podcasts of 2018

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Everybody is afraid of something, and sometimes the most terrifying thing can be admitting just that. For those of us who aren’t likely to confess the otherwise innocuous things that make us overcome with anxiety, there’s Daniel Zomparelli’s I’m Afraid That, a compelling interview series in which celebrity guests reveal the private fears they hold close to their hearts. Featuring guests like actors and comedians Jenny Slate and John Early, writer and performer Our Lady J, and Academy Award-winning writer-director Jordan Peele, I’m Afraid That offers the chance for extremely talented multi-hyphenates to put us all at ease by talking about what scares them the most. Each episode also includes an interview with various experts who help explain why these everyday things—public speaking, loud noises, even ghosts—can sometimes frighten all of us so much. —Tyler Coates

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Whether Hallmark movies are your guilty pleasure or the garbage you avoid on TV when you’re home for the holidays, Deck The Hallmark is at the very least going to give you something to laugh at. Hosted by three guys from South Carolina (one who loves, one who likes, and one who hates Hallmark Christmas movies), the podcast is a quick and funny listen that attempts to analyze the plots of the best worst movies on television. Joined by comedians, journalists, and podcasters, their goal is to break down all 37 new releases this year—if the movies don’t break them first. —Justin Kirkland

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Armchair Expert shouldn't be as good as it is. The host, Dax Shepard, interviews famous people and the occasional scholar or journalist. There's no room for growth in this genre. Comedians like Marc Maron and Pete Holmes have already cornered it (and besides, Terry Gross was outdoing everyone long before the term podcast existed). Yet Shepard's impressive and often unexpected guests—combined with his ability to pull stories and commentary that you wouldn't hear on a TV talk show or in most print interviews (like Ira Glass remarking on threesomes)—has quickly vaulted him into the elite realm of podcast host. Yes, Dax can be obnoxious; his inflated sense of self is particularly grating. But it's all part of the vaguely obnoxious "armchair expert" vibe, which Shepard's co-host and producer, Monica Padman, punctures at the end of each episode when she fact-checks his many claims. Plus, the wonderful Kristen Bell obviously sees something in Shepard because she married him, so that's reason enough to give it a try. In fact, start with the first episode, in which Shepard interviews Bell, and the two get real about their relationship. —Michael Sebastian

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In the ever-seething avalanche of film and comedy podcasts, it has become difficult to distinguish one series from another. So, when a close friend recommended I listen to Blank Check, hosted by actor/comedian Griffin Newman and Atlantic film writer David Sims, I was reluctant. How many more lighthearted podcasts devoted to scrutinizing every minor detail of cinema could I fit on my iPhone? Six months later, Blank Check is the only podcast to which I return, episode after episode. Unlike other movie podcasts, Griffin and David’s approach to evaluating cinema is rooted in filmographies; with few exceptions, they track a single director’s entire oeuvre, film by film, charting the progression of some of our greatest directors by the movie, the scene, and sometimes, even shot-by-shot. Their overarching focus is unpacking the elusive “blank check” movies: the ones like Ang Lee’s Hulk, in which a director has gained success and trust from a studio and is offered a blank check to make whatever he wants. As they say in every episode, sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes “they bounce, baby.” —Dom Nero

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The Rewatchables is based on a very simple premise: A handful of journalists talk about a movie everyone has seen. That description makes it sound almost annoying—like listening to people rehash their favorite lines from Caddyshack. Far from it. Instead, the hosts—usually led by Bill Simmons and featuring writers and editors from his culture and sports site, The Ringer—break down what makes these movies so endlessly enjoyable. The first season of the podcast, begun in 2017, is rough. At times it felt like Simmons was the only one taking it seriously. But in 2018, they returned with a second season and hit a stride, talking their way through favorites like Die Hard, The Devil Wears Prada, Jaws, and Step Brothers. It's a binge-worthy podcast that will make you want to rewatch movies you've seen hundreds of times. —Michael Sebastian

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I’m not a huge podcast person, which makes my devotion to Who? Weekly—a show that has been around for a few years but is only getting better—remarkable. The show’s tagline, “Everything you need to know about the celebrities you don’t,” basically says it all. Hosts Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber divide the world into Whos (C- and D-list celebrities that make you say, “who?”—think Kayti Edwards and Hailey Rhode Bieber) and Thems (A-listers like Viola Davis or George Clooney), and discuss only the former in 45-minute-ish episodes that feel like you’re hanging out with your funniest friends. This podcast is also, for what it’s worth, the only thing that assuages my extreme airplane anxiety. Full disclosure: The hosts are my real-life friends, but don’t trust me—trust the nearly 13,000 Wholigans in their very active Facebook group. —Joanna Rothkopf

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The first season of this sharp true crime podcast was one of 2016’s standouts, examining the harrowing, long-cold case of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling. Where that season focused on the bewildering failures of local law enforcement, Season Two focuses on the flaws of the criminal justice system through the case of Curtis Flowers, a black man in Mississippi who was tried six times for the same 1996 series of murders. The first five trials all ended either in mistrials or with convictions overturned, with the sixth resulting in a conviction which is now being appealed. The subject remains deeply fraught in the local community, with opinions on Flowers’ guilt or innocence largely breaking down along racial lines, and the details of the case become more and more unbelievable with every episode, as In The Dark’s reporters meticulously pick apart the prosecution case repeatedly made by District Attorney Doug Evans. –Emma Dibdin

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Slate’s gripping political history podcast launched late last year promising to “reconstruct what it feels like to live through recent history” by reexamining well-known events with an eye for under-explored details and forgotten figures. Season One focused on Watergate and the downfall of Richard Nixon, while Season Two is currently retelling the saga of Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky and subsequent impeachment. Hosted by Leon Neyfakh, every episode is riveting, urgent listening and draws compelling parallels between past and present. –Emma Dibdin

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If you finished both seasons of Netflix’s Queer Eye reboot and found yourself wondering how the relentlessly delightful Jonathan Van Ness doesn’t have his own show, look no further. His Earwolf podcast has been running since 2015, and just as the title suggests, each episode finds Van Ness speaking to experts to satisfy his own natural curiosities about the world. The scope is broad; recent episodes include "How Can We Be Less Rude to Bees?" and "What Do White People Need To Know About Racism?," while other weeks see Van Ness share characteristically frank and charming conversations with his Queer Eye co-stars. –Emma Dibdin

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While it may come from the same team as the true-crime podcast Criminal, This Is Love offers a much-needed respite from all the apocalyptic politics and violent true-crime stories liable to fill up your listening queue. Billed as “an investigation into life’s most persistent mystery,” the show offers true slice-of-life stories about love, blending together host Phoebe Judge’s narration with music and interviews for a warm and life-affirming listen. –Emma Dibdin

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In the era of Peak Podcast, keeping up with Crooked Media’s output alone can be overwhelming, but Jon Favreau’s new solo venture has the advantage of being a closed-ended miniseries. Eschewing Crooked’s usual quippy punditry in favor of a research-heavy documentary approach, The Wilderness is about the history, failings, and future of the Democratic Party, pivoting on a question Favreau asks in the show’s blunt opening moments: “How did we get here? How did we lose to this guy? And how did we end up with fewer Democrats in office than in any time in decades?” Through conversations with historians, strategists, policy experts, and voters, Favreau explores these alongside the larger and more pressing question of how the party can find its way back to a winning majority. –Emma Dibdin

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Following the success of The Daily’s launch last year, which set a new precedent for digestible, high-volume news podcasting, The New York Times released another must-listen. Hosted by foreign correspondent and terrorism expert Rukmini Callimach, Caliphate offers a fascinating and startlingly up-close exploration of ISIS, illuminating how the Islamic State operates, targets, and radicalizes new recruits. The results are gripping, disturbing and ferociously addictive. –Emma Dibdin

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Having released two seasons of the captivating psychological thriller Homecoming in addition to its sizable list of nonfiction shows, Gimlet Media has ramped up its output in 2018. But though its latest scripted show Sandra is an entertaining enough binge-listen, the highlight of the new slate is The Habitat, which follows the true story of a NASA experiment in which six volunteers are sent to live on a “fake planet Mars” in Hawaii. There they will work as faux-astronauts for one year, gathering data on the realities of life on Mars to allow NASA to prepare for the real thing. As you’d imagine, six people forced to coexist in such close quarters under such unique conditions provokes fascinating drama, which unfolds through the volunteers’ audio diaries. –Emma Dibdin

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One of last year’s buzziest podcast success stories was Up and Vanished, which reexamined the cold case of a missing Georgia schoolteacher. Documentarian-turned-podcaster Payne Lindsey and his producing partner Donald Albright return with this podcast produced by Tenderfoot TV and HowStuffWorks to delve into the decades-old case of the Atlanta Child Murders, which saw at least 28 children killed—most of them black boys from poor neighborhoods. Featuring interviews with law enforcement, Atlanta residents, and with the convicted killer Wayne Williams, Atlanta Monster is a detailed and important examination of a traumatized community, a horrifying crime, and a city’s systematically flawed response to both. –Emma Dibdin

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A true-crime podcast listed in the Comedy section may seem a little twisted, but there’s a reason My Favorite Murder is one of the most consistent and long-running mainstays in the Apple Podcast charts. Hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark are sharp-tongued, big-hearted avatars for our collective obsession with true crime. As they dig into two different stories each week, the pair effortlessly combine irreverent humor with an empowering perspective that honors the experience of the crimes’ (largely female) victims. –Emma Dibdin

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In the immediate post-Trump era last year, political podcasting seemed to be veering dangerously close to saturation point, but while there’s still a limitless supply of Washington-adjacent content for those who want it, things have settled a little in 2018. If you only listen to one new political series this year, Trump, Inc is a good bet in light of ongoing revelations about the president's business dealings and associates. A joint effort from WNYC and ProPublica, the show explores everything from Trump’s inauguration spending, to his ties to Russia, to his besieged attorney Michael Cohen. –Emma Dibdin

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You may think there’s nothing left to be said about Joss Whedon’s seminal and beloved Buffy between all the fanworks and scholarly essays that have emerged in the two decades since its debut. You’d be wrong. Now three seasons in, Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs have built a joyously creative labor of love, obsessing over every beat of Buffy with enthusiasm while also acknowledging the show's blind spots and troubling elements (hi, Xander). Best of all, each installment ends with a genuinely great original song inspired by that week’s episode; it’s like fan-fiction in musical form, and it’s glorious. –Emma Dibdin

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In I’ll Be Gone in The Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, author Michelle McNamara combines an investigation of one of America’s most notorious unsolved murder sprees with a personal account of how the case came to gradually consume her. Following McNamara’s sudden death two years ago, the book was posthumously updated and finished by her husband Patton Oswalt, alongside the true crime writer Paul Haynes. The extraordinary circumstances of the book’s publication are spotlighted in this podcast series, which features interviews with McNamara, Oswalt, and a number of other key players. –Emma Dibdin

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A slew of compelling cult-themed podcasts have emerged over the past year, with Heaven’s Gate and Cults emerging as highlights in 2017. Dear Franklin Jones is a kind of audio-memoir in which producer Jonathan Hirsch digs into his own childhood to solve a mystery. Growing up, Hirsch’s family were followers of the controversial spiritual teacher Franklin Jones, who developed a substantial following in 1970s and '80s California, but has since been identified by some as an abusive cult leader. Hirsch’s quest for the truth will hook you. –Emma Dibdin

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WBEZ Chicago’s follow-up to their 2016 miniseries Making Oprah miniseries is a deep-dive into the origin story of the 44th president, featuring a wealth of new insights for even the most devoted fan. Featuring interviews with former Obama colleagues, staffers and ultimately the man himself, the show frames Obama’s journey to the White House against the larger backdrop of Chicago, the city that shaped him. –Emma Dibdin