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Not Strictly Soccer Related: Listening To Stuff

I don't know about you, but I really like podcasts. They're an awesome way to discover new music, new comedy, or just new information, and they're a great way to hear some really cool stuff. So let's talk about podcasts, shall we?

The two sports podcasts I listen to are Slate's Hang Up And Listen and the Guardian's Football Weekly, and I would consider them must-listens if you're interested in sports at all. HUAL is awesome because it covers a staggeringly wide breadth of sports - including handball! - with intelligence and depth and a refreshing lack of cliche. Football Weekly is great for a couple reasons - one, because everyone on it knows their stuff really well, and two, because they do keep things in what I think is a really good perspective, they realize that sports is basically entertainment and they treat it as such, and they're really funny.

As far as comedy goes, I'm a big fan of The Bugle. It's John Oliver of the Daily Show and his longtime comedy partner Andy Zaltzman, basically just riffing on current events every week. They are both hysterical, and the show is reliably one of the funniest things around.

This style of humor isn't for everyone, but I find The Best Show On WFMU to be absolutely amazing. It's a four-hour show on WFMU radio/streaming, hosted by Tom Scharpling, with a pretty wide variety of call-in guests, from random people to celebrities. One of the recurring things on the show, which is set in the fictional town of Newbridge, NJ, is call-ins from Jon Wurster, of Superchunk, playing various characters, all Newbridge residents (except Philly Boy Roy), who all exist basically to threaten the life of Scharpling in various over-the-top ways.

For a taste of what the whole show is like, Best Show Gems is a fantastic introduction - each one's less than an hour, and you get a great sense for Scharpling & Wurster's comedy sensibility, which I find amazing.

I'm also a big fan of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, which is what it sounds like - four people sitting around talking about pop culture, which is always a fun listen.

So those are my favorites. What about you? Any favorite podcasts? What else is happening this week? Don't forget to set your clocks forward on Saturday night, by the way.