The Five Podcasts You Need To Be Listening To

Once upon a time I thought podcasts were... not lame, lame’s not the word I’m looking for, but I can’t think of the word I am looking for so we’ll go with lame. Then when I started my job I realised that I can’t do anything, and I mean anything, in silence. I have what I like to refer to as a hyper active brain, and by that I mean I’m very easily distracted - I can be doing something and then BAM! I just have to know what David Hassellhoff has been up to - and my internal monologue is so fricking loud and almost impossible to ignore. It’s why I always did so badly in exams but my coursework was always lit. 

Anyway, I tried listening to music for a couple of months, and that was great, but then things started getting a bit same-y, so I started switching things up a bit with podcasts, and have never looked back. Now I listen to podcasts all the time. Whether I’m commuting, actually at work, or walking Audrey, chances are I’ll be listening to a podcast. Or Biffy Clyro, one or t’other. Here are some of the podcasts I’m absolutely loving right now. 

Is it just me?

Previously known as Hey, it’s okay! Is it just me? is hosted by Glamour’s former editor-in-chief Jo Elvin, and former associate editor James Williams, and is completely brilliant. Every week they have a celebrity guest, usually a total bad ass, talking about really random topics, including, but not limited to, mental health, money, fashion, online personas and feminism. It’s a truly great podcast. I love listening to it. My favourite episode so far was the one with Caitlin Moran, which is definitely well worth a listen, but there hasn’t been an episode I haven’t enjoyed. It turns out that I really love listening to bad ass women talk about their careers.Were that an official podcast genre it’d be my favourite. 

Jules and Sarah

Jules and Sarah is my current favourite, I’ve been listening to it for about six weeks now, and I really, really like it. Jules and Sarah are best friends living in London. Both of them have Northern roots, and both of them are obsessed with cheese, specifically Port Salut. They’re also really funny, laugh-out-loud-on-a-public-bus funny, and the whole podcast has a tea and a chinwag with your best mate kinda vibe, which I just love! 

Anna Faris is Unqualified 

Unqualified is kind of like if Jules and Sarah and Is it just me? had an American love child, except it’s been running longer than both of them, but whatevs. It’s very, very funny. Actress, funny girl and former Mrs Chris Pratt (sob!) Anna Faris hosts the podcast with her best friend Sim Sarna, they offer unqualified advice to callers, usually with the help of a celebrity guest/guests. They’ve had some seriously famous people on the podcast, including Chris Evans. Like I said it’s really funny, and actually quite touching. Anna gives the best advice, she may be unqualified but she knows what she’s talking about, and everything she says is very sincere and heartfelt. I love it. 

My Dad Wrote a Porno

My Dad Wrote a Porno is the podcast that made me love podcasts. It is hysterical, not in a 'laugh-out-loud-in-public' kind of way, but in a 'OMG-struggling-for-breath-uncontrollable-giggles' kind of way. It’s so funny! The podcast is hosted by Jamie Morton, James Cooper and Alice Levine and every week they read out a chapter of Rocky Flintstone’s, who also happens to be Jamie’s dad, erotic novel, Belinda Blinked. It is brilliant, and hilarious, and bone-curlinglt cringe-y, which only made worse when you remember that Rocky is Jamie’s Dad. It’s awesome. Listen to it, you won’t regret it. Well you might, but the lols will more than make up for it. 

Casefile

Casefile is a true crime podcast, and is completely different to everything else I’ve already mentioned. Narrated by an unnamed narrator, Casefile examines true crime cases from all over the world. Some of which are truly horrific, so if you’re sensitive to stuff like that then I’d probably give this a miss. Having said that, it’s so interesting, and there are loads of them, so there’s plenty to listen to.

I've written about some of my other favourite podcasts here and I must make special mention of the Sorted Food podcast which only launched last week but is really, really good.


Are there any podcasts I'm missing, that I absolutely have to listen to? Let me know in the comments below x