Josie Long's favourite podcasts

THE WRITER, STAND UP COMEDIAN AND PODCASTER PICKS OUT HER CURRENT TOP 5 SHOWS...

TRASHFUTURE

I love this show. It’s the only show I get frustrated waiting for each week. It’s very smart and also manages to be funny, stupid and a bit gross. It’s a left wing political show which informs me and makes me feel less alone in the world, hosted by a gang who each bring something special to it.

THE BEEF AND DAIRY NETWORK

My long time favourite podcast, I’ve never missed an episode. It’s a whole fictional universe coming from a fake farming network. Surreal, inventive improvisation and always expertly produced and soundtracked. My favourite episodes are the beef call ones. 

MAINTENANCE PHASE

After Michael Hobbes left “you’re wrong about” it felt a bit like my parents were getting divorced. Again. But I am so happy for him in his new podcast with Aubrey Gordon. This show has helped me so much in the never ending quest to unpick diet culture from my mind and life. 

HEAVY PENCIL

This is a brilliant radio sitcom, only available as a podcast. It’s self contained as only a few series were made, but it’s a really funny show and deserves to be treasured!

LIGHTS OUT

I can’t recommend short cuts, my podcast of my radio 4 show, as that seems tacky, even though I would love to. However I can recommend this fantastic show of longer form documentaries made by the same producers. It’s beautiful, educating and transportative all at once.

Josie's BBC Radio 4 podcast Short Cuts is back for a new series in 2024 but you can catch up with all 36 series right now! Josie's new book Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't is out now in hardback and coming to paperback in the spring. More info available at josielong.com.