We here at Esquire are at home. Just like you, we're not used to it. Our free time, when we're not checking emails and updates and push alerts, stretches on and on. And so we've figured out a few ways to fill it that we can't recommend enough. Here's one.



My morning commute is normally my time to listen to podcasts. It's 30 minutes where I sip my coffee and nod along pseudo-intelligently to Michael Barbaro’s soothing reporter voice, as my brain slowly accelerates into full power mode. But for the last week my commute—and maybe yours, too—has consisted of me rolling over to pick my laptop off the floor and pulling it into bed. That has resulted in a drastically decreased time for podcasts.

But, if you're like me, and have found yourself with less time or desire to listen to podcasts, there's one episode you must hear. Even if you hate podcasts, have never listened to a podcast before—this one is a must. Take a warm shower or bath. Walk around the block (keeping appropriate distance from other humans). Drag your self-isolation-mates or family into a room. Listen to this podcast episode.

It’s that good. The episode is “The Case of The Missing Hit” from Reply All, Gimlet’s hit podcast that explores internet culture through stories. If you’re at all into podcasts, this won’t be news to you, as the episode has been making news since it dropped on March 4th. The Guardian’s headline asks : could this be the best podcast episode ever?, while Vulture calls the episode “instantly legendary.”



The premise is this: a filmmaker in California named Tyler Gillett gets an old song stuck in his head, but when he goes to Google the lyrics he remembers, the song is nowhere to be found. Consumed by the mystery, Tyler reaches out to Reply All co-host P.J. Vogt, who launches a quest through the internet, time, and music history in order to track down the song. It’s a journey that leads to legendary music critics, ex-frontman of the Barenaked Ladies Steven Page, and even to a prestigious L.A. music studio to record the song with a full band from Tyler’s memory.

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The problem at hand—an earworm you can’t Shazam, an itch you can’t scratch—is a universal, relatable one, however low-stakes it may be. When across the globe, everything feels the complete opposite of this—dreadfully high-stakes—the perfect antidote is to zoom in, think smaller, give yourself a little break. In a society that barrages us endlessly with methods for optimization and productivity, it is both hilarious and immensely gratifying to invest in a relatively pointless, albeit meticulous and comprehensive investigation.

I'm normally a very distracted consumer of content—always pausing to read over my to-do list or talk through my anxieties out loud. I mention this because even though I listened to this episode on a plane flying from New York (where I live) back to Canada (where I grew up) to ride this quarantine out for however long it lasts, I found myself so utterly consumed that I forgot to pause it to worry about that.

When the world below me felt like it was falling apart, my mind was in the clouds, humming along to the silly little riff at the center of "The Case of the Missing Hit." It's a good reminder that it's the small things—those melodies rattling around in the back of our minds—that can unite us in this big, scary world. And here's a little treat for you when you get done.

Lauren Kranc Lauren Kranc is an editorial assistant at Esquire, where she covers pop culture and television, with entirely too narrow of an expertise on Netflix dating shows.

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