By Eric Valentine
Two of my favorite sayings I can recall from my youth were said by my Vietnamese-immigrant math teacher, Mr. Tung Trinh. When he wanted us to listen better and talk less, he’d say, “Two ears, one mouth.” If our eyes wandered away from the chalkboard too much, hoping to chat with a classmate, Trinh would say, “Two eyes, one mouth.”
It all served as a clever reminder that hearing another’s ideas should occur twice as often as speaking one’s ideas. In the age of podcasts, listening to ideas has become a bit easier. And now, with the abundance of streaming content on our ultra high-def 6-inch to 80-inch screens, video is king. Wise podcasters have incorporated video into their episodes. Why not? You’re already recording audio, you might as well turn on a camera, too.
What follows is a mix of podcasts worth listening to that have also turned their shows into a visual medium. What’s refreshing is to see them without all the production and fuss of a network TV show or news broadcast, yet these shows are still professional. You’ve probably heard some or heard of some, now you should watch them, too.
THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE
We’d be remiss not to start with the podcast king, Joe Rogan. If you think he’s just some martial arts geek turned reality show host turned UFC ringside commentator, you’d be correct. You’d also be missing how genius sometimes appears in unexpected and alternative forms. If smarts or wisdom is 90% seeing how things will unfold before they actually unfold, then Rogan is Albert Einstein.
He’s been training across several martial arts for 38 years, had one heck of a back kick and a 2-1 professional kickboxing record to prove it, hosted a popular reality show before reality shows were the premier mode of TV broadcasting, stepped out of the MMA ring and into the much safer and still lucrative ringside-announcer post for the UFC, and also puts on a solidly funny stand-up comedy act now and then.
All good stuff. Yet, he actually reaches greatness when he’s podcasting. His show is regularly the most listened to podcast and his YouTube videocasts reach millions weekly, with 13 million subscribers and counting. Here’s two reasons why:
Rogan lands great guests, not just A-listers but A-grade intellectuals, creatives and influencers (not the social media type, the culture type).
Some have joked pejoratively that Rogan makes tough guys feel like smart guys. But when you listen to a Rogan show you do in fact become more informed. That’s because Rogan is incredibly well researched and never pretends to understand something he fully doesn’t. His, perhaps, lack of mega-IQ or encyclopedic knowledge is his strongest asset, because he knows what he doesn’t know and asks honest, clear questions. Not bad for an aging jock.
Some folks think podcasting is the realm of the alt-right fascist neo-cons or their uber-progressive leftist libtard counterparts. And for a chunk of the podcast-verse, that’d be true. If you’re looking for a show that can dive into current events and is more about bios and information and less about bias and partisan vitriol, subscribe to The Tanya Acker Show podcast and YouTube channel.
Acker is one of the three judges on the Emmy-nominated show Hot Bench. As a TV personality she must work alongside two other judges from different backgrounds to get at the truth behind a case, with a level of decorum and grace expected in a courtroom. It’s all something her life history perfectly prepared her for.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Acker attended Howard University in Washington, D.C.—which is part of the ‘Black Ivy League’—and went on to graduate from Yale Law School—perhaps the most conservative Ivy League school and prestigious law school of the bunch. Acker’s biography puts her in a unique class of media personalities. She’s socio-politically vocal yet viscerally non-divisive. And it plays out in her interview style, where she often lets her guests establish their biography, or story, before diving into their unique perspective or insight about a controversial or important current event.
CONAN O’BRIEN NEEDS A FRIEND
The backstory of Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend is that after 25 years in late night TV, O’Brien realized the only people at his holiday party are the men and women who work for him. So he began a podcast that is half podcast, half fieldpiece—an area where O’Brien’s comedic talents have always super-shined.
It’s not clear if O’Brien has made the friend he sought, but the comedian who some feel had every right to be disgruntled by the handlings of regular show biz has made a lot of money. Earlier this year, SiriusXM bought the rights to his podcast for $150 million. O’Brien is laughing all the way to the bank.
TRACY MALONE
On a more serious note, let’s talk about mental health and relationships. Tracy Malone calls herself a person who survived a marriage and divorce with and from a narcissist. The term narcissist seems to be casually thrown around by people experiencing everything from unrequited love to unparalleled abuse. Yet, it’s an astonishingly serious matter and surprisingly overlooked one, too. That’s mainly because when you hear someone talking about their narcissist, it sounds like they’re just talking about a real jerk.
It turns out jerkiness is on a spectrum. Roughly 1 in 500 people are reported to have a mental health disorder called antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). That term does not mean the person has a fear or dislike of crowds or groups. Rather, it means that the norms of society don’t apply to them. Specifically, the norms of emotional reaction to someone else’s suffering, or the norm of understanding how with rights and privileges come responsibilities and duties. People with the most extreme version of this are often the serial grifters, rapists and murderers in any given population.
Less extreme are people with narcissistic personality disorder—something more prevalent than ASPD, with an estimated 1 in 200 sufferers. Malone uses her experience to interview experts, victims and others who offer services to the victims of these people, including their loved ones. Several years ago, she came across a True Story piece I performed on the topic and I’ve been referring folks to her YouTube channel ever since.