I love Julie Klausner's podcast. It's pure genius. I think the opening ramblings are incredibly funny, and a lot of the humor isn't about getting or not getting the references: it's the strange twists and turns that the thoughts take, and the playing with the absurd convention that the host is actually having a…

I agree. I also think that the context of this week's podcast criticism was having just raised $206,000 for WFMU. The Best Show is about a lot of things above and beyond Scharpling's comedy career. Can the same be said for most other podcasts?

Well said. The gender stuff on WTF has been given a crazy pass for years. With the exception of a very sweet interview with Maria Bamford, most of the time that women are on the show—I did count the number of women guests as compared to men, and it is embarrassingly low— there is some backhanded shit about women…

To me, there is nothing better than listening to Vance getting exasperated while Michael K free associates.

I'm with you. The mere description of the dude made me shudder with panic. Haven't listened to it. Can't listen to it. Yeesh.

I appreciate your responding to this! Should have included you, of course, in what still must be a pretty small list of podcast-makers who are also podcast-listeners. Scharpling clearly listens to them, even if he hates most of them, and I would guess that John Hodgman and Julie Klausner do too. But I am honestly very…

I liked it, but it was a very very very raw, slashing performance. In some ways, it was closer to Jandek or Kan Makami than to punk or rock music. Not for all tastes. Up my alley. But, not to be a broken record, certainly not an "acoustic jam."

Here's a question: do podcast makers listen to podcasts? I am not sure many podcast stars listen to their own shows. I know Maron doesn't. Would be shocked if most others did, besides PFT, who seems a genuine fan of the form. If, as I suspect, podcast makers do not listen to their own shows or those of others, this…

I have the same reaction to You Made It Weird. I do listen often. But Pete Holmes has several weird tics as an interviewer: he interrupts guests, which is frustrating for listeners and seemingly infuriating for interviewees (both Maron and Tompkins seemed ready to strangle him); he repeats himself; and he has very odd…

Jen Kirkman's poor people + reverb joke may be the funniest ad lib I have ever heard on any podcast.

I totally respect your opinion, and perhaps you may never come around on Gary the Squirrel. But, coming from the other side, I must heartily recommend that you give Gary the Squirrel another try. He is outrageously hilarious. After his triumph on How Was Your Oscars, he spent the first part of the Best Show marathon…

Something is screwy with the Best Show review. "Acoustic jams?" All of the music was clearly played on loud, dirty, electric guitars. And Mike seemed extraordinarily drunk. These are weird errors.