Joseph Fink's favorite podcasts of 2023

Most Best Of podcast lists are boring. Podcasting is one of the most exciting forms of media, with people trying all sorts of wild things, and yet almost every list is a series of long form journalism, usually some kind of true crime. It'd be like if every best of television list was just a bunch of Dateline episodes.

So here are my personal favorite podcasts of 2023. This is not every podcast I enjoyed, but just a short representative list of a few I thought really excelled

Are You Afraid of the Dark Universe?

A few years back, Universal tried to launch their answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with something they called the Dark Universe, based on classic movie monsters. The first movie was the Tom Cruise vehicle The Mummy, which bombed so badly the entire cinematic universe was canceled. Until two amateur writers decided to revive it on their own, with this podcast, where movie by movie they take us through years of an imaginary cinematic universe. When I started listening, I thought this would be a parody of the whole idea, but instead it's a sincere celebration of the concept of a shared universe, and proof that a cinematic universe could be a joyous thing if it didn't have to be tied to the relentless greed of shareholders. Listen to the Invisible Man episode and tell me you don't want to watch that movie.

Dykes to Watch Out For

An Audible adaptation of Allison Bechdel's legendary comic strip, this new version is smartly written, keeping the pacing and humor of a comic strip while finding a larger story for us to hold onto. It incorporates the politics of the time while telling a universal story of love and the frustrations of dating.

The Empty Bowl

I fall asleep to this podcast every single night. This is, no doubt, the authoritative podcast on the subject of breakfast cereal that also doubles as a meditation. If the idea of drifting off to dreams while listening to a review of Frosted Lemon Cheerios sounds enticing, then do I have a podcast for you.

If Books Could Kill

Michael Hobbes, along with Jamie Loftus, represent a new and exciting wave in podcasting, churning out show after show that manage to be both scholarly and hilarious. As a book lover, this is my favorite of the Hobbes shows, in which he and his co-host go through some of the most damaging airport books of the last several decades. Self-help. Psuedo-history. All revealed as different faces of the same lazy grift.

Just King Things

Two academics read the works of Stephen King in publication order. I think the way that these guys talk and think about books and writing is fascinating, and I love how they approach King in all his problematic glory. They are very good at breaking down how the good stuff he's doing works, but also totally unafraid to call out when King gets problematic or offensive or just downright not very good.

Mallwalkin'

Two guys walk around a mall in the LA area and talk about what they see. That is the entirety of Mallwalkin'. It's the kind of low-stakes, high concept idea that could only work in podcasting. And I love it. Thrill as they get kicked out of a Macy's for recording. Listen in live as they try out an airsoft target course. Hear a woman apologize to a store for shoplifting from them when she was a teenager. All in real time! This is the kind of weird, experimental stuff that podcasting was made for.

The Mishke Roadshow

I've talked in a bit longer form about how I discovered Mischke here. You might recognize him as the voice from a recent episode of Night Vale, but on his own podcast, Mischke offers an endless surprise. Some episodes are full of funny story telling, like Tales from the Toilet, which gives us a variety of stories that have happened on bathroom breaks of road trips. Others are memorable interviews, like The Dissonance, where he drives around Minneapolis, stopping to interview every person with a cardboard sign asking for money. Whatever he's doing, it's always engaging, and peppered with ads so specific and locally midwestern that it took me several episodes to figure out if they were real or parodies. 

New Year's Day

I'm cheating a bit with this one, since it came on on New Year's Day of 2024. But it's the kind of project that keeps me excited about podcasting, so I wanted to talk about it here. Lauren Shippen, one of the founding voices of fiction podcasting, has been relentless in trying to find new ways of telling stories in this format. And with her latest show, she has introduced the story of two immortal magicians who meet every decade or so, on New Year's Day. Fittingly, this podcast will also be released only once a year, one episode on every New Year's Day. I love this idea, and I love all independent podcasters still finding new ways to experiment with this increasingly corporate medium. 

Within The Wires

Ok, I know this looks like a bit of a conflict of interest, but in my defense, I am not involved in the writing or production of this show in any way. And I think that this season absolutely knocked it out of the park. What starts as a funny goof on self-help and hustle culture soon reveals itself to be something darker and scarier. Our long time friend Joey Rizzolo provides the voice, and is perfect as the kind of guru who only has his own interests in mind. Within the Wires is always trying to find new stories to tell, and this year they've told one of my favorites so far.