Jonathan Goldstein’s Heavyweight, the place he helps individuals confront issues from their previous, is without doubt one of the most beloved podcasts of all time. In 2023 when Spotify was making large cuts, it was certainly one of them. However earlier this 12 months, Malcolm Gladwell’s Pushkin Industries picked it again up, and episodes will probably be returning quickly. In order for you extra Heavyweight-ish stuff now, this checklist of podcasts will maintain you glad. They share Heavyweight’s ethos—curiosity, empathy, a humorousness, and delightful audio.
Wiretap
Credit score: Wiretap
Wiretap is Jonathan Goldstein’s earlier CBC present, and it’s the religious ancestor of Heavyweight—bizarre, heat, and shifting. Every episode blends scripted monologue with real-life moments and absurd sketches, all wrapped in Goldstein’s signature self-deprecating wit. It’s looser and extra surreal than Heavyweight, however the emotional core is identical: individuals attempting to make sense of themselves and one another. You will hear tales that really feel like confessions advised late at night time, or voicemails from somebody who is aware of you higher than you understand your self. Listening to Wiretap is like studying Jonathan’s diary—and discovering it is one way or the other yours, too.
Proxy
Credit score: Proxy
Yowei Shaw is attempting to assist individuals. Together with her stunning present Proxy, Yowei (who refers to herself as an emotional journalist) solves area of interest emotional conundrums, investigated by proxy—discovering individuals with unresolved relationships and linking them up with a stranger who will help them higher perceive their issues. (Lately she related a person whose spouse left him for an additional girl with one other girl who left her husband for a lady.) Yowei comes from the massively in style podcast NPR Invisibilia, so you possibly can belief her to ship an excellent story that’s tender and professionally structured. There may be nothing like Proxy, making it an area for distinctive conversations by no means heard earlier than.
Chosen Shorts
Credit score: Chosen Shorts
Chosen Shorts is sort of a combined bag for audio lovers, {a magazine} and time capsule multi function. Each month, govt producer and host Mitra Kaboli releases curated audio documentaries, interviews, and discussions made by and with one of the best individuals within the enterprise. That is the stuff from the previous that has impressed a few of the greatest stuff you’re listening to now. There may be free content material on the feed (I like to recommend “Name Now” by Sean Cole, a hilarious piece about lawyer adverts) however you want a subscription to get all of the goodies.
Household Ghosts
Credit score: Household Ghosts
In episodes of Household Ghosts, host Sam Dingman begins with a private thriller—an outdated household rumor, a lacking particular person—and digs till he finds gold. It’s the thriller that snags your consideration, nevertheless it’s Sam’s considerate meditation on what it implies that will maintain you including these episodes to your queue. These are tales about id, legacy, and reality that usually lack a tidy decision, like so lots of {our relationships}. It’s tender and comforting to listen to in regards to the problems which can be taking place in different individuals’s households. It’s why we peek into home windows at night time; it makes us really feel much less alone.
This Is Love
Credit score: This Is Love
Phoebe Decide’s That is Love has the identical soulful curiosity and emotional depth that makes Heavyweight so beloved. It’s nearly like Phoebe is portray a mural of the theme of affection, and she or he is utilizing human tales about love in all varieties (friendship, romance, love for animals) to do it. Her voice is famously calm and regular, the type that makes you wish to sit nonetheless and actually take heed to what she has to say as she unspools tales of connection, devotion, and the sudden methods love reveals up in individuals’s lives. The present isn’t afraid of melancholy, however at all times provides a way of awe relatively than despair.
Snap Judgment
Credit score: Snap Judgment
On Snap Judgment, Glynn Washington is your emcee for a poetry slam of tales, beginning out every episode with certainly one of his personal, advised with such power which you could really feel it pulsing by way of your physique. Then he arms the mic to his storyteller and also you hear their story, expertly assembled with killer beats. The consequence? Motion pictures to your ears. These tales—a international negotiator makes an attempt to free an American journalist being held captive, somebody experiences a glitch within the universe, an underwater photographer is saved by harp seals—will keep on with you. Hearken to only one story (I like to recommend beginning with “The Border Hacker”) and be a part of the large group of Snappers who sit on the altar of storytelling grasp Glynn Washington, ready for him to drop new beats.
What do you suppose thus far?
Articles of Curiosity
Credit score: Articles of Curiosity
Like Heavyweight, Articles of Curiosity is a meticulously crafted present that finds profound which means in sudden locations. Host Avery Trufelman investigates the hidden histories behind clothes and trend with the identical mixture of curiosity and narrative perfection that Jonathan Goldstein brings to his present. Each reveals make the small really feel massive, unearthing emotional depth in issues most of us overlook. There’s a delicate wit and generosity within the storytelling, making you are feeling smarter and extra related by the tip of each episode. If Heavyweight is about individuals attempting to know their previous, Articles of Curiosity is about understanding the previous stitched into what we put on.
Lovely / Nameless
Credit score: Lovely / Nameless
Episodes of Lovely / Nameless (quick for Lovely Tales from Nameless Folks) take you to sudden, human locations. Each episode is a cellphone name to a stranger—host Chris Gethard units his cease watch to 60 minutes and has a dialog with them, letting them take the dialog nonetheless they see match. Chris Gethard brings a young curiosity to each nameless name, permitting house for the generally unusual, generally humorous, at all times heartfelt conversations that, like Heavyweight, usually unlock a human thriller about somebody. Chris has talked to a witch, a person whose spouse is dying of most cancers, a funeral director, somebody who opens up about their heroin habit, and lots of extra.
The Reminiscence Palace
Credit score: The Reminiscence Palace
The Reminiscence Palace and Heavyweight are kindred spirits, each obsessive about the burden of the previous. However with The Reminiscence Palace, the tales are quieter and a bit bit extra mysterious. Nate DiMeo tells true, usually forgotten tales with the rhythm of a lullaby and the punch of an excellent quick story, slipping historical past into your ears like a secret. Episodes don’t want resolutions or jokes to get you to really feel all the sentiments, however episodes will stick in your head for some time. “The Home of Lowe” is an evocative story a few pioneering girl in trend, “Under, from Above” is an account of the development of the Brooklyn Bridge, and “I am Nonetheless Alive” explores the historical past of untimely burials.
Infinite Thread
Credit score: Infinite Thread
Most Infinite Thread tales start with one thing unusual discovered on Reddit and evolve from there right into a story about individuals IRL. Utilizing storytelling, interviews, and discussions, hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson discover the individuals concerned within the tales and convey their threads to life. What makes it like Heavyweight is the combination of mysteries and private experiences that gives you a glimpse into the lives of individuals world wide, each on-line and off.
