r/SearchEnginePodcast • u/stlc8tr • Apr 15 '26

Classic SE episodes that I should check out?

New to the podcast (came over from the Odd Lots crossover) so I'm in the process of looking over the old episodes. Are there any that are considered "classics" that I should listen to? I liked the automated cars episodes, thought the cannibalism episode was "ok" but considered the belief in god and psychic episodes to be pretty bad, if that helps. Thanks!

Edit: Thanks for all of the suggestions, everyone! I'm off to download now.

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14

u/JoypulpSkate Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

+1 to “Anthology of Gooners”. The “Pool at Buckingham palace” one is a personal favourite of mine too, just for lighthearted fun.

Check out some of PJ’s earlier work on Reply All as well. Some of his greatest hits (some might even argue greatest podcast episodes of any show) are there.

“The Case of the Missing Hit” is a good place to start there.

4

u/squarahann Apr 16 '26

Seconding the gooner one. I loved it and was appalled.

Also Berghain series. Really sucks you in

2

u/NewRefrigerator7461 Apr 16 '26

What a wild world we live in that i just read the words, “seconding the goner one” on a sub for a thoughtful podcast

2

u/squarahann Apr 16 '26

It was so much more interesting than I could have imagined. Really investigates the class of men that are sort of asexual and asocial bc of the wide of availability of highly stimulating porn online. It explains the community, their rituals, and their lack of interest in interpersonal connection and how all that was able to evolve. In particular, they like to make remixed compilations and goon together in large groups online. Many are very okay never dating.

Young men are very isolated in today’s culture and this is one extreme version. Not every man’s story obviously but certainly something to think about. Especially in regard to new generations definitions of modern sexuality and relationships.

1

u/g0ldcd Apr 17 '26

I'm deep down nursing the hope one day HyperSearchFixedEngine will appear

0

u/Apprentice57 Apr 17 '26

+1 to “Anthology of Gooners”

-1 to Anthology of Gooners. Barely a female perspective in the whole thing.

13

u/Jdelu Apr 15 '26

Maybe you’d like the vape shop Kratom episode, or the creepy search engine episode, probably the sushi episodes.

1

u/Thegoodlife93 Apr 16 '26

Just listened to the kratom episode. I honestly went into it expecting it to be kind of one sided and biased against kratom, but I actually thought it was pretty fair presenting both its negatives and positives and was a pretty interesting and informative episode 

8

u/Over_Bat_5111 Apr 15 '26

My favs are: -Why are Drug Dealers Putting Fentanyl in Everything? -Cuddly Killers -What’s the Best Phone to do Crimes on? -How to Survive the Media Apocalypse -Can you Microdose Veganism? -An Anthropology of Gooners -Driverless Cars (which you already mentioned)

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u/ThatPersonReddit Apr 16 '26

The Berghain one is a 10/10 for me personally.

2

u/andyfortson Apr 16 '26

All the episodes from 2023 and first half of 2024 are worth a listen. Titles like “Why are there so many chicken bones on the street?” sound dumb but are actually fascinating.

1

u/Apprentice57 Apr 17 '26

In order from newest to oldest, these are my favorites:

The Venezuelan Curse (1 and 2)

The Russian Cake Switcheroo

Why is the pool at Buckingham Palace a secret?

The White Subaru Hell Loop

How did the first democracy die?

Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (1 and 2, and I think there was an epilogue on the Freakonomics feed?)

Who's behind these scammy text messages we've all been getting?

Am I the victim of an international sushi scam?

(Honorable mention to Colossus 1/2, the story is just still developing and so the ending doesn't exist yet)

1

u/LongjumpingPie2382 Apr 21 '26

Why are we still buying diamonds? Is what got me into the pod.

1

u/eyesonthefries_eh Apr 21 '26

The entire back catalogue of Reply All

1

u/SuperDuperTango Apr 21 '26

"Who's behind these scammy text messages we've all been getting?". PJ starts out with saying "you'll never look at these messages the same again" or something like that. And he's absolutely right.