Boss Bitch: A Comedy Show
widely accessible, with new episodes every Thursday
Comics and self-described “International Sluts of Mystery” Kirsten O’Brien and Rachel Green have created a fun podcast out of their sex-positive standup. They hang out with comedians, sex educators, and “gangbang organizers” in each episode. Additionally, the guest selects a card from the Big Deck Energy Card segment of the show that contains a sex-related word that needs to be reclaimed. Richardson, Hollie
Cuddle while DI
widely accessible, with weekly episodes
Vic Reeves and Morgana Robinson play hairdressers and would-be sleuths hired to solve crimes in a North Yorkshire seaside town in this comedy-drama. It contains absurd asides, silly sound effects, and reports of crimes like “20 people slaughtered at Greggs.” It is every bit as ridiculous as you might expect. A. D. Duggins
Radical Mother Country
widely accessible, with weekly episodes
Playwright Zayd Ayers Dohrn recalls his childhood spent hiding from the FBI because his parents were members of the domestic terrorist organization the Weather Underground in this documentary. In a show that is intimate, perceptive, and carefully thought out, he speaks with his parents and political figures like David Axelrod to examine what we can learn from the radical groups of the 1970s. AD
Boom
widely accessible, with weekly episodes
This new podcast is set against the backdrop of the late 1990s tech boom, complete with Pokémon, No Scrubs, and dial-up internet noise. Jim, the finance manager for Enron, played by Akie Kotabe, is thrown into disarray when he receives an email from the future. Omari Douglas and Sharon D. Clarke are also featured. Judith Verdier
Edge of Reality: A Narrative Too Scared to Tell on TV is available on Audible right now.
Speaking to producers and contestants, Jacques Peretti investigates the shadowy side of reality television throughout the ages, from Survivor to Love Island. Since many show producers won’t discuss their shows, it can be difficult to challenge some of the more harmful show concepts. However, Peretti sheds light on the human cost of entertainment, which includes more than 40 suicides. HV
For that, there is a podcast.
Alim Kheraj has selected five of the best LGBTQ+ podcasts for this week, including a true crime investigation into the murders of eight gay men and interviews with pioneering queer elders.
Unread
Chris Stedman, a writer, podcaster, and academic, received his friend Alex’s scheduled email in 2019. The news that Alex was writing to report that he had committed suicide was one that many of us hope to never hear. The email contained a mystery as well, though: audio files of conversations between Alex and Alice, a person he met on a Britney Spears fan forum and who sounded uncannily similar to the pop princess herself. Unread is an incredibly heartfelt and intimate parody of the investigative podcast model that aims to reveal as much about Alex as it does about Alice. Along with the liberating nature of queer friendship, Stedman wrestles with the complicated relationship between our real-life and online selves.
Just call me Mom
There has been a surge in podcasts exploring our queer pasts, including Making Gay History and The Log Books. Call Me Mother approaches this lineage in an almost diary-like manner. Each episode of the show, which is hosted by writer Shon Faye, includes an in-depth interview with a notable LGBTQ+ elder, such as 73-year-old author, gender theorist, and performance artist Kate Bornstein; Brad Becker, the affable founder of America’s LGBT National Help Center; Rebel Dykes activist Siobhan Fahey; or HIV/Aids activist Marc Thompson. Like any great interviewer, Faye is a knowledgeable host who gives her subjects room to speak without interruption.
Investigate: The Village
Podcasts about true crimes frequently have voyeuristic and ethically dubious content. However, the third season of CBC Radio’s Uncover is the kind of in-depth investigative reporting that not only makes for compulsive listening but also reveals decades of injustice. Broadening the focus after concentrating initially on the eight gay men who were killed in Toronto by 66-year-old Bruce McArthur and whose murders remained unsolved for seven years, host and journalist Justin Ling looks at a history of unsolved homicides in Toronto’s gay village that spans decades. Ling’s reporting paints a damning picture of the Toronto police department, examining how prejudice brought on by racism and homophobia has prevented crimes from being solved.
AfroQueer
AfroQueer, a wonderful, frequently emotional, and masterfully produced podcast chronicling the lives and experiences of queer Africans living on the continent and in the diaspora, is hosted by journalist and historian Selly Thiam. A more recent episode told the tale of Paula Abuor, a pioneering LGBTQ+ activist living in Kisumu in western Kenya, who opened her house to queer Kenyans in 2008, providing a dedicated space for them to gather in a relatively safe environment. An early episode focuses on how people are using and misusing Grindr on the African continent. It is a real privilege to hear something that decentralizes the narrative because the British and American stories dominate so much of our current queer cultural landscape.
It can be annoying when podcast hosts banter back and forth. Fortunately, Ben Miller and Huw Lemmey are so knowledgeable and informed about their various subjects that their asides to one another frequently feel necessary. Bad Gays is a podcast about dark and complicated queer people in history. By contextualizing historical figures like Alexander the Great, Morrissey, composer Benjamin Britten, and even former Metropolitan police commissioner Cressida Dick through their queerness, Lemmey and Miller delve into the lives of many of the most notorious queers (the most recent episode is about Jeffrey Dahmer). Additionally, they recently released a book based on the podcast.
