New podcast discoveries, 2017 edition

As the title says, here is a list of podcasts I started listening to this year. Looking down this list, I'm amazed at how incestuous they are. Ah well!

Black Men Can't Jump In Hollywood 

I discovered these guys through Jon Gabrus's almighty High and Mighty. Every episode, comedians Jonathan Braylock, James III and Jerah Milligan take a look at a mainstream Hollywood release starring black actors in leading roles and analyse them in the context of race.

In an era marked by both increased calls for -and resistance towards - diversity, BMCJ's dissection of movies as varied as Hancock and The Last King of Scotland are highly relevant and important. Featuring a range of guest stars including Keegan Michael Keye, Sasheer Zamata and Nicole Byer, the podcast is also hilarious - the Boo! A Madea Halloween episode literally made me tear up - while also delivering an insightful and well-reasoned commentary on each film's representation of race.

As the podcast has progressed the hosts have expanded their scope to focus on other kinds of representation, which should make for some more interesting episodes down the line.  

As a listener from outside the States, BMCJ also works as an introduction to a range of movies I was not familiar with. 

Easily the most important and weighty podcast on this list, and worth checking out.

Action Boyz

A Patreon-only spin-off from High and Mighty, The Action Boyz is a podcast for action fans of a certain generation. What started out as a lame joke on its parent podcast has taken on a life of its own, as Gabrus and his mates Ben Rogers and Ryan Stanger review the movies that made them the man-boyz they are today. Leavened with equal dollops of irony and nostalgia, The Action Boyz are unafraid to share their love of these movies while also tearing them to pieces for their questionable politics and the rampant ego of their stars.

Doughboys

My craving for more Gabrus led me to try this one out, and it stuck. The food is legitimately terrible, but the thing that keeps me coming back is the never-ending antagonism between the hosts. Sometimes it will take an hour for them to get to the review, as we wait for Mitch to stop musing about the ways he will end up killing Wiger, while Wiger ponders the likelihood of Mitch dying alone and being consumed by his cats.

Featuring a range of guest stars (including serial offender Jon Gabrus), Doughboys is extremely silly, and far less caustic than the previous paragraph made it out to be.

Why Won't You Date Me?

This one only just started this month, but it is quickly becoming one of my favourites. The combination of the train wreck premise (the host interviewing someone she's hooked up) with the ridiculously funny Byer is a match made in heaven. Right from the half-assed theme song, you know you are in for something special. Byer's unerring ability to make the transition between interviewing her guest and dropping the titular question as awkward as possible has to be heard to be believed.

Raised By TV

It does not say much for my tastes (or Gabrus's career choices) that he is on this list so many times. Co-hosted by the great Lauren Lapkus (Orange Is The New Black), Raised By TV is the equivalent of one of those long, rambling conversations you have with your mates about a commercial you both saw 20 years ago. From toy commercials to Christmas episodes to favourite game shows, if you grew up in the 90s, you will love this.

Related

2016 list