Top Society & Culture Podcasts

On February 15, 2014, fitness guru Richard Simmons disappeared. He stopped teaching his regular exercise class at Slimmons, cut off his closest friends, and removed himself from the public eye after decades as one of the most accessible celebrities in the world. Nobody has heard from him - and no one knows why he left. Filmmaker Dan Taberski was a Slimmons regular and a friend of Richard’s. Missing Richard Simmons is Dan’s search for Richard - and the deeper he digs, the stranger it gets. Listen to the podcast The New York Times calls "a cultural phenomenon."

Headlong is Dan Taberski’s documentary podcast that explores the lives of overlooked people, moments and events in our culture. Season 2 is Surviving Y2K. Season 3 is Running From COPS.

Through an intersectional feminist perspective, hosts Anney and Samantha dive into science, history, and culture to make sense of the everyday and unpack the stories that brought us to where we are today. This podcast aims to better understand the challenges facing women and marginalized folks all over the world and highlights the tools we can use to tackle them head on.

The Mortified Podcast is a storytelling series where adults share the embarrassing things they created as kids—diaries, letters, lyrics & beyond—in front of total strangers. PS: It totally likes you. The Mortified Podcast is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Learn more at radiotopia.fm.  

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// CREDITS: Podcast produced and hosted by Neil Katcher and David Nadelberg. Stage show created by David Nadelberg. Learn more: GetMortified.com.  

// TV: Watch our concert film, Mortified Nation, and our 6-part mini series, The Mortified Guide, now on Tubi and other platforms.  

// BOOKS: We've also got a guided journal, My Mortified Life, that prompts you to compare your life to your childhood self.  We've also got 2 Mortified anthologies.  

// GAME: Check out our confessional card game, I Can't Believe I Did That.  

// KIDS SHOWS: We also made an awesome podcast for kids 9-13 called Ooh You're in Trouble. It's kind of like we made Mortified Jr. Each episode features a true story about a moment when someone broke a rule growing up, and what happened when they did. It's an educational and comedic series that delivers exciting stories while helping kid's define their sense of ethics. 

Since 2014 this longstanding podcast favourite has been creating hard-hitting cinematic stories about love, bodies and all of the things between humans that we don’t know how to name. Creator Kaitlin Prest works with her friends, idols and all kinds of loved ones to bring you into an expansive sonic universe that challenges what we think we know about relationships.

Join Jim Clemente (former FBI profiler), Laura Richards (criminal behavioral analyst, former New Scotland Yard) and Lisa Zambetti (Casting director for CBS' Criminal Minds) as they profile behavior from real criminal cases.

The Generation Why Podcast released its first episode in 2012 and pioneered the true crime genre in the podcasting world. Two friends, Aaron & Justin, break down theories and give their opinions on unsolved murders, controversies, mysteries and conspiracies.

Listen to Generation Why on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/generation-why/ now.