From chicken burgers to lookalikes

Rave Nostalgia

Episode: "Soda Jerk" | Podcast: The Blindboy Podcast | 45m42s

Blockbuster Irish podcast featuring the musings of "Blindboy Boatclub", a character previously best known as one half of 2010s rap duo The Rubberbandits, who wore plastic bags on their heads to avoid recognition. The show is freeform, sometimes just including Blindboy's (occasionally explicit) monologue, and sometimes featuring prose or poetry from other writers. This episode is about the Irish rave scene of the 1990s and the historical parallels prompted by the chicken burgers that were served to revellers (45m42s)

Look Alike

Episode: "The Impersonator" | Podcast: Mesto47 | 18m56s

Audio profile series about characters encountered on the Trans-Siberian railway. The hosts made the 9,288km trip from Moscow to Vladivostok over 28 days, interviewing the people they met along the way. This first episode is about "the other Putin", a man called Vasily who very closely resembles the Russian president and makes a living as an impersonator. He has two university degrees and used to run a fur shop, but now makes a living by being in tourist photos in Red Square and attending birthday parties (18m56s)

Cheer Up

Episode: "Tilda And The Hounds With Miel Bredouw" | Podcast: Make My Day With Josh Gondelman | 22m36s

Podcast game show hosted by American comedian Josh Gondelman. The format is both simple and silly: there is only one contestant (also known as "the winner") and they have to put a positive spin on the world so that Josh can award them points for cheering him up. This episode's guest is Miel Bredouw, host of previously-recommend podcast Punch Up The Jam. She creates an optimistic imaginary blueprint for the future of music festivals after the pandemic, and manages to set the podcast's record high score (22m36s)