Christmas Podcast Roundup (7/7)
Haven’t really been up to watching Christmas stuff for Christmas in July so I’ve been hitting the podcasts instead, as a number of creators publish year round or are doing Xmas in July specials.
Right upfront, I have to confess I’m not a huge podcast fan. Most podcasts, in the pop culture related genres I listen to at least, are overlong, padded, unfocused, under-researched, and full of snark and/or forced or false enthusiasm for the topic. Sadly all of these are on display within the Christmas Podcast genre, often alongside some surprising and unnecessarily coarse language and questionable attempts at humor or tone-deaf digressions.
Some of the podcasts I’ve been sampling lately share some of these traits, especially on the length and salty language fronts, but are still worth a listen, especially if you’re not afraid to use the skip button or listen to them on chipmunk speed.
In no particular order…
Can’t Wait for Christmas has long been one of my favorite holiday podcasts, even when I wasn’t really listening to podcasts I was listening to CWFC. Covers the whole gamut of pop culture Christmas, and is just chock full of great content.
Christmas Movies Actually, hosted by Colin Souter and Kerry Finegan, Recent episodes include in-depth discussions about A Very Brady Christmas, This Christmas and I’ll Be Home for Christmas and previous shows have covered everything from vintage holiday classics to Hallmark Channel releases, holiday horrors and a few flicks you might not immediately think of as Christmassy like Batman Returns and Spielberg’s 1941.
Christmas Movies Unwrapped focuses on Hallmark / Netflix style romantic Christmas flicks. Recent episodes covered the theatrical release Last Christmas, Crown for Christmas, and Hitched for the Holidays.
Totally Rad Christmas covers everything festive about the ‘80’s and its quite good. The most recent episode I listened to discussed Wham / George Michael's Last Christmas with Duane Bailey of Tinsel Tunes (see below). Other episodes, many with special guests, cover various 80’s cartoon Christmas episodes, films such as Scrooged and A Christmas Story, and even the Time-Life Treasury of Christmas.
Tinsel Tunes is a terrific podcast that covers Christmas music from traditional carols to current pop hits. Many of the topics are just what you’d expect but once in a while host Duane Bailey throws a curve ball such as the latest episode reviewing former Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen’s “From Spirits and Ghosts”.
Christmas Past is another of my longtime favorite podcasts. Wonderful storytelling, engaging content, and a real love for the holiday that all Christmas podcasts should share but too few actually do.
Other Podcasts I’ve been listening to with relatively recent episodes include Christmas Clatter, The Total Christmas Podcast, Sarah and Michael Save Christmas, and Christmas Creeps
