It was 6:30 am, and I was idling in my friend’s driveway, waiting to pick her up for school. When she got in the car with me she laughed, pointing at the radio. To break up the monotony of winter mornings or lighten the mood that junior year was constantly bringing down, I sometimes played wacky songs loudly through the speakers. So, as you can imagine, my radio choices got laughed at pretty frequently. I wasn’t playing just some silly song that morning though. That morning, I happened to be playing one of my favorite podcasts.
I don’t know about you, but I used to think that listening to podcasts was something that only people who were parents or commuters did. Like, say your child is yelling in the backseat on the way to school, or there is a line of angry cars behind you on the highway. That’s when middle-aged people whip out their iPods and blast NPR or some other news podcast with a soothing narrator. Those podcasts become the background for people’s routine lives, not exactly the height of entertainment.
Basically, those aren’t podcasts my 17-year-old self is willing to endure, and I don’t expect you to either. I’m here to enlighten you to the true entertainment that comes in the form of actually good, worthwhile podcasts.
Earlier, I told you the story of my friend laughing at my choice of podcast. You may be asking yourself if I just happened to forget to tell you all the title of that podcast. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget. That podcast was Dear Hank and John by John and Hank Green.
John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars, the very same novel that had all middle school girls swooning in 2014? Yep, that’s him.
Hank Green, the guy who talks really fast in Crash Course while simultaneously saving all of our science grades? Yeah, that’s the one.
The Green brothers released the first episode of the pod (a fun name for podcast, for all you uneducated readers) in June of 2015 and have been releasing episodes consistently since then. In 2018 the podcast got picked up by WNYC studios, a podcast distributor. Essentially, this means that the pod has help reaching more people, which I appreciate, as I think as many people should listen as possible.
In a typical episode, the brothers answer questions from listeners and give “dubious advice” in return. Let me tell you, the questions the listeners ask are nowhere close to mundane. Questions range from “How do we tell my girlfriend’s mother that we don’t want a duck as an engagement present?” and “Are there ghosts on Mars?”. The so-called advice can get lively, as you may have already guessed. Not only are the brothers advice gurus, but John (the author) gives updates from his favorite soccer team and Hank (Crash Course guy) talks about the latest discoveries from Mars. Needless to say, they keep every show fresh by bringing in new content from across the board.
Maybe some of you are sitting there and are thinking “Ok, this is great and all, but listening to podcasts still sounds boring”. I see why you may be thinking that, but let me tell you something: you’re wrong. Dear Hank and John is a prime example of how podcasts don’t just have to be someone droning on behind a microphone for an hour. An article from BoingBoing agrees, saying “Their conversations are a good mix of silly and serious with a healthy dose of the humanism that has made them so popular.”, and I agree. They use the creativity of their listeners and their own brotherly banter to create a show that makes you laugh out loud. Listening to their pod feels like watching your dad and wacky uncle get together at a family reunion; they’re always cracking jokes and enjoying themselves a little too much. Regardless, Dear Hank and John proves that podcasts are far from boring.
If you want to give their podcast a listen, click here.
Mckenzie, I’m happy to hear that you love podcasts because I find them interesting as well. One of the coolest things about podcasts is that you never know what it will be about. It’s a total surprise. I usually listen to podcasts when my mom is driving the car. There were a few times my mom switched the station to classical music and I felt a wave of disappointment since I would miss part of the story. One of my favorite podcasts is the podcast about a Chimera. It so happens that a woman did DNA testing and found that her kids DNA didn’t match. What actually happened was that she was a combination of two human beings and that her kids actually had her sister’s DNA although she was the one gave birth to her kids. Your suggested podcast, Dear Hank and John, sounds like it would be fun to listen to. I relatively enjoy watching their crash course videos since they are so wacky but also leave me feeling enlightened towards the end. What’s your favorite podcast by Dear Hank and John? And what would you ask them?
I don’t have a favorite because I have listened to so many of them, but you don’t have to start from the beginning to listen to them. Just pick one that seems interesting and you’re good to go!
As for what I would ask them, that is such a good question! In short, I don’t really know. My favorite questions from listeners are those regarding odd life situations, so I would definitely gear my question towards a strange occurrence if one arose.
I’m glad that you wrote this article, as I’ve always wanted to check out a podcast that might be interesting but I wasn’t willing or able to waste time on finding one. The last podcast that I listened to was NPR for Journalism and as you might imagine that habit died quickly with the enrollment in the class. The Green brothers however might just be energetic and quirky enough to keep me engaged without anything but auditory stimulus.
However, old habits die hard, and it may take a while for me to turn off the music to turn on the podcast on the way to school. Personally, I have always been one of those people who was under the impression that podcasts were for older or more serious people. I have to ask, how did you originally get hooked on this podcast? Where did you first find out about it?
Overall this was a very interesting and fun to read article. Thank you!
I’m so glad you liked this post! I originally found out about this podcast from watching their YouTube videos. I really enjoyed their personalities and humor, so when I found out about their podcast I immediately started listening! Let me know what you think about it if you give it a listen!