Podcasts That’ll Give You Great Small Talk At Dinner Parties
Love Island: The Morning After
This summer there’s no better conversation topic than Love Island. We all have our own opinions on the double dumping drama, but a little listen to the Morning After podcast will give you a more nuanced view of the goings on in Casa Amor. Plus, this’ll give you some extra juicy gossip, so those who don’t tune in will be hanging off your every word.
Listen here.
Overheard At National Geographic
From underwater pyramids to a black market for honeybees, each week National Geographic dive into the one of the fascinating conversations that have been overheard at their HQ. Speaking to explorers, photographers and scientists, their experts take us to the edges of our weird and wonderful world – for a little taste, the first episode asks the question: What does the 2017 song ‘Despacito’ have in common with the songs of the male humpback whale? Tune in to find out – and then pass that knowledge off as your own to all your friends.
Listen here.
Off Menu
Another great podcast for dinner party chat: comedians Ed Gamble and James Acaster chat to different celebrities about their dream dinner scenario. This includes picking a starter, main course, sides and dessert, and the pair even go as far as to make you choose between still or sparkling water and pappadums or bread. You’ll be surprised and shocked by some of the foodie choices made by your favourite actors and comedians – but it also makes superb dinner party chat. You’ll still be discussing each other’s choices way past dessert.
Listen here.
Stuff You Should Know
For facts that make you say “Oh my God!”, look no further than Stuff You Should Know. The show, hosted by Chuck Bryant and How Stuff Works senior writer Josh Clarke, asks all the important questions, like is photographic memory a real thing? What’s area 51? And how exactly do barcodes work? I.e. all the best random topics to bring up at a dinner party.
Listen here.
Chernobyl Podcast
With the amazing new series finished on Sky Atlantic, you can still listen to the podcast version of the show. It’s amazing how little we actually knew about the events that followed the nuclear disaster, and as the show on everyone’s lips right now, you better get yourself up-to-date with the story, or risk finding yourself left behind.
Listen here.
Related
13 Minutes To The Moon
In September 1962, it was announced by President John F. Kennedy that America would be going to the moon. Seven years and many mistakes later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made that dream a reality by stepping on the moon’s surface. It took just 13 minutes to make that descent, but a whole lot longer to ensure Apollo 11 was a successful mission. It really is a fascinating moment in history, and made all the more interesting on this BBC World Service podcast, with music by the incomparable Hans Zimmer. Such an interesting story that begs to be talked about.
Listen here.
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs provides classic dinner party convo: if you were going to pick just eight songs to take to a desert island with you, which would you choose? If you could only take one of those songs, which would it be? And what about your favourite book? You’ll likely find that narrowing it down to just eight is painfully hard, but watching people squirm makes for classic conversation when the party’s gone a bit flat.
Listen here.
Crime Junkie
Every Monday, Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat will fill you in on whatever crime they’ve been obsessing over that week, often ones that are unsolved or underreported. They way Ashley and Brit chat makes for easy listening (they’re old friends), and each episode remains tightly focused on the subject at hand: the crime. Seek out your true-crime nerds and you’ll be discussing your favourite cases for hours.
Listen here.
Man In The Window
Our new favourite true crime podcast of the moment – we even wrote a review about it here. The Golden State Killer was big news last year when it was finally revealed the ‘Man in the Window’ was actually Michael DeAngelo, a former police officer. But this podcast delves even deeper into his time of terror, interviewing his victims, his former fiancé and the investigators on the case, and throws out an interesting debate on the rise of using consumer genetic testing to find criminals.
Listen here.
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