Paste’s Best of 2012 series continues through Dec. 31 and is made possible by our friends at Tretorn.
In the last few years, podcasts have gone from niche online versions of radio shows to huge commodities, making stars out of its hosts and launching books, TV shows and plenty of comedian’s careers. In the realm of entertainment, there are thousands of different podcasts that you are available at the click of a button. Here at Paste, we boiled this overwhelming list to the 10 best entertainment podcasts of 2012.
10. NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour
Pop Culture Happy Hour is like NPR’s Justice League, as the station’s various writers and editors gather around to discuss all of entertainment for that week in their areas of expertise. PCHH covers film, music, television, books, theatre and anything else that happens to be making waves in the world of pop culture. Always insightful and thoughtful, PCHH is essential to keeping up with all that entertainment has to offer.
Episode to Check Out:
12/14/2012: Is Everything Worse Than Ever? And A Gift Guide!
It’s always important to stay caught up with PCHH, but the most recent episode is a fascinating look at the critic’s reverence for the past and nostalgia for unremembered times. The group questions whether entertainment is better or worse than the past or if we just look at the past through rose-colored glasses.
9. The Indoor Kids
Comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon host the most compelling videogame-themed podcast available, The Indoor Kids, as the two of them discuss the life of a gamer to various celebrities. What transpires is a deeper look at the hobby that has engulfed millions around the world and the impact games have had, while also critiquing the latest games available.
Episode to Check Out:
7/9/2012: #53: Gaming School with Adam Sessler
Adam Sessler is arguably the most recognizable face in videogame journalism, as the host of G4’s X-Play for over a decade. Sessler talks with Nanjiani and Gordon about his history in criticism as well as his problems with the way females and minorities can sometimes be portrayed in video games. It’s a deeper look into an entertainment medium that too often gets wrongly dismissed as “a toy.”
8. How Did This Get Made?
Jason Mantzoukas, June Diana Raphael and Paul Scheer have dedicated their podcast to finding the films that are so bad, they’re good. Each week the trio invites a guest to have a spoiler-filled talk about cinematic disasters that probably shouldn’t have seen the light of day. Regardless if you’ve seen such masterpieces as Speed 2: Cruise Control and The Room or not, How Did This Get Made? is even more fun than the films they tear apart.
Episode to Check Out:
7/17/2012: #41: Spider-Man 3
The threesome brings in Kulap Vilaysack to destroy one of the most anticipated and terrible ends to a trilogy with Spider-Man 3. Making fun of Peter Parker’s dance sequences is just the beginning as they dissect everything from the logic of Sandman to what newspapers J. Jonah Jameson has framed in his office.
