Long online interviews. Where?

September 9, 2011 5:54 PM

I want podcasts featuring long interviews.

I love Kevin Pollock's Chat Show because it allows the guest to really talk at length. Point me to other similar podcasts or online videos that feature long (at least an hour) interviews with interesting people.

posted by davebush to Computers & Internet (17 answers total)

Best answer: Marc Maron's WTF podcasts are long-form interviews with comedians. They talk about everything to do with comedy, and Maron really gets interesting stuff out of people you might not suspect are all that interesting.
posted by xingcat at 6:01 PM on September 9, 2011 [2 favorites]

xingcat beat me to it for Marc Maron. (See also). His recent Andrew Dice Clay interview is a good specimen.

The Nerdist also interviews comedians. Notas in-depth as Marc Maron, but it has its moments, and they're whole-show interviews. The Wil Wheaton interview was hilarious.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 6:07 PM on September 9, 2011 [2 favorites]

Margaret Throsby, on (Australia's) ABC ClassicalFM has a long-running series of interviews which is now available as a podcast. Don't be put off by the "ClassicalFM" bit - she interviews everyone from horse trainers to authors (lots of authors!) to comedians, politicians, playwrights, and sportspeople. Often fascinating, and she is one of this country's best interviewers.
posted by coriolisdave at 6:14 PM on September 9, 2011

I'm assuming you're already familiar with this because it's probably the most popular interview show I know of, but NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross is fantastic.

Guests from all over the spectrum (arts, politics, science, etc) with incisive questions and plenty of breathing room for the guests to open up.

There's a huge backlog of shows/interviews on the website.
posted by sprocket87 at 6:23 PM on September 9, 2011 [2 favorites]

Uncommon Knowledge from the Hoover Institution is great if you're interested in conservative political thought.
posted by BobbyVan at 6:30 PM on September 9, 2011

I listen to both Nerdist and WTFpod regularly, both very good for interviews (Maron has the edge, certainly). I would recommend sticking with just the interview Nerdist episodes though if that's your interest; they generally put out two per week, one with a guest and one of the three guys just talking about various topics (They call it Host-ful instead of Guest-less).
posted by shinynewnick at 7:09 PM on September 9, 2011

Also comedians, but Girl on Guy with Aisha Tyler has a single guest per episode and is around 90 minutes.
posted by lampoil at 7:09 PM on September 9, 2011 [1 favorite]

I work at Fresh Air. Our interviews are long and can range from anywhere between 10 to 50 minutes -- but we do have all sorts of people on. (One of my favorite interviews was with a Hollywood stuntman.) Another was with a speech therapist. I also really liked Terry's conversation with Queen member/physicist Brian May and would be happy to recommend some others to get you started. We're trying to get the complete archive online...but we have everything up pretty much from the last decade. (The show went national in 1987 so there's a pretty big archive.)

I try to keep everyone up to date on upcoming guests on the show Tumblr.
posted by melodykramer at 7:20 PM on September 9, 2011 [7 favorites]

nthing Fresh Air because Terry Gross is probably the best interviewer in the business.
posted by ghharr at 8:02 PM on September 9, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Adam Carolla Podcast. Shows are usually around 90 minutes, though sometimes the interview doesn't take up the whole 90 minutes. But when he gets a great guest (Albert Brooks), the results are excellent. Plus there's nobody funnier than the Aceman.
posted by santaliqueur at 8:44 PM on September 9, 2011

The Pinewood Dialogues are awesome.
posted by hot soup girl at 8:44 PM on September 9, 2011

I think Jesse Thorn of the Sound of Young America is one of the best interviewers around*, although the interviews may not be quite long enough for you (but so good!).

*I actually kind of have issues with Terri Gross as an interviewer, but Jesse Thorn's SOYA is basically what I'd always wished Fresh Air was.
posted by grapesaresour at 12:05 AM on September 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Story.
posted by Jorus at 3:23 AM on September 10, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks for all these suggestions. Much appreciated.
posted by davebush at 6:23 AM on September 10, 2011

Seconding grapesaresour. Jesse Thorn's interviews are sublime. I've been listening to his shows at least a few times a week since 2007 and I still have come no closer to making it through all the guests I want to hear. Definitely quite close to Terry in long-form interviewing.

Marc Maron is consistently incredible as well, even though slightly less often he makes me want to open a vein. I can handle Marc Maron's show, and I can handle the End of the World, but probably not both at the same time.
posted by JLovebomb at 7:17 AM on September 10, 2011

In case you - or others interested in podcasts along these lines - speak German, there's a really good daily (Mon-Fri) podcast from Bayern 3 called Mensch Otto / Mensch Theile. They are on Summer break until Monday, but the archive (see link) is full of interesting hour-long interviews you can download for free. Highly recommended for German speakers!
posted by amf at 8:32 AM on September 10, 2011

Another one, if you'll forgive the rather low-rent website:

Ron Bennington Interviews

The interviewer is Ron Bennington, host of an XM Radio talk show called Ron & Fez. He is amazing, Penn Jillette recently referred to his interview as one of the best of his 20 year career. I would also highly recommend his Unmasked series, which is an hour long interview with various comedians, but I can't find a source for those online (MeMail me and I can possibly get you hooked up with that).

If you happen to be in the New York area, they regularly allow guests to come to the Unmasked tapings

UnmaskedShow on Twitter
posted by shinynewnick at 5:51 PM on September 10, 2011