Everyone needs something to do while they’re jogging. Or while on the bus. Or perhaps on the subway. You can play at an online casino on your phone, which is a great idea and could see you land a jackpot win, and music is also all good and well. But never overlook the fact that you could be using that time to expand your brain, learn something new, or perhaps even be getting some interesting new recipe ideas.
This is where podcasts come in; your informative friends when you have otherwise empty time on your hands. Thankfully, we’re here to point you in the direction of some of the best streaming podcasts available right now.
Full Disclosure with James O’Brien
James O’Brien is known for delivering well-rounded, intelligent content based around the standard format of one-on-one interviews. He has already seen some success with his previous series, Unfiltered, but is at it again with Full Disclosure. It isn’t much different from Unfiltered, but that isn’t at all a bad thing.
O’Brien goes head to head with more than a few well known public figures, and the conversations he has with them are truly insightful. Tony Blair has already been interviewed, as well as has world-renowned actor and comedian Ricky Gervais. Of course, not all his interviews will be with such public figure heavyweights, but there is almost always something interesting to be heard and learnt in every episode. It can’t exactly be called easy listening, and will certainly demand your attention, but is a must for those who are keen on expanding their world knowledge.
Jokes with Mark Simmons
The Jokes podcast hosted by Mark Simmons is the sort of thing that demonstrates just how great podcasts really are. It is a podcast that is unflinchingly based entirely around understanding humour and comedy in more depth. You may already be scratching your head and wondering why such a podcast even exists, but that it does is why the modern age of virtually everyone having a voice is so great.
Aimed at writers, comedians, and everyone else who has an interest in dissecting human language, and otherwise gaining a better understanding of why things are the way they are, Jokes is a slightly more specialised podcast, but certainly worth taking a listen too. Of course, it’s also very funny.
Fatwa
From the light-hearted and interesting to the more sober but no less interesting, we have the 10 part serial Fatwa. This enlightening podcast focuses on the global controversy and scandal that was The Satanic Versus, a book by Salman Rushdie. The book resulted in Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran putting out a fatwa. This called for the murder of Salman Rushdie and the publishers of his so-called unacceptable book, backed by a bounty of no less than $6 million.
Still a much discussed controversy to this very day, the podcast explains in more detail the timeline of the events, and explains in great depth both perspectives of the incident. Importantly, Fatwa is not biased to one or the other perspective on the matter, taking into account, and exploring at great length, the Muslim perspective, as well as the free speech perspective
Who The Hell Is Hamish?
Rounding off our list is the deeply fascinating yet light-hearted account of Hamish McLaren – or as he was originally known, Hamish Watson.
Who the hell is that?
Exactly.
Hamish is one of the most interesting scam artists of all time, described as an unimposing surfer dude. So, how exactly did he con multiple unsuspecting people from America, Canada, Britain, Australia and Hong Kong out of more than $7 million, while evading capture for a decade? We’d like to know as well, so we’re going to start listening to the podcast to find out – and so can you!
