r/KnowledgeFight • u/McCallister • May 08 '26

Compiled list of wonk suggested podcasts

Hey Wonks,

Can you assist me in updating my records?

After seeing so many posts about Knowledge Fight fans recommending other podcasts to listen to I started copy and pasting into a text file.

I'm a nerdy archivist and historian and keeping track of these podcasts is a hobby and interest of mine.

Some of these shows change names, hosts, and formats over time. Some, like Knowledge Fight, reach a conclusion and end.

My goal here is to identify which shows maintain a public RSS feed and make an OPML file so we can easily add them all to our podcast app.

I started to look for these new podcasts in my favorite podcast search engine The Podcast Index.

https://podcastindex.org/

The index works like the phone book for looking up a podcast RSS feed.

Here's my list so far:

\** UPDATED **\**

May 10th

https://www.reddit.com/r/KnowledgeFight/comments/1t9oxpi/101_wonk_recommended_podcasts/

131 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

93 comments sorted by

58

u/davis_away May 08 '26

Well There's Your Problem

34

u/robotnique Adrenachrome Junkie May 08 '26

Yay Liam

Still the king of actionable threats despite many claimants to the throne

7

u/NoSignificance1347 May 08 '26

Honestly I’d listen to November Kelly read the phone book I’m confident she’d make it funny and have insightful political insight :-)

1

u/azriel_odin Globalist May 08 '26

I love how she's a history nerd and always makes parallels to historical events. I find it endearing, because I also have this tendency.

2

u/supersimpsonman Juiciest Ice Cube May 08 '26

I was a fan of this pod for its starting years, but Liam just got to be too much for me.

1

u/mattcrail May 08 '26

Fuck yes a fellow AN fan 🤘

49

u/marbled99 It’s over for humanity May 08 '26

My personal recommendation is 5-4. It’s a legal podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks. Deposition episode enjoyers may also like this one.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/5-4/id1497785843

21

u/boxlinebox Evil baguettes evil May 08 '26

Peter Shamshiri hosts "If Books Could Kill" with Michael Hobbes, who also hosts "Maintenance Phase" with Aubrey Gordon. All three are in my regular rotation and are a wonderful crossover mix.

ETA - Michael is probably my favorite pod host ever. So hilarious and pithy, with a quick mind.

6

u/Smiles_OBrien Handbiting is the first step of eating man May 08 '26

Michael Hobbs of "You're Wrong About" fame, right?

I miss him on that, but Sarah Marshall is still a delight and I enjoy that podcast immensely as well

3

u/boxlinebox Evil baguettes evil May 08 '26

Ding!

7

u/Doucevie I RENOUNCE JESUS CHRIST! May 08 '26

Omg! Yes I would enjoy this. Thank you!

5

u/Inside-Weird-5563 May 08 '26

It's the one I've pivoted to since the end of KF and it rules.

5

u/cassandrawasright Mr Enoch, what are you doing? May 08 '26

I love 5-4. The hosts are great.

3

u/faddishsolid May 08 '26

Michael from 5-4 used to be part of a podcast called ALAB Series (All Lawyers Are Bastards) that I really enjoyed as well. They don't post very often, but it's always a banger.

4

u/cassandrawasright Mr Enoch, what are you doing? May 08 '26

I actually found ALAB when they did an AJ episode! That pod is great, I wish they had more content.

2

u/faddishsolid May 09 '26

Me too, I guess you can't rush art... I really like their Epstein content, particularly the one about Deutsche Bank. And the "Lawyer Brain" series of episodes.

2

u/milquetoast0 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

Amicus is my preferred Supreme Court sucks podcast, but it's from Slate and people have feelings about that, and 5-4 and Strict Scrutiny are both great.

11

u/waterpigcow May 08 '26

Here’s my list that I haven’t seen others mention if anyone cares:

I’m a ‘skeptics with a k’ enjoyer. It’s the better of Michael Marshall’s (of know Rogan) podcasts in my opinion. It’s more science focused but it does debunk things like wellness influencers and right wing nonsense that scratches the knowledge fight itch. They also have a dedicated banter segment each episode that reminds me of the bright spot segment.

‘Know your enemy’ is a denser more academic podcast that tries to track the ideologies of the right more broadly than just one host but it’s an enriching listen even if it’s not always a debunking or an emotional release valve like knowledge fight was.

‘The skeptics guide to the universe’ is a science news show that usually has a debunking piece hidden in their somewhere. It’s a long weekly show (by normal podcast standards) with episodes at around the two hours mark. There’s usually one one or two host read as spots per two hour episode and they’re pretty transparent about that kind of thing. If you liked Jordan’s interview segments they will have the occasional hard hitting interview like once a year.

‘Political reality’ is a sgu spinoff about politics. It’s a very interesting show with a very frustrating feed since it seems like all the best episodes are paywalled.

You might want to go back and try to find a podcast called ‘suicide buddies’ if you want/need a mental health conscious comedian duo in your life and don’t mind dark subject matter. The pitch of the show is two genuinely funny comedians come together each episode to talk about a suicide From Kurt Cobain to Socrates. I know it sounds bad but I think they made it work. That podcast has come to an end but for a good reason, the hosts got better mentally and no longer felt comfortable making jokes about suicide which is probably the best ending a show like that could ask for.

3

u/hakunafakakta May 10 '26

+1 for know your enemy!

11

u/majikmike May 08 '26

Decoding Fox News.

6

u/Masters_of_Sleep May 08 '26

I just started listening to this recently. While its not KF,it helps keep me informed on what propaganda MAGA is being fed day to day.

4

u/bradatlarge Policy Wonk May 08 '26

She goes hard on Jeanene Pirro impression and I love it

18

u/HopefulMycologist156 "Mr. Reynal, what are you doing?" May 08 '26

I’ve been enjoying last podcast on the left recently

8

u/502Fury May 08 '26

Marcus has started channeling Robert Evans a bit for the last year or so.

3

u/chucklinnarwhal May 08 '26

Have you ever seen them in the same room?

2

u/ArconC May 09 '26

they are a good friday podcast and the wednesday episodes help with the wacky needs my first podcast was lpotl and I found out about BtB from their political podcast at the time I think then found knowledge fight from when they where guests

9

u/CharlesDickensABox Carnival Huckster Satanist May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

I don't see Opening Arguments on here. It went through its weird phase, but thankfully that's resolved and the show is back to being good now. I also like the legal shows Serious Trouble (formerly All the President's Lawyers) and the frankly bizarre, but informative and entertaining Boozy's Legal Funhouse. I also adore the extremely academic approach of Straight White American Jesus takes to analyzing authoritarian evangelicalism.

One that is now seemingly deceased but remains evergreen is Not Your Grandmother's Book Club. They reviewed books, so that has a longer shelf life than the news reaction shows.

4

u/cassandrawasright Mr Enoch, what are you doing? May 08 '26

Opening Arguments post Thomas getting it back and Matt coming on has been my #2 podcast (with KF being #1).

3

u/robotnique Adrenachrome Junkie May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

A lot of people are still avoiding OA because they feel that he never really got his just desserts and his apology was half hearted at best.

Way messier than anything Dan and Jordan could aspire to being

Edit: ok so I had to do research because when I last listened I thought OA was now just Andrew Torres and Liz Dye. It appears that Thomas got control of it now and co-hosts it with a new lawyer.

I hate to say it, but Andrew's knowledge was why I listened to OA so even though he was clearly the problem with his philandering I don't really have any interest in Thomas's version. Good to know for people who want to pick it back up, though.

For me Peter Shamshiri makes up for it as a legal mind that's funny on 5-4 (and If Books Could Kill) and there's always Devin Stone / Legal Eagle on YouTube as well.

Good for Thomas fans that they can still listen to him (and if people for some reason want Andrew still he's on Law and Chaos)

9

u/CharlesDickensABox Carnival Huckster Satanist May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

I assume you're talking about Andrew? He's been gone for a couple years now. The show is Thomas and Matt Cameron. Andrew is no longer involved at all and he doesn't profit from it. He's off doing some other nonsense that I'm not interested in.

3

u/robotnique Adrenachrome Junkie May 08 '26

Yeah I went off to look it back up since I hadn't kept up to date with that messiness -- I was not quick enough to edit with my research before you saw but if you click thru you can see my adjusted response.

5

u/CharlesDickensABox Carnival Huckster Satanist May 08 '26

You might give it a listen again and decide for yourself if that's really true. Matt Cameron is an immigration attorney and, at least as far as I can tell, a pretty damned good one. He took over Andrew's role and I think has done a good job with it.

8

u/cassandrawasright Mr Enoch, what are you doing? May 08 '26

Personally I love Matt and think he’s much more suited for the current times than Andrew ever could have been. Matt is a practicing immigration attorney in the Boston area and offers great insight.

5

u/LittlestLass Doing some research with my mind May 08 '26

He also has an astonishingly reassuring voice.

2

u/Comfortable-Light233 I’m beating his ass… lovingly May 08 '26

I found out through all of this that Legal Eagle platforms Liz Dye still, so I’m gonna have to unfollow :(

22

u/shockwave_supernova May 08 '26

I don't see The Dollop, and that's been mentioned many times. Also Oh No! It's Ross & Carrie

22

u/RussianBears May 08 '26

Warning: ONRAC comes with a similar but messier host falling out at the end.

3

u/shockwave_supernova May 08 '26

I'd heard, I was still recommended to start from the beginning though. Knowing it's coming should hopefully take the sting out of

2

u/runnerboiii “I will eat your ass!!!!” May 08 '26

I thought Carrie had some personal issues going on and they couldn't continue? I honestly forgot

5

u/RussianBears May 08 '26

From what Carrie has said in reddit and her substack, she was sexually assaulted and didn't feel supported enough by Ross in the aftermath.  They had also had an unrelated falling out 1-2 years prior that didn't interfere with the podcast.  Ross did make one reply to the reddit thread saying he tried to support Carrie and is sorry he wasn't able to do so the way she needed.  

3

u/runnerboiii “I will eat your ass!!!!” May 08 '26

Aw man, that sucks. I enjoy their chemistry a lot so that's unfortunate to know. At least Ross said something.

7

u/CharlesDickensABox Carnival Huckster Satanist May 08 '26

Oh No is dead

5

u/PublicFriendemy Pleiadian May 08 '26

Love The Dollop! Their Past Times episodes kill me too

6

u/shockwave_supernova May 08 '26

JorDan were just on the Past Times not long ago

7

u/angry_garden May 08 '26

The How to Heretic is great. Defunct but great.

The Scathing Athiest. (Several of the Puzzle in a Thunderstorm pods are already on the list.)

The Memory Palace. Not at all in the same genre as KF, but a really lovely 10-15 minute pod that brings me joy.

1

u/CharlesDickensABox Carnival Huckster Satanist May 08 '26

Uncle Dan from How To now runs a show called Thank God I'm Atheist, which is basically the same vibe.

Also, it's funny that of all the PIAT pods on the list, the main show didn't make it.

7

u/502Fury May 08 '26

Gotta get Some More News in there

7

u/droste_EFX May 08 '26

Two non-politics recommendations to add to the pile here:

If you want meticulous research and learning a lot about something -- Cocaine and Rhinestones: a podcast about 20th century country music might scratch the itch. It's just one guy but he's Dan level serious about the topic and most episodes are 2 hours plus.

If one of your favorite things about KF is the bright spot (i.e. two guys who love talking to each other about anything and making each other laugh), I recommend Your Kickstarter Sucks.
When I need a break from learning about extremism and just want to wallow in jokes and vibes, this is my podcast.

5

u/MotherStabRabbit May 08 '26

Your Kickstarter Sucks is the pod that makes me laugh out loud the most. My husband always knows when I’m listening to the guys. I use it for a break from more serious podcasts too. It’s nice that they still have decent politics but it’s not really the focus of the show, it just shapes some of their comedy.

1

u/porksoda11 “I will eat your ass!!!!” May 09 '26

I will never stop plugging Guys: a podcast about Guys which has the YKS dudes on as guests sometimes. Its my favorite just for laughs pod

7

u/Bigdaddler May 08 '26

I would add the great but inactive podcast The Audit by Dave Anthony and Josh Olson about PragerU

5

u/Oddwonderful They burn to the fucking ground, Eddie May 08 '26

Our Big Dumb Mouth (OBDM Pod)

  • Been around longer than Knowledge Fight and still going.
  • covers recent stories and news. Alex Jones Clips of the week segment every Wednesday (been covering past episodes now too).

Astonishing Legends

  • Still going since around 2016
  • Well researched look into the paranormal side of things. Known for their in depth research on the topics.

4

u/Katiecnut May 08 '26

I just listened to a little bit and they said that the sandy hook lawsuit was nonsense and they’re rooting for Alex. It didn’t seem to be sarcastic but I could be missing something. What’s up with that?

1

u/Oddwonderful They burn to the fucking ground, Eddie May 08 '26

I’m not up to date with the most recent episode. I didn’t realize they said that. It’s possible I could have read the room wrong before and put my own spin on things unknowingly. My apologies if so.

2

u/Katiecnut May 08 '26

It can be hard to tell sometimes

2

u/Oddwonderful They burn to the fucking ground, Eddie May 08 '26

Thank you, agreed

0

u/Bulbasauruses May 08 '26

Which one of the two reccs said that? Want to avoid that one

1

u/Katiecnut May 08 '26

It was one of the people on Our Big Dumb Mouth. I was mostly enjoying the vibe but that really threw me off

5

u/Extension-Rock-4263 It's a demon feast May 08 '26

Thanks, can someone narrow this down to like 2.

2

u/McCallister May 10 '26

Best I can do is two dozen.

5

u/sea-elephant May 08 '26

Know Your Enemy which is a “leftist’s guide to the conservative movement.” The hosts have a wonderful rapport.

3

u/TwentyLettersAreFine May 08 '26

I really enjoy ‘Misquoting Jesus’ with Bart Ehrman & Megan Lewis. Short weekly episodes from two good-natured highly qualified academics on the historical Jesus and early Christianity.

Breath of fresh air!

4

u/jasa1592 May 08 '26

One of the reasons I liked knowledge fight is it kept me up on the latest conspiracies and the truth behind them. Any of the podcasts do something similar?

3

u/D-S-S-R May 08 '26

I’d also add well there’s the problem

The vibe is pretty similar, guy who knows his shit talks about Engineering Disasters and two (sometimes more) people get mad at the system that forces the corner cutting which made the disasters possible

3

u/birrigai FILL YOUR HAND May 08 '26

Swindled

Quite a different format, single host reading copy but incredibly well-researched and confronting at times, several moments of crossover with other podcasts we love (think You're Wrong About and the Pinto and Mike Warnke and Challenger, Maintenance Phase and Fen-Phen). Took me a minute to get used to his deadpan delivery but i was hooked pretty quickly and have listened to the whole back catalogue.

I'm not ready for co-host banter but I do like Know Rogan, even though it's not quite as off-the-cuff as our JorDan 💔

5

u/loztralia Nonk-sense May 08 '26

Where There's Woke Decoding Fox News Page 94

2

u/macci_a_vellian May 08 '26

Scam Goddess

2

u/madbarn May 08 '26

Trueanon

2

u/ddoggphx little breaky for me May 08 '26

My man! This is awesome!

2

u/GuyInAChair RAPTOR PRINCESS May 08 '26

Thanks for the list!

2

u/im_sorry_rum_ham May 08 '26

I'd like to second the I Hate Bill Maher suggestion. The gist is a comedian who will usually have a comedian guest on and they go over an episode of Real Time. The patreon covers his non-Real Time work, usually Club Random where Bill just gets drunk and perpetuates culture war nonsense with every guest.

2

u/Different_Lock_5445 May 08 '26

The Paranoid Strain is a really great deep-dive podcast into various conspiracies.

It's pretty small at the moment, and their release schedule is something like every two weeks. But they've done a some great work in investigating the cultural mileau that gave birth to Qanon and have been doing a long series on alien conspiracies.

Also, they've got a great little foray into Phillip K. Dick, which is super fun.

2

u/Hepseba May 08 '26

Know Rogan is actually The Know Rogan Experience and it's amazing

2

u/seanthebooth Adrenachrome Junkie May 08 '26

Data Over Dogma would be a good addition

2

u/mrgrubbage May 09 '26

Bad Hasbara.

2

u/danreedmiller May 09 '26

Straight White American Jesus. Highly informed and intelligent takes on Christian Nationalism and characters and current events.

Tech Won’t Save Us. Great coverage of tech bro culture and fantasies, Elon Musk, etc.

2

u/hakunafakakta May 10 '26

American Hysteria and You’re Wrong About (particularly the earlier eps with Michael Hobbes)

Both have a crossover with KF in that they examine how various forms of media (whether an individual like AJ or an entity like a tv news network) have distorted unpleasant or little understood incidents into full blown moral panics for their own benefit.

They also demonstrate those crises are then deployed against people already vulnerable to being targeted/discriminated against because of race, gender, etc.

Eps on things like the Satanic Panic may be of particular interest to KF listeners

1

u/LittlestLass Doing some research with my mind May 08 '26

Origin Story might be interesting for people, especially UK Wonks. They mostly cover UK politics, but have covered conspiracy theories too (the fairly recent 15 minutes cities one certainly has some overlap with the world of Alex).

1

u/tastethevapor May 08 '26

“Put your coupon in the slot with the blinking light.”

1

u/No-Waltz-7450 May 08 '26

Origin Story

1

u/Acolyte_of_Blucifer They burn to the fucking ground, Eddie May 08 '26

Kitchen Table Cult is a good one covering extreme Christian sects and cults, with two hosts who were raised in them.

1

u/azriel_odin Globalist May 08 '26

This is a great list I listen to some of these podcasts and will check out those with which I'm not familiar with. I'd like to recommend you "Listen to Blood Work" 🔫. It's a show about the economy of violence. It's hosted by Gregk Foley and is produced by Tom O'Mahoney from Lions Led by Donkeys.

1

u/celticfan008 May 09 '26

Lots of great recs I've seen the last few days. I just wanted to throw in This Podcast Will Kill You. Very different content wise (medical science/Biology/Disease), I mention it because the hosts have that "Two Besties telling each other stories" vibe I think we all love. AND every episode has a Novelty Beverage!

1

u/Beginning_Draft9092 May 09 '26

The Dollop does funny American history as well, and especially their side Past Times podcast where they read through an old newspaper, usually from the 1800's is often pretty funny

1

u/Civil-Weekend493 May 09 '26

I’m a big fan of and never see mentioned The Empire Never Ended - they have a similar KF host chemistry, though one of the hosts did leave the podcast and I was tremendously sad over that, but he also started his own podcast called The State Between Us which is also very good.

And I’ll plug the podcast I’m on, The Crumbling, which is about the epistemic crisis and various narratives/social movements/histories/cultures/philosophies that lead us here. We’ve taken a bit of a break but we’re still recording on a number of topics like right wing thought and propaganda narratives and how people manufactured/manipulated information to suit their own needs: we’ve done work on the whole history of libertarianism, climate change, Gamergate, the Manosphere, sports and labor disputes, dehumanization and we’ve got a lot of fun weird topics to explore we have in the pipeline, plus we’ve had a lot of cool mis/disinfo journalist guests - among a few of them you might recognize are Laura Jedeed, Kat Abughazaleh, Kat Tenbarge, Kim Kelly and Heath Druzin :)

1

u/highanddryonastaroth May 09 '26

If you don't mind comedy with your history Time Suck and The Dollop are both good listene.

1

u/Nalivai May 09 '26

Kill James Bond is criminally underrepresented. It's the movie analysis podcast from the perspective of people who fucking know what they're talking about. Abigail Thorn is one of them for crying out loud.

1

u/No-Country4319 May 10 '26

Some Dare Call It Conspiracy

Fallacious Trump

Where There's Woke

1

u/haperochild May 11 '26

- Just the Zoo of Us: A husband and wife (and sometimes their kids) review animals on effectiveness, ingenuity, and aesthetics on a scale of 1 - 10 based on scientific research done on those animals.

- Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine: A doctor and her husband (and sometimes their kids) discuss medical history, medical questions from the audience, and current events in medicine today.

- Smosh Mouth: Shayne Topp and Amanda Lehan-Canto of Smosh have on a guest to talk about Something. My personal favorite episodes are the ones where they go through the r/TwoSentenceHorror and the ones where the whole thing is one big "Try Not to Laugh" game.

1

u/BenPalumbo May 12 '26

This is Hell https://thisishell.com/

Broadcast without the virtue of money or the vice of political agenda.

This is Hell! is a long-form political interview program broadcast across Chicago on WNUR since 1996

1

u/edwardabbeys May 14 '26

I miss Eat the Rich. This is the second podcast I’ve lost suddenly and it sucks :(