Your Weekend Podcast Playlist

Maybe you enjoyed your podcasts on a stroll through the park during our unseasonably warm weekend last week. This week, I suggest bundling up and hunkering down to our playlist. Sorry this is coming out a little late. One member of the team got a little too obsessed with Super Mario Odyssey this week... Not going to say who.

The meandering playlist actually starts with a video, but it's in partnership with one of our favorite programs—99% Invisible. On the "design" front, we wandered into Monocle's urban design podcast which recently covered NYC's mayor, Bill de Blasio. Once we entered into the politics lane, we got a bit enthusiastic about a couple great shows that had particularly good episodes this week. Finally, get some absolute absurdity with our very, very favorite human, Mr. Jason Mantzoukas.

Have you liked or subscribed to any of the podcasts we've recommended? Tell us about it! If you haven't, get to liking. The medium depends on us showing your love and helping these shows grow. In addition to joining our Facebook group, please follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

Happy Listening!

As relatively recent newcomers to NYC, we've only known de Blasio as mayor. The Urbanist typically focuses on how cities are designed to solve problems, so this week's episode was an interesting look at how the man in charge shapes those decisions. Whether or not you live in NYC, I think it's interesting to hear de Blasio talk about making NYC the fairest big city in the world and how he's trying to handle the scale of problems here. [40:14]

When Preet Bharara, former US Attorney of New York, and WNYC announced he was starting a podcast, we were underwhelmed. A prosecutor launching a politcal podcast? Yawn. However, we had to eat our humble pie because Preet is excellent as an interviewer. He deserves extra credit this week for continuing to press Jeff Flake repeatedly over his decision to retire instead of going down fighting for reelection; definitely worth subscribing to. [49:20]

This lead-in will be short. If you followed Nate Silver's model throughout the 2016 presidential race, listen to this podcast. Nate and Micah are as casual as you'll ever hear them talking about FiveThirtyEight's multi-year coverage. Plus, Nate gets heated multiple times. [49:14]

We felt like this atypical More Perfect episode—a debate about free speech—was worth sharing. On the political thread, this debate is specifically related to the role Facebook and Twitter played in the 2016 election. We'd suggest checking out the links in the show notes before listening to better follow some arguments. [38:53]

If you don't love Jason Mantzoukas, this newsletter probably isn't for you. We know we got a little politics heavy on you this week, so lighten your day up with one of our favorite comedians. Sean and Hayes regularly record an absurdist podcast and Jason has no problem at all playing along. Things get down right weird. If you need more Mantzoukas Magic this weekend, go back and listen to he and Nick Kroll on The Watch; you won't regret it. [1:02:41]