The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Photo: Nicole Rivelli

The comedy podcast universe is ever-expanding, not unlike the universe universe. We’re here to make it a bit smaller, a bit more manageable. There are a lot of great shows and each one has a lot of great episodes, so we want to highlight the exceptional, the noteworthy. Each week, our crack team of podcast enthusiasts and specialists and especially enthusiastic people will pick their favorites. We hope to have your ears permanently plugged with the best in aural comedy.﻿

Maisel Goys - We’re Going to the Catskills! (with Hrishi Hirway)

Spinning off of the success of Kevin T. Porter and Demi Adejuyigbe’s Gilmore Guys, which covered Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Gilmore Girls episode by episode, Maisel Goys takes on the showrunner’s latest, the award-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. And with a new show comes a new co-host for Porter. Alice Wetterlund eagerly joins the podcast to analyze, mock, and praise 1950s housewife turned stand-up comedian Mrs. Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) and her conflicting worlds of class and comedy. Wetterlund, a stand-up comic herself, offers an especially relevant point of view. Joined by Hrishikesh “Hrishi” Hirway (Song Exploder, The West Wing Weekly), the group follows the cast to the Catskills for the summer. The hosts are quick to point out that Mrs. Maisel is an adult woman with two entire months to spend at summer camp before diving deeper into the writer Daniel Palladino’s portrayal of the period. This creates an opening for everyone to crack wise about outdated standards of child care (a baby gets left in a car in the dead of summer), courting (Midge continually identifies as a married woman despite her pending divorce), and more. With an excellent coupling of close analysis and comedic takes, Maisel Goy provides a perfect supplement to the show. —Becca James

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend – Dana Carvey

Once again, Conan O’Brien brings someone who qualifies as an actual friend (and not just another celebrity guest) into the CONAF studio for a hilarious chat that goes far beyond what he can do in a handful of minutes on TV. Dana Carvey was already working on Saturday Night Live when a fresh-faced O’Brien showed up to start his stint as a writer on the show. As the host brings his guest through a recounting of their history together, it becomes clear that these two guys are comedy kindred spirits. (When Carvey and fellow SNLer Kevin Nealon wanted to bring their bodybuilding Hanz and Franz characters to the big screen, it was O’Brien they brought in to craft their craziness into the semblance of a script. The movie, alas, never happened because they could never get a commitment from their big guest star: Arnold Schwarzenegger.) Very early on in their hour together, Carvey starts riffing through a battery of impressions — Paul McCartney, the George Bushes, and an overstuffed Jeff Bridges that you can’t help but howl at, just like O’Brien and everyone else in the studio. Although the conversation never gets too deep, we learn that both of these guys share certain insecurities about life and their comedy performances. Several references are made to them talking about said foibles for “hours at a time,” so we surmise that they really are very close friends. The main takeaway from this episode is just how funny it is and how hard Carvey makes O’Brien laugh. I talked to Carvey by phone and asked why he was scoring so hard. “Normally when I do a podcast, it’s me and a guy in a little room, talking to each other,” he said. “Conan and I were in this studio and there were three guys on the other side of the glass, doubled over in laughter. When I realized we had an audience, I just couldn’t not go into performance mode.” —Marc Hershon

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

The Good Place: The Podcast - Ch. 39: Ted Danson, Actor | Michael Schur, Creator

Two weeks ago, The Good Place: The Podcast’s stellar look at season three’s penultimate episode, “Chidi Sees the Time-Knife,” featured first-time guest host Jason Mantzoukas and first-time guest Marc Evan Jackson, along with writer Joe Mande and CGI slug David Niednagel. Those lofty standards are somehow heightened for this week’s season-finale recap, starring both the Architect of The Good Place and the architect of The Good Place, Ted Danson and Michael Schur. “Pandemonium,” written by superteam Megan Amram and Jen Statsky, is a heartbreaking half-hour Marc Evan Jackson perfectly sums up as “a beautiful bummer.” Mike Schur takes listeners into the writers room, sharing fascinating motherforking insight on how they came to the decision to wipe [spoiler!]’s memory and why he likes to give writers free rein to write heavy emotional scenes. Not to be outdone, Ted Danson lives up to his reputation as the nicest man in the galaxy by generously gushing over his co-stars’ performances. Luxury boomerangs, Us Weekly headlines, and Jean-Paul Sartre’s diary entries are just a few of the forgotten Easter eggs revealed in what has become the most necessary TV show sidekick in podcasting. Only The Good Place: The Podcast could sign off with a stirring reading of Emily Dickinson’s “Parting” followed by “Eat butt ya ding dongs.” —Mark Kramer

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Earwolf Presents - Carl Alarm

Earwolf Presents is where the podcast behemoth releases one-off specials, behind the paywall previews, and pilots, both of the failed and eventually successful variety. Hopefully Carl Alarm starring UCB and Comedy Bang! Bang! regular Carl Tart is the latter, because they’d be foolish to let this die on the vine. A parody of radio shows like “Big Boy’s Neighborhood” from Carl’s native L.A., this improvised podcast follows an incompetent radio host struggling to make it through his first day of syndication. With him are equally inept co-hosts like Latina Nina, who dreams of quitting to go wife up an NBA player, and Intern Patrick, who is somehow everyone’s boss. There are call-ins from 9/11 Coincidencers, an in-studio chat with an R. Kelly–like musician named Johnny Table, and more A-plus ad reads for OnStar than any other new podcast of 2019. No, really, the most sincere ad copy I’ve ever heard on any podcast are Carl’s passionate fake ads for OnStar. At least from a business perspective, Carl doing the ad sales team’s job for them should be enough of a reason to produce the first season. —Pablo Goldstein

Listen: Apple | Website

Entry Level With Brooks Wheelan - Josh Meyers

This past week the comedy world has been mourning the loss of Kevin Barnett and paying tribute to him through social-media posts, benefit shows, and even a mention on SNL’s Weekend Update. As a close friend of the late comedian, Brooks Wheelan breaks format in the opening of Entry Level to share some stories about Barnett and talk in-depth about their friendship. Whether you were aware of Barnett or not, Wheelan’s sincerity when eulogizing his friend serves as good reminder that we should be grateful for our relationships and not be afraid to vocalize those feelings. Jumping back to format and drastically shifting gears, Wheelan welcomes Josh Meyers to talk about all the dumb jobs he had when growing up! From delivering pizza for the now-disgraced Papa John’s to selling tickets for a comedy show in front of the Anne Frank House, Meyers has had his fair share of tough gigs. Between the wonderful Barnett tributes, Meyers’s story of an encounter with Mark Wahlberg on the set of Planet of the Apes, and Wheelan’s recollection of first meeting Adam Sandler, this is one for the books. —Tom Rainey

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Other Podcasts We’re Listening To:

improv4humans - Mary Holland, Eugene Cordero, Paul Rust, Neil Campbell

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Winging It - Chris Tucker on Def Comedy Jam, Rush Hour 4, and Joining Michael Jackson Onstage

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Hollywood Handbook - Tom and The Doughboys, Our Close Friends

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Exit Strategy - Matt Champagne

Listen: Apple | Website

Las Culturistas - “Prestige Actress” w/ Brandon Scott Jones

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Are We Still Talking About This? - Artie Lange: At Home

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Everything Is Rent - Bonus Episode: Live ON Fox (Pt. 1)

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Got a comedy podcast recommendation? Drop us a line at comedypodcasts@vulture.com.