I am obsessed with the true-crime/comedy podcast, Last Podcast on the Left.
Anybody who likes to wallow in the depraved side of things must absolutely give this podcast a listen.
MAH BOYS.
From left to right: Marcus Parks, Ben Kissel, Henry Zebrowski.
Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks, and Henry Zebrowski are three hilarious motherfuckers. If you want to dismiss this podcast as "three idiots laughing about death for an hour," then you're mistaken. Last Podcast's topics are incredibly well-researched by Parks and Zebrowski, frequently spanning multiple episodes.
Do you have a morbid fascination of serial killers? They've got episodes on BTK, Aileen Wuornos, Toybox Killer, Son of Sam, and just about any other big name you can think of... and many more you don't know about. Are cults more your thing? How about their deeply disturbing episodes on Jonestown, L. Ron Hubbard or Aum Shinrikyo? Maybe you just want to hear ghost stories. They do that too with occasional creepypasta and paranormal episodes.
Conspiracy theories? Aliens? Oh yeah, they've got episodes on those too.
Any topic touching humanity's dark side or the unknown is theirs for the pillaging. Their sweat is your listening pleasure. It's educational, but you don't feel like you're being lectured to.
My suggestion for getting started with Last Podcast on the Left is to scroll through their back catalog and pick a multi-part series that catches your interest and listen. After that, do whatever you want, I don't own you.
...that said, I do not recommend their really early episodes. In fact, I'd say it's not until the Toybox Killer about fifty episodes in that they actually begin to do the hardcore research I love them for. Also, the first few are just... wow, they did not know what their podcast was yet and it shows. Until Parks and Zebrowski started going hardcore on the research, it was basically forty-five minutes of three white dudes trying to make as many shocking jokes as possible. There's some good stuff in the early episodes, but traverse them at your own risk, podcast traveler.
To not end on a downer, I'm going to leave you with this: some podcasts turn into background noise while driving or doing chores or whatever. Not Last Podcast. Kissel, Parks, and Zebrowski are so compelling when speaking about the depraved and the disturbing that I find myself paying more attention to them than making dinner or whatever silly thing I'm doing at the time. I find myself looking for excuses to push their episodes further up in my podcast queue so I can listen to more of them.
By no means is Last Podcast on the Left for everyone. Some may find the hosts obnoxious or insensitive, and others will be turned off by the truly horrifying material they get into sometimes. But if you do have a macabre itch to scratch, what the hell are you doing? LISTEN TO THEM. NOW.
And never forget to hail yourself.