Ask Lemmy

There are a ton of classic audio drama from the 40s-60s, if your tastes allow. My faves are:

• Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar - "The insurance investigator with the action-packed expense account"

• Gunsmoke - "U.S. Marshall Matt Dillon. The first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chancy job. Keeps a man watchful... and a little lonely."

• The Shadow - "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men! The Shadow knows!"

• I was a Communist for the FBI - "The true story of Matt Cevetik who, for nine fantastic years, lived as a Communist for the F.B.I.!"

And if you would prefer something similar but more modern, The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a long-running stage show in L.A. in the style of classic radio drama. The main segments are:

• Sparks Nevada, Marshall on Mars! - "Along with his faithful Martian deputy Croach the Tracker, he rights the outlaw wrongs on Mars."

• Beyond Belief - "Meet Frank and Sadie Doyle, toast of the upper crust, headliners on the society pages, and oh yes... They See Ghosts!"

Oh, I've been a constant listener for 10 years, so I've listened a lot, but here's a list of my favourites:

Wolf 359: comedy in a space ship that turns more series after a little while. The story does not properly start until a couple of episodes in.

We're alive: a zombie-apocalypse in the US. I've if the first truly great audio dramas, and there are multiple spinoffs that are equally great.

Victoriocity: British comedy set in a steam punk Even Greater London about two detectives. If you like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchet, I'd highly recommend this one.

The Program: anthology series about a future where The Program has taken over the world, and it's all now a gig economy. It's really good.

Wooden Overcoats: British comedy set on an island about two competing funeral services. Really funny.

The Amelia Project: comedy about a company which provides the service of creating a fake death of a person so they can start a new life. Has multiple "known" people who go to them to explain why, but I don't want to spoil anything.

The Magnus Archives: horror about supernatural events. If you like horror, then this is a must listen, but be aware: it's long.

Sherlock & Co: modern Sherlock setting where Watson went to Ukraine, got injured, started a podcast and met Sherlock. My favourite about this is that the there are no "Watson played by" etc, everything in the podcast is "real".

Incoming: based on the false missile warning in Hawaii in 2018. It's an anthology where the creators play around with the idea of "what would you do if you got the message about an incoming missile?" and creates both funny and really sad stories.

Dark Air with Terry Carnation: I'm just going to paste it's description "Rainn Wilson stars in this fictional darkly comedic podcast that explores the on and off-air life of Terry Carnation – a late-night talk-radio show host who deals with bizarre topics, outrageous callers... and gets caught up in a mystery of his own." It's... Unique, and right up my alley.

These are the ones that I can think of of the top of my head 🙂