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A list of weird and otherworldly audio drama podcasts to keep you curious and entertained.
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I will be the first to admit that I've done a terrible job of promoting audio drama podcasts on this blog.
Over the years, I've only dedicated a handful of podcast reviews and recommendations to these creative and hard-to-produce shows.
It's odd that I don't tend to listen much this particular genre. In general, I LOVE a good drama! Especially an on-going series.
I've been an avid soap opera fan for most of my life, and I lean heavily towards drama when selecting TV series and books.
But it isn't until recently that I got into watching shows and reading books in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. And this is why I think I can finally (comfortably) cross over into audio dramas.
A lot of audio drama podcasts are based in sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and spy/investigation. Unless—and until—you are a fan of this type of story, you're not going to appreciate these shows.
Choosing an Audio Drama
To help get my feet wet (and to make sure the podcasts recommended are great ones), I enlisted the help of John Longenbaugh from the BRASS podcast (which you'll find in the list below).
John has over 25 years experience in theater and arts journalism, and he's written a number of plays. When I asked him to pick four podcasts similar to BRASS, he sent me this list.
These shows are quirky and strange, and John does a great job of explaining what you'll love about each one.
5 Out-There Audio Drama Podcasts
Check out these podcast recommendations, written by John in his own words!
Relativity
In some ways, writer Lee Shackleford’s Relativity podcast is a clever re-imagining of one of the all-time classic scripts from Radio’s Golden Age, Louise Fletcher’s Sorry Wrong Number. In Sorry Wrong Number, an invalid tries desperately to find help after she overhears plans for a murder on her party line.
The phone call in Relativity is between a scientist on an eco-ark spaceship and mission control back on earth—and the mystery is what’s happened to the rest of his missing crew.
As the two main characters reveal an increasing amount of what’s happening both far out in space and on a politically-turbulent planet, their relationship becomes more rich and real, and it’s this growing emotional connection that is the human heart of a show about the complex problems of a world yet to come.
Victoriocity
This “inspector mystery” takes place in a very different 19th century, when the nightmarish, comic and mysterious are enmeshed in the urban complexity of Greater London.
London has become a vast single city that has encompasses most of England. A mostly “mechanical” Queen Victoria, and her unhappily symbiotic husband Prince Albert, give regular announcements to the populace via PA system.
It’s this same sort of absurdist atmosphere that punctuates the mysteries investigated by the character Inspector Fleet and his companion journalist Clara Entwhistle. Although the pace of invention slows after the first season, the mix of Pythonesque humor and Steampunk grime is a winning combination, and the voice acting throughout is excellent.
You May Also Like: 7 Creepy Paranormal Podcasts That Will Keep You Up at Night
The Byron Chronicles
This ongoing urban fantasy by Eric Busby has been in irregular production since long before podcasts were a thing.
An immortal supernatural antagonist named Byron deals with a menagerie of supernatural creatures, including vampires, werewolves, demons, zombies, and Things Too Terrible to Name.
This podcast is sort of mixture of TV shows like Buffy, Supernatural and Dr. Who, and is like a fun binge of whatever is currently on the SyFy channel. It’s not exactly original, is often predictable, but is comforting fare for SF and Horror genre fans.
Listen to The Byron Chronicles
Dexter Guff Is Smarter Than You
This fictional self-help podcast starring actor Peter Oldring has acid wit, West Coast satire and some mockumentary. The show’s host, Dexter Guff, sells this mixture to you as a Miracle Smoothie.
Dexter has a habit of labeling his brilliant ideas segments just off-brand enough to mock his real-life counterparts. Although a first-season “voyage of self-awareness” lacks a real pay-off, the series continues to expand the host’s all-too-believable world of desperate hucksterism while taking shots at its rotating targets of social snake oil.
Listen to Dexter Guff Is Smarter Than You
BRASS
Reviewed by the Podcast Maniac
BRASS follows the Brass family—father, mother, and two grown children—in a very fictional 19th century London, where computers and robots are part of everyday life, and the British Empire is even more powerful and dangerous than in reality.
The Brass family are agents who work for the Crown, battling criminal masterminds, often in the most entertaining and comical ways. Each member of the family has an endearing personality, as well as their own set of stealthy skills that sets them apart.
BRASS is told over two seasons, and each episode is just about 15 minutes. Episodes 1-3 of the first season give the lay of the land and introduce the characters. Episode 4 is when the plot really starts to develop and the family is "on the case".
This podcast is undeniably creative and well-acted. The Brass family is extremely likeable, and if you like the podcast, you can watch the short film featuring the actors
Comments, Questions, YOUR Recommendations...
Share your favorite audio drama or quirky podcast! Leave a comment below to recommend it to other readers (self-promotion of your own podcast IS allowed).
England. 1947. A time of political tensions, conspiracy theories, secret meetings and vengeful schemes. Two young friends, Joyce and Kay, stumble onto a sinister plot to plunge the world back into war in FILTHY ’47, a vintage-style audio comedy-thriller in four parts.