Talking points
Audible is shaking up its podcasting offering in a move that could threaten the future of shows. That is according to podcast newshound Nick Quah (whose podcast newsletter, Hot Pod, is well worth your time). Quah says a number of key roles have been eliminated, including “nearly the entire group responsible for the shorter-form podcast-style programming”. Audible told the Guardian that The Butterfly Effect with Jon Ronson and Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel, will both be returning for their second and third series, respectively.
After criticism about its decision to continue hosting Alex Jones’s Infowars podcast, Spotify joined Apple, YouTube and Facebook in removing his content. “Due to repeated violations of Spotify’s prohibited content policies, The Alex Jones Show has lost access to the Spotify platform,” a spokesperson told the Guardian.
Elsewhere, Marvel is getting in on the scripted podcast game with Wolverine: The Long Night, which will follow the adamantium-clawed franchise star. It is coming to Stitcher on 12 September.
Picks of the week
The Good Place: The Podcast
From Love Island to Vikings, the age of the official companion podcast is upon us, offering director’s-cut-style commentary for restless TV fans. The latest show to get its own pod spinoff is Michael Schur’s afterlife comedy The Good Place, a show in which kitsch fantasy slowly gave way to satirical twists across its first two series. Michael Evan Jackson (AKA Bad Place crony Shawn) chairs cast and crew interviews full of analysis and anecdotes ahead of the series’ third run, which starts in September. Hannah J Davies
Slow Burn season two
The first season of Leon Neyfakh’s podcast gave a brilliant account of Watergate. Now, he is back to tackle Bill Clinton’s undoing. Neyfakh leaves no stone unturned and has a knack for tapping in to the supporting characters and subplots that are pivotal to the story. First he will be looking at the lead-up to Clinton and Monica Lewinsky’s scandal, focusing on the Whitewater real estate controversy and Paula Jones’s sexual harassment lawsuit, before discussing the complicated process of impeachment and its political impact. Hannah Verdier
In focus: comedy podcasts
Given that comedians are populating the podcast charts more and more, it makes sense that Spotify – keen to capitalise on the increasingly lucrative industry – offered Amy Schumer a whopping $1m (£775,000) to host a show for them. The result is the warm and savagely witty 3 Girls, 1 Keith, often recorded with her best friends and fellow comics Rachel Feinstein, Bridget Everett and Keith Robinson. Each episode is a conversation between the group about a different topic, ranging from dead pets to “moms and stuff”. The show proves why comics – with their vulnerabilities and experienced storytelling skills – trump the average meandering conversationalist when it comes to podcasting.
Arriving with similarly scandalous levels of humour, but on a much smaller budget, is Dear Joan and Jericha, which we have covered in this newsletter before. Created by the queen of dark comedy, Julia Davis, and her longtime collaborator Vicki Pepperdine, the two fictional agony aunts – who have extensive experience in “life coaching, female sexual health, psycho-genital counselling and sports journalism” – give awful advice littered with filth and bleakness; stern recommendations for vaginal reconstruction surgery and cooking animal anuses in order to keep your man happy, that kind of thing.
While Phil Ellis’s increasingly frazzled Edinburgh audio diary Funny from the Fringe is sadly no more, there is still a chance to hear some of the festival this year. Seann Walsh and Carl Donnelly are launching Who The F#ck Is Barbara?, a show that delves into their guest’s phones to discover the person behind the digital facade. No archived WhatsApp group is safe. Taking place in front of a live audience, it starts at the fringe on 22 August, with the podcast to follow shortly after, before moving to the Top Secret Comedy Club in London from September. Harriet Gibsone
Readers picks: dating advice and ex-pat adventures
Breakups aren’t fun, so hosts Rayna and Ashley ease the pain by speaking about their own horrible splits – and the things they did to get over them.
Recommended by Jessica Marrocco
American expat Sarah Mikutel interviews people who packed up everything to start a new adventure in another part of the world.
Recommended by Reg English
Guardian pick
Chips with Everything
The term “smart city” is widely used and recognised. But there is some disagreement over what exactly makes a city smart. If you take the core concept as “a city that is made more efficient, sustainable or enjoyable based on information gathered”, aren’t most cities smart to some degree already? When it comes to gathering the data that enables these improvements, what are the limits? In this very smart episode of Chips with Everything, we look at the history – and, more importantly, the future – of the smart city. We look at how the simple of act of walking down the street can convert our weight into energy and why soon we may have to worry about what data our footsteps will give away.
If you’ve got a podcast that you love, send your recommendations to podcasts@theguardian.com
