The Pod Files - October 2026 Part Two
This is a follow up from a the previous Pod Files, which is sort of catching up on the rest of my October listening.
However, this is the first example of the new format for The Pod Files, where I pick out certain shows to highlight, and hopefully give more detail into what the shows are about.
In a way it is easier not to log the details for every single show that I listen to, which is what the previous incarnation of The Pod Files was. However, to make up for that I thought that doing this would be more interesting in some ways to people, and want it to be a useful resource.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler is a celebrity-interview show from The Ringer, BUT unlike some other “celebrity podcaster” led show, I actually get a good feeling from this show, where it’s not just a case of “another celebrity making a podcast.” I get the impression that Amy would be doing this show even if she wasn’t a celebrity.
Yes, Amy does speak with famous people, and I think that it’s Amy’s own celebrity status that gives us these discussions, AND I feel that it is that which garners some interesting tidbits that we may not get otherwise.
The episode from the 8th of September saw Amy chatting with actress Sandra Bullock, on of my friends named Andy likes Sandra.
Sandra Bullock was also joined by Maisie Williams and Joey King, which brought Sandra’s enjoyment of working with younger actors, and how it inspires growth in her own acting ability, by seeing how they have a confidence and willingness to explore alternative approaches to scenes and acting in general.
They also discussed Sandra's own versatility, where Amy praises her ability to move between physical comedy, big mainstream films and more emotionally demanding performances.
Sandra and the two actors are the ver have worked together in Practical Magic 2, which is discussed, including the fun they had revisiting that world.
Sandra spoke about caring for her late partner, Bryan Randall, during his illness with ALS, and the importance of recognising when you need help yourself.
During the closing section they have a particularly thoughtful message for people caring for others, saying not to forget to look after yourself, too.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler is a great example of how a good interview isn't necessarily a rigid interview, where the conversation moves naturally between career, personal stories, humour and more serious subjects.
Amy seems to have a natural ability to know when to change the mood, making this podcast less about extracting a list of career anecdotes, and more about making the guest feel comfortable enough to reveal something of themselves.
Phase Hero - 28 September 2026: presented by Brandon, Jenna, Jamie and Aaron. Daredevil ending after season three. New trailer for VisionQuest. “Who of you will be at New York Comic-Con?” Avengers Endgame Encore.what are the extra scenes about then? “Sex with robots!” Oh, I heard about this and was outraged - if you don’t watch this re-release in an imax or 3D screening, then one of the bonus scenes isn’t included. Jon Watts possibly directing a Star Wara movie. Final trailer for the DC film Clayface has been released. Dynamic Duo animated film has been moved, as well as much more going on in animated side of DC. Robert Pattinson says that his Batman wouldn’t work in the present DCEU. After this I skipped past the spoiler discussion about Lanterns episode 7.
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| The guys from Phase Hero |
I have followed the guys on Phase Hero from the beginning of their previous incarnation, when they were working for ComicBook.com, and had the podcast Phase Zero.
Phase Hero came about after they all finished with that previous company, which at a long story told short is basically Paramount purchasing the company, and then dropping a ton of it’s staff, as well as some leaving.
Here the hosts expand on their previous incarnation that was MCU related, by now being about the whole of genre entertainment.
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| Kofi and Janell of Comicbook Nation |
Comicbook Nation - 2 October 2026: presented by Kofi and Janell. Janell’s microphone is so quiet this week! Kofi spoke with actor Sean Gunn about Aquofiniac. Who is Matthew Lillard playing in the film Man of Tomorrow? New trailer for VisionQuest. Filming for Marvel’s Secret Wars hasn’t started yet, and has been postponed to an undecided date. Reactions to episode seven of Lanterns, that I skipped through. After this they talk about the new Netflix film Unabomber. This got me and Louise discussing the film, with Lousie saying that she isn’t interested as it glorifies what they have done, and turns people’s tragedy into entertainment. Breaking news came in that an announcement has been made that James Gunn and Peter Saffron will remain in charge of the DCEU after the Paramount merger deal with Skydance. Discussion about the AVX Alien Vs X-Men comic. Janell has been watching the Willy Wonka based reality show that my girl Louise has been watching, and I have caught bits of. Interesting tangent in their discussion about AI doing the late Gene Wilder’s voice. Kofi has been watching Strange New Worlds and American Horror Story.
Comicbook Nation is a show that has been going for about eight years now, and has been talking about genre based tv and film, as well as comics, games, and books.
Initially the show started with the main core of Kofi Outlaw and Matt Aguilar, with others joining for presenting, and Janell Wheeler joining a year or so in as a permanent third chair.
Recently Matt Aguilar had finished with the company, and has moved onto the company Agents of Fandom, so Comicbook Nation has just got Kofi and Janell presenting at the moment.
I love shows that have presenters that have different perspectives to each other.
Agents of Fandom - 2 October 2026: ‘Comics Corner’ episode presented by AF Parker, Damon Gray and TJ Pistilli (aka Fat Thor). Comics discussed were Scarlet Witch issue 10, Doctor Strange, Absolute Batman issue 24, Absolute Wonder Woman, Thor issue 801, Kingdom of Zod, and DC Comics’ Absolute universe of stories in general.
Agents of Fandom in and of itself create podcast episodes that look at different things, whether they are interviews with people from genre entertainment, or anything.
Comics Corner episodes, of which this was one, are obvious from the title, where they are talking about comic books, which is useful to those like myself who read them. Making it good listening catching a niche market.
Seaside Pod Review - 8 August 2024: Kev and Randy recording an episode to give them a reason to talk, I believe. Kev’s “face for radio.” Randy’s family are big fans of St Vincent. “What’s the biggest hit (single) that you despise?” “Steaks, strawberries and American Pie!” They spend an age discussing country music for some reason. I suppose that someone has to be a fan of country as a whole. Head in a bucket of bleach!!! I’ve got one of the problems that Kev doesn’t have. After this they look at feedback from listeners over the previously discussed song, the Brian May written It’s Late, taken from News of the World. “I like my toms loud!!!” “What’s the best one two punch opening on a Queen album?” They then look at the previous forty songs they’ve discussed, talking the station, and then give their individual ten songs compilation based on the forty songs.
Seaside Pod Review is a music related podcast, looking at the music of the rock band Queen as a band and the other their side projects, although occasionally they have special episodes looking at other music.
It works in it’s long form way, because the personal catch up banter at the beginning is relatively quick in comparison to some other shows where less than half of the episodes are actually about the subject in question.
Face The Music: An Electric Light Orchestra Song by Song Podcast - episode -10: 8 February 2025: this is the version that’s only available on their Patreon page. We get a great look by Eric Paul Johnson and Eric Wincentsen about the song Ella James by The Move, from the album Message From The Country. Written by Roy Wood, and released as a single by The Nashville Teens (that produced by the late Shel Talmy), this was also a b-side for The Move themselves. After a break we got the second half of the episode, that’s only available on Patreon, where we heard an interview with Jeff Lynne’s former bandmate in The Idle Race, David Pritchard, who was incidentally also Roy Wood’s former bandmate in The Nightrider’s. A fascinating discussion that showed a cameraderie therein that lasted after their time in bands together. It also explained Jeff’s growth really well as a creative musical artist into what he would become with ELO and beyond.
There are many things that I think are great about Face The Music.
The two presenters, Eric Paul Johnson and Eric Wincentsen, have a great back and forth with each other, and their differing musical tastes help to give a rounded discussion about the songs that they discuss.
They research thoroughly, have very little banter about their own lives, and the way that EPJ edits the episodes is superb.
I love EPJ’s editing style, with a fun amount of interludes between sections, some great clips of interview footage that he finds, and more.
Adding a bonus section post-show for their Patreon page is really clever, where they do the show properly, and then after an interlude they have extra sections that could be about a cover version of the song they have discussed, or some other feature.
Keeping Up With The Cardassians - episode 153: 8 January 2024: yes, I am that far behind! Now that they have gotten past Battlestar Galactica (a lot of which I skipped by the show based chat because I need to get behind season three, and perhaps start again). So, here they are talking Star Trek again, this time at The Next Generation. As per usual it starts with a ton of general chat. Hmm, Nick’s stereotyping the Japanese! “He’s Korean, dude!” Batman talk. It’s strange hearing pop culture news from two and a half years ago, including Aquaman 2, Star Trek Picard vs Star Trek Legacy, Stranger Things season 3, and more! Wow, they only had general chat for 33 minutes at the beginning! “THAT IS A BOY!!!” Dodgy New Year’s resolutions!
Keeping up with the Cardassians is a show like I mentioned earlier, where they have a fair amount of banter at the beginning for around half of the show’s length or longer, and then discuss the main subject.
However, they have built a following from people who like their banter, which is how they naturally discuss the subject of the episode when they get to it.
Their own Patreon page expands on that rapport between the three hosts, by having discussions about other things, footage of them doing fun skits on video, and clips from the conventions that they attend.
Seaside Pod Review - as a change to going through Queen songs, and as a breather between seasons, Kev and Randy have decided to look at a random song from someone else. The previous time they did this they apparently did I Believe in A Thing Called Love by The Darkness, as they discussed at the beginning of this episode. This time they discuss Watching The Wheels by John Lennon, from the album Double Fantasy. AI suggesting what Kev makes a podcast about, lol.
Phase Hero - 7 October: Jenna, Jamie and Aaron at the start, hoping that Brandon will appear later. Hilariously true about the continuing rereleasing of Avengers Endgame and Avatar so that they can keep one upping each other for the highest grossest film. So much promo art and merch for Doomsday that includes a t-shirt of Doom’s claw hand. Beyblade items. Patton Oswalt has not died, just his character! Nicholas Cage talking about the Marvel universe being a WWE style thing. New Spider-Man universe show for Sony after the cancellation of Spider Noir, and it’s based on the clone saga - hmm. Jamie is right about asking why we should care when they screwed us over with Spider-Noir. “Is it important that we watch VisionQuest before Avengers Doomsday?” Production on The Batman Part II has been temporarily paused for a family issue with writer/director Matt Reeves. Dynamic Duo animated film rumours. James Gunn on his Threads account debunking theories about the DCEU. Spoiler filled talk about the Lanterns season one finale that I skipped past as I haven’t started watching the show yet.
Comicbook Nation - 9 October 2026: presented by Kofi and Janell, prior to a weekend of hurricanes in Nashville, where they are. Audio only available episode. New York going on at the time of recording. “DC Deja Vu.” The Batman part two paused filming for personal reasons. Reactions to VisionQuest being premiered at New York Comic-Con. “Hugh Jackman and/or Ryan Reynolds in one or both of the forthcoming Avengers films?” Marvel Zombies new season announced. Announcement of the Marvel series Zodiac. Footage of season three of X-Men ‘97 at the convention. I skipped by their reactions to the finale of Lanterns season one. Kofi went to see the Jessica Chastain starring horror film The Other Mommy. They looked at the new comic series Marvel’s Midnight, specifically the X-Men version.
Comicbook Nation - 16 October 2026: presenters Kofi and Janell have the live feed back up. “I thought I had time to finish my sandwich!” Janell’s microphone level is still so low in comparison to Kofi. I have to keep changing the volume level. More News on the filming of The Batman Part 2, where Matt Reeves is going to be busy for a long time. He is being covered on direction duties by Steven Sodeberg. Kofi mentions how long this film has been on the works - “it’s just cursed!” Reactions from reviewers for the film Clayface. News about Milly Alcock’s social media purge. Film version of Batman Beyond mentioned. Batman: The Brave And The Bold film plans have changed. Discussion about what to watch for the forthcoming Avengers film and for VisionQuest. Avengers Doomsday news. Kofi spoils the films Se7en and Heat for anyone who hasn’t seen them. Apparently they have filmed several sequences that will not be used in the film. Trailer for new Mike Flanagan written and directed film Exorcist Martyrs, starring Scarlett Johansson and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Kofi and Janell discuss the first two episodes of VisionQuest. Talk about the new Amazon Prime series Carrie. Neither of them have seen Crystal Lake as yet. Reactions to the new Street Fighter film. Reactions to the film Whalefall. Issue one of Wolverine Paradise comic series. Kofi has finally watched The Housemaid. He enjoyed it. And admits that he was wrong (when ex-co host Matt Aguilar was hyping about it).
Episode 271 of The Corona Diaries came out on the 19th of October.
Hosted by Steve Hogarth (known as H), the lead singer of Marillion, with his friend (and former Pods Like Us season one guest) Anthony Short, the show started during the COVID-19 pandemic, originally using it to share diary entries, memories, thoughts and observations about life.
What’s interesting is that H gives listeners access to his life outside the band, not simply his experiences as a musician, giving personal recollections, with readings from his own written diary entries, all of which provides the show with a distinctive structure.
The show has reached more than 270 chapters, demonstrating the value of building a regular relationship with listeners, which has mainly been through the openness of H, and helped massively by his relationship with his co-host Ant.
Ant provides a sounding board for H, asking questions and keeping conversations moving. They have great humour, digressions and the occasional wonderfully eccentric observation are central to the show's appeal.
There is much fun to be had from the extra musical bits we get of rarely or unreleased material, as well as special performances here and there.
What the show proves is that you don't necessarily need a rigid format to sustain a long-running podcast. Having a strong host/co-host relationship can become part of the attraction. Also, giving listeners access to the person behind a familiar public figure can create a particularly loyal audience.
In H’s own show notes he says about this episode’s guest Anne-Marie Forker that “it was a treat to get her back onto the pod, to talk all things Tottenham and Tour Bus, Pompeii and Photo Pits, Gin and Ginger.”
Episode 304 of The Mindbuzz came out on the 22nd of October 2026, where Gill was joined by two guests from the American comedy scene, where they spoke about stand-up, entertainment and their experiences in the comedy community.
The two guests were Ricky Novella (Stand-up comedian, actor and podcaster. Co-host of Puro Podcast and Puro Laffs Comedy), and Jerry Hernandez (Los Angeles-based stand-up comedian and writer).
The chemistry between Ricky and the other comedians was a big part of the conversation. There's plenty of friendly teasing and roasting, which leads to a particularly interesting discussion that concerns whether comedy has become too sensitive and who gets to decide what is offensive.
Gill’s natural style of just talk means that they discuss the backlash against the Star Wars character, racial stereotyping and the impact on actor Ahmed Best.
They also talk about receiving negative comments on TikTok and Instagram after posting podcast clips, which gives aome interesting observations about people who deliberately provoke comedians online.
Gill spoke about difficult experiences growing up, and how he's learned to look back on them without holding grudges.
Towards the end, there was a thoughtful conversation about whether holding on to resentment makes life unnecessarily difficult.
What’s really interesting with this episode is that there is a contrast here between the light-hearted nature of a comedy podcast, but with some surprisingly thoughtful discussions about online abuse, sensitivity, friendship and forgiveness.
Comicbook Nation - 23 October 2026: Kofi and Janell presenting. Kofi had trouble saying the names of shout outs/inside baseball. Janell’s microphone is still really quiet. Spooky season time. Big rumour going around that we have a new James Bond. Avengers Doomsday post credit scene talk, and it’s still almost two months before it comes out? This gets them talking about what we could see in the follow-up Avengers Secret Wars. Talk about how the forthcoming Star Wars: Starfighter film, which is now at a $226.5m budget. Janell had an advance restaurant preview. “Celebrities are just like us!” Reactions to VisionQuest episodes three and four. Carrie episode reactions. Episode reactions to Crystal Lake. Carrie tv series on Amazon Prime. The DCU film Clayface. “Too much face and not enough clay.” Kofi interview actors about a film I didn’t catch the title of starring Deborah Ann Woll. Latest issue of the Absolute Green Arrow comic.
Agents of Fandom - 22 October 2026: presented by AF Parker and Matt Aguilar. Discussion points -
1. Absolute Flash
2. Absolute Green Arrow
3. Lex Luthor in Action Comics
4. Wonder Woman
5. Avengers: Armageddon
On October the 30th my friends at the podcast Bad Counsel rereleased the first episode of the show from back in 2020.
It was difficult listening, for no other reason but one of the hosts, Jack, has passed away since, and he was such a nice guy. If you search through past episodes of the Pods Like Us then you will find an episode where I spoke with the guys (and Greg’s wife Katy), and it’s a show that absolutely no kids should hear.
They warn before every episode starts that they aren't qualified to give advice, and that's precisely the point. They've built a podcast around being entertaining rather than pretending to be experts.
The first listener question came from a recently divorced man returning to online dating. The second listener asked how to approach dating during lockdown and social distancing. The third listener had a question about cannabis and COVID. Jack offered his services with testing the product for them, lol.
Towards the end, Greg suggests introducing a regular feature highlighting memorable examples of terrible advice from films and popular culture.
The show's strength is its chemistry. Three friends take ordinary listener dilemmas and turn them into entertaining, occasionally outrageous conversations. The advice is deliberately unreliable, but the humour comes from the differences in their personalities and experiences.
Seaside Pod Review - 22 August 2024: Randy and Kev start by discussing their mutual hatred of camping. Kev is an expert in Microsoft Excel though! After helping through listener feedback they go on to discuss the randomly chosen song for the episode, which is Bijou from Innuendo. It is a song I think that could split people because of the idea being that it is basically an instrumental song with a vocal solo section.
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